For some odd reason, Penny was curious about the girl but with the girl's black luscious hair that covered her face, it made it impossible to look at her. Walking forward, Damien shook hands with the magistrate man.
"I have heard so much about you," the man said, his eyes sparkling, "We haven't met, I am Zenith Croogs."
"Evening, Mr. Croogs," Damien shook his hand before letting it go, "This is Councilwoman Vivian," he introduced Penny which made Penny wonder if this was another test.
The magistrate man stared at Penny, a slight curiosity in his eyes, "I thought councilwoman Vivian was on a break," the man reached his hand for Penny to take but she never took it. Instead, she bowed her head to let him know that she wasn't used to touching people.
Damien did tell that both the council members, Leonard and Vivian Carmichael were on vacation according to the letter and word from Nicholas Rune who looked after the land of Bonelake.
"Yes, the lady was on vacation but she decided to continue her work here. Bonelake has been quite tiresome. Isn't it right, councilwoman Vivian?" Damien turned to look at Penny who nodded her head, going along the lie about her being Vivian Carmichael, she wasn't sure if she was comfortable impersonating someone right now.
"Please take a seat," the man waved his hand towards the empty seats in front of him.
"Thank you but we are in a slight hurry. We have a party to attend and would rather finish this quickly," Damien responded back to the man before getting on to business, "I would like to take a look at the case files for the last four months."
The magistrate gave them a curious look, pulling out the cupboard in the desks, he picked up the files and handed it to them, "You won't find many details in there," the vampire magistrate said as Damien started to look through the details that had been registered.
"What a good town. I must say, I am very impressed with the way this village has been working. I hope you are not hiding anything," came the sign song-like voice from Damien which was playful yet he stared at the magistrate to make sure he wasn't lying.
"Haha, why would I do that, Sir?"
"I don't know," Damien murmured, throwing the files of parchments on the table. When he rubbed his fingers together, he felt the faint dust that had been from the outer bounds of the files.
Penny stared at both of them quietly on the side to hear the magistrate say, "We have been making sure to gather everything we can to make sure the people who live here, live happily without a need to have a conflict. As you just saw now, the girl came for help for her field so that it can be farmed and we will be providing her or anyone with what is needed."
"What a virtuous village, I envy," Damien commented, and Penny was sure that his words were meant to be sarcastic, "When you say 'we' you mean to say the council right? Or is it the people from the village? It is not often we see helping hands."
"Mostly the council," the magistrate's eyes had started to narrow down, coming to be aware that he was taunting. Before they could take their leave, the man said, "You know, the last time I saw Lady Vivian, she appeared to be leaner."
Her eyes internally widened over the thought of them getting caught. Damien had meant to test the man but here they were getting tested back by the magistrate.
"I don't think I have interacted with you, Mr. Croogs," Penny responded back over his claim of seeing her be lean and not the way she was right now. Her voice was confident as she spoke to him, "Are you indirectly meaning to call me fat?" she asked him for the vampire to smile, giving her an awkward smile.
"I didn't mean to offend you, milady," he bowed his head and when he did, Penny saw something on his neck, as if he had received stitches. If the man was going to test her, she would answer him back after all Penny was an excellent actress. Having met Vivian Carmichael once in the past, she knew how the woman looked in appearance. He bowed one more time and Damien had to turn his head to stop the stifle of smile that appeared on his lips.
Damien then said, "Thank you for your assistance, magistrate. Continue your good work. Soon you shall be recognized by the council and be rewarded well for it," the man gave them a nod. Penny in the meantime gave him a sharp and quiet glare to have the man bow his head again.
When they left the office, Penny asked,
"What are we going to do? This is the second village we found to be strange but the girl was talking to him fine," she added as they couldn't overlook that little detail.
"That's what we heard but not what we saw. There are already some suspicious cases that are going on. Everyone appears to be dazed, the records are clean making it look like there was no dispute or any other brawl that needed to be registered," both of them turned back to look at the magistrate who had gone back to reading something at his desk, "It is too obvious. We need to see which others are experiencing something like this."
Penny and Damien went to the other villages which were in a much responsive condition where they also found a woman kicking out her drunk husband who had come home. Thankfully, the rest of them were normal and there were some good amounts of cases that were being registered.
Going to where Alexander was, Damien met his cousin and the white witch, Caitlin.
"There have been some off cases in here," said Alexander, "They appear to be minute but they are alarming when you see animals have died, pets to be specific."