West Borough, at the Wraithcrow headquarters.
Sebastian Blackwood found himself in Captain Gustaf's office along with Cleo.
Gustaf sat on the single sofa, resting his hands on the woody desk, he stared at Sebastian and Cleo with his sharp gaze. The office was dimly lit by the bronzed chandelier of candles that hung from the ceiling.
Cleo placed the documents on the desk. "Captain Gustaf, here's the investigation report."
Gustaf took the reports and began flipping through the pages, his expression becoming serious with each page.
He had long curly brown hair that reached his neck. His brown eyes and short beard gave Sebastian an unexplainable sense of discomfort as he steadily touched the brim of his black hat.
"So Mr. Coy committed suicide in the shed on May 11th, mm… what an incredible fatality." Gustaf murmured, voice deep.
Sebastian sat calmly down on the single sofa beside and answered. "Exactly, he shot himself after being possessed by an evil entity. His corpse then turned into a zombie, but thankfully, we managed to neutralize it. The weapon he used to kill himself was a webley revolver."
"Mm, not the kind of weapon you found in Steatha's armories…" Gustaf muttered to himself. "Who knows where he got it."
He rapped the knuckles of his hand on the desk and kept looking at the report.
"Er, by the knowledge we have thus far, it's possible that Mr. Coy did acquire the weapon in either Creria or Talem Empire." Cleo's voice was hoarse, sitting down on the single sofa beside Sebastian with his legs crossed.
"He sits with his legs crossed… very odd behavior on his part." Sebastian looked at him stunned by his composure.
Knitting his brows, he remembered Cleo telling him on many occasions how much he hated sitting that way, because he thought only people who were unsure of themselves sat that way.
"Unfortunately, it shall be some time before we find out where Mr. Coy acquire it." said Cleo as he lowered his eyebrows.
"Understood…" Gustaf murmured, pursing his lips as he was lost in thought.
An ethereal silence fell in the office once again. Sebastian looked at the red sky from the window behind Gustaf as Cleo changed his leg posture.
Knock! Knock! Knock! At that moment, Sebastian heard someone knock the door which it creaked open.
Turning, he saw a man with sandy-blonde hair that looked much paler than his own. The first thing that immediately caught his attention were his enthralling red eyes that suited him to a detestably fine degree. His body was slender, but made him look rather forbidding, and he wore a brown vest with a long overcoat.
"Captain Gustaf! We finally managed to find the corpse of the accomplice!" The man lazily bowed his head.
Hearing what he said, Sebastian looked at his colleague with satisfaction. He could finally conclude the investigation relating to the theft against Mr. Sammer.
Captain Gustaf looked at the man with a serious look. "Oh, great timing,Russell. Where's he?"
Russell raised his head, and replied. "At North Borough! Just after the bridge!"
"What a queer coincidence, right in the area where Madam Hall lives." Thoughts flashed through Sebastian's mind as he looked at Russell.
"There's not a minute to waste, head straight to the place!" Gustaf got up from the sofa, taking the long black coat that was hanging on the coat rack beside.
Sebastian and Cleo nodded, rising from the sofas as they bowed respectfully.
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North Borough, at Jewel Street.
Sebastian and Cleo got out of the black carriage, reaching an apartment complex close to the Ancient Path Bridge.
The street was dimly lit by gas lamps, their glow was widespread by a light fog which was spread around the lamps, terraced buildings and houses like a veil. The biting cold air made Sebastian shiver as he rubbed his hands together, searching for warmth in his frozen hands. Then, he heard the ringing of a bell, and turning to his right, he saw the clock tower pointing towards 8:00 pm lit by the crimson moon behind it. The moon, in contrast with the tower, gave a fascinating and eerie touch to the atmosphere at the same time.
Sebastian hastily entered the apartment, climbing the stairs as he holded his black cane with his left hand. As he kept climbing, he turned his head and saw Russel and Cleo close together. They were talking with their foreheads almost touching, and occasionally a blush would appear on Cleo's cheeks.
"What is Russel doing, courting Cleo? I've never seen them this close before. They look like… well, uranians." He cleared his throat and spoke. "Hey, you two, what the hell are you doing?"
Russell raised his hand abruptly. "Us? Uh… nothing! We're just talking like usual, can't you see?"
"Yes, sure, of course. Listen, who do you think you are talking to?" Sebastian retorted firmly.
In response, Russell shiftlessly scratched his head. "Here we go again—Mr. Know-it-all, always ready to ruin everyone else's happiness."
"Please, that's enough, Russell." Cleo pleaded, gently placing a hand on Russell's shoulder.
Gripping his cane tightly, Sebastian turned his back and touched the brim of his hat, reaching the second floor. Whilst walking down the long dark corridor, he saw the door of a room wide open. A familiar man came out of the room as if waiting for him.
He had short crew cut hair and thin features. His brown eyes and gold-rimmed glasses that were on the bridge of his nose gave him a much younger look. He was wearing a long beige coat that reached his knees that made him seem charismatic. The pipe in his right hand gave off white smoke that filled the corridor with a strong scent of tobacco.
The man put the pipe to his lips and said. "Oh, here you are at last, Mr. Genius! I've been waiting for you for over half an hour. Where's Gustaf?"
"He stayed in the office, reading the suicide report." Sebastian replied, looking the man in the eyes as he smiled.
Tap! Tap! Tap! Sebastian heard the sound of footsteps reverberated in the corridor, growing louder by the second. Tilting his head, he saw Cleo and Russell walking straight at him.
Russell scratched his head. "Sorry Duncan, it took us so long as the street was crowded, isn't that right, Cleo?"
Cleo nodded vaguely as he stiffened his shoulders. In reaction to Russell's excuse, Duncan ignored him like he didn't care about, and putting his pipe on his lips, he stepped into the open room with a stern look on his face.
The atmosphere became eerily silent as Sebastian entered at room number twenty-two followed by Cleo and Russell. The room itself was illuminated by the moon, its glow was really bright, which made the use of candles unnecessary. The hallway, living room, and the kitchen, was carpeted in red.
Reaching the end of the short hallway that had two doors on the right and one on the left, Sebastian looked at the thing by the window and closed his eyes. The pungent smell aired in the room which blended with that of the gunpowder, the traces of a macabre outcome that chilled even him. Everyone present looked on the spot at the thing illuminated by the sky.
The corpse of an overweight man lay slumped on the wall with a hole in his head. His eyes and mouth were wide open like he was screaming in terror. Saliva came out of his mouth, staining his white shirt, while the right side of his face was stained with dried blood coming out of his temple. In his left hand he held a black revolver, which suggested that he had taken his life off.
"Blimey, what an incredible disgrace." Cleo murmured, covering his mouth with his left hand.
"He looks disgusted… how can he be disgusted by the corpse if he killed a zombie in the forest this afternoon?" Sebastian's mind was racing as his suspicions about Cleo grew stronger.
Not many hours ago, Cleo not only examined the rotting corpse after cutting it in half, but was remorselessly taunting Mr. Coy while he was in the carriage. Seeing him feel disgusted by a corpse in better shape than Coy fueled his suspicions even more. As their eyes met, Cleo looked away, coughing a couple of times as if to clear his throat.
Thud! Duncan banged his brown cane on the floor, the sound breaking the dull atmosphere like glass as Sebastian, Cleo and Russell looked at him.
In a deep, serious voice, Duncan said. "Well, here we come. The victim was Harlan Nevil, he was thirty years old, and he worked at the bar nearby. He was found by the neighbor about two hours ago. From the rigidity of the body and the coagulated blood it's plausible that he died between four and five in the morning."
"At first glance it looks like he shot himself." Cleo expressed, licking his lips.
Duncan lowered his eyebrows. "Yes, it seems to be a suicide akin to that of Mr. Coy, but in my opinion, it's too early to establish it."
Russell put his right hand in the pocket of his trousers. "We found the grimoire in his room. Some pages were torn out. Well, there's no doubt, Mr. Harlan killed himself after being possessed by an evil entity. Heh, guess that means the case is closed."
"Hmm... I'm not that convinced of your thesis at all." Sebastian was deep in thought, placing his index finger on his temple. "Let's reconstruct the dynamics of the case. On the night of May 10th, Mr. Coy and Mr. Harlan broke into Mr. Sammer's shop in West Borough, and stole the grimoires after closing time."
"After that, to avoid being tracked, they decide to split up. Mr. Coy died on the eleven of May in the cemetery by committing suicide, while Mr. Harlan died seven days later for the same reason." Cleo advocated Sebastian's point as he crossed his arms.
"And this is exactly where I'm not convinced." A thought flashed through Sebastian's mind as he asked Duncan and Russell. "Do you know if he attended any Church?"
"From the testimonies of the neighbors it seems that he usually went to the Cathedral of St. Selena." Duncan replied.
"So he was a believer of the Goddess of Storms, huh. If he was baptized by the Church, then the hypothesis of suicide doesn't hold up at all… Hmm, I didn't want to do it, but I'm forced to use the Sixth Sense." Sebastian closed his eyes, rubbing his eyelids gently.
Reopening them, the moon, the floor, the room, his comrades and everything around him became completely black and white. Turning around, he saw gray and red fluorescent footprints, giving off fluorescent flames which could be distinguished with his grayish vision.
"These are Duncan, Cleo, and Russell's footsteps." Sebastian saw bright fluorescent lights scattered all over the room.
However, knitting his forehead, he noticed something that put him off guard, something that could confirm his suspicions.
Transparent white footprints, which were differentiated with the red and gray footprints, were leading from the front door to the end of the hallway. The footprints were hard to see, and the only thing he'd notice was the fluorescent aura it gave off as if it was made so as not to be noticed.
"The footsteps go to the next room. So the killer is a Daredevil, huh… let's see if I can find any useful clues." Sebastian ignored the stares of his comrades and entered the first room on the right, leaving his cane leaning against the wall.
But as he entered, he found it in disarray. The bed was unmade, the desk and drawers were disarranged with yellowish sheets and clothes scattered around the room as if someone had nervously searched the room. The mirror hanging above the desk was shattered, the glittering fragments scattered around the desk.
"So, did you find something we missed?" Russell asked succinctly.
Sebastian ignored Russell's question, noticing something thin and long white glow faintly on the desk.
"It's a needle… if my guess is right, then that needle is meant to do what I'm thinking." Sebastian gently picked up the needle from the desk.
Bending down, he carefully opened the drawer next to the desk, his breathing stopped the moment he noticed something in the woody surface at the bottom.
A thin hole, faintly boosting fluorescent white, was etched into the bottom of the drawer. The hole was so small that it could easily have been overlooked during the investigation, but its faint glow caught Sebastian's attention.
"Thanks the Son I activated the Sixth Sense, otherwise I'd never noticed the needle and the hole in the bottom. I really struggle to see the white aura. I need to advance from Servant to Master as soon as possible if I want to improve my abilities further." Sebastian looked at Cleo, and in a serious tone said. "Cleo, come, I need your help!"
"W-what do thou want to make me do?" Cleo entered the room, joining Sebastian.
"I suspect there is a false bottom in this drawer. Now I'm going to lift it up, and you are going to remove it." Sebastian carefully placed the needle into the hole.
"Er, a false bottom? This is surprising." Russell gave a light chuckle, entering the room with Duncan. "Leave it to me. Cleo, you step aside."
Cleo nodded hesitantly and walked out of the room with his gaze downcast. Meanwhile, Russell approached Sebastian with one hand on his pocket and stood beside the drawer.
"What a big deal, if only you had looked more seriously, you could have noticed it too." Sebastian frowned at Russell as he pushed the needle deeper in the hole.
The fingers with which he held the needle trembled, making the process more arduous as beads of sweat dripped from his forehead. With all the strength he had in his slippery fingers, he arduously tried to lift the false bottom, the matter for him was of vital importance in order to conclude the investigations.
"Here we go, take it off, now!" Sebastian exclaimed.
Russell smiled, removing the false bottom, he threw it on the floor which made a deafening noise that resounded around the room.
Sebastian hastily stood up, and along with Cleo and Duncan, he approached the drawer, seeing something that could bring him closer to the solution as he placed the needle on top of the drawer.
Some sheets completely crumpled with the bottoms torn were inside the bottom, giving off the fluorescent white. Sebastian closed his eyes, rubbing his eyelids and then reopening them. The yellowish ruined documents, the room, and everything around him became colorful again. Sebastian sparingly took the sheets and briefly read the contents. Then, he froze on the spot like ice.
"What's wrong with you, Mr. Genius? You seem terrified." Duncan glanced at Sebastian.
"Mph, let's see what this filthy paper hides." Russell abruptly took the sheet from Sebastian's hand, his once curious expression turning to concern. "No… I refuse to believe it, it's impossible. What… why are there documents relating to the New Testament Century here!?"
"A New Testament document?" Cleo eyebrows furrowed upward, his fingers quivered.
The New Testament Century was the century preceding the Genesis Testament Century, which began after the Second Disaster, which had a major impact on the world. Although it had a rich history, it was incomplete, with some periods shrouded in mystery.
Sebastian was wondering why a document containing forbidden information was in Mr. Harlan's hands.
Russell opened his mouth, his body was unmovable. "If… if these documents are here, then this case is–"
"It's a full-blown murder case," Sebastian interrupted Russell, a vague smile forming on his lips. "It is clear the killer broke into Mr. Harlan's apartment, shot him without any hesitation, and then staged the whole suicide story just to throw us off track. It was impossible that he would have taken his own life because of the ritual if he had been baptized."
"Hm… makes sense. Since he was baptized, it is unlikely he would've died, unless he failed the Trials in the Doom World. But then, his body wouldn't be here. Therefore, making it look like a suicide would have led us to close the case." Duncan advocated Sebastian's guess.
"Right… oh, now that you make me think about it, Mr. Harlan's boss mentioned that shortly before he died, he was paranoid like he was afraid of something." Russell eyed the documents.
"Yeah, of course he was paranoid." Sebastian then looked at Cleo. "Perhaps he found out something he should not have discovered—making him an inconvenient witness."
"The killer had assurely been watching him, awaiting the opportunity to off him," Cleo licked his lips. "But the real question is… where did he get those documents?"
Sebastian's mind was slowly reconstructing the dynamics of the facts. Despite he understood that the case was a murder, and that Mr. Harlan was in possession of forbidden information, the question of Cleo only thickened both the case and his mind.
What information did the documents contain? How did Harlan get it? Who killed him? What connection did Harlan have to all this?
"The main characters are written in ancient Solomon. We must hand it to our organizations! If we're foolish and decipher it, then something horrible could happen to us!" Duncan forcibly took the ruined paper from Russell's hands. "Let's go to the headquarters for now."
Sebastian narrowed his eyes as he heard Duncan's words.
Cleo crossed his arms. "I beg pardon, but w-wouldn't it be wiser to first seek the Cathedral of the St. George, so we might receive a blessing from the bishops? A-after all, we are now at risk of death, and we might well become… monsters."
"You are right. Quick Russel, bring me the suitcase." Duncan exclaimed.
"Ugh, alright, I will go immediately, happy?" Russell shrugged at Duncan and Idly left the room.
"It's not good! We don't even know what the killer looked like. Mm, I have to go on a Dream Journey." Sebastian's mind was clouded with thoughts as he left the room and headed down the small hallway.
"Hey, you, Mr. Genius, do you seriously want to do this at such a time?" Duncan placed the pipe in the inside pocket of his coat, looking at Sebastian with a serious look.
As the air grew heavier with each second, Sebastian sat firmly on the floor beside Mr. Harlan's cadaver, holding his cane in his hand.
He looked at Duncan straight in the eye, and laughed softly. "I do not have a choice, if we want to close the case, I must see the killer's face. That way, we will have a way to track them down. Am I the best detective in the Republic or not?"
"Alright, but hurry up, you know perfectly the side effects." Duncan sighed, surrendering to Sebastian's decision.
Sebastian slowly closed his eyes, completely relaxing all the limbs of his body, he exuded a blue and white aura from his body. He breathed in and out constantly, letting the aura wash over him.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Sebastian was in Mr.Harlan's apartment.
He saw Harlan huddled down the hall, crying and sobbing like a baby. As he continued to sob, he occasionally muttered words.
"I still can't hear people talking when I do dream journeys, but I'm sure I will hear them as soon as I advance! For now I can only read lips." Thoughts flashed through Sebastian's mind as he approached him.
He narrowed his eyes, focusing on Harlan's lips while he continued to murmur.
"I found out too much! I found out too much! They'll kill me! I'm dead! I'm dead… So he actually read the documents. How did he get them?" Sebastian looked at him carefully.
As Harlan continued to say 'they're going to kill me' and 'I found out too much' over and over again, Sebastian turned his head back to him, seeing something that made him shudder.
Before him, a slender young person with thin features, wearing a long coat that brought a dead silence to the hallway and a golden mask covering the upper part of its face, walked through the door of the apartment, walking towards Harlan with a black revolver in its right hand.
"The revolver was theirs, huh... they must be very strong if I could barely see their footsteps with my Sixth Sense. They passed through the door… they were definitely a Sage or Master of the Unknown Path." Sebastian pulled his pocket watch out of his vest pocket. "It's 4:30 in the morning, so that's when he gets killed."
Sebastian watched Mr. Harlan screamed continuously whilst the golden-masked killer closed the distance, bending down, it coldly shot him in the temple, ending the heart-rending screams while it carefully placed the revolver in his left hand.
Whilst the moon bathed the apartment in crimson, Sebastian continued to watch the killer calmly enter the first room on the right, though it was in no hurry.
"Hmh, I'm sure that as expected, they will ransack the room in order to mislead us from their real intentions, while in reality, they're looking for the documents." Sebastian followed the killer into the room, keeping his concentration high.
Shortly after, he saw something that confirmed his theory. The killer opened the false bottom of the drawer, taking the documents inside, while the room, which was supposed to be completely in disarray, was perfectly clean and tidy.
"I knew it! The messy room was simply a trick. They probably did it because they knew that Mr. Harlan stole the grimoire from Mr. Sammer's shop, and they used the opportunity to fake the suicide caused by possession just like Mr. Coy." A satisfying smile formed on Sebastian's lips.
Around the dimly lit room, the masked killer tilted its head upwards, a sinister smile forming on its exposed lips as it leisurely held the documents in its hand.
Crash! Without thinking twice, it punched the ornate glass with its left hand, shattering it into many glittering pieces that fell onto the drawer and the floor.
"Alright, I think I've seen too much. I better go back since I can only use this ability for only a few minutes." The final scenario of the story settled in Sebastian's mind as he left the room.
Sitting composedly not far from Mr. Harlan's lifeless body, Sebastian closed his eyes, ignoring everything else, and eased his entire body.
※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※ ※
Sebastian's eyelids were gradually opening, his consciousness awakening.
He saw someone shaking his body, his vision was blurry. His mind was heavy, like a mysterious force that was crushing him at all cost. Sebastian closed his eyes, reopening them after a couple of seconds, he glimpsed Duncan touching his forehead with his hand.
"You don't seem to have a fever, luckily for you. So, anything interesting?" Duncan pulled his pipe out of his pocket, placing it in his lips.
"I have a couple of useful details. Mr. Harlan died at half past four in the morning by someone young. Sadly, I could not see their face, but I can assure you that they are very young." Sebastian fumbled to his feet. "The killer was wearing a red coat and a golden mask, and stood around 1.75 metres tall. They came through the door, used the gun Mr. Harlan was holding to kill him, and then they turned the next room upside down." He carefully straightened the wrinkled parts of his overcoat. "The killer must be of Master or Sage of the Unknown Path, and they also–"
"Before you start jumping to conclusions, I've got two questions." Duncan interrupted Sebastian, looking at Harlan's corpse. "First, why didn't the killer get rid of the documents? Second, where did that mask even come from?"
"Um... I was going to say that I still don't know why they did not get rid of those documents. As for the mask, well, it is rare to see it in Steatha, so I suspect that they got it in Aetheria." Sebastian walked towards the living room. "By the way, where are Cleo and Russell?"
Duncan lit his pipe. "They went to the headquarters to deliver the documents to Captain Gustaf. Heh, it's lucky we didn't turn into daemons."
"We should head there too, right?" Sebastian gripped his cane.
He had the general picture of the case, and how things had really happened. Despite the limitations of the Dream Journey, he managed to obtain much information about the killer's height and physical appearance, the precise time of the murder, and a glimpse of the killer's powers.
But there were some things that he thought deeply about. From Duncan's question, he couldn't understand why the killer left some important documents at the crime scene. Maybe they forgot—perhaps did it on purpose.
"And the mysteries don't even end there. My suspicions about Cleo only increased, first he not only licked his lips several times, but he also crossed his arms like he was nervous. And then I'm not convinced by that charlatan Russell." Thoughts raced through Sebastian's mind as he stiffed his gaze. "I hope I'm wrong, but from the way they were acting, they looked just like a couple."
While walking around, he felt someone touching his shoulder, easily breaking his chain of thoughts. Turning his head, he saw Duncan smile as he closed his right eye.
"Hey Mr. Genius, you did a great job as usual. Now we've enough information to investigate, and I'd say the ladies are definitely going to be after you." Duncan chuckled self-deprecatingly, though he was proud of Sebastian.
Sebastian gently removed Duncan's rough hand from his shoulder. Duncan looked at him with one eye as he smoked his pipe, keeping his gaze serious. While looking at Duncan, he narrowed his eyes, a smile curved across his cheeks, the living room was lit by the moon.
Then, Sebastian formed a gun with his index finger and thumb, pointing it at his temple. "You are very wrong, Duncan. It is not me who is smart, but the people around me who are fools."
That was the truth he thought, that he was sure of, denying all compliments and praise from the person in front of him.
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West Borough, at the Wraithcrow headquarters.
Luvenia Sherry entered the underground prison, lantern in her hand. She closed the rusty gate behind her.
The prison was weakly lit by the torches that were placed in each cell. The smooth floor was set in brown stone, and debris fell from the arched ceiling, creating a grotesque and suffocating atmosphere. The air was thick with the sharp smell of dampness and putridity.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Walking between the cells, Luvenia reached cell number six, seeing a man sitting in a corner of the closed cell.
He had brown skin that gave him the appearance of being from Duskfall Kingdom or the Western Continent, and his face and much of his body was completely covered by a black robe.
"You've finally arrived, I was bored here locked in the cell, just waiting for you." The man was writing on a goatskin sheet with a quill.
Luvenia giggled, and in a dirty voice she said. "I beg your pardon, my dear Mr. N, but you know, I'd to make sure that Mr. Gustaf didn't follow me. You understand me, right?"
"I see you're enjoying working with them quite a lot. So, how are plans going?" Mr. N replied, tilting his head.
"Everything is going as you planned." Luvenia declared artfully, her voice barely above the high-pitched whistle, echoing in the empty prison.