Chapter 61: Investigations and Assassinations(5)

It was the end of January now. I had gotten two jobs from Erhtaph Ragiu since that last assassination, both suspects required investigation, and both turned out to be innocent. 

While that did make the jobs boring, I suppose it's a good thing...if every suspect turned out to be a spy, then it would mean that a ton of intel had already been leaked. I hadn't taken Misen along for those jobs, I wasn't confident that he could stay silent while sneaking around inside a person's house. Also because, you know...I didn't like him. 

Today, we would be getting a replacement for our theory session...Professor Rebo Tolsh had retired out of the blue, well technically he was called on as a permanent consultant to the royals thanks to his vast knowledge, so they had found someone to take his place. 

"Hope the new instructor is at least a little bit less...boring than Professor Tolsh was," Said Rai hopefully. 

"Agreed...his words made me sleepier than even weed does," Concurred Azyl. 

"You two are being dramatic-," Began Key. 

"No, we're not! If anything, we're understating how boring he is, Key-Key! Right, Kuro?" 

"S-stop calling m-me that!" 

"Huh, wha-? What was the question?" I asked, as I let out a yawn. 

I wasn't that sleepy or anything, just a bit bored.

The door then opened and Instructor Tabbs walked in with a woman...she looked familiar. 

Where do I know her from? 

"Students, may I have your attention? Good, it looks like everyone is here...allow me to introduce your new theory class teacher, Professor Kalbowdi Payse."

...Payse? 

My eyes widened as I finally recognized her...she was the wife of the second guy I'd assassinated during my investigations. 

She was of average height and build, appeared to be in her mid-thirties, and had long blonde hair grown over her left shoulder, with light brown eyes. No noticeable Anima mutations. 

As she began introducing herself and gave a small generic speech about stuff like 'I look forward to teaching all of you' and 'I hope we can all get along' and whatnot, I found myself averting my gaze. 

Not gonna lie, this was a little...conflicting. 

... 

I was pretty relieved when the session finally ended, slipping out of the classroom immediately. As I made my way to the training hall for the combat training session, I realized that I had left my bag containing my battle gear in the classroom. 

So I hurried back, and as I opened the door...crashed into Professor Payse. 

Crap...maybe I should have waited a minute or two. 

"Oh, uh...excuse me-," I apologized, as I helped her back up. 

"You are...Kuro Black, correct?"

"...yeah...how do you-?" 

"Oh, my apologies. You see...I am a former citizen of Goldway, and I understand that you were a big reason why some of us were able to escape in time. I just wanted to express my gratitude...if it wasn't for you, my family and I would have perished that day."

I felt bad...she was thanking her husband's killer. 

"O-oh, um...d-don't mention it. And b-besides, all I did was act on a few suspicions, and plenty of people besides me played crucial-." 

"Even so, I would like to thank you. I'm so grateful that my children are still alive. Do not hesitate to let me know if there is anything I can do to repay you."

"I-it's fine, really!" 

"I must insist."

This was seriously messed up...if only she knew...

"I really don't need anything, but if really insist, then...oh, uh...I know, how about you make the written exams this year a bit easier?" 

"Hm, that might be a little bit unethical, but...I shall see what I can do. I suppose I ought to let you go before you are late for your next session. Oh, if you do not mind me asking...you seemed to avert your gaze whenever I would look in this direction during my lecture in class...," She inquired curiously. 

My heart skipped a beat for a sec, in the panicky kind of way. 

No, calm down...she doesn't seem suspicious of me at all...at any rate, I doubted that she was under the assumption that the cause of her husband's death had been murder at all. 

"Oh, that's...that's because I find it hard to pay attention during theory classes, and the idea of being called on to answer a question or something kinda terrifies me," I explained, putting on a sheepish grin. 

Would she buy that? 

"Ah, I see...very well, I shall try to make my lectures more interesting in that case. This is useful feedback, I can't teach efficiently if my methods are boring my students..."

As she began muttering to herself, I grabbed my bag and left after excusing myself. 

That had been...uncomfortable, to say the least. 

Sorry, lady, but you're really directing your gratitude at the wrong person...I'm the one who killed your husband. 

... 

Combat training came and went, and after that was the Elemental Magic session. 

As the session began, Misen cleared his throat. Oh, looks like his father had another job for me. 

We had both agreed that we wouldn't want anyone at the Academy to see us talking to each other, so we had settled on a signal for when he was supposed to inform me of a new job, specifically by him clearing his throat a certain way.

Once classes were done for the day, I made my way to the mansion. 

... 

... 

"As you know, some of the Goldway citizens who found refuge here include advisors and nobles who were heavily involved in royal matters and they have been integrated into our own royal council as consultants and advisors. I had made a list of all the names of the Goldway citizens who had come here and were registered as citizens of the Rustlands. I had some of the former Goldway advisors look through the names to see if there were any they did not recognize. There was one that not a single one of them recognized...his name is Potet Grestigh. Here is the information I have on him. I apologize for how lacking it is."

It wasn't a lot...besides his address, name and a description of his appearance, there really wasn't anything informative about him. 

"No, all I really needed was his address, anyway. I consider any other information as a bonus."

"As always, you are free to act as you wish in your investigation. I believe that your results thus far have been sufficient evidence to prove your competence and reliability."

"Oh, uh...thanks. Tomorrow's the start of the weekend, so I'll have this done by Tuesday at the latest. If there's nothing else...I'm off."

... 

... 

I spent two nights observing my new target and familiarizing myself with the layout of his place...actually, the latter didn't take too long, he lived in a one bedroom apartment.

He didn't do anything particularly suspicious, but he was definitely a bit off. There was something kinda...deranged about him. Even if his actions weren't suspicious, his demeanor gave me plenty of reason to suspect him. 

It was the third night of investigating him, and I was done observing. Honestly, one night would have been plenty, but I wanted to make sure, better safe than sorry and what not. 

It was a slightly warm night, so he had left his window open as he went to sleep...I flung a tranquilizer needle at his sleeping figure through the open window, before stealthily sneaking in through it. 

His torso had a long vertical scar from the base of his neck to just above his waist. Whatever caused that must have been painful. 

I quietly walking over to his desk and opened the drawers. They were empty. Wait, hold on...the bottom drawer seems a bit more shallow than the ones above it...bingo! It had a false bottom. And inside...was a ring with a curved X symbol on it. 

"What do you know...looks like I've caught a big fish tonight," I remarked, as I continued searching. 

He did have a few scrolls with some information written in them, but...they were mostly fairly trivial, nothing too useful. Well, unlike the last guy who turned out to be a spy, this one wasn't in a position where he'd have access to sensitive information, in fact he was currently unemployed. 

And I couldn't find any information on The Valaque Empire either...I guess that makes sense, why would a spy have information on the people whose side he was on. 

Looks like the only way I'll be gaining any further intel is if I interrogate him. 

As I finished searching the room, I used my wire to tie him to a chair, and then waited for the tranquilizer to wear off, activating a barrier around us. I had gotten a noise-canceling barrier, creating a soundproof space where I could be as loud as I wanted. 

He soon woke up, looking confusing as he tried to move. He didn't panic though, he was eerily relaxed. 

"Alright, let's cut to the chase. You can either die an excruciatingly painful death by defying me, or you could answer all my questions and die a quick, painless death. It's your call," I stated coldly, as I suppressed my emotions to get into my calculating, logical state of mind. 

"Oh...so I was being watched. Heh...hehehe...what do you know, this country is more competent that we gave it credit for," He remarked, a wide amused grin spreading out on his face as he began laughing. 

Great, he's a total psycho...this was going to be tough. 

"So...are you going to answer my questions?" 

"Do your worst, kid! Oh, hold on...dressed all in black, you must be the one who Lords Hacte Routh and Rion Xester mentioned...how interesting!" 

He was unlikely to say anything of importance even if I tortured him all night. 

"Well, if you aren't going to talk...then I guess you'll have to die."

"Hold on, let me ask you something...do you know what this is?" He inquired, sticking out his tongue...it had a metal piercing in the middle. 

"I'll humor you...what is that supposed to be?" I responded with disinterest, as I drew out my blade. 

"Heh...hehehe...it's a special metal alloy created by one of my colleagues in the Lapdog Tier...I believe you are familiar with it."

"Huh, what are you- wait, the color of that metal...its the same as the shackles in that cave...made by that crazy bitch Dista."

Crap, I figured it out too late! 

"That's right, my Mana is blocked off right now! Wanna know why? Because the activation Spell Scroll for the Blood Crystal in my torso is also inside my body!" He exclaimed triumphantly, after biting the metal piercing and breaking it off between his teeth, "My orders were clear, if I'm compromised, then raise some hell and die!" 

As blood began pouring out of his tongue, a large, familiar red glow began emanating from his chest. A Blood Crystal, and a fairly big one at that. 

"Now, die-!" 

"Store," I interrupted, trapping him inside my Store and Extract spell, bomb and all, let out an exasperated sigh of relief. 

...okay, now what? I had a body that was about to explode, how do I dispose of it safely, out of the sight and hearing range of anyone else? 

... 

In the end, I snuck out the walls, headed for the Goblin territory, and then activated the Extract scroll as I simultaneously flung it into the air as high as I could.

It brought out the man in mid-air, a look of surprise and confusion on his face, before the red glow in his chest grew blindingly bright. 

A deafening explosion erupted above me, so bright that it almost seemed like day time, even though it was more than a couple of hours past midnight. 

...I'm gonna need to ask Elolina to make me a new Extract scroll. 

Oh, crap...how do I explain that I illegally snuck out of the walls to get rid of the body when I report the result of this job? I couldn't leave out the fact that he had a Blood Crystal explosion in him, there might be others like him in that regard. And he would definitely want an explanation on how I got rid of the body and explosion. 

... 

In the end, I decided to go with the explanation that I had no other options, so I opted to go outside to get rid of the explosion safely. I mean, it definitely wasn't a lie. 

Thankfully, he bought that...of course, I left out the part where I sneak out of the walls on a regular basis. I decided to add... 

"On that note...the Rustlands walls are really easy to sneak in and out through at night, anyway who's half decent at climbing would have no trouble sneaking in or out through it," I informed him. 

After all, I would know. 

"I never considered that...do you have any solutions to propose?"

"Uh, well it's not really my area of expertise or anything, but...maybe make the walls surface smoother with cement or something? It's so uneven and jagged, more like a cliff than a wall, it's way too easy to climb as it is."

I should probably try to reduce my own sneaking out as well, it's really not worth the risk...and besides, I was getting used to training in the training rooms at the Academy with Persia. 

Anyway, after I wrapped up my report...it was another mission complete. 

... 

... 

A week or so into February, a certain rumor began spreading around the area... 

...A serial killer was roaming around. 

Apparently, some young women had been murdered in their sleep. And while it was all just rumors, there was a clear tension and sense of unease amongst the citizens. It was a weekend today, and as I began planning how to spend the day by lazing around, someone knocked on my door. 

It was Misen. 

"Ugh, what are you doing here-?" 

"It's about the rumors floating around, this is serious. Let's go."

"Yeah, alright...huh, you're not even being a dick right now, but looking at you is still putting me in a pretty bad mood."

"Eat it, you little shit."

...

"I am sure you have heard the rumors that are currently being whispered amongst the population. Over the past two weeks, we have had six young women found murdered in their sleep. They were gagged and mutilated horrifically. Needless to say...we must put a stop to this as soon as possible. The royals have made efforts to keep these murders under wraps until the killer is caught, however as you know, the rumors are already spreading like wildfire. That said, we do not have any leads on a potential suspect," Explained Erhtaph, summarizing the situation. 

"I don't think that's a problem...most serial killers aren't indiscriminate, they tend to follow a pattern or trademark and have preferences over how they kill. For instance, this one only goes after young women who live alone. I'd like the locations of each of the murders, and the dates and estimated times of death for each...if we compile those two factors, we might discover the pattern, and be able to narrow down and predict where he'll try to strike next. Also, if possible, a list of the young women who live alone in the western side of the Rustlands...so far, all six incidents have happened here in the west side, right?"

"Yes, that is correct. I have already marked the spots on a map where the murders took place. I also have the date of each one written down. I shall try to gather a list of women in the west area of the country who fit the description of the killer's preferred type of victim, I should be able to have it ready by tomorrow or the day after at the latest."

"Alright, sounds good. Let me know when you have it ready." 

... 

... 

Two nights later, I was staking out an apartment building. 

Using the information Erhtaph had gathered, I had been able to narrow it down to three potential victims, and was staking out one of them. Misen was watching one of the other two. We just had to hope that the killer wouldn't target the unguarded one. We had a two in three chance of catching him. 

Based on the information Erhtaph had gathered, there were eight more potential victims in this area, and by connecting the spots on the map, I could see a pattern that this killer was following. If I had to guess, he must have been carefully and thoroughly planning out this killing spree for quite some time. 

His attacks took place every two and three nights, as in he would murder someone, then again in two nights, then again in three nights, and then after two nights again. 

According to Erhtaph, the coroner had concluded that the victims had died sometime around 2 or 3 AM. It was a little past midnight right now. 

An hour passed by with nothing happening...damn it, I must have picked the wrong place to guard. Maybe I should change my mark to the third, unguarded spot and head there? 

No, I can't just- my thoughts were interrupted as a large flash of lightning erupted a few hundred meters to my left. 

That was...where Misen was keeping guard! The killer must have shown up there. 

I activated Lightning Boost and extracted five percent Karma, rushing over there as fast as I could.

I arrived, to see Misen standing in the middle of the street with a frustrated look on his face. 

"Hey, what happened?" 

"Tch...I thought I had him, but he got away through the alleyways. The bastard uses Propulsion and was ridiculously fast. He was wearing a mask, so I couldn't see his face. Damn it."

It would be pointless and a little unfair to blame him for this, and besides...we probably shouldn't stand out here in the open like this. 

"Well, no point crying over spilt milk. Let's get out of here before someone sees us, your lightning blast was really loud."

We had prevented another victim for now, but...the target got away. 

_____________________________

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