Chapter 69: 69: The new case [pt1]

Amane tried to tell Charlie with her eyes that she was not welcome here. Her glare was pure and filled with irritation when she looked at the divine leader. But Charlie was stubborn as well and decided her best to look away.In the end, Amane got the message Charlie was trying to convey to her.

"Lady Suzuki, is there a particular reason you are here today? I thought it was a busy time for the divine guild?"

That was what Amane had heard from her subordinates. And Amane did trust her subordinate's ability to collect news and other gossip.

"Aww, were you keeping an eye on me, Yoko? That is so adorable of you to do. But next time, you can just ask me to tell you if you want to know something about me. Do you want to know my underwear size? What else I am packing down there? I will have you know that I am big and-"

Amane quickly shits Charlie's mouth by placing a hand on it. There were some things you could say in public and then there were many you should never say out loud.

But it seemed as if the divine leader's moral compass and other senses were already far beyond that point.

Charlie Suzuki did not seem to care if her words were heard by others or not. And that presented Amane with the worst thing she could fall victim to - second-hand embarrassment.

"Yoko, I heard that we had guests so I…. Oh, it is only you."

Sakura quickly came down as well. She looked calm and pretty at first, but as soon as her eyes landed on Lady Suzuki, all the tenderness and affection in her action blended away to give rise to indifference.

"It is nice to see you again as well Sakura. How were your past few days? I know mine were good but lonely. But now I have company again."

Sakura gritted her teeth as she looked at the divine leader.

If it were up to her, she would never want to meet Lady Suzuki again. She was an infuriating human being who did not know what moderation and manners were. She did as she wanted to and caused problems for everyone else.

Even now she was being a problem and making Yoko uncomfortable. But Charlie Suzuki did not seem to care about that at all.

"I was going to have a quick look and then leave you all alone. But now I see that my presence is required down here more than ever. I shall entertain you, Lady Suzuki, so why don't you let my cousin go and do her thing?"

Sakura purposed and sat down in front of Charlie Suzuki. It forced Amane out of the direct line of contact from where Charlie sat.

But Charlie just wiggled and changed her position. It was an insult to Sakura but she did not say anything to the divine leader.

She just seethed in her seat and watched it all happen. Time for revenge would come later and Sakura would make sure it happened.

"There is no need to force yourself to be here, little Sakura. I can see your desire to run out and do something else. So why do not you run out now and let the adults do what they need to."

For some reason, Yoko tensed up beside Sakura. There seemed to be no apparent reason for that action but Sakura did not like it.

In the end, she could only summarize that the reason for this sudden action was Yoko's uncomfortable feelings toward Lady Suzuki.

'This foolish female thinks she will get everything just because she is the divine leader. She needs to learn her place in life.'

Sakura's thoughts were destructive and filled with jealousy as well. She hated the way the divine leader was considering her as a child.

"Lady Suzuki might not know it, but my cousin Yoko is a minor as well. It is only because of circumstances that she had to take over our family. So, Lady Suzuki should be careful with her interest or people would misunderstand her intentions."

Had Sakura said these words in a simpler sense, they would turn out like this - get away from my cousin, you pedo. But of course, Sakura could not utter those words to the divine leader.

So, she had to improvise a little to force those words out.

"Oh, your *cousin* is a minor, huh? I see. But still, I like her so I will not force myself to back down from liking her."

Lady Charlie was as shameless as always. Sakura had given her so many hints but she refused to take them anyway.

Sakura was close to losing it and just having a battle with Lady Charlie when Yoko stepped in between them. Yoko looked tired and her expression was worn out.

But despite this, she seemed calm and rational.

"Alright, you both need to calm down now. I am sure Lady Suzuki is here for some urgent work and not to play around. I would be sorely disappointed if that were to be the case."

Sakura watched as Lady Suzuki flinched at Yoko's words. But her expression was still calm and rational.

It seemed like there was a reason for Lady Suzuki to be here.

"Well, as much as I would like to deny your words and say that I am here solely to have fun, that is not the case today. I need your help, Lady Tsurugi, with a case of mine. Here, has a look through this file." S~eaʀᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Amane took the offered file and quickly looked through it.

It showed some very disturbing pictures of people being mauled by animals. There were huge claw and bite marks on the dead bodies as well as residual mana. It did not bode well for the on-lookers.

"Ugh, what the hell is this? Aren't these cases related to animal attacks? You should go to the animal center if you want to take care of this problem and not come here."

Sakura watched the images as well and they were disturbing enough to make her look away.

In her haste to judge the call, Sakura was not able to notice the obvious signs of this being a beast attack. She was just looking at the smaller picture and not the whole situation.

"Hmm, they do look like animal attacks at first glance, but there are too many objectionable things for it to be an animal attack. Some beast would have done this for sure." Stay updated via M V L

Amane was surprised when she did not immediately recognize the beast in question.

She had seen her fair share of beat attacks back in her time so recognizing unique marks and patterns should have come easy to her.

But that was the problem. There were unique patterns. Too many unique patterns for it to be a single beast.

"How sure are we that this was done by a single beast? From what I can tell, the signs point toward more than 4 beasts in question."

Amane finally let the binder rest once she was done going through it. She had marked everything of suspicion she saw in that image.

"So that is what you think as well, right? I had some other people look through these images and they noticed the same thing. But our only witness only recalled seeing one beast and our sensors also picked up one radiation."

Amane was surprised to hear those words. Things just did not make sense to her on a professional level.

"Lady Yoko, what do you say? Isn't this case interesting? Do you want to join the investigation team for this case?"

Charlie Suzuki's offer was tempting. This case was tugging at Amane's interests and begging for her to participate in it.

But if she did, then the carefree and stress-free life she was thinking of would not be possible for her. Amane needed to think carefully and decide.

Her curiosity or her future peace. Which one she wanted more and why.

"Lady Yoko, I know what you are thinking about. But maybe this will change your mind. This was a residual that was found at one of the sites."

Amane looked at the picture and her eyes indeed.

She was seeing the signs of the beast but her eyes could not believe what she was seeing.

"This is a…"

"Yeah, it is the blood of a human. But this blood is contaminated by bestial essence turning it a purple shade. So, are you still not interested?"

Had it been any other situation, Amane would still have found the courage to say 'yes.' But this one was something that even Amane could not ignore.

'There is just one bastard crazy enough to try and cause such problems. Ugh, I cannot leave this situation be as it is.'

"Fine, I will participate in this investigation. But I want to take charge and I want authority as well. If you agree to give them to me, then I will join you."