Volume 2 Chapter 1 (1/2)
A man known simply as the Inspector had a private office on the second floor of Scotland Yard, London's metropolitan police department
The light of h theand it washed over aby the
He was the Inspector
He wore a brown three-piece suit and the dandy-colored collar was perfectly stiff, so he looked like an elite businessman from the real world He would have looked perfectly at home in a modernized office district
But regardless of how he looked, he could not be human if he lived in London
Even so, no one could say anything le person in London knew his identity No one knew his race, his name, or even his initials They only knew he had a so and Overlossing
He dear into his ar suddenly lit, so it seehter Overlossed somewhere
He exhaled soray-streaked moustache
He brushed a hand through his hair, sat on the large work desk by the , and crossed his legs in a calculated fashi+on The action created a sharp noise that refused to be ignored
After that, he glanced toward the wall and his reflection in a tall, narrow mirror
”Yes”
He posed as if testing hihtly adjusted his tie
”The coloring is wonderful Is this what they call Italian quality? No, or is this thanks to my own quality?”
He breathed a satisfied sigh and seemed to be in an excellent mood
”Yes, truly a man of the heavens”
But as soon as he said that…
”What are you doing, idiot?”
He turned toward the blunt tone one would expect of an older sister
A unifore door into the office She had the well-for the Inspector a look of pity
He conored the look and ht
”Oh? Fir, I thought you were off duty today What do you need?”
”C'mon, now Everyone was called in because of theIsn't that why you're here, too?”
Fir sighed and swept back her high ponytail Her cyan hair darkened toward the front and it gently swayed behind her Her eyes remained on the Inspector
”So don't ask what I need It's my job to help you when you have a job, so try to act more like my boss”
”Don't blame me A capable man is always busy And as you work for me, you are a capable secretary who-…”
”Yes, yes, yes Quit pretending to be a dandy gentleot a lot of paperwork today”
”I can read paperhile I stand”
”You need to sign it,” she snapped back
When she placed the paperwork on the desk, it thudded down like a piece of luggage
”You want raph that badly? Well, if you insist”
”I don't want it This is just part of the job”
”What an unpleasant young girl”
The Inspector reluctantly sat in his seat and placed the cigar in the ashtray
He lightly cleared his throat, rested his elbow on the desk, used so off
”Now, then Fir, what kind of case is this one?”
”If you want to knohat this job is about, just read the paperwork”
He frohen he saw her point at the paperwork on the desk
”Are you really my secretary?”
”I do sometimes wish I wasn't”
”A secretary needs to at least summarize all this paperwork!”
”This is the su it pile up this much”
”Oh, c'mon”
”Aren't you supposed to live as the quintessential dandy? So get to work”
”Wait, Fir Listen”
The Inspector raised a finger at the perfect angle and with the perfect ti
”You keep talking about work, but I deal with trouble, not work!”
”Trouble? All you ever do is cause that”
”When have I ever caused any trouble!?”
”Well… Okay, you can start by signing this permit”
”Don't ignore me!”
Without looking up at the Inspector, Fir spread out a few pieces of paperwork on the desk
”Look, even a monkey can do this”
”You think I am on the level of a monkey, don't you?”
”Well, of course I do”
”I'll prove you wrong one of these days,” he grumbled
He pulled a quill froning the papers He h the papers placed before him at a decent pace
He was quite fast
As his hand flipped though the paperwork, Fir watched to ht
At the fifth, sixth, or seventh page, she quickly snatched the cigar froainst his hand
It produced a quiet sizzling sound for a
”Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot! Fir! What did I do to deserve that!?”
”Your signature is tooto think it's just an ink stain!”
”My signature always looks like this!”
”Liar I've been watching and every last one of them is different”
”I like to be original”
”Shut up! Stopup excuses!”
After shouting, Fir's shoulders drooped She could not let herself get so worked up
”I always end up Altering so quickly when I'm around you”
”I like it better when you're the Siamese cat”
”My claws are sharper that way, you know?”
She used some Verbal Self Control
He Overlossed the burn on his hand, ignored it, and began signing again This time, he did it properly His pace had dropped, but it was still acceptable
After three, four, or five, the nuits and continued to grow The quill moved back and forth between the papers and the ink pot
Silence fell over them
However, it was broken by a light knock on the office door
The Inspector gave so
…I'm busy, so have them come back later
Fir nodded in understanding
”Come in”
The Inspector bared his teeth and glared up at her as the door opened
A slender forh the cracked-open door on unsteady feet
”Excuse me It's Klausl”
She was a girl from the main office
She entered the private office with her eyes closed and bowed Her long blonde hair spilled from the shoulders of her black apron skirt and over her chest
The Inspector watched as she frantically fixed her hair
”What do you need, Klausl?”
”Oh, right U a flood of complaints about late paperwork and we don't knohat to do”
Fir glared at him
”See? Your laziness is causing trouble for Klau”
”You don't have to talk to me like I'm a child,” he complained
”U?” asked Klausl
”There's always so with this monkey”
She showed no mercy
”I am not a monkey!”
”Not genetically, maybe But you're about as capable as one”
Klausl tilted her head with her eyes still closed, so the Inspector spoke to her
”This is between the two of us, so do not worry about it”
She replied with a pure smile
”Understood You can rest easy because I will not worry about it in the slightest”
”I'd…kind of like it if you worried a little bit, though”
Fir casually waved a hand toward Klausl's confused look
”You can ignore what this…thing says, Klau Any news on the murder case?”
”Yes,” she immediately replied ”A lot is still unknown about it The paperwork you were given before has the infor situation Currently, we have called in Amon, the one who first reported the murders”
That naed the atmosphere in the room
It was the Inspector and Fir who caused that drop in the room's temperature
”Again?” muttered the man
Fir turned her back on that word and naturally looked toward Klausl
”Don't say that, Inspector It isn't like he was the killer”
”Do you know him?” asked Klausl
”Back when I lived on the streets as the leader of a group of Urban Heroes, he led our combat unit”
Fir's tone was emotionless as she talked about her childhood
The Inspector gave a deep nod and faced straight forward
”And I arrested him once” He took a breath ”He was still on probation I believe”
”Yes, one of the victims was a Mr Jonathan Holland who had taken him in Amon has an alibi and it has been proven that he was not the murderer”
At that point, Klausl tilted her head
”What kind of person is A him breakfast”
Fir was the one to answer She crossed her arms and chose her words carefully
”Are you familiar with the idea of a death wish?”
”No, I'm not”
”There once was a guy who always charged head-first and alone into fights and battles he had no chance of winning NoHe probably wanted to burn out and die”
”The one ould always seek out a place to die like that is Death Wish Amon He's a des”
After some hesitation, she summed up her description
”He's a pitiable guy”
Ahtmares had a flavor
It was an unpleasant flavor It was raw like blood or like boiling seawater
Whenever he had a nightmare, that flavor would endlessly seep into his mouth, his nostrils, and every last pore on his body
It felt like sinking into a led, there was nothing he could do He could not fight it
He knew this because he had had the sa
He was having it again now
In the drea child in a stone room However, that child was not alone He ith a wo below a stone table
The mother held hi
”Not again”
His mind was calm in the dream and his mind's quiet words sounded exhausted
This was entirely noret used to it
The dream continued on
The young child turned his gaze in fear
His eyes were staring at soure stood in the doorway to the room
The figure had wings, but they were not the wings of a des
In other words, this was an angel
An angel was norht, but the spear in his hand, the ars were dyed crimson
The young child let out a sel
At the sael raised the spear in both hands and slowly entered the room
”Stay away!”
Amon shouted as he watched the dream play out, but his voice was Overlossed by the presence of the nightnored
The arel's feet clanked as he stepped on the stone floor It was a cold sound
The el with her back to her fearful child The hunter and prey had already confirmed each other's presences
The young child clung to his mother's back and trembled
Amon kneas useless, but he tried to run into the scene
He panicked and shouted again
”Run away! Hurry! Don't try to protect me!”
But his mind's pleas did not reach her
The angel pulled back his spear and his face was filled with the glee of taking down his prey Seeing that kind of look for the first ti child to the point of tears
When scared, children would cry
That voice stopped the angel and his gaze turned directly toward the young child
The angel knocked the mother out of the ith the shaft of the spear The wo out and the angel shouted vulgar words at her before facing the child again
He was planning to kill the crying child first Amon knehat happened next and he knew there was no way for him to stop it
”Stop! I don't want to see this!”
He tried to close his eyes, but his mind continued to show it to him
The spear ht toward the center of the child's forehead The child stopped crying and stared straight at the glint of the co spear tip
And…
”Stay away!”
Just as A child was knocked out of the way
His e of the past
The spear ed into the mother that moved in front of him
The dream was silent, but he could swear he heard the low sound offlesh
The spear passed diagonally from her back and out her stomach and the muddy dark red blood of a demon spilled to the floor
The young child endured the pain of falling to the floor and got up His gaze naturally reached the stabbedposition
The mother's lips clearly called Amon's name
The child did not understand any of as happening, but he answered her voice with a small nod
She must have been satisfied because she let out a quick breath and smiled
It was a smile of relief
”Why are you s?”
The mother did not answer his mind's question and she slowly collapsed the rest of the way to the floor She continued s all the while
”Hey!”
The child hesitantly started toward his mother, but he stopped
But not because the angel that had stabbed his ht beyond the angel and in the room's entranceway
It was a white light and it had a great presence as if it had solidified
The angel ht's presence because he quickly turned, kneeled, and set his spear doith the tip pointed backwards This was how a retainer greeted his lord