Chapter 174: Following the Trail (1/2)

“There are many names coming up in the documents. Most of them don’t seem to be relevant or wouldn’t talk without torture or a lot of bribe money. The question is if they have anything relevant on our cases even when they would eventually share it.” Trian said, the three of them sitting on a rather high building’s roof, looking over the vast capital.

“Other than the Golden Lily, which she only mentioned in the letter you got, there are a couple people she seemed to be looking for. One rogue who used the dark element apparently. Eve didn’t have a lot on him according to the documents we recovered but she did know a lot about his fighting style and magic. I think she fought him.” Trian continued explaining. Ilea had read a mention of that man as well when she skimmed through some of the papers.

“Brings us to the one the man seemed to be connected to. Man called Edwin. He was… do you know him?” Trian asked, stopping his monologue after Ilea had lifted her eyebrows.

“Maybe, but the name might be more common. Go on.” she replied and he nodded.

“Well apparently he’s been cleaning up in the capital. Killing dozens of less and more influential nobles. Eve wrote down that several investigators and hunters from the government were looking for him, as well as. Other parties.” he said. “Considering how many people the man killed in the past month, it’s only reasonable.”

“Why was Eve looking for him then? With all the rest we found I think she was here to do pretty much the same thing as that Edwin.” Ilea said.

“I think the same thing. Perhaps because she assumed the man knew something about her targets, or about this Golden Lily. And perhaps, with having a similar goal, she assumed he would cooperate with her, at least information wise.” Trian summarized.

“You think he’s a good bet then?” Kyrian asked.

“I’m not sure. I think this man she describes, the one she fought, to be a good bet as well. Most of the others are criminals in their own rights. Or at least as far as Eve considered it. My family would’ve held a couple of targets for her as well.” Trian said. “Well, no more.” he added.

“So we look for that Edwin?” Kyrian asked.

“We do. Got some locations of his last murders, though all are older than a week already. Maybe we’ll find something.” Trian said.

“Where investigators failed? I’m not so sure.” Ilea said but she still got up and switched to her armor. “Where to?”

“Somebody cleaned up rather well.” Ilea said as the three let themselves into the first noble mansion. “Speaking of, there are people downstairs. Maids according to the outfits.” she added, checking the rooms with her Sphere and Hunter’s Sight. There were some leftovers but it mostly showed because certain parts of some rooms were cleaned more thoroughly than others. If she didn’t know about the fate of the inhabitants, she wouldn’t have guessed anything to be amiss.

“I’ll talk to them.” Trian said and walked downstairs. They had entered through one of the windows which the man had opened after teleporting inside. Perhaps the guy they were looking for entered the same way.

“Don’t people put up any defenses around here? Seems like an assassin could just enter.” Ilea asked while walking around.

“Costs a lot of money to put up runes and enchantments. Or skill. Money that could be spent on other things. I guess the people here were taking a risk?” Kyrian said and shrugged. “Not like I understand the ins and outs.” he added, touching an expensive looking candlestick.

“Guess they wanted candlesticks more than defenses.” Ilea said as she touched the wall where she got a weird feeling from her Sphere. Moving the attached picture frame sideways opened up a hidden room.

“That’s more like it. Smells like death in here.” she said and walked in. The room had been cleaned as well but less thoroughly. Likely because it was hidden anyway. She could see Trian talking to the personnel downstairs as she took in the room. “Hmm…,” she sniffed and walked around. People had been killed in here, recently. Of that she was sure. There were some smells still lingering but she couldn’t really place any of them and they didn’t lead anywhere. Simply confined in the tight space. Trying to put them to memory, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

One of them reminded her of Eve. ‘Perhaps she had been here as well?’ she thought and felt her stomach tighten. Touching her armor above her belly, she smiled a little. It hurt again. “How did it go? There’s always another drake…,” she whispered to herself and left the room again. “Perhaps this is similar…,” she added.

“What’s similar?” Trian asked, having come up again. Ilea shook her head lightly.

“Found a hidden room? Anything in there?” the man asked and she shrugged.

“Can’t find anything other than smells. Nothing that leads anywhere.” Ilea said.

“Did you find out anything from the people?” Kyrian asked as he entered the room.

“One of them was rather talkative. Apparently liked the noble who was murdered quite a bit… or the man’s wife. Both had been killed. She said the government doesn’t care. They stopped the investigation after only an hour and sent in a cleaning team to cover everything up. The noble’s brohter has inherited the mansion and that seems to be that.” Trian explained.

“A dud then. Well we have a couple more places to go.” Ilea said.

“I doubt we’ll find anything useful there either. What we need is a fresher lead. I’ve got some names, investigators. Perhaps they’ll be of use.” Trian said.

“Another report came in sir.” the soldier said as he handed over the letter. This case really was going to be the end of his career.

“You can go.” Roose said as he looked through the contents before the paper shredded itself into thousands of small pieces and flew into the bin next to his desk.

“Yes Captain!” the soldier said and left his office, closing the door behind him.

Getting paid for all the cover ups was certainly good and had earned him enough to finally buy the estate he had wanted for the past five years. The scope of that murderer’s operation was getting out of hand though. A couple more complaints against his investigation and questions would be asked. Questions that would put him in a dangerous situation.

‘Why can’t they finally take him out?’ he continued to ask himself. Whoever was paying him was certainly rich and influential. More so than anybody he had worked with beforehand. Still somehow the murders didn’t stop. Just two days ago an estate of the Redleaf family had been the target. To think the man would go against families of that caliber was making him nervous. He might just be in a game too dangerous for him to play.

Calming himself, the man opened his drawer and got out the scotch and a glass he had stored in there. Pouring himself a glass, he fell back into his chair and relaxed. Another hour and he’d go for lunch. Perhaps a visit to the missus? Perhaps. The thought excited him and his worries were soon forgotten.

“Welcome back Sir Roose.” the maid bowed deeply, as she should. All of his servants knew well not to step out of line.

“Prepare a meal, stuffed duck with a white wine sauce. A regular side dish in addition. I’ll be up in an hour.” captain Roose said as he deactivated the trap rune to the cellar. No mana was used.

“What the?” he asked and activated his spells. Had somebody broken in? Or was it one of his servants again? Odan that old geezer, he really ought to finally take care of the man.

Walking downstairs he activated the magical lights and shouted into the cellar. “Is anybody there?!”

The trap runes had failed four times already in the past two years, not out of the ordinary. He didn’t remember when he had charged it last. Still it was the least to be cautious. Coming to the bottom of the stairs, Roose looked to the right and found the chains opened, his dear wife sobbing in the hands of a dark haired woman.

“You dare touch her!” he shouted. “Filthy bitch!” he added but stopped, unsure of the encounter after identifying the intruder.

[Warrior – lvl ??]