"Egret District."
After passing through a stretch of low, rundown houses, Buck brought
"A small number of squatters have taken up residence here, but they're all out hustling during the day, so you won't see a soul," Buck said, pointing at the teetering walls.
After rounding several mud huts on the verge of collapse, Heidi spotted the crime scene from the photograph—stagnant sewage everywhere, swarms of flies, and a stench that hit them full in the face.
"Those squatters don't have a single thought about keeping their surroundings clean. The sewer entrance is right nearby, and still they just toss their garbage everywhere," Buck cursed. Even he, a detective who'd been all over the city, couldn't help but wrinkle his nose—let alone an Archanist like Ms. Heidi from the Atomic Research Institute!
Though Heidi's area of expertise wasn't this kind of work, the mandatory assignments from the Arcane Magic Council had ensured she never lacked adventuring experience. Compared to the lairs of ogres, trolls, and other monsters, this place was practically as clean and pleasant as a noble lady's garden. So she walked over to the corner without so much as a frown, casting divination and necromantic spells one after another to search for clues.
"Yesterday's heavy rain destroyed a lot of the traces…" Heidi confirmed her suspicions from the arcane feedback.
Buck looked at her expectantly. "Yes, that's exactly the problem we've been facing. That's why we reached out to the Council for help. Do you have any ideas?"
He hadn't used the full name "Arcane Magic Council," signaling that he was a standard pro-magic partisan.
At the solemn crime scene, Heidi was neither careless nor playful. With great solemnity, she produced the bloody flesh and remains of the victim and cast a fifth-circle Astrology spell—the "Kindred Tracking Spell."
The mass of flesh and blood in her hand suddenly melted, dripping onto the ground one drop at a time. Drawn by a mysterious force, each drop pointed toward something in the distance.
"This was originally only able to locate living creatures, but after modifications, as long as it's within a certain time frame, it can also be used to track the 'trail' of the deceased. As long as the killer is still carrying the internal organs, 'it' will lead us straight to them." Heidi's left hand seemed to have a layer of blood crawling across its surface.
Buck stared at this extraordinary and wondrous magic with awe, once again solidifying his resolve to send his son to the General Education School for basic arcane education.
This time, it was Heidi leading Buck. The two wove through the Egret District, tracking the killer's trail.
After a while, upon reaching a fork in the road, the blood in Heidi's hand abruptly stopped boiling and writhing. As if its last spark of life had been extinguished, it faded from dark red and gave off the smell of rot.
"Ma'am, what's wrong?" Buck asked with concern.
Heidi surveyed the surroundings, her doll-like face wearing an extremely grave expression. "The connection between the 'kindreds' has been deliberately severed. That would require sufficient Arcane Magic, Divine Arts, or knightly strength to accomplish."
"What?" Buck was quite astonished. A serial murder targeting civilians—with official mages or noble knights involved? What could they possibly be after?
Heidi wrinkled her nose. "I asked before why the killers didn't destroy the bodies. Now it seems it's not that they lacked the ability—they have other purposes."
"Other purposes?" Though Buck had access to many classified files, compared to a veteran mage like Heidi, he still lacked "common knowledge."
Heidi glanced around and said casually, "In general, this kind of bizarre situation is connected to evil arcane rituals or cults. When they use the 'internal organs,' they insist that the original corpse still exists…"
"Then I'll submit your conclusions, ma'am." Buck was starting to want to back out. Getting entangled in something like this was beyond what a detective with only High-level Knight Squire strength could handle. Better to let the knights in the upper echelons of the Police Bureau deal with it, or bring in a high-level mage.
He looked at the fork in the road—one path led out of the city, the other to the other side of the Egret District. "The killers must have fled the city. Now it'll be hard to pinpoint their trail."
Heidi, however, was quite excited. It was a rare opportunity to encounter an evil arcane ritual or cultists. Eagerly, she produced an arcane crystal ball and said with a show of seriousness, "I can't be sure yet. Let me confirm once more."
In Lontart, she wasn't too worried about encountering enemies she couldn't handle. Any battle exceeding a certain level of intensity would be detected by the lords guarding the Nexer Palace and the Elemental Will headquarters.
The transparent crystal ball turned pitch-black under arcane power, and then tiny, brilliant stars lit up one by one, forming a luminous band that pointed toward something.
"They went to the other side of the Egret District…" Heidi received the divination feedback, though nothing more specific. "Let's go take a look."
Buck was somewhat troubled but didn't dare object, so he could only follow behind Heidi.
"Ms. Heidi is a mage approaching the high tier, and she's a student of a Legend. She surely has no shortage of powerful items. Even if we run into evil mages or cultists, it'll be fine…" With this thought, his heart gradually settled.
At that moment, he noticed that Heidi had been clutching a silver badge in her hand, engraved with elemental symbols—apparently a miniature version of the Elemental Periodic Table. As a foundational element of the arcane arts, even commoners knew of it, and many even carved it on their front doors, believing it held magical power to ward off evil.
Heidi let out a little chuckle. "A ritual medium."
"Arcane ritual…" Based on Buck's meager knowledge of magic, wasn't this something that should require extensive preparation beforehand?
As they talked, following the small path, the two arrived at a corner of the slums where people bustled about, making it seem quite lively.
"If they're cultists, they're definitely numerous, which matches the fact that there's more than one killer. So if we ask around about which households have lots of strangers coming and going, or regular nighttime disturbances that keep people awake, we should be able to find some leads," Buck offered based on his experience.
Heidi smiled. "Then I'll leave it to you, Detective Buck."
In front of a low, cramped house stood an old woman with a face full of wrinkles, hanging up freshly washed clothes.
"Good afternoon, ma'am. I'm Senior Detective Buck of the Royal Police Bureau. I'd like to ask you a few questions," Buck said politely, flashing his credentials.
The old woman appeared slightly dazed and flustered. "Of course, sir detective. Ask whatever you'd like."
This was typical of sheltered slum-dwellers when confronted with a detective. Buck nodded inwardly. "You must be quite familiar with this neighborhood, right? Have you noticed any households where lots of strangers are always coming and going, or where there's intermittent noise at night that keeps everyone awake?"
The old woman thought for a moment. "No, I haven't noticed anything. I rarely go to other parts of the street."
Buck pocketed his credentials. "Then do you know anyone who knows this neighborhood well?"