Arc 2 - Chapter 19: On the Trail (1/2)

"...that's why we want access to the records at the police station."

"Sorry, even if you are adventurous, you are not allowed to access the records without permission."

Rolderhelm had changed a great deal in the last forty years.

It was still rich because of its location and more livable than other countries, but it was not very different from other countries around it.

If today's Rolderhelm can be likened to a developed Western European country, the old Rolderhelm would have been a Balkan country.

It was Denise, who married Princess Eumia El Rolder, Princess of Rolderhelm after the War of Heroes, who caused this rapid change in the Principality of Rolderhelm.

The princess gave her husband her surname and the premiership. After that, big changes came to Rolderhelm.

Denise El Rolder was the person who made Rolderhelm Rolderhelm. He made the country one of the richest and safest in the world and ensured peace and prosperity.

Everything Denise did was considered modern in Yu's eyes. He had adapted things that should be in a developed country to his own. Denise's actions were not surprising given that he might have come from Yu's world.

One of his actions was to establish police stations in every town.

Before the police stations, there were barracks in certain strategic locations, but the police stations were established purely to fight crime among the population and ensure civilian security. In Rolderhelm, the police and gendarmerie were replaced by the so-called city guards.

Of course, it was hard to argue that the city guards in Redchapel provided civilian security. Considering that twenty-seven of the Redchapel Killer's thirty-six murders had been committed here, the guards of Redchapel were not doing their job very well.

Moving on from the little briefing about Rolderhelm, the reason for the altercation in front of the Redchapel Guard Post was that Yu wanted access to the files of the Redchapel Killer and was not allowed to do so.

That's exactly why Yu had brought someone with him.

"I am a knight from the Wizarding Academy. Can't something be done for me?"

The knights of this world were divided into several classes. Apart from Rolderhelm, the most common knight classes were warrior knights and noble knights.

Warrior knights were just like medieval knights. They fought for rich lords for money and loot, and often cared nothing about honesty, honor or justice. They were professional killers, just like the knights of Yu's world once were.

These professional killers were not to be trifled with. Just as Sivina had said, only the best could become knights, unless they were born the son of a nobleman.

Yu had also heard that in Sivina's hometown of Elhaven it was very difficult to become a knight, even if you were born the son of a noble. So even though Sivina tried to be humble, he shouldn't underestimate her.

The noble knights came from among the nobles who had grown up with stories of knights. They grew up with stories of honest and fair knights and they tried to be the ideal knight they believed existed.

The number of knight classes in Rolderhelm was three. These were: Royal knights, academy knights and honorary knights.

Honorary knights were people who were knighted for their achievements and were usually merchants. Their achievements were, of course, related to money.

The royal knights were known as heroes dedicated to Rolderhelm. They were the elite troops of the Principality of Rolderhelm.

The Knights of the Academy was the name of a special unit attached to the Wizarding Academy. Some of these knights used swords as well as magic, while others relied only on their magical powers.

Lylphia was also an academy knight. When Yu wanted to go to the police station, he thought there might be a problem and brought her with him. The knight's name carried weight and many doors could open for them.

The reason why he brought Lylphia with him instead of Sivina was because Sivina was knighted in Elhaven. People respected her too, but Lylphia was a higher priority for Rolderhelm.

Besides, there was one more thing he wanted from Lylphia.

"This is an important matter." Lylphia pointed to the brooch on her large chest.

"I will stay with you to make sure the files are not missing. I would appreciate it if you would be quick," said the chief of the guard, who had no choice but to accept the situation.

"Thank you~"

So they were able to access the file of the criminal they were looking for, William Berry.

***

Yu wrote down the information he found in the files at the police station in his diary and they left.

"Thank you, Lylphia. You were really helpful, he wouldn't have let us in if you hadn't been there."

They chatted a bit as they walked towards the first house they were going to investigate.

"It doesn't matter," Lylphia said, turning her breasts to Yu. "After all, it's my duty too."

"Also," Yu said, trying to get Lylphia's breasts out of sight. "I'd appreciate it if you took care of the other thing."

"Yes, yes, yes. It's in my mind, don't worry! Bye!" and she left Yu's side.

Yu continued to walk with Yurine as he took a quick look at the notes he wrote.

"What did you mean by the other thing? Explain that."

"No."

"What no means!"

Yurine accelerated, cut Yu off and stomped her foot. Her tail perked up and the sweet sight made him smile.

"Are you jealous of me?"

"Agh! Don't make stuff up!"

Her tail, which had been erect due to the combat situation she had entered two seconds ago, now began to wag. She turned her back to Yu to hide her red face.

"Tell us what to do."

"You're sort of my employer, but I don't like taking commands like that. I'd be happier if you shyly said, 'Y-Yu... W-what do we do now?'"

He thinned her voice to sound like a girl's and surprisingly managed to make it sound like Yurine's. As he clasped his hands together under his chin, he gave her a flirtatious look that Yurine only saw out of the corner of her eye.

But Yurine took Yu's successful imitation coldly.

"Don't be silly, where are we going?"

"We won't be able to go to those islands to investigate a couple of cases on Vesthelm and Southelm. I don't know if the case in the capital is worth investigating, we'll look into it when we get there, but I think that case where he killed the old man is just a case of the killer testing himself."

This reminded him of an anime he had watched. In the anime, the main character, who kills everyone with a heart attack, makes someone die in a car accident to test his power before he starts his serial killings.

The case in the capital should have been similar. William Berry tried to see if he could kill someone.

The reason Yu thought this way was because of the identity of the chosen target. In none of William's murders was the target as vulnerable as that old man.

"As for the twenty-seven murders here, we have information on six of them. We need to investigate the remaining twenty-one."

The murders they had information about were: Satoshi, Richard Henry and his two servants, Alatin's brother and father.

Satoshi was a healer, Richard was an old knight and his servants were ordinary people. Both Alatin's older brother and father were knights.

"We need to investigate twenty-one murders. All the murders took place over a period from December of thirty-four to September of thirty-nine. There is no regular time interval between the murders, but thirteen of all the murders took place on a Thursday. Maybe it's just a coincidence, maybe we can get a clue."

At the top of the list was the first murder in December of thirty-four. This was followed by the first Redchapel murder in January of thirty-five; murder of Sir Thomas Chember.

Their destination was quite close to the police station, they would only have to walk a bit. It must have taken a lot of courage to commit murder so close to the police station.

"Yurine."

"What happened?"

"Remember what Ana said at breakfast this morning? She mentioned someone called the Morning Knight." Yu didn't ask so as not to interrupt, but his curiosity was still there. "Who is he?"

"Not just one person, but more than one person."

"Who are they?" Yu corrected himself.

"The name given to those who managed to take the sword of the first Morning Knight who lived long ago. They are legendary heroes from the Mora but known all over the world. The last one was killed by the King of Mora."

"The man you call the King of Mora, the one who started the civil war? His name was Yu."

"Yes."

He wished he was the only one using the name Yu, having a namesake made his name less special.

"Are there other heroes? As far as I remember, there was Galahad and some of his brothers who were on the good side."

"I've heard about someone named Yuzarsef Sisterhunter, but he's more like a joke character. If you are looking for heroes there are knights who serve cardinals, worthy to mention as heroes. And there are Flamekeeper, Dragonseed, Dragonkiller, Dragonhunter, Drago-"

"Understood," he stopped Yurine. "Sisterhunter sounds funny. But it's like you had a thing for dragons."

"There are also dragon tamers, dragon warriors and it goes on. Don't you think dragons are cool?"

"I've never saw one."