Chapter 26: The case

Rugal had been the chief police officer of Sailcoat City for ten years.

Sailcoat City is one of the leading business hubs of the Herculean Empire, where money flows in and out all the time. However, because of the same money, it also deals with many crimes.

Drugs dealing, human trafficking, and other crimes were regular in the city. However, they are considered 'crime' in almost every core merchant deal in these areas and generate profits. Even Marquess Sailcoat was involved in these kinds of businesses.

As such, Rugal had no choice but to ignore these factors.

However, if he does nothing and sits back, he will be called out and transferred. He still had to resolve some crimes to maintain order.

As such, there was one crime that had been bugging him for a while. It was the missing case of women and children. It had been almost two months since this case started. It was one thing when children were just filthy commoners from slums, but these children and women belonged to the city's merchants.

Even Marquess Sailcoat started to pressure Rugal to solve this case as soon as possible.

On top of all this tensity, a journalist had been becoming a massive headache with his revolutionary articles in the newspaper.

"Take this document. It contained information about missing children and women. Investigate them and find some lead within a week or say goodbye to this job." Rugal ordered an individual sitting in front of him wearing a city police uniform.

He was a boy around 14 years old with dark hair and eyes with noticeably fair glossy skin. His name was Ivanna Celtic.

Although he was just a 14 years old boy, he was recruited as an investigator since one of the core merchants and a count had recommended him as potential talent for the Sailcoat City.

Since two high levels had recommended him, he had no choice but to trust him. Let's see what this young man can do?

"Clues within a week? Sir Rugal, I can solve this case within five days; no, just four days would be enough." The boy named Ivanna said.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Rugal clicked his tongue and dismissed Ivanna's confidant attitude. Already four investigators had left this case since just when they joined.

"Then, I will be taking my leave," Ivanna said and stood from his seat. He first saluted before leaving the room.

---

I came out of the chief office room and stretched my arms with a big smile.

It had been a month and a half since I left Flareottems and disguised myself as an investigator to solve some crimes in Sailcoat City. My new identity was Ivanna Celtic which I had to use to get closer to Marquess Sailcoat and find out the hidden documents and his deals.

I also had to change my looks. My eyes were deep black with my hair combed back, and my skin appeared glossy. There was one reason why I had to use makeup to seem like a lady's boy, but it was up to the future.

I was in the corridor when I saw a new window screen that I had never seen before.

[Mission: Investigate the case of missing children and women.

Reward: 95% chance of getting 1500 EXP

Condition: Host cannot use Vivi's Appraisal and Prediction Skills on Suspects.]

"Wait, a mission? What the hell is this, Vivi?" I was shocked since Vivi shouldn't have this kind of function.

In the otome game, this function was possessed by Heroine when the emperor or other requestors gave her the task, but it was just game exclusive mechanic.

Vivi was just a spirit whose primary use was to provide the Appraisal skills and Prediction Skills and nothing else.

[Vivi: Ivan, I have no idea. I had never seen this kind of function as long as I remember.]

From her tone, it seemed like she was telling the truth.

"Then has someone tempered with your spirit origin or something?"

[Vivi: I don't know. It is my first time seeing this too. Maybe it is a function exclusive to you when I became your contracted spirit. Well, it is giving you the EXP you want.]

"But still…"

It was worrisome. I was not someone who would accept this kind of unexpected fantasy system like mechanics that easily. What if this mission function started issuing missions that I don't want to complete?

Many treasures in this world would take hosts hostage and make them do all kinds of dirty stuff. However, I had no intention of becoming a slave of some system or similar treasure.

However, I didn't see a reason to refuse such an offer as I wanted those EXP to level up faster.

I then came out from the corridor entrance and looked at the person standing on guard.

He was also wearing a police uniform, but he didn't have any badges on his chest pocket, unlike me.

"How are you doing, my loyal guard, Shinsuke."

He was Shin in disguise.

"Just 15 more days, and I will see how you would escape from the edge of my sword," Shen replied, clearly looking unhappy with his current job.

Unlike me, he had been tasked to went undercover as an ordinary police officer and assisted me. I will do the primary job, like finding clues and arresting the suspects.

"Don't worry, Oto-san. I will put a good word for you in my reports to Duke." I called him 'oto-san,' which means 'father' in Japanese.

A smile crept on his face as he smirked, "Buttering me up won't solve anything. Anyway, who are the possible suspects in your opinion? You better make sure to solve this case. I don't care about any of you, but we are talking about children here."

Even though he was a complete asshole, Shin still had a soft spot for children.

"Yes, but I have to talk to him in person. Let's go to this journalist called Punnia Plaus."

---

Click*

A person appearing in his 50s clicked his magic camera and took a picture of a corpse near the city who had just been reported to the police.

Punnia Plaus used to be a proud knight who has severed under Marquess Sailcoat and in Capital Palace for 30 years.

Although he was a knight, his heart constantly cries with sadness whenever an innocent get hurt in his sight. He tried hard to ignore this injustice like the rest, but he couldn't.

In the end, Punnia took the retirement and started working as a journalist. He didn't have the education to work in Empire Justice Court or other local community courts, so he chose journalism as a profession to fight against injustice.

For the last three years, Punnia wrote countless articles on crimes and even exposed some of them all around the empire. Within no time, he became a hero.

But fame doesn't come without a sacrifice. Five months ago, Punnia lost his wife and two twin children. He knew that some merchants and nobles were behind their death since they weren't happy with him exposing their dirty deeds. However, he didn't back down and continued his fight against injustice until the day he would die.

"Hello, Mr. Punnia Plaus?" It was then two individuals approached him wearing police uniforms. One was a simple guard, while the other was a fair-skinned child whose skin was glittering abnormally. Did he come from a women's brothel?

"Yes, mister is speaking with Punnia Plaus," Punnia replied.

"Hello, Sir. I am Ivanna Celtic, the new investigator of the crime department. This is my partner, Shinsuke Nanapatekar. We are here to investigate recent missing children and women. Can I take your time?" The short one replied.

Punnia was surprised. He knew that police were desperate to investigate missing children's cases and had been changing investigators from time to time but appointing a 14 years old child? They must have lost their mind.

The child looked smarter since Punnia can see from the young boy's gentle nature.

"Of course. I would be happy to be of any help. As a fighter against justice, I am always available to help others." Punnia smiled and nodded.

All three went to Punnia's Newspaper Agency, where Punnia could provide related documents and information about those missing people.

Punnia thought he would be taking to the new talent of the Sailcoat City, but Ivanna just turned out to be his fanboy.

After talking for just 5 minutes about missing people, Ivanna praised Punnia for his heroics and his fight against injustice for the rest of the period.

It was not like Punnia disliked the kid. It was that Ivanna would soon be going to lose his job. Since Ivanna was a talented individual, Punnia would likely recruit Ivanna for his agency.

"Mr. Punnia, it is such a pleasure to talk to you. I hope your name may shine brighter than the sun when the injustice got eradicated from the surface of this empire. I will save your signature and your handwritten articles as a treasure." Ivanna said as he asked for Punnia's hand signature and some written articles that he had written over the years.

"Haha, thank you, Officer Ivanna. I hope to meet you again, possibly when you have some leads on this case." Punnia also smiled.

"I sure will." Ivanna nodded and walked out with his partner Shinsuke who remained quiet.

---

"You were purposely acting like an idiot, right Ivan?" Shin asked Ivan, who was staring at a roasted chicken stall for a while. Shin sighed and went to buy both of them. Even though Ivan was loaded with money, his commoner nature didn't allow Ivan to spend his money and enjoy life.

"Thanks, Oto-san! You are great!" Ivan exclaimed with excitement, thanking Shin and calling him father. That put a smile on Shin's face, but he hides it.

"Oh, about your question, what do you think about Punnia Plaus?" Ivan asked as he happily munched the roasted chicken.

"He seemed to be a generally good person with an absurd sense of fighting against injustice. I originally hated these people as they are mostly hypocrites, but I think I heard a deep sense of justice from him. He lost his wife and children, yet still thrives on fighting with the pen." Shin replied.

Shin thought Punnia was a genuine guy with a good sense of justice. From his experience, Shin didn't consider Punnia to act suspiciously.

"In short, he is not the perpetrator behind the missing case, right?"

"Yes."

"What if I tell you that Punnia Plaus is not only the perpetrator behind the missing case but several other cases?"

"What?!" Shin opened his eyes wide. Just what the hell did this 13-year-old find about it, and how?!

"Have you ever heard about Wallace Souza?"

"No?"

"Good. Now buy me three more roasted chicken for being an idiot, Oto-san?"

"Grrr!"

Now he regretted showing concern for this kid but deep inside; he felt excited about how Ivan would confront this saint-like Punnia Plaus.