Prologue

Prologue 

Day 1 - Daytime - Noon

22nd Second autumn, 1152

The wide sky opens. Everything below is the city of Keris, belongs to a small kingdom named Warsaw - which is located in the north center of Human Continent, the kingdom is surrounded by isolation. Surrounded by a wide land full of snow on the north and the east, which is simply a dead zone where no one ever passes. The west side is out of the Continent, which is the land of the elves and the beastmen. Not too friendly but also not too hostile to humans. The zone is simple just the woods with nature. A path to trade, nothing else between the two Continents.

The south itself is nothing but another dead end. Warsaw had a history when it was at its prime, when its territory was the biggest in the Continent, but it's the past now. At the current time, the south is full of Attenta Kingdom and its vassal states - the enemies of Warsaw. Nothing this kingdom can do but to become a humble, spineless in order to survive. But this history lesson is another story here...

Back to Keris. As said, it's the capital city of Warsaw Kingdom. That's all to know, nothing special. 

From far away, the streets are busy with people on their way. Everyone minding their business, opposite to the direction where a small carriage is heading to.

The wagon appears to be quiet. Only footsteps of the horses can be heard, the carriage keeps having its wheels rolled to a destination. After a few minutes, the wagon stops in the mid of the road to drop the customers. Two figures step out of the wagon, followed is the sounds of the carriage being turned around to leave the place.

"Alright...". - An adult woman with a brown cap sighs, she turns around.  "Hurry up, Hannah", - she calls a young girl next to her.  "don't make people wait, we have to hurry up". - She picks up one of the two big backpacks on the ground, then puts it on her back 

The two women appear to be a couple. One is adult while the other one is younger, both are blonde. Both of them wear the same clothing, brown coats with brown gloves and brown caps to cover their heads. It isn't winter yet. However, the weather of Warsaw is quite extreme when it comes to the cold season. It's already colder than other countries in the autumn. These two women have been living here long enough to understand, they just do what the locals do.

The women slowly approach the road ahead while carrying the backpacks on their backs. Before both of them is a wide and huge ground, having a huge building-like a white palace from the distance. The gate covering the ground and the palace from the inside is kept by two huge-looking guards with iron armors. Their hands hold a spear while their belts hold a sword, fully armed to the teeth.

The guards turn their eyes to the two women approaching them as they saw them. They don't react, they wait for those two to come close enough before they continue. When the adult woman reaches to a guard, one intends to speak up but he notices a small opened envelope with a letter inside drawn towards him by that same woman.

"Hmmmm...", - The guard checking the content of the letter.  "this way". - He steps aside and his co-worker does the same, one man leads the two women inside the gate

"Who are they?". - The guard who stays to guard asks

"Special guests". - His co-worker replies and soon returns to his duty 

The three of them stop as they were about to get inside the palace. The guard uses hand signals to tell the women to wait, he walks in the palace later on.

All of a sudden, the girl named Hannah pulls the back of the adult woman.

"Mom, do you know why are we here?". - Hannah speaks with some nervousness 

"It might be like what we always do", - The woman replies.  "don't worry...". - She pats the girl's head

"The letter said we would live here from now on", - The daughter says.  "it's good when they allowed us a week to pack up everything". - That girl keeps talking, she soon stays quiet as she saw something ahead

The mother turns her eyes to the entrance of the palace as she heard footsteps coming out from that area. Before her now appears to be a tall man in his mid-30s, with brown ponytail hair and a beard. The bearded man wears a brown fur armor, fully covered by arm and leg protection plates. He glances at the two women in silence, his hand tells the earlier guard to leave.

"Are you two really Jeanne and Hannah?". - The man asks

Both of the women nod.

"I know the letter does not lie...", - The man looks at the two women.  "never mind. I just... thought the known ones in the town would be men in disguise, not this". - He gives the letter back to the young

"Welcome to Keris. I'm Dunkel - the bodyguard of His Highness", - The bearded man introduces himself.  "you two have already been informed about the reason of your arrival, now follow my lead". 

Jeanne and Hannah stay quiet. They follow Dunkel inside the palace. Since the women focus on following the man, they don't have time to look around the scenery. Everyone stops by a white door after a while. The two later walk in. Jeanne - the adult woman notices there is a maid standing in a corner of the room, she suddenly comes out as the women entered.

"Stay here, wait till I come back", - Dunkel speaks to the two women.  "I'm calling His Highness, do not go anywhere". - The man closes the door as he finished 

Being left in the room which appears to be a living room, the two women take a seat. The maid approaches the table with a wooden tray holding cups of tea and several bowls holding cookies. Putting down all on the table following with a slight smile towards the two guests, she returns to her position and stays quiet.

The two women remain on the couch, they sit still. Unlike Jeanne who is staying quiet and patiently waiting, Hannah is curious a lot. This appears to be the first time this woman's daughter has ever entered somewhere this big and special, she is curious about everything around. After grabbing some cookies, Hannah chews them quietly, trying to stay quiet.

"So this is how the rich live". - Hannah speaks up while chewing some cookies.  "We can get a good reputation through this, mom". - She sips some tea.  "I'm tired of wandering from place to place, we need a place like this. To live in".

Jeanne doesn't respond. Instead, she waits patiently with her hands on her lap, she also looks around. The woman notices the room which looks like a living room is a bit odd to her. Only a maid is inside, serving tea and dessert, no one else is seen but only her.

This is not the first time this woman has ever been in a palace. She once used to be inside a place similar to this. A room like this is supposed to have at least one to two guardsmen standing at the door to guard and sometimes to protect their ruler.

The mother doesn't mind seeing that oddness. Her only thing to worry about is the aristocratic customs when she presents before her client - a prince, Jeanne knows very little about the customs.

This single mother - Jeanne, is a private investigator. She was born as a peasant, she knows very little about the world of the aristocrats. She does know how it works but she doesn't care about broadening that knowledge. The woman is currently 44, has been working in this job for 28 years straight. 

Her daughter - Hannah, is also an investigator like her mother. However, she appears to be an apprentice. Hannah is 24 years old at the moment, still pretty young in a world where is full of seenable and unseenable colors. 

The reason why Hannah spoke up to her mother when she was chewing the cookies is because, they don't stay in somewhere for too long. It's her mother's habit. After living in somewhere for a while, they move away. It's not Hannah's idea but her mother's. 

While living in a location, they would still do their investigator jobs as they always do. Their income is enough to live, not too poor or rich. 

Jeanne and Hannah moved to Keris - Capital city of Warsaw Kingdom three months ago. When they were about to leave, the mother got a letter, asking for their arrival so that they delayed leaving to come here. The letter was sent a week ago, asking them to help, telling them to move in the palace. That's how everything ends up right here.

Jeanne suddenly looks up when she heard the door opening with two figures stepping in. It appears to be Dunkel and another man next to him, he seems young, average and seems to be in his late 20s. The man doesn't look like a scholar or a soldier. His face is a little nervous, for some reason, he wears military-like-uniform blue clothes. Presenting before the women with bright blue eyes. He looks like a scholar, but his face is a bit stout.

Knowing the status of the person before her, Jeanne gets up immediately. Hannah did the same, standing firmly as her mother.

"It's a great honor for us to have a chance to meet you, Your Highness". - Jeanne speaks in a polite and respectful tone, she lowers her head. The daughter does the same, staying silent 

"I don't want you two to be so formal, please sit". - The man appears to be the prince asks the two women to relax and sit down.  "Let me introduce myself", - He puts his right hand on his chest.  "my name is Koenig Sonne, the Crown Prince of Warsaw Kingdom. There's a reason why I called you here, I need your help", - The prince swiftly takes a seat, his bodyguard immediately guards behind him.  "Be comfortable, please".

Jeanne sits still, nodding. Her daughter swallows the cookies and makes a proper serious sitting pose, doing her best to be serious. Prince Koenig keeps looking at the two women. He slightly raises his index and middle fingers up to call for the maid to approach him.

"Prime Minister would like to speak to you now, Your Highness". - Dunkel speaks to the prince when he was standing guard

"Now is not the time", - Koenig replies 

The maid soon makes a cup of tea for the prince. He smiles at the girl when she slowly steps backward. Koenig sips the cup, his face appears to show to the people that he is thinking. The man seems a bit confused, as if he doesn't how to open the story for the investigators.

"Selena, stay here", - Suddenly, Koenig calls the maid girl when she was about to leave the living room as his bodyguard's hand signals ordered her to leave.  "please sit with me". - He sweetly asks the maid to stay by his side 

The prince immediately holds the maid's hand as she took a seat right next to him. He appears to be very relaxed and comfortable when the girl is nearby, he holds her hand tightly, he is afraid of something. 

"I don't think it's a good idea". - Dunkel comments 

"Everyone here knows what is happening", - Koenig says back.  "It's alright. As long as both of them don't reveal anything to the public". - Done saying, the prince glances at the mother and daughter 

"I really wanted to ask you something before this but...", - Koenig speaks to Jeanne and Hannah.  "maybe in another time. I'm going to say it straight here".

"We have a case here, we need you both to solve it. As soon as possible, as I said in the letter, we need you to move in here and live until everything is solved completely, do not leak it outside". - Koenig immediately gets straight to the point 

"Understood. We don't know what we can do, but we'll try our best". - Jeanne replies, she sips the cup before continuing.  "All we need is information so that we can start".

"It's a very long story, but I'd brief it to you", - The prince continues.  "Everything started from half a year ago, many people here have gone missing. The missings were still there, but for some reason, we faced another thing, the burglars", - The prince sips a bit.  "They killed some people when they broke in. Really I don't know what they intended to do, it looks like they were stealing but I still feel it strange when I think about it".

"What happened to the security level of this place, Your Highness?", - Jeanne is a bit surprised, but she continues.  "what's about the burglars? Are they still in jail?".

"No, the royal guards killed them as they got spotted", - Koenig replies.  "They might've broken in by using the backyard of the palace, it doesn't have a guard there. But no one knows how to get in here that way unless there's someone working here had led them inside".

"So you wanted to tell us that the people missing and the instructions have a connection?". - Hannah speaks up after a while of listening 

"That's correct", - Koenig replies.  "We are concerned that there's a connection. We want you to find out who is behind all of this, we need you to find the missing people too, they're important to me".

A silence starts. Jeanne puts her hands on her lap, she lowers her head a little bit, thinking about the ways to approach this new case. The prince waits for the answer of the two of them. A weak light suddenly sparks in Jeanne's mind.

"Wh-".

"Ummm... it smells bad". - Suddenly, Hannah speaks up with an annoying tone. She is holding a cup of tea

"What's wrong, miss?". - Koenig asks

"Sir, it smells strange", - Hannah gives him the cup.  "you see? Everything was alright earlier, but now the taste... sucks".

The maid Selena picks up the cup as she was ordered to. She sniffs a little bit, then puts the cup down.

"I'm sorry, miss". - Selena says.  "Yes, the smell is a bit intense... maybe I picked the wrong ingredients", - Selena takes a sip.  "It still tastes good. Don't worry, sometimes I'm confused which one is salt and which one is sugar". - The maid gives the cup back to Hannah

"If you say so...". - After a while of glancing at the cup, Hannah finally sips a bit because she's thirsty.  "Still sucks". - She murmurs

"Your Highness", - Jeanne immediately asks the prince.  "Please give us more information".

"That's all we hav-", - However, Koenig stops a bit.  "Wait, not yet. There's still one more. From a month ago or so, it just... stopped". - He takes another sip.  "We don't know why no more people missing, there's also no more outsiders too. Maybe it's because we put more guards on patrol. However, the culprit is out there, everything seems to be back to normal but some people are still concerned".

"I'm sure that we are not the first people to get involved in the case". - Jeanne looks at the prince's eyes 

"Before you two, we hired two other investigators. However, both of them just suddenly disappeared". - Koenig explains

"When did you last see them?". - Jeanne takes another sip

"From all I know, they returned to their room after a day investigating as usual. And they vanished right in the next day all of a sudden".

"Were they working together?". - Again, Jeanne asks 

"We hired only one of a time... When someone went missing, we hired another after a discussion". 

"I get it. You want everything to be as limited as possible, to prevent the information from being leaked". - Jeanne replies 

"Did they run away?". - Hannah speaks up

"I don't think so. - Koenig replies.  "Yes, their belongings did disappear but... why did they leave if they really did that? For what reason?". - He sighs a bit.  "We're going through a hard time, I really need your help to find the missings". - He tightens his grip on the maid's hand

"When did those men disappear?". - Jeanne asks the prince as she stood up

"About two months ago". - The prince replies 

"I hope you won't mind if we start our work right away, Your Highness", - Jeanne grabs her backpack.  "But first, give us a document of those who went missing, we need information".

"Hannah...?". - Jeanne stops as she saw her daughter 

"Please let me know where is the restroom...". - Hannah is trembling, she keeps holding her stomach, sometimes she holds her chest

The maid also starts behaving the same way. The female investigator starts sensing something boiling in her stomach, as if a growing fire is going to burn up all of her organs. Sweat starts coming out all over her face. Jeanne knows there's something wrong, her eyes immediately glance at an empty cup on the table seriously.

"What's happening with everyone?". - Koenig gets confused, he holds the maid girl.  "You'll be alright", - The prince puts his hand on the maid's forehead to check if she is still fine enough.  "Dunkel! Immediately get the healers!". 

The prince's bodyguard doesn't leave the living room. He heads out of the door, yelling at guards and servants nearby to ask for help.

"The tea...". - Hannah weakly opens her words, her hand holding the couch, she's about to fall 

Prince Koenig keeps holding his maid, he wonders what is happening. He knows there's something wrong with the tea. However, he drank it, but he didn't feel anything wrong.

"Ah!". - The maid gets surprised as she saw the prince suddenly fall on the floor as he abruptly held his chest for some reason 

Jeanne feels something bursting from her heart. She holds her chest, trying to reach her dear daughter. However, she collapsed.

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