The Serial Murder Case (1)

The Great Holy Empire.

One of the biggest and strongest countries on earth back then.

The empire is not ruled by an emperor, but it is ruled by a pope instead.

They are... My greatest enemies...

Our greatest enemies...

They are the ones who warned Alexander about the demonic army under the demon king that will attack our kingdom in order to kill the holy princess and the hero.

They are openly hostile to me, because not only once, I killed their bishops and holy knights twice. One tries to rape a commoner girl, while the other kidnapped some kids to satisfy their fetishes.

Since the beginning, I have no trust in them.

According to Achaeus, after sending me to block off the demonic march, I surprisingly killed the demon king and also cut quite a number of the demonic army singlehandedly. Because of the death of their demon king and the reduction in number, the demonic army retreated.

The citizens had already evacuated, but Alexander and the soldiers remained to fight until the end, to make sure the citizens have a place to return after the wars with the demons ended.

Hearing the demonic army's retreat and how I managed to kill the demon king, Alexander, and the others celebrated and each other, but after hearing the news of my death, the joy disappeared and he said that they got engulfed in frustration and sadness for three days long.

After sending the message to the hero and the citizens about my succession on killing the demon king, they heard the commotion outside the kingdom's gate, but when they get out, it was not their citizens, but it was the crusader army of the holy empire.

Alexander quickly realized that they are not here to back them up or anything, they are here to finish them all. Alexander tried to negotiate, but the outcome remains the same. The battle commenced and the holy empire's 'holy knights' burned the whole kingdom under the name of blasphemy.

With Alexander's smartness and my other exceptional comrades, they managed to kill half of the holy empire's crusader army. But in the end, the number of the holy empire's crusader army is still too big, and with my absence, the morale and vigor of the soldiers are not as high as before.

And not even after a week of my death, my dear friends followed me into the realm of death.

Those holy empire bastards... If I meet you folks in this life, just what kind of things I will do to you...?

"Rey!" Hiroto's voice suddenly entered my ears.

"It's lunch break! What are you daydreaming about? Don't tell me... Did you go back home together with Frostina-" (Hiroto)

"Hell I don't," I replied immediately.

"Oho~ The way you refuted it so quickly made it more suspicious, you know~," (Hiroto)

"Shut it," I replied as I stand.

"Huh? Where are you going?" Asked Hiroto.

"Canteen, I don't bring any lunch today so I'm buying one," I replied as I left him.

I'm not as heartless as to just left him there because he's annoying, I left him because his friends are staring at us. They want to invite Hiroto over to eat together with them but they can't because I'm there.

I felt like I heard Hiroto's sigh from afar, but maybe I am mistaken.

I walked towards the school's canteen downstairs and as usual, I try to not attract any unnecessary attention from anyone.

"What do you want this time, Rey?"

"As usual, Laoshi," I answered the cooking club teacher who managed the school's canteen.

Chan Chung.

His cooking skills are top-notch, but it's always his dream to be able to become a chef and a teacher at the same time. It's a noble aspiration to have, but...

"It's been a while since you've come here, isn't it? How about it? Want to drink some-"

"I'm underage, please stop,"

There is only one big problem, he's a Huli Jing. A fox spirit.

And he's a wine and alcohol maniac.

"Fufufufu! Here you go," said Chan Chung as he put my lunch on top of my plastic food tray.

"Roasted chicken, corn soup, a bowl of rice, and coffee milk. It's sure nice to enroll in such a school, huh? The foods here are more varied and delicious than other restaurants and cafe, after all,~" (Chan Chung)

"Nah, my restaurant's foods are not less delicious than this," I replied as I left.

"But well, it's not wrong, though..." I muttered to myself as I saw the sight of the crowded canteen, despite being so large in size. There are about 400 seats here. Most students hang out and finish their lunch break here together with their friends, while some others finished it at their class either alone or together with their friends.

And here I am, standing in the middle of the manifestation of society. The social energy emitted by these kids is too much for me to handle, but It'll be too energy-consuming to eat this at the class, and going back here just to hand back the food tray...

With a soft sigh, I went to the usual corner where I usually eat whenever I didn't bring any lunch. It's the corner rarely used by anyone, and because people here only sit at the spots where there are many people, it became the perfect place to be alone for a person like me.

I don't usually come here since the social energy is too much for me to handle, but I ran out of cooking ingredients this morning because Ao forgot to run the errands and replenish the ingredients despite this month is her shift.

"Sigh... I'm the one who needs to run the errands because of her, huh..."

"Shameless as always, huh. What are you doing, sitting here alone? This is the place for those who have friends, not for a loner demon like you, Ray Lance," said a pale guy with dark brown hair.

This guy... His annoying smile never fails to displease me.

"It's not like you have any friends either, don't you, Mark?"

"Unlike you, having no friends is a choice that I've decided to take in order to be able to accomplish my missions smoothly, Mr. Friendless yokai," (Mark)

"Having no friends is a choice that I've taken too. And I'm born human, and I'm still a human. Just shut up and leave, you zombie onmyoji," I rebuked.

Yes.

This guy, Mark Jiejing.

He is a genius onmyoji from a famous family of onmyoji in Japan. He's sent here to train at the temple near the school, so he got to enroll at this school along the way.

"Z-Zombie..." (Mark)

"Your skin is so pale to the point that if you stand beside a zombie, no one will be able to tell which one is alive and which one is not! And yet you call yourself an onmyoji?" I snorted.

"Y-You friendless and antisocial fiend... To be mocked by someone who could walk with that way too oversized uniform just like an elementary kid using a high school boy's uniform but is thick-skinned enough to don't feel embarrassed at all..." (Mark)

"I won't get embarrassed, scram," I said as I start to eat my lunch.

"You really are thick-skinned, aren't you, demon?" said Mark as he takes a sit in front of me and put his lunch on top of the table.

"Oi, onmyoji. What the hell are you sitting there for after trying to picking a fight with me? Are you looking for a real fight with me? I'll be more than glad to give that to you,"

"You're way too hot-blooded, and you call yourself a human? Isn't being a beast more suitable for you, friendless demon?" (Mark)

"Ugh... continuing talking to you will only make me spoil my mood to eat," I muttered to myself as I continue to eat.

"Hahaha! Sorry, sorry. I got overboard. Here," Mark apologized and put some talismans on top of the table.

"Talismans...?"

"Have you heard about the serial murder case recently? The police had investigated it, but they hadn't found anything yet," (Mark)

"Yea. I heard it, the one that corpses got their limbs mutilated and separated from their bodies, and has some strange symbols carved on their bodies, right?" I ask Mark as I take one of the talismans on top of the table.

"As expected of the Chuzu Akuma's owner, information sure entered your ears rather quickly. This case is restricted from being aired on the news in order to prevent the anxiety of the people. So most of the people didn't know that there is a serial murderer roaming around the city right now," (Mark)

"While the last victim of the serial murderer is found near this school, huh... What a troublesome thing..."

"So you knew about that too, huh. Yes, the last victim is found near this school. We, onmyojis had investigated it and all we found is this. There are no remains of yokai's presence, just this talismans," (Mark)

"I see..." I said as I observe the talisman on my hand.

"Talking about talismans in these kinds of days, huh? How childish," (Frostina)