Author Note 1: Work has been busy over the past months but I’m back.

Also time to end this mini-arc. I never thought it would go on for 30 chapters. Terran’s backstory kinda bloated the story but I felt it was necessary to just get it out of the way early.

In the next section I would like to say that things are about to go back to simplicity but it’s gonna be an Underground Masquerade after all, a different kind of supernatural mystery.  

Author Note 2: I am also working on a book version of the Blood Mural Case which will be available on Amazon Kindle hence why I have taken a long break from the online novel. Unfortunately these kinds of online work don’t pay unless you sign away your rights in a contract or have loyal patrons.

Anyway, the book is more streamlined with a specific focus on the case and the detective work going on behind the scenes. Look forward to it early next year.

…

After fleecing some wealth off of these gangsters, Mwana rubbed his hands in anticipation.

‘It is finally time for the main course,’ with that thought, he approached the pitiable man who he had saved from the Red Hawk gang’s assault. Even at this point, this man was only partially conscious. The assault he had faced at the hands of these thugs had been truly vicious.

Saving such a rich man who also seemed to be in the business of trading Blood Devil Fruits, how could Mwana not ask for any benefits? As they say, there is no free lunch in the world.

Although the man seemed to be on the brink on unconsciousness, he had actually witnessed Mwana perform a severe beatdown on the thugs. Witnessing the entire process of crushing bones and severing tendons, he was sweating bullets.

When Mwana came to talk with the businessman about the goods that the Red Hawk gang had sought to seize, he was surprised to find the man so cooperative.

After questioning the rich man, Mwana found out that he was an apothecary – Ma Dawa of the Mugo clan.

Based on his profession, it was understandable why Dawa was so pitiable when faced by this assault. Although Dawa’s strength outside Milele Town would be comparable to senior warriors and on the same level as his attackers, he did not have any martial skill at all. For this reason, he was completely helpless within the town’s normalization magic formation where martial skill reigned supreme.

Dawa’s troubles had begun when he received a shipment of Blood Devil Fruits a few days before. Through their network of spies, this information quickly reached the Red Hawk Gang. After finding out, the gang leader naturally sent out his men to inquire about the shipment. In front of the gang’s might, the apothecary naturally had no ability to resist. If Mwana did not interfere, it is likely that Dawa would have spilled the beans about the location of the goods while under torture.

However, while the apothecary was looking up at Mwana like a savior, the boy’s only thoughts were, ‘Fate is truly on my side!’ This was an opportunity for him.

Tap tap tap.

It was the sound of someone landing from a high height followed by silent footsteps on the wet ground.

“Who is this now?!” Mwana was extremely annoyed hearing someone approach just as he was about to open his lion’s mouth and make his demands.

Now it seemed someone else wanted to step in when Mwana had done all the hard work!

When Mwana turned around, he found that a boy who seemed around his age had jumped out of god-knows-where. In fact, this person was always here, in the vicinity. During Mwana’s fight with the gangsters, this boy was the eyes watching in the dark!

Seeing the boy, Mwana’s heart did not relax at all. The person on the other end might be young but this spoke nothing of their strength. After all Mwana himself was a good example of this. Just because someone was young did not mean they were weak.

“Who are you?!” Mwana asked coolly while maintaining a vigilant stance.

However mentally, Mwana was completely shocked, ‘Another expert at hiding their breath! How many are there in just one night.’

“Hey hey hey relax. I am just a spectator; an admirer of your work.” The newcomer said while raising his arms as if saying: “I come in peace.”

However, how could Mwana possibly be calm? After all, stories of someone doing all the work and then some people coming in to fish for free were all too common.

When the boy got closer, Mwana was finally able to see his face.

“You, you, …” Mwana exclaimed while pointing at the boy.

His finger wagged dramatically up and down at the sight of the newcomer. It was a face he recognized! The face of someone who knocked into him when he was on a “date” with Kia; someone who spoilt Mwana’s food; someone who did not even bother to apologize.

Mwana was almost tempted to rush out and give this rude boy a lesson on manners. However, before he could “pounce” and “enact his revenge”, another “intruder” entered the scene.

“What is going on here?!” A shout started from the distance.

The strange thing was that when the shout began, the speaker was clearly far away but by the end of his question, he had already arrived at the scene of the “crime” __astounding speed!

The newcomer was dressed in red and black clothes. On his upper garments, there was a symbol of a silver-blue parasol tree right at the shoulder. This was the official uniform of the Milele Town Guard. The town guards basically acted as the police force overseeing order in the town.

When the town officer realized that his question went unanswered, a red aura, like weighted air, burst out of his body. When this pressure hit him, Mwana felt as if a boulder was placed on his shoulders causing his legs to sink in the black mud on the alley.

“Strong.” This was Mwana’s first impression of this officer.

It was even worse for the already injured apothecary lying on the ground and the dozen or so gang members who had been beaten black-and-blue by Mwana. Immediately, inhuman groans and pig-like wails filled the street as some of the injured could not take it anymore.

Seeing that the people on the street were only two kids and some injured fellows, the officer withdrew his aura but a stern look still remained on his face.

However, after getting a good look at the clothes of the men lying on the ground, the officer could not help but startle. While his face remained unchanged, internally he was shocked beyond measure.

‘Aren’t these guys sprawled on the ground like dried prawns part of the Red Hawk Gang?! What is this, a gang war?’ Although he thought this, he could not understand how the 2 tiny brats in front of him, the only ones that were uninjured, would be involved in a gang brawl.

But his refusal to believe did not last long. Even if he did not want to believe it, he was forced to when he heard the story. Before Mwana had even gotten a chance to say anything, the apothecary lying on the ground was quick to lay down the facts of the matter. Everything was explained in colorful words painting the picture of an epic battle.

However, no matter how epic everything sounded to the officer, the story did not gel with the kid in front of him. If it was an older heroic-looking young man, the tale would have been easier to swallow. But all this was not what truly mattered; rather, the main concern was the identity of the gangsters.

‘Oh god no! I can feel a headache coming. Why did I have to come to this street now?’ the officer silently lamented as he took in the scene in front of him, ‘And I was just about to retire for the night.’

This officer’s name was Kerani, and although he looked powerful now, one thing he understood was that he was just a small guy in Milele town. The only reason he could even show off some of his power was because officers in the town were granted an Exception Card that allowed them to keep a portion of their supernatural abilities or warrior powers.

In the grand scheme of things, Officer Kerani understood that the Red Hawk Gang was like a giant to him.

For this reason, Kerani was extremely reluctant to cross the Red Hawk Gang. Hearing of the gang’s evil deeds, most regular officers would simply turn a blind eye in fear of bringing more trouble to themselves. After all, the claws of the gang extended everywhere in the town.

In his mind, Officer Kerani had already decided to send the two brats away and ignore this matter altogether; and Mwana, with his keen insight, had already noticed this.

Even though Officer Kerani had yet to say anything, Mwana could already see it on his face clear as day that the officer was leaning towards releasing the gangsters and ignoring the matter right in front of him.

‘I have to think fast!’ Thoughts rushed through Mwana’s mind before a solution popped into his mind.

‘Oh that will do it.’ It was like a lightbulb switched on inside Mwana’s brain.

In an exaggerated manner that left everyone on the scene dumbfounded, Mwana reached back and whipped out something – a black card.

At first, no one at the scene understood what it was but when Officer Kerani saw the name and the special energy frequency on the card, he was left rooted on the spot.

‘What now?! A Reserve Candidate Card! I couldn’t have picked a worse day not to retire to my home early?!’ The officer knew that this matter could not be brushed under the rug anymore.

The card Mwana had revealed was the Silver Guard Reserve Candidate Card given to him by the Honored Detective of the Silver Eagle Corps only known as Mr. Black.

It was time to play the ‘nepotism’ card.

It was not just the card that shocked Officer Kerani, but the name on the card as well.

“Mr. Black!” He could not hold his tongue and loudly exclaimed.

This detective was simply an unfathomable legend.

“You, you, why do you have this card?” Officer Kerani asked with a stammer as he inspected the card. This was the real deal.

“Why not?” Mwana’s response was non-committal. By playing the ‘nepotism’ card, Mwana knew he could not admit that he only got the card by chance. He had to let Officer Kerani form his own conclusions about Mwana’s status.

‘This kid must be related to some super-bigshot!’ Officer Kerani was not offended by Mwana’s tone as he had already started forming his own opinions.

‘He is too young to join the Silver Guards so the only way he can get a card like this is through connections!’ All kinds of wild thoughts ran through his mind.

‘Is he Mr. Black’s relative? Maybe a nephew.’

‘…or even a hidden son!’ The officer’s eyes widened like round goggles as he made all kinds of strange assumptions.

“Do you think just an ordinary person would have this?” Mwana asked. This question naturally sealed the deal. Although Mwana was just pretending to be of status to intimidate him, Officer Kerani would never be able to guess this.

After all, the case of Mwana getting his card the way he did almost never happens.

Mwana had used his awareness eye to find clues which impressed the investigation officers including Mr. Black. However, while Mwana deserved credit for his potential detective skills, the entire matter was also a huge coincidence.

Further, there had only been 2 other Reserve Candidate Cards handed out in the past 5 years, and only officers at the Honored Detective level and above could hand out these cards. That is how rare it was for Mwana to possess this card.

Once Mwana showed the card, everything was set in stone. Officer Kerani naturally decided to heavily punish the gangsters.

Chains spread out from under his garments heading towards the thugs like coiling snakes. Those who tried to escape were quickly whipped back and in a moment the 15 gang members had all been wrapped up like dumplings.

Seeing how quickly the so-called officer of the law switched sides, the boy who was standing beside Mwana could not help but lament, “The world is clamoring all for the sake of gain.”

This was the law of the world, the nature of humans.

The world was filled with people seeking their own benefits and profit.

Officer Kerani was no different.

For him, whether he took action against the gang members tonight was all a balance of costs and benefits. After Mwana showed the card, the cost of offending Mwana outweighed the benefit of licking up to the gang members. And in a way, the benefits of befriending someone like Mwana outweighed the cost of offending the gang members.

Therefore, the right choice was crystal clear to officer Kerani.

Watching the officer haul the thugs out of the street, the boy next to Mwana asked a question that was on his mind, “I saw your fight with those men, none of them is an easy opponent. How could this guy burst out with such power and treat them like helpless babies so easily?”

From this question, Mwana understood that the boy was asking about the Exception Card. This question was enough for Mwana to guess that this boy was not from Milele town. However, even Mwana did not understand much about Exception Cards beyond their name and basic functions.

However, the apothecary who seemed to have gotten better after witnessing the thugs who had tortured him get dragged away like wailing pigs-to-the-slaughter, finally spoke up. As a resident of Milele and an influential businessman in the town, there was little he did not know.

Apothecary Dawa explained, “Exception Cards – That is what makes these officers, no matter how low ranking they are, almost invincible in this town. Criminals almost stand no chance against them,” but the apothecary then added, “of course unless they have connections.”

All this was common knowledge to Mwana but new news to the other boy.

“However, if you want to understand what the Exception Cards do, you must first understand the normalization formation in this town, this city.” Apothecary Dawa continued.

“For the normalization magic formation, there are actually 2 levels – humanization and equalization.

• (1) Humanization – everyone is stripped of their supernatural powers unless they have an exception card. Even if they possess the highest level Exception Card, they can exert no more than 30% of their power.
• (2) Equalization – the combat power of opponents who choose to do battle is equalized allowing a “fair” fight. In such a battle, skill wins out.

It is this formation, in tangent with exception cards, that maintains order in such a big place like Milele.”

Hearing the man’s words, both Mwana and the boy were amazed.

“Truly, what a way to use magic!” The boy exclaimed in mild shock. It was like he was witnessing new horizons.

While Mwana was not as shocked since he already understood the basics, he realized that this formation was almost perfect in how it regulated strength.

It was the reason why the earlier Blood Mural Case was so strange; so strange to the point that Silver Guard have to come. If there was no formation – no “humanization” and “equalization” factors, naturally no one would be shocked to see such a brutal killing performed without weapons. But there was, so where did things go wrong?

Mwana could not help but ponder, ‘Is there a hole in the formation? Is there corruption in the city allowing even murderers to have access to Exception Cards? Or did the enemy device a new way to ignore the parameters of the formation?’

All these were questions that needed answering. But it obviously was not Mwana’s turn yet. Nevertheless, the Silver Guard would not show up just for regular murders which could be dealt with by regular law enforcement in the town.

After officer Kerani dragged away the gang members, Mwana, the boy beside him, and the apothecary all followed the officer to the town guard headquarters.

“Why are you still following me?” Mwana asked in an annoyed tone as he watched the boy follow beside him like some sort of parasitic tick.

But this kid, did not even answer. He just kept walking while humming a tune as if saying, ‘Is this your road?, Is this your town?, Why does it matter to you where I go?’

Mwana could only ignore him. Anyway, important matters first.

Although Mwana looked down on Kerani’s moral standards, he understood that this man, and by extension the town’s guards, could help him. With Mr. Black’s card in hand, he had some minor privileges. For instance, he could enter the town criminal hall to research on the thief guilds around the town.

‘I have realized there is a limit to what one man can do.’

Multiple plans had already started to form in this little boy’s mind, ‘In life, a MAN should be proactive.’

Even though he was far from a man, maybe he had already started thinking like one, maybe just a little bit.

Mwana’s Book of Knowledge

Bonus Notes 7: Weapon Ranks

1. Mortal Grade Weapons

(a) Earth Rank – Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Black.

- These weapons are used by warriors in the Mortal Body Rank

(b) Sky Rank – Blue and Red.

(c) Heaven Rank – 1st Heaven to 7th Heaven.

2. Spirit Grade Weapons

3. Sacred Grade Weapons

4. Divine Grade Weapons