Chapter 02
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Tuesday, August 10.

In the summer season, the sun begins to provide heat from the early hours of the morning. With those morning rays of light illuminating the old industrial estate, he approaches an old building that is close to falling into ruins, number 5.

Blond, slightly long but neat hair, and in his thirties. Completely black sunglasses, a suit as black as night, a black tie over a white shirt, gray leather gloves and dark, elegant, but comfortable shoes. Dressed like this, he enters the precinct of the building.

Its appearance certainly does not fit with the place, the old industrial estate of Lugria. When the industrial revolution took place in the kingdom of Formeral, some two hundred and fifty years ago, it was in this place that the activity was concentrated. However, some ninety years after that, the industrial core moved to the neighboring city, Houme, making Lugria an entirely commercial city closely related to tourism, although it still retains its status as the capital of the kingdom to this day. and sheltering in it the residence of the king of Formeral.

But, on this day there is a crowd of people wearing dark blue uniforms hanging around the area. They are members of the Lugria police, and they are guarding the scene of a terrible crime, waiting for the person in charge of the investigation to arrive. One of those police officers, noticing the man, tries to stop him.

"I'm sorry, but you can't—"

Without allowing him to finish speaking, the man takes a small wallet from the inside pocket of his jacket, which he immediately opens so that the agent can verify his identity. There, not only is the name of the person, but also the rank in the profession and even their official rank within the Freendom Guild system.

Realizing who is in front of him, the policeman straightens his posture, and raises his hand to his forehead in salute.

"I'm sorry, Sir!! It can come in!!"

He doesn't even answer him anymore. When I get back, I'm going to have a file opened for him, it's the only thing he's thinking about. That he didn't recognize him is something that bothered him quite a bit.

He enters the building and begins to scan the place quickly with his eyes.

The entrance shows signs of having suffered an explosion, probably caused by some kind of spell. This is quite plausible, as there are still slight traces of magical energy. He looks up slightly, to look at the first floor corridor, which is shaped like a bridge, and which is located just above the entrance. There are not only traces of burns, but also on the wall there is a big hole.

From inside his jacket, on the opposite side to where he keeps the documentation, he takes out a small device, a camera. He begins to take images of the scene, he needs them for the documentation of the investigation that is being carried out.

It's possible that there was some kind of one-use trap right here. Of course, it was activated, but then, what is the hole due to?

Judging from the appearance of the stage, it seems that the action started at the entrance. Many questions are formed while hypothesizing what could have happened. Was the trap ineffective? No, it certainly was powerful, and the burned walls are proof. But he doesn't make sense of it. The first floor damage direction indicates that that attack, whether it was magic or sorcery, was used from the entrance. More or less, a theory has already been formed, but you need more information first.

He walks up the stairs to the fourth floor, which is where he's interested, and why he's in that dusty building. There he is, a man lying on the concrete floor, with a large amount of blood on the wall and on the floor. Is dead.

"Do you know something yet, Albert?"

Next to the corpse there is a person kneeling, who is examining it. He is in his forties, being only about ten years older. Unlike the agents outside, he wears a white coat over his uniform. There are more people who, like the one called Albert, wear the same clothes. They are members of the forensic department, and Albert is one of the heads of that department.

"I won't be able to give you much detail until I get him back to the lab and have him thoroughly examined, but I'd say about two days ago. Also, I didn't find anything that would point to his identity."

Without turning around, the coroner, Albert Gilbert, answers him. He doesn't like to be disturbed while at the crime scene, but makes an exception when it comes to his good friend, Chief Inspector Hotaru Natsuno.

"And we already know the cause of death?"

"I'll confirm when I get back, but it looks like something similar to a gunshot pierced his heart. Personally, I don't think it was produced by a weapon, but rather some kind of fire-based magical art."

Hotaru stares at the corpse, which has already begun to decompose in the summer heat. As Albert said, the chest wound appears to be the cause of death. On his arms he also has gunshot wounds, one on each. Also there are still small traces of magical energy in the place.

When a person uses magical arts, there are always leftover energy. The more intense these remains, the more powerful was the power employed.

A fire-based ability again… Yes, most likely the person who killed him is the same person who made the big hole in the wall on the first floor.

The theory he arrived at is almost formed, but there is something that doesn't make sense to him. There are many inconsistencies that he has not yet managed to explain.

His job as chief inspector requires he to gather as much information as possible. Also, it doesn't help how many theories he has, or how sure he is about what you think has happened; Without evidence it is useless.

"Hotaru, you think this case is related to the previous ones, right?"

Lost in his thoughts, he is interrupted by Albert. For some time now, there has been a series of murders with unique characteristics. If the coroner's intuition is correct, the person who killed that poor man has seven murders behind him. He saw that wound in the heart in other corpses. With the means he has in the lab, he can tell relatively easily whether a wound is caused by a weapon or some magical art. The result was the latter: caused by the invocation of a magic art. Unfortunately, Albert has no way of knowing if it was caused by magic or sorcery, although, and he didn't tell his good friend Hotaru, he suspects it is magic.

After thinking about Albert's question, he lets out a sigh.

"Maybe yes, maybe no. Of course, this magical energy I have already felt in the other scenarios."

The coroner nods at what Hotaru says. As you say, that energy has already been detected before. Naturally, samples were taken, for comparison when there is a suspect.

"Hotaru, be careful. Of course, the person responsible is not someone normal."

Approximately 90% of the population can use magical energy. When an individual stores in his body the magical essence - the mana - he refines it to be able to use it. That is magical energy.

Magical arts use magical energy to function. Among the different types, magic is considered the strongest and most dangerous, due to its origin in nature itself. That's also why elemental magic users are called 'mana users'.

Albert knows that Hotaru is not only skilled at deductions, but she is also skilled at fighting. But still, he is worried.

"By the way Albert, about the other thing. Is it true?"

The reason why Hotaru went to the outskirts was also because she heard something that caught her attention in the report. It is true that he is responsible for the investigation, but even so he had not planned to go, he had an important meeting in the morning with his direct superior. If you chose not to attend it was for something very specific.

"Yes. The boys have already finished taking all the samples and bagged her."

As she spoke to the inspector she motioned to one of her assistants, who brought a bag. In it there is something round with what seems to be a hair. It is a human head, which was decapitated.

That's the real reason why Hotaru decided to go on stage. When they informed him, he couldn't believe it, but now that he has her in front of him, he has confirmed it for himself.

"It's definitely Laura White. Has the rest of the body turned up?"

"We haven't finished investigating the building, but there doesn't seem to be any trace of it."

"I see… When you know something, please let me know."

And, without saying much more, the young man named Hotaru leaves the place. He still has a lot of work to do before finally meeting with his superior.

Sorry for the delay, I had a rather problematic week... Between work, and new version of Genshin...

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