Chapter 20: The Order of Veil [3]
In Mikael’s rented room,
Captain Edmund Varn knelt beside what was left of the Tier 3 Knight, Mr Dyre....
A collapsed, glistening heap of muscle and bone that barely held a human shape.
The entire room was filled with the thick, disgusting smell of decay and rot.
Captain Varn’s sharp eyes flared with soft red light as he stretched out his gloved hand and let the threads of essence flow.
A thin wisp of crimson smoke coiled from his fingertips as it drifted down, tracing the contours of the ruined flesh as if searching for something inside.
His eyes narrowed as he muttered --
"As expected, there is no essence signature. Just like the previous ten victims."
As he fell into a deep thought.
"Captain, does that mean this case is the same as the other ten?"
A woman with short black hair and blue eyes voiced out a question.
"...."
He didn’t answer her right away and turned towards his other subordinate -- a slender man with olive green hair, thick dark circles, and a trimmed goatee.
"What’s your assessment, Orsan?"
Orsan stepped forward and adjusted his brass monocle on his right eye.
The lens shimmered with a soft cerulean glow as he bent over the corpse.
"Give me a few moments, Captain."
He murmured, lost in whatever the enchanted glass was showing him.
Jeanne and Mikael stood in the doorway, watching in silence.
She had her arms folded, her emerald eyes tracking Captain Varn’s every slight movement.
Something about the man unsettled her....
A quiet wrongness she couldn’t quite name.
Mikael stood beside her, his hands tucked in his black trousers’ pockets, his expression calm to the point of being unreadable.
After a few moments....
The cerulean glow in Orsan’s lens flickered and died out.
He staggered back a step, suddenly drained.
It was as if all of his strength had been leeched out by something.
"Death essence residue is thick, captain."
He said in a voice that was even thinner than before.
"Localized entirely within the remains.... no dispersal pattern. That rules out an external attack at this location."
He straightened with visible effort and met the captain’s eyes.
"The tissue necrosis is accelerated, but it’s uneven. The musculature shows signs of pre-mortem thaumic decay, suggesting that the body had been rotting from the inside out for a long time."
Captain Varn’s expression didn’t change as he asked....
"Any signs of essence signature?"
"No, I can’t tell. "
The captain gave a curt nod and turned towards the short-haired woman with blue eyes.
"Hilda, help Orsan pack the corpse and transport it to the sanctum for a full post-mortem."
"Right away, Captain!"
He left them to their work and began to pace the room as his gaze drifted over the clutter of parchments on Mikael’s writing desk.
He picked up one of them and saw dense spell structures layered with different arrays on it as he tried to study the weave.
"Interesting."
He muttered.
"This is far more advanced than anything I’d expect from someone still awaiting academy admission."
He turned, holding the parchment up for Mikael to see.
"You designed these?"
"Yes."
"You intend to pursue the scholar’s path?"
".... That’s not something you need to concern yourself with, Captain."
The captain studied his expressionless face for a moment, and then he set the parchment aside, showing no further interest in it.
"Hilda, Orsan, after you store the corpse, search the room thoroughly. See if anything stands out."
After storing the corpse in a small black cubicle, they searched the room thoroughly.
After a few minutes,
"Nothing suspicious, Captain." Hilda said.
Edmund nodded slowly, his gaze still fixed on Mikael.
"Then we move to the questioning. Follow me downstairs, Mr. Morwell. I prefer to conduct these conversations in more... neutral surroundings."
****
Mikael stepped into the Silver Rabbit’s common room, the worn floorboards creaking under his boots.
As he crossed the threshold, he spoke his words to Liren in his mind.
"Liren. Whatever happens now, you absolutely cannot come out. Okay?"
A small, worried voice came from deep within his essence core.
{But--}
He cut her off before she could finish her words and spoke...
"No, buts Liren. If they finds you, I would be in a more difficult situation."
{.....Okay, I understand.}
She said in a soft, sad whisper.
"Thank you. I know I can count on you."
He let out a slow breath.
He didn’t want Edmund to find out about Liren’s presence, who was a wraith -- a Red Spirit.
Edmund might as well just brand him as possessed by an evil spirit. He might even take the advantage of this situation and put all the blame for all the deaths on him.
Jeanne followed him silently, a half-step behind.
Captain Edmund stood a few paces away, his hands resting casually at his sides.
He gave a short nod as Mikael approached and began to ask questions in a neutral conversational tone.
"So, Mr. Morwell. How exactly did you discover the body?"
"Early afternoon. When I was eating my lunch, Mr. Dyre knocked on the door."
"And you opened the door to find him in what state?"
"He was standing there motionless, his eyes were also glassy and vacant. I started to ask where he’d been, but before I could finish, his skin began to peel away, and he collapsed within seconds."
"You didn’t attempt to render aid?"
"There was nothing to aid. Before I could register what was happening, he was already dead."
Edmund stared at his face.
"You seem remarkably composed for someone who just watched a man dissolve in front of him."
Mikael’s expression didn’t change. "Shock affects people differently, Captain."
"So it does." Edmund’s red eyes narrowed. "Let’s discuss Mr. Dyre’s whereabouts before this incident. When did you last see him before today?"
"Several days ago. He was assigned to ensure my safety until my admission to Astralspire Academy, but he’d been absent."
Edmund frowned.
"You didn’t find his absence concerning? A Tier 3 Knight assigned specifically to protect you, and you didn’t even bother to know about his whereabouts?"
"Mr. Dyre was a capable man. I had no reason to believe he was in danger. And I was also busy preparing for Astralspire Academy’s Entrance Exam."
"And what about you, Mr. Morwell? The innkeeper tells us you were absent yesterday. You left early in the morning and didn’t return until this afternoon. Nearly twenty-four hours unaccounted for."
Edmund’s voice remained calm, but there was a predatory gleam in his eyes now.
"Where were you?"
"...."
"My brother’s personal schedule is hardly relevant to your investigation, Captain. Unless you have evidence linking his whereabouts to Mr. Dyre’s death, this line of questioning is inappropriate."
Jeanne spoke before Mikael could answer, fully aware of his whereabouts.
Edmund didn’t even bother to look at her, his eyes solely focused on Mikael.
"Lady Morwell, I am investigating a series of deaths that have claimed eleven victims in the past week alone. The eleventh was your family’s knight who died at your brother’s doorstep. Every person who came into contact with the victim in the days preceding his death is a potential witness, a potential suspect, or a potential target. Your brother is all three. His whereabouts yesterday are absolutely relevant."
"So, I’ll ask you again. Where were you yesterday?"
"..."
"Still not answering." He let out an exhausted sigh.
"Let me answer in your stead then. You went to Mournwood Forest yesterday. On the day of the full twin moon, no less -- when the boundary between our World and the Spirit World is at its thinnest."
He let the words settle.
"So... What exactly were you doing there?"
******
(I know it’s not the proper ending. The Chapter was almost getting 3k words, so I divided it into two parts. Well this Chapter is still 1.3k words)
