NOVEL WEB Chapter 27: First Blood
Chapter 27
Ryuu Pov
After the experience with the King was terrifying for him but he showed that he had the guts to see things through. Now due to that he was being supported by Ren. After some time, he had enough rest to stand up on his own as he raised his hand to let others know that he was ok.
“I’m fine, really guys, I’m fine. Just a bit shaky but ok nonetheless.”
Ren, God-bless him for the support, just nodded as he let go of Ryuu slowly. Ryuu just adjusted his body and gave a wry grin at his members. Ren looked around while Hotaru and Sarada looked worried. Sarada asked whether to heal him or not as he shook his head.
“It’s not that I am physically unwell but I am mentally exhausted. That aura was probably [Killing Intent] because I just gained [Killing Intent Resistance Lvl 4.] and [Mental Fortification Lvl 2.]. I did not even have these skills yet it leveled up as well.”
Hotaru nodded as he said.
“Me too. Damn, I got [Killing Intent Resistance Lvl 1.] and [Danger Instinct Lvl 2.]. Hardcore!”
The others just sighed as Ryuu walked ahead of them. The others followed behind him closely as he said.
“Now that we have been given the permission, let us find our ride and ask him to send us to our destination.”
Hotaru pondered for a while before looking worried.
“Man, where are we going to sleep then? If we investigate the evening, then when are we going to find a place to sleep in?”
Ryuu just looked towards Hotaru behind him and spoke as a matter of fact.
“We can lodge in the Temple…… well more like a cathedral than a temple but whose complaining? The Envoys stays there or so I was informed. We shall stay there for the time being.”
Hotaru simply slumped in defeat as he was mumbling something like ‘no soft soft bed?’ while Sarada just shrugged. Hotaru slowly looked up as he asked.
“No fancy hotel?”
Ryuu just said simply while smiling but the smile didn’t quite reach to his eyes.
“Nope, we are staying in the temple. And by the way, who was responsible for blowing all our money on eating at a restaurant? Eh? Eh?”
Hotaru just whistled innocently. Ryuu nodded.
“Excatly. You were the reason why we camped out in the forest. It was pure luck that we were even able to get a ride to the capital, on time, if the captain of that ship didn’t pity us.”
They reached the carriage as they were guided by the people working in the castle. It seemed that Albert didn’t wait for them outside the Throne room and had gone to the carriage. As they reached their ride they saw Albert waiting there with a metal plate in his hand, frowning a bit but for what reasons they did not know. Hotaru and Sarada was already upon him, asking for reasons for leaving them alone. He just gave some answer.
“Well I tried contacting the Temple but it doesn’t seem to be responding to my Template. How odd…. anyway, how was the discussion?”
Ryuu nodded as he explained while Albert kept the Template inside his own storage ring.
“Yes, regarding that we have gotten the permission from the King to investigate with the help of someone named Mark from the Peacekeeping Force.”
The man nodded though sweat seemed to appear on his face.
“Well, Commander Mark, eh? Good luck to you. That man is certainly good at his job but I have heard he is quite…. not what he looks like. I have yet to meet him as he is quite a busy man but I have heard he was renowned as…. the Drunken Commander and some other title as well. Anyway you did well and impressed the King at least. So, I need to send you to their headquarters?”
Ryuu nodded.
“Yes, we need a ride to the Peacekeeping Force’s Headquarter. Also, while we are at it, can you describe what this ‘Peacekeeping force’ is about?”
Ryuu had some quite a few guess already and just wanted to make sure. Albert just nodded as he began explaining.
“Well, it is a newly established force as not even 1 year has passed since it’s inauguration. It is a force that is mostly focused in ensuring the law as well as maintaining security and investigation within the capital city, separate from the Royal Guards and Army. The Royal Guards are few in number, therefore they only protect the palace and are totally unsuitable for the security of the City as a whole. The Army may be in vast number but they are intimidating for the Local and Foreigners alike therefore are present only in important places like Harbors and Guilds.”
Ryuu listened to the explanation as he remembered about the armored men in the Harbor. Albert continued on.
“So the Peacekeeping Force was established. They are not much powerful as the fellows from the Army or Royal guards but are pretty close in comparison. Also they are less intimidating as they wear Magically weaved clothing instead of bloody armors. But they are quite capable in their work as the crime rates have fallen down compared to other years. But still, it has only been less than a year. Other big cities of the kingdom have only begun to establish the Peacekeeping Force.”
‘So, they are like police of this Kingdom.’
That was an apt description of how the Police were in their world. After saying that Albert got to his Coach while the others started filling inside. The Coach which had Fiore seemed to be missing, most likely they left. A shame as Ryuu did not get to introduce himself to the little lady but now he had to focus on the mission. They got in the Coach as it started maneuvering on the busy streets of the capital. Ryuu looked at the happy faces of the people there whether they were old or young or human or other species.
‘Can’t believe something terrible is about to happen to this place. We can’t let that happen, can we?’
He looked at his hand as he before clenching it tightly. After a while, the coach was in front of a mansion manned by people in black dress. There was a shield insignia on their metal gates. People at the gate just looked at the insignia of the Temple at the side of the carriage before opening the gate and letting them inside. The whole group walked out of the Coach before Albert said something to them.
“Well, here you go. This is the Headquarter of the Peacekeeping Force. The guards seem to have been notified of your presence. I do not know from this point onwards so off you go. So be sure to do whatever you have to do. Also I will be leaving for a while to visit the Temple Headquarter of this city and will arrive before evening to pick you up.”
By saying that the Coach left the premise of the building. A guard who was wearing a chest plate, with a spear in hand escorted them inside the building. The interior of the mansion was well maintained with routine patrol. Inside the mansion was marbled floors and hallways with carpets and light orange colored walls. The furniture was well furbished with paintings hanging on the wall and huge windows with curtains on its opposite side to let the sunlight in. The Guards proceeded with saying a word and led them to a door. He knocked as a voice was heard from inside.
“Yes?”
The guard replied in monotonous voice.
“The Temple envoys have arrived.”
They all seem to wonder how these people looked or behaved more friendly that the Army? Before long, a similar monotonous voice was heard from inside the door.
“Let them in.”
The guard opened the door and they all went inside. It was nothing like Ryuu had expected. He had imagined that the place would be at least a bit gaudy and rich not this…
“……. Quaint.”
Yeah, there was nothing noteworthy in the room. Beside some furniture and the carpet, there was nothing much. They looked straight at the man in the room. He was behind a desk with stacks of papers in front of him. The man appeared to be his 20s with a short rough black hair. He had pale skin with emerald colored eyes and red framed glasses. He looked to be serious kind, donning black colored raiment with many medals on him.
He looked at them before continuing to read through his paperwork, signing somewhere with a quill and stamping on it as well. Ryuu and Ren kept quiet observing the man’s sharp eyes.
‘He doesn’t look the drunk part at all.’
But before they could speak the man named Mark spoke first.
“So, you are here on the case from the Temple, is that right?”
Ryuu nodded. The captain looked for a little while before sighing. He kept the papers he was writing on away before looking down on his desk as if searching for something.
“Ask away.”
Ryuu’s eye twitched a bit. He nodded before saying.
“I would like to get the gist of the…”
*Pop*
“…case….”
The sound was heard and to his dismay, the man actually brought a bottle of alcohol from somewhere under his desk and filled his glass with its content. The man actually had the gall to gesture them to wait a while. Then after drinking couple of glasses of alcohol, he still seemed sober enough to speak though his voice was a little slurred.
“Nearly a month ago, a woman living in the ghetto found something suspicious floating along the river. She first poked it before it turned over to see a dead body of a child wrapped up in cloths. She screamed and then the rest of the Ghetto seemed to be aware. But that wasn’t all. More bodies showed up minutes later. All children. That’s when we showed up because that region is under our jurisdiction.”
‘Nearly a month ago? Sometime, the long travel does make me mad when we could have reached faster. But they said that the Teleportation circle from the Temple of this capital did not seem to be working so we had to pick the nearest kingdom’s.’
Ryuu thought as they listened to Mark’s slurred report which somehow became more and more like a computer giving a report. It was unnerving.
“Then a perimeter was established to carefully search the place. Witnesses were questioned but neither were the result conclusive nor did anyone know anything. Though searching along the riverside showed suspicious marks of tire just 1 km from the incident. The identity of the children was unknown. However, all of them were drained dry of their blood due to the mark of a deep cut found across their throat as well as wrist as well as their emancipated state of their body. Post-mortem also suggest that they were tortured before being drained dry of their blood. A slow and cruel death. A survey has found that nearly 4/5 were female and the maximum age was estimated to be 12 while the minimum was 5. Later the Archbishop was called to rest their soul but has found that each and every one of the kids had high [Holy] affinity and the investigation got more priority and pressure from the Temple increased.”
Ryuu clenched his fist when he read on what happened to those poor children. Even the happy Hotaru was dead silent while Sarada was gripping her staff hard. Ren just closed his eyes but one could feel his anger. When listening about the Archbishop, Ryuu wondered.
‘The Archbishop were summoned to the [Holy City] after we had already departed. Wasn’t that 20 days ago? It was their bi-yearly meeting. So the one in charge at this time should be a Bishop, right? I had heard that the Archbishop wanted to stay but he had to go the [Holy City] at such a time. Hmm…. It certainly is quite the coincidence.’
They listened on. But before they continued…
*pop*
Well, another damn whisky. Then came the slur report.
“Well? We need more investigation. It has been speculated that the bitches of the [Cult] could very well be behind such heinous crime as it is within their modus operandi. This has not been their first nor the last attempt at kidnapping and has done it numerous time in the rural areas. Despite not knowing the identities, sketches were made and distributed. It was found that most of the children were from the territory of Lord Harold in the south.”
Mark looked at them. His cheeks were slightly red along with the tip of his nose. He was a bit tipsy but he asked nonetheless.
“So do you have any question?”
Before Ryuu could say anything, Hotaru exploded.
“What the HELL man?! What have you been doing all this time? All these children’s death and what have you done?!”
Not the eloquent of words but enough to convey his thought as well; since they knew the place where the children were coming from so why have they not acted on it?
The man just quirked an eye as he replied too calmly for a drunk.
“Do mind your manners boy, you are talking to a Commander. I do not mind such attitude from my friends or my superior, however you are neither. Therefore, a small modicum of respect is expected.”
He looked sternly at them, all indication of being a drunk hidden away before it came back on and he was back to being a drunk.
“And to answer your question: we have yet the power to influence those outside our jurisdiction. Only in few cities have our influence been established and this Lord is nowhere near to our influence.”
Before Hotaru could say anything, Ryuu stopped him and asked.
“Then, were efforts not made to bring justice to the victims?”
Mark just nodded as he said with his hand gestures.
“Efforts were made. Many envoys were sent to investigate Aron city’s Lord but none arrived at the destination, implying that they were intercepted by someone before they could reach the city. No bodies were found and we declared them to be missing. But the issue is getting out of hand, so much, that the [Royal Magicians] were sent to investigate. However, no conclusive evidences have been found.”
Hotaru asked.
“What about that Lord of the Area? Shouldn’t he be doing something?”
Mark looked at the boy sharply for half a second which went unnoticed to everyone.
“He may be facing…. difficulties. That is all I can say. We also may believe that [Cult] members are hiding in the Capital. How they entered could be attributed to the large influx of people travelling to the capital, wanting to celebrate ‘The 100th anniversary Victory Day’. But the [Cult] may have had entered even earlier. So there’s not much we can do right now.”
They all were silent after that, contemplating. After saying that Mark stood up, patted his clothes and wobbly walked towards the door. Before he left he looked at the silent kids and asked.
“What are you standing around for?”
They looked at him. He just looked at them.
“You all want to see the crime scenes, don’t you? To figure if we had missed something?”
They looked at each other and nodded. The thought of investigating the Crime scene seemed grand but considering the experts has yet to find anything conclusive, Ryuu was hoping if they will. After all they had someone with a [Uniqe Skill] with them.
After few minutes they were on their way to the crime scene. As they did not have their Coach right now, they were sitting with Mark in the Coach of the Peacekeeping Force. A somewhat sober looking Mark sat with Sarada on one side while the boys stuffed up on the other side. Not to say it was awkward as no one spoke. Eventually they passed a wall while going to the Crime scene. Sarada wondered.
“….What are these walls for?”
Mark looked outside from the window and replied.
“The reason is to protect the Royal City. There was only the inner wall in the past as the population was still small. But after the heroes defeated the [Demon King] homeless people swarmed in as they had nowhere else to go. The wall was to be made and so now we have the outer wall. Though the Palace was built once more, nearer to the sea, as the previous one was destroyed. There are 4 entrances for the inner wall while there are only 3 entrances in the outer wall. The wall acts as a mark of territory for the [Barrier] that protects the city. The [Barrier] encompass the areas marked by the wall. As for the open Harbor that the walls do not protect, the Lighthouse acts as the mark. The Capital city can be separated into 5 parts, each separated from each other by a big river which flows towards the moat of the castle and then into the sea.”
Mark used the middle finger and the index finger to ‘adjust’ his glasses, reflecting light from it. If they had not seen his drinking stupor, then they might have been tricked into thinking he was a cool ikeman.
“The southern part acts as the main entrance to the city. Most of the people arrive from that place if not from harbor. There are many business firm that has been placed there for attracting customers. Most of the Guilds are situated there. The East part is where the Military resides. There are barracks and training camps placed there. Normal people are not authorized to delve deeper into the place. They routinely go out of the wall, into the wild to hunt monsters to clear the area lest the travelers and traders get scared away.
The western part is the farming as well as an industrial area. As Kingdom of Posat lies in Northern part of the world, the winters are long and the climate cold. The land however is regularly maintained by [Mages] to fertilize the land to grow crops. The industries produce many useful things to boost the economy as well. The Northern part is where the Harbor lies. As you already know, many materials as well as items come through there. And at last the central zone or inside the inner wall where the nobles reside.
Many nobles leave their domain to the capital for meeting or other festivities. Many establishments inside are catered towards Noble needs. One of the famous establishment, aside from the Royal Castle, is ‘Royal Academy’ where many Noble’s children study. But we are not here to discuss about them, are we? I am just giving you a basic overlay of the Royal city since it is your first time in the city.”
Hotaru and Sarada looked sheepish. After that, the rest of the journey was quiet. The streets became shoddier and not well-maintained. After a while the pavements gave away to dirt road. They were headed Southwest. After a while they reached the riverbank where they went out. It looked sparsely populated with huts as compared to those in the more developed part. People looked at them before looking at the man who had escorted them. Ryuu noted that they seem to bow their head in respect before going back to their work. He seemed to acknowledge the fact that Mark was respected, not feared, by the people which said a lot about him. Ryuu asked him.
“So what is this place? It looks underdeveloped compared to what we have seen yet.”
“This is the Ghetto. It is equivalent of slums. Those with family who want to stay in the capital but do not have enough fund to buy houses, make their home in these free land. The administration doesn’t develop it as it doesn’t fall under their jurisdiction. You can say that in these land those that labor resides. They only have to pay small amount of tax. In this land, the law upholders are us. We maintain the security in this community.”
“Then won’t these people stay in this place forever?”
Mark shook his head as they walked along the narrow dirt road.
“There are time-limit. Every family can stay here for 15 years. Otherwise we need to send them off as we have a register for each and every one of them. They all mostly work in the agricultural sector but even then the lowest wages they get is sufficient for them to buy houses in few years. The only reason they even made this place was for the many refugees back in the day from Sholiy due to the rebellion led by the current king of Sholiy as well as the Temple who bought this whole land for these refugees to stay. I still wonder instead of making new villages why'd they shoved them inside the capital? But we aren’t here to discuss about them are we?”
They finally reached to a place where 6 other Peacekeeping force were. They stood up and saluted to Captain Mark as he just nodded slightly at them. They escorted them to the place where the bodies were seen. Soon they reached their destination and Mark simply told them to investigate.
Ryuu looked at Ren who nodded. Ren just crouched a little and closed his eyes before saying something.
“[Unique Skill: Dynamic World]”
Then in Ren’s eyes, the world slowed down as all of his senses sharpened to their extreme and further. He could see the world in a different view. But he restrained his power a bit because he could feel his heart rate rise, blood vessels on the verge of bursting. If he unleashed more than what he was currently doing, he was sure he would really burst into pieces. That was why he restrained it. Then he saw dark mist like things above the river. They were almost transparent but it was there. He saw a track forming the path that the corpse had taken while going downstream.
“I think I have found something.”
Ryuu’s ear perked up as the other guards looked surprised. Mark just simply whistled as if he had expected such things to happen. Ren continued as his pupil glowed soft purple in contrast to his black iris.
“I can see tracks forming. Let’s hurry before the tracks completely disappear. It’s already nearly a month, I am surprised there are still some tracks.”
Mark said nonchalantly.
“Told you, we quarantined the whole section of the river discreetly. Nobody has come or gone to this river and some preserving magic did the trick.”
Ren nodded as he was focused on the task. He then jumped to the other side of the river as he began chasing the dark mist. Were they normal humans, then they never could have jumped the 30 feet wide river. Luckily they weren’t as Ryuu and the others followed his track as they jumped over to his side of the river. Mark looked at the guards before issuing some orders.
“You, go get the carriage. You and you, guard this place. The rest comes with me.”
They all nodded. Mark just followed them from the other side of the river, not bothering to jump as they chased the group of teenagers.
Ren looked here and there. His was almost out of [MP] as keeping such a skill ‘on’ was draining him dry. The mist just floated above the river before it appeared on land. It seemed that it was somehow got thrown haphazardly…
“…or by accident.”
Ren mumbled. He looked at the dirt road as there was an intersection of roads. They were still in the outskirts of the Ghetto region as there were roads. Ryuu and the others arrived as they found Ren crouching and touching the road. He stood up.
“I think it was an accident.”
Ryuu looked at him.
“An accident?”
“Yes. It looks like the amount of… bodies were too much for the transport before it nearly tipped over as it made a sharp turn to the right. The tracks here suggest that the driver narrowly missed his turn.”
Ren indicated looking at the path that went towards the urban region of the capital. Ren smelled his finger and said in a low voice.
“And this smell, it smells like gunpowder. Was it one of the cargo?”
Mark said as he jumped over to their side of the road.
“Well I never thought that the river would carry the bodies all the way to there without anyone noticing. It’s almost 7 kilometers away from the crime scene. Anyway, it seems we have to stop here for the day. It’s almost evening, kids.”
They looked around to see that Mark was right. It was nearly evening. Albert could already be waiting for them at the Peacekeeping headquarters. Mark did something as a circle appeared before him. He seemed to be conversing with someone before speaking to them.
“It seems the coach as yet to arrive to the headquarters. Do you mind if I were to bring you to the Temple or Cathedral?”
As in cue, the coach of the PKF or Peacekeeping Force had arrived.
Sarada asked.
“If Albert came then?”
Mark just waved his hand.
“My men will say that I will bring you to the Temple. Nothing to worry about.”
Hotaru looked suspiciously at him.
“And why ‘you’ of all people is escorting us? Why can’t you get your cronies to send us?”
The said ‘cronies’ made a face when they were called as such. Mark just shrugged.
“Been in that room for 72 hours straight. Gotta enjoy the scenery with convenient excuse to go out with.”
With that they found themselves outside the carriage and in front of the Cathedral with Mark chugging booze. It was a big cathedral with walls surrounding it. There were well maintained garden but there wasn’t a soul in sight. Mark looked over at the cathedral.
“Well, it seems everyone’s gone to sleep. Strange I can't feel..”
Before slipping and falling inside the carriage. His coachman seemed to be worried.
“Are you all right, sir? You have been drinking too much!”
While this was all happening Ryuu looked at them and shrugged before heading inside. They opened the gate and slowly traversed inside. There were fountains and statues of something like angels which looked frankly creepy in the evening. Though one could hear a creepy piano tune playing in the background.
“Wait, piano playing?”
Hotaru sighed in relief.
“Wow, at least there are people inside. Nearly pissed my pants there because it looked like the start of some kind of a horror flick.”
Ryuu nodded as well while Ren was frowning.
“Something Ren?”
Ren just focused before he shook his head.
“No… just felt some kind of a chill down my spine.”
Ryuu nodded as he stood in front of the massive door and knocked. No one was answering and piano was still being played. He quirked an eye at that before the door opened as he knocked again. This time, he too felt a chill down his spine. They slowly went inside. There were rows and rows of benches with a large candle sticks across the room lighting the whole place up. In front there was an alter and behind the alter was some kind of an instrument called Pipe organ. There was a man playing the instrument, in his own world. Nothing could be seen much as they could only see his back but he seemed pretty ‘lanky’. He did not seem to notice the party entering.
“Welcome….”
No it seemed he did.
“…..to the Temple of Blasphemy! Would you like a sermon?”
He suddenly bent over backwards and gave them the creepiest smile. His face was stitched all over with the most prominent one starting from a centimeter below his left eye, going upwards to his forehead and then curving downward to his other eye, ending just above his lip. He had wavy pale silver hair as he just wore a simple light blue shirt and a white pant.
Just then, something fell on the forehead of Sarada. She wiped it with her hand to see blood before looking up. Her iris contracted before she screamed.
“Kyaaaaaaah!!!”
Then they all looked up. From the reflection of Ryuu’s eye, one could see the mass of bodies in the ceilings. They were all…. stitched? It seemed that they were all bodied piled and then cemented in the ceiling. Hand, feet, blood dripping, as gory as it could be. But there was one thing he noticed before he looked away.
“What did you do to the women?”
The man tilted his head before nodding.
“Ah, a man of class indeed. Since they were virgins so I thought ‘why not I let them have fun before sending them to their Gods. It would be a waste to send them off like this.’ Man, how I am surprised by my own kindness and durability. I mean all 47 of them?”
Just as he stated, many young women who were in the ceiling had little to no clothes at all. They had tears in their eyes and a hand mark on their neck indicating they had been strangled. Strangely he felt an unnatural calm inside him. A rage festering inside him. He felt like the calm before the storm. The man… no the animal in front of him did not deserve to live. That animal was few meters away from him and was still coming closer towards them. Then, Ryuu suddenly attacked.
[Quick Dash]
Ryuu suddenly appeared in front of the man and kicked him into the altar as the altar got destroyed. Dust flew around from the explosion. Before he again used his skill to appeared in front of him. He did not have time to draw out his sword as it would get in his way of surprise attack so he made it count with his fist and leg.
[Might]
He buffed himself up and tried to punch him.
From the dust, the figure of Ryuu suddenly flew towards his friend. Hotaru immediately jumped and caught the flying Ryuu. Ryuu was crossing his hand as in guarding himself. But he looked at the figure that was slowly coming out from the dust. That animal still had a carefree smile as his long tongue licked the spot on his cheek where blood seemed to be flowing a little as he cracked his neck.
“That was not nice you see. Surprise attack are a bit rude don’t you think?”
Before disappearing and appearing behind Hotaru.
‘What!?’
‘How!?’
Both Hotaru and Ryuu thought the same before the man punched Hotaru towards the ground and Ryuu along with him.
“Ack!!”
Hotaru used his body as a shield for Ryuu and sustained injuries as trickle of blood flowed out of his mouth. Ren shot 6 arrows at him but they missed and hit the corpses at the ceiling as the man disappeared and appeared behind of the Sarada who was at the last. The man looked at her with a leer.
“““Sarada!!”””
Sarada froze as she looked behind her only to see the man licking his lips as he made a grab at her.
The huge door broke into thousand pieces and a halberd ran through the ground where the man was at. The man had appeared in front of the Altar again as he looked at the weapon before recognizing it. He grinned.
“If it isn’t the drunkard, Mark.”
From outside, Mark came in drinking from a flask before replying.
“If it isn’t the small time bitch whose name I do not know.”
Before picking up the spear. His eyes shrouded in darkness.
“So I will just call you ‘Mob Trash’ and it seems that… “
Before glaring murderously at him, all signs of drunkenness gone as he spoke dead serious.
“….. it’s your execution day today.”
The animal quirked an eye at that. He pointed his finger at Mark.
“Huh what are you talking about? Even though your level is FAR above me I can still outrun yo-..”
*Splash*
Suddenly the man seemed to be missing an arm which he had used to point Mark with.
“Huh?”
He seemed to be surprised as well. None of them could see how the arm was sliced off and how Mark appeared beside the man.
“I know you aren’t strong enough to take out the whole temple guards without lots and lots of help so why don’t you help me….”
A leg got cut off instantly as Mark smiled good naturedly. The arm that had cut off earlier just fell down.
“….by saying where you pests are hiding at? Capisce?”
I am back!!