Mysterious Fog World: Eldritch Nexus

After leaving James's house, Drake went to Kevin's weapon shop.

He stepped into the blacksmith shop, its heavy wooden door creaking ominously behind him. The air was thick with the acrid scent of burning coal and the metallic tang of freshly forged steel. Rows of gleaming weapons lined the walls, catching the flickering light of the forge.

At the center of the bustling workshop stood Kevin, the blacksmith, a towering figure with arms like tree trunks and a face weathered by years of hard labor. He glanced up as Drake entered, his expression guarded.

Drake approached him. "I need to ask you some questions about one of your apprentices, James," he said, his tone firm but respectful.

"What do you want, detective? Didn't one of your colleagues come by just a few hours ago to enquire about him?" Kevin's voice rumbled like distant thunder, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Drake was cursing his unseen colleague inside his heart who was making things difficult for him for no reason. He copy-pasted the reason he gave to James's parents.

Kevin's brow furrowed, but he somehow accepted it grudgingly, gesturing for Drake to follow him to a quieter corner of the shop where they could speak in relative privacy.

Once they were alone, Drake wasted no time getting down to business. "Tell me about James," he began, his gaze probing. "What was he like as an apprentice?"

Kevin sighed heavily, his shoulders sagging under the weight of his grief. "James was a good lad, eager to learn the trade," he admitted, his voice tinged with regret. "He had a natural talent for smithing. He could have surpassed me in a mere decade, but alas. He was very hard working, but he could be hot-headed at times." Kevin hesitated a bit when mentioning his hot-headed behavior.

Drake nodded, taking mental notes as he listened. "And how did he get along with the other apprentices?" he pressed, his curiosity piqued.

“He had good relations with all his fellow apprentices. Especially with Peter who was his best friend,” answered Kevin, but he looked like he was hiding something.

Drake smiled seeing that. “You only mentioned Peter, what about the others? Did he have any arguments or fights with others?”

Kevin's expression darkened. "His relationship was not that good with Stephen," he confessed, his tone grave.

"He didn't like Stephen but that's because Stephen was jealous of his talents," he continued. But he looked as if he was covering for James.

Drake's interest was piqued. ‘Stephen, huh?’ he mused, making a mental note to investigate further.

“Mr. Kevin, what can you tell me about your apprentices?” asked Drake, wanting to know more about his apprentices.

Kevin took a deep breath. “Peter is no worse in talent than James. Maybe that's why they got along so well as they saw each other as peers. Sam, my third apprentice is average at best. But he still tries hard to learn.” He sounded proud when he talked about Peter, but sounded neutral when he talked about Sam.

“As for my fourth and last apprentice, Stephen… he is a disappointment. He can't do anything right. I have long given up on him. The only reason he is still employed in my shop is because his late father was my good friend.” Kevin talked in a way as if talking about a nuisance. He had completely given upon him.

Drake swept over the bustling shop. One of Kevin’s apprentices was manning the counter while secretly watching them. "I need to speak with your apprentices if you don't mind," he said, his tone firm but polite.

Kevin's brow furrowed, but he nodded in reluctant agreement. "Fine, but make it quick," he replied gruffly. "We've got work to do."

Drake turned his attention to the three apprentices. Stephen who manned the counter looked guarded.

Kevin called Peter and Sam who gathered around the forge inside the inner part of the shop where the workshop was present, their faces smudged with soot and sweat. Peter looked serious but sad about the passing of his best friend while Sam hovered nervously in the background.

"Stephen, mind if I have a word with you?" Drake asked, gesturing him to follow him to a quieter corner of the shop.

As they settled into chairs, Drake studied his face, searching for any signs of guilt or deception. "I need to ask you some questions about your friend James," he began, his voice steady. He purposely used the word friend to see his reaction.

Peter bristled at the mention of James's name, his jaw clenching with barely concealed anger. "He is not my friend" he screamed.

He controlled his fury and asked “What do you want? I answered all your colleague’s questions.”

Drake pressed on, unfazed by Peter's hostility. He ignored him when he talked about his colleague and asked, "Can you tell me about your relationship with James? Did you get along with him?"

Stephen shifted uncomfortably in his seat, avoiding Drake's gaze. "We... we didn't always see eye to eye," he admitted reluctantly, his voice barely above a whisper.

Drake's interest was piqued. "And why is that?" he asked, his tone gentle but probing.

"James was too arrogant. He used to always look down on me. Just because he was talented, he thought he could look down on others,” James said in sadness and anger while looking around nervously in fear.

He wanted to say more but stopped.

Drake's instincts told him there was more to Stephen's animosity than met the eye. But he let him go, as he could tell that he wouldn't tell anything else.

Stephen went back inside the workshop as Kevin was back to manning the counter.

He proceeded with Peter and then Sam’s interrogation. But other than some mundane information didn't get anything else.

As he finished Sam’s interrogation, he heard some banging noises from inside the workshop. Sam also heard those as he looked at him nervously. Drake stood up to see what was happening. Sam wanted to stop him, but Drake gave him a stern glance and he quieted down.

He saw that Kevin hadn't noticed them. So, he quietly walked towards the workshop door. He opened it slowly and looked inside.

“Trash, I am asking you for the last time. Tell me if you have snitched about me to that detective?” Peter asked Stephen menacingly. He had held his collar and bashed him against the wall while asking the question.

“I am telling the truth, Peter. I didn't tell him anything about you. Please don't hurt me,” Stephen replied fearfully.

“You better be telling the truth. I have maintained a clean reputation and have a bright future ahead of me unlike you, trash. So, if you dare to do anything that puts a dent in it, I will put a dent in all of your bones,” threatened Peter and then punched Stephen heavily in the stomach.

Stephen keeled from the pain. Peter showed a twisted smile seeing him in pain.

Drake closed the gate and saw Sam’s guilty expression. He wanted to interrogate him again but didn't do so as he already had a better lead.

He had seen the fury and animosity in Stephen’s eyes when he was bullied by Peter. He decided to follow him to find more information.

Drake left the shop after the interrogations and decided to follow Stephen later when he would leave the shop to go back home.

He had his lunch while reviewing all the information he got from that day’s interrogations.

Because James’s murder was related to the ongoing murders, the case was investigated superficially by the guards and then was put aside.

He matched the various information he got from their status panels. There was not much information in their panels.

That was not a glitch in his system. He had asked Ivy to reduce his appraisal ability to that of a normal player.

Since he wanted to enjoy the game, there was no fun in getting all their histories from their status panels.

If he wanted he could even ask Ivy about the culprit and she would tell him everything. But that defeated his purpose of enjoying the game.

Hence, he asked Ivy to put that crutch on him until either he solved the case or his life was in danger.

He decided to go ask the relatives and friends of other victims in the meantime. After having small interviews with many of the victims’ relatives he returned to the shop in the evening.

He saw Stephen leaving the shop and followed him quietly from a distance.

He followed him back to the impoverished area of the town. His house was some distance away from James's house but was much smaller. He lives alone, as his parents died a few years back.

It was Kevin who helped him financially with his studies and later took him as his apprentice. But, his performance disappointed him too much who considered blacksmithing as his life.

That's why he even turned a blind eye to Stephen's bullying even if he knew about it. As they were his best students who were bullying him. As long as it was not anything excessive he had decided to not interfere in their affairs.

As Stephen went inside, he closed the door behind him. Drake checked around and when no one was watching approached his door.

He took out a sleek metal pick and a screwdriver. As he inserted them in the lock, after some gentle movements, he heard the blissful clicking sound. He opened the door and sneaked inside, closing it behind.

He saw Stephen in his room cursing at Peter in a loud voice. He hid behind the wall, to watch him from a hidden position.

Stephen opened his cupboard and took out two dolls and a knife from it. The dolls each had an image pasted on their heads. Those were the images of James and Peter respectively, while James’s image had a cross in red drawn on it.

He took the knife and stabbed the doll with Peter's image again and again.

“That fucking Peter, who does he think he is. Just because he is somewhat more talented than me, he can bully me.”

“I want to kill him, just like I killed James.”

He turned towards the doll with James’s image. His face seething in anger.

“He had so much fun hitting me and making my life miserable. Why should I give him my hard-earned money? Why should I buy him his lunch? Why can he beat me for just a half-assed reason that he was bored or he was in a bad mood? Why? Why? Why?”

His face suddenly changed again. He grinned like a lunatic.

“Hehehe, it felt so good to kill him. I tied him and gagged his mouth. He looked so desperate as I cut off his limbs one by one while keeping it alive.”

“Then I cut his stomach with the knife to draw that strange symbol, I don't know why I had to do that, but I had to do it because he asked.”

“But who cares, he looked so desperate and painful when I did it. Then I slowly sliced his neck and removed his neck. The face he had when he died was so magnificent.”

As Stephen was monologuing about how he gruesomely murdered his fellow apprentice, he started laughing like a madman.

Then he abruptly stopped and turned back to the Peter doll.

“I want to kill you so badly, but he told me not to do anything for a few days, till the matter cools down. I can't wait, but I also don't want to go to prison. So, you can live a few more days. After that, hehehe.”

Stephen ended his sentence with creepy laughter.

Drake had seen enough. He was ready to leave. He didn't confront Stephen as he was merely a small fish. There was a bigger wish behind him. Moreover, it was a huge possibility, that that fish was a cultist or was connected to one.

He left his house quietly, leaving the deranged man laughing in self-satisfaction.