Eislyn

12: He Kidnapped a Child?

The night had yet to emerge, but the intense sunbeams lit out, and clouds occupied the clear sky, signalling it was still early for the sun to set down and ablaze the sky. It only took the investigation squad that Sir Romero requested a short moment to arrive through teleportation magic. 

The person leading the investigation squad was someone who personally knew Sir Romero as he immediately ran towards Sir Romero once he took a step out with much enthusiasm and the intention of embracing the man who was not necessarily taller but bigger than himself. The scrawny man had his arms wide open while running madly, all set to give his beloved coworker a heart-warming hug, but all that ended up with him hugging the grass instead.

"Ow, ow. My dear Azzy, how could you avoid my greeting hug for you? I haven't seen you for too long." In contrast to his exuberant acts, his voice was laced with lethargy and gloom. It perfectly fitted his outer appearance; haggard face, messy hair, weary eyes with heavy bags, and clothes that couldn't be differentiated from the garbage. Although, it was somewhat hard to distinguish his facial features from the wild hair covering them.

Sir Romero didn't hide the disgust on his face. He swiftly backed away and warned the other party, "Keep a good distance from me, Jaeke. You look and smell like shit. Touch me, and the Association will need to hold a funeral for their member."

Heartbroken, Jaeke, who had just gotten up from the ground, immediately went down, shattered into pieces like a broken mirror. He whined with his ever-lethargic tone, "Why won't you love me, my dear Az—" 

But his whining was shortly cut off by a rock firing at him that landed, thankfully, 
right next to his face. He could practically see smoke coming off the rock. He could've died, right? He could've died just now, right? He almost died, right?

"Quit your disgusting act. You have better things to do." Sir Romero was disappointed that the rock didn't hit the person. He moved on and began to elucidate the situation to the investigation squad, ignoring their shell-shocked leader in the background. "It’s an illegally operated laboratory, hidden from the public. An unidentified person, presumably a black mage, has been conducting artificial demonic beast experiments. The crucial research papers are missing as they’re not found inside. I believe the perpetrator is suspected of working with an organisation given the resources. The perpetrator is also nowhere to be found."

He had already checked for hidden spots but to no avail. It was likely that the researcher took the rest of the research papers with them. There wasn't much he could do about the whole situation himself, so he left the investigation squad to take care of whatever was needed. Things like finding leads and evidence, writing reports, and so on… That was their job and none of his business.

When he brought up artificial demonic beasts, the investigation squad quickly became invested and didn't waste a second to enter the laboratory and examine the entire place. However, their mood took a turn down when they received the bad news about the bodies of the artificial demonic beasts when some of the investigation squad went to inspect the bodies.

"So, you basically grilled them all and burnt them to a crisp," Jaeke said attentively as he wrote in his notepad. His previous stunts were no longer to be seen, replaced with his work mode. "May I know the reason why?"

"No, you may not," Sir Romero flatly rejected.

A tiny smile arose on the investigation squad leader's face, a smile so small it could easily be missed, but his spiritless voice never changed. "I will report to the Association Head however I wish then. For example, you went against the protocol and are suspected of deliberately obstructing the investigation by hiding information."

"...."

"You could even be suspected as an accomplice as there is no hard evidence of artificial demonic beasts, only animal corpses burnt beyond recognition. You were also the one who discovered a well-hidden illegal laboratory. The most important parts of the research are missing. How convenient. It doesn't sound so favourable to you now, does it?"