Chapter 75 : Chapter 75

Chapter 75. No Leads

“What? You can’t find any clues at all?”

Calf looked at the captain of the Enforcement Team in front of him and asked in surprise.

“Yes. Four nights ago, an apprentice saw Belori from the Modification School on the commercial street. She held a piece of paper and waved it toward the crowd. That is the last trace we have.”

“You’ve confirmed that apprentice isn’t involved?”

“No. That same night he returned to his school’s headquarters and spent the entire evening under the supervision of his mentor. He only noticed her because he was surprised to see a formal mage who normally didn’t appear on the commercial street.”

Calf frowned. There was nothing.

He began regretting his impulsive decision to accept this investigation task. Although it had been satisfying to harass the Modification School he disliked so much, the Alliance had strict regulations governing investigators’ behavior.

Every investigator who accepted a case was required to investigate it diligently. If no results were obtained, the case could not even be closed for at least two years.

In other words, if he made no progress, he would have to remain here for two full years, wasting that time entirely.

Normally, newly appointed investigators were assigned to guard duty in major cities. The work was not difficult, and after some time they could accumulate a modest amount of merit—perfect for newcomers.

But the investigation task he had rashly accepted was the kind usually taken by investigators with five or six years of experience.

Even they would carefully study the case before accepting it. If the task appeared too difficult, they would simply refuse it unless they were forcibly assigned.

He had been completely blinded by the opportunity to investigate the Modification School.

Without thinking, he had immediately applied to headquarters for the investigation task. The request had already been sent—by now it was probably already under review.

At this point, it was too late to withdraw. By the time his letter arrived, the approval for the investigation task had probably already been issued.

Calf sighed and rubbed his swollen temples.

He had taken the investigator examination in order to gain better resources for advancement.

Within the investigators’ ranks, there was a complete merit exchange system. The resources required to advance to a Second-Tier Mage could all be obtained through it. That was why many newly promoted formal mages took the examination.

Calf had actually been rather lucky. His exam results were only average, ranking sixth in the region. Originally, he had no chance of securing one of the top two investigator positions.

But among the top five candidates, four of them ran into serious trouble.

One died horribly. After the exam results were announced, fragments of his body were discovered scattered throughout his home.

Another suddenly received funding from his mentor and no longer needed to pursue the merit-accumulation path.

One more won first place in a managerial examination organized by his school and chose to develop his career there instead.

The final candidate was discovered to have cheated during the examination—bribing examiners, murdering a companion, stealing exam materials, slandering the chief examiner, and bringing prohibited items into the examination hall. He was probably already in prison by now.

Incidentally, that last candidate had originally been ranked third.

When Calf received the investigator appointment letter, excitement overwhelmed him.

The very next day he heard that an administrator of the Modification School had gone missing.

With two pieces of good news arriving together, he abandoned rational thought and mailed his application that very night.

After that, he had even gone to Losqi and flaunted his authority arrogantly. Thinking about it now still felt satisfying.

But when he considered this investigation that had made no progress whatsoever, his mood sank again.

“By the way, Investigator, an apprentice from the Modification School also went missing earlier. Just like Belori, he disappeared overnight.”

“Oh?” Calf suddenly became interested.

“Tell me the details.”

“That apprentice’s name was Richter. He disappeared on the night after an examination ended. The Modification School searched for him continuously. Two weeks ago, fragments of his body were found on a piece of land that had been processed by the Construction School.”

“After that, the Modification School prevented us from participating in the investigation, claiming it might involve the leakage of school knowledge. We don’t know what happened afterward, but we do know the Modification School caused quite a stir while searching for the murderer.”

“Belori may have disappeared while investigating Richter’s killer. A few days ago she also had a conflict with members of the Sword Chant School.”

After hearing this information, Calf fell into thought. He had not expected so many connected events.

Until now, he had been focused only on searching for direct clues and had not realized that Belori was connected to so many other matters.

“Do we know who placed the order for the land where Richter’s body was found?”

“The Alchemists’ Association. Coincidentally, the project began the day after Richter’s disappearance was confirmed.”

Calf’s eyes lit up, convinced that he had found a lead.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s investigate the Alchemists’ Association.”

“But the Modification School already investigated them and found nothing.”

“Heh.” Calf sneered.

At this point he was not afraid of doing useless work. What he feared most was having nothing to pursue at all.

“They might have missed something hidden. They’re just apprentices—what do they know about investigation? With such a large association, how could they have examined everything thoroughly?”

The Enforcement Team captain froze. After a moment he spoke again.

“But, Investigator… the Alchemists’ Association has already been dissolved.”

“What? Dissolved? Didn’t they sell that damned Energy Potion for forty-five silver coins? With that much money, how could they possibly disband?”

After the captain explained the reasons behind the association’s dissolution in detail, Calf thought about it for a moment and ultimately decided to abandon that lead.

The reason he had not known about the dissolution was because he had been completely isolated while preparing for the investigator examination.

After the exam, believing that he had performed poorly and would likely fail, he had buried himself in experiments until the investigator appointment letter arrived.

These past few days had been extremely busy, which was why he had only just learned about the association’s dissolution.

It was already impressive that the Modification School had even managed to find the people who had signed the documents.

If he investigated now, those people had probably already been “interrogated” thoroughly by the Modification School. There might be nothing left but skeletons.

“I will report the Modification School’s use of private torture later. That can wait.”

“So we can basically confirm that the murderer who killed Richter is strongly connected to Belori’s disappearance. That is one lead.”

“Another lead is the internal investigation records of the Modification School. I’ll go there personally and demand them.”

“And finally…”

Naturally, the Sword Chant School.

Belori had previously clashed with members of the Sword Chant School, which made them difficult to clear of suspicion.

Unlike Belori, who could not investigate them through official procedures, he had the authority as an Alliance investigator to do so—though he would first need to apply for permission.

“We’ll wait for the Alliance to approve the search warrant before taking action against the Sword Chant School. In the meantime, continue searching the market for anything unusual.”