Hinode’s human partner looked vaguely terrified as they headed towards the sturdy oak door. Hinode, on the other hand, was mildly disappointed.
Malevolents are categorized into four groups:
The first is the weakest—the Puzzle group. They were created because of minor grievances like a failed test or a bad breakup. Any self-respecting Investigator would be able to solve their Cases with relative ease. The entrance to their Cases manifested themselves as large, extravagant doors made of expensive woods or popular metals and jewels. This was to entice unsuspecting innocents to enter through their gaudy doors and into their Cases. A Puzzle category Malevolent, though, only had simple puzzles, riddles, and escape rooms easy enough to solve.
The second group are the Ghosts. Their entrances are less gaudy but still grand, much like the entrance to the stereotypical bank, perhaps. Their Cases were made up more of negative, but not to an extreme extent, feelings. Ghosts, ‘NPCs’ and such were a rare occurrence, in these Malevolent’s Cases, but could happen. Mostly though, their Cases were made up of figuring out why they ended up as Malevolents and telling them ‘it’ll be okay.’ Metaphorically, though. Malevolents can’t understand speech.
The third category is called the Grieving. Hatred, regret, loss of a loved one, vengeance, their unsolved murder—stuff like that. Their entrances were eerily normal. These Malevolents could even appear over the tops of normal doors, pretending they were the entrances to homes and buildings. Cases belonging to Grieving Malevolents were dangerous. Very, very dangerous. NPCs, ghosts, monsters, puzzles, riddles, murder cases, and a whole lot of terror.
The fourth and final type of Malevolents are the ‘Unsolved.’ They’re the rarest, but the most treacherous. Hinode himself had only ever found three Unsolved type Malevolents in his entire career. They were, in essence, the negativity of the entire world. The Cases took shape as impossible murders, unsolvable mysteries, and terrifying monsters. The last one Hinode had entered, he’d thought he would end up dead.
Each entrance to a Case is guarded by a Malevolent. Until they enter and solve the Case, however, it won’t appear. In addition, a Case could evolve, though it didn’t happen often.
The type of Malevolent/Case in front of Hinode and his partner, however, was a normal Grieving type. This left Hinode a bit disappointed.
“When that supposed queen said she’d gathered the strongest, I’d hoped it would be something more,” Hinode said. “This looks like any other Grieving Case I’ve solved.”
“Isn’t… isn’t that good?” the human asked.
Hinode wrinkled his nose. He said, “For you, yeah. It’ll be a good learning experience. But I solve Grieving Cases nearly every day. This is gonna be boring. Hey, why don’t you do everything, and I watch? It’ll be good for you.”
“No thank you. I’d rather not get killed for doing something wrong.”
Hinode snorted and nodded, placing his hand on the knob. It was warm. “Ready?”
“Honestly? No.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Ccv klat atja, tf rkecu bqfc atf vbbg jcv atf akb bo atfw kfgf bnfgajxfc ys j yilcvlcu ktlaf iluta.
***
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The entrance to the Case had vanished from behind them. They were amidst a group of NPCs in a… hm, a mansion. They were currently in the hall of the entrance. Twenty-one NPCs with three servants and eighteen ‘guests.’ No visible monsters. No one was talking. The windows leading outside showed nothing but black.
As soon as Hinode noticed this, a bell chimed, and a door opened. From it, a servant—another NPC—entered. It headed over to them and bowed stiffly.
“Honored detectives,” it said. “I welcome you to the late Lord M’s mansion.”
An NPC scoffed loudly. “As if we had a choice. You people kidnapped us right off the streets.”
From this, Hinode gathered a few things. When he glanced at his partner, he saw that she had a complicated look on her face. He hoped she’d realized the same things as he had, but he wouldn’t hold it against her if she hadn’t. Humans were simple creatures, after all, and her strong suits weren’t in the detective department.
The NPC ignored the outburst and motioned for them to follow it. The eighteen detectives and one human hesitated. It was only when Hinode moved to follow the servant without hesitation that they followed too.
They were led into a room with a long, rectangular table and twenty chairs. The NPC gestured towards the chairs. “Please take a seat.”
Once again, it was Hinode who took the lead with a carefree attitude no one else in the room had. Stiffly, his human partner sat down next to him, and the rest followed like little ducklings.
At the head of the table, the NPC nodded. It began to speak.
“As you may have realized, Lord M is the owner of this place. He is, also, quite dead. Murdered six months ago. No one has been able to identify the killer. It was in his will, however, that should six months pass without anyone being able to solve his murder, the twenty of you should be called in. All of you: the greatest detectives around the world.”
Hinode snorted and leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up onto the table and closing his eyes. The servant NPC glanced at him but ignored him for the most part. Several of the detective NPCs, however, looked at him condescendingly.
“What about the payment?” someone asked eagerly. “I’m sure with a place like this, a few thousand shouldn’t be too hard to give…”
“Of course. Payment can be discussed freely after the murder is solved.”
“Even so, you’re asking something nearly impossible!” another NPC, a woman this time, cried out.
Its companion nodded solemnly. “I agree with Olivia. If you’d called any one of us before this, we could’ve helped. However, six months is a bit… adding to that, the murderer—”
“—is amongst one of us,” Hinode interrupted loudly; he opened his eyes to stare at the servant. “That’s what you were about to say, isn’t it?”
The NPC nodded and Hinode barked out a laugh. He said honestly, “Oh shit. I was wrong.”
His human partner seemed a bit anxious. “What do you mean? What were you wrong about?”
“This is an extreme-priority Grieving case.”
“And that means…?”
“It’s nearing evolution into an Unsolved Case.”
***
They were led to bedrooms. Each of them had their own, with a table, balcony, and bathroom. When Hinode moved around the check them out, he noted that the grates, windows, and vents were all sealed or screwed shut. Hinode hummed and took the liberty of sneaking into his partner’s room, face unnaturally serious.
“OK,” he said. “First things first, what’s your name?”
The human blinked and then scowled heavily. She was probably offended he hadn’t bothered to remember her name. “Edith Smith.”
“Unfortunate, but not important.” Smith bristled. “I don’t suppose you know what an extreme-priority Case is?”
“No, I don’t,” Smith grit out.
“Yeah, I thought so. An extreme-priority case is what it sounds like. We need to priorities it before any other, otherwise, it’ll get stronger, and we’ll have a bigger problem on our hands.”
“Why don’t you just call it an evolving Case, then?”
“Hush, shut up and listen. The Council don’t like having their naming senses questioned by people.
“Going back to our problem, this means that this Grieving Case is about to turn into an Unsolved. In my entire life, I have only ever seen and solved three. The last one… I barely made it out alive. That supposed queen really wasn’t joking when she said these Cases are special.”
“So what do we do?” Smith asked, paling.
Hinode smiled grimly. “We aren’t doing anything. You are going to follow me. Do as I say if you want to keep your life. When I say you run, you run. When I say you hide, you hide. When I say you jump, you do as I say without complaint. If you don’t… well.”
Suddenly, Hinode didn’t look like the smiling, confident Arcane Smith had walked in with. His purple eyes gleamed unsettlingly, and his black hair seemed to shift and seep into the shadows like a leaking bottle of ink.
“Believe me when I say this: if I tell them you perished because of the Case, no one will question it. Understood?”
Smith swallowed the lump in her throat with difficulty. She nodded rigidly. She’d forgotten this wasn’t a human she was dealing with. She was discontent, yes, and angry but right now she was too afraid to go against Hinode’s words.
“Yes,” she said quietly.
Abruptly, the mood in the room lightened and Hinode smiled cheerfully. “Great!” He placed a hand on her shoulder and patted it twice in a friendly manner.
Then he turned decisively and snuck back out. Through the walls, Smith heard him open the door to his own room and the click of a door closing shut.
I smell problems… 😐
The first case!! Looks like it won’t be easy at all
Thank you for the chapter!!! ❤️❤️
The Fox is in trouble? Or more like Miss Smith. 🤔 The cases sound interesting. So Hinode is basically a brilliant detective who solves mysteries and puzzles. Hope he keeps his 100% success rating. 🧐😘
Thank you for the chapter 😊
hinode 🙂
thank you for the chapter 💖