Chapter 23: Chapter 22: Brief Musings of Other Parties

It had been a rough couple days for the investigators. The sudden murder and subsequent arson case had been a tough one to crack. No one was patrolling the area that night, so it took until morning for a civilian to report a charred body in an alley near their house. Interviewing the others in the area also turned up nothing- everyone was either asleep or too scared to talk due to a suspected rising crime ring.

 

There was a brief flash of hope when one of the new recruits reported having a form of seance Ability. It was always nice having information gathering Abilities, and the more people who could look into different areas, the quicker things could be solved- at least normally. When they got the go-ahead to have the recruit interview the deceased, there was something wrong. They reported that the remnant was confused, not knowing where it was that night and showing serious mental problems that made it a dead end. Similarly, the arsonist had clearly targeted any identifying features, burning away the face specifically, and any other identifying features they might have had. Well, this was the current theory, as there were splotches of deeper burns around places that were more common for tattoos.

 

Since the incident, more guards had been patrolling the outer reaches of the city, but nothing had come from that except some suspicious and some hopeful looks. It was possible the killer had specifically targeted the victim then fled, but due to lazy record keeping by the gate-guards, there was nothing to work with. The other option, which was more worrying, was that the killer was still hidden in the city, waiting for another chance to strike. It was highly unlikely that it was accidental or forced due to a combination of the arson and lack of a suspect turning themself in to reduce the crime to aggravated homicide with a good shot at a relaxed deal if it turned out to be justifiable.

 

The only remaining lead was the report from a student the day after that they had been subjected to a form of emotional control the same day in around the same area. There had not yet been a followup interview, but that was still a case very much in the early stages. After trailing through the Academy’s records of Abilities, there were only three hits for emotional manipulation. One had graduated and left some five years ago, and another had a solid alibi from a teacher who they were doing research with that night. The third was supposed to be taking classes, but had not shown up for a few days, and had not been seen by friends.

 

A popular but wild theory was that the missing student had been kidnapped for their Ability- not too common an occurrence, but there are always stories going around the Academy about such things- and was forced into using it. As to why, there was a split. A good number of the guards thought that it was a small operation looking to induce panic in targets who will then flee into the rest of their group to be mugged, but a smaller minority have tried connecting it to earlier disappearances dating back as far as a couple years. They proposed the idea that there was a ring of Ability traffickers and exploiters who are… doing something.

 

While not entirely reasonable, there was a small team working on the cases through that angle just in case. In general, a lot more information is needed and not much has been presenting itself. 

 

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The start of the school year had been nice to Julious. He had established connections with important people for his family in some of the lower and typically overlooked parts of the Academy. Places like the patrolling guards, volunteer food-kitchens for those in need, and the couriers. The last one was of particular note due to the existence of another student named Ripple. They had distinctive features of the Aventi family, but due to the fact they were hiding themself and doing manual labor, it was likely they weren’t known about by the family. When approached and confronted about this, they confirmed that they didn’t really want people making that connection- but were doing precious little to help themselves on the front. 

 

In addition, Julious had started both completing and posting requests at the Vigilantes Guild. The reason he was there was again to build rapport with them- tensions were getting higher and being on the good side of the questionable legal definitely-not-a-private-army group would be beneficial. And to his surprise- someone with golden eyes was there on one of his trips. Now, it wasn’t 100% Ripple, but given that there were maybe one or two other people in the entirety of the city with such eyes, and how short they were, it was extremely likely. Julious had almost asked the next day when they were both at the couriers headquarters, but had decided to not go through with it. 

 

He didn’t mean to focus too much on her, but Ripple was quite the strange character. They probably worked two jobs when being a courier should be enough to support them without outside complications. They wore the most covering variation of the uniform at all times, even on days where taking off a few of the heavier layers would be more comfortable. Lastly, they had a slightly odd stride. It was barely noticeable, but her boots would bend a little further back along the sole than normal, and they took longer steps during which their toes would have to bend more than should be comfortable. On a similar note, her steps were much quieter than other people's, meaning she had likely put a focused effort into getting comfortable doing so for whatever reason.

 

He had half a mind to request one of his family’s… investigators follow her for a few days, just to see what comes up- although he would need a good enough justification to utilize resources in such a way. Maybe he could frame it as gathering leverage or a bargaining chip over the Aventi family due her possibility of being a bastard- but that would break the promise he had made to not make the possible connection known.

 

That tangent aside, Julious started compiling the information he had gathered from his informants so far. A few of the non-adjacent countries had started to get restless- not enough to outright say they were posturing to start a war, but enough to make stocking up on some weapons to sell a good idea. In more local news, one of his ‘friends’ in the guards had told him someone tried to bribe him to ignore certain carts coming into the city. A letter was sent telling the guard to do as the person who bribed them said, but take notes on everything they could without putting them self in danger. 

 

Setting down his pen and getting out from behind the pile of papers on the desk, Julious decided to go see if his friend Mack wanted to get a drink. It had been a good few weeks since they last met up and Julious needed a break from all this work.

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