The Seeker | Volume 2

Before Olive could hit the floor, Aizawa, who had now recovered from his initial state of "freezing" was able to catch her. Her breathing was light and gentle. Aizawa reached his right arm down hers to check her pulse, and he heaved a sigh of relief when he felt that she was stable. 

"What was that she was saying?" he thought to himself as he approached the tattered couch and sat down. If Olive, Franklyn and Aizawa were all members of the Demon Routeway, perhaps this "existence" that Olive had mentioned wasn't a coincidence, but rather something was pulling strings.

He had indirectly drank the Demon potion, just met a "Demoness" that said she had met another supposed Demon. Is the entire Uzriel Gang a demon organization that has connections to major churches, organizations and gangs with similar motives? Could it be that all of this is an elaborate plan to summon this entity? If that was true, Aizawa would have to move quickly. 

But why would this piece of important information be leaked after she had fainted upon seeing something in his eyes. When Aizawa was "influenced" or in his own words, corrupted temporarily in his apartment room, he didn't see or hear anything. Perhaps the corruption was simply his body adjusting to the potions effects, and it was his quirk battling against the Routeway? Or was it that malevolent existence attempting to affect him?

The Nest of Vulgarity, Mother of Impurity, Wants to Retrieve. Those words resounded in his ears. But they confused him rather than allow him to uncover more answers. Those 3 phrases with supposed ties to another made no sense to him at the moment. Could "Mother of Impurity" have some sort of title for this entity? And could "she" want to get back this "Nest of Vulgarity"?

Why would such information be inside him?

…

When I returned to my apartment after dropping Damien off and buying him a treat from the market, I flopped down onto my bed whilst holding the newly angel-infused golden blood sphere. I looked up at the ceiling whilst watching the ceiling fan spin quietly above my head. 

There suddenly was a knock on the door, a heavy knock. I leaned up upon hearing the strangely unfamiliar sound and approached the door before opening it, rubbing my eyes to convey the act that I'd just woken up from a nap.

There was a middle aged man standing at my door, he had neatly combed brown hair and eyes of the matching hue. On his chest was a badge that indicated that he was a member of the police of Seraphis Kingdom. He cleared his throat and said in a serious tone:

"I'll need you to come with me to the Chesipil Criminal Detainment Unit downtown."

"I suppose it's urgent?" I asked, buttoning up the first 2 buttons of my vest. 

The officer's eyebrows knitted at my question, giving me a quick nod. Without saying anything he turned left and began to walk. I went back into my apartment and changed into more formal clothing before leaving and heading down to the police station. 

When I walked through the door I saw the same officer looking at me from one of the armchairs. "Let's discuss these matters in private." He said firmly as he stood up and walked down a hallway. At the end of the hallway were two doors, left and right.

The officer sighed as he pushed open the right door and walked in, gesturing for me to follow suit. 

"You were the last individual to have contact with Mr. Debois, right? You do know that he is a serial killer?"

I sat down and pretended to be taken aback by the statements, but Cattleya had already told me everything.

"I did, why do you ask?" I answered, folding my hands on the metal table. The officer sighed again as he reached behind his back and took out a knife that had the end of it rusted, it looked similar to the one I had seen in my divination.

"Do you know what this is?" 

I nodded. "A knife, I know exactly what that is."

"Did you use it?" The officer's voice grew colder as the wrinkles on his face grew. 

"I assure you Officer I didn't. I also didn't know that he was a murderer, but if I did know I would have used the knife if I knew where to find it. Where did you find it?"

He put the knife onto the table and pushed it towards me. "We found it in the sewer drain near a rotted corpse, one which we assume was Mr. Debois."

I raised an eyebrow as I took the knife, admiring its craftsmanship. "That's not Mr. Debois you saw, but someone different."

"What do you mean by someone different?" 

I looked back at the officer and chuckled. "It was one of his previous accomplices. Mr. Debois said he worked with him previously in an attempt to find an artifact: The Cards of Replication."

The officer sighed again as he took back the knife and stored it back into the bag. "I don't care about what he needed him for, I'm wondering if he murdered him, or you did."

"I didn't murder that man, or Mr. Debois. I watched Mr. Debois die with my own eyes. The corpse was already rotting away when I saw the 2 together. Mr. Debois committed suicide by falling into the sewer water and getting shredded into a garage filterer."

The officer seemed taken aback by my statement. "Why would he do such a thing? Did that old hag finally realize that his actions had consequences."

Upon hearing those words, I was suddenly prompted to ask another question. "Who exactly did Mr. Debois murder? Multiple sources including yourself did say he was a serial killer."

"He murdered his twin brother and his sister because they didn't want to pay him back when they owned a shared business 30 years ago. Apparently his wife fell ill with a disease, and it made him fall into a deep depression, tempting him to be more open to homicidal and overall more dangerous activities."

"He told me that he was an Order 5 of the Divinity Routeway, and it granted him the ability of reading people's thoughts and actions. That's probably why he was able to render himself able to avoid the law enforcement agencies for such a long time."

"At the level of a self proclaimed demi-god, Mr. Debois should have been a lot more capable of powerful tasks. Although since he worked as an archaeologist, it wouldn't be a bad claim to say that he might have possibly buried his siblings somewhere near his establishment." I followed.

"What are you, are you also a Seeker?" The police asked, leaning in closer. Since the officer was unaware of my honorific name and title, I figured it would be a safe bet to show him the proof in the form of my sigil.

I raised my bangs and showed him the markings, and his eyes widened. "I've never seen something like this before. Would you be willing to help me uncover more about Mr. Debois for a reward? 5,000 Lumin?"

I felt my heart begin to race. 5,000 Lumin?! That would be enough to purchase a much fancier apartment downtown. I nodded my head whilst attempting to keep myself collected, but the corners of my lips couldn't help but curl up.

"I'd be delighted, Officer."