Locke Street—
By now the entire street had been sealed off by the police.
Only a few officers were combing for clues, along with some questioning the residents who lived here, and off to one side stood the several “girls” who had come along with Aisha.
“Why do we even have to be here?” Carlo was thoroughly displeased at Mir for hauling him along by force.
“When it comes to investigating cases, we’re the professionals, aren’t we?”
Sak’s words weren’t pulled from thin air.
The thing their Special Class did most often during field training was investigate all kinds of cases—sometimes even matters the Ur City police couldn’t crack needed their help, though back then they’d had a professional teacher leading them, and the police were mostly reluctant about it.
“That’s not what I meant—we came out here dressed like this?”
“Or you could strip it all off and go in just your underwear.” Mir looked a little eager, as if getting ready to help him out of his clothes.
“No thanks. Do that and my creep reputation is sealed for good.”
Carlo’s refusal seemed to disappoint Mir a bit.
“What exactly is a Magic Ritual?” Xia Ye, unable to rein in her curiosity, asked Mir.
“Psi-Spirit Energy or racial limits mean a lot of races can’t use advanced magic unrelated to their Psi-Spirit Energy or race. That’s when you have to lean on a Magic Ritual.” Mir paused, then continued.
“On top of that, some special magic or high-rank spell formulas can be completed through a ritual as well.”
Can’t quite fully grasp it…
“Then what magic can humans learn?” The instant Xia Ye finished asking, she noticed some of the police around her eyeing her strangely.
“You lot! Quit slacking and search for clues properly!”
The officers who’d glanced over got barked back into line by Aisha.
“Why is everyone looking at me like that?” Xia Ye was displeased at their rude stares.
“Because you asked a question of common knowledge.” Sak answered in Mir’s place.
“The human race can’t match with any type of magic at all, so as a human, Miss Xia Ye, you can only learn magic that matches your Psi-Spirit Energy.”
Xia Ye frowned—this was not good news.
Then, as if recalling something, she pointed at Mir in confusion and asked, “But before I came to this world, that guy taught me a Translation Magic, and I really did learn it.”
“You silly girl, that’s because Translation Magic is the lowest-rank magic.
The lowest, G-rank magic, is match-independent—anyone can learn it.
For instance, an Elf who’s awakened [Forest] can still cast a Fireball Spell without a ritual.”
It did clear up her confusion, but that “silly girl” of Mir’s needled Xia Ye a little.
“A man who tried to run a shady racket in drag has the nerve to call me a silly girl?”
“It wasn’t a racket—don’t listen to that Mir kid’s nonsense!” Sak tugged at his skirt and hollered.
“Shouldn’t the priority right now be helping the police find clues? How are you three able to raise this much of a ruckus at a murder scene?!” Carlo, long ignored, started reproaching the other three.
At that moment Aisha, having finished examining the body, walked over wearing a rather grim look. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“You lot just need to stand here.
Don’t cause us any trouble.”
“That’s harsh.
Did you even turn up any clues?” Mir looked at the policewoman with dead-fish eyes.
At Mir’s question, Aisha’s face darkened a little.
“No.
Even with my [Observer] ability I didn’t find anything suspicious.
Still, that body really is strange—I can’t tell whether it’s a Magic Ritual or the killer’s special hobby.”
“So didn’t we all say we came to help?
You won’t even let us look at the body—how the hell are we supposed to help?” Mir said impatiently.
Hearing this, Aisha looked a bit hesitant.
“By the rules, you’d need a permit stamped personally by your academy director to get involved in this…”
“Oh, then let’s go.” With that, Mir reached out and started waving the three of them off.
“Wait—isn’t this the moment where you take a pleading tone and try to join in?” Aisha stopped them in astonishment.
But Mir just shot her a contemptuous look.
“You’ve made your attitude perfectly clear, so there’s no need for us to go asking for grief, is there?”
Sure enough, this little brat wouldn’t turn cute even in women’s clothing!
“You’re not leaving either!” Aisha’s tone was rock-firm.
“You’re still suspects in a cross-dressing racket case!”
“Argh! How many times do I have to say there’s no racket!” So why did every single person assume they were pulling a shady scam in drag?!
It was all that Mir kid’s doing!
Sak glared viciously at Mir.
“So do you want our help or not?” Carlo was starting to lose patience too.
“Fine, I get it. Come with me.” Aisha finally caved.
Aisha just waved a hand at her.
“If this really is a Magic Ritual, then we’re in trouble. If we let the killer complete the ritual, there’s no telling what might happen—and that’s a responsibility we can even less afford to shoulder.”
Aisha led the four of them into a small alley.
Even in daytime, not a sliver of sunlight seeped into the gloomy alley—a place like this really was well-suited to committing crimes.
“Xia Ye just arrived here from the modern world and might not be able to stomach this body. If you’d rather not look, you can head back first.”
Xia Ye ignored Aisha’s advice.
She’d even done something like massacring a village—would she be scared of this?
The body wasn’t as gruesome as they’d pictured.
The victim was a young woman, and the cause of death was likely the knife wound on her neck.
There was a goat’s-head symbol carved into her belly, and the victim’s left hand had been severed as well.
Apart from Xia Ye, the other three showed no discomfort, and even Xia Ye only frowned at seeing a corpse in such a strange state for the first time.
“The victim’s name was Ana, owner of a clothing shop on this street. She didn’t really make enemies day-to-day and treated people kindly. Time of death was likely last night.” Aisha briefed the group.
“The first to find the body—the one who reported it—was the owner of the blacksmith shop next to this alley.
We’ve already had a [Hypnotist] question him, and we can rule him out as a suspect for now.”
“Oh?
And the victim’s personal relationships?” Sak was slipping into the groove now too.
“Her parents aren’t in this city… Day-to-day she’d only chat with the surrounding shop owners, and I had the [Hypnotist] question every one of them—no suspicions there.”
“Not necessarily,” Carlo said, his lightly made-up face turning somewhat serious.
“For instance, if the other party were a mental-type Psi-Spirit Energy user of a higher rank than your [Hypnotist], they might manage counter-hypnosis.”
Sure enough, this kind of brain-work really doesn’t suit me.
Watching his teammates converse with Aisha, Mir felt rather helpless.
Maybe I’m just the muscle?
Right now I’m only fifteen—no need to measure myself against these people who only look my age.
So Mir consoled himself.