Chapter 28: Investigation

Upon hearing her words, Andrew burst into laughter and soon asked,

"Don't tell me that kidnapping incident just happened to have occurred in front of his house?"

Emilia heaved a deep sigh and nodded her head.

"He indeed is the Unlucky Star of Riverdale." Even Luke muttered while showing a disbelieving look on his face.

Among the three, he was the one who doesn't believe in 'Luck' or 'Fate.' But as he heard Emilia's words, even he showed an abnormal expression on his face. Well, anyone with simple knowledge about the Mystics could tell that something was off about this whole situation.

"Four abnormal Mystics, No, three abnormal Mystics just happened to be in the incident area and also has some connection with those three Historians. This is not a mere coincidence, is it?" He asked out loud.

"Why are you skipping the Unlucky Star?" Charles asked in puzzlement. Moreover, he also felt that he had heard of that title before and became more curious about Jimmy Holmes.

"If there is any abnormal incident happens in Riverdale City and if you search for any possible suspects, you will see his name on the list." Emilia stopped as she recalled something and soon added,

"He also showed his appeared during your kidnapping incident. He and his gang members were the ones who guarded the Evergreen mansion when you and your mother were locked inside it."

Upon hearing Emilia's words, Charles's heart skipped a beat.

'Unlucky Star... Jimmy Holmes... Something feels off... Am I thinking too much?' He thought to himself in shock.

After thinking for a second, he gave up while turning his face serious and nodded his head.

Puzzled by his strange inner mumbling in a foreign language, Emilia tilted her head and said,

"Our first job is to find Jeffery Dahmer and ask him some questions about this strange antique."

In the meantime, Andrew placed his hand on his chin and started speaking in a dead-serious tone,

"It's the Goddess Rodia's Cursed Gem. In January 7024, a beautiful but spooky gem mounted on a ring in the form of a snake was donated to the Explorers' Association by Richard Arc's daughter. Along with it was a letter explaining the gem's strange and alarming tale.

This spooky purple gem was looted from Goddess Rodia's ancient temple during 6450 S.A.E and subsequently brought to the Arc Kingdom, given to Richard Arc as a gift. It then allegedly wreaked havoc for decades. When Richard passed the purple gem on to various friends, they reportedly experienced abnormalities, including a trail of kidnappings, coincidences, and murders.

When the gemstone returned to him, Richard wrote a letter and sealed it in the Royal family's hidden chamber. It remained there for centuries, and now it showed its appearance again."

When he finished his words, everyone went silent for a whole minute.

"If you spout any nonsense again, I will twist your neck and hang your body at the entrance," Emilia said in a cold tone and soon turned around.

In the meantime, Charles gawked at Anderson for a second and soon blurted out,

"Was that a made-up story?"

Upon hearing his words, Andrew glanced at him with a mysterious smile on his face and said one word before following Emilia's footsteps.

"Guess."

"After reading too many mystery books, he became mentally abnormal and would spout nonsense sometimes. Don't take his words too seriously." Luke placed his hand on Charles's shoulder and then walked past him.

Nodding his head, Charles put his leather bag on his shoulder and walked out of the Withering Shadows office while thinking about Andrew's words. He also thought about those strange coincidences and became warier.

'Goddess of Day and Night, Rodia... Did he really spout some believable nonsense?' He stared at Andrew's back for a moment and soon shook his head.

While he was in muse, they hopped on the office carriage and went towards Olive Street. That's where Jeffery Dahmer was residing.

...

A few minutes later, the silk curtained carriage parked at a single storied house entrance, and soon a group of four people walked out from it. The first one to step out of the carriage was a grey-robed lady, who appeared to be around 40-years-old. She had curly black hair, grey eyes, a fleshy nose, and a slightly wrinkled round face.

After her, a baldy man, a muscular man, and a young deep-blue-haired teen, around 15-20 years old, walked out of the carriage one by one. Aces Team stared at the single storied house surrounded by a wooden fence for a while and soon went near the wooden gate.

Andrew took a step forward as he unlocked the wooden gate and then walked in. Others also followed after him and soon appeared in front of the single-storied house's entrance door. Andrew then raised his hand above his chest and knocked on the door thrice.

A few moments later, a grey-haired man, who looked around 35 to 40 years old, opened the door and stared at them in confusion. He wore a blue cotton shirt, black trousers, and a long black scarf around his neck. He had blue eyes, straight eyebrows, a sharp nose, fair skin, and was around 170 cm high.

Emilia smiled as she saw the grey-haired man's confused face and said calmly,

"We are looking for Jeffery Dahmer."

Jeffery's expression stiffened up as he heard Emilia's words.

"Who are you? Why are you looking for me?" He touched his unique double-sword symbol engraved golden ring and asked warily.

Emilia's tone went cold as she saw his action.

"Sir, please don't do anything reckless. We are here just to investigate." Saying so, she took a step forward and touched his hand.

A second later, Jeffery revealed a foolish smile as he turned his gaze towards Charles and said in an exciting tone,

"I was wondering if you had an extra heart. Mine was just stolen."

For a moment, an awkward silence filled the entrance area.

"Pff-ahahaha. It's called 'True love'. He really loves you, kid." Emilia laughed out loud as she took a step back and soon stared at Jeffery with an amusing smile. In the meantime, Jeffery cleared his throat and started singing in a loud voice.

"When the tidal sea is at rest, why my inner sea is overflowing?

When the land is lingering, why my heart is throbbing?

Chirping forest birds are returning home,

Hunters and Bowmen are moving towards their home,

When the sky and the earth are deep staring at the moon,

Why there is a storm in the blue-eyed man's heart?..."

When Jeffery started his singing, Andrew silently walked in front of him and removed the unique golden ring from his right hand. After that, he took a few steps backward and stood in front of Luke.

Meanwhile, Charles glared at the singing fool for a moment and soon turned his gaze towards Emilia.

'It must be the [Touch of Idiocy] skill' Charles's eyes widened as he recalled Emilia's class skills.

Ignoring his stare, Emilia stared at Jeffery for a second in interest and soon asked a question while casting [Hypnotism] skill and [Discern Lies] skill on him.

"Why did you argue with the [Historian] a few days ago?"

Jeffery stopped singing and responded while turning his face solemnly.

"I asked the [Historian] Max to search for a crown in Slum Street and offered him 250 gold coins in return. But he sold that information to the black-market leader, Silver Knife, and even blackmailed me. That's why I made a loud commotion at the Explorers' Association main office and then followed after those three kids to get that crown."

"Are you also after A-035?" Charles stared at Jeffery for a moment and asked in surprise, startling Emilia, Luke, and Andrew.

"Not only me. Most of the Mystics are after that artifact." Jeffery responded tersely.

"Who gave you this information? How did you know that A-035 is hidden in Slum Street?" Charles turned his face cold and questioned him further.

"My employer gave me this information," Jeffery responded vaguely.

"Employer? Can you tell us more specifically? About his name? Or, about his appearance?" This time, Emilia joined their conversation and asked in curiosity.

Upon hearing her words, Jeffery nodded his head and spoke,

"I don't know his real name, but he goes by the alias name called 'Red Prince'." Saying so, Jeffery froze for a second and showed an uneasy face. A second later, he widened his eyes in horror and muttered a single word,

"Shit!"

In a second, Charles's [Sixth Sense] skill activated on its own and gave him a dangerous premonition!

"Shield." He spoke and started backing away.

Meanwhile, Emilia froze for a moment as she heard Charles's voice and soon activated her Queen's robe while taking two steps back.

Thousands of chilly web-like strings appeared under her foot in a blink and then formed into a wall filled with icy strings.

It was the Queen's Robe's spell, Ice Webs!

In the meantime, Jeffery's body began to swell up like a balloon and soon exploded while sending flesh and blood in all directions. A second later, those flesh, bones, and blood began to burn fiercely in purplish flame, leaving no single bone behind!

"T-This..." Even Emilia got dumbfounded by the sudden change and became a loss for words. She then glanced at the purplish flame burning the icy webs and became deadly serious.

"Charles, can you tell us more about this A-035? How did you know about a Series Artifact?" Emilia asked and squatted down to check the still burning purplish flame.

"It's a long story." Charles paused for a second and soon explained the Holem's crown. He wouldn't have shared that information with others if it was before. But once he found out that many people were aiming for that artifact, he was sure of one thing.

'In others' eyes, I'm nothing more than a chess-piece. The real player hadn't even started their move yet. Red-haired tycoon Aidde Baker, Russell's grandfather Anderson Black, and now this mysterious guy called 'Red Prince.' I need some external help to get out of their clutches.'

After hearing Charles's explanation, Emilia stood up and said in a gloomy tone,

"It seems you already got yourself involved in some deep trouble."

A wry smile appeared on his face as he nodded his head and asked,

"Team Leader, can you teach me some mind-related skills? I want to learn some skills that could block others from reading my mind or controlling me using [Hypnotism] skill."

An amusing smile appeared on Emilia's face as she heard his question. Shaking her head, Emilia dismissed her Icy webs spell and responded in a calm tone.

"Resisting the opponent's mind-related abilities are not an easy matter. It's not about skills, Charles. It's about one's Wisdom. As for how to increase one's Wisdom, I don't know. But I once heard from a scholar that reading books, gathering knowledge and personal experience will allow one to increase their Wisdom."

Charles's eyes went wide for a moment and soon nodded his head in understanding.

'It's same like [Inspect] skill. Thankfully, I have a system to help me improving the Wisdom.' He smiled lightly and thanked her from the bottom of his heart.

"Hmm, what should we do now?" Emilia pondered for a second before glancing at the surroundings and soon spoke,

"If we report about his sudden death to our organization, it will only cause us more trouble." She paused for a second and continued,

"We came here to investigate the Kidnapping incident. But, we couldn't find any clues about Jeffery in his house. He seemed to have disappeared mysteriously like the other three [Historians]. Add it in the report, Luke." Saying so, she entered Jeffery's house and started erasing all of his trails.

"Okay, Team Leader," Luke nodded his head with a weak smile and followed after her.

Aces team did their work perfectly and made the house looked unclean for two to three days. After that, Emilia went to the nearby residents and made them forget about Jeffery using a strange ring artifact.

Once they finished their work, the group hopped on the carriage and went to their next target.