“Sergeant! We’ve found something here,” an officer shouted. His voice boomed through the area, catching Vice’s focus immediately.

Vice rushed to where the voice had come from, dropping the burned wooden plank he was holding in his hand. The officer was stood in the ruins of the kitchen, with a completely burnt barrel being handled by him. As Vice went to examine the object, he noticed there was a small puddle of blackish liquid still sitting in it. He dipped his fingers into the remnants of the liquid and brought it towards his nose.

‘Oil? Isn’t this some of the magically refined ‘Black Water’?’ he thought to himself. This liquid, ‘Black Water’ as the people of Restok called it, was highly combustible, but also highly expensive. Based on the size of the barrel, Vice judged that at least 10 gold worth of liquid had been used here. The annual salary of a commoner was only about 5 gold.

‘Somebody targeted my home. Who? And why?’ he thought. He clenched his jaws tightly as he envisioned the figure who wanted to kill his mother. ‘They must have known I wasn’t at home, or else they’d never have been able to pull this off. They wanted to kill my mother, but why? To get back at me? Is this a member from the Treasure Hunters Guild who I’ve pissed off?’

“What do we have here? Smells like Black Water…” Sergeant Paul said. He put the substance in his hands and inspected it. A surge of red mana with Paul at the center burst forth into existence but disappeared almost immediately. “Hmm, there’s no trace of arcana from the culprit at all. As you must know Vice, only a cultivator can ignite Black Water, so this is rather strange. Can you think of any people who’d want to target you? I’m sure you’ve made many enemies, but for them to actually do this is worrying.”

Vice shrugged, he hadn’t made any specific enemies in his lifetime. It was just that the people in general hated him, however, they didn’t dare to strike out against him anymore due to his status as a cultivator. ‘I can’t think of anybody, I don’t remember ever getting on someone’s bad side, or at least enough for them to resort to this,’ he thought.

“Well, I’ll log this in at the precinct, but I don’t think we’ll get far with our resources. I hate to say it, but you’re on your own with this. Oh, and before I forget, Anne said she wanted to see you. It’s already been a couple of weeks and you’ve still ignored her… She’s hurting my ears with all the calls she’s giving me, please just date her already,” Sergeant Paul said, grinning from ear to ear. “You know you two suit each other so well if only you’d drop your melancholic visage and just indulge in love for once,” Paul continued whilst patting Vice on the shoulders. After spending another couple of minutes finishing the inspection, he left along with his team.

‘Haha, how interesting. Why haven’t you talked to that Anne lady? If my memory doesn’t fail she’s been so sweet and kind with you. And if I’m not wrong, she was VERY adamant to get some drinks with you. Who knows what could happen after you two love birds have had your fair share of alcohol?’ Favian teased. ‘But don’t listen to me, it’s not like you would anyway.’

Vice ignored the voice in his mind but was unable to get Paul’s words out of his mind.‘I guess it’s time to visit Anne. She’ll be able to help me I think,’ Vice thought. He gave one last furrowed look at the remains of the once beautiful house he’d paid for and after taking the barrel filled with Black Water, walked away, weaving himself into the darkness that was the city of Restok.

….

It was just past midnight, and a bright light was being emitted from the full moon that was in the display above the few clouds in the sky. An orchard, filled with all types of fruit trees and various berries stood silent underneath the moonlight. The smell of sweet tea pervaded through the orchard as a girl sipped the drink in her porcelain cup. This woman was in her late teens, only 18 years old, but when it came to standards of beauty in the city of Restok, she was one of the most beautiful women. Her black hair fell all the way down to her hips majestically and glistened with a mysterious aura. Her lips were full and a lively pink, whilst her nose was perfectly thin. There were no blemishes on her skin and her cheekbones sat high.

The girl looked at her surroundings, seeming to have noticed some sort of change, and then smiled widely. Her pearlescent teeth could be seen from far away in the dark as she gleefully stood up and ran to the boy that was approaching her. Her bosom bounced to the beat of her small but fast steps.

“Vice! You finally came, I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for two weeks already,” she said in her smooth voice. She dramatically sulked as if making sure that Vice could see her reaction as clear as day.

The boy looked into her yellow eyes as if captivated, but snapped out of that delirium quickly before replying, “I was busy treasure hunting.” Vice’s voice sounded neither soft nor harsh, it was rather monotone. However, Anne would know that this wasn’t the case because she’d grown up with him and Paul.

“Aww, that’s always the case with you. Once you were able to leave the orphanage, you didn’t even look back at your only two friends, even if you won’t admit that we are friends,” she said with a hint of sadness.

Vice had lived in an orphanage with both her and Paul for a while when his mother had first become sick. Angeline hadn’t been able to work and so she’d had to live with her sister, who wouldn’t let Vice stay in her home. This all resulted in Vice being sent to an orphanage at only 10 years of age. It was only once he’d been able to finally start practicing magic with Favian at 12 years that he’d been able to leave that place. This was due to his arcane core not developing until he had reached that age, forcing him to wait for such a long time to practice magic. Most others at the orphanage despised him, yet his physical stature had stopped others from bullying him, because they simply couldn’t fight a boy who towered over them by two heads. He had met Anne and Paul at the orphanage, and the three had stuck together like glue, or at least Anne and Paul had stuck to Vice like glue.

“I need to ask for a favor,” Vice said as he looked at Anne seriously. “You don’t have to feel obliged to do this, however, know that I’ll be thanking you from the bottom of my heart.”

“Agreed. On one condition though, promise that you’ll get a drink with me later,” she said seductively. She placed her fingers on her lips and rubbed around them.

“Fine,” Vice replied. “I need you to look into the arson of my house, it just happened a couple of hours ago, but there’s no trace of which fucking asshole did it. My mother…”

“Shit! Are you okay? Is your mother fine?” Anne yelped. Her voice was filled with worry and she quickly grasped Vice’s face. “You don’t have any injuries, good. What happened?”

“She’s fine. Now can you help me find whoever did this? I’ve got some things to discuss with them,” Vice snarled.

“Okay give me a couple of days, I’ll try my best to get some information. Have you got anything I can use to cast my tracking magic?” Anne asked.

Vice promptly handed her the barrel of Black Water from his spatial pouch. “Paul told me there’s no remnants of arcana in it,” he said. “But I’m sure that you’ll be able to figure something out with your magic. You’ve always surprised me with that power of yours.”

The petite girl placed a hand on her chin before taking a look at the barrel. A thick aura was emitted from the girl as she inspected the barrel with her mana. Sweat dripped down her forehead and a strained expression was left on her face, which was turning her dark brown skin redder by the second. Similarly to Vice, Anne had a unique skin color, different from most people in Restok. All Vice knew was that she’d never met her parents and had been dropped off at the orphanage only a short while after being born.

“PUUHH,” she exclaimed and finally took a huge breath of air into her lungs. “I can sense something, but it’s hidden really well in there. It’ll take me at least a week to figure this out.” She sighed, yet her desire to help Vice was nonetheless still apparent in her determined gaze.

“We’ll drink today then. I’ve got some rare alcohol that was imported from the Maloi Kingdom in the north. I bought it specifically so that we could drink it together,” Anne said with a smile.

Anne linked her hands with Vice’s before walking back to her home with an enthusiastic sway in her hips. The orchard was basically her back garden, and she quickly plucked an apple from a tree before chowing down on it. “Want some?” she asked before pushing the apple at Vice’s face.

“Why were you up so late?” Vice asked and took a bite from the apple. ‘The fruits from this orchard are the best as usual,’ he thought.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Anne replied before ushering Vice into the home.

The interior of her house was very relaxing due to the warm yellow that was painted on the walls, and the couch they were sat on was as smooth as a baby’s butt. Vice took a swig of the blue liquid that Anne had poured into his glass. The aroma of elderberries hit his nose before the liquid went down his throat smoothly, leaving behind a bitter-sweet aftertaste. His arcane core felt a lot warmer and enjoyed the presence of the liquid. Vice’s insides were refreshed, and his worries were starting to flow away.

“Have you noticed yet? This drink was made specifically for us cultivators, or else we couldn’t get drunk even if we both had a dozen beers,” Anne said softly.

Vice looked at the girl suspiciously but didn’t bring up any more questions, instead he just sipped on his drink and let her talk her heart out to him. She’d always been like this with him and he knew it. She’d compensate for his lack of conversation by going the extra mile. The gesture lightened his heart and he smiled warmly at Anne.

“W-What, why are you smiling?” Anne yelped before covering her face with her hands. Her cheeks took on a reddish hue as she glanced at Vice.

“Nothing,” Vice said but continued to smile. “The story, keep telling me about the story.”