Elena and I are walking down the streets while listening to our escort knight’s explanation about the city and its people. She explained that most of the people here are either merchants or people from the rural part of the empire looking for a job to save money to bring back to their village. There’s also a lack of adventurers since the capital is so close to the royal castle and its military might, making the adventurer’s job around the capital, such as hunting monsters, obsolete. Hence why, if there’s an adventurer sighted in the capital, it’s either they’re there to buy something, take a vacation, or cause trouble.

“You know so much about this town, Ms. Knight.”

“Of course, I do. This is my hometown, I was born and raised here. Also, I forgot I haven’t told you guys my name yet, you can call me Kei.”

I was having a whole lot of fun looking at the scenery around me. It’s like looking through my past world’s history right in front of my eyes; it’s mesmerizing, to say the least. Elena was having fun too, probably because she’s never been to the capital just like she said before. We were visiting all sorts of places, one of them was a bakery, owned by our escort Knight, Kei's, parents. We were about to get some bread for breakfast which was described by Kei as 'the best bread you can find in all of the Crenada Empire'. But something was amiss, as Kei was calling out to her parents, no one seemed to answer.

"The door and curtains are still closed, maybe your parents are still asleep. When do they usually open anyway?"

"No… they would usually start baking at dawn. You two wait here, I'll go check inside." Kei then left us outside and went inside the bakery.

"I'm hungry, I sure hope 'the best bread in all of the Crenada Empire' would fill me up-" I didn't notice before, but something is weird with Elena. Before we arrived at the bakery, she was very chatty and full of life. Now she wears a stiff expression and is not moving an inch; she's petrified like she just saw a ghost. "Elena, are you okay?"

A screech can be heard from inside the bakery. Then, Elena, without a second thought, marched inside the bakery. I was a bit confused seeing Elena who seemed a bit out of it snap back into reality and went right in, but I brushed it off and decided to follow her anyway. What I saw inside was nothing short of something from a horror film.

There were two mangled-up bodies in the form of a horrible method of execution: the blood eagle. Their backs were torn open and nailed onto the walls making a sort of wing that resembled those of an eagle. Their hands were nailed onto the wall with all of their fingers chopped off. Their eyes jolted out, red as they could be, making it seem like they could still feel the agony while being torn open by a despicable person even though they were already long gone. Their mouths are foaming, blocking their airway and hindering them from screaming for help. And in front of them, the sight of their beloved daughter, Kei, with her mouth agape and eyes bursting with tears; she's not making a sound after she screamed so loud that her vocal cords probably got destroyed.

It felt like I was seeing some kind of gore experimental film; it didn't feel real. But the fishy and metallic smell, the warmth that's soaking into my shoes, and the sound of blood dripping from their bodies made me realize that what I'm seeing is not fiction. My body froze, a scream tried to escape my mouth, but my throat was clogged; I'm suffocating. Tears were running down my cheeks, unstopping like a dreadful waterfall.

As I was about to puke, Elena held my mouth tight, making me reel back the contents of my stomach. She then guided me out of the bakery while holding my hand before storming off. I didn't know where she was going, and frankly, I was too busy puking to even think of anything else.

After a short while, Elena came back with two guards. After the three of them went inside, the sound of thrashing around and swords clashing can be heard. It was a bit rowdy and made a crowd form in front of the bakery. Then, after a loud thud, the three of them came out with an unconscious Kei being held up by two guards, dragged away to… somewhere.

“Elena… What happened to Kei?” I called out to her, but she ignored me and approached the two guards who were holding onto Kei.

She began to have a conversation with them for a short while before things turned a bit heated. Elena started shouting at them which started a big scene and made the crowd even bigger. Now that the crowd seems to have doubled up, the murmurs are so loud that I don't even have to try to eavesdrop to hear what they're talking about.

"Poor girl, isn't she the daughter of the bakers?"

"Yeah… I hope they catch the culprit soon."

"I saw the murder scene, I know who the culprit is."

"How did you see it from here- that doesn't matter though, who's the culprit?"

"They've been terrorizing towns for the past couple of months. People call them 'Mother Eagle' since all the murder scene involves the victim being put into an eagle-like pose and two fingers chopped off, leaving only three, just like an eagle's claw."

A serial killer is on the loose? A serial killer is a pretty modern term though, so I don't think people would label this 'Mother Eagle' as a serial killer, and I know for a fact that they wouldn't know about serial killer tendencies.

"Lloyd, are you okay?" Elena made her way back to me after berating the two guards who disregarded whatever she was saying.

"I'm okay… but what happened to Kei?"

"She went berserk inside when we were about to take her out. So, we had to… put her to sleep."

"I see. What about you, Elena? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I've seen my fair share of blood." Elena then turned towards the two guards who were already pretty far away from us and scrunched her eyebrows. "I'd say, two more dead bodies will probably be found today."

"W- what? What makes you say that?"

"I wanna kill them-"

"Wow! Okay, Elena, let's take a chill pill and breathe a bit. Please tell me what it is that you talked about with those two."

It appears that Elena holds a grudge on them due to them dismissing her just because of her age. When she went to them she asked two things: what will happen to Kei? And when will they start searching for the killer?

Fortunately, Kei is being taken to their barracks so the healers can take care of her. But, unfortunately, the investigation on who her parents' killer is will not be done right away. Their excuse was that the killer is very intelligent and hard to track. So, they'll probably just tighten the security in the capital. Elena, fuming at their half-assed excuse, started yelling at them and wanted to kill them, just like she just told me.

I get Elena's urgency in wanting to catch the killer. Catching the killer will definitely bring peace not only to the capital, but also to the neighboring town around it. I also get that the guards can't do much about it, because in this age, where forensic technology is non-existent, tracking down a killer would be harder than searching for a needle in a haystack unless there's some kind of tracking magic. Though, just tightening the security in the capital is a very half-assed effort to catch the killer, since it only prevents them from killing more people in the capital, but doesn't prevent them from leaving the capital, which will result in more killing in other towns. But I digress, given that my gut feeling is already pointing at who the actual killer is.

"They're gonna taste what it feels like to have a fist going through their hearts as I-"

"O- okay! Stop! I know you're angry, but there's a better way of catching the killer than to kill more people."

"I swear to goddess, Lloyd. If you suggest that we go back to the inn and be patient until the killer is caught because we're just little kids, there will be three more dead bodies found today!"

"T- t- that's not what I'm about to propose, but… it does come with being patient."

+++++

In an underground prison cell, below the barracks that's located right beside the town's entrance gate, three women were on a handstand, leaning against a wall, in front of a woman with a scar across her face. The three were visibly tired; their faces red as tomatoes from all the blood that was rushing into their skull. One of them, after being in a handstand for far too long, lost the power to one of her hands and fell down. Creating a domino effect that made the other two also fall down.

"What the hell are you doing?! Who says you could take a rest!"

"I- I'm sorry boss. I’ve been in that position for hours, I couldn't take it anymore."

"Who’s asking if you’re tired or not? This is punishment for getting beat up by a single old man!”

“You’re not one to talk boss. You got beat up by two kids, that’s worst than an old man.”

“What did you say?” The boss hold one of the three that insulted her by the neck, “Do you have a death wish?”

“N- no boss. I’m sorry, I said it in the spur of the moment. Those two kids must’ve used some dirty tricks to knock you out!”

“That’s right,” the boss lets go of her subordinate and blackened, short, and unruly hair. “That kid used some kind of magic to blow my head off. Though it’s not powerful enough to do it, the left side of my head is now hairless because of him!”

“W- we must seek revenge boss! We’ll get that kid and lop his head off!”

“No! I have other plans for him,” the boss smirked like the pervert that she is before continuing. “That can wait though, we need to get out of here first.”

“Are you going to break us out of here boss?”

“No, that will make us into a fugitive and it’ll be hard for us to go anywhere in the empire.”

“Then what should we do?”

“We wait,” the boss looked at a small barred window at the top of the prison’s wall that lets the moonlight and night air inside the cell. “Our rescuers are coming.”

On the upper ground, things started to get a bit noisy. The noises of bricks falling down after a wall has been broken through sheer force permeate inside the prison cell. The soldiers that were left in the barrack were screaming and fighting someone. Due to the tightening of the security, there are not many soldiers left in the barracks, thus making it very vulnerable to attacks. One might think this is part of the boss’ plan, but the fact that it has gone very noisy and escaping will be a whole lot harder would prove otherwise.

“What the hell is she doing?! I asked her to be discreet; this is the polar opposite of discreet!” Said the boss as she punched the wall so hard it began to shake before continuing, “if it’s already like this, then pummeling this place to the ground would be no different.” She reels in, ready to make another even more powerful punch, but was interrupted by the door to the prison opening.

“Wait, Rosa! Don’t destroy the prison! Everything is still under control, kind of.” Said a lady clad in a robe carrying two big bags that are dripping blood.

“What the hell are you doing, Haley?! This would make us into a fugitive, we can’t escape like this!” Said the boss, Rosa, to the woman clad in a black robe.

“No, though what’s happening up there is making us stray from the plan, all of you can still escape from here.” Haley dropped the two bags she was carrying and opened them. Inside the bags were four dead bodies, two in each bag, with their face so beat up it’s unrecognizable. “This is your ticket to being a free woman.”

“Haley, it’s too late to use that. If you didn’t cause that much ruckus, then things might’ve been different.”

“Yeah, about that, that’s not me.” the ground rumbled as the sounds of swords clashing can be heard even louder. “See? It’s the knight that testified against you, she’s gone mad and is fighting against the soldiers as we speak, hahaha!”

“What… why would she do that?”

“Beats me, she’s probably gone off to the deep end after seeing her parents' body that I mangled-” Rosa pulled her by the hand and tried her best not to head butt Haley right then and there.

“I asked for your favor to break us out of jail! Not kill someone’s parents.”

“That knight was testifying against you, which means she’s disrespecting our guild! Our guild, Rosa!” Said Haler as she swatted Rosa’s hands. “Besides, this wouldn’t have happened if you’re not such a pervert and lust towards a child.”

“I didn’t ‘lust’ towards him, I was just fooling around. It was them who took it too far by kicking my sheen.”

“Just shut the fuck up and help me organize the body.”

They began organizing the body, putting them in a random manner but believable enough to fool the guards later on when they discover the bodies. Then, when everything is in place, Haley instructed Rosa to punch the ceiling hard enough to bury the underground prison. And so she did, making them finally escape out of the prison, while Kei was still on a rampage at the barracks, distracting all the soldiers from their escape. Though, unbeknownst to all of them, two pairs of eyes were watching everything unfold.