Zich stared at the ceiling. The victim was sitting and talking to a soldier nearby. It seemed like she hadn’t calmed down yet, as she let out low cries. The noise creepily crawled across the floor and precisely struck people’s ears. The faces of people around her filled with pity whenever they passed by her. Of course, Zich was the exception. On the other hand, it would have been weirder if he started to sympathize with a woman for crying. Thus, he focused on capturing the culprit.
“Could you tell us the specifics?”
“It happened when she was returning home after a date with her lover.”
Although it was late, many people wandered around even after the sun set in Janmalpi. The streetlamps by the roadsides lit up the area for them. Yet, compared to the daytime, the streets were obviously emptier.
“But she said a strange shadow suddenly ambushed her in the alleyway.”
“A shadow?”
“Yes, that’s how she described her attacker. She said it was a shadow or like black darkness. It swept them away and dragged them into the alleyway.”
Black darkness—if the robed figures were involved, the incident would definitely involve a Demon Person.
‘Was there someone like that?’ No one came to his mind, so Zich decided to continue listening to the explanation.
“She said the shadows dragged them into a deep part of the alleyway. But suddenly, the shadow let her go.”
“Let her go?”
“That’s the only way we can describe the situation. I mean, this woman is just an ordinary person. They didn’t let the guy go though. The woman screamed and clutched onto the man’s sleeves, but she felt a strong shock at the back of her head. When she regained her senses, you were right in front of her, Sir Zich.”
“Did you ask her about the shadows?”
“We asked her, but we couldn’t find anything specific. ‘Shadow’ is just the expression the woman used to describe her attacker. It could be something else entirely. We have to investigate this matter more.”
Currently, the victim was in a very agitated state. It was possible that she could remember something more if she calmed down. At the same time, Zich and Joachim thought that there was a low chance of that happening.
“Is this the first time the criminal revealed themself?”
“Yes. Until now, we have just guessed from the circumstances that there was someone going around kidnapping lovers.”
With the appearance of this strange criminal, Joachim’s guess had more credibility now. Someone could be connected to the robed figures in this city. However, Joachim’s expression didn’t look bright. It was because their guess had gained credibility with another person’s pain, and the woman still hadn’t stopped crying.
Zich glanced at his surroundings. He saw the investigators looking for evidence, but Zich shook his head. ‘There’s no lingering mana or a special trace.’ There was probably nothing more to find in this place. Zich left the scene for Joachim to investigate and returned to his lodging.
* * *
The attacks continued after the incident. What happened from time to time in secret not only became frequent but happened on a large scale. They sometimes captured two pairs of lovers at once. Furthermore, the criminal kidnapped the men and women separately. As the incidents continued, the atmosphere of the city darkened, and the number of people who wandered the streets dramatically decreased.
“You must have heard quite a handful,” Zich said to Joachim who entered the room. He read the worries on Joachim’s face.
Joachim made a bitter smile in response.
“It can’t be helped. They placed me in charge of this matter so I could regain my honor, but not only am I failing to solve the case, it’s getting worse.” Joachim took out the remaining chair. Evelyn looked at him with a worried expression.
“It’s too much. You are working hard too, Count.”
“Thank you, Lady Rouge. I said I heard an earful, but it’s not as if anyone cursed or reprimanded me. Actually, it was more like they were encouraging me. However, it doesn’t change the fact that my position has become uncomfortable. I have to hurry up and solve this case.” Joachim’s voice showed his firm determination.
Even if they were making progress on this case, Joachim and the Dracul estate were not in good standing. Thus, the little support they had couldn’t be more important to them than right now. Yet, if they failed to solve this case, their relationship with the lord of this city’s estate, who was one of the few who supported them, would be jeopardized. It would be a critical hit against them. In other words, Joachim had to really solve this case with his life on the line.
However, simply strong determination couldn’t solve the case, and that was the reason why Joachim visited Zich’s lodging every day.
“Did anyone find any clues?” Joachim looked at the people in the room with expectant eyes. There were the four who were always there: Zich, Lyla, Evelyn, and Joachim. They were a unique combination, but Joachim had high expectations for this group. Above all, they had Zich on the team. Yet, the response he got was disappointing.
“There’s not much.”
“…Is that so.” Joachim was unable to disguise his disappointment.
Even though Zich and his companions enjoyed sightseeing around the city, they had no plans to continue sightseeing after witnessing a kidnapping case first hand. Of course, Zich was unaffected, but Hans, Snoc, Lyla, Elena, and Evelyn (who heard the story later on) could not just ignore such an incident. Thus, they immediately moved to solve this case. Thus, Joachim also tried to get information from Zich and his companions during this time.
However, they hadn’t been able to obtain any important clues. So far, all they knew about the culprit was that they used a shadow or darkness ability. Zich thought, ‘I don’t remember a Demon Person who uses such an ability.’
Lyla also had no memories of anyone who used an ability like that. However, Lyla’s memories were unstable, and Zich also couldn’t remember trivial events. Thus, the Demon Person responsible for this incident might be so insignificant and weak that Zich might not be able to remember them. ‘But if I really did meet them, I would have felt an itch in the corner of my mind.’
A kidnapper who only kidnapped lovers and an ability that used shadows—nothing came up in Zich’s mind when he combined these two clues.
‘Well, that’s fine. I might have forgotten it.’ If he met the culprit, he might be able to remember them again; he might also remember after beating the crap out of them. Even then, if he still couldn’t remember, it wouldn’t matter at all.
“Then I should continue my investigation for now.” There was nothing else he could do but investigate more. “During this time, more victims might appear.”
Evelyn sighed, “Aren’t there any more clues?”
“Lady Rouge, there haven’t been any clues so far. But the culprit has suddenly changed their movements.” True to Joachim’s words, the culprit had suddenly changed their method. Previously, the culprit secretly took one of the lovers when no one was around, but now they openly attacked and kidnapped one person when the lovers were together.
Zich said, “There must be a specific reason, whether it’s due to an external cause or simply a change of heart.”
However, nothing was certain yet. Then, Evelyn suggested, “Why don’t we do this?” Everyone’s gazes turned towards Evelyn.
“Why don’t we try to bait the culprit out?”
Joachim asked, “And how would we be able to do that?”
“Right now, the culprit is only going after lovers, and only lovers who are walking late at night. Can’t we bait the culprit out by having people pretend to be lovers?” Evelyn’s words made sense. Moreover, because of the missing people case, fewer people were going outside, especially at night, so the number of people that the culprit could target had greatly decreased. In other words, if the culprit continued to target couples at night, there was a high chance that the culprit would fall into their trap.
“That seems like a good idea. I’ll contact the mayor and ask him to secretly pick out skilled professionals who can pretend to be lovers.”
Evelyn added, “At the same time, I think it’ll be a good idea for us to send people on our side.”
“On our side?”
“Yes, we have people who are perfect for this plan.” Evelyn looked at Zich and Lyla.
Lyla dumbly blurted, “What?”
Zich also blinked his eyes in surprise.
However, contrary to their reactions, Joachim seemed to be pleased by Evelyn’s suggestion. “Yes, that’s true. The two of them are very skilled, and since they traveled together, I’m sure they can easily act like they’re lovers.”
“…What did you say?”
Joachim and Evelyn ignored Zich who sounded as if he was forcing each word out of his throat. And like this…
“…What kind of situation is this?”
“…”
Zich and Lyla were left on the boulevard by themselves. In order to catch the culprit, they now had to go on a date.
* * *
Janmalpi was fundamentally a flashy and extravagant entertainment city. There were a lot of places to see and experience, and it was the perfect place to go on a date. However, this was only true for actual lovers. There was not a trace of sweetness between Zich and Lyla, at least for now.
Lyla gave up halfway, and sighed, “…I guess we have to do it.”
Evelyn’s idea was not bad, but the problem was that Lyla had to pretend to be on a date with Zich. However, Lyla had lost a lot of her memories, and the knowledge she had didn’t contain trivial subjects like how to act on a date.
“I’ll leave it up to you, Zich.”
“What? I have to lead?”
“Don’t you remember what you told me when we first met? You told me you’ll do everything on a date.” Lyla was talking about the time when they first met each other at the Dracul estate — when Lyla killed Ms. Bargot.
‘Now that I think about it, I said something like that.’
Zich remembered the shock he felt when Lyla uttered his past name, Zich Moore, and he had attacked Lyla while asking her out on a date. Of course, he hadn’t meant to ask her out on a date for real. He merely mocked her to tell her to follow him obediently. However, Zich nodded his head. “Okay! If that’s what you want, I’ll take the lead! Now that I think about it, you must have no dating experience, so it’s only right that I should take charge.” Zich confidently stepped forward. “Don’t worry, Lyla. Just trust me! I’ll make sure you have a great first date experience!”
“Okay, I’ll trust you.”
After a while, Lyla let out a deep sigh. “…I shouldn’t have expected anything.” Lyla stared at Zich with an icy gaze; he was throwing cards while losing a hoard of chips.
“Ah, damn it. I’m crazy unlucky.” Even though it hadn’t been long since Zich had entered the casino, Zich had already lost quite a large amount of money. While complaining, Zich got up from his seat.
Lyla asked, “…Is this a date?”
“Huh? Of course. What do you think a date is? A date is when lovers do something they enjoy together.” Then, Zich pointed at the gambling table where he had just lost a lot of money. “See? Gambling is so much fun.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Lyla gave up on refuting any further.
“Hey, you should have fun too. There aren’t many games that you can learn as fast as gambling. I’ll give you some spare change.” Zich pulled Lyla’s shoulder and led her to a gambling table. There was nothing to do except gamble in a casino, so Lyla followed Zich and joined the gambling table.
* * *
“…So, are you telling me that you just gambled the whole day?”
Zich couldn’t understand the dumbfounded gazes directed towards him. “Yes. Even though we worked so hard on our date, the culprit didn’t come out at all. As expected, it’s difficult for us to expect results in just one day.”
No one opened their mouths at Zich’s words; they were not touched by his efforts at all. Lyla’s small sigh rang out in the room.