At the crime scene.
Yellow tapes surrounded the perimeter centered on the trash can. The body parts have been collected into one place by Russell and his teammates were interrogating the onlookers and taking their statements.
Looking at the white sheet of cloth that was now soaking the blood of the victim due to the body parts gathered on it he frowned slightly. He took out a small brown leather notebook from his left sleeve and a pen from his right to write down his findings,
"The victim is an adult male. Judging by his intact skin's condition he could be temporarily assumed to be in late thirties. Traces of ether could be perceived throughout his body indicating that he was a mage!"
"Requires further investigation if arcane means had been used on the skin to appear different from his actual age. He had no clothing on his body nor any items on person while his severed head had the facial region heavily mutilated by a sharp weapon making identification more difficult."
"The primary cause of death could be attributed to excessive blood loss as his throat seemed to have been slit. He was also subjected to torture prior to his demise. His severed fingers had nails clearly dug out and much of his body had been skinned with many purple spots bulging on the back muscles indicating damage dealt by a blunt object."
"The murderer's methods were extremely cruel but they were also cautious as no traces of spells or any arcane artifact's power could be detected on the body parts during the preliminary investigation. Needs specialized personnel to handle this part."
In fact, he already knew the identity of this dismembered corpse and far more as it already had been a quarter of an hour since it had been in his line of sight. For obvious reasons he wouldn't write those down lest he revealed any clues in some unexpected ways.
Name, age, identity, realm, grimoire, and spells. All of the victim's information pertaining to these subjects had been unraveled by his Eye of Inquiry.
Russell moved a bit and positioned himself so he could take both the corpse and the surrounding crowd under his sight. After cordoning off the crime scene much time had passed and commotions from the dissatisfied crowd after being forcibly halted from leaving drew more people towards this place.
Maybe they saw the overbearing nature of this team of officers or because they feared trouble they only dared to peek from the distance thus relieving the four of his teammates from any additional workload.
According to the protocols, they only needed to take statements from the people found near the crime scene upon discovery and also of those who rashly cross the yellow taped area later.
He was firmly memorizing the faces of the dark mages mixed among them. It was unknown whether they had disguised themselves with magical means but that wouldn't prevent him marking them down first since he bumped into them.
It was a pity that he had to attend to his part of the duty first, which was to handle the corpse, otherwise he would have also triggered the second progressional stage for them. That would have made it easier to deal with them in the future but of course, things couldn't always go so smoothly.
He had used the Whispering Wind spell on himself earlier thus he suddenly heard another batch of people arriving from past the corner of the street.
"It must be the specialized personnel captain requested earlier."
Three people passed the corner and entered his view. A middle aged man with long hair, and two young girls with identical faces. Unlike the man who wore the police uniform, the two girls had different clothing on themselves.
Gray robe with indigo star patterns on the collar!
""Greetings, Patrol Officer Robert!""
Russell and his four teammates stopped what they were doing before giving a courtesy bow. This man was a Two Symbols Adept Mage, their direct superior in charge of supervising and managing their five person patrol team.
"Should I say your team has been too active recently, Colton? Here. I brought these two capable ladies to assist you."
Robert said with a hint of exasperation in his tone. It hadn't even been a few days when the newcomer of this team shook the entire police department and now another case fell on their laps.
He glanced at the young man whose pair of hawk-like eyes showed a touch of helplessness upon hearing his indirect complaints. Oh well, who told him to be in charge of such a highly connected person who either stirred up trouble or was on his way to do it!
Since he couldn't reprimand him for doing his job well he could only run around and liaise for their requests.
Robert introduced the people he brought for them, "The dispatched clairvoyants from the Flowing Tide Pavilion assigned to help your team solve this case. As you can see they are twins."
"The one with the ponytail is Lucia and the other one is Allison. Their arcana attainment is also similar, Four Symbols Novice Mage."
"Good morning, everyone! It's a pleasure to meet you."
"We hope for a pleasant cooperation!"
Lucia and Allison greeted their team with a polite smile. They looked far younger than Hailey, the eighteen year old. Colton took the lead to introduce themselves in return while Russell couldn't help but recall the information about their pavilion.
One of the two pavilions under the Department of Royal Observatory.
The members of Flowing Tide Pavilion specialize in Clairvoyance Magic. With the faintest of traces and smallest of clues they can unravel a lot of information through targeted spells. Their ability for information analysis and critical thinking were also exceptionally brilliant.
In a self-deprecating term, they are the brains of law enforcement while police officers are brutes of physical labor who typically handle tedious matters such as pursuing, fighting, and capturing the suspects.
"Please continue taking their statements. Us sisters will check the corpse first."
Lucia, the elder sister among the pair, already took the lead in commanding them. During the introduction they revealed their age to be only fifteen and this was their first case in the field.
Given the nature of Wismar and societal norm of the kingdom it was very common to see teenagers of their age already working in the society so nobody was surprised why such kids were rushing over to handle a corpse up close.
The police officers present were also long used to it as they indeed hadn't learn any spells for gathering intelligence like them so they could only let the professionals do their work and while they, the brutes, do their part, this was the basic professional quality that all police officers had to emulate otherwise they wouldn't be able to keep their job for long.
Russell also left to take statements with his team but he had never let the corpse leave his sight from the start in a clever manner.
It could be said that years of using the Eye of Inquiry had made his behavioral pattern and slight body gestures not seem abrupt while trying to keep the target in sight under others' attention on him.
"Hmm? Now that I think about it, my special powers are very suitable for the Flowing Tide Pavilion! Under the guise of having learned numerous spells of clairvoyance magic I can avoid many suspicions when displaying my superb talent in the field of investigation."
"But… it would be a pity to not be able to use the convenient connection brought by my mentor's friendship anymore. After all, Flowing Tide Pavilion has its own internal layout and high commands."
"One can't interfere with another's operation except when it involves a case. Many of my current privileges brought by the chief's backing would also vanish."
Russell was very conflicted due to this.
Outwardly though he was dutifully taking statements from an unassuming civilian whose actual identity was a necromancer from the Death Abyss. He was unwilling to let their group of troublemakers who caused such a huge commotion yesterday easily slip out of his grasp.
Thus he began grilling this person with all sorts of verbal provocation to try to incite an attack from him.
That way he would be able to take action openly. Then he would fish in troubled waters by "accidentally" attacking a few more of their types when all the hidden dark mages hadn't yet reacted from the sudden escalation.
Anyways, an Adept Mage was still present on the scene and he also wore the Harm Warding Pendant so his actions were much bolder.
It was just a pity that the guy opposite him seemed to be a hard nut to crack, showing excellent maturity and tolerance unbefitting of a terrorist. Who knows what great rationalist he ended up picking at the first try!
Since this wasn't going anywhere he instead kept pondering his future career,
"It's also a question mark whether Walter would be willing to let me transfer to the pavilion easily when he already knows my high qualifications and considers me part of his faction in this town."
"Furthermore, I have to switch to a different grimoire if I were to delve into clairvoyance magic and because of my current arcana attainment that had already been built upon the teachings from Wind Citadel Tome this path is naturally cut off until I breakthrough to Adept Mage realm first."
"It would take around ten days to condense the third symbol and with the Firmament Clay in my hand the fourth symbol's condensation process could be reduced to just one hour after I have done stabilizing my realm. It could be surmised that within the same day I would leap from Two Symbols to Four Symbols Novice Mage."
"However, a breakthrough to the next arcana realm can't be rushed just because I am eager to transfer to the Flowing Tide Pavilion. According to my mentor, a major realm breakthrough was no different from walking on a tightrope. A single misstep could make you fall into the abyss."
Common carelessness such as insufficient ether in the surrounding or even agitated mental state could cause failure in breakthrough which would significantly damage the Ether Sprout.
After having failed to transform into a Ether Seedling one's aptitude would inevitably be downgraded by a tier. Those with Pseudo-tier would simply become a dullard on the spot with no hope for arcana enlightenment for the remainder of their lives.
"If someone was unlucky enough then external interference such as being distributed or outright attacked mid breakthrough could break the meditative state and cause Ether Rupture, a fatal state when one's control over ether reserve within the body had been lost leading to immolation on the spot."
Russell couldn't help but glance at Colton, the captain of their team who hadn't yet reached the next realm despite being so old.
Good qualifications gives a natural higher breakthrough rate and a good background ensures safety during their vulnerability so without either of the two attempting a major realm breakthrough was a death sentence for the majority of the mages in this kingdom.
"It seems that I can't let Walter sense my intentions to slip away until I have successfully broken through to the next realm. That being said, Flowing Tide Pavilion's passiveness when it comes to handling cases is what bothers me a bit."
"Without being contacted for assistance by the police department they can neither arbitrarily participate in cases nor proactively investigate. They also don't have any patrolling rights so despite their entire pavilion being known for their sharp minds and quick wits they could show their prowess only after the deed."
Russell felt strange when he thought about it in this direction. Could the royal court truly make such an obvious blunder that even he, a native of a small town, could think of?
A hint of confusion couldn't help but appear in his usually calm eyes.