As soon as Komaru entered the house, a very foul scent reached his nose.
It was as if something had been rotting inside for a very long time.
Komaru pinched his nose and turned around Milena.
He saw that Milena was also disgusted with the smell. She had also pinched her nose.
The house did not have a 1st floor. Such types of houses were much more common in Matalop than people think.
The very first thing that Komaru noticed aside from the disgusting smell was the lack of windows on the walls.
Not only the windows, but there were no paintings too.
Usually, Grazinas had a tradition of keeping paintings in the houses. This was a custom which had been followed by people since well before the 1st world war.
But some people, although rare, did exist who did not practice this custom.
There was no suspicious object in the main hall aise from the normal furniture.
They slowly moved towards the bedroom, where the crime took place.
As soon as they entered the bedroom, the disgusting smell got even more prominent.
It was so bad that Komaru even felt like wanting to vomit on the spot.
This... Komaru was shocked to see the scene in front of him.
In the middle of the room, there was a large single bed.
On top of the bed lay a man with one of his eyeballs missing.
The man was naked, and his mouth was wide open.
On a closer look, the man was also missing his tongue!
There were small blood marks on the man's chest.
One of his eyeballs and his tongue is missing...this is a very weird murder. Komaru was feelijg weird. This was because it was actually his first time seeing a real corpse.
But after a few moments, the weird feeling was suppressed.
Cultural Adaptability! It seems that I have adapted to the feeling of seeing corpses. I wonder whose skill this is. Is it one of the soldiers from the 1st world war?
Komaru carefully inspected the other areas while Milena took note of the actual corpse.
Komaru saw a bookshelf with no books on it.
There were also no windows in the bedroom. A single ventilator was present on the top right side of the room.
Its very weird. The house does not have a single painting or window, and theres a bookshelf without any books.
Aside from that, there was nothing else which was worth investigating.
Komaru then went up to the corpse. He said to Milena, "From the looks of it, this man did not create a Principle yet."
This was a simple deduction since anyone with the Celestial star's energy will leave out Corrupted energy once they die.
"Theres another possibility. The man died and left some Corrupted energy, and the suspect for the murder used that energy to make an Artifact."
Komaru's eyes widened a little. He did not think of that.
"Indeed, that is also possible. But the missing eyeball and the tongue also makes this very weird. Did the suspect take them to perform some sort of ritual?"
Milena shook her head and said, "I am not sure. As far as I know, the rituals for evolving Principles do not involve the sacrifice of human body parts. Not only that, but the rituals corresponding to the 5 Gods also do not involve human body parts."
"Maybe they were used as a sacrifice material for the ritual of an evil god?"
"We can't rule out that possibility. Alright, lets go outside and talk to the police about the other details."
Nodding his head, Komaru went out with Milena. He was relieved when the foul stench disappeared.
Milena began speaking to the policeman and asked, "Can you tell me all the details of the crime?"
Milena handed her notebook to Komaru, indicating him to note down the details.
The policeman started speaking, "The victim's name is Harry Young. His age is-was 27 years old. He used to work in the factory which produced cotton clothes.
"His salary was around 10 cinders per month. He does not have a family. He was living on rent in this house. Upon investigation, we found out that the owner of this house, Dory Gram is currently living in the Cascane city.
"Harry Young's previous whereabouts are currently unknown. His belief was in the God of Friendship Shegor, just like most of the citizens of Matalop.
"He did not have any debts or any kind of beef with anybody. He went to the factory, worked for 12 hours and returned home. That was his daily schedule. He rarely visited the church.
"He was found dead on yesterday, at around 11 p.m. The guard who was on duty for patrolling the area encountered his dead body by chance. He said that while passing by this house, he could sense the murder, due to his Principle. He immediately went inside the house to find Harry's dead body lying on the bed.
"He reported this to the police, and they sent me here to guard the house until you two arrived. That is all the details about the murder. "
Hearing this, Milena thought for a second and nodded.
Komaru also finished writing all the details. He turned towards Milena and asked, "What should we do next?"
"We will return to Ryota and give him the details. He might know a thing or two about this case."
Komaru nodded, and they both bid farewell to the policeman.
They both took the taxi and went back to Stupart street. After paying the taxi driver, they went inside the police station.
Not having a name for the police station is very weird...should I call it Stupart station? Yeah, lets just call it that.
They both went to Ryota's desk. After the greetings, Komaru said, "These are all the details of the crime. Please take a look."
Taking the notebook from Komaru's hands, Ryota started reading the details.
"An eye and tongue missing...held no grudges against anyone...Hmm, it looks like some cult's activity. But I can't remember which cult would take someone's eye and tongue out...
"It can't be related to him right? No, that is a huge stretch, but maybe...maybe the Sage is involved in all of this...or I may just be over thinking..." At this point, Ryota had started talking to himself.
"Oh I apologize. Its a silly habit of mine. You know, just talking to myself when I am thinking. Anyways, please continue your investigations. If my guess is correct, then a big shot may be involved in this case."
A bigshot? Does he mean the culprit is someone who is very strong? But then, how are we, who aren't even celestial grades able to solve this case? And wasn't I supposed to be the one reporting crimes? Why would I have to be part of the investigation?
Komaru and Milena nodded, and they were allowed to go back home.
Komaru, instead of going back to his home, went to the cloth shop instead.
Can't forget that tonight I will have to attend a dinner party. And I definitely can't go in with shitty clothes like this.
Going inside the same cloth shop where he had previously bought his clothes, Komaru went towards the coat section.
He picked out a silk black coat and pants and bought it. It cost him 3 cinders.
Ah, 3 cinders gone just like that. Sometimes I just hate the fact that Grazinas has such high prices for even fucking clothes...
With a sigh, he took his newly bought clothes and went back home.
It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon. He cooked his lunch and ate it quickly.
With nothing much to do, he simply practised his Principle powers a little, until the time was 8:30 PM.
In social gatherings like these, its best to arrive as early as possible, since you definitely don't want to be late and grab everybody's attention.
Komaru quickly went to take a shower. Coming out, he wore the newly bought coat and neatly combed his hair.
Looking at the mirror infront of him, he said "Hmm...I don't look bad. Infact, I look really good. Maybe not so much as Ryota..."
With all that, he went outside his home and locked the door.
He then took the lift to the Donnie's house. As he arrived, he saw some people with lavish clothes enter her house.
Naturally, Komaru also entered through the door.
As soon as he entered, he was surprised to see the extravagant style of decoration done. It was as if he had entered a God's believer's house.
There were a lot of people happily chatting. Some of them were enjoying the drinks while the others were eating.
Looking towards his left, Komaru saw a huge table, placed on it were a variety of delicacies, each of which were enough to make him hungry.
On his right, there were some people who were dancing. Some of them were with their partners, while some were simply dancing by themselves.
This is more lavish than I thought. I feel a little out of the place. I ain't complaining though, because the girls here are so beautiful.
Komaru moved around a little, before someone called out his name.
"Good Evening, Mrs. Donnie. This is a wonderful banquet you set up."
It was Mrs. Donnie,who wore a fabulous long green gown, with sheath cuts on it. There was a piece of diamond necklace on her neck, which looked really pretty.
She wore high black heels, which made her around the same height as Komaru. She also had a lot of makeup on her face.
What is this level of fancy? So much makeup...
"Good evening, Komaru. I hope that you aren't uncomfortable here. Have you tested out the drinks or the food?"
"Ah. I was just about to go taste the food. Just looking at it makes me believe it will be amazing. Not as amazing as your looks, though."
"Haha. You flatter me. You are looking pretty good yourself. How about I introduce you to some people? Here, come with me."
"Ah...sure." Komaru agreed, and started following her.
After a few moments, they arrived at a spot where there were a few people standing there, chatting amongst themselves and drinking beer.
Mrs. Donnie began introducing Komaru, saying, "This is the new kid whom I was talking about."
Komaru bowed and said, "Hello everyone. My name is Komaru Wilson. Nice to meet you."
A man who looked to be in his forties, stepped up and said, "Good day, Komaru. My name is Brandon Morega."
Brandon had short black hair and a tall, wide chin and golden brown eyes. He had a dark tanned skin with a prominent beard. He looked to be around 6 feet. He was wearing blue striped shirt with black pants and a tie.
Next, a woman who was pretty young said, "Hello Komaru. My name is Migi Turner. Nice to meet you."
Migi had long blonde hair with blue eyes. She was a little shorter than Komaru. She had fair white skin and a small nose. She looked pretty, wearing a blue-black skirt.
The last person to greet Komaru was another woman, who looked the same age as Mrs. Donnie. She said, "Mm. The name's Linda."
She had short black hair and brown eyes. He was the same height as Komaru. She looked pretty beautiful, the most noticeable feature on her face being the small nose and lips.
Then, Mrs.Donnie said, "Komaru here is very faithful to 'Him'. He has also recently picked up the crime reporter's job, working under Amane Ryota."