After Javier and Lily arrived, they found Alfred frozen in place. A few steps into the dark, gloomy alley, they spotted the two bodies on the ground.
Lily instinctively stepped back, allowing Javier's back to block the gruesome scene.
"This is why I hate murder scenes!" Lily screamed internally, disturbed by the bloody sight.
"The killer already escaped, didn't they?" Javier asked cautiously, watching Alfred closely.
Alfred glanced at him and replied, "Not yet," forming a ring with his right hand and placing it over his glowing, bluish eye.
"There it is!" Javier whispered to himself with a grin.
The Artifacts — stone pieces resembling small statues or chess figures, no larger than a fist — were said to have formed after the death of a king known for his pale white skin and yellow cloak. No one knew how he died, or how his kingdom, Carcosa, vanished. But some claimed they had seen Carcosa — Alfred among them.
After consuming an Artifact called "Yesterday's Eye", Alfred saw the strange moon, the massive castle behind it, the glowing black stars, and two suns illuminating everything. Fortunately, unlike others who had seen Carcosa through different means, Alfred didn't go insane.
Thanks to this, Alfred gained a unique ability — to see past events within a 100-meter radius and to track scents. It was this power that led him straight to the crime scene, following the lingering scent of blood.
His bluish eye began to glow. Strange symbols and words that didn't belong to any language swirled around endlessly before forming a vision — a confirmation of his theory.
The little girl was the daughter of the woman who had been killed and disemboweled!
As they approached the alley, the girl had let go of her mother's hand and ran inside. Her mother chased after her, calling her name, but she didn't respond. At the end of the alley, the girl suddenly attacked with a kitchen knife, stabbing her mother to death. She then slit her stomach open and pulled out her organs. At the end of the horrific act, she placed a black card covered in yellowish markings and strange glyphs — something that frightened Alfred even more.
The girl had been wearing a mask — a mask she wasn't wearing before!
It was yellow, with narrow eyes and a twisted, upward smile. After killing her mother, the girl looked around, then slit her own throat without showing any emotion. After her death, a smiling shadow emerged from her body and passed through the walls.
That's when Alfred knew — the killer wasn't an ordinary human. In fact, he might be an Artifact user, or something even worse.
"He went into that building," Alfred pointed toward the Building next to the hotel.
Lily looked around, but no one else had come to check the source of the screaming. The townspeople had grown so used to these incidents that they no longer reacted — it had become routine.
"We need to inform the headquarters. We can't act freely or we might cause trouble," Alfred said, turning to instruct his two officers.
They nodded and turned to leave the alley with him.
"Wait!" Alfred suddenly shouted, stopping them in their tracks.
Javier turned around with a strange look on his face. "What is it?"
Alfred paused, muttering to himself:
"We're dealing with an evil spirit, possibly an Artifact user. This case is out of our league. Damn it, Diana… You're my role model, but I asked you to keep me on simple cases. I don't want to deal with relic users again — not after that damn murderer. Every time I form the ring with my hand, my soul trembles!"
He bit his lip and noticed the uneasy expressions on his officers' faces.
"…Alright, let's go," Alfred decided, opting to send a report to Diana, requesting a specialist team for such cases.
As they walked, they ran into another officer — a night-duty policeman in a blue uniform with a silver badge. One of his eyes was injured, while the other was a dull brown, lifeless-looking. His brown hair peeked out from under his blue cap.
He noticed Alfred and the others and gave a respectful nod.
"There's been a murder next to the hotel," Alfred said bluntly.
"Murder?" the officer muttered and followed Javier to the scene, while Alfred and Lily continued toward the police station.
Once there, Alfred requested that a message be sent to the police department in Livery, where he lived and works at. He wanted a letter delivered to Diana via night shift Sheriff Klauser, head of the 71st Street precinct.
Just then, Sheriff Daniel, Night shift commander of the 19th Street silvester, exited his office, surprised to see Alfred and Lily.
He had already heard from Divia about Alfred helping them solve the serial killings.
"Detective Alfred, what's the matter?" Daniel asked urgently.
"Murder near the hotel," Alfred answered without wasting words.
"Near the hotel?! Did anyone get hurt? Divia told me you came with two officers. I don't see the other one. Don't tell me…?"
Alfred quickly reassured him. "He went back to the crime scene with a night officer. No one's hurt, except for the victim."
Daniel exhaled in relief. "I'm glad you're safe. So… did you find any clues?"
"Yes," Alfred nodded. "The case will likely be handed over to the Crimson Feather Division."
"The Crimson Feather?!" Daniel exclaimed.
The Crimson Feather Division was a well-known organization that took on dangerous cases beyond the capabilities of regular police — even those with decades of experience. Their agents were Artifacts users, skilled in handling supernatural crimes that ordinary people couldn't even begin to solve.
people don't know yet about the suernatural people who uses Artifacts thanks to this organization, it keeps this secret deep down to remain the peace among the people physically and mentaly
Lily followed behind, speaking in a low voice as she looked at Alfred. "T-The Crimson Feather… Captain?!"
She had always seen Alfred as her leader, refusing to serve under any other detective. To her, he was a role model. Watching him willingly hand over the case himself — the man known as the top detective in Enkia — was shocking.
"Even the captain… can't handle this?"
Lily hadn't yet joined the team back when Alfred faced the Artifact-using murderer, so she had never seen him fail or surrender a case.
Alfred, an Artifact user of the "Yesterday's Eye," knew more than most about the Crimson Feather. Diana had even offered him a position there, but he declined — preferring to work as her subordinate under Klauser and zarkouil, solving tough cases that didn't involve other Arifatc users.
"Betrayal hurts…" Alfred wept internally. "My revenge is leaving this case in your hands!"
"Is it really that serious?" Daniel asked, shocked.
"Yes. None of you should investigate this any further," Alfred said firmly.
Back in the alley, Javier knelt beside the victim, examining the body with the night shift officer, searching for clues.
"Even though Detective Alfred already knows what happened, I'm just a regular officer. I still wonder — what's the deal with that eye of his? Ugh, I need to act like I don't know anything. Well, I don't know anything. Could the girl have been part of the organization of those criminals? What a mess. A young girl with a bright future… ending her life like that…"
Stab!
"Huh…" Javier's expression darkened as he turned to his left — only to see a knife buried in the left side of his stomach.
The hand holding it was bronze, and it belonged to the officer in the blue uniform — now wearing a yellow mask with narrow eyes and a twisted, upward smile.