With Damien giving his consent to check him, the person quickly used the device.
A few seconds later, the device started beeping and flashing a green light. A sigh of relief soon appeared on their face once it made such an indication.
"Apologies for the trouble, Seventh Order." The person saluted once again and introduced themselves. "I'm Detective Dexter Nelson, assigned to this area to patrol and search for the Morpher. We've detected an intense mana from here earlier and rushed over here."
Dexter made sure to explain their sudden appearance and the reason for their action. After all, it was never a good look for an officer to point their guns at TI unless there were special circumstances.
Nodding, Damien wasn't angry by their action. Instead, he was astounded by their swift action.
"A Morpher ability is very rare, so we must screen everyone frequently. Also, officers must never go alone no matter the circumstance." He cleared his throat and said.
"Even if officers must use the bathroom, they must be accompanied. Of course, that means they have to be the same gender."
"That's only natural." Dexter received the command. A morphing type of skill was very rare, but they had dealt with such situations before. The city itself was equipped with large defensive formations that blocked off such ability.
However, it appeared that there were some problems with the formation. Otherwise, the Morpher wouldn't have been able to get an opportunity to cause mayhem.
What made it more alarming was the fact that they were able to morph into Damien and attack a Ninth Order TI.
This was unprecedented.
In the end, Dexter gritted his teeth, mustered his courage, and asked anxiously. "Pardon my rudeness, Seventh Order. But have you perhaps been knocked unconscious once?"
"Does it look like I can be knocked out easily?" Damien's eyes turned cold and questioned.
Instantly, Dexter shook his head. He refused to believe someone like Damien could have been taken out. If that was the case, then Velgrave's situation would have increased its alarm to another level.
What Dexter failed to pick up on was that Damien was already starting to feel a cold sweat.
'Morpher gets the chance to morph through the DNA of the person or animal.' He pondered over the time when he crossed over to this world. He was indeed left in some kind of dark alley without anyone nearby until he got to the main street.
Could it be that he had been attacked?
Or was it the original body, who somehow happened to match him completely that was ambushed?
His head began to hurt when he tried to recall the previous incident, prompting him to stop thinking about it.
"Since we've confirmed the Seventh to be authentic, we shall adhere to your advice and resume our patrol." Dexter bowed and was about to take his exit.
However, Damien halted him.
"There's no need to patrol anymore." He calmly said. "I have a Coachman to set up a trap in the city's gate to lure them out. Also, you should investigate those who worked in the sewer, especially those assigned here and VS 30th streets."
VS as in Velgrave South, and the 30th street was the approximate street of the sewer that he had entered. And right now, Damien happened to be at VS 9th streets.
This meant that he had walked over a distance of at least 21 streets while in the sewer.
The sewer was connected with many exit points throughout Velgrave, but the Morpher chose to exit from this particular point. Not to mention, they remained undetected and got away scot-free.
How could Damien not be suspicious?
Communication devices resembling cell phones were available in this unfamiliar world. In other words, the Morpher must have been informed in advance that the coast was clear to exit.
While Damien was starting to feel exhausted by the complexity and possible people involved, Dexter remained unaware of his plight and saluted to the order.
"Understood, I shall inform the other Detectives to follow up on the matter," Dexter said and promptly sent the command over to the other Detectives who were patrolling nearby the area that Damien listed out.
Sometime later, Damien informed Dexter of the scenes he encountered at the sewer, along with bits of his discovery.
Naturally, details of the fight scenes and how he figured out the trail were omitted. He was still distrustful of Dexter and their station as a whole. It was just that he lacked the necessary manpower to do all the investigation, so he had no choice but to use them as his assistance.
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They were free manpower anyway. Only a fool wouldn't take advantage of them and attempt to do everything by himself.
Even a hero would be left in shambles if they had to do everything themselves. That was unless they were completely overpowered and the villains were utterly trash.
"The Seventh's power is indeed impressive." As soon as Dexter absorbed the information, he became startled and amazed. "To take down a Slavrok all by yourself. A Slavrok capable of transforming is extremely rare."
Despite his excitement though, Dexter suddenly realized something was amiss.
"Wait a second… a Slavrok appearing in the sewer?" His eyebrows furrowed and he soon realized the situation wasn't simple.
"I see what you mean, Seventh." He bowed his head. Damien didn't relay the event in the sewer to boast about his achievement. Instead, he was warning and suggesting to him that someone could be plotting a big scheme.
Slavrok was a known reptile monster that roamed around the swamp and dark areas. However, for them to appear in Velgrave's Sewer, that was when things became very alarming.
There was no way monsters could have sneaked in and bypassed the defensive formation engraved in Velgrave City.
Unless someone inside did something and transported the Slavrok to the sewer.
Meanwhile, Damien was satisfied by Dexter's quick-thinking ability to understand his meaning.
"The Slavrok should have been living in the sewer for weeks already. I was informed that there were incidents of a foul stench emitting from the sewer but it was declared as resolved. You should check on that record." He suggested.
...
Damien didn't wish to waste too much time on this case nor did he care about the conspiracy that was being plotted.
All he cared about was his survival and clues about his predicament.
Therefore, anyone who got in his way was considered an enemy. He would not hesitate to eliminate them if necessary.
His life had never been rainbow and sunshine. Death was quite common even back in his original world.
Corpses would appear in some dark alley every few days, and they were all people no one cared about. To simplify, they were like the scum of society.
Scums who didn't deserve any attention as they were just parasites. Naturally, Damien was also such a scum as well.
The only difference was that he wasn't as foolish as them to allow himself to be a target. Even on the off-chance he did become a target, he had always made sure there was an escape path whenever he made a big action—until he encountered the damnable Joker.
No one could have calculated or predicted a random Joker card would suddenly appear and turn your life upside down!
As Damien promptly stopped his emotions from going awry, he turned his attention to Dexter.
"You can get a few people down the sewer and collect the corpse." He said and glanced at the sky. "The culprit should be eager to flee, so let's make haste over to the City Gate."
"Yes, Seventh." Dexter saluted and received the order. There wasn't a need to change their clothes either, given that the culprit must have recognized him already.
It would have been more suspicious if he were to change his clothes and inadvertently alert the culprit that they were stepping on a trap.
The thing he least wanted was for the culprit to stay in hiding and stall him further.
'The murder happened a few days ago, but they chose to stay. This meant that they still had businesses left to do until now.' Damien would make sure the culprit regretted their decision by staying for another few days instead of fleeing from the start.
Sometime later, Damien and Dexter began heading toward the City Gate. Along the way, Dexter was muttering to himself, seemingly trying to piece the clues together.
The current clues were like a jigsaw puzzle, completely separated and unable to paint a clear picture. Not to mention, there were many missing pieces to complete the puzzle even if they managed to unravel the current clues.
"This murder case is too peculiar." Dexter twitched his brows and failed to comprehend the reason for the crime.
At first, it was thought to be a common rape and murder case, but once Damien made his conjecture. The severity and conspiracy behind the case expanded.
"There's no need to overthink it." While Dexter was filled with confusion, Damien suddenly commented. "Whatever the motive and action behind it, we'll capture them. They even dared to target TIs, so it goes to show how daring these criminals are."
Nodding in agreement, Dexter acknowledged the saying. "You're right, Seventh. By targeting the TIs, they are simply declaring war against us."
With Damien's comment, Dexter no longer thinks much of the case. He regained his focus and proceeded to pave the way for Damien.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the City Gate. The City Gate was filled with commotion, and many protested against the lockdown order.
"Why is a TI locking down the city because of a mere criminal?"
"Even if it's a Seventh Order, there should be a limit to their authorization. To lock down a city like Velgrave is unprecedented."
"I respect the TIs and their immense work, but this isn't a viable solution. The city's revenue would be down with merchants being blocked and traffic being impeded."
Most of the shouting was more or less the same. They were displeased and dissatisfied with the lockdown order. But at the same time, they dared not be overly rude in their words. Or more specifically, they didn't dare to speak ill of the Seventh Order TI.
The existence of a TI was just a different level. Thus, it didn't take long before the civilians started to change their target to the uniformed officers.
"You officers are so incompetent. Not only did you fail to capture the culprit, but you even troubled the TI. Do you have any shame?"
"I'm of noble status and have a meeting at Kodacrest. Could you afford the consequences of delaying me?"
As the crowd started to curse at the uniformed officers, many began to gather their courage.
They weren't afraid of them—especially those of noble status. A TI could ignore the nobles, albeit the lower ranks dependent on their ranking order, but the officers couldn't.
"Hmph, these people are always the ones to complain about culprits being on the loose, but when we try to do something. They also complain." Dexter had enough of listening and was about to step forward to stop the protest.
However, he was quickly suppressed and halted by Damien, who shook his head in return.
"Stay put and wait," Damien said and shifted his attention to an inconspicuous carriage. The commotion was getting louder but the carriage remained still. It was clear to Damien what Karl was thinking about.
'This man wants to maximize the profit. Not bad.' He approved of Karl being patient and not making a move immediately.
To reel in the big fish, and possibly the one Damien wished to search for, Karl played the waiting game.
As long as the people in the city believed the lockdown would remain indefinitely, the culprit would soon panic.
After all, with no one being able to enter and exit, it was equivalent to having the Velgrave being a massive prison cell.
Not to mention, the nobles and those displeased by the lockdown would also join in to assist the police officers. Of course, it was more so for the TI to ensure their life could return to normal.
As the commotion continued to fester, with the officers starting to lose control of the situation, Karl knew it was his time to shine.
'Can't disappoint the first mission that Master gave me.' He thought to himself and leaped on top of his carriage.