The street was quiet, and with some consideration, he changed his mind.
“I think we should separate here," Victor said, his eyes darting at the white specks on the ground. He noticed that the snow didn’t dissipate. Seeing this, a smile grew on his face.
"I’ll stay and see if I can find any other clues."
With that said, Victor took out a piece of paper and then wrote the address of his intended destination before handing it to Ulrich.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright?” Ulrich asked, his brows furrowed. Still, he took the note and stuffed it into his pocket. After all, he had to listen to his superior as an 'intern'.
“You are an ordinary person and a fresh recruit. It is only natural that I be the one to stay back.”
“Alright. I’ll come back as soon as possible after informing Captain.”
…
Ulrich didn’t waste any time and quickly called for a carriage, heading back toward Euston Street, Cartwright Security. When the carriage arrived at the familiar street, Ulrich got off, paid the driver, then sped toward the lobby of the shabby building.
Rosaline was still inside, her head peeking through the top. As she saw Ulrich enter, a smile grew on her face,” Back already? How did it go with that guy?”
However, she quickly turned silent, noticing that Ulrich was tense and uptight, like a piece of wood stuck between two grinding stones.
“Rosaline, is Captain still here?” He asked with a forced smile.
“Yes, he is still in his office, at least until midnight.”
“Thank you.”
Immediately, he headed toward the door, walking past the hall, then knocked on Captain Ottis' door.
“Come in,” He said.
Captain Ottis's room was dimly lit; the only source of light was on his desk. His face was hidden behind a stack of papers. Once Ulrich entered the room, he stopped and put down the quill, then looked up.
“What’s the matter?” He asked with a warming smile, perhaps due to the poor lighting in the room, he couldn’t quite see Ulrich’s urgency.
“I’m here to make a report.”
“A report? Why is Victor not here? Is it about that Kidnapping case?”
Ulrich nodded, then took a seat in front of Captain Ottis. He took a deep breath, exhaled, then spoke in a deep but low voice.
"It's abnormal," He said, before realizing that he needed to add the necessary context for Captain Ottis to understand the situation.
“Firstly, we treated it as a crime scene after some brief discussions. So, the incident scene is now considered a crime scene. When we went to investigate the ‘crime’ scene, and there were traces of abnormality,” He explained, emphasizing the word ‘abnormality’.
Immediately, Captain Ottis' expression changed. His fingers tapped lightly on the desk, producing a constant beat in the quiet room.
After about ten seconds, he spoke again,“ What is this abnormality?”
“Snowflakes.”
“Victor assumed this is the work of a Frostmancer?”
“That’s right.”
Once again, Captain Ottis grew quiet. After a minute, he stood up and looked at Ulrich,” Is there anything else you would like to add?”
Ulrich was startled; he didn’t expect Captain Ottis to suddenly ask such a question.
He wants my opinion? Aren’t I an intern right now…
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He gave it a thought and quickly came up with an answer, “I believe we should lead a joint investigation with the local laws.”
“This means that we need to interview the victim involved party, consider whether or not we have a suspect, all while figuring out if the culprit leaves behind any other traces. This sort of work is labor-intensive.”
“At the same time, we need to find the connection between the three victims. Yes, there has been precedent, and this is the third. This will allow us to grasp the goal, or at least understand the culprit.”
He paused to organize his words, then continued,” Finally and most crucially, we need to establish a perimeter and prevent further incidents while we investigate the pattern."
Hearing this, Captain Ottis nodded,” This is a wise move. However, can we be so sure that this incident will only happen in this one particular area?”
I didn’t think of that! Ulrich hissed with cold breath. He was too occupied with believing that the culprit of this matter would only operate in one area due to past precedent. This basis had narrowed the possibility that such a thing could happen, or had already happened.
“However, most of what you said is correct.”
With that said, Captain Ottis took the lead and gestured for him to follow. They both left the office and entered the lobby area. Ulrich was surprised to see Rosaline still standing there, as though she was waiting for them.
“Your order, captain?” She said, standing upright toward Captain Ottis.
“Inform Freddy and Erwin to be on standby.”
“Yes, sir!”
Ulrich led Captain Ottis to Portsmouth, Lambert Street, the first crime scene where Albert went missing.
On the way, Ulrich briefed him on the details. By the time he finished, they both arrived at their destination.
Unlike Victor, he didn’t seem affected by the grimy and filthy stench of Portsmouth. Ulrich was a little surprised; after all, most outsiders beyond Portsmouth tend to react adversely, or at the very least, show some slight reaction.
Yet, Captain Ottis was indifferent.
“Where is that abnormality?”
Ulrich took a deep breath, pointed three feet to their right, and said,” Over there.”
Captain Ottis nodded and walked to the spot Ulrich mentioned. Then, he crouched low to pick up a patch of dirt between the wet stone crevices.
As he rubbed his index and thumb, dirt would fall to the ground. In between the grains of dirt, there were white specks. With a closer look, his eyes narrowed.
“Snow indeed.”
After that, Ulrich saw Captain Ottis cleaned his finger and took out a pair of gloves, silky glove to be more specific.
Silky gloves? For a moment, Ulrich had that sense of deja vu, it was like he had seen it somewhere. However, he quickly shook off that feeling and watched as Captain Ottis put it on, then tapped his finger on the ground.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
He kept tapping for a while. After a minute, he stopped and walked to another particular spot on the street.
Once again, he began tapping.
Tap. Tap.
By this point, Ulrich was curious, extremely curious. He wanted to ask what Captain Ottis was doing; however, he held himself back and didn’t interrupt him.
Finally, after another minute, Captain Ottis stopped, then stood up to rub his finger dry before taking off the gloves.
“Your special ability?”
Hearing this, he turned to face Ulrich, then chuckled as he nodded,” Yes.”
Snap.
The ground seemingly came to ‘life’. Or rather, a certain area of the ground starts to move, as though an invisible hand had lifted the dirt. Quickly, a torrent of ‘dust’ and ‘grime’ began floating upward, forming a spiky orb.
Ulrich was startled; instinctively, he recalled Lewis Smith’s supernatural spells as well as his own spell in the dream, Shadow Bullet.
The spiky orb floated calmly in the air, occasionally pulsing with sharp spikes. He took a step closer and raised his hand to tap it.
“Don’t.” Captain Ottis said, his eyes serious and deep as he explained,” This spike orb contains traces of our culprit. I don’t want you to contaminate it.”
Ulrich was confused, 'What trace.. Isn’t this just a spiky ball of waste?'
Seeing Ulrich's blank expression, Captain Ottis shook his head,” Blood, Ulrich, it’s blood.”
Immediately, Ulrich's face froze, his feet planted onto the ground as he threw his hand back,“You control blood? Captain Ottis, isn’t that too sinister as an ability…”
At the same time, Captain Ottis' smile grew wider, finding Ulrich's reaction amusing. However, he felt the need to clear this misunderstanding and corrected him,” Not blood, I control ‘Iron’.”
Iron? Isn’t that even more terrifying?!
He quelled the horror in his heart and uttered,” What path is this?”
Captain Ottis grew silent for a second before turning his head to the nearby flickering lamp post.
“Metal Rune—Ironsinger,” He paused, recalling a certain person, and added,” Victor possesses the ‘Wind Rune’, he is a Galebreather.”
