Detective in Another World: Solving Crimes with Necromancer System-Chapter 100: Unexpected Allies

In an instant, Edward’s only two summons materialised beside him. To his left, a [Shadow Warlord], a max-level warrior-type summon. To his right, [Shadow Sovereign], a max-level assassin-type summon.

Around a month ago, two months after his search for Seraphine had begun, Edward unlocked a new ability, one that allowed him to sacrifice anyone for his summon in return for their strength. It took him a long time to make a decision; his army of two dozen summons made him an unstoppable force against most enemies... the problem was, his future enemies weren’t among those most, so he made the final decision to sacrifice all but two summons.

In return for all the other minions, he had reached an S-Rank, which also had brought his Shadow Knight to Shadow Warlord and his Shadow Reaper to Shadow Sovereign.

But despite this very large leap in strength, Auren looked unimpressed.

"Please..." he flailed his arm dismissively. "I have the entire city under my command. We both know how that ends," he said, before taking a few steps toward Edward, who held his sword high, ready for the worst.

But instead of a trap, Auren simply smiled before speaking up again. "Its been far too long, Edward, my old friend. How was your trip to the elven kingdom? Good, I hope?"

"Where’s the King? What have you done to him?"

"Haven’t you heard? The King has fallen ill. It’s quite unfortunate, really. I don’t think he’s going to make it."

Edward lowered his sword slightly before speaking again. Not because of trust, far from it, but because he understood his situation better than he cared to admit. Faced with Auren and surrounded by his soldiers, even his recent jump in strength wouldn’t be enough to make it out of the capital alive.

"What are you playing at? What’s your goal?"

"My goal?" Auren raised a brow, as if acting surprised by the question. "I merely wish to free the people."

"Free them? By killing their King and taking over the kingdom?"

Auren didn’t reply, and instead he let out a long sigh as he circled around Edward, his boots echoing slightly across the vast chamber.

"Speaking of which... I am in a bit of a predicament. You see a lot of villages have been slaughtered lately. You wouldn’t perhaps know why, would you?"

Edward frowned. ’Does he know about Seraphine?’

He lingered on the thought for a while before answering. "What do you care about some villages anyway? Aren’t you the one who destroyed plenty of them in the past?"

"What kind of ruler would I be if I allowed my subjects to be slaughtered?" Auren retorted with a sly grin, which only frustrated Edward even more.

A moment of silence passed between them after the question. Edward almost scoffed in reply, but held it in, his eyes scanning his surroundings as he looked for a way out in case the situation required it.

"Seraphine..." Auren’s voice cut through the throne room once more. This time, there was no amusement in his voice, no earlier playfulness, just a voice devoid of emotion. "I can help you find her."

Edward’s frown only deepened. "And why would you do that?"

"She’s possessed..." Auren began to reply, "An evil spirit had taken over her body. I want that spirit. What happens to the girl is none of my concern."

Edward studied him for a couple of moments. He knew he couldn’t trust him, but having wasted three months searching for the girl, calling him desperate would be an understatement.

"Well?" Auren cut through Edward’s thoughts, "Don’t you want to save your friend? Isn’t that why you abandoned the elven kingdom and have been running around the two kingdoms in search of her?"

’He’s really pissing me off...’ Edward cursed inwardly, ’But he is right. If I can save Seraphine, then perhaps this isn’t the worst idea.’

"When are we leaving?" Edward replied, which made Auren smile more than he would’ve liked to see.

***

"How do you know how to find her, anyway?"

"I can’t tell you all my secrets now, can I?" Auren replied.

"You have secrets? And there I thought we knew all there was about one another." Edward retorted sarcastically, which earned him laughter from his nemesis-now-companion. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

They have been riding on horseback for the last three hours. Auren took turns so unexpectedly that Edward felt as if he had GPS built into his brain, turning and changing direction as if he could sense where Seraphine was moving.

Of course, there was always a chance that all of this was just a play to lure him into a trap. Though Edward didn’t see why the man who had him surrounded in a city full of his soldiers would need a trap in the first place.

He cursed inwardly at himself for choosing to go with him, though in truth it wasn’t really a choice. Finding Seraphine was his priority, and if it meant teaming up with a devil, Auren was, then so be it.

Suddenly, Auren came to a stop.

"What is it?" Edward asked, stopping beside him.

"We will go on foot from now on." He replied before jumping off the horse’s back and tying it quickly to a nearby tree.

Edward raised a brow but followed through, tying his horse to a different tree.

"This way," Auren said, moving toward a nearby mountain face. They walked beside it for a couple of minutes before the jagged wall opened up to reveal a passage, thin enough for just one person to pass through at a time.

’What is it with this world and caves?’ Edward cursed as he squeezed through.

The tight crevice opened up to a series of long tunnels, ones that Auren navigated with odd ease, as if he had been there before.

A few more turns after, the tunnel opened up to an enormous cavern, one with ceilings reaching higher than Edward could see.

But what brought him unease even more was the torches lining the columns supporting the cavern. They were lit with a blue flame, one that looked certainly out of this world.

"What is this place?" Edward murmured.

But instead of a reply, a faint echo of footsteps came from behind one of the columns. At first, the figure was unrecognisable under the dim light, but as she took a couple of steps forward, Edward recognised her immediately.

Seraphine.

But there was also something foreign about her.

Her once familiar eyes looked devoid of recognition, and sitting in her right hand was a scythe he had not seen before.