Detective in Another World: Solving Crimes with Necromancer System-Chapter 99: Three months

Three months.

Time flew by faster than Edward would’ve expected. His search for Seraphine turned into a series of failures. Each time, he felt as if he was just a step behind, he found villages torn apart, blood still warm from massacres, but no sign of the girl he once knew.

And the village he was currently in was no different.

’Still warm...’ he noted, kneeling beside a pool of blood.

As his gaze lifted, he saw countless bodies spread across the muddy earth. The few wooden buildings were half-collapsed, as if death had come for more than just the people. The whole village was in ruin, as if a tornado had passed through it rather than a single person.

But the marks left on the bodies painted a very clear picture, one identical to what happened at the elven capital.

’Seraphine... no doubt.’

Raising up to his feet, he let out a long exhale.

The massacres of elves had quickly changed to those of humans as his search for Seraphine had taken him out of the elven kingdom and toward the human one.

Aeris had stayed behind with Arthur. The last pair of humans in the elven capital was the only thing holding the peace treaty. Arthur stayed for his wedding with the princess while Aeris stayed to strengthen the elven forces which were in terrible state after what Seraphine... or the thing controlling her, did.

’It should be around this time... right?’ Edward thought to himself, remembering how Arthur’s wedding to an elven princess was supposed to happen 90 days after his departure. He was supposed to return for the event. He had promised Aeris to return, but with his search for Seraphine turning out empty, he couldn’t do that, not yet.

He left her once, and he wasn’t going to let her down again. But with his deadline of finding the girl nearing its end, perhaps it was time to turn his search into his second priority.

The keys.

He had one, and according to the knowledge he received, there were three in total, each in one of the three kingdoms.

His key was hidden inside the elven kingdom, and with the dwarven kingdom being out of reach for any human or elf, he would look for the human key.

Edward had already planned for such an event, that’s exactly why he requested Arthur to write him a letter with a royal sigil, directed right at his father, the king.

Jumping on top of his horse, he rode to the capital. Knowledge of the keys was passed down within the royal families, so the king would most definitely know their location.

The sun rose and descended three more times before the capital rose above the horizon. But as he arrived through the already open gates, he couldn’t help but frown at the sight.

’Looks a bit different than I remembered...’ Edward noted.

Each person, even a peasant, was wearing a sigil Edward had not seen before. Countless flags he could not recognise hung above building tops, swaying gently in the breeze. The people, too, had looked different, or rather, indifferent. Their expressions looked almost hollow, devoid of emotion, as they aimlessly walked the cobblestone streets.

Edward’s stomach twisted as he scanned the streets. The unfamiliar sigils made the city feel like a stranger’s home, and the people’s empty eyes reflected lives drained of any meaning. He felt less at home in the human capital than in the elven one.

For a moment, he paused in the city square.

"Something feels strange..." he thought. But despite that bad premonition, he shook the thought away.

He left the city square and headed straight for the royal palace, arriving at its steps before long.

’Who goes there?’ one of the two guards, wearing that foreign sigil, asked.

"I’m here to seek an audience with the king. I have a letter from his son", Edward said, flailing the letter with the royal seal around for them to see.

The guards exchanged a long look before taking a step toward one another.

"It’s the old sigil..." one of the guards whispered to the other, "What do we do?"

The second guard shrugged before replying. "Let him through."

Walking through the palace corridors, Edward couldn’t help but notice even more of those new sigils. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"What’s with the new sigil?" he asked the guard escorting him.

But the simple question seemed to have carried more weight than he would’ve thought; the man visibly tensed at the words.

"It’s the Order of the Red Oath. The Queen had introduced them after the King had fallen ill," the guard responded just as they arrived at the doorstep of the throne room.

"The king has fallen ill? Wait-"

Edward’s eyes widened in realisation.

"Order of the Red Oath?" His blood ran cold, but without even a moment to dwell on that eerie feeling, the two massive doors swung open, revealing a massive chamber, and, near its end, sitting on a throne, was the Queen.

’Crimson Oath... Red Oath... it can’t be... can it?’

"My Queen, a man has come bearing news from Prince Arthur-" the guard barely had time to announce Edward as the Queen spoke up.

"Leave us," she said, spinning the liquid in her glass, her eyes locked onto Edward with quiet intensity.

Edward slowly approached the throne, each of his steps echoing faintly across the entire chamber. His heart hammered so loudly he felt it would soon begin to echo across the room, along with his footsteps.

The Queen’s slender fingers brushed it, and she broke the seal without hesitation. As her eyes scanned the words, a cunning smile curved her lips. Slow, deliberate, and impossibly unreadable.

Then, almost mockingly, that smile erupted into laughter as she dipped the letter into her cup, the paper curling and disintegrating instantly.

"What are you—" Edward began, shock strangling his voice, but a soft, deliberate echo of footsteps cut him off. They grew louder, deliberate, deliberate enough to draw every ounce of his attention. From behind the throne, a figure emerged, moving with that same familiar cunning he had learned to dread.

Auren.