Second World

”Joselyn?” The head maidʼs gaze seemed to tremble for a bit. She might be conjuring the ghastly image of Joselyn lying lifeless on the floor of her room. She tried collecting herself before uttering, ”S-she meet often with people she used to hang out with the other maid, Luciana, and the cook, Tomas. Now that I think about it, she did indeed acting rather unusual lately. She had been slacking off, some of her chores had been neglected. I had caught her wandering outside the mansion, chatting with the gardener, Matias. She had no business roaming outside the mansion. I had warned her about her slacking, she had promised to pay more attention to her duties.”

Jack thought about the head maidʼs words for a bit before saying, ”thank you, mam. That will be all for now.”

The head maid recovered her demeanor and gave Jack a peeved glance. She then headed out. After she closed the door, Jack returned his attention to the Duke.

The duke said, ”whatever you need to say, you can say it. I keep no secret from my wife.”

Jack nodded, he then explained about what he had found from the crime scene at Jimenaʼs murder, and also about his hypothesis regarding the culprit being one of the occupants of this mansion. The duke expressed similar disagreement due to the rest of the occupants being a commoner, impossible for them to take out a castle guard instantly. Nevertheless, the duke did not dismiss Jackʼs conjecture outright, he agreed with his discretion to keep this information contained.

”I believe you are not here just to report about your findings? Something else you need?” The duke asked.

”Yes, I want to ask Your Grace about the display stands in your workroom, one of which used to house the missing painting. Where did you get them from? Did you buy them or had them made?”

”I had them made, by the gardener, Matias. He was also a carpenter. Is something the matter? Does it have to do about finding similar stands in Joselynʼs quarter?”

”Iʼm still trying to find out. I guess I would need to talk to Matias next. Do you know where I can find him at this time?”

”At this time, he should be tending to the flower field at the back of this house,” duchess Isabelle took the chance to answer the question. ”It was my personal garden which I visit when Iʼm in my good days, which as you see, is not at the moment.”

Now that she mentioned it, Jack did see a trace of paleness on her fair face. She also seemed weak compared to her yesterdayʼs appearance.

The Duchess continued, ”Iʼve asked him to tend to my flower field daily, and it was usually at this time. So you should be able to find him if you go there now.”

”Thank you, Your Grace. I will do that then.” Jack then turned to Duke Alfredo and gave a slight bow, ”if you will excuse me, Your Grace.”

The duke nodded. ”Captain Salem will accompany you,” he commanded.

Jack didnʼt refuse the offer. Now that he knew the culprit in this quest might be an over-leveled NPC, he would feel better with an over-leveled guardian by his side.”

He vaguely remembered seeing that flower field the duchess had mentioned, during his last afternoon roaming around the estate. So he made his way in that direction. The flower field was not hard to find, as it took up a rather large portion of the land and was not obstructed by any structure around it.

When he arrived near the place, he could see the shape of a person among the flowers. The large frame of the gardener was hard to miss. Matias also noticed them coming, he waved to them as a greeting, to which captain Salem replied by making a hand gesture asking him to come to them. Matias put down his tools and made his way to them as they kept on walking forwards. They met around the edges of the flower field.

”Good day to you, sir,” Matias gave his oral greetings, ”coming to enjoy the outdoor, sir?”

”No, Matias, we come looking for you,” captain Salem replied. ”Mister Storm Wind here had some more questions to ask of you.”

Jack followed up by immediately asking him a question, ”did you meet Joselyn often lately?”

”Joselyn…,” the gardenerʼs face turned sad by the mention of her name. ”I heard about what happened to her. Such a terrible thing, I canʼt believe something like that will happen here.”

The gardener was lost in thought, Jack snapped him back by repeating his question, ”Matias, did you often meet with her? Before the theft incident two days ago?”

”Yes, yes, I did meet with her a few times,” Matias finally collected himself.

”What did you two talk about?”

”Many things. I donʼt remember all the conversations, I donʼt have much good memory in me head,” he said while putting a hand on his head with a silly smile.

”Did she ask you to make her something from wood?” Jack asked again.

”Ah, that I remember! Yes, she said she was fascinated with the wooden display stands in the dukeʼs workroom. She knew I was the one that made them, so she asked if I could make a few pieces that were exactly like them.”

”Did you make it for her?”

”Yes, I made two pieces for her. Was it wrong to do that?” Matias asked with a worried expression.

”No, itʼs ok. You are not in trouble, Iʼm just trying to understand things,” Jack said to ease the guy. ”Thank you for your time. Iʼll let you return to your task at hand.”

”So, did you learn anything new?” Captain Salem asked when they were on their way back to the mansion.

”Yes. I have some suspicion. But the next part I might need to do it alone,” Jack answered.

”The duke was worried about your safety.”

”I know, but itʼs necessary in order to solve this case. Donʼt worry, I will take utmost caution.”

”All right,” the captain said after some hesitation. He then handed Jack a small piece of jade with a rectangular shape.

”Whatʼs this?” Jack took the jade.

”It was a Beacon Stone,” the captain replied. ”if you are in danger, you crashed that stone. Me or my men in the vicinity will immediately come to your aid.”

”That is cool!” Jack exclaimed as he looked at the jade. ”Thank you, captain.”

The captain nodded. ”Just make sure to be mindful of your safety at all times,” he said.

”I will,” Jack replied as he stored the Beacon Stone into his inventory.

After they arrived at the mansion, Jack parted way with the captain as intended. He then made his way back to Joselynʼs chamber. He made sure there was no one around on his radar before entering the room. The two corpses had been taken away by the castle guards, Jack and the captain had finished examining their bodies, hence there was no need for the bodies to be left behind in the room.

The room was not so bright. The only source of light was from a lamp hanging from the ceiling, it was powered by some magical source. Jack cast a Mana Bullet and destroyed the lamp. The room became slightly dark now without the illumination, there were many shadowy corners. He went into one such corner and stayed still. After a while, His Cloak of Shadowʼs ability took effect, his body blended into the shadow and disappeared.

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