A man walked along the sidewalk of a busy city street, his hand holding the brown hat on his head, trying to keep the wind that brought the rain from blowing it away.
Despite the bad weather, the cityscape was clear to him, the night lit by street lamps and the ever-dazzling neon lights that had become fashionable these days.
Regardless of the rain, cars powered by alchemical fuel were constantly leaving multicolored trails of smoke, adding more detail to the somewhat psychedelic atmosphere of this city.
The man, whose shaved beard and deep-set eyes gave him an experienced look, could notice some things that other people, perhaps enchanted by the beautiful colors or the good music that could be heard occasionally, would not.
Some people wore dark clothes, their shirts a bit bulky, and were attentive to strangers, even though they were on a busy street in Blume City. Gangs had become as popular as the extravagant neon lights that now plagued the streets.
But he noticed a few other things as well, creatures lurking in the dark alleys, eyeing humanity with fear and suspicion. The man could even see a small glowing creature rummaging through a garbage can.
A fairy, a rare thing these days. Bemoaning the fact that he didn't have a proper tool to capture it and that he had a job to do, the man cursed as he constantly searched for shelter outside of shops and establishments.
His brown trench coat was darkened by the water that had fallen on him, but when he saw the neon sign of his destination, the chill that had seeped into his bones seemed to lessen considerably.
The O'Connor Bar.
At other times, he would have been reluctant to enter this place, not only because he didn't have enough money to buy one of the bar's more expensive drinks, but also because he was afraid of the owner.
But he had to go in, so he plucked up courage, maybe because he trusted that whoever might be inside could cover for him, or perhaps it was the revolver in his waistband that gave him courage, and finally made his way to the entrance.
Despite the rain, which threatened to worsen, a line of people was eager to get in, and two guards at the gate, which resembled two huge towers, were selecting those who could enter.
He noticed the red eyes of these men and the gray hair that covered their palms. Werewolves, how could these guys not be? Only the person who owned this bar was brave enough to hire them.
No matter how powerful a werewolf was, they were usually pretty wild and out of control guys; only someone powerful could control them, which gave the owner of this bar even more prestige.
When he finally reached the entrance, he ignored the complaining looks of many men and women and approached the two security guards who were talking to a slender woman with blond hair and red lips in a delicate white dress.
"Miss, we don't care who your father is; you can't come in," said one of the guards. His tone was serious, and he even growled slightly. It was obvious that the woman had irritated him at this point.
"Stupid dog, my father comes here every weekend, you don't want to let me in?" the woman complained, causing the werewolf to bring his hand to his waist, trying to hold the slim silver club slung across his body.
"Gentlemen, I'm sorry, I need to get through. I'm a police officer and I need to speak to a person inside," the man said, flashing his police badge.
The blonde girl, who had unknowingly offended the two guards a moment ago, looked at the policeman, whose clothes were wet, and wrinkled her nose in disgust, as if she had just smelled something disgusting.
"You smell like gunpowder. You should leave your gun at the front desk when you come in," said the other guard, who had remained silent until that moment.
Although not clearly stated, this was certainly a sign that he could pass, causing the man to sigh in relief. Under the gaze of the blonde woman and the others in line, he entered the bar.
The change he felt was instantaneous. A strangely scented breeze blew toward him, and for a moment, he felt as if he were in a sauna. When he came out of his stupor, he noticed that he no longer felt uncomfortable from being wet, and his clothes were completely dry.
Looking closer, he noticed several strange lines on the wall, connecting in various ways to form complex patterns, and that alone made him let out a slight hiss.
"Someone seriously put an alchemical matrix at the entrance of a bar? Looks like the owner of this place is richer than I thought..." the man said before walking down the dimly lit hallway.
As if they had spotted him before, a woman wearing only a rather low-cut, sequined full-body bikini approached him. In the dim light, the woman's tanned skin appeared to have a slight sheen, especially on her forehead, where a pink gem was embedded, giving off a seductive glow.
The policeman noticed that the woman's exposed arms had some red-ink tattoos with geometric patterns. The woman looked proud as she saw the man's view of her markings, and a smile blossomed on her face.
With her hair pulled back, a much more stylish smile on her red-painted lips, and deliberately flowing steps, as if she were putting on a little show for the people who had just entered.
"Hmm? A new guy~" the woman chirped, before stopping two meters away from the man, then she looked at the police badge hanging around the man's neck, and her smile faded a little, as if her expectations had been broken.
"For the sake of the Holy Mother, how many times do we have to tell you that we are not a fucking brothel? We only wear light clothing; we don't offer those services," the woman complained before shaking her head.
"I'm not here to question anything, I just want to find a regular customer of your bar, I have a task to accomplish," the policeman said quickly, although his eyes had been a little pleased, he tried not to look intensely at the woman in front of him.
Not only out of respect, but because he knew the rules of this bar, if you thought you could take advantage of the women working here, it would be the last thing you would think of before dying mysteriously.
So the man slowly drew his revolver from his waistband before offering it to the woman. She took the gun and stared at the man's features before clicking her tongue.
"Come in, but I hope you know the bar rules." The woman proudly raised her chest, making her breasts jiggle quite a bit, and noticing how the man tried not to look at her too much, she felt even prouder.
Turning around, she strolled, accentuating her waist and her somewhat exposed ass through the bikini, all as a gesture of thanks to the policeman, who was unusually polite this time.
Why not give her a little visual treat? So the cop watched as the woman's barely covered buttocks cheerfully waved goodbye to him, causing him to shake his head in time to the music.
"I never really expected to see a woman from the Savage Continent in Shattercrown, except they're so sexy and they have gems in their foreheads or weird tattoos I don't understand," the man muttered before finally leaving the hallway and being flooded by the ambience of the bar.
Jazz music and the soft voice of the lead singer filled the atmosphere of this place, which was filled with bikini-clad beauties serving drinks and snacks to the people seated at their tables.
The clinking of glasses, the shaking of ice, or the expensive drinks whose colors were as extravagant as the neon lights outside. He could smell the scent of the costly, the opulent, and the exotic in the air.
He had to turn a blind eye to what those rich people were doing with the golden fairy dust that some waitresses were giving them. Still, the sniffing sound could not be hidden even by the intoxicating voice of the lead singer, although for some reason she did not appear on stage, and no one knew where she was singing from.
With a glance, he was able to identify important people not only from Blume city, but from the country in general. He even saw the mayor of the city and his wife going to the VIP area of the bar.
But not wanting to dawdle any longer, he walked between the tables, gradually approaching the bar. Then he saw her, his target. A woman sitting delicately on one of the benches in front of the bar, her tanned skin a little deeper than the tanned girl before, but with a different charm, and just as beautiful.
If the first girl he saw when he entered the bar exuded sensuality from every pore, his target was like a bright flower, attracting the gaze of not only him, but many people in the bar.
Her emerald green eyes shone with an unnatural intensity, her black hair was adorned with a few thin plaits, but flowed down her back, partially covering her black evening gown.
Her right hand absently held a crystal glass of pink liquid that seemed to twist and turn on its own, occasionally producing bubbles that rose several centimeters into the air before bursting.
As if noticing his intense gaze, the woman's eyes turned to him, and at that moment, the policeman felt his back break into a cold sweat. But steeling himself, he approached the bench next to the woman.
"Officer Norman, I never thought I'd see you here. Do you make that much in the police force, or have you recently accepted a hefty bribe?" As if in retaliation for the man's rude look, the woman blurted out those merciless words without any consideration.
Officer Norman could only shake his head as a self-deprecating smile appeared on his face. He knew that the woman before him was not only wonderful but also mean, vindictive, and worse, a witch.
The latter was not a metaphor; the almost stereotypical black hat of medieval witches was placed to one side on the bar, its owner being the woman in front of him.
"Miss Rohan, my apologies, I got lost in your beauty," Officer Norman quickly flattered, causing a smile to appear on Miss Rohan's face.
"I forgive you, but tell me, do you need anything from me? My detective agency has cases pending," the woman cut to the chase, causing Norman to nod before removing his hat.
"We've got a pretty complicated supernatural case, the guys in the office can't handle it, you know, they can hit and shoot, especially that new girl who just came out of the army, her last name is Duval.
But when it comes to thinking and solving, only you are the best in Blume city, so my boss sent me to find you," he flattered her, not caring that he had let his colleagues down badly in front of Rohan, all to try to convince her to agree to go with him.
"At least tell me what this is all about. I'm enjoying a warm night here, you know?" Miss Rohan raised her glass and took a sip.
Norman recognized the drink as a cocktail made with an extremely expensive euphoria potion; envy was written on his face, something that seemed to cheer Miss Rohan, who laughed slightly, causing Norman to cough a little before speaking.
"Have you seen the papers lately? A rather famous businessman from the Iron Continent has been building a mansion here in Blume, but these days, some mutilated bodies of workers have been turning up at the construction site.
At first, we thought it was one of the workers who had gone crazy. Still, when we tested the detector, we found traces of spiritual energy, so we believe that a creature from the spirit world is responsible for the crimes." Norman did not hesitate to share some of the current knowledge the police had at this time, as Miss Rohan was an acquaintance in the office.
The woman, who had been somewhat apathetic at the arrival of Officer Norman, interrupting her enjoyment, was more interested this time, even raising an eyebrow with interest, something the experienced officer noticed.
"We checked all over the construction site and found what appeared to be a summoning circle, but our resident wizard is that useless guy, so they sent me here, taking advantage of the fact that the bar is 15 minutes away.
The bastards wouldn't even let me get in the car, so I had to walk here in the rain," Norman complained, causing Miss Rohan to shake her head.
"Spirit creatures are dangerous when they are summoned arbitrarily without taking the proper measures. I don't even know if what happened in that building was the creature's fault or the bastard who summoned it." Miss Rohan was silent for a few moments, as if she were thinking about something.
In the end, she just shook her shoulders, as if the result didn't matter to her. She was just a witch and a detective; what else did she have to do? She wasn't one of those moralistic people; she only cared about one thing: her pay for this job, so she soon continued talking.
"Even though your boss is a cheap bastard, he knows how to get around in the city. The only good thing is that he still pays me well, which is the only thing I should care about. Well, come on," the woman swallowed the rest of the drink in one gulp, her cheeks becoming extremely hot and even her eyes clouding over.
"Drinking a 'Cursed Rose' like that is a complete waste, Séraphine," said a figure that seemed to materialize out of nowhere behind the bar.
Officer Norman was scared out of his wits at this point, especially when he saw the two rather prominent upper fangs of this person, revealing that she was a vampire.
She was a pale, white-haired woman, dressed in classic bartender attire, with black and white dominating her clothing. The figure glanced sideways at Norman, but after taking several breaths in his direction, she shook her head.
"I have to work, Ronnie, I don't have time to enjoy myself slowly. But when I come back later, I'll enjoy as much as you want." After saying these words, the witch tried to get up, but stumbled a bit.
"Damn it..." Séraphine Rohan muttered before touching her temples with two fingers of each hand, the index and the thumb.
Then magic happened. A bluish glow emanated from her fingers and then receded into Séraphine's head. The temperature around her seemed to rise, even distorting the air slightly.
Séraphine felt the boiling aether penetrate her brain and ease her discomfort, but strange things seemed to creep into her field of vision. Soon, the woman's green eyes cleared, and she was able to stand completely still.
Though her mood seemed a little worse, she had to blink several times to stop 'seeing' some unpleasant things, and though she did it subtly, Ronnie looked at her with a mocking smile on her face, as if she understood what was happening to the witch.
"If Lady Osmond found out that you were using magic to get rid of your drunkenness, she would surely spank you," Ronnie complained after seeing Séraphine's magic.
"That's why we won't tell her, right? The only one who will spank me today will be you if you don't tell her," Séraphine, who had recovered, winked at Ronnie, who just laughed and showed her sharp fangs.
"Deal, now pay me." The slightly ambiguous mood was erased at that moment by Ronnie's reality-filled words, causing Séraphine to put her hands to her chest dramatically. Still, when she saw Ronnie's golden eyes go to her neck, she quickly tucked her hand into her hat.
"That's why you've been single for centuries..." Séraphine muttered before pulling several bills out of her hat and dropping them on the bar.
"Okay, let's go to the crime scene," Séraphine said to Officer Norman, who nodded stiffly.
He hadn't wanted to talk since the vampire Ronnie had approached her for one simple reason: her last name was O'Connor. She was the elusive bar owner, known only as a mighty vampire woman with special status in the city.
Noticing the cop's stiffness, Séraphine smiled before reaching into her hat and pulling out a white, feathered cloak, which she gently draped over her shoulders.
"Don't be so afraid, she doesn't eat normal people," Séraphine said grimly, though Norman got the underlying joke, so she could only try to draw a rather ugly smile, not wanting to offend the vampiress who was still standing nearby.
"Honey, would you tell one of your girls to give me a ride? It's raining and I don't want my hair to get mussed," Séraphine said again to Ronnie, who just snapped her fingers.
Soon, a woman, the same one who had taken Norman's gun when he entered the bar, approached them. The woman just glanced sideways at the cop before approaching Séraphine and taking her arm, naturally.
"Hey Séraphine, I'll be your driver this time~" the woman whispered, bringing her face close to Séraphine's ear and adding a hint of mischief to her eyes.
"Tania, I won't go to my place now, I have work to do." Noticing the strange look Norman was giving her, Séraphine quickly patted Tania's somewhat restless hands, making her look contemptuously at the policeman.
"What a disappointment, but come on," Tania let go of Séraphine's arm with a look of resignation on her face, then led her and the cop out of the bar.
The trio ended up in what looked like a parking lot filled with several rather luxurious Alchemical cars, which made Norman feel a pang of life at such a sight.
If he wanted to buy a car like this, he would have to save up a lifetime's salary, and he might not even be able to scrape together half the price, which to some extent indicated the quality of the customers at the bar Ronnie ran.
The car Tania took them to had a white paint job with some red accents that made it look quite expensive. Norman never thought he would get to sit in one of these vehicles, so he was excited when he felt the high-quality leather of the back seats for the first time.
"You look like a country bumpkin," Tania scoffed when she saw the look of amazement and happiness on Norman's face.
Tania's words embarrassed the policeman, who covered his face with his hat to avoid embarrassment. On the other hand, Séraphine was quite used to getting into this type of vehicle, so she took the passenger seat without a second thought.