Inside an interrogation room in the police headquarters.
"Mr. Tickles, did you ever think a day like this would come?"
Russell asked the figure cuffed to the table leg. It was one of the three dark mages who he trapped at the start.
The guy with the cat-like characteristics on his body, his true identity was shockingly the cat from the missing poster he was trying to find at the beginning.
"You must have got some sick pleasure from being treated like a pet cat didn't you? Tsk! Disgusting thing."
Mr. Tickles didn't say anything but just kept his fat head down. His eyes were filled with regret and a bone-chilling despair. The laws of the kingdom were exceptionally harsh to all those who dabbled in black magic.
He knew that his fate was sealed after falling into the paws of these government dogs!
"Lycanthropy, a discipline of magic outlawed by the royal court as black magic. It grants great physical powers and bloodline abilities of the targeted animal."
"These powers are instantly engraved on the genes after the required rituals have been completed with the gathered 'resources' which would make it so that one can use those powers with the same ease as moving one's limb unlike the arcane spells that require diligent studies and practical application to gradually increase in proficiency."
Russell revealed the origin of the strange power they used. He couldn't help giving a mocking sneer as he continued, "To exempt the learning process of spells and to wield a power that doesn't conform to your species naturally comes at a great price. The so-called 'resources' are the greatest hurdle."
"To learn Lycanthropy, you must have a beloved animal you truly cared for which would be used as the core sacrifice. To progress further and increase your arcana attainment you must keep consuming that animal species flesh and blood."
"And to condense arcane symbols you must feast upon the heart of a member of your original race, of course that person had to be an arcane mage with an additional number of symbols in the same realm condensed than yourself."
"When it was time to break through, the flesh and blood of the next higher realm species that falls in the same category as the first one you had sacrificed must be consumed again."
"In order to ensure the successful transition from a human to a lycanthrope many disgusting rituals are conducted that are too vile to utter in public."
His face became ugly when he remembered the content he learned about them for the first time. It was truly so heinous that one can't help but question what churns in their head all day long.
"Neither human nor a beast, just take a look at yourself! What bewitching soup had they fed you to agree to learn such black magic, huh!? Or maybe you were just born this way?"
"Alright, stop being silent. Why not confess the locations of your other hideouts? Maybe we will grant you a quick death instead of throwing you in the Karmic Purgatory."
He kept putting pressure on him but also tempted him but unfortunately Mr. Tickles, the disgusting creature, kept his silence.
"You won't cry till you see the coffin. Hmph! Have it your way then."
Russell stood up and left with a huff, no longer wanting to waste his time.
He left the interrogation room and closed the door behind.
The cuffs used to restrain the criminals were all magical items that completely seals the Ether Seed of the mage and all powers granted from an abnormal physique, making it impossible to even sense ether in surroundings let alone having any excess stamina to cause trouble.
There was no need to worry that he could pull a fast one under their nose.
Russell went back to his desk to finish writing the report of his investigation that led to the raid of a major criminal group's hideout. He naturally wouldn't mention anything about the Eye of Inquiry.
What the pedestrian on the streets had seen him doing and the words he used when he previously questioned them about the missing poster's content were all non-problematic so there wasn't much fabrication he had to make.
As for how he eventually found the location it could be attributed to a coincidence.
When he discovered the irregular airflow it was guided by an intuition developed from practicing a wind element grimoire and the confirmation was thanks to a spell from it.
In fact, after the preliminary investigation by the officers at the scene the mistfill door itself seemed to have some fault in it when it was made which reached a critical point today that lead to the exposure.
After writing the entire report it was already dusk.
It was long past his working hours for today but Russell had no choice but to bitterly work overtime on his very first day in the line of duty. He got up and headed towards the Chief Constable's office on the fourth floor.
On another note, his desk was on the first floor and the holding cells and interrogation rooms were in the basement floors.
After knocking at the door and getting permission to enter, he respectfully greeted this big backer and handed his report over without any small talk.
Case closing report. It naturally needed to be submitted when prosecuting. Although none of the caught criminals confessed yet, there was no requirement for verbal confession in judicial practices within the kingdom.
A simple check of their ether signature would reveal whether they practiced black magic or not. With various magical means often used by the courthouse it could be said that within the kingdom it was nigh impossible to escape your punishment after being apprehended.
Walter expressionlessly took the report and read through his barely four page long narration. He glanced at this troublemaker and didn't know what to say for a second, falling silent.
To say he was sloppy with the report it carefully detailed all of his actions and findings but to say that he wrote a good report there were only four pages with pitifully few events mentioned in it.
It almost gave the illusion that he originally intended to handle a missing cat case and call it a day but accidentally busted a criminal den. What was more absurd was that the truth was indeed so after he personally retraced his footprints.
"You… did a good job. Try to stay with your patrol team for the upcoming days and avoid going in any remote or secluded spot. One of the criminals who saw you unfortunately escaped from my hands by successfully using a teleportation scroll during the chaos."
Russell couldn't help but feel greatly unsettled after learning this. Being remembered by a vicious criminal who's a major realm higher than him was extremely unpleasant.
Now he had to look back frequently when walking outside and keep an eye open when going to sleep!
"Chief, could it be that human looking lycanthrope?"
"Oh? You actually guessed it. That one seems to be the descendant of a high ranking member within their group. Such people have been influenced by evil since their childhood so their minds are extremely twisted and they tend to be very vengeful."
Russell understood the hidden meaning behind his words. He would not dare to make a move on Walter as he was far stronger than him but it's entirely different when it comes to a little Patrolman like him.
Sigh!
He heaved a heavy sigh and took his leave. It seems to be an unavoidable calamity.
Alas! He couldn't shout at his big backer for not cutting the source of the trouble and leaving behind a loose end. It was obviously not intentional on his part and the situation might really have been chaotic enough to not be able to keep an eye on every small move.
Not to mention, he raided their home turf and fought his way through. The amount of traps and contingencies left there was definitely too many to pin the blame on just his incompetence.
To err is human, nothing could be done about it!
There was no incident of being blocked on his way home, he safely made it back to the agency thus concluding his first day at work.
There was no longer that big signboard as he had already closed the agency's business in the morning at Walter's "offer". As for the employee…
"Hey, you actually made it back! I thought you would be held up at the police headquarters for the entire night after causing such a ruckus."
"Tsk! If you don't talk, nobody will think that you're mute."
Now he was regretting it a bit for keeping this woman. That's right, originally he thought about firing her after giving a generous severance pay in honor of working under his late mentor for years.
Surprisingly she actually managed to convince him to keep her as a housekeeper instead by citing that as a single man he wouldn't be able to take care of such a large place on his own.
Since he would later hire someone for it anyway, why not simply employ her who had a clean background and knew the interior like the back of her hand?
Faced with such a reasonable deal he simply decided to take it for one reason that he already knew most of her details thanks to the Eye of Inquiry and another being that Chief Constable Walter was present at that moment so he didn't want to keep arguing with her in front of his new boss.
Who would've thought she actually pushed her luck and added the clause of food and lodging included on her own when he was in a hurry to leave with his boss.
Damn it!
Now, receptionist Samantha had transitioned to become the housekeeper Samantha and sneakily moved in.
"Did you make dinner yet?"
"Ah? I can't cook."
"..."
Great. What an excellent housekeeper you are!
"Then what can you do!?"
"I can clean the house, wash your clothes, and take care of the garden on the roof!"
"... Fair enough."
Russell stopped bothering with her and went upstairs. He needed a warm bath to wash away the fatigue. The weather was getting colder so it would be even more relaxing to take such a bath.
After changing out of his uniform and putting on some casual indoor clothes he went about to freshen up.
Downstairs, housekeeper Samantha was tidying up the first floor before locking the front doors for the night and headed to the second floor to her own room.
It was previously the place where Detective Richard used to do his investigation works inside the agency but now that he had passed away and his successor was made to change profession there was naturally no need to keep it as it was.
The last half of the second floor way past the stairs had been cleared out and transformed into her lodging area with bedroom, bathroom, dining room, and kitchen all included.
She didn't dare to take the entire second floor as it would be too presumptuous of her. After all, no matter how long she worked under the former owner of this property she was still ultimately just an employee while Russell was the legitimate successor carrying on his very last name.
She noticed that though Russell was sharp tongued he wasn't a petty person who would keep finding trouble with her over any small matters.
As long as she gave him a sufficient reason and didn't act overbearingly he wouldn't drive her away.
This was also why she dared to act on her impulse and move in on the very first day instead of testing his bottom lines slowly. Another reason was that Richard's death had indeed left behind a psychological shadow on her and she had developed a faint paranoia about the perpetrators coming to find her despite not leaving the town like he said in his deathbed.
Actually, she had a bit of scheme by moving close to Russell.
First of all, he was now a police officer so it instantly increased the safety points by a few notches. Secondly, returning to a civilian profession would inevitably distance her from the attention he or even Chief Constable Walter might pay her in the future which gave her insecurity.
As for whether the perpetrators would also keep paying attention to her because of this, she could only choose lesser of the two evils. Anyways, as a mage with Low-tier aptitude she found it paramount to rely on big shots to cling to life.
Sometimes, this society was just that calculating.