Extra's Perfect Ending

Chapter 87: On to somthing

"Yep, it’s an emblem with 12 eyes arranged in a circle. It looks kinda creepy if you ask me."

"All heretic stuff looks creepy," the groom added.

"By the way, why do you need this information?" the bride inquired.

"I’m just investigating something," Reeva replied. "I won’t take up any more of your time. Thank you for the information."

"No problem, I hope you’re successful in your endeavor."

With that, the couple left to talk to more guests before the event ended. Reeva was now left with a new lead: a heretic purge in Guragua. He needed to get this information to Holen to help with his investigation.

However, by the time the wedding was over, the sun was nearly down. Even if he traveled at full speed, he wouldn’t arrive before Holen’s office closed. So, he decided to head back for now.

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He had thought he would get nothing out of the wedding until the bride came in clutch with some useful information about a cult. The next morning proceeded as usual—training his control over the yellow mist, making burgers, and selling them until lunch. Then he switched with the afternoon team. However, as he walked past Jenny this time, her eyes widened.

"What?" Reeva asked, noticing her reaction.

"I forgot your present, Mister," Jenny said apologetically. "A merchant sent you a present about a week ago, but I forgot to give it to you! Please don’t fire me."

Reeva’s eyebrows lifted. A present for him? He’d been receiving a lot of mail and gifts since his business took off, but it wasn’t a big deal.

"No worries, you can give it to me tomorrow."

"Thank you for your kindness!"

Reeva left for his afternoon training, and afterward, he visited Holen to discuss his findings.

The office was as tidy as ever when he entered. Holen expressed his surprise, as he wasn’t expecting Reeva to come by today.

"I’ve got a new lead."

"Oh?" Holen was a bit shocked. "You’ve got something useful for the best detective?"

"There was a similar sighting of this kind of heretic in Guragua. They have a 12-eyes emblem."

"Where did you get this information?"

"From a merchant—more specifically, the bride at that wedding, Kate Lawson."

"Huh," Holen expressed his surprise for the third time. "Your mystical hunch is really good. From what I’ve gathered, there have been similar cases, but I haven’t delved into the specifics. You’ve saved me some time."

"How’s the locket?"

"While you were attending the wedding, I ran some background checks on this guy." Holen presented Reeva with the locket, pointing to the only person in the picture who wasn’t scratched out. He talked while preparing tea.

"His name’s Riche Toepes. He was a merchant who turned to nobility. He ran a farming field in northern Tumidus and later moved to... Guragua, due to his connections with the locals there."

"He moved to Guragua?" Reeva asks as the story gets more interesting.

"Several months ago, he sold all his land and headed to Guragua. There, he has a record of owning a farm too. However, instead of vegetables, he focused on animal husbandry. The records are inconsistent since it’s a remote place with loose laws, but according to them, he went missing a few weeks ago."

"Until he ended up here."

"Yep," Holen nodded. "If Kate Lawson’s account is true, then the cult is possibly located in Guragua, not Tumidus."

"But from what Kate said, there’s been a purge of all the heretics there. I doubt the church would let a single one escape."

"Then we can assume that Riche came here to rebuild the cult in Tumidus. However, the church here is more aggressive than anywhere else. They couldn’t have operated... unless the church was involved too. But why?" Holen sipped his tea, muttering to himself. Reeva noticed that Holen was connecting the dots quickly.

Reeva decided to offer more pieces, he reached into his pocket and presented a white slate.

"What’s this?" Holen asked, shifting away slightly. The white slate felt ominous to him.

"It’s the missing piece of the puzzle. The church is aiming to produce this thing."

Holen carefully reached out to touch it but didn’t sense anything.

"What does it do? This white thingy."

"It could potentially suppress mystic power."

As soon as Holen heard that, his eyes widened. his hand retracts from the white slate.

"This best detective finally sees why the church keeps them around. If there were other churches, they would just burn the heretics, but here in Tumidus, Theodore is a little insane to let something like this go to waste... I didn’t think your random request would go this far, my dear friend."

"I’ve been on this case for a long time. We just need to find out where the heretics are and snuff them out."

"But that’s just our assumption. There’s no concrete proof that there are more heretics out there. The only one we know of is Riche, and he’s in the church jail. The best place to check is his former associates before he went to Guragua."

Holen got up and produced more papers for Reeva.

"If you want to get this done quickly, we could split the list. There were four people Riche was well-connected to when he was in Tumidus. This city’s former mayor, the sailing association’s current head, the current northern farmland owner, and a jewelry shop owner. All of them have a long history of dealing with Riche.

Since we’re pressed for time, with your mystical hunch saying this thing will blow up in the church’s face, we could split the case."

Holen handed over two photos.

"Since you live on the Grand Road, you could check out this jewelry shop—it’s near the Grand Road. The other is the head of the sailing association in the central district. You’ll need to book a meeting with him, but you can walk right into the jewelry store. It’s not that popular, but Riche was often seen there."