There's a rumor about a being with black skin and deformed body. Limbs so slim and long like needles, while its body is round like a lump of fats. People also said the rumor is connected to a recent incident of dead bodies found without their faces. But every time the body was found, the authorities were more likely to ignore it. It looks like they don't want to deal with superstitious things and leave them as it is. But of course, people aren't happy with that and call for help from people who understand anomalous and supernatural things. In this particular matter, there's one who is exceptionally experienced in dealing with those kind of stuff. His name is Johnathan Brown.
Handsome, charming, clever, and wealthy. Those traits of his make woman easily fall head over heel. He lived in a mansion on the outskirt of a town near the mountain. Along with his gorgeous maids who never fail to make a man fall in love. Even with all the luxuries he has, he lived a modest lifestyle and never went out to buy unnecessary expensive stuff.
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It's a peaceful shiny day, and the Mansion owner, Johnathan, is enjoying the scenery and his tea with several snacks as his daily routine. One of his maids walks closer to him, giving him today's morning newspaper. This maid has long, straight white hair and pointy ears, two distinctive features of an elf. What makes her different from other elves at first glance is the color of her eyes, which is a green emerald. She’s slightly shorter than her master, but her height is considered average compared to other elves. She has a slim body yet emits a pleasing and balanced shape.
As Johnathan read the news, pages after pages, there were one or two stories of a dead body found without a face. Suddenly, in the middle of it, someone rings his doorbell. His maid automatically answers the bells and lets them meet her master.
"Master, this is Mr. Hamish wanted to talk to you." said the maid.
"Of course, please have a seat Mr. Hamish." said Johnathan while reading the newspaper.
"Thank you, sire. You see, sire, one of my distant family is working in the city. And for a couple of weeks she didn't call at all. And when we tried to call her back, there's no answer either. With all the rumor that have been around lately, I'm worried about her. Oh, forgive me. My relative's name is Jodie Harris." said Mr. Hamish as he sat in the opposite direction.
"How frequent usually she makes contact to you, Mr. Hamish?" Johnathan closed his newspaper and sipped his tea.
"Usually every other day sire." Mr. Hamish added.
"Hmm.... So far, when she calls, did she feels like in terror or not?"
"Um... No sire. When she calls, she always sounded calm and enjoy lived there."
"Hm... Thea."
"Yes, Master." Thea answered.
"Tell Grace to prepare the car. I'm going to the town." said Johnathan as he finished his tea.
"Right away, Master." Thea immediately does what she is told.
"Ooh, you want to look for my relative, sire?" asked Mr. Hamish with a hopeful tone.
"Yes, but I can't guarantee anything. I'll do what I can, and the best you can do is prayed for her. Hilda." he called one of his maids, who is still sweeping.
And without delay, Hilda goes to her Master's call. An average build body of a girl in her early twenties. The most noticeable of her is she has two different colors of hair, black and gray ashes. Looking at how she runs toward her Master, she seems to be a happy girl. Other than that, there seems nothing special about her.
"Yes, Master?" After she answered that, she bowed a little to Mr. Hamish.
"Please, escort Mr. Hamish on his way out." said Johnathan.
"Understood, Master. Come, Mr. Hamish, right this way." Hilda showed the way.
"Ah yes, thank you, sire. May God bless your soul." said Mr. Hamish as he left Johnathan.
As Mr. Hamish waves to Johnathan at the front of the Mansion gate, Thea came back to him.
"The car is ready Master." Thea said.
"Good. Thank you Thea. So anyway, what face do I make right now?" asked Johnathan.
Thea looks at Johnathan's face and immediately bows her head without looking again.
"Oh... Terrific as always, my Master." Thea answered without lifting her head.
"Good. Well then, I'll wash my face first and off to the city." said Johnathan as he went inside the house.
Thea takes a deep breath and looks up into the sky.
"That was indeed a 'terrific face' you made, Master."
Thea assembled all the maids in front of the garage in a row, waiting for their Master's departure. When the garage door fully opens, Johnathan's car comes out with him inside. But before leaving, the car's window slides open.
"I won't come back anytime soon until the businesses are finished. So take care of the Mansion. Check the supplies regularly. And don't forget to smile once in a while when outside the Mansion." says Johnathan.
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"Understood, my Master." answered all his maids simultaneously.
"Then, I'll be off.”
After Johnathan's car can be seen anymore, Thea turns around.
"So, in addition to Master's command, there's one more thing that we need to be done. We must prepare another room for our new 'member'." said Thea.
"Oooh, new member?" asked one of the maids.
"Yes. New member." Thea smiled.
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On the way to the city, Johnathan texting to people he knows in the city. And after he finished texting, he read a book that was stored on the car's shelves. The one who drives the car is also one of his maids, and her name is Grace. Compared to her Master, she’s only at neck high. She has single-braided black hair.
"So where we're headed, Master?" asked Grace.
"We go to the Central Police Station first. Collecting the official evidences for our work."
"It seems there's more to it, Master." Grace wondered.
"Yes, Mr. Hamish asked me to look out for his relative. With the rumor on the rise right now, I assume there's connection to it." Johnathan added.
"Oh... Can I expect some action in this?" asked Grace hopefully.
"I hope there's none, Grace. You tend to overdoing things. Anyway, eyes on the road Grace. Made us there safely." worried Johnathan.
"Hehe. Understood, Master." Grace said gleefully.
Around 40 minutes later, they finally arrived at the Central Police Station. Grace is looking for a parking spot nearby. She sees an available spot, and she's going for it. Suddenly, a fast open-top fancy car drifts from the opposite direction and steals the spot from Grace.
"OY, THAT SPOT WAS MINE!" Grace shouted.
"I get here first. So the spot is mine, slowpoke." said the fancy driver who wears a reverse cap. "You better get the next spot quicker."
"You--" Grace is about to berate, but Johnathan touched her shoulder to let it go. "Damn it."
Grace obeys Johnathan's command and gets the further parking spot. After the car is parked, Johnathan sees Grace's hand trembling at the steering wheel.
"Just let it go, Grace. Control your emotion. We don't need unnecessary attention. Now. Slowly, let go the steering wheel." said Johnathan.
Grace let go of her hands from the steering wheel, but her grip was too strong that the shape of her hand was molded into the steering wheel.
"You should let me take care of him, Master." Grace unsatisfied.
"Focus, Grace. We're here for the case. Not for them."
As Grace tries to calm herself down, she doesn't know that Johanthan is already keeping an eye on them. Even from a distance, Johnathan can see them clearly and notices a few details. What he has observed, the reverse cap driver gets into the house and comes out a moment later with two of his friends. A male and a female. His male friend is wearing a black with yellow strip jacket, while his female friend is wearing super short pants and have long straight blonde hair. All three of them get into an open-top fancy car and drive away recklessly.
"Calm down yet, Grace?" asked Johnathan.
"Yes, Master.".
"Then let's get going."
Grace gets off first and opens the door for her Master. Both of them enter the building and get to the receptionist. As the receptionist looked at them, he recognized who he was looking at.
"Looking for the Chief?" asked the receptionist to well-dressed man.
"Yes. Can I meet him now?"
"He's still out, but you can wait for him at his office. He won't be long." the receptionist answered.
"Thank you. Have a nice day." said Johnathan as he headed towards the Chief’s office.
The receptionist just waves his hand to Johnathan. Both of them walk casually across the station, and as they walk, everyone gradually notices them, going silent one by one. Johnathan and Grace enter the Chief's office without paying any heed to anyone around them. As they enter the Chief's office, for a few seconds before Grace closes the door, she hears people at the office whispering about them.
"Pay no heed, Grace. They also not worth your time." said Johnathan as he sit on the sofa.
"Yeah... but really Master. Without you, how many unnatural cases they solve this far? None. But they look displeased when they see us."
"I don't care what people think of me, Grace. I'm here for the case, not for them. Besides, who do you think will save you from your 'case' if it wasn't me, hm?"
"Uh, yeeaah. I really thank you for everything, Master." Grace bowed a little to her Master.
"Likewise. Speaking of which, there's someone who will come into this office and berates about me and maybe you as well. I command you to stay silent, don't give any emotion to him, and let me handle everything." added Johanthan.
"Understood, Master."
Slowly, a mumbled voice of a man can be heard coming near the office. As the office's door opened, Johnathan saw the Chief and gave him a small salute to him. The Chief replies to him with a nod. The Chief has the average height of a human and has a slightly big stomach, but despite all that, he’s a nimble man. Something about The Chief that makes Grace almost laugh is because he’s bald in the middle of his head.
"As I said, Chief, the longer we're giving them 'lousy excuse' for these cases, we will lose people's trust," said the angry man in a suit with his jacket on his forearm.
That angry man is a well-dressed and well-groomed person. He has short slick-back black hair and is slightly taller than The Chief.
"I'm aware of that, Andrew. But we can't solve something we don't understand. For those kinds of cases, Mr. Johnathan Brown here is to solve them." said Chief as he points at Johnathan.
"Afternoon, Andrew. Bad day in the office?" Johnathan greeted them.
"Yeah John, this is because of you. Had you given us every detail how you solve past cases, everything would work smoothly." said Andrew while flailing his arm.
"Do you really think that the people out there will believe you when you tell the truth?" Johnathan glared at Andrew.
"Ugh.... I... I mean, we will figure out how to handle them."
"Your uncertainty concerns me, Andrew."
"Hey! Don't test me." Andrew is pointing his finger at Johnathan.
"Stop. If you guys want to fight, take it outside. And Andrew, we leave these case to the 'professional'." said The Chief.
"Are we not, Chief?"
"We are. When it comes to human cases, we must solve them no matter what. But these cases are beyond human understanding. And Johnathan here is to 'help' us solve them."
"So, when can I get the case files? The sooner I solve the case, the better for both of us, right?" asked Johnathan to The Chief.
"It's right here, John. This is everything related to the case. Including the victim's files." said The Chief as he handed over the files to Johnathan.
"Thank you, Chief. Let's hope I can solve it before next morning." said Johnathan after receiving the files and shaking Chief's hand.
"Good luck out there."
Grace opens the door, and Johnathan gives a small salute to The Chief and Andrew before leaving the room. A few minutes after they left the Office, Andrew let out a long sigh.
"What an arrogant son of bitch." said Andrew.
"Watch your tongue, Andrew. If he hears that, you will be in a huge problem and I can't save you." said Chief after he sipped his coffee.
"What? He will turn me like one of those case victims?"
"Yes. But if you really want to solve the case, I won't stop you. But be mindful not to bother him." said Chief in a serious tone.
"Fine." Andrew left the Chief's Office and grabbed his jacket. "Samuel! Grab your shit! We're leaving." Andrew shouts at one of the detectives, who is in the middle of his breakfast.
Samuel has a slightly bigger body than Andrew but is also relatively shorter than him. Samuel is older than Andrew, despite having a lower rank than him.
"Right now?" Samuel asked with his mouth full.
"Move your ass, or I'll confiscate all your 'beautiful collection'!"
"*cough* All right, all right! I'll get ready." Samuel closed his breakfast box and grabbed his jacket along with his cup of coffee.
Andrew is sitting on the car's hood, smoking, waiting for Samuel to come out. As Samuel comes out, he waves his hand to Samuel. Samuel gets into the car briefly after Andrew gets in.
"So uh.... What's the case?" Samuel asked.
"Read these files and be quiet while you're at it. We're going to follow that glossy black classic car." Andrew said as he started following Johnathan's car.
"Uuh... huh...." Samuel responded while he was still captivated by the files he read.