Day 7 - Daytime - Morning
28th Second autumn, 1152
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Braun Frieden is having the same shift with a male guard next to her, guarding the gate of the palace's backyard. This appears to be a boring job like just guarding other locations, there are not many things to do but stand and watch. This backyard, especially the gate, caught the attention of the prince. A couple of guards have been added here as a way to increase security.
"This gate was used by the intruders when they entered and killed the maids. Someone ran here after chasing Ms. Hannah, they haven't been found despite the search", Braun thinks of what she heard from the rumors spoken by her co-workers in the palace
Every time she comes to the backyard, her eyes will always be locked to the gate. Not because this place is no more safe, it's because the safety of this place has been disturbed, it used to be a place where no one would guard.
Away from Braun not so far, a wide and big flower field is seen taken care of by the maids. Selena isn't with the maids, she has gone outside to do charity work earlier. Her departure time is not stable, as Braun remembers. Her friend would sometimes go out in the morning, sometimes it would be at night. This depends on the goods loaded in her wagon every time she goes out with it. If the goods are not enough, some wagons from her house will come to deliver more.
From afar, investigator Hannah is watching Braun. She is now alone in the palace, just all by herself. Last night, she stayed up late with her mother to wait for Selena to take action but nothing happened. Right in this morning, Selena suddenly departed. Jeanne and the stalking group had to follow, her daughter was left in her room with a reminder not to go outside.
Hannah is now both sleepy and frustrated with herself. She forgot to tell her mother about the new details she found in the case. However, Hannah hopes her mother has figured it out without her daughter telling her. The girl really wants to go to sleep but the more she thinks of her mother being more experienced and more cases solved than her, the more she wants to solve this case all by herself to show her real capability.
The young investigator then approaches Braun Frieden. She wants to talk with someone first so that it can ease her sleepiness.
"Hi...". - Hannah opens up her mouth, she yawns a little while her hand waving at Braun
The female guard doesn't reply. Instead, she bows. Braun appears to be still at ill, she coughs a couple of times before going back to work. Hannah decides to be more open this time because she is not at work and her mother left the palace without giving her a mission to do.
Or more simple, Hannah is just being lazy. She wouldn't behave like this if she was allowed to join the stalking along with her mother.
"Let's think of what I have to say. My sleepy head can't take much more", the girl thinks to herself.
"You good, Lady Frieden?".
"Thank you for asking, Ms. Hannah. I'm doing well". - Braun appears appreciated for the conversation but she appears to be a bit hesitant as if she wants to concentrate. "You look exhausted...".
"It always happens to my mom".
"But not me. I'm lazy", Hannah wants to say so but she only wants to show the good side of her
Braun doesn't seem to be talkative when she is at work. The female guard stands firmly with her palm wrapping around the pommel part of her sword, her sword is attached to the left side of her belt. Hannah stays quiet with her gaze focusing on Braun's sword. She loves the shape, the curve, the beautiful view of the weapon.
"Take care of yourself, Ms. Hannah. Maybe if you ask Lady Ashura to help you with coffee, she may give you some". - Braun doesn't look at Hannah, she focuses on her job while doing her best to express every word but still maintaining her diligence
"What is that exactly?". - Hannah glances at the guard who is guarding next to the female guard, noticing the guy is dozing off
"I don't know... it's some kind of tea in her homeland th-", - All of a sudden, Braun coughs a little, she gently holds her throat. "it keeps you conscious after drinking, that's what I know".
Hannah nods.
"The guy next to you is not even working. Just rest".
"My shift is still on...". - Braun smiles a bit. "I'll be fine. By the way, I don't see Madame with you like usual, Ms. Hannah". - Braun now notices Jeanne is not around
"She's... at work already". - Hannah glances at Braun, noticing the female guard is still holding her throat. "Thirsty...?".
Braun nods.
"Water? Warm or cold?". - Hannah pulls out an empty wooden cup from her handbag, only she knows where she took it
"No, I have it right here...". - Braun points down her belt, letting the young investigator know there is a leather water bag tightened to the right side of her belt
"Relax... just a nice drink. No one is gonna come to check if you're working".
"Warm, please". - Braun sighs a little
Hannah fills the empty until it's full of water by using her water magic. She has also adjusted the temperature of the water, turning it into a true pure water source.
"Here you go".
Braun nods and starts drinking the warm water. After she has done drinking, she returns the empty cup with a light bow.
"It's about to be winter, Ms. Hannah... if you have a need for some good clothes, I can buy some for you and Madame". - Braun speaks firmly. "Your clothes are not that strong to help yourself in the cold".
"Winter already? It's supposed to be two more months until it comes".
"Winter in Warsaw comes early. It starts snowing in the next three days, I think so".
"But I see it's fine. At least it's not that cold compared to other kingdoms this season".
"You don't see it, Ms. Hannah. My homeland is that kind of season, it looks fine but will get worse when the winter comes, please don't take it lightly".
"That's so...? Well, thank you a lot when you're willing to buy new clothes for us". - Hannah sighs a little
"But I'm not gonna pay the money. Maybe I should do something to have her buy those clothes without wasting a coin", Hannah thinks to herself.
Hannah realizes if she keeps trying to make herself stay awake for more, she will surely sleep due to exhaustion. Her mother tends to stay awake for hours for a long time before giving herself a deep sleep. This only happens when she has to work on a difficult case. Hannah can't keep up like her mother, but she doesn't want to waste her time sleeping, she wants to stay awake with hope to find something useful.
Something, maybe not related to the case, is also fine with Hannah. As long as that information can help her find new clues despite its non-relation to the case.
Hannah looks around, thinking, trying to find something to ask Braun. Then she notices the flower field of the backyard. This place appears to be a wide area with dense green grass. It used to be a training ground for the royal guards of the palace, but was replaced a while ago. Without the flower field, this backyard will look very bland. At least that flower field gives the servants in the palace a location for them to work by taking care of flowers.
"That flower field is nice, isn't it? Who planted it there, Lady Frieden?". - Hannah points her finger to the flower field
"My friend planted it when she came here". - Braun replies. "She's dedicated to it".
"Selena?".
Braun nods.
"So... three years ago?". - As Hannah remembers, Selena came to the palace from three years ago when she was 14
"Yes. Three years ago". - Braun nods
"It really takes a lot of work". - Hannah looks at the flower field, watching its wideness, its beauty and strong growth. "So...". - She wonders what she has to say. "Do you know why did she plant these flowers?".
Braun just shakes her head lightly.
"Maybe... she wants to add something fresh to make this place less boring?". - The female guard expresses her unsure question, she soon returns to work
Hannah smiles at Braun's answer.
"Hmmmm...". - Again, she keeps thinking. "Hey... do you remember when did she start doing charity work?".
"It's also from three years ago, Ms. Hannah. I didn't know about it until His Highness came and asked her how everything was going".
"What do you mean?". - Hannah is a bit surprised
"That activity started from her family if I remember correctly. She just follows what her parents did even when she got in here. His Highness seems very like it. He supported her work until this time".
"She really loves the kids and their well-being, huh? I'm not gonna do that though. It's a waste of money if I was her". - Hannah expresses
The young investigator realizes she may have collected something new from the information Braun gave her. Everything seems normal but Hannah senses something odd around Selena's actions. She planted a flower field in the backyard of the palace. She also started doing charity work at that time with the prince's support, it's unsure whether or not if the Queen had supported Selena at that time.
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"The flower field... does it have any connections to the case?", Hannah wonders, she glances at the flower field
The flower field appears normal.
"16 missing victims...? Before those 16 people, were there any missing reports?", Again, Hannah's mind keeps spinning
That question could be possible. When Jeanne and Hannah came to the palace, they were informed by the prince that there were many people missing in the palace. The old stories might not exist. But who knows if before this incident, there was also a similar case that occurred in the palace?
"Good day at work, Braun. I'll get going". - Hannah walks away from Braun
Hannah walks past the maids who are taking care of the flowers. Walking through them for a few seconds, she looks back. For some reason, she feels like something is missing. The more she looks at the maids taking care of the flowers, the more she feels strange about them.
But Hannah stops herself from approaching the maids. She decides to come to Prince Koenig's room, she wants to discuss something with him.
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Meanwhile
Investigator Jeanne is stalking the wagon before her eyes. She has been stalking it for nearly two hours since it departed from the palace, she is waiting for the right moment to approach it to make a search.
It seems that Jeanne's calculation was still correct at some point. Selena did not take action last night but this early morning. The investigator doesn't know what caused that interruption. But she can sense that Selena is behaving very suspiciously at the moment.
According to what Jeanne knows based on Braun's information, Selena's charity work has an unstable time. She tends to depart in the morning, she will also depart at night but it seems very rare to happen. Braun can only give limited information to the investigator since she doesn't know much about her friend's charity work.
About this problem, it seems to be more useful if the investigator goes to see and asks Prince Koenig. She really wants to do it, but now she is busy stalking the wagon. Selena is in that wagon too, it's a good opportunity for the search. She can't refuse, the warrant paper Jeanne is holding has a high reputation, it can give her work a lot more advantages.
Selena started her departure this early morning, Jeanne had to follow. The guard group deployed at a nearby inn was called as well, for safety, the investigator had ordered each team to go with two people. Selena departed with her wagon and four other wagons from her house also joined on the way. Lucky enough, Jeanne's stalking group has 10 members, in total 12 members including her and Braun.
Unfortunately, Braun was phased out since Jeanne was worried about her health, she wouldn't be available for the next two days. At the moment, Jeanne and nine members of the group are on their way stalking five wagons of Selena. One member has been kept behind for a backup situation.
Everything went normally until those wagons parted ways. The teams were cut off but still ordered to finish the stalking. Jeanne and a member going alongside her kept stalking the wagon which is holding Selena inside. For some reason, this wagon still drove into the Land of The Dead area casually like the previous time. Jeanne didn't expect this to see it happen once again. She assumed Selena might have known that she was being stalked.
Jeanne doesn't expect to find anything through the search inside Selena's wagon. Her carriage might be used to attract attention while the four other carriages would do the real job by transferring the bodies to another location for disposal. One of those four carriages would be the real target. Selena's carriage might be a decoy, or that's what Jeanne assumed. Only Jeanne has a warrant paper to make a search, other members have no choice but to stalk only. The investigator can't use this warrant paper all the way she likes. Despite being a powerful warrant paper, it's unavoidable if its user asks for a search, the reason for the search must be done reasonably.
Jeanne cannot show up suddenly before a wagon and ask for a search, especially the wagons that come from outside the palace and have been checked by the guards. That's why she must have a reasonable reason during the search. If Jeanne was an aristocrat, she wouldn't need this kind of reason to stop her from the investigation.
Now the investigator is having a terrible headache. She needs a good reasonable excuse to search Selena's wagon fully. However, as she assumed, this carriage could just be a decoy. But Jeanne has no choice, she cannot choose randomly one of the four other wagons for a full search. It will be a waste of time, and it depends most on luck to find the real one.
At least... if Selena's carriage was carrying the crime evidence, Jeanne would be both lucky and successful at the same time to solve this case completely once and for all.
"Madame... I'm ready". - When Jeanne is thinking and still feeling headache, a male's voice called her
The brown-haired man who is next to the investigator is a royal guard named Gaston, he is one of the ten members of the stalking group.
The group wasn't able to work two days ago because it was the time when the members were newly deployed. All members of the group were supposed to be armed with a full set of metal armor like the typical royal guards in the palace. However, if the group had to work in emergency situations, the members wouldn't be able to gear up the full set due to time to wear the entire armor. Jeanne had ordered all group members to wear leather armors, which are uniforms for Warsawrian militia men to save time.
Gaston is waiting for Jeanne's order to approach the wagon. The wagon itself is away from the two of them not so far, they can keep up with it for less than a minute. Jeanne sees this as a good opportunity to search Selena's wagon. The wagon hasn't really entered the Land of The Dead yet. Now, if Jeanne is lucky, she will be able to find something important against Selena.
The investigator wanted to launch another better plan. After searching Selena's wagon, she would move away and start searching other wagons followed by other members, but the plan was impossible. The communication is very inconvenient, only letters to each other. Information also comes very late, once she arrives at the location where a wagon was spotted, it has gone somewhere else already. Moreover, not enough members to work as messengers. In ten members of the group, half of them are illiterate, not all royal guards have aristocratic backgrounds. Many of them were peasants who were chosen thanks to their good physical strength from the military service.
After all, Jeanne had no right to choose who she wanted to work with during the stalking. Only the prince had that right. However, he couldn't choose the elite individuals for this mission. It'd be a waste of time and money to solve a case like this while the kingdom has other matters.
Jeanne sighs a little, doing her best to consider the best choice. There's no time left for hesitation, she needs to do it now.
The investigator nods. The guardsman pushes his horse forward after hearing the order, he runs past Jeanne like a faint wind. She also starts speeding up her horse to keep up with Gaston. When Jeanne arrives, she realizes the man is already there, blocking the front way of the wagon.
"Stop!". - Gaston roars, doing his best to make sure everyone in the wagon is listening to his words with full attention. "I'm from the Royal Guard. With my demand, I order you to stop the wagon". - He pulls out a yellow metal seal with a Warsaw emblem on it, which is proof to show he is a royal guard of the kingdom
Jeanne approaches the backside - the wooden container of the wagon with a white curtain covering the inside. A maid lifts up the curtain, the investigator immediately shows the warrant paper without saying anything, she waits there. Jeanne watches the inside of the wooden container to see Selena. She appears to be sitting among her servants, who are the maids as well, the wagon has four people.
"Alright then...". - Selena comes out to see Jeanne, she sighs as if she is annoyed. "Jeanne, I didn't expect to see you here. What's that paper anyway? I'm in a hurry". - Her face appears she is a bit annoyed but she is holding it back
"Lady Breima, I'm standing here because of two things. Firstly, your wagon has no guards but only your maids, His Highness ordered me to escort you to safety". - Then, Jeanne gives Selena the warrant paper. "Secondly... someone just told me about you again. They saw you loading something suspicious on your carriage".
"So?". - Selena frowns, still holding the warrant paper
"This warrant is undeniable. I hope you'll cooperate with us in this investigation. We have to search your wagon, of course".
"Fine!". - Selena returns the warrant paper to the investigator and pushes her away. "I'm innocent! I'm not doing anything bad! We're friends no more!". - Selena walks away, her face lowering to cover her anger
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Daytime - Dusk
The search went on and as Jeanne expected, nothing suspicious was found. She even used luminol but found nothing, the wagon and the packages loaded on it were clean. Selena's wagon was allowed to go freely after the search. Jeanne and Gaston had to follow Selena because of the content she said during the earlier conversation. Everything went normally. Selena and her wagon went through many poor residences to provide food and medicine.
The person who is suspected to be the killer appears to be a generous and thoughtful woman. Jeanne doesn't feel surprised, she has experienced many things in her life through the cases she solved. She has seen a lot of people who appeared nice outside but discovered to be a monster when the case came to an end. Selena said she used the Land of The Dead to travel because it's safe and no one goes there. Who knows her real answer when Jeanne can't read her mind?
Selena is not an exception. She might look nice but it could just be a big facade. However, there's no actual proof to accuse her at all. Almost all the clues of the case till this time are just vague theories made by Jeanne and Hannah. The Land of The Dead is not a good evidence either, the stalking group hasn't searched that area. About three members will be chosen to search that area. But this request has yet to come to Prince Koenig to have his approval, it will come with the investigation report documents by the end of this week.
Even if they found the limbs within those skeleton corpses and considered they were the remains of a victim, they must also find other evidence on these remains to prove it was a victim. Accessories, pieces of clothes, etc, they must find clothing or accessories on those limbs to prove it was the victim, like how they were described before going missing.
"Haaahh...". - Jeanne sighs a little, she sips some water from her leather water bag
Selena stopped by a church in the countryside of Veta region, a bit far away from Keris - the capital city. Jeanne and Gaston also stopped here to rest as well. This place is the end of the line. Selena seems to intend to visit her house since this is her hometown, the investigator also thinks of following her there as well with the hope of gathering any useful information.
Jeanne is now inside the church, sitting on a pew chair. She seems exhausted, her eyes are heavy, she just wants to sleep. Her eyes can't stop staring at a large statue standing at the end, in the middle and behind the podium.
That statue is a figure of Goddess Katia - the one who created this world. In contrast to the large statue, the church looks old as hell, the pew chairs also look so broken. The sisters and the cleaners of the church who are either orphans or volunteers, wear ragged clothes, some better ones wear fine but old clothes. The only thing this church is good at is the Goddess statue. The statue was built in a position where the light from the sun can lit through a lot in the morning. This appears to make the Goddess look divine and hopeful with light covering her entire body, while the scratches and broken lines are hidden from the glances of people.
"They have no respect towards religion...". - Jeanne speaks up in her exhaustion
Jeanne wonders if the rulers of Warsaw Kingdom used religion to control people more than respecting the religion. Back at the time when she was in Leafspear, religion was well respected, people in the church might look poor, but they were well fed and educated to a certain point. Moreover, the churches were always well-built and well-repaired.
The investigator realizes she just got distracted from her investigation.
Jeanne starts to wonder if she is chasing a wrong suspect. Selena appears to be suspicious but she has no actual proof against her, somehow, that girl always appears with a suspicious aura. Meanwhile, Jeanne realizes how much she has neglected other potential suspects just Braun and Reila. The chance to talk to the Queen is zero, so Jeanne can't do anything, that suspect is untouchable.
Jeanne sighs once again. Her eyes heavily glancing at the Goddess statue, she just wants to have a nap, or stays awake with her job until she discovers something.
Jeanne starts to remember a murder case she solved in the past. The lead to finding the victim's identity was a dead end, the case was only solved when she visited the church after feeling too exhausted.
"Is there something heavy in your heart, child?". - All of a sudden, a voice from behind calls Jeanne
Jeanne turns around and sees an old priest behind her. She gets off the pew chair with a bow, she feels like she has disturbed everyone at this late hour.
"Nothing, father". - Jeanne replies with her heavy tone
The investigator then pulls out a bag of 100 Atta coins. Atta is not the currency of Warsaw Kingdom but Attenta, but the Atta currency has more value than the Gel coin - the currency of Warsaw Kingdom. Despite feeling very depressed about donating this much money to the church, Jeanne knows she shouldn't be so selfish but has to be more thoughtful. Her money-hunger tendencies are of no more use at this point.
"I don't think this is enough to help everyone here, father. But I hope it'll help". - Jeanne gives the priest that money bag
"Thank you, child. Many souls have been saved and cared for by your actions".
"Ummm... I guess I have to go now". - Jeanne looks outside, noticing Selena and her servants are still waiting for her
"I see... you're a friend of Lady Breima". - The old priest nods with understanding. "Give my words to Lady Breima, child. Thanks to her contribution, many children here have been well cared for... they've survived the winters thanks to her".
"Yes, father". - Jeanne nods and gently approaches the church's entrance
"May the Goddess be with you".