Daytime - Morning
First Winter, 1126
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Here comes another dream of investigator Jeanne. This took place three months after the previous one, the time when she was on her way tracking down the serial killer who was mentioned previously, it wasn't an easy job.
She would go out and search for a body every three months. The killer would also send letters with the same content to every guard post across Leafspear at that time. Since no one got their hands on the case, it was only Jeanne and Alan to track down the murderer.
Back to her memories, Jeanne can be seen walking side by side with her boyfriend - Alan. Both of them are still in Tavezki capital city. However, they're not in a place where many people are traveling. They're looking for deserted areas like abandoned houses, sewers, etc, to find the body of the killer's next victim.
Jeanne picked saturday to have a day off. She'd like to spend a lot of time with her boyfriend on sunday. Alan also took a day off to make sure her girlfriend would have a protector during her investigation.
Jeanne knows the street where Alan and her are standing on, it's near where her mother and two little sisters live. She doesn't like to see the place where her family members live being a crime scene for the murderer, but she can't do anything if it becomes the truth.
Jeanne stands at the the right corner of an alley, the path behind her leads outside. In contrast with the street which is filled with people being busy with their personal lives, the alley where Jeanne stands is just a dark, cramped quiet place. She's looking down a sewer with hope to see Alan. Earlier during the investigation, Jeanne wanted to go inside the sewer to find more clues. Alan stopped her at the end, said it was for her safety, then got in there to look for the clues she wanted.
Jeanne feels lucky. At least the sewer is big enough for her boyfriend to get in, she is very anxious while waiting for his return. It's winter at the time. She wonders if her boyfriend is still safe in there.
Jeanne wants to get in there to find her boyfriend. She decides to recheck a new letter sent by the killer first to make sure she guessed all of his riddles correctly. Three months ago, the investigator knew another murder had occurred but she couldn't find where the killer hid the victim. There was also a letter sent to her guard post at the time, but the content was mostly about detailed guidance for the odd investigative methods.
Jeanne knew nothing about it. However, she tried to learn what was written in the letter. She had learned about the fingerprint analysis from one of those letters and applied it to a later case. Despite the success of solving the case, the fingerprint analysis couldn't work well. However thanks to the case, she learned more about how that technique works. Right now, Jeanne trying to learn everything she read from that murderer's letters. If they can help her to solve other cases, they can also help her to solve this serial murder as well, but it takes time.
All of a sudden, some loud noises from the sewer catch Jeanne's attention. She stopped her thoughts and glanced there closely. Alan has shown up after a long time searching down there. Jeanne rushed towards the sewer, doing her best to lift her boyfriend up.
"Oh, Alan...". - Jeanne notices her boyfriend's hands are covered with dirt and water, it's obvious since he spent his time down the sewer
"Any bodies...?".
Alan shakes his head. He hands to Jeanne a small wooden crate then comes back down the dark sewer.
"Be careful!". - Jeanne feels disappointed in herself, thinking she should have been the one to come down this time
Jeanne puts the crate down on the ground and opens it up. She knows what this thing is and what it contains inside, it's a murder crate. In the letter, the repeat murderer mentioned it as a "kill kit".
"Tch... I knew it". - Jeanne clicks her tongue in frustration, knowing she has come to the right place and the crime scene could be nearby
Inside the crate is full of murder tools of the murderer. A blood-stained knife, a blood-stained wooden hammer with a half-broken head, some cloths and ropes. These items here appear to have been used for a murder. Based on what Jeanne sees, the blood stains on the murder weapons still look new, there was a murder hours ago.
However, the body of the victim hasn't been found. The investigator knows the body will get smell the next day if it is discovered late. Only one assumption is made that the body could be around the street where she is now. It could have been hidden in another sewer, but till now, everything is just a theory.
Alan suddenly returns with another wooden crate. Jeanne opens it up. This time, it's about the clothes prepared by the murderer. A green tunic, green pants, a black cloak with a hood for head cover, a pair of cheap brown leather gloves, seem to be from a weapon forger. Some of these clothes have blood stains, but most of them look pretty clean. Except for the gloves, other clothes are cheap and can be found sold around in the markets.
However, no matter how Jeanne tries, there's no way to track where those items belong to. Even the gloves, they're only issued for the workers in the weapon shops, no shops use the same type of gloves. Despite involving in the case for two years, Jeanne can't find a suspect to mark. "An apprentice of a weapon shop? A literate peasant? An aristocrat? An adventurer? No, no no no no", Jeanne thinks to herself in silence.
Whenever a case of this murderer comes to her ears, she only knows to arrive at the crime scene to clean up the mess. Whenever a new case appears, she only knows to find out the possibility of the murderer's other social status. With all those efforts, the case still has almost a zero result. This murderer's murder methods appear beyond what Jeanne knows, she even wonders if the senior investigators in Leafspear have ever faced a similar one like him.
"That's all I found...". - Alan pats Jeanne's head gently and then walks away, he stands still and watches the outside of the alley
Jeanne closes the two wooden crates and backs down. She wonders if she should report this murder to the authorities and hand over these items or report it but keep these weapons for herself. This big case will be handed to a bigger organization to deal with it, she knows she has no rights to join after she reports it. However, the other guards and investigators don't believe the theories she made about the killer and his murder methods, the investigation could get to a dead end without her.
"He's killed 7, no 9... no, 10 people". - Jeanne murmurs to herself, she puts her fingers on her chin, trying to figure it out. "No, just 9 people. The victim is near, I must find somewhere empty. He kills one person every three months... I must figure out where he goes next to prevent the worst scenario".
The investigator decides to hand over the murder crates of the killer to the authorities. She wants to keep some items in where she lives so it may help if she investigates those items further. It's not possible. Jeanne thought about using her boyfriend's support money to buy replicas but she brushed it off, that money is needed to feed her family members, especially her sisters.
"Alan, would you?".
Jeanne's boyfriend turns around and approaches her.
"Well... would you... help me carry these things?". - Jeanne looks away, answering with a cold tone
Jeanne really wanted to have her intimate moments with her boyfriend. However, she knows personal needs and work responsibilities should be detached because she is at work.
"Thank you". - Jeanne looks away after seeing Alan carrying the two wooden crates
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Daytime - Dusk
Everything didn't go well as Jeanne and Alan thought. Their investigation didn't make any more progress except being able to discover those two murder crates. The crates were handed over to her guard post. Other investigators now would take care of the case.
Jeanne and Alan decided to try to forget what they had done earlier and went on a date. They ended up in a tavern hours later, Jeanne got drunk quicker than usual when drinking with Alan due to her frustration with the investigation. Right now, Jeanne just wants to have him around her. She doesn't care about man and woman being close to each other anymore, she loves him anymore and she wants no boundaries in their relationship.
"Alan!". - Jeanne slams the table, she sips some more cup of ale. "Do you know how unlucky I am with my job? I don't like it at all. Just because it gives me enough money to feed myself and my family, that's it". - She snuggles to Alan, not letting him go away. "Well... choice. If I had one, I would become a guild girl for an Adventurer's Guild, that place pays decent enough if I have to say". - She opens and closes her eyes at the same time. "But I can't find somewhere good enough for me to stay when I get there, it's deep inside the capital city, you know? What changes when you come to the city? Of course, the price for literally everything just gets higher". - Jeanne drinks more ale. "I know, I know... my income increased too. But I don't think I can handle life in the city all by myself. Other jobs there only need men, I'm willing to stay with a job, low income is alright but must make sure to keep my family well fed, but it's impossible to find one in the city".
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"You done yet?". - All of a sudden, Alan pulls Jeanne away
"Huh...? Yeah...". - Jeanne blinks her eyes a few times, she yawns. "Ummm... sorry. I didn't mean to ask you to listen to my garbage talk, but anyway! You can do the same with me! Put all your worries out, complain whatever you want". - Jeanne shakes Sullivan
"Uhhh... please... no".
Her long hair got grabbed by her boyfriend, which just scared Jeanne a little. However, Alan released her hair not so long ago. Jeanne's boyfriend appears to be a guy who is somewhat both a predator and also a snake with harmless looks. She knows Alan is nothing similar to her late father, but she just feels drawn to him, she doesn't know the cause of it.
"Oh... you don't want me to drink anymore, Alan?". - Jeanne feels a bit surprised when her boyfriend took away her cup of ale
Alan nods. Jeanne just knows to blush and look away in silence.
"Ugh...". - Jeanne gets a hiccup all of a sudden, she pushes it down. "Alan... are you interested if I tell you about my investigator job?". - Now she just wants to distract herself, she just doesn't want to ignore her job although she took a day off today
Alan nods. Jeanne only knows a little that her boyfriend used to serve in the military somewhere and used to be on the battlefield. During his service, there were some mysterious murders in his military so he also got interested in solving murder stories. Despite having that kind of odd interest, she respects her boyfriend as long as he does nothing against the laws of the Leafspear Kingdom.
"Well, my job... what should I say? It's just about coming to clean up the mess and find out who made it. My father used to be an investigator, I just got into the job because I thought it would get me more money". - Jeanne grabs a cup of ale but Alan stops her, she smiles and snuggles up to him. "Just worse. At least I found some decent money, but it only happens when I find a wealthy client who is willing to pay high for my job".
"How many cases have you solved so far?". - Alan asks
"Uhhh...". - Jeanne tries to remember by counting her fingers. "What does "cases solved" mean to you, Alan? By successfully finding the killer? Or by the suspect being confirmed guilty in his trial?".
"Do you think cases are solved by the people you arrested? Without evidence... who will be the killer...? And why the murders though...?". - Alan tilts his head
"I'm unlucky by the way. In my two years of work until now, in 15 cases I have been involved, 14 of them are about murders or possible murders... it could be all of them".
"Let's see... I don't know... Leafspear, especially the capital city is pretty safe. You live here long enough, you only see robberies whenever you go outside. But I don't know, people just die wherever I go". - Jeanne shakes her head a little, she forms up a smile. "Maybe there's a grim reaper next to me, you better be aware of my presence whenever you try to lay your hands on another girl, Alan". - Jeanne pokes her boyfriend's chest
"Four... if I have to say. I just solved four cases, there are two other ones but I don't count, they still look unsolved to me".
"Let's go... somewhere else...". - All of a sudden, Alan grabs Jeanne's hand tightly
"What's wrong with his mood swings?", Jeanne thinks to herself
"Well... darling. You must know that we can't have kids at this moment". - Jeanne whispers to her boyfriend's ears, she loves to have moments with him again but she is also a bit afraid. "But ummm... make sure you take responsibility, if our plans don't go well, hehe...". - She sniffs his scents
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Nighttime - Night
Jeanne looks up at the ceiling. Earlier, she was having sex with her boyfriend in an inn, where they are both staying now. She sees it odd when she just felt emptiness after her intimate moments with Alan.
In the previous time, her first time, the ecstasy flooded her mind so much that she passed out while doing it. But this time, she just felt emptiness making love with Alan. Not because she feels dissatisfied, she felt good when doing it with her boyfriend. Jeanne starts wondering if her investigator job and the case she is following are the cause of her feeling of emptiness despite the pleasure she felt with her Alan.
There have been two new victims of the killer. Jeanne hates it when she can't find those two poor souls. The inn is near the area where the kill kits were found. She wonders how was the victim being stalked before being murdered by the killer. It's just her assumption. Jeanne can't find the answer, she thinks the killer just kills whoever he sees randomly at that good moment.
"Why would he have to kill somebody by stalking while there's a thing there he buried for months before he comes again? Choose a good time and pick someone randomly and everything is done", Jeanne thinks to herself
This murderer doesn't have a specific victim, this annoys the investigator a lot. She needs to know where those kill kits are buried so that she can go there before they're used, then set up an ambush to arrest the murderer. However, Jeanne knows her plan is not gonna work. Some murders of this killer occurred outside of the capital city, in the countryside.
Jeanne tries to close her eyes after thinking too much. She looks at Alan, craving for closeness again. When it comes to her love and her family members, she just wants to give all to them.
All of a sudden, Jeanne hears someone knocking on the front door of her room. Alan gets up first and starts wearing his clothes. Meanwhile, Jeanne also goes to wear her clothes properly but she cares about the knocking sounds more, as if it's something important and needs her answer.
"Excuse me, who's there?".
"I'm the receptionist of the inn, miss. Someone just reported a problem in your room, would you please open the door?".
"Hold on... I'll be there".
Alan opens the door when Jeanne nodded to tell him that she has finished wearing her clothes.
"I'm sorry for getting in here at the wrong moment, but I hope you two understand". - The receptionist girl looks around the room when she walked in as if she was checking on something suspicious
"Is there something wrong?". - Jeanne is very bewildered
"I don't get it myself. A new customer who came here a few minutes ago and said he saw something wrong in his room".
"Can you please be more specific?".
"I'm sorry, miss. Madame didn't tell me why, she told me to come up here to check and... I guess she's come to that man's room to see if there's anything wrong with it". - The girl looks around, feeling confused as well. "He said your room has something to do with it but I don't see anything wrong".
"Something wrong up here...?". - Jeanne flushes all of a sudden when she thinks of Alan
"Did we make it too loud earlier?", Jeanne silently thinks to herself. "But wait, then it makes no sense. People come to places like this and do it all the time. It's something else, I should be serious again".
"Is there something wrong, mister?". - The receptionist gets bewildered when she saw Alan staring at something under the bed
Jeanne has her eyes wide open after seeing that. She feels like she has to vomit due to her anxiety. This is something else to Jeanne, she never expected something like that to happen to her. It's rare to have someone to look down under their bed, but when it comes to that scenario, she just wants to believe it's not a real thing.
The bed both of them used to have sex together... now has become something scary in Jeanne's eyes.
Jeanne breathes a bit heavily, she glances under the bed to check on it with Alan. Very soon, a body that looks like a man appears before her, it is completely lifeless. The position of the body looks similar to other dead bodies when discovered. The head is exposed while the rest of the body is covered under the bed by darkness.
The full body hasn't been discovered as the dark has covered the body. The investigator can't tell the real condition of the body but the man looks completely dead.
"Ahhhhhhh!". - The receptionist girl screams when she realized what that thing was
"Miss, immediately go to the nearest guard post and announce this to them!". - Jeanne speaks up to the receptionist
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It has been a while since that terrifying incident. Jeanne and Alan have left the inn to go back to where they live after joining the guards and the other investigators to give testimonies of the incident. The case is now waiting to be solved, it will be posted on every guard post of the Commoner Zone this morning. When Jeanne goes to work, she may use her tree time during break moments to solve it.
Jeanne is now waking next to Alan, she feels safe when her boyfriend isn't scared of seeing dead bodies. Seeing dead bodies is part of the job she is following. She isn't scared of it either, she just loses appetite and other moods for things when she sees a dead body. Jeanne is a bit confused at this moment. Not because she discovered a dead body but because she discovered the strange death of the man.
"He died about 8 hours ago? Maybe, the killer broke into his room and killed him. His room's near the ground, someone strong enough can get in and commit a murder". - Jeanne murmurs to herself. "What motives anyway? No, no no no". - She shakes her head. "The killer brought that body up to that room. It wasn't hired until we came and when we got there, it was already a body there. He dragged it in there, gave a pose and left the place".
"Firstly, the victim was strangled to death? Maybe. I found some choke marks on his neck anyway, that's why the room wasn't messy, huh?". - Jeanne continues her assumption about the body. "The killer then moved the bed away, he put the victim there, stabbed his chest three times and turned him around. Then he put the bed back where it belongs, so that the body was covered, it wouldn't get smell until the next day, I understand...". - She continues to analyze the body. "Then the blood dripped down from my room. But hold on a second".
"Why I couldn't sense that smell...? It's so confusing". - Jeanne scratches her hair, very confused
"Do you think it has something to do with that killer...?". - Alan asks
Jeanne stays quiet. She doesn't know how to answer her boyfriend. There was an unsolved case in the past that she used to involve, the victim was dead in his room but his death was staged as a suicide.
Jeanne assumes she has known the murder methods of this mysterious serial killer. He tosses his "kill kits" everywhere he goes, then chooses a good time every three months to return there and murder whoever he sees suitable. That conclusion seems reasonable enough for Jeanne. However, the young investigator still feels confused sometimes when she remembers how the victims died.
Some died in a brutal way, some died with their bodies not so messy but not intact. She also notices one thing that the killer has started concealing the bodies recently. Back then, he would murder and walk away, leaving the bodies a mess on the crime scene. Currently, he would conceal the bodies after murdering those poor victims.
It doesn't look like a way to make himself not being caught. From the beginning, no one knows who he is and no one can find a suspect. Those actions make Jeanne wonder if this serial killer is enjoying some creativity in every of his murder. Those victims were murdered and disposed as if for entertainment, it's very confusing.
Jeanne sighs, trying to forget what just happened earlier. Tomorrow, she will have to go to work and if lucky, the murder case will be solved very early by someone else. Otherwise, the case will remain unsolved like the others posted on her guard post.
"We'll be busy tomorrow, Alan. I wish we had more time together so that we...". - Jeanne stops, she glances at her boyfriend
For some reason, Alan is now standing before an inn. He keeps glancing there. Jeanne realizes her boyfriend is looking at the inn where her mother and two little sisters live. She realizes it has been a while since she returned to her family. "Two years already? I wonder if their conditions have been better. I always send money back home, Petra and Misha... those two must be 12 and 8 now", Jeanne thinks to herself, wondering if her mother and little sisters are living well.
This place is where Jeanne's family lives. That's just the past. Leafspear is no more. In the current time when she is with her daughter, this place... once used to be home for her to come back...
"You said your family lives here?". - Alan asks, he holds Jeanne's hand
"C'mon, Alan. I don't think you should see my family right now, we just went through many things today, and now we... uhhhh". - Jeanne sighs a little. "Maybe it's also a good time to introduce you to my family. But only me, don't think of someone else, especially my mom and... my sisters". - Jeanne squeezes her boyfriend's hands a bit, she lowers her face
"Who would come to see their family at night? Shouldn't it be happier to see them in the morning...?", Jeanne thinks to herself, she later brushes it off
Both of them soon enter the inn. A while later, Jeanne and Alan come upstairs quietly to search for her family's room. Jeanne later approaches a room, behind the door is her family. Her family has to live in a cramped place, the room next to it once used to be Jeanne's room before she started living apart from her family.
Jeanne smiles at her boyfriend. She gently knocks on the front door twice and backs up, waiting as the door is slowly opened.
"Mom... I'm home...". - Jeanne holds Alan's hand tightly, holding back her tears