I lightly touched down in the middle of the street and felt my mana briefly uncontrollably quake before I clamped down tightly onto it and tried to orientate myself from the overwhelming feeling of visceral revulsion. An instant later Kat appeared to my side slightly hunched over and she gave me an uncomfortable shaky smile before she straightened out, no sign of discomfort on her face. She had gotten better at concealing her emotions recently it seemed; may a thousand year plague fall on politicians everywhere.

"That wasn't so bad," she said, her voice still sounding a bit weak.

I'm told you can get used to it," I said making conversation as I tried to get my brain working at full capacity. I tapped my glabella orienting myself.

"Yes, but that meant to require hours and hours of sitting around in the Between," Kat said blanching at the thought. "Maybe you and I should take a day off some time and try acclimatizing to it together. We can have pity drinks afterwards."

As unpleasant as the idea of purposefully spending time in that dimension of madness was, the idea of doing it with Kat did make it sound marginally more appealing. I hadn't spent as much time with her this year, ever since I got that last promotion. Hanging out and enduring it together would make the bitterly unpleasant task a lot more bearable. It would be just like old times; with the two of us hunched over in the library debating magic.

"They're looking at us," I said changing the subject as I pointed to the surrounding crowd of pedestrians gathered around us, looking worried and nervous even as some took pictures. They had reason to be wary of us, considering the fact that creating a portal into a random street was very illegal. Using a portal to an unregistered location, if done on purpose, was normally considered an automatic felony as it has led to noted instances of grand theft and terrorism in the past and most Towers came down harshly on that sort of thing.

"Tower Of Bremen investigating a nearby matter," Kat said, reaching into her robes before pulling out a golden badge that gleamed and pulsed with powerful magic. "Go about your daily lives citizens."

That statement felt condescending but a lot of them took her up on the offer seeing that we appeared not to be criminals or terrorists and there was little imminent chance of violence. A lot more however were not as quick to disappear, behaving more casually then before but still keeping a discerning eye on us. I couldn't really blame them however. A member of a Magic Tower was not something seen often by citizens and it practically guaranteed that something big was going on. Although none of the passersby could possibly guess the magnitude of the issue just a block away from them.

Just across the street from us was the embassy decorated in the traditional style of Kaminotochi which to my untrained eye looked like a bunch of normal houses with sloping roofs stuck ramshackle on top of one another. There was no external gate but guarding the giant wooden door stood two seven feet tall bipedal monkeys wearing some form of kimono. Their names were Satori if I remembered correctly, natural mind readers that are incredibly hard to get past for those who cannot protect their minds.

"So you're the backup," a rough voice said and I looked towards bulky brown-bearded man who stood more than a few inches taller than me. Mana rippled around him slightly; the typical sign of a Wielder, and he gave both Kat and I a simple nod of acknowledgement as fellow practitioners of the Arcane Arts. Behind him were a few other people, also dressed in plainclothes; an older man with grey hair, a brunette girl that looked a few years out of school and a… was that a Skugelly.

I was actually slightly blown away at the fact that the local cops actually hired and actively decided to bring an actual Skugelly to the crime scene. I haven't ever even seen one outside of the briefly unpleasant time that I spent on Unterfol and I didn't think they actually travelled out of that hellhole. It noticed me staring at it, despite its lack of ocular organs and gave me a wave with one of its clawed three fingered hands which I returned. Gods, we were actually quite lucky they were so obscure. I suspect if they were more well-known here in Maverice there would be a much larger panic at having one of them on the street.

"I'm Katrina and this is my associate Victor," Kat said as she started walking towards the man and taking his hand firmly in hers. "What's the latest," Kat said having apparently shrugged off the worst of the disorientation. "Have you heard anything more recently from the Yolkies."

"Should you really be using racist terms like that right outside their embassy," the man said giving Kat a strange look. Yeah, that was some serious racism Kat or speciesism technically. Not that I like them anymore than you. Oh well, might as well step into this conversation.

"As long as you don't insult their strength, family or nation, you can get away with a lot from the Youkai," I mention joining the conversation. "Step on those three topics though and there will be problems. So keep that in mind unless you actually want to start a fight."

"I'll keep that in mind sir," the man said giving me a regarding look. "To answer your question we've just been waiting here for instructions on what to do next. My boss has basically instructed me to wait for you guys and made it known that you are calling the shots." He chuckled to himself a bit sardonically. "First time we're not fighting over jurisdiction in fact."

"Your boss knows a shitshow when he sees one," I said and received a look of annoyance from Kat. I made a gesture of surrender before pulling out a lollipop from my bag and biting into it.

"Well then should we go inside and have a look," Kat said turning towards the entrance which was guarded by two massively built Youkai before she paused as if remembering something. "By the way who am I addressing?"

"Ah, my apologies ma'am," the man said looking flustered for a moment. "I'm senior detective Higgins, this is Rogers," he said gesturing to the older man who regarded us coolly. The slight flickers of power I got from him indicated that he was slightly proficient at wielding magic if nothing else. "He's a consultant on non-human post-mortem and an expert in determining COD. This is Jennings," he pointed to the young-looking brunette. "She is a trainee detective who is also somewhat proficient in their tongue and culture, a rare feat in this neck of the woods."

"How do you do," the young girl greeted us politely and I detected a slight hint of magic identifying a neophyte wielder; no maybe a half-mage, somebody on the verge of gaining a mana pool. Judging from the situation it was likely that she was still being groomed as a core member of the Arcane Crimes Unit. Maybe she started in regular forces before switching as she came closer to awakening.

"Lastly is Jeff," he said when pointing to the upright, bluish, tentacle monstrosity. It raised one of its arms as a means of acknowledgement and its chest opened up revealing a toothy maw stuck in some perverted rictus of a smile.

"Okay so my eyes weren't deceiving me. You actually brought a Skugelly," Kat said and there was understandable respect in her voice. She more than most of the other people around knew just how tough those semi-aquatic animals could be; she had probably killed a few in her time after all. Like everything on Unterfol they were an absolute nightmare to deal with in the wild.

"You are quite knowledgeable about creatures from the other continents," Higgins said questioningly.

"It comes with the job I'm afraid," she said before she pointed towards the door manned by the Satori. "Now unless I'm much mistaken that is the embassy that we are invading." With those words said she turned tail and headed for the aforementioned building and I followed her a few seconds after, leaving with the rest of the group. From what he could see the group wasn't a homogenous unit. Higgins was the leader tough and confident while Jennings was the newcomer, maybe a mentor-mentee relationship. The other two were brought for specific reasons, post-mortem and intimidation possibly.

"So are you going to let me through or am I going to be forced to break your bones and then walk through myself," Kat said adopting the standard diplomatic practice upon meeting with Youkai. She needn't have bothered though. Satori got nervous and anxious when they couldn't read their targets mind and both Kat and I had some protection against that. I glanced back looking at the others joining us. The three humans were likely an open book that the monkeys were paging through right now the Satori might just have their heads explode if they tried to peek into Skugelly's mind. Thankfully I didn't see any explosion of blood and bone so they must have been on some level aware of that; and after a moment of hesitation the two monkeys adopted a submissive posture as they opened the doors to the embassy allowing us entry which we graciously took.

Inside the place was well lit with many floating globes of light and there was a fresh smell of some fruit I couldn't identify. Half of the building sat in light while the other sat in darkness, some quaint burial tradition of the Yolky as they descend to meet their goddess and fight her. I think that was how their afterlife went. I wasn't really that familiar with their traditions.

"So you've finally managed to step through that door," a dog-faced man in colorful robes said sitting on a massive staircase that dominated the entrance hall. He stroked the shaggy blue-hair on the right side of his face that was showing ample signs of greying. "I was getting a bit concerned you were lost after all the time that you were spending bumbling around outside the building." Although his words were calm and maybe a bit teasing there was a test in every syllable as he enunciated the greeting with a perfect Northern Maverice accent.

"I thought something smelt like wet dog," Kat said unruffled by the air that he was giving off. "Mekurai, they can't even wait until the body is cold before they chuck your corpse in its place."

"Katalime Fischer," the dog-faced man said. "And minions. Wasn't scraping the bottom of the barrel enough for you? You seem to be doing even worse."

"He__" the Jennings said before falling silent as Kat grabbed her shoulder.

"Rudeness isn't frowned upon by their society but being weak is an unforgivable sin; as you should already know," Kat said frowning. "Basically you can talk as big as you like but you better have the chops to back it up."

"And you're just a bit far away from having the chops," I pointed out beneath my breath to her. "Let's leave it up to the archmage for now. There's a reason why he's being at least nominally polite for now."

"Honestly, there's an almost impressive lack of archmagi in this country," the humanoid hound said with a seemingly indifferent smile. "Back home the numbers of magi are as drops in the ocean, the number of great magi as blades of grass, the number superior magi as trees in the forest and the number of archmagi as___"

"Frogs in a well," Kat said cutting him off. "Isn't that how your saying goes. Come on now Rai. You can't honestly make me believe that you actually want a war. Despite the current round of regulations we're still sitting relatively strong compared to a bunch of clans that took such a beating they're still fishing up their teeth off the floor."

"What I want has very little to do with it unfortunately," the dog-man named Rai said. "What can a mere youkai, such as my humble self, do to shape the course of two countries? That's an actual question. If you have any suggestions then please go ahead and hit me."

"Politics is not my forte," Kat lied looking over to me. "But couldn't you redirect the aggression to a hypothetical outsider, at least until this investigation is concluded. This is just a matter of buying time after all."

"Just imply that their might be a third party who is sneakily trying to use Kaminotochi to eliminate Maverice," I agreed with my friend calmly. "Their collective pride won't allow them to move as long as there is a possibility that they are being played by a third power."

"I'm a bit disturbed how upfront you are being with the fact you are playing me," Rai said tilting his head slightly as if he was actually thinking about it.

"You can mention this was the preliminary conclusion raised by Katalime Fischer and Martin Victorin," Kat agreed causing Rai to nod along before his eyes flickered in thought. "If any them want to dispute our word then they are welcome to pay a visit."

"Oh," he said giving both of us looks. "Okay. I shall do so at once." He chuckled as he stood up from the staircase. "Follow me and try not to get lost. I threw everyone else out of the building for the moment."

"Might make it a bit harder for us to question them," Higgins said in a guarded voice.

"Trying to track down a group of Youkai in New Bremen," Rai said scoffing. "I think you'll manage."

"What can you tell us about the crime scene," I said as we walked down the corridors trying to keep the whole thing on track. While Kat was correct about the need for strength amongst Youkai and her displays of dominance were necessary she could go overboard due to her not-so-well-hidden desire to act like a jerk. She really hadn't changed in all the time that I had known her.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"At five hours past midnight the maid entered Ambassador Sukumo's office to find him slumped over his desk unmoving. This was out of the ordinary for the man so the maid discreetly informed me and I went in to investigate and found his lifeless corpse with no obvious cause of death."

"So your boy got murdered sometime after the sun was down," Kat spoke up. "And you suspect that he was poisoned. Who had access to the building during that time?"

"About a dozen guards and two dozen staff," Rai responded immediately. "None of whom were strong enough to overpower the ambassador and none of which the ambassador would have trusted to prepare his food."

"Any signs of struggle or magic residue," I inquired. "Any unusual smells," I mentioned almost as an afterthought. If there was then the dog-youkai would have picked it up.

"Nothing out of the ordinary for the ambassador's office," Rai stated. "Maybe your senses can pick up something that mine cannot." There was a barely perceptible layer of irony behind his voice; not an outstanding amount of confidence there.

"We should be able to obtain a cause of death at the very least," Kat snarked. "Is this the room?" It should be; it was the only door that was open and was at the very end of the hallway.

"Well look at your deductive skills," Rai fired back with an air of politeness back and I internally sighed. I think the two of them could actually be good friends if they didn't hate each other's guts. Or maybe they were friends and this was some weird ritual. It wasn't as if he interacted much with Kat's friendship circles.

I stepped into the room a few seconds after Rai and Kat and was trailed by the rest of the group. The members of our group who would be doing the actual investigation that had obediently remained silent for most part until now split up and began casing the room. I shot a glance towards Kat who seemed to be interested in the paintings accumulated by the deceased and I shuddered at the thought of them being appropriated and strewn all over her man cave.

She seemed to know what I was thinking as she suddenly shot me a dark and I contritely looked away. She seemed to have a sixth sense for whenever I made my observations and I didn't feel like getting into our usual verbal spars while in the embassy of a foreign power. Still I was missing work for this so I might as well put in some effort.

Room is six metres by eight metres. Well, space was relatively premium in New Bremen but that was far too small. Unless properly controlled the domains of each powerful magic wielder would grind against each so most would consider it more polite to make the room a bit bigger; therefore the layout is bit deliberately confrontational. In addition the door is situated in such a way that it's impossible to see the desk and consequently the ambassador until you step into the room. The desk also seems to be made of Sanglewood which is light enough to be thrown but can be imbued with mana easily.

In my mind's eye I could already imagine the scene. Attacker bursts through the door. Ambasador throws desk immediately blocking sight and causing the mana-stuffed desk to explode. The few seconds of time would be enough for him to draw in his mana and prepare a spell. It was a classic tactic that I've used myself when I was surprised.

As it was the Tsuchigumo lay slumped over the desk; even in death remaining firmly sitting on the seat, built by the Youkai to encompass the eight spider legs that were attached to the lower half. From where I was standing it didn't look like any visible damage but the coroner was taking a look at it and I would wait for his opinion.

The fact that the desk was still intact was enough to tell me that the ambassador had no time or will to react. The lack of residual ambient magic in the air also spoke of a lack of conflict. Could it be poison? The concept of disease or illness was almost anathema to youkai and somebody who was almost on par with an archmage would likely not have their body fail them easily.

I drew a fraction of my own mana before allowing it to condense into a familiar bleached spongy solid. With one hand I moulded the White Zurite, using the inherent pliability of the conjured substance to visualise and impart runes onto the blank slate transforming the useless substance into a monocle that I held against my eye. Immediately dozens of magic signatures registered around the room and I tapped a rune on the monocle filtering for signatures more than a day old then filtered out the corpse as well as everyone in the investigation team leaving half-a-dozen unconfirmed signatures; which I silently memorized before I took off the slowly melting monocle tossing it away as it dissolved back into ambient mana.

I repeated the experiment with the White Zurite forming it into a fragile mask that covered my mouth and nose before I took a deep breath. I coughed slightly trying to force down my revulsion as the various smells of the room were amplified by the new runes and new smells emerged from the background scent while previously detectable smells became almost potent in how pungent they were. After more than a few sniffs I isolated most of the smells and discarded the mask allowing the White Zurite to fade away into ambient mana again. There was at least one thing of interest that I found today.

"Does his wife ever visit him at his office?" I asked the Youkai guide who was standing at the doorway watching the proceedings with an air of detached amusement.

"Not for a couple of months now," Rai mused. That didn't speak well of their relationship and honestly might be a red flag. I believe Youkai still practice arranged marriages after all. Not that I of all people could judge them for that.

"So his wife was not the person he's been having intercourse with in this room then," I stated elucidating on the unmistakeable smell that lingered in this room. "Aren't harems a thing for you Youkai?"

"Yes but Sukumo didn't have one," Rai pointed out immediately. "Now that you mention that I can pick up something as well. It smells like Sukumo was having a bit of tail on the side. Think they might be the murderer?" He shot me a smile indicating that he had definitely been aware of the situation.

"For all I know you're the murderer and just playing us exceptionally well," I rebutted, refusing to commit yet; although I did. My baseless accusation didn't offend him and he merely favoured me with a grin.

"I wish," he chuckled. "If I had killed him sneakily in the dead of night I would have just faked a fight and got the whole thing dismissed without any trouble. While it's true that I could have pulled it off it was not in my best interests to do so; especially now that I have to take as ambassador for the near future."

"No ambition Rai?" Kat spoke up in a mocking tone. "I never thought I'd see the day."

"I was about two weeks away from seeing the back of this crummy country forever," Rai responded back just as quickly. "This assassination has not made me happy."

"There's an unusually elevated level of mana in his brain," the older man, Rogers said. "Looks like it could be a curse; from my observations he suffered clear brain damage; killed him near instantly."

"Yes, it must have been sudden for him not to be even able to move," Higgins agreed stroking his moustache.

"Impossible," Rai butted in disrupting the calm of the room. "Sukumo was a powerful and respected member of the Tsuchigumo clans. Are you saying that the man who survived, even thrived during the Rampage would die to such a cheap shot." The air crackled with electricity as every hair in Raijin's body shone electric blue and lifted up giving him the appearance of a crackling bolt of restrained lightning.

Ok, wow, he was doing this now. The latent energy around him formed into a domain which expanded sending forth an irrepressible wave of charge. In front of the three five humans and Jeff the air crackled with electricity as bolts of lightning crackled around the Youkai. A blue furred hand was raised and those sparks gathered before a wall of crackling lightning burst forth from the dogman repelling everything around it the sheer energy behind the charge more than enough to turn everything in the room into dust and char.

It was also completely pointless in the presence of Kat.

My friend sighed as she stomped her foot stirring up the dust of the room and the miniscule pieces of earth greedily drank in the charge; casually dispersing the wall. With an unamused expression on her face she stepped forward at the same time dropping down lower and bringing back that same fist in a textbook example of a haymaker. A shield of lightning formed around the Youkai but didn't even hold for an instant before that crushing fist caught him square in the chin and I repressed a smile as the currently highest ranked Youkai in Maverice flew straight through the ceiling and out of sight.

"Earth beats lightning," I whispered to Kat who half-nodded. It was only true up to a point. More importantly Kat was an archmage and Mekurai, while powerful, was nowhere close. An instant later while the rest of the humans were still picking up their jaws from the floor a familiar ball of lightning struck the ground a second later before reforming into Mekurai who was fixing his dislocated jaw looking quite chagrined, most likely at the pointlessness of this act.

"Thank you for holding back, Lady Kat," the Raijin said bowing his head. "Sukumo was very close to the power of an archmage and as a result I've never beaten him once despite all the times we have fought. Do you think a mere curse could kill you?"

"You guys have your own hierarchal system don't you," Kat said doubtfully. "Maybe somebody from the Old World has snuck into Maverice." That was more than a little unlikely. "There were some pretty powerful curse mages back there."

"Curses are triggered," I pointed out getting questioning looks from the pair of highly advanced mages. Ugh I was going to have to explain this wasn't I. Can nobody remember Basic Magic Theory? "Curses must be imparted, nurtured and triggered. The recorded slowest time that it takes to nurture a curse is six hours. The actual time of the assault could be a lot earlier than you expect."

"We might be getting ahead of ourselves here," Rogers said as if that little show hadn't fazed him at all. It was quite an impressive display of composure from a comparatively weak mage and I found myself briefly applauding inwardly. "I call it a curse because it leaves lingering magic and acts internally, not because I have made a thorough investigation."

"You still going to crack open his skull then?" Kat asked offhandedly shooting a glance towards the Raijin.

"I'm not his family, why would I care what you do to his corpse," Rai offered. "Eat it, fuck it, smoke it, whatever. The man gave me enough trouble when he was alive. I doubt his wife gives much of a damn either." He waved off the whole issue as if it wasn't a gross violation of Youkai burial customs.

"Fantastic," Kat said. "I've got to go so…" she gave me a look that said a lot of things. Most of them I couldn't discern. I have no idea why to this day she assumes I'm proficient at body language. "Anyway, I assume you have to go give your own reports to the higher-ups. I've got to have a word with them as well."

"That is unfortunately true," the Youkai said giving a slightly exaggerated shudder, his gaze swept the room before lingering on my own for a fraction of a second too long before he shook his head and stepped out of the room, Kat following a step behind him.

It was a bit awkward now that they had left. The only 'people' remaining were apparently from the Arcane Crimes Unit so they would all have been familiar with each other and their roles. There was no place in this neat investigation team for me besides dumb muscle or possibly babysitter. The youngest woman, Jennings was her name, was taking photos of the corpse and surroundings, while Higgins seemed to be measuring out the crime scene and scanning with an Ambient Magic Detector. Rogers on the other hand was examining the corpse while Jeff was; it seemed the Skugelly was licking the floor with its tentacles, probably trying to pick up the scents of any visitors.

"Seven smells in the last sixteen hours," I said walking up to the creature of destruction and it raised its head as if inspecting me using the pseudo-eyelid that covered most of its face; however if it ever opened that 'eye' then a lot worse than a gaze would fall upon its target. "One is Raijin and one is the corpse. Is your sense of smell good enough to determine which one of the targets was the one who had intercourse with him?" I was polite but my intuition, that shiver on the back of my neck was telling me that she was the last person that saw him.

After a moment of stillness Jeff wiggled drawing himself upward with three powerful legs aided by a dozen thinner tentacles until he reached his full height of eight feet before opening that dangerous aperture and vomiting up a procession of stale experiences.

That was the primary reason why Skugelly were so feared. Most who only read about them in books would point to their slimy flesh that could turn away blade, bullet and magic indiscriminately or their powerful muscles that allowed them to lunge at frightening speeds on land and even faster in water; or if not they would mention their tentacles tipped with unreasonably ferocious poison and could also, quite redundantly, lash out with a speed that can cleave a person in two. Physically most species would stand no chance against a Skugelly and it was only the most exceptional that could stand a chance against the creatures from the depths.

But was most scary about them was their diet; specifically their ability to devour memories. Before they were officially discovered there were many stories of people, survivors of massacres, who would be found unable to explain just what happened to the rest of the group. Even if they lost an arm, or had bites taken out of them the memories of the assault were quite literally gone. Even if you were currently engaged in battle with them it was possible to find your very motivation gone; eaten by the eldritch creatures. But on the other hand…

I sighed as my brain ingested an image of a pale young girl, maybe just of an adult age, with two erect ears betraying her nature as one of the many Youkai with Leporidae features. She was dressed in an inexpensive yet formal kimono, evidence of a low-ranking yet official position; she was probably an intern or junior clerk. I frowned as I revisited that foreign memory noting the unusual colouring of her ears.

"It looks like the last person to see him alive was probably a Moon Rabbit," I stated. "The two were sleeping together. Had slept together," I corrected myself looking at the body of the deceased. "It smells like they indulged in their affair sometime late last night."

"Could be a fit of passion," Higgins said. "But that wouldn't make sense if this was a curse and was planted days beforehand. I still think we should check it out regardless. We'll need to get an interview with her?"

A gurgling noise sounded and the police captain turned towards Jeff. The Skugelly was probably implanting words directly into his mind right now, a process which couldn't be spied on; or at least not without some difficulty.

"We also should try and trace the path of the victim," he stood in silence for a moment. "I have to be with Jeff for this." Of course, he couldn't leave a Skugelly to go wondering unobserved. "Jennings you and Mr.Victor can try to track down the witness, see if she saw anything going on. Rogers…"

"I'll take the corpse back to the station and try to pry its secrets open," the man smiled at the corpse in a way that I hadn't seen since I was introduced to a cabal of Necromancers back when I was still a teenager. However, that was one of the few types of magic here that were declared unquestionably illegal making me doubt that Rogers practiced the art; and its reputation had fallen further when Necross appeared. Hopefully the man was just enthusiastic about resolving the mystery.

Well it was the only lead that they had. Curses were a rare and…not well thought about art that was just a few steps below Necromancy on the socially acceptable index. While they often left behind traces you would need a specialized Curse mage to find them, which Maverice was woefully short on. Still since there was a lot of investment in the case so they might just get them in from one of our neighbors if it turned out to be a curse.

"So I'm with you," the slip of a girl said breaking me from my thoughts and I turned towards her. Examining her closely I confirmed my opinion that she wasn't even a neophyte yet. Instead she was a half-mage somebody who had training in using and sensing mana but couldn't absorb or store it yet. This was a bit of a tough case for somebody so young, wasn't it?

"It appears so," I said. "You're familiar with language and culture," I asked wondering how she could possibly interact with them if she wasn't even a wielder. Youkai hated weakness above all other things and even the weak ones were naturally stronger than non-mage humans.

"I have a basic understanding of the language," she said, seeming not to get my underlying meaning. "I can communicate effectively, but I may need to borrow your authority if I want a response." Ah, I see. That's why they wanted to pair the two of us together. Higgins would be fine. Not even that madman Rai would confidently attack a person protected by a Skugelly.

"Then let's go talk to somebody," I said making a gesture that said that I would be just behind her. She nodded gratefully before she gave a wave to the captain and followed me out of the door.