The waiter took a deep breath, his gaze shifted to the road below. “A few months ago, there was a town’s fool named Iulek. He was ignorant, rude, and… talkative to say the least!” the waiter started, his hand waving in the air like a showman.

“He was nosy, always saying things that he shouldn’t, and always took things literally. He was an idiot through and through.” The waiter sighed, His gaze wandered off as he continued his tale.

“Every morning, Iulek would be lurking around the bottom floor of this establishment, ordering some food and sitting for hours. He appeared so frequently that the owner just accepted this fact and left him be”

The waiter’s eyes turned serious, he leaned in and whispered conspiratory. “But one day, Iulek just disappeared, we didn’t think much of it, but weeks, later there was still no sign of him and by then more and more people had mysteriously gone missing, without any trace or connection”

K turned to Davis, his brow raised and his lip curled into a satisfied smirk. “Is that so? And I presumed that the investigation department would come up with concrete proof that it is indeed a Werewolf?”

Davis frowned. Realizing what K meant by this, he leaned in and focused on the waiter’s tale.

The waiter nodded, confirming his question. “The bodies of the missing people started resurfacing in the wood, the investigator found claws mark on the victim’s body, and…” The waiter said he was hesitant to finish his story.

“And?” K pushed forward, his smile growing wider as the story continued. He leans forward, using his hand to support his chin, while Davis's expression remains stoic. His gaze never leaves the waiter.

The waiter cleared his throat, clearly bothered by the two strangers in front of him. “T-they… they all were missing their head!”

Davis’s eyes widen slightly at the end, “Their head?” Davis slowly turned to K as if expecting K to know what he was thinking.

K's smile widened at Davis’s reaction, understanding his reaction completely, and he scoffed, clearly intrigued by the story. “A werewolf taking prey’s head after killing them… Never heard that one before”

K then shrugs to himself. “Then again, once in a while a black sheep does appear in a flock of white sheep so I’m not that surprised if it turns out to be a werewolf's doing”

Davis frowns further, his expression darkening at K’s words. “Werewolf…” he whispered, his hand fidgeting with his sleeve. He raised his head toward the waiter and questioned him. “And recently?”

The waiter slightly was surprised by Davis’s reaction, wondering if he had an unpleasant history with a werewolf. “There have been a few deaths in the last few weeks, a baker in the store by the town’s gate, a food vendor a few streets from here, and just yesterday, Mrs. Sinae, a housewife was found dead in her house by her husband who just came back from his brother’s house.”

K raised his brow, he leaned his head forward, using his hand to support his chin. “Yesterday… Interesting.” He let out a short and quiet giggle before getting up. “Alrighty then my friend, I believe we have a murder case to look into!”

Davis got up from his seat without missing a beat. “Skye, enjoy the food. Me and your uncle have to go out for a bit,” Davis scratched Skye behind her ear.

K looked at Skye’s happy face with his usual grin, he brought out a silver coin and flicked it toward the waiter. “My dearest friend, do look after our dearest companion while we are away, as well as find us a good place to stay for a few days, I promise to reward you handsomely”

The waiter took the coin and nodded vigorously, completely understanding his assignment. Don’t worry Sir, I’ll get you the best place in town to stay at. Please return at any time this evening, Sir.”

K smiles and nods before joyously walking away followed closely by Davis, leaving Skye to enjoy the meal while being looked after by the waiter for the day.

After walking for a long minute, mostly due to K’s leisure pace and the occasional stop at the local vendors they finally arrived at Sinae’s house, the recently murdered victim.

The town’s guard blocked off Mrs. Sinae’s front door, and K and Davis could only see her building from the outside. Standing in the victim’s front yard was a crowd of onlookers jammed together in the hope of catching a glimpse of the investigation.

Davis tried to get past them to get a better look, but his attempt was futile, as the group wouldn’t move an inch. After a few tries, he just gave up, returning to K with a resigned look.

“Can I get some help with this?” Davis asked.

K grinned at his attempt and shook his head. He closed his eyes before taking a deep breath and shouting. “A child is hanging from the veranda around the corner!”

“Huh?—What?—a child?” The crowd mumbles as they turn around and frantically look around like a group of Prairie dogs looking for an eagle.

“They're around the corner!” K pointed to one of the women in the crowd, when she started to leave the other started following her, clearing the area until only a few people were left standing.

K bowed slightly, and with a smirk, he gestured his hand toward the guards. “After you”

Davis looked like he was about to say something but let out a sigh, shaking his head in disbelief before walking closer to the scene but stopping just short of the entrance, intending to watch from the outside.

K, on the other hand, has other ideas. He approaches the guards at the door. Davis is puzzled by his action, but he knows better than to ask him what he is doing and follows behind him.

“Good afternoon, good sir.” K greeted the guards with a happy, almost cheerful demeanor. He reached out his hand for a handshake. I'm glad to be meeting you all on this fine and lovely day!”

The guards were surprised by his cheerfulness, they weren’t expected to be greeted with happiness at a crime scene, one of them reached out to grab K’s hand. “G-good afternoon to you too… I wish I could say that I’m happy but” The guard shaking K’s hand said and turned toward the entrance. “Things haven’t been so great lately, so be careful out there”

Davis bowed slightly toward the other guard before asking. “What’s going on in there?”

The guard hesitated a bit before one of them answered. “Werewolf, I have never seen the both of you before so I presume that you two are travelers who have just arrived”

K chuckles a bit and confirms. “Great observation, Sir. We had arrived in town just this morning and couldn’t help but be drawn to the… Show” K said, his gazes sharply as he scanned the returning crowd.

“Now then if you’ll excuse us, we like to go in, thank you very much” K smiled brightly as he tried to sneak inside in plain sight. But, the two guards block the entrance using their spears.

The guards firmly stated, “Those without official clearance are prohibited from entering the house—this is an active investigation.”

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Davis saw this and walked up to tap K’s shoulder. “Maybe we shouldn’t involve ourselves,” Davis said before muttering. “Yet!”

K laughed at Davis’s suggestion, clearly understanding his meaning. But sneaking around and playing detective at night isn’t his style, not today at least.

He reaches into his spatial bag and pulls out a gold sigil with two lions engraved on them, the sight of the gold sigil causes the guards to get on their knees.

“We did not know that those from the royal family are here, please forgive our rudeness!” The guards apologize, their heads held low as they speak.

Davis saw this and was flabbergasted, but then he remembered that before they set off Rachel had given something to K during their quick talk. “So that's what it was!” Davis mumbles and smirks to himself.

K slid the sigil back into his bag, “It’s all right, we weren’t planning on making this official, anyways.” K said with a confident smile. “But we just couldn’t stand when people of this beloved town are being murdered so cold-bloodedly”

“Would you mind?” K gestured toward the closed door.

The guards saw this and quickly got up, opening the door for him with a bright and fearful smile. They didn’t know if they had offended an official from their brief conversation earlier.

Will this man hold grudges on them just because they do their work? Will he fire us because we block his path? Is he the type to abuse his authority?

Without saying anything else he walked inside followed closely by Davis who shook his head toward the guards which made their fear of retaliation spiral. The uncertainty was terrifying for them.

K and Davis entered the house and on their right leading to the living room was the murdered victim's corpse lying on the floor, there were two more guards in the house, one at the top of the stairway and the other one in the living room.

The smell of dried blood lingered and permeated the moment they entered the house. In the living room, there were two other people next to the corpse. One of them, a middle-aged man with a serious gaze wearing a body armored up to his neck. The other one was a familiar figure, a woman with long black hair, and black pupils.

Even without her armor, both K and Davis immediately recognized her—especially K, who had once been jailed by her. “Small world, this is!” K leaned against the doorway and uttered with a sigh.

Davis standing next to him, chuckles a bit after seeing the female knight captain. “It sure is, I believe she is from the Celestia knight’s order. And your jailer!” Davis covers his mouth as he giggles at K’s face. “Speaking of which, since when did we become official?”

K saw the man in armor approaching him and answered Davis with a whisper. “Since I decided to be one!” His face forms a bright and charming smile as he greets the man. “Good afternoon, dear Sir! A pleasure to be meeting you” He started before he introduced himself. “I’m K, and this is my friend/partner Davis”

“Greeting Mr. K, Mr. Davis. May I ask who you are?” The man bowed respectfully toward both K and Davis.

“We’re just some… concerned citizen,” K said as he flashed the royal sigil at him before putting them away.

The knight bowed again. “I see, as this town’s Knight Captain I humbly apologize for not being there to greet the royal official. My name is Zulnyr but you can call me Zul if you would like Sir.”

“We didn’t receive any notices regarding an official visit today,” Zulnyr said, his tone respectful but skeptical.

K without missing a beat already came up with an excuse. “Well, Mr. Zulnyr. Me and my… friend, are on vacation. A little break from duty and we thought it would be nice to stay in Brightwater for a while until” K’s words trailed off, his eyes shifted toward the victim’s corpse.

Zulnyr follows his gaze and nods understandingly. “Ahh, I see!”

Davis shook his head and chuckled a bit at the situation, he stepped up and said with a confident look. “Mr. Zulnyr please keep our involvement a secret, we don’t want our superior to hear of this since it is an ‘out of the book’ action”

“Understood” Zulnyr stated, bowing at them gratefully for their involvement. Zulnyr turned to the female knight and introduced her from afar. “And that is Sera, the nearby town’s knight captain… She was promoted to the investigation department because of her recent achievements”

Sera finally turned to K and Davis and her eyes instantly widened. “You?” She exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“I could say the same to you… Miss Sera!” K bow slightly at her before walking into the living room.

Seeing Zulnyr’s face Davis sighs and explains. “We had met her before… during a not-so-great time”

Zulnyr didn’t know the full story but he didn’t ask further and just nodded, before joining them. Zulnyr told Sera about the royal family sigil, Sera was skeptical at first since she had met K and Davis before especially K but she reluctantly accepted their help.

“Mrs. Sinae, a housewife who was killed last night. She is covered in bite marks and scratch wounds, as well as… a missing head” Sera reports what she knows so far to them.

While she was speaking, K after looking at Mrs. Sinae’s corpse got up and started walking around the room, looking left and right in a leisurely manner.

Davis on the other hand was examining the corpse before he too started walking around. Sera continued reporting on her findings. “There were reports of hearing a crashing sound last night, which explains the broken window near the cutting board” Sera pointed at the broken window.

“There are canine’s footprints by the broken window leading toward the location where the body is now, as well as bloody footprints leading back out through the broken window. That is all the information I’m able to gather but all of them pointed to the work of a werewolf,” Sera said with confidence in her work.

K who was standing in front of the broken window chimed in. “I don’t think it’s a werewolf!”

The other turned to him in surprise. Zulnyr was the first to ask. “What do you mean, Sir?”

K grin and explain his reason. “Look at the blood from her wound, she was bitten, slashed, and decapitated but her pool of blood seems… small, isn’t it? And the way her head was decapitated. Have you ever seen a werewolf that cleanly decapitates a person by the base of their neck just above their collarbone?”

Davis thought for a bit and answered. “No, most werewolves use their powerful teeth to bite down on their neck.”

K nodded at Davis’s answer. “Good! Then there were the wounds… there were no defensive wounds on her body which meant that she was caught by surprise. Let's say the werewolf manages to decapitate Mrs. Sinae, why would it mutilate her body with its claws but not tear her corpse to pieces and eat her?”

“And the way her body position and her blood pattern showed that she was attacked from the front while her back was against the broken window, and there are the footprints… There are signs of a werewolf entering but the existence seems off” K said as he got to his knee and examined the bloody footprint. “The werewolf just ate, bit, and slashed at its victim with its claws yet when it left there was no blood trail, only these recognizable canine footprints”

“The blood also doesn’t match!” K continued, he reached her body and started pointing. “Her head was decapitated but there is no blood spraying out from her wound. And then there was her blood, it seemed a portion of her blood was missing!”

Sera frowns and questions K about his explanation. “What about the human-size canine footprint by the window leading into the house?”

K crosses his hand over his chest and turns to Davis. “Davis, if you were a werewolf what would you do if you saw your prey all alone in a box with multiple entrance points and isolated from its group but surrounded by them at the same time?”

Davis quickly answered. “I would kill and eat the prey before leaving!”

K claps his hand, “Bingo, congratulations my friend. Your answer was precisely on point” K chuckled a bit before he explained further. “Werewolves operate at a predatory level of hunting but they cannot solve puzzles like a human so how come a werewolf walks in through the window then closes it, waits, and ambushes its prey before making a scene during its escape? That’s not how predators hunt!”

“They don’t just kill and ring a bell announcing its handiwork for everyone to watch in awe, it wanted her to be discovered as soon as possible!” K finishes his deduction there. “I believe that there is something else doing all the killing… something other than a werewolf.”

The other listens in silence, trying to wrap their head around the idea of this newly suggested monster. While Davis tried to figure out what it was, Sera was trying to find holes to poke in his theory while Zulnyr remained neutral in the whole matter.

“Well, whatever this thing is, it will attack again in 6 days…” K said with an amused grin, he walked up to Sera and stared coldly at her. “You’re a detective, aren’t you?”

Sera looked at him, her brow furrowed with both doubt and determination, and nodded. “Yes—Yes, I am!”

K just smiled at her response. “Then you better start detecting, because you’re on a timer… And 6 days from now it will kill again! Best of luck, Detective!” K laughs to himself before pulling Davis with him and leaving the crime scene, leaving the detective and the town’s knight captain to ponder.