Damien was so distracted that he failed to notice the crime scene only had two people remaining whilst the rest had left.
Worst of all, they were women. It wasn't that Damien was against women or anything but with his current demeanor.
The scene could easily be depicted and mistaken as him wanting to do some insidious intent toward them. After all, he personally sent away two male TIs and now even the male detectives were gone.
'Is someone trying to frame me for being a predator?' It was never too much to be cautious of such a ploy.
Nevertheless, Sheila didn't understand the internal turmoil within Damien's mind and thought it was a misogynist guy again.
'This isn't going well for me.' Sheila sighed inwardly but kept a professional expression on the surface.
"The corpses are located at the main crime scene on the 2nd floor." Sheila said and continued, "I shall guide you there."
"Alright." Damien nodded, completely unaware of her misconception.
Sometime later, on the 2nd floor, Damien's nose was ambushed by the foul stench. His brows furrowed from the intense smell.
Previously, he had been overwhelmingly distracted so his five senses weren't as alerted. But now that he wished to investigate the corpses, the stenches seemed to have amplified.
Besides Damien, even Sheila and Jasmine weren't faring well from the smell.
"How did the stench intensify this much?" Jasmine covered her nose and asked.
"Last night, the smell was still bearable. But the forensics didn't mention anything about the decomposition being this bad." Sheila narrowed her eyes and explained.
"But why hadn't the corpses been transferred to the forensics department yet?" Jasmine questioned again.
"Because if we transfer the corpses, then the lingering magic and traces would also be disrupted." Sheila smiled bitterly in response to such an amateur question.
When Sheila explained the reason, Jasmine realized how dumb her question was. The Academy never gave them real practical experience on a murder case involving Transcendent.
All they had was a simulation where everything was controlled and the corpses didn't emit such foul stench.
Due to their lack of experience, it truly wasn't unusual for them to clash with the detectives at the crime scene.
The detectives were experienced investigators, but their only flaw was unable to conjure magic. Had they been capable of conjuring magic, then they would have become a TI.
After all, a TI's main job was never about crime-solving of murder cases. It was about the surveillance of Transcendent and the dangers that lurk in the wilderness.
Sometime later, they arrived at the room of the murder, and Damien's eyes narrowed. Three corpses were lay flat on the ground, and each one seemed to have suffered a blunt trauma prior tot their death.
'As expected, the Diamond 3 card is here.' Damien was focused on the sight of the card which hovered at the female corpse.
In this room, there were a total of three corpses. Two female and one male. The male appeared to be in his 50s. One of the female appeared to be in their 40s and another one to be in her 20s.
"The deceased male is Carlos Lester, aged 54, a first-class merchant. His wealth alone could make him considered to be a Noble. The older female is aged 45, Olivia Lester, a housewife. The younger female is aged 21, Agatha Lester, a student of Livingston Academy." Sheila reported.
"Livingston Academy? Isn't that at another city?" Astonished, Jasmine was stupefied.
"Yes, Livingston Academy is located at Kodacrest," Sheila answered but found it confusing that she was that surprised. "Everything was recorded in the report we've sent previously."
In response, Jasmine cleared her throat and flashed an awkward expression. Nevertheless, her eyes subtly darted at Damien.
Instantly, Sheila understood the situation. Without a doubt, she remained unaware of the information because of Damien's instruction.
Meanwhile, Damien wasn't ignorant enough to not notice the change in atmosphere.
"Jasmine, now that you have been informed. What do you find suspicious?" He hurriedly asked, pretending like an instructor who dictated questions to the students.
Caught off-guard, Jasmine took a second to compose herself. She racked her brain up and realized what was amiss.
"Ah, the female student, Agatha is aboard for school. Livingston Academy at Kodacrest is extremely far from Velgrave, but right now it's still an academy session. By logic, Agatha shouldn't be present here." Jasmine explained.
Currently, the academy session was in progress, which meant students shouldn't be out unless there were special circumstances. This was especially so when the student was living in the dorm which had strict regulations.
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Nodding in agreement, Damien turned his gaze to Sheila.
"Yes, that is correct." Sheila responded and continued, "We already contacted the detectives at Kodacrest to inquire about the situation. Agatha did take a leave of absence to return to Velgrave to celebrate her father's 55th birthday."
"Eh, but isn't the victim only 54?" Jasmine was taken aback.
"The victim is 54 but about to turn 55. Though he did turn 55 after his death. But on the record, his time of death was aged 54." Damien explained this time and got the gist of the situation.
While he gave Jasmine a question, he had been testing the theory he figured out earlier. The test was a success, and the Diamond 3 card on Olivia's corpse also vanished from the scene.
It was just a pity that the card flew straight up this time, which meant that the clues or hints were no longer at the mansion.
Nevertheless, Damien received the whole picture of what had occurred during the time of the crime.
Damien stepped forward, inspected the female corpses, and deduced. "Olivia had signs of being in sexual intercourse prior to her death, but Agatha also had signs of such action. Except, she seemed to be defied and violated after her death."
"…"
This time, both Sheila and Jasmine widened their eyes in shock.
"Forensics did mention that both females have signs of being penetrated in their private part, but they had yet to unravel the time of occurrence." Sheila twitched her brows.
What she meant was that Damien seemed to figure things out that their forensics department had yet to do so.
That too in a matter of seconds.
And when Sheila revealed how their investigation had yet to reach such a stage, Jasmine's eyes turned to a new light as she gazed at Damien.
'As expected of the Seventh.' She thought to herself. Time and time again, she suspected Damien to be an impostor despite having no evidence. However, it became clear that she was merely overthinking.
With just a few glances, Damien already managed to figure out the gist of the crime occurrence.
She didn't even doubt Damien's statement would be false since he wouldn't have spoken up without any evidence.
"The Seventh is indeed amazing." Jasmine clasped her hands and praised.
"What's so amazing about it?" Contrary to her expectations, Damien wasn't happy.
"A crime occurred under the eyes of police officers and escaped unscathed. There should have been TIs dispatched at Velgrave as well, but even they hadn't discovered anything until a day had passed. This is a disgrace." He continued, choosing to reprimand them.
By behaving in such a manner and not conceit, he established the image of an authentic Seventh Order TI.
A Seventh was feared and highly respected, which should have meant they held more achievement. To act complacent or joyful at discovering something like this would have been suspicious instead.
Sure enough, the admiration in Jasmine's eyes seemed to brighten in response.
"This is indeed our division's oversight," Sheila admitted. Their inefficiency had resulted in the difficulty of the case.
"So we now know the culprit had a relationship with the wife, but the daughter was defied post-mortem." Jasmine knitted her brows.
Since Damien already mentioned the wife had intercourse but the husband didn't have any signs of such activity. It made sense that the wife was having an affair.
Based on such chronological order, it was safe to assume the culprit was some vile and disgusting bastard.
"The culprit didn't just make love with the wife, but even forced his way on the wife's daughter after her death. This is definitely in line with some psychotic Transcendent." She continued, feeling infuriated by the situation.
Meanwhile, Damien remained stoic on the surface. The truth was that he had already experienced what Jasmine said through the lenses of the deceased wife, Olivia.
He had the supernatural type of action that showed him the scene of Olivia moaning in delight with the culprit who was blurred out completely.
And during their rendezvous affair, the husband returned early with a somewhat agitated expression as he caught the two.
From there, the situation took a turn for the worse which ultimately ended up getting Carlos killed. But that wasn't the end of it when their daughter, Agatha returned from Livingston Academy and witnessed the act.
The rest of the scene was quite disturbing with the wife regretting her action due to the culprit's intent to silence them all.
Once the heat of the crime was committed, it was also at that moment the culprit noticed the allure of Agatha and proceeded to defy her. During the bastardly act, Olivia still had some breathing left. Thus, Damien was able to capture the scene and understand her rage.
'Having an affair wasn't enough, but the man she had it with smuggled their artwork behind their back and even ruined their daughter's future.' Damien's internal emotion was truly affected somewhat.
These people were unrelated to him. But thanks to the link with Olivia, he felt anger and regret when watching her beloved daughter fall under such a heinous deed.
'I'm no saint. I'm just going to do this for my survival.' Damien ultimately decided to chase this culprit personally. Whatever it was, this case should be a door to his locked and unknown ability.
The foul stench that had been affecting him vanished ever since the link with Olivia was completed. His clarity also increased further and he felt his body being very light.
The previous fatigue that was piled up on him also seemed to have healed itself.
"Investigator Damien, what should we do now?" Sheila asked. "We've figured out the crime, but no clue about the culprit."
"Jasmine, give me your tablet." Rather than responding right away, Damien requested Jasmine's tablet to browse through some information.
A few minutes later, Damien finally understood the meaning of the Diamond 3 card. The Diamond suit itself didn't hold much significance, but the number 3 did.
Apparently, Transcendent was seriously just a general term for all those with extraordinary magical power. Within the Transcendent, there were different paths that truly separated the classes.
Ace Path which symbolizes the Ace card, the King Path for Kings, the Queen Path for Queens, the Jack Path for Jacks, and finally, the Number Path.
Number Path was the most unique given it was separated into multiple sections: numbers 2-4, 5-7, and 8-10.
Most people who received the blessing of power usually start in the Number Path and slowly ascend in the path. But naturally, there were some minorities who began in the Special Path from the start.
Special Path being the Ace, King, Queen, and Jack.
However, that was just the simplification, given that each path specialized in different things and could be subjected to change depending on the user.
'So Jasmine is a 6th Path.' Damien felt a headache from trying to comprehend the sophisticated power level in this world.
Nevertheless, he was able to confirm that the culprit was categorized in the Number Path as 3rd.
He took a deep breath, returned the tablet to Jasmine, and stared at Sheila.
Upon being stared at intensely, Sheila felt her body tense up just from his piercing eyes that seemed to penetrate her inner mind and heart.
"Sheila, get a list of every registered Transcendent in Velgrave, specifically in the Number Path between 2 to 5. Also, make sure to tell them that not a single bug is allowed to leave the city. Once caught, make sure they are detained on the spot." Damien commanded.
Although he knew it was the 3rd Path, he couldn't possibly reveal it without having any proper evidence.
It would also complicate the matter if they became curious about how he knew.
"Understood," Sheila saluted and hurriedly left the crime scene to inform her Superior.