At the Monetre Protection Bureau main building—
Heimfher and the rest of the division 0 arrived at the main centre of the Protection bureau, in there, they were asked by some of the guards, but after they saw Murph's face, they quickly loosened their guard and stepped aside, giving him and the rest of the division a clear path to enter.
As Heimfher entered the building, he saw how tall the ceiling was, decorated with paintings and luxurious statues that was made out of marble, Heimfher couldn't take his eyes off of the many intricate arts that was being displayed, at some point he thought the protection bureau building was a museum rather than a police station.
'The bureau sure had a lot of influence and money in their hand..' He thought.
After walking for a few more minutes, Heimfher eventually came across dozens of normal civilians standing infront of an officer, they seems to be in distress and kept complaining about the lack of information from the bureau.
"What do you mean i need to wait!?!" A woman shouted, her face was clearly afraid of something.
"Where is our kids!! How come the bureau haven't found it yet! I thought you're supposed to solve crimes and catch criminals!"
"M- ma'am, sir.. Please calm down, we're trying our best here.. And finding a missing person isn't as easy as you think.. Even for us, finding them would need a lot of time as we are constantly searching at every corner of the city.."
"WHAT IF MY DAUGHTER GOT KILLED WHILE YOU'RE STILL SEARCHING!?"
"CAN YOU IMAGINE THE HORROR SHE WOULD FELT IF THOSE EVIL CRIMINALS TOUCH HER!?"
The commotion was starting to become heated, and the civilians were about to hold the officer that was talking to them by his collar, however fortunately Murph came in just in time to calm down the angry crowds.
"Throw your worries away everyone.. I promise that everyone that were missing will be found as soon as possible, however.. I also need your cooperation, excessive violence towards an officer of the protection bureau can be deemed as an attempt to harm authority, and you can be fined, or even jailed for it." Murph explained, his voice was deeper than before and his face was cold, as if he was trying to gain control over the situation.
"Ugh!" With Murph threatening the civilians, the angry crowds instantly shut their mouth off for good, they can't risk of being caught or fined since they still have to eat to survive.
"Now, i have one request to all of you." Murph said, he placed both of his hand on his back, intertwining them together while he asked.
"Do any of you brought something that was dear to one of the missing person? It could be anything, a doll, an accessory, anything that they find important?"
At first, no one in the crowd asnwered back, none of their eyes even met with Murph, they either looked down or looked to the side as if they were afraid.
"..." Murph waited, and waited. Until a person suddenly raised their hand.
"My husband always told me that this necklace meant everything to him, and that it was a proof of his love to me, will this work?" A woman spoke, her voice a little quiet yet it can still be heard through Murph's ears.
"Yes, that will work perfectly." Murph replied, a faint smile formed on his lips as he sees the woman approached him.
Heimfher watched as Murph and the woman exchanged some conversation, and after convincing her, she then took of the necklace from her neck and brought her to the rest of the division.
"Bentley, use this." Murph said, he gave the necklace to Bentley and he held it in his left hand.
"Sure." Bentley then let the pendulum in his right hand fall before the ball hanged loosely by a thin string.
The woman could only watch as Bentley closed his eyes and performed his magic, strange wind blew around him, causing everyone's coat to sway aggressively.
"Findelve, Bless this ignorant soul with thy wisdom, show me where this dearest piece belongs to!"
With a gentle flick, the strong winds disappeared in an instant, and soon, the pendulum that was in his hand began to swing, at first the pendulum seems to be swinging in a constant motion,but after some time, the ball suddenly swung harder to the right side.
Usually a pendulum when oscillating would always swung towards each side at the same distance, but with the pendulum in Bentley's hand, it instead swung harder to the right, as if some sort of an unknown force made the pendulum stick to the right side.
As for the the woman, she was left speechless and couldn't believe what she just saw, the crowd behind her was also unable to say any words, they were amazed but also afraid of such mysterious power.
"Thank you, miss.." Bentley said, he then gave the necklace back to Murph and he told her to go back to her home and wait for the result.
"Okay, we're done with the location, now let's go there!" Carlessa suddenly rushed towards be exit, her right hand kept holding the hilt of her sword as she left the building.
"Good grief, that woman.. Maybe we should call her a barbarian haha.." Harith jokingly said.
"Let's leave Murph for now." Duskiell suddenly said, he pushed Heimfher and everyone else to the exit door.
Murph stayed a little longer, telling the crowds to go back to their respective house while Heimfher and the rest of the division went back outside, planning to wait for Murph before they tracked down the kidnappers base.
.
.
Chirp!
Chirp!
The city was lively, birds landed on rooftops while singing their music, people working and shouting to attract customers for their products, even in the middle of a tragedy, happiness will always find a way, either through ignorance or acceptance.
A few minutes passed in silence, then a footstep was heard, Heimfher looked back to see Murph coming to them, his face still looking cold and both of his hands now was put inside of his pockets.
"Let's go." Murph said.
"Bentley, where is it?"
Bentley then raised his hand and pointed his index finger towards a direction.
"To the northwest." He answered.
Murph nodded before he gave Bentley the necklace from that woman again, he told him that the woman agreed to let them borrow the necklace for the investigation.
"She told me that, she will do anything to bring her husband back, so.. Let's do this properly." Murph said solemnly.
"Aye aye captain." Duskiell responded, saluting Murph as he followed his footsteps along with the rest.
Heimfher, Lena, Harith, Bentley, and Carlessa all walked again, they finally got a clue of where the missing persons might be, which is the northwest.
When they arrived on the street, a carriage had already waited for them from the bureau, the driver was none other than Dan himself.
"Get in, you found a clue right?" He said.
.
.
The main building of the Protection bureau was near the city center, so when walking towards the northwest, they essentially knew that the missing people would also be gathered at the northwest side of the city.
While Heimfher and the rest of his division was riding the carriage, he accidentally passed by the city center, in there, a large circular open area was made, with a fountain in the middle and a statue that represents the kingdom's ruler.
'That's.. Leonidas, the king of Nephemis Kingdom.' Heimfher thought, the memories of the place he was currently in and its ruler quickly appeared in his head.
He stared at the fountain for a second, and when he was about to pass the road that leads towards the city center, Heimfher managed to take a short glance at one of the building that was around the open area, that building was a bath house.
'...Just you wait, Helmwoven, im not done yet with all of you..' Heimfher furrowed his eyebrows, and with one final glimpse, the scene of the city center and everything surrounding it was obstructed by the nearby houses.
The carriage was moving at a quick pace, the horses were running and after a while, Murph knocked on the glass window, telling Dan where to go.
"Right." He said.
The horses were whipped, and they turned right at the next crossroads.
Meanwhile, Bentley was working hard inside, he kept using his detection magic to find where they should go next, each time he uses his magic, he had to chant the same words over and over again.
"Findelve, bless this ignorant soul—
"Findelve, bless this—
.
.
"Findelve—
The journey took more than an hour, Heimfher kept his focus to the outside for the entire trip, his eyes never left the window and his fist was preparing for battle as he would have to use his magic later.
The sun was still shining as it sets into the horizon, passing by a few churches and shops, Heimfher eventually entered the northwest district of Monetre City.
Ting!
'Huh?!.. What— was that..'
Suddenly, Heimfher felt something was wrong, he couldn't tell what it was, but his heart kept beating at an abnormal rate, as if telling him that danger was coming, his face began to sweat, and before he know it, an explosion goes off right infront of him.
BOOM!