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　　"So, what's this about?" I inquired, as I entered the throne room. 

  　　Today's the 15th of June, 1692, and I'd been summoned to the castle by Cusana, but I didn't yet know why I was here. 

  　　The atmosphere in here felt kinda grim and tense though……even Agatha, who's usually pretty chill, looked serious. The guards kinda seemed on edge too. 

  　　"I am sure you've heard of the incidents that have been taking place over the last few days, yes?" She responded with a frown. 

  　　Huh? Incidents? I've kinda been lazing about at home lately, so I haven't really gone out much, and Minise has been busy at the Academy, and is usually dead tired by the time she gets back home, and passes out on the bed almost immediately. 

  　　"Uh, yeah, I've totally heard about those, uh, incidents," I replied sheepishly. 

  　　"……do you really not know? Seemingly random murders have been taking place at night, and any patrol puppets that were near the scenes of the crimes were found destroyed, with their recording spells having been removed," She informed me with a grimace. 

  　　"At first, it was civilians that made up the victims, but in the last couple of days, the victims have been Adventurers. And each subsequent target seems to be of a higher rank than the last. It's almost like the killer is testing their own limits, and slowly but surely moving on to stronger and stronger targets," Added Agatha with a look of concern, "Yesterday, we sent three S-Ranks to hunt down this serial killer, but this morning, all three of them were found dead."

  　　Ugh, seriously? They want me to go after this serial killer, don't they? 

  　　"We would like you to capture this murderer, preferably alive. We cannot afford to allow this vile monster to continue to do as they please," Remarked Cusana, before adding, "You will not be alone in this, all the other X-Ranks will be assigned the same mission."

  　　So, then Minise, Cusnai and Lily, huh? 

  　　"I probably shouldn't be the one saying this, but isn't this a bit overkill?" I pointed out objectively. 

  　　"We're just taking no chances here. Based on the condition of the corpses of the victims and the areas in which they were found, it looked like they were all killed without putting up much of a fight. Meaning that whoever this is, they're not weak. I can't imagine that they're anywhere near as powerful as you are, but we've lost too many Adventurers and innocent civilians to this bastard as it is, so we want to make absolutely sure that we capture them tonight," Agatha informed me firmly. 

  　　"According to the coroner, all of the victims were killed between midnight and 2 AM, and all in the north part of the nation. Ideally, we would prefer to have several more Adventurers assigned to patrol the area, but if we have too many, then the killer may not show themselves at all," Sighed Cusana with a look of frustration. 

  　　Hm……this kinda sounds like we have to find a needle in a haystack. Just thinking about it is exhausting. I suppose I could use Quintuple to form five clones, spread out and then try to sense any bloodlust……but I'll still need to get lucky. 

  　　What if the killer decides to move their killings to a different part of the nation? What if they decide to carry out their killings at a different time? What if there's more than one killer? As things stand, there's just far too many unknown variables……

  　　"Hey, how were the killings carried out? As in, how were the victims killed, what kind of injuries did they have?" I asked them. 

  　　"Right, we were getting to that……all of them, without fail, had their hearts ripped out. There have been eleven victims so far, and that was the case with all of them," Replied Agatha grimly. 

  　　"It also looked like they had been viciously clawed at……each of the chest cavities of the victims had deep claw marks around them, some had the same marks on their necks as well," Added Cusana, as she clenched her fist. 

  　　"Huh……it could be someone with visible Anima mutations then," I surmised, after mulling it over. 

  　　"We looked into that, and the few people we found with claw-like Anima mutations all have solid alibis. We also used Chaos Magic interrogation to confirm it," Replied Agatha with a shake of her head. 

  　　"Maybe a Retractable Anima, then? Or……possibly even a True Anima?" I suggested uncertainly. 

  　　Like I said before, there's just way too many unknown variables in this case…… 

  　　"There is no way to be certain. But we cannot simply wait till we have more leads, who knows how many more will die while we wait? Therefore, you and the other X-Ranks will head out tonight and capture this murderer. Bring them here, and after extensive torture, they shall be publicly executed," Stated Cusana with a dark look in her eyes.

  　　Damn, she's seriously pissed off at this whole thing. Well, not that I can blame her, I guess…… 

  　　"Alright, I'll do my best, but there's no guarantee that we'll capture them right away tonight," I informed them. 

  　　"Realistically speaking, that's likely to be the case, especially considering that we know absolutely nothing about this person, not even a clue about their appearance. But……it's important that we capture this person as soon as possible. The longer this goes on, the higher the risk of copycats who get inspired by this popping up, not to mention the tension and unrest amongst the citizens. Meet up with the other X-Ranks today and come up with a plan to capture the killer. We're counting on you, Shiro," Stated Agatha. 

  　　"Yeah, sure……no pressure, or anything," I responded with a wry smile……

  　　……

  　　"Ugh, seriously? There's really no other leads at all?" Frowned Lily as she tapped her finger on the table. 

  　　It was currently 6 PM, and I'd met up with the other three X-Ranks at a restaurant, booking a private booth so that no one would overhear us. And having finished relaying everything that Cusana and Agatha had told me, I was only reminded of how non-existent our list of clues is. 

  　　"Well, we at least know that the next target will probably be an S-Rank, considering the pattern the killer has been following," Pointed out Cusnai thoughtfully. 

  　　"True……we could use some of them as bait to try and lure out the killer," Suggested Lily dryly. 

  　　"That won't go down too well if they get injured or killed as a result though," Sighed Minise in response. 

  　　"Using ourselves as bait is risky too, in that he might get scared off or something," I added objectively. 

  　　"Yeah, they can easily just pretend to be a random person out on a stroll or something, if they decide that they've bitten off more than they can chew," Mused Cusnai with a frown. 

  　　"Oh, actually, if they do approach me and even think about attacking, I'll sense it and be able to react. I plan to use my Quintuple Cross to create five clones and have them spread and comb the area, and hopefully pick up something. But there's no guarantee that'll work," I replied with a sigh. 

  　　"Hey, do you think this killer picks their targets ahead of time, or do they go searching till they find a suitable target instead?" Wondered Lily curiously. 

  　　"It's hard to say……the fact that each of their recent victims have been stronger than the last suggests that the killer picks targets ahead of time, but……how do they know that the target will be out and about between midnight and 2 PM? Because all the targets were found dead in the streets or in alleys, and their homes had no signs of breaking and entering or anything like that. If the killer uses a teleport spell to take the corpses to a spot away from where the actual killing took place, then there'd surely be blood splattered somewhere else," I pointed out. 

  　　"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Wait……they could teleport right into a target's home, grab hold of them, and then teleport back outside. In that case, there'd be no signs of damage or struggle inside the target's residence," Suggested Cusnai after mulling it over. 

  　　"Hm, I suppose that's possible. But we're just speculating with no real proof of any of this……if we only had even one solid lead, we could use that as a basis to try and figure this out a bit more without baseless speculation," I frowned in frustration. 

  　　"Well, guess there's no choice but to search blindly in the north side of the nation then," Shrugged Lily in response. 

  　　Yeah……she may be right about that, unfortunately…… 

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