Linius calmed down after lying down on the cold floor. He stood up and straightened himself. It was time for him to work instead of thinking too much about everything. He needed to have an audience with the king too.
The major left the manor and was granted a meeting with the king. He knocked on the door of the study and was given permission to enter. The door was pushed open and when he entered, he greeted the king.
"What brought you here, major?" The king stopped what he was doing to face the major. He placed down the pen he was holding and folded his hands on the table.
"I want to ask for your permission, your majesty. It is regarding the case of a mage who lost her life and mana core." He started and the king urged him to continue. "Since your Royal Mages are busy with the investigation of the matter of the tower, I would like for you to approve and permit my Mage Brigade to help me investigate the matter of the missing mana core before any other victims show up."
Orpheus was taken aback by the sudden request especially because the major actually has a mage brigade that he was hiding from them. His eyes narrowed as he thought for a while, if he would give the man the permission then his power would only increase but if he did not allow it the major might hold a grudge against him. It took him a whole five minutes before he made a decision.
"I will give you the permission but it is not permanent. If your Mage Brigade performs well, I'll consider establishing them as a recognized brigade but if they fail, you should disband it," Orpheus finally answered.
He then gestured for his secretary to draft a written agreement. This was already enough for Linius because he would make sure that this brigade would prove that they were capable. He accepted the agreement and signed it before giving it to the king. He watched as the king also signed the agreement.
Major left the palace and went straight to the base where he gathered the Mage Brigade under Leif. He briefed them of their first official mission. The major also told them about the agreement he signed with the king as he emphasized that they should give it their best if they wanted to be recognized as part of the military.
"How annoying," Nina exclaimed after the briefing. "Why do we need to go through all these just to get recognized? I bet the king is only afraid that you'll gain more power that's why he made that agreement."
"Nina, please watch your words…" Leif gave the woman a look that told her to shut up but the woman was not fazed by it.
"What? It's the truth anyways so why stay silent because of it? Besides, I can say whatever I want because this place is not within the kingdom's rule." Nina returned the glare. She was only stating her opinion and there was nothing wrong with it.
"Enough of that, focus on the mission and catch the person responsible for the crime." Linius slapped the table to get everyone's attention. The room fell silent as they continued to listen to the rest of the details from the major.
The Mage Brigade left the base in groups in order to carry out the investigation. Every corner of the kingdom was inspected but the first day was proven to be futile. They found no traces of the culprit they were looking for.
The magus who had transferred to another body and killed Arean got wind of the Mage Brigade that were looking around for him. He gritted his teeth and cursed. "It was only a single victim and yet they sent mages to go after me but I won't let them catch me," he mumbled to himself as he waded his way through the crowd of people.
This time he was dressed cleanly and he was nothing like the person who killed Arean so he was safe. He walked around like a normal person while looking for anyone he could kill. If he wanted to take revenge against that man, he needed the power to do so.
He walked all the way through the crowd until he reached his destination. He stood from afar and watched as people lined up to enter the bakeshop. The magus glared at the offending structure before he set out to also enter the place.
He needed to know everything about his enemy before he could fully exact his revenge. He couldn't afford to be careless. The man reached the end of the line and patiently waited before it's his turn to enter the establishment.
Inside the bakeshop was very warm and there were people looking around for pastries they should buy. There were also a decent number of workers, just enough to cater to the number of people inside the bakeshop. He lingered around while slowly looking at the displayed pastries before he decided to buy a bag of cookies.
He was ushered out after he paid but he was disappointed because he learned nothing from the shop. He let his magic sense roam the place but everything was normal. It was only a normal bakeshop. He clenched his jaws and gave the place one last look before he left.
A pair of eyes watched as the man walked away. He reported to the butler after the man left and Mr. C instructed them to keep an eye on him if he ever visited them again. The employee who reported gave a curt nod before he left the office on the second floor of the bakeshop.
Since he couldn't enter the Ginehart Manor that easily and he did not have his original power, he could only stake out inside the manor to look for an opportunity to sneak in. As he waited, he would also go around and snatch mana cores from unsuspecting people. This time he became smarter and hid the bodies so that no one would be able to find them.
This went on for a week and the Mage Brigade was becoming more and more anxious because until now they haven't made any progress yet. Then another bomb was dropped into their laps. A number of corpses were discovered in an abandoned house in the slums where no one usually passes by.
If not for the patrols straying away, they wouldn't discover the place. Like the first victim all of them were missing their mana cores. There were no other fatal injuries and the cause of death was the loss of blood from the wound where the mana core was taken. Because the bodies were found in the slums, the news of it didn't spread to the rest of the capital.
The king was furious when he received the news. He was displeased with how slow the investigation was going. He even approved of the Mage Brigade to be used and yet there was no progress even after a week.
"Your majesty, please calm your anger. Isn't this good? If the Mage Brigade fails, they would be disbanded and the failure of the investigation, you can put all the blame on Major Linius." The king's secretary bowed as he said those words.
Orpheus calmed down after a while because his secretary was right. It was the very reason why he let the major sign that agreement. It would be good if they failed that way, he could assign his royal mages to take over the case. If they couldn't find the culprit, they could just arrest anyone of interest.
He closed his eyes and took deep breaths before opening them again. "Keep an eye on the investigation and make sure that they will not have the chance to find any clue regarding the case. Once they fail, I will use my royal mages to investigate the case to pacify the people."
The secretary bowed and waved at one of the royal guards inside the room. The guard gave the king a bow before he left. The king continued with his work before he remembered something.
"How about the Hero Association, any word or movement from them?" He stopped writing and waited for his secretary to answer.
"They haven't shown any movements for now. They are currently focusing on helping the people with the rehabilitation," the secretary duly answered.
"The president of the association is a sly fox, please continue to monitor them."
