Ralph and I sat in silence, pondering deeply on the next step to take. My fingertips gently brushed across the table and I felt the pull.
"Hand of God," I muttered.
Next came the suction force. I watched as the wood coated my fingertips before preparing to climb up the rest of my arm, only to stop at my wrist.
'My abilities seem to be working, and I don't feel weaker than usual, so it's safe to say my Xenovian genes remain. That's good.' I mentally sighed in relief.
Ding Dong!
A loud cathedral bell sound boomed and my head snapped up in search of the source. I glanced at Ralph and noticed he was also looking toward the ceiling, but he wasn't panicked.
'I guess he was expecting it.'
[Mission Information]
[In the span of a week, three females in Hollow City have gone missing. Find out who is behind this and rescue the girls]
[Time Duration:] 7 days
The letters appeared on the ceiling while a mechanical voice read them out loud for us.
"Rescue the girls?" Ralph mumbled before turning his attention to me.
"That means they are still alive!" we said in unison.
"You are good at this!" Ralph exclaimed, and I rolled my eyes.
"Of course, I'm not stupid," I muttered under my breath.
[Impacting necessary information!]
"What?"
Bam!
My vision turned white and I jerked back while clutching my head tight.
"Aaah!" I cried out in pain.
It felt like someone was ramming a sledgehammer into my skull. Fortunately, the feeling lasted barely a second. The pain faded almost instantly, and my vision slowly returned back to normal.
Apparently, I am Lord Blackwater, Lord of Hollow City, a foggy town isolated from the rest of the world. As expected, it was an 18th-century setting pimped with aetherium-powered technology.
Our powers were no secret, and we were the only ones with abilities. That's why the Blackwater family ruled Hollow City. To them, we were more like protectors than rulers.
"This CTS Class is something else." I rubbed my forehead with a frown.
"Why the hell did the system make me your butler?" Ralph's annoyed voice got my attention.
Ignoring his words, I delved back into the stash of papers on the desk and began reviewing them. I hoped that with the new information I had, I might notice something different.
According to my knowledge, one of the girls kidnapped was from the Gray Bridge Orphanage.
She was seventeen.
The second was also seventeen, but she wasn't an orphan. According to her parents, she left home on an errand but never returned.
I wish I could say the kidnaps were done based on age. However, the third person was twenty-two years of age and was meant to marry her fiancé this week.
"But she's also from the orphanage," I muttered, still caressing my forehead. "What am I missing?"
"They only kidnap girls?" Ralph's voice only made my headache worse.
What's the point of stating obvious information?
"Tell me something I don't know." I rolled my eyes.
"Errm…"
Ralph's voice trailed off as he buried his face in the documents.
Knock! Knock!
Clank!
The door swung open before I could respond. A black lady dressed in a maid's clothes rushed in with a terrified expression on her face.
"Lord Blackwater, another victim!" she screamed, and my eyes narrowed.
—
Stepping out of the Blackwater Mansion, I frowned at the sight of several carriages lined up in my front yard. There were several policemen dressed in dark green waistcoats. A good number of them wore wide-brimmed hats with black boots.
They held onto lanterns while muskets hung loosely on their shoulders. However, these muskets had blue energy circuits flowing with aetherium energy.
One of the men approached — Constable John. An elderly man in his early fifties. The only difference between his attire and that of his men was the eagle medal pinned to his chest and the three peacock feathers on his hat.
The man's face was a mess, filled with wrinkles and dimples.
Honestly, it was hard to look at.
"My Lord… I accept any punishment you decide on!" Constable John fell to his knees at the foot of the staircase, just where I could look down on him from.
"I failed to safeguard the people even after your stern warning. Forgive me!" he said in a shaky voice, and I rolled my eyes.
'You say you will accept any punishment but then beg for forgiveness.'
Looking past the Constable, I noticed many eyes on me. According to the little I knew, John was a household name in the city. He had served Hollow City for so long and was known to be friendly to all. Everyone loved him.
Kicking someone like him would be met with serious resistance, and since we only had a week to solve this case, I had no intention of dealing with political backlash.
"Where and when?" I asked as I began descending the staircase.
"What?" Constable John was temporarily stunned but quickly recovered and rose to his feet.
"Hollow Docks. Barely twenty minutes ago!" he quickly responded.
Slowly, I nodded to his words and patted his shoulder before walking toward the most expensive-looking carriage, while Ralph trailed behind me.
"Let's go, there is no time to lose!" Ralph's voice from behind almost made me choke on my saliva, but I managed to maintain a straight face as I entered the carriage.
As soon as Ralph entered and sat opposite me, I grabbed the carriage door and shut it. It wasn't just that—I held down the door to make sure no one entered.
My actions left him bewildered, but I didn't care.
"I don't trust the Constable," I said plainly.
"What?" Ralph's expression twisted with confusion. "Why? He looks like a good person."
"It takes a bad person to know another bad person. There is something off about him," I explained.
"There is?"
Bam!
I felt someone pull the door from the other side but they couldn't open it.
Knock! Knock!
Quickly, I let go of the door and returned to my seat. It yanked open, and as expected, the Constable was at the door with confusion written across his expression.
"My bad." I apologized with a small nod, and the man forced a small smile.
"It's nothing, my Lord!" he said with annoying enthusiasm that made me cringe.
My gaze shifted back to Ralph, who was looking at me with strange eyes. We both kept silent and shared weird gazes as the Constable climbed into the carriage and sat beside me.
I won't lie, this class is fun.