-~*~-
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"Should we take it back?" Irene asks not sure what to do from then on. It's not her area of expertise, thus she asks for guidance from those who are above her level.
Kazuto's response is a simple shake of his head. That is for the general, he has something else to say at least. "Giving Yanyi a Venium plant won't bring anything beneficial. She can easily buy them from the pharmacy or anywhere that sells them. What we need to look for is the packet."
The man straightens his body before moving away from Irene. Continuing his little tour around the area.
"Are we going to just leave it like this then? What happens if those people use it again?" Irene's voice is filled with frustration and worries. Frustrated from how Kazuto treated the existence of a possibly dangerous plant and worries for those people in the alley.
Sure she doesn't personally know them, but the thought that something like that could happen to younger individuals, kids especially, boiled her blood.
Kazuto — "We'll look for the packet for now. Remember Irene, Venom plant also has soothing properties for injuries. This more natural one might be the one that was used for such a purpose."
Irene — "..."
Kazuto — "If it'll make you feel better. After we leave, my people will clean those plants and distribute the proper soothing medicine."
Irene — "Thanks Aurilia."
Kazuto — "But what they do with those medicines is not up to us. Humans are free minded creatures after all.
Irene didn't respond to that cold statement. She knew that her birth status was lower than the man standing behind her. She had thought that she had seen everything from being with Yanyi, Luciel and Devian.
Perhaps that is all just the part they wish to show.
She had seen how different Yanyi is here then in Ashrin.
She's more… Serious.
From a girl who continuously ran away from home to have fun, she turned to a more detailed oriented lady. Taking every part of her job as the "detective" more seriously than Irene could have thought.
Just like Kazuto, she stood from her squatting position and wandered around the place. Keeping in mind to not be near Kazuto to keep the tension a bit low.
Kazuto rummages through all the houses around the area. Making sure that he search through every nook and cranny. The dark surrounding of the house doesn't help with his searching.
But when searching in a 4 meter wide room, it didn't bother him much.
He had searched through around 17 houses already and found nothing.
When he stepped into house number 18, a plastic sound came from his feet. He looked down and found a plastic packet. No ingredient list on them. Not even a proper sticker for products.
But as he turned the packet around.
"Bingo!"
The packet has the word Venium written with a black marker.
This is the packet they had been searching for.
Now all they have to do is send it over to Yanyi for her to see the components. Maybe one of the herbs that she had been experimenting which could be useful.
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Irene didn't bother to walk into each of the houses as she had seen Kazuto doing it already. Thus she takes this time as a moment for her to find something, anything that could bring her some coverage.
Clank! Clank!
She heard the sound of aluminium metal fall on the ground. Position, behind her near a huge dumpster.
She's not blind yet that she can guarantee.
Her eyes trodded towards a small figure by the side of said dumpster. Skinny, with haggard clothing. Hair dishevelled. Body, Malnourished.
"There are kids living here?"
"You're done?" The voice coming from behind her. Again, Irene is spooked again for the second time. Kazuto had in his hands a plastic bag of evidence with a plastic packet.
"Is that?"
"The drug packet we've been searching for. I just need to send it to the station in Yanyi for further processing."
"Oh."
"Did you find anything?" Irene shakes her head, denying Kazuto's question. Though her eyes darted to where the dumpster was.
Seeing Irene's facial features filled with remorse and guilt, Kazuto's eyes also move to where she is looking at. If Irene can see those children, of course Kazuto can.
He then said something out of the blue. "I want to open an orphanage for children in these areas." To which Irene came back from her stupor.
Her eyes looked straight to his face. Surprise.
"Do you want to join in?"
Nod
She nodded.
"Uhm! Sure!"
Kazuto — "Alright then. But you have to quit your job as a journalist though. This part will take a lot of your time."
Irene — "No worries. My training trial is coming to an end already. I'll be finished by next month. Maybe we can start then?"
Kazuto — "Sure. Come on. Let's send you to work."
They went back the way they came, this time with more caution. Emerging back to the normal streets, Kazuto went ahead and sent Irene to her work before going to the station to continue the process.
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Arriving at the station, Kazuto went up to the main office to find Yanyi. She's not there. He then walked to the forensic room.
Nope. Just Daniel inside.
"Are you looking for Lady Yanyi, Young Marquess?" Daniel asks with his cheeks stuffed with a chuck of meat pie.
"Yeah. Do you know where she is?"
"Lady Yanyi is currently in a meeting with the rest of the inspectors in the main conference room. She'll be out in about…10 minutes I think."
"Ouh is that so? Oh also, Daniel." The boy's face turned back up after stuffing another chunk into his mouth. He nudged his head, indicating the word "What?" He can't speak with a filled mouth, that's just improper.
"There is… something that I want you to investigate." Seeing that it is concerning his job, he started to prepare himself
Daniel — "What way did they die? I'll need at least a gist of it to not ruin the evidence."
Kazuto — "He's not dead… yet. Maybe? It's hard to explain. All you need to know, this thing is still alive."
Daniel — "So you want me to extract evidence from the body of a breathing human?"
Kazuto — "You'll be the judge of his humanity or not when you see it. All I need you to do is the normal stuff. Find and extract all the possible weird things in his body. Even down to his cell if you could."
"Okay… I'll try?" He said before cleaning his little desk. Kazuto went back outside and saw his men who were carrying the man from the morgue.
He gestures inside the forensic room. To which he then heard the unmistakable "HOW?!!" from the inside. Daniel must have taken the blanket off the corpse.
Kazuto then waited for 10 minutes by the side of the conference room entrance. He didn't want to delay any of their findings. He also knew that Yanyi would be leaving to the library to do some more research so he would have to catch her quickly.
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After 10 minutes the door of the conference room opened and out came all the inspectors across Kinsel. They are now talking to their right hand man to prepare for the instruction given by Yanyi.
Kazuto waited until the crowd died down before stepping foot into the room. Yanyi, who is still at the center of the long table, notices Kazuto's presence in an instance. "You've been waiting outside for 10 minutes. What's up?"
"Here to give you an update." He casually takes a seat on one of the chairs before playing around with the pen in the middle of the table.
"Did you find anything?"
Kazuto proceeds to throw the plastic evidence in front of Yanyi. "Not just anything, we found everything we've been hunting for."
Yanyi takes the plastic evidence into her own palms. There's no need for an explanation. She knew what she was holding.
Kazuto — "What's the next step?"
Yanyi — "I'll be bringing just a small sample of this thing home. The rest, you send it to the police lab. Tell them to find the exact components of the drugs. The more precise the better."
Kazuto — "When do you need it?"
Yanyi — "Tomorrow noon. I'll be at the library most of the day and will be collecting what is needed tomorrow noon. We'll discuss what we got later on."
"Cool." Kazuto stood from his chair about to leave the conference room. His movement halted from Yanyi calling for him.
"You'll be in charge of the station until noon tomorrow. Do what you think is necessary for the case." Yanyi also stood from her chair and walked out of the room. Side by side with Kazuto.
They parted ways there. One to the forensic room to wait for information. The other to the entrance gate, going out to her cozy library nook.
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After having her lunch, Yanyi strode over to the library. She greeted the librarian before moving over to her old cozy corner. She took all of the books that she had read yesterday and even some new ones to learn.
She read and read. Spending almost 3 hours just reading and rechecking all the facts about all the herbs.
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A man came into the library with a few books in hand. He wandered over to the counter before placing down all the materials in his hands. "Master Andrew. Are you here to return these books?" The librarian asked.
The man nodded before asking his fair share of questions. "I was looking for a book called, 'Synthetic Herbs'. Do you guys have that?"
"Let me check first." The librarian proceeds to turn to the Lumi-device. She then nodded and gave out the direction to Andrew who thanked her and followed her given instruction.
However, despite following the direction given, he wasn't able to find the book anywhere. He checked all the shelves and still found nothing. "She didn't say that anyone was borrowing it. Is someone reading them?
He then proceeded to walk around the herbs section of the library. The section is quite secluded and not that big. Aside from medical students and a few other people, not many came to this area.
Most nobles have the books already in their home. With the exception of rare collections which can only be found in the local library. Still Andrew didn't find it anywhere.
Turning a corner, he finally found the book he was searching for. Only to discover that it is currently being read by someone. Turning his eyes from the cover of the book, he found his eyes drawn over to the girl sitting by the window.
Her sky blue locks give out a glimmer when the sun shines down on them. Her eyes, immersed in the book, could easily draw peoples' gaze. Those who are captivated by her beauty would question, 'who is this angel?'
Andrew snapped from his little fantasy. He takes the courage to walk up to the girl before asking. "Excuse me?" The girl turned her head up to look at the oncoming voice.
"Have you finished reading them? I've seen you constantly flipping between each page."
"Ouh! Sorry. Here you can have it."
"Thank you." Andrew took the book from her hand. He was glad that he had found the book he wanted. Despite this feeling, he still feels unfulfilled. He didn't want to stop their conversation just like that.
He looked around the girl and realised that she had a lot of books about herbs and medicine. Seeing his opportunities, he shoot his shot. "Are you looking for anything about herbs and medicine? If you want I can help you."
"Are you an herbalist?"
Andrew nodded. "I'm currently studying to become an apothecary with my aunt. I can tell you any info you want."
Before she could respond, her eyes darted to his back. "Oh, Luyao. What are you doing here?" Andrew, who didn't even realize someone is behind him, turns and sees the face of the chief inspector of Kinsel.
"Came over to give you some lunch that Aunt Vaiden made." Inspector Chen Luyao walked past Andrew and stood right before the girl. Seeing that the atmosphere doesn't fit his intention. Andrew gave a slight bow before heading away.
His heart felt tight. But loose at the same time. For some reason he thinks that whoever that girl is, if she has a friendly and close relationship to the Elite Noble. He is way out of her league.
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"Who is that?" Luyao, who had come to block Yanyi's view of the man, spoke after seeing the man already walking away. He didn't really feel good around him. Like he is about to commit something.
"Just someone who came to get his book. He did offer to answer any of my questions. Before you came, that is." Yanyi answered not caring much about whoever that guy is. She then takes the boxed meal from Luyao before realizing something.
No food in the library.
Reluctantly she has to keep the lunch boxed for a little longer.
Luyao, seeing her little downed features, didn't comment anything. He takes his place beside the window sill, intending to have a little chat with Yanyi. "What are you looking for exactly? I've heard from Kazuto that you've been in the library for like 2 days already."
"Just something for the current case."
"The Venium one? Isn't it just some overdose?"
Yanyi — "Not exactly. If it were just some overdose thing then, the body we have wouldn't have the properties like some dead corpse? I've seen my fair share of Venium overdose before."
Luyao — "Isn't the body just the dead corpse itself?"
Yanyi — "Nope. They are living human beings with rotten bodies."
Luyao — "No wonder you're here. You suspect that another huge ingredient is also used right?
Yanyi — "Yup!"
"Anyway, since you're here, what about Eker? Didn't you train him?" Yanyi asks just out of curiosity. She did ask Luyao to care for him just for a while.
Considering that he is Eker's teacher, she ought to ask about his well-being. "He's fine. He's passed all the previous tests and training. Now it is just the time for him to pick his weapon of choice. I'll leave that to Aunt Vaiden. She's also a connoisseur in weaponry."
"Really? That fast. He's barely a month into his training." Yanyi is also quite shocked by what she hears. She herself takes years to grasp the basics. And mind you, she is the youngest elotion candidate in Volenix's history. Just by a few days, but still.
"Suspect that it has something to do with his unknown origin. But I'll leave it up to that." Luyao said nonchalantly. He didn't want to encroach into the territory which he has no right to do so. If anything, Yanyi has the right to do it.
Yanyi didn't waste much time and cleaned her cozy corner area. She didn't wish to spend any more time in the library. After all, she had spent, what? 4 to 5 hours in the library.
Might as well take the lunch, more like snacks really and eat them outside.
Luyao also helped her in tidying things up. They both walk side by side to an open park. Yanyi had pitched an idea to have the snacks as some picnic which she gladly invited Luyao to join her.
While eating and talking about normal everyday topics, something just crossed Luyao's mind. "If you want, I can introduce you to a renowned apothecary in Kinsel."
Hearing this, Yanyi stops her much before turning to Luyao with eyes filled with a tender hope. "Really?" Her surprise and excitement ease Luyao's mind. At least he didn't get any bad reaction from him 'intentionally giving a helping hand.'
"She also owns a very large herbal medical lab which had been recognised by the Imperial family. So if you want to book an appointment I can help you."
"That would be great! Thanks!" Yanyi continues to munch down her food. Smiling to where the huge lake is. Her eyes turn into a smile, happy that at least she also can make some progress in her finding.
Luyao, like the love struck guy he is, smiles tenderly at Yanyi. A smile that is small enough to not arouse any suspicion from the other side.
If he has to keep this little crush of his a secret until the right time comes, then so be it.
He can wait.
Just by today's interaction with that other person, he knew Yanyi didn't care about finding her own love life. If he can be that one person. That one sole person.
He can wait.
Wait until she is ready.
Wait until he can meet her family.
Wait for however long he has too,
Never in his life had he ever felt something like this.
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Apathy.
Cold.
Indifference.
He was associated with such words for the longest time of his life.
.
Now.
Now he finds something that can make him.
A bit more human.
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-~*~-