Chapter 143: Policeman's Hell - (Part 1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 143: Policeman's Hell - (Part 1)
Inspector Evian of Edelphite. He was one of the few points of pride in Edelphite, a town on the fringes of the Military State.
He had earned decent grades at the public elementary school and went on to attend a secondary military school far from home. After passing the rigorous exams at the all-boarding secondary school, his hard work paid off, and he graduated with relatively high marks.
His grades weren't quite good enough for the Advanced Military Academy, but he could have become a soldier if he'd wanted.
However, Evian chose to become a police officer.
Police officer was just a title; in reality, they were a subordinate branch of the Military Police. Becoming a police officer in the Military State was seen as nothing more than sabotaging one's own career, but it had one unique advantage over being a soldier.
Once you reached a high enough rank, you could choose your own post.
Solely to return to his hometown and care for his widowed mother, Inspector Evian endured the harsh life of an officer and finally achieved his goal.
The small police station in Edelphite. Having finished another satisfying day of work, Inspector Evian was organizing his paperwork.
Inspector Evian of Edelphite.
A voice echoed in the station. Inspector Evian glanced around.
“Who's there? My shift is over.”
If you knew who I was, you would feel a terror you could not resist. Every breath you take would become a living hell, and you would want to scurry into a hole like a frightened mouse. Wouldn't it be better not to know?
It was too much for a simple prank. Inspector Evian scowled and shot to his feet. A steel baton, familiar to his hand after years of use, was already in his grasp.
“What is this? Some kind of joke?”
A joke? You call this a joke? You would be much happier if it were. Heh heh. Inspector Evian. Starting tomorrow, you will taste hell. Look forward to it.
“How dare you threaten an officer of the law!”
Enraged, Inspector Evian kicked the door open and scanned his surroundings, but only the desolate, dark-shrouded street greeted him.
The ominous feeling kept him from sleeping properly.
Evian had continued his patrol late into the night, checking every dark and secluded corner. The village was, regrettably, peaceful. The only unusual thing that night was Inspector Evian himself, working overtime of his own accord.
All he'd done during the night was send Elly, the town tomboy who was wandering about instead of being home, back to her house.
In other words, Elly wandering around wasn't unusual. Elly getting caught by Evian and sent home was the rarer event.
So what on earth was that yesterday?
Evian was walking down the street, ruffling his hair in frustration, when he heard a commotion up ahead. He immediately ran toward the sound.
“Someone stole an automaton carriage!”
“Don't be ridiculous! Over here, the alchemic fabric we stored in the warehouse yesterday is gone!”
The residents of Edelphite had split into two factions and were arguing.
Edelphite had two main facilities. One was a large inn, and the other was an automaton carriage garage.
Edelphite was in a decent location. If not for the utterly useless Abyssal Wastelands just to the north, it could have become a transportation hub several times its current size.
In any case, the Military State had built an inn and a garage in this quasi-hub.
The inn and the garage were assets of the State, and the villagers were periodically called upon to perform labor at them.
At first, the residents resented these facilities for forcing labor upon their already busy lives.
But it was hard to completely hate them when the inn and garage looked so magnificent. In a remote place like this, the large, State-built structures seemed like symbols of a new era. As the years of labor continued, the residents slowly grew fond of the facilities.
Working with a sense of ownership was a good thing, but it also created a problem.
The inn, located in the center of town, and the garage, standing alone on a distant road. Their locations were different, as were the skills they required. Consequently, residents began to work exclusively at one or the other. It was only natural that the two groups of villagers would separate like oil and water.
As a result, the people of Edelphite were divided into two camps.
“What's going on here?”
“Oh, Inspector Evian! You're just in time! Give these scoundrels a piece of your mind!”
A resident from the inn faction welcomed him. While Edelphite's only police officer professed neutrality, Evian had been born on the inn's side of town.
Evian gave a brief nod and looked over the crowd.
“Please explain what happened, clearly and concisely.”
“Those garage rats stole the alchemic fabric from the inn's warehouse!”
The garage faction, which had been slightly intimidated by Evian's arrival, retorted.
“What a baseless accusation! How would we even know where your alchemic fabric is to steal it?!”
“You're the ones to talk! You lot are always lording it over us, saying we don't even know how to drive a carriage, so why are you blaming us when one goes missing?!”
It was chaotic, but Evian, being from this village, had a good idea of what was going on.
The inn and the garage, with their different natures, had shaped the residents in different ways.
Those who built their careers at the garage, which required technical skill and dexterity, began to subtly look down on the people from the inn. At first, the inn faction, which comprised the majority of the villagers, scoffed at this. But as the garage workers' children often excelled at the citizen school, the inn side gradually developed an inferiority complex. It reached a point where, despite outwardly scorning them, they would actively encourage their own children to play at the garage rather than stop them.
If not for the recent arrival of Inspector Evian—Edelphite's pride and a police officer born on the inn's side—their arrogance would have soared to the heavens.
In any case, a problem had arisen at these two facilities, where each side blamed the other for all the world's ills.
The inn's alchemic fabric had vanished.
An automaton carriage undergoing maintenance had disappeared.
And now, they were all suspecting each other.
It was only natural that the mysterious voice from the previous night would come to Inspector Evian's mind as he listened.
“Could it have been an outsider?”
“But only one guest came to the inn yesterday! And she's still staying here!”
“If there's an outsider, she should be the first suspect. She could have snuck in beforehand!”
The villager from the inn scratched his chin and replied.
“Well, she was someone important… a captain, I think. Said she was on her way to the capital after finishing a mission.”
“Forget what I just said. Every last word!”
They might call it our inn and our garage, but they were State assets. A captain could take an automaton carriage and alchemic fabric as if they were her own. She'd be punished for embezzlement, of course, but the entire population of this village combined didn't have the authority to do anything about it.
Furthermore, she could also kick Evian's ass for even suspecting her. Evian had no desire to get his ass kicked by a captain.
“So are you saying the alchemic fabric and the automaton carriage just vanished on their own? With no one coming or going?”
“Well… that is…”
As the villagers awkwardly averted their gazes, someone gestured for Evian to come over.
“Evian, come here for a moment.”
Bern, the representative of the inn faction, called to him. Beckoned with a wave, Evian replied, showing a hint of displeasure.
“Mr. Bern. Please show a minimum of respect. I am the inspector in charge of public safety here.”
“I need to show respect just to call my own nephew?”
Bern answered, a little pompously.
After Evian's father had run away from the village, his uncle Bern had become his guardian and looked after him. Bern, who was the de facto chief of the village, had seen his standing rise day by day since his nephew returned as an inspector.
Evian himself found the man unsavory, but he couldn't punish him when he hadn't done anything wrong. Evian was an officer of the law.
“Of course you sh—... Ugh, never mind. What is it?”
As Evian approached, Bern lowered his voice.
“Elly and Dev are missing.”
“What?”
Elly was the inn's number one tomboy, and Dev was the garage's resident eccentric. The two teenagers, who had grown up amidst the village's conflict, were at each other's throats whenever they met.
And now both of them had disappeared at the same time?
“We're all worried. Either Elly accidentally strangled Dev to death, stole the alchemic fabric, and ran off, or Dev beat Elly with a wrench and fled in terror. It has to be one of the two.”
“How would Elly drive a carriage, and how would Dev get the alchemic fabric… Ah, wait.”
“Exactly. The two of them used to sneak into each other's facilities to play hide-and-seek, didn't they? Unlike us, they know every nook and cranny of the other's territory. Like scouts reconnoitering the enemy. It's not impossible.”
That was why Evian slapped his forehead. It was entirely possible.
They had the motive, the malice, and a history of causing trouble for the villagers. Those two might have actually done each other in.
“But they were both in the village as of last night! I sent them home myself!”
“Then I guess they didn't go home. Their families said they haven't seen them since last evening.”
“Damn it. In that case, neither of them could have gotten far! Wait here!”
“You're going after them?”
“I have to! I just hope they're both still alive!”
Evian strode through the crowd. The villagers trembled with a strange mix of expectation for their police officer and anxiety that the child from their side might be the culprit.
Evian came face-to-face with the facility administrators, who seemed to have been waiting for him.
“Inspector Evian. I am Administrative Supply Officer Bero. The alchemic fabric isn't expensive, but it is a key supply item. We can't just stay silent after losing it.”
“Technical Officer Chalet. The automaton carriage is expensive. I hope you resolve this swiftly. If this incident is reported to the authorities, the entire town will be sentenced to punitive labor.”
“There also happens to be an officer at the inn. She's recuperating from an injury, but if word of this reaches her ears…”
The administrators from each facility politely pressed him. If Evian's rank hadn't been higher than theirs, their harsh words wouldn't have ended at just words.
Evian shouted, exasperated.
“As long as it's back before the afternoon inventory check, it'll be fine! Just wait! Ah, and Chalet! Is there a carriage I can use?”
“There's one left.”
“I'm commandeering it for official business! That's all right, isn't it?”
“Approved.”
Evian started the automaton carriage and made a wide sweep around the village. There were two sets of recent wheel tracks: one from the captain who had arrived, and one leading away.
Thankfully, it was easy to tell them apart. Evian followed the tracks.
The Abyssal Wastelands were vast. If the two had ignorantly crossed the hills and entered the wastelands, Evian would have no choice but to give up, return to Edelphite, and await the authorities' judgment.
Fortunately, however, Evian found the automaton carriage stopped not too far away. He parked his own carriage nearby, got out, and strode toward it. His eyes were filled with nothing but anger for the imbeciles who had caused this stupid mess.
“Sob, sob…”
But as he heard Elly's crying, a fear gripped him. What if Elly had accidentally killed Dev and run away? What would he do then?
If Evian were from another town, he would have heartlessly arrested Elly and proudly added a line to his service record. But he was from this village, and he wanted it to be at peace if possible. A tomboy was at her most vibrant in the village, not in a prison cell.
Swallowing hard, Evian yanked open the driver's side door. His eyes met with someone in the driver's seat.
“H-Hieek! Evian-hyung!”
“Dev?”
Dev was in the driver's seat, gripping the wheel. Elly was sniffling in the passenger seat. Seeing that they were both safe, Evian felt a surge of annoyance and dragged Dev out by the ear.
“You little brat. Who told you to steal an automaton carriage?”
“N-No! I didn't steal it, it's a test drive! Mr. Chalet said I had to check if it was fully repaired! So I was just checking it out, taking it for a spin!”
“Did you tell Chalet you were going?”
“No? I wanted to surprise him. Ow, ow!”
Evian yelled, shaking Dev's ear back and forth.
“If you were going to go, you should have gone alone! At least then there'd be less suspicion! Why did you drag poor Elly into this?”
“I didn't drag her! She snuck in herself! And then she started crying her eyes out, saying she didn't want to go back to the village! I didn't know what to do!”
His indignant shouts didn't sound like lies. Evian, who had been about to slap Dev's cheek, sighed and spoke to Elly.
“Elly, I don't know what's going on, but you can't just run away without a word. Your mother is waiting. Let's go back…”
“Sob, I can't… go back…! I'll be killed!”
“Killed? Don't be ridiculous. I'm a police officer. Who's going to kill you while I'm here?”
“No! I really might die…! I… I found it…!”
Elly, on the verge of tears, squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.
“…A body!”
Evian's eyes widened at this unexpected report.
“What?!”
There were two carriages and two people who could drive. Evian had Elly ride with him and listened to the whole story.
Elly, up to her usual tomboy antics, had found a strange message. Following it led her to discover a terrible secret hidden in their peaceful, remote village… buried bone fragments…
Evian asked.
“Wait a minute. There shouldn't be any bones. Everyone who's died recently was cremated.”
“Sob…!”
Evian clicked his tongue. He wouldn't get anything out of a panicked child by pressing her.
He was a police officer, not one of the cold-blooded Military Police.
“If you found a body, you should have told me. Why did you keep quiet?”
“But, Mr. Evian, you’re…”
And then Elly clamped her mouth shut again. Frustrated, Evian pressed her.
“You don't trust me? Elly, I didn't win my inspector's rank in a game of chance! To become an inspector, you have to work under the so-called 'cold-blooded' Military Police and catch criminals like a demon. It's not something to be taken lightly!”
In the Military State, the military government controlled everything.
All medical procedures were handled by military hospitals, civil engineering by the Engineer Corps, and criminal investigations by the Military Police.
Administrative soldiers carried out the civil administration, and even the factories operated under the Bureau of Technology and Development.
It was a nation of soldiers, where not just the police but even private businesses were not separate from the military regime.
With a few very special exceptions, everything belonged to the Military State.
“The people of Edelphite don't know any better, but just having 'Inspector' in my title is a big deal! It's just that the State deliberately separated the jurisdictions!”
To prevent the officer in charge of a village's security from becoming corrupt, the Military State had separated jurisdictions and assigned them accordingly. That was why Evian didn't have much authority for his experience or rank.
In other words, his status was high relative to the power he wielded.
“Sob.”
But perhaps because Evian was too familiar, Elly refused to speak. Evian, who had been glaring, let out a sigh.
“Huu. If you still don't trust me, there's a captain at the inn. You can tell her. She's far higher-ranking than I am, so even you should be satisfied with that.”
Elly recoiled in horror.
“N-Not the inn! If you do that, I'll really be killed…!”
“Why not? Was the body found at the inn or something?”
“Hieek!”
“…You should never commit a crime. Seriously.”
Then a thought occurred to him.
Why had Elly kept quiet? Was it because she felt she couldn't tell Evian?
Could it be?
“Where did you find it? Mr. Bern's place?”
“Hieeek!”
The representative of the inn faction, to which many people belonged, and the de facto chief of this village.
His own uncle, Bern, whose authority had only grown since Evian's arrival.
A body was found at his house.
A part of him had wished Bern would do something wrong. It would be nice to punish him and break his authority.
But he hadn't wished for a dead body to turn up. A murder was a different story entirely.
“…Don't worry.”
But Evian was a police officer, responsible for the security of this village. He couldn't just ignore a clue in a murder case.
In the first place, if he ignored such a serious incident, he himself could be punished by the Military State. On top of that, a severe penalty could be imposed on the entire village.
He had to prevent that.
“I will find the culprit. I swear it.”