In the world of Alterian, at the police station, Captain Harvey was in the large office space. Here, several stalls housed the other officers, and Harvey, as the captain, had his own office in the area.
A special booth, that mostly had the area blacked out by a special enchanted glass.
"Captain Harvey sure does love staying in the dark all the time, huh? Maybe he's up to some creepy stuff," one of the officers said, his head turned towards the private cubicle. Even now, the blinds were down, though it was still midday.
"Although this is quite normal for him, he seems to be in the books a lot more than usual," another officer from the stall next commented. He dragged himself out of his chair, and then, using his wind magic, whirled up a chocolate bar from the side of the table.
"Care to chill my drink as well?" another officer said, holding out a glass bottle and handing it over. The officer quickly took the bottle, and soon an icy exterior appeared on the outside as he handed it back.
"You're talking about the recent work he's handed us, right? We're looking over so much and digging up cases from so far back, up to recently, and I don't even know what case we're working on that would need all this information."
"We should just do what we're told before he blasts us to pieces."
"Wait, he does that!" One of the newbie officers said, wheeling out from his booth a little worried. He had been careful around the captain due to being a rank higher, as newbies tend to do. So far, he hadn't seen much of the captain, but the few instances he had were all good.
"Ah, you haven't seen the captain snap yet, right? I think it tends to happen around once a month."
"If you put it that way, some might think he isn't a man."
"Hey, watch it," another chimed in, slapping their member on the back of the head.
"Regardless," the officer continued as he looked around to make sure the captain was still in his booth. "Captain Harvey has at times snapped at other officers, and it seems to be the smallest things.
"We've even seen it with some criminals or other departments that we've had to work with once in a while. When it happens, he has quite the temper because he isn't shy to use his magic.
"Due to his talent, as a Five Star mage, some say he would be in an even higher position if it wasn't for his temper." The officer looked around the room again as he waved his hands for the others to lean in.
"I've heard some rumors state that the captain might have even killed a few people. On cases, there have been rumors that they have seen him go a little too far when there wasn't a need to that ended up killing them."
"Wait, that isn't so bad then, is it?" Another added. "That means that all of the cases were with criminals. He might just be really crazy about justice."
"Or just crazy," another added. "Just be happy that he is one that is catching criminals, otherwise, who knows."
As they were in the middle of their discussion, the double door into the room slid open, and several men could be seen entering. They were being escorted by a female officer that the whole team knew, but as for the people behind them, they hadn't seen them before.
Their clothing stood out to them all, and it told the others exactly where they were from. They wore thick robes that were primarily white, with flashes of gold on what looked like their shoulder pads. This was an enchanted robe, and one of those that were given to one group of people.
Those that came down from headquarters. The ones behind the scenes that gave the larger orders to those that were down at the practical level doing the job like them. There were five men in total, all of them dressed in the same clothing, their hoods covering most of what they looked like.
Immediately, the officers stood up from their seats as they saw them and greeted them with a slight bow.
"Is this what our unit has been doing, mere gossiping!" One of the headquarters officers stated. His voice was a little rough around the edges, making them assume that he was quite a bit older compared to the others.
The officers didn't say anything back while they continued to walk past and eventually reached the private cubicle. The young female officer gave it a knock before clearing her throat.
"Captain Harvey, it appears that there are those from Headquarters that are here to see you."
Immediately the black-covered room disappeared, and one could see through the office, with Harvey standing up from his seat, and opening the door, exiting his room. Unlike the other officers, Harvey didn't seem to bow down, and instead just stood tall while looking at them.
"Arrogant as always," the same older voice from before said.
"Yes, but I am too helpful in catching troublesome criminals for you guys to disregard me, so what is it that you want this time?" Harvey asked.
"There has been a direct order not just here but in multiple areas for the officers to focus on research about the Dark Magus," the man stated.
Almost immediately, Harvey could feel a tingling sensation run through his body. He started to rub his index finger and thumb together, soothing himself slightly.
The officers behind were a little confused, for one, cases involving the Dark Magus, wasn't something usually the officers at this level would look at, and second, the Dark Magus cases were closed.
"Is there a reason for this?" Harvey asked.
Harvey was after all, a member of what had now been deemed the Dark Guild, and he needed to put a stop to anything that was getting in their way, so it was important for him to fish out for information.
"There isn't anything solid for the time being," the man replied. "However, the task is for you to do further ground research on the sites nearby that had involved the Dark Magus in the past. We are trying to see if there was anything overlooked.
"As you should know, he was a powerful mage that dabbled in Dark Magic. There is a chance, that there are sites that have been, left behind by the Dark Magus. Anything, to a magic circle, to a print of something you don't recognize we need detailed reports.
"Any free time will be dedicated to this."
A large smile appeared on Harvey's face, as he answered, "Of course." But the back of his teeth were grinding. Why were they looking into the Dark Magus, what were they planning to do?
'Have they found out about the Dark guild already? From the internal files, I see reports of those taken out that were learning Dark Magic, but they haven't caught on that there is a group of people gathering. They seem to be using a lot of resources on just this. The meeting is soon, and maybe this is something to note to that puppet.'
Harvey somewhat saw himself as the bringing of the Dark Guild. He would never call himself the leader, that position was for one and only one person, but using his internal files at the station, he could research into those that were suspected users of Dark Magic, or follow certain reports.
Meeting them beforehand, he could then use this information to invite them to join. At the same time, he had been busy looking into the matters of
the Grand Magus, just like he had been asked to, and he felt like this derailing was now avoiding him from doing his task.
"Couldn't you guys just have sent a message, was there really a reason for you all to come down here?" Harvey asked.
"If we had just sent a message then you wouldn't have known how important of a matter this is, and we wanted to speak in front of your fellow officers here so they could keep you in line," the man stated, and with that, the message was delivered.
They didn't say anything else, and instead just turned around as they went to head back out of the door back the way they had come in. As soon as the door shut, Harvey couldn't help but shout out loud.
"Those old f*cks," Harvey commented. "This is my station, and I will do as I like."
"Does that mean that we won't be looking into cases involving the Dark Magus, sir?" The female who had escorted them in asked.
"No, we will, but anything we do find, I want all of you to report to me first," Harvey ordered. "Don't upload information onto the central system, and let me vet it first."
"Is this an order from headquarters, sir?" One of the officers sheepishly asked, cowering behind another. Halfway through his sentence, he had somewhat realized how stupid it was for him to ask.
"No, it's an order from me, and if you disobey my order, I will incite my personal punishments."
It was the first time for the newbie officer to see Harvey like this. Normally he was calm, and was relaxed about everything. To the point where the workers were free to talk and eat where they wished, among other things.
A completely different atmosphere compared to other posts. They enjoyed their time here under Harvey and so they were less likely to ruin it as well.
"I guess we better start pulling up the Dark Magus case files then," the officer said as he sat at his desk and got to work.
Everyone started to do the same and the talking continued among the staff members.
"Man, the Dark Magus, I can't believe there was such a high-case criminal that existed. It wasn't too long ago that he died as well."
Harvey himself was ready to head back into his room.
"It's a good thing the Dark Magus is dead now," the young officer commented.
Immediately, Harvey's footsteps stopped just shy of entering his office.
