The Callum house was a big, beautiful manor of light blue color. However, the atmosphere here was anything but beautiful.
Ning could see people with teary eyes as if they had been crying since they woke up this morning, and others looking around with vigilance as if hoping to catch someone in the midst of committing a crime.
He and Merasi walked through the gates, not stopped by a single guard once they saw their uniform.
Even the people that were crying gave a curious look when they saw the two walk-in.
Ning wondered what was attracting their attention really. The white and purple uniform, or the 7 foot tall, buff woman next to him.
As they walked in, two men came up to them after hearing a commotion from outside.
"Are you the ones the tower sent?" the two men asked.
"Yes, I am Merasi. This is my subordinate, Terran. The tower sent us to investigate a death. Who are you two?" Merasi asked.
"Welcome, lady Merasi. We are the local detectives. I am Gassu, and he is Chanam. We are happy that you came as quickly as you did," the man named Gassu said as he brought them over to the next room.
Right before he entered, however, he stopped and turned around. "Are you two ready to see the corpse?" he asked.
Merasi turned around and asked, "have you seen dead people before?"
"Many," Ning answered, surprising her a bit.
"Let's go then," Gassu took them in.
The room was brightly lit through the open window. The floor was clear white marble that shined brightly. A man slept on the bed in the corner of the room, next to the window.
No, a corpse lay on the bed. A handsome man with a short beard and thin brown hair, wearing a nightgown.
The only thing that even gave away that he was dead was the lack of breathing and the red burns around his neck.
"This is Higen Callum, the next in line to be the head of the Callum family," Gassu said. "Or… was, I should say."
"Did he die by hanging?" Merasi asked.
"Yes," the detectives said. "But… it's a little weird."
"What is?" Merasi asked.
"We can't find the chair or item he stood on to kill bring himself high enough to hang himself," the detectives said.
"No chairs?" Merasi looked around. The room was indeed empty aside from the closet and desks to the side.
But when Merasi looked at the only place he could have hung from, there was no way to reach that place without jumping from the desks. and the detectives had likely already ruled that possibility out.
"Maybe he was an Enchanter and flew himself to the ceiling to kill himself," Ning said from the side.
"No, brother. Nobleman Higen was an invoker, or so we were told from the family members," the detective said.
"Are you sure?" Merasi asked. "They could be lying to hide the fact that the Marquees' son was a coward, you know."
"We did think of that," Chanam said from the side. "So, we went out of our way to ask anyone who could've known of Nobleman Higen. Everyone says that he was an Invoker, and nothing else."
"Hmm, so the chances of him being Dual awakened also goes if they only saw him invoke stuff," Merasi said. "Although, I can't outright throw the information that they might be lying out of the window."
"Have you figured out the time of death yet?" Merasi asked.
"Yes, it seems to be between 2 hours before midnight and 2 hours after midnight," Gassu said.
"When was the body found?" Merasi asked.
"Around 11 in the morning," Gassu said. "A maid came to wake the lord up after him not coming out for quite a while. That was when she found the body."
"Since then, she's been so startled that he hasn't even given us proper information," Gassu said.
"Alright, let's go see if she's willing to talk now," Merasi said and walked out of the room.
Ning followed her out, but just as he did, he slammed onto her back. Merasi had suddenly stopped walking.
A man stood in front of her, with hair that was more gray than black. The hairs were long enough that they looked long but short enough that they couldn't be tied together.
The old man had the hair perfect greased up slick behind his head and was now walking towards them with his cane in hand.
"Are you the ones the tower sent to find my son's murderer?" the man asked, his neck bent backward, trying to look at Merasi's face.
"We would like to figure out if this is indeed a murder before we go find the murderer, sir," Merasi said politely.
"YOU! How dare you! Are you trying to say that my son killed himself?" the man instantly raged.
Ning realized who this was now. This was Holden Callum, the Marquees. For a man who had just lost his son, he was quite energetic.
'Is this how he is processing the grief?' Ning wondered.
"Lord Callum, I am making no such accusations. However, you need to understand that we cannot make judgments without coming to a conclusion. Without learning whether it is a murder or not, we cannot go out looking for murderers," Merasi said.
"Are you saying that you have doubts about my words? That you think there is a chance in this world that my son could've killed himself?" the man asked.
"There is a chance for everything, lord Callum. We cannot ignore the—"
"You truly dare besmirch our family," the lord cried out as he put up his cane. "I shall teach you a lesson."
He swung down the cane with a force that was not normal to an old man. This was the strength of an Emperor Enchanter.
Merasi casually brought up her hand and caught the cane mid-air. Suddenly, her polite aura changed to that of some fearsome creature.
"Holden Callum!" Merasi shouted. "Is this how you show respect to someone older than you?"
