As fast as their feet could take them, Florencia, Viper, and Christina ran back to the inn. It was fortunate for them that they were all outside to see Frederick and the others off.

"Oh, you came back," Elliot walked up to them. "Did something happen?"

"Please come with us," Viper cried.

–

"She's dead," Aquarius confirmed after touching Lettie's neck to feel her pulse. She was the only one to die among the four. "Her stomach was cut open. The blood used to write on the wall is probably hers."

Florencia covered her mouth with her hands and cried. "She was the most silent among the four of them."

"I'll call Ryan and Miranda," Elliot said. "They better see this."

He stepped away for a moment, trying to contact the police officers. The others stayed in the alley and helped the other three recover. They didn't have any open injuries, instead, they had broken legs. It was only Lettie that was wounded by the attacker.

Christina was in the middle of healing Bernard when Miranda arrived along with Ryan. Elliot led them to the alley where it happened and they immediately seethed after seeing the scene.

"Another one of these?" Miranda sighed. She walked inside and walked in front of the wall where the message was written. "Same handwriting, same method. The crucification is the same too. And only one victim is heavily injured."

"Wait, this had happened before?" Connor asked. "When?"

"This had been happening ever since the Championship of the Greats began," Ryan answered. "Random people, the poor, the rich, even nobles, were targeted. It is usually within a group of three or four that the attacker would strike."

"They would crucify their victims, cover them up with this stinky mud, and then they would cut one victim and use their blood to write something on the wall," Miranda added. "They are the fifth group of victims."

"W-What are the police doing?!" Florencia spoke in a rather higher tone. It felt as though she was screaming, something that Miranda wasn't too happy about.

"Listen here, little kid," Miranda leaned in. "We are in charge of this series of cases and we can tell you it's hard to find a lead when you don't know where to look."

"The crime is dirty, but how they do it is clean," Ryan sufficed. "It would be easier to find a needle in a haystack than a clue to these cases. And the department doesn't want to act because the death rate is still at 1 in 13 victims."

"And that's not high?" Florencia clenched her fists. "What are you all doing?"

"Flo," Viper held her hands and hugged her from behind. She was ready to pounce on the police officers in front of her and Viper was stopping her from doing so. Florencia was angry, and she wanted to vent her anger out.

"Flo, calm down first," Viper whispered. "Nothing good will come out if we just scream."

Florencia relaxed slowly, letting her friend calm her down as she took deep and steady breaths. "I am calm now. Thank you, Vi."

"Now that the death rate is higher, this will definitely move up the line with the priorities," Ryan said.

This made Florencia explode. "Just move up? Not become the top priority? Are you even kidding me? You're all worthless. Let go of me Vi, I'll solve this case myself–"

A palm grazing on a cheek sounded from the alley. The slap sounded so hard, it echoed inside the small space in between the two brick buildings.

"Between an illegal trafficking syndicate that involves the death of thousands of poor people, an assault crime violator that involves raping of ninety women and deaths of seventy, a gang of thieves that killed and robbed twenty houses, and this case, who do you think should have the priority?" Miranda leaned in and stared at Florencia in the eyes.

"While you've been raised in a castle and could demand anything that you want in a blink of an eye, the rest of us are living in reality. We need to wait for our turn to be served, while you get yours in a silver tray. If you think you're the only one that's suffering here, then learn a thing or two about the real world kid," Miranda stood back up without breaking eye contact. "You might learn to at least control your temper."

"The healers have arrived. We're going to investigate further, you can go now," Ryan said with an awkward smile.

A carriage of healers stopped in front of the alley and took the victims. Lettie was covered with a white cloth before she was put inside the carriage while the others were transported through a portable bed.

Viper held the still shocked Florencia as they walked away. The other members of the Azure Scorch Guild bowed at the police officers before going back, leaving them to their job.

"This is the most terrible one yet," Ryan said the moment he was left alone with Miranda.

"Come out, Elliot," Miranda said that made Ryan gasp.

And just like that, Elliot walked out of the corner. He was chuckling at them and scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. "I was hoping I could help find clues with this case. I have a potential lead about this."

"Tell us," Miranda said. She walked over to the crosses, scanning them closely. "Go on, I'm listening."

"We were having trouble with this other guild," Elliot started. "We find them suspicious of something. So we hired the four of them to investigate. Would it be such a big coincidence that this incident happened to them right after we hired them?"

As Ryan was writing this down, Miranda was still looking at the crosses. She was moving pieces, collecting samples from different parts, and she was trying to calculate certain angles.

"When was the time they said they were going to deliver the report?" Ryan asked. "The investigators, I mean."

"Tomorrow at midnight," Elliot replied.

"Then they haven't even start the investigation yet," Miranda said. "These four would only have one client a day. If they told you at midnight, they still have an appointment until tonight. Then they'll start at midnight and work twenty four hours to collect everything you need."

"Plus, the four of them have already made names for themselves," Ryan said. "They're also currently working on a case agaisnt a corrupt lord in the North. That person is our prime suspect."

"But we really feel something about this guild," Elliot tried to argue. "Please just take this into account."

The two police officers looked at each other before hesitantly nodding.

"Okay," Ryan finally gave in. "What's the name of the guild?"

"It's…" Elliot trailed off and took a deep breath. "Vulture Torch Guild."