Chapter 42 – An Update to the Investigation

Third person POV

After that, Robert, Blaise, and Colt all did a prayer gesture. "Thanks for the food." After that, they all grabbed their utensils and eat up.

Robert took a bite of his delicious-looking sandwich and tasted its contents. He then felt so hooked and allured by its taste, thinking in his mind, "Woah, what ingredients did they use? This is so delicious!"

"So, how was it?" Colt asked him while eating his rice and chicken curry.

"This is…so delicious," Robert responded to him in happy positivity. "I can't believe I had a sandwich this tasty and flavorful. I only eat regular-tasting sandwiches before, but now, it's the best sandwich I had ever eaten. Thank you so much, Colt-san."

Colt then smiled at him.

Blaise was positive at Colt's father-like treatment of her younger brother, thinking that he was more of a father figure to Robert. She then resumed eating her pie meal.

Later, at 1 in the afternoon, after finishing their meal, the three of them received the bill for their meal, and the bill was totaled to 91 gold coins. Upon seeing the number, they were only surprised mildly, with Robert commenting, "Wow, the price was less than my new pair of boots."

"Yes, this restaurant might have the best food in the city," Colt explained, "but their prices are affordable for the common folk."

"That's why," Robert responded back.

In response to the bill, Robert and Colt get their wallets, get some coins, and placed them on the bill so a staff member will just see it and collect the pay.

Then, just as they expected and predicted, a waiter saw the coins on the bill and went to their table to collect the payment.

"Thank you for coming here," the waiter said to them with gratitude.

With that, Robert, Colt, and Blaise stand up, grabbed their belongings, and left the restaurant.

After that, they all decided to stop by at the Central Investigation Headquarters to get the latest update and have a little meeting with Nate and Augustine. Later they had arrived at the said headquarters, and they entered in. Luckily William and Emma are talking to another city guard when Robert, Blaise, and Colt came.

"Hey, William-kun," Robert greeted positively.

Upon hearing his friend's greeting, William turned to his left, and was delighted by their arrival, greeting back, "Hi, Robert-kun."

"Good afternoon, William-kun," Blaise greeted with a bow.

But, Emma was annoyed by it, thinking that their presence would disturb their investigation.

Then, William walked up towards Robert and the others and said, "You guys made it, just before the meeting regarding your father's missing sword."

"Yes, we just ate lunch," Robert replied back. "How about you?"

Smiling at Robert, William responded back, "I did, so as Emma-chan and Peter-kun."

He then noticed a paper bag in Colt's left hand; curious, he asked, "What's inside that paper bag?"

"Oh, it's a new pair of leather boots for Robert-kun," Colt answered back positively.

"Woah, you guys bought a new pair of boots?" William asked back while being surprised.

To that Robert nodded. "Yes."

"I see," William responded. "Well, that's fine. Let's go then. Nate-san, Peter-kun, and Augustine-san are waiting at the meeting room.

"Oh, they are?" Robert replied back. "Let's go then."

And so, they and Emma went upstairs to the headquarters' main meeting room. Not long after, they arrived at the meeting room, and Colt opened the door for them, and they went in.

Nate, Augustine, and Peter are looking at the papers when Robert and the others arrived.

"Oh, good afternoon, Robert Lightningheart," Nate greeted upon seeing them. "Did you guys eat lunch?"

"Yes, we did, Nate-san," Colt responded back while doing a salute gesture as a form of greeting respect to Nate.

"We're ready for the meeting," William added.

"Okay! Let's do this, guys," Nate responded back in motivated positivity.

Not long after, they all sat down, and the meeting was on.

"Okay, guys, we had a new update to our current investigation regarding James Lightningheart's missing sword," Nate started. "We did a screen check in our clan, and nothing suspicious was found so far."

"Yes, we are clean, Robert-kun," William added.

"Oh, okay, thanks," Robert replied back.

"We also did a screen check in our clan," Colt responded, "and so far, there are no traitors."

"Okay, good," Augustine responded to this. "Seems there are no traitors so far. Anyhow, we had a new person-in-interest."

"Who is it?" Robert asked.

"That would be Derek Demonheart," Nate answered back.

"A Demonheart?" Blaise asked back. "Why would a Demonheart be involved in this investigation?"

"Well, Miss Lightningheart," Nate replied back. "Recently, we were suspicious at his recent activity and his habit of taking afternoon offs from work."

"Yes, and we had been monitoring his every movement," Augustine added.

"I see," Robert responded.

"So that means, Derek might be the possible suspect," Nate hypothesized.

"How?" Robert asked back.

"Well, we got an anonymous tip that he might be involved in an international smuggling operation," Augustine answered back.

This surprises Robert, Blaise, and Colt.

"What?"

"Why he would do that?"

"I had no idea," Nate responded to their questions, "but according to this anonymous tip, he might be involved in bribery as well."

"What the…?" Robert responded to that.

"Yes, and also, Robert found this," Nate replied while presenting the flyer Robert found yesterday.

"Is that…?" Peter commented.

"This is a flyer for an auction event," Nate explained. "It will be held at the Trade Exchange at the end of the week."

"What are we gonna do there?" Emma asked.

"We will attend that event and watch if James Lightningheart's sword was there," Augustine answered back.

"I think that'll be boring," Emma retorted while being uninterested.

"Now, now, Emma-chan, this is important," Nate said to her. "There's a good chance that James' sword might be one of the auction items."

"Yeah, it was valuable after all," Augustine added.

To that, Emma looked at Robert. "So this is your idea?"

"Uh, yes, just in case," Robert replied back to her.

Emma was annoyed at Robert's plan.