Ice Vapor Goddess

Chapter 108 Supervision
“Every scene contained inversions and blasphemy against church elements, such as inverted crosses, excrement, and non-virgins. However, other elements such as ice thorns, runes, and alder are still unclear. I think they should be viewed separately from anti-church elements.”

"It is known that four women were kidnapped and sacrificed, and three other men died earlier for unknown reasons."

Arthur placed the photos and evidence bag on the table and spoke earnestly to the police inspectors and officers below the stage.

The police chief was also sitting below, arms crossed, listening to Arthur speak.

"Please look at this record, which was provided by Deacon Joseph of the Church. He has more than 20 years of experience in church service and knows a lot of knowledge. Such blasphemous rituals often mean anti-divine thought. Since the Middle Ages, black magicians or heretics have often used such rituals to isolate themselves from divine interference."

"But this happened because they were about to fight the church, or to evade some of the church's reconnaissance magic."

“We do not have such divine magic now, and we do not rely on clergy in battle. Everyone knows that the main armed force of Speyer is the knights, so this kind of ritual is very suspicious.”

“Inspector Arthur,” an inspector suddenly spoke up, “have you considered that only you know the Church doesn’t have detective magic, while they don’t? What if it’s just as a precaution?”

“Indeed, that is a possibility.” Arthur nodded. “But a reconnaissance spell covering the entire city would require at least three bishops to jointly cast a ritual spell—this information was provided by Bishop Delland—if they had even a slight understanding of the Church’s strength, they wouldn’t be worried about this happening.”

"Of course, it's also possible that they didn't know the conditions for using divine magic at all, so they took a huge risk by kidnapping four women for sacrifice and making the disappearance a big scandal. That's not impossible, but it's less likely."

"Furthermore, if they performed the blasphemy ritual merely to guard against possible divine magical detection, then this lead has ended. But if it was for something else, then it's worth continuing the investigation."

“I believe we should continue to reason within every possible option that we can still pursue, investigate relentlessly, and eliminate any possibility. This is our professional responsibility as police officers.”

The audience was silent, but the old director clapped: "Very good, you remind me of some young people at Scotland Yard—please continue."
-
An hour later, Arthur left the conference room, and another police inspector friend patted him on the shoulder to comfort him.

"You old fox!" he cursed angrily. "What do you mean you thought of young people? You're thinking of donkeys and scapegoats!"

Inspector Jacob, standing to the side, offered him a helpless consolation.

At the meeting just now, Arthur presented his reasoning and a great deal of evidence in a very impressive manner. In addition to the information given by Siren and Joseph, there were also information from Ryan, Sheena, Aldridge and many others. It was clear that he had traveled almost all over Speyside.

Ultimately, he came to an important conjecture—they were not rebelling against the Church's investigative techniques, but rather against the trace amounts of divine energy generated when the red mercury was being distilled. Ever since the second boiler began distilling the red mercury, the entire Speyside had been enveloped by the faint divine energy emanating from it.

Few rituals require the complete prohibition of divine thought. Black magic might need to be prohibited, but there is no evidence to support this. According to official sources, frost giants also abhor divine thought because it can kill them.

In addition to the ice spikes growing inside the human body and the ice thorns in the ritual, Arthur guessed that this might be a cult related to the frost giants.

Finally, the commissioner led the applause, then ordered him to become the superintendent of the case, to lead the handling of the case, and assigned him five additional officers.

Then there is no more.

There was no funding, no weapons, no authority. Other police inspectors and officers would no longer get involved in the case. If the governor or bishop asked, they would say that they had many tasks to complete, such as patrolling, searching, being on duty, and handling other cases. They would only ask Arthur about this case.

Everyone knew perfectly well that Speyer had no other cases, and this one was extremely dangerous and difficult, with several officers involved in the arrest operation being seriously injured.

Besides, even if he solves this case, can Arthur still get promoted? Obviously not. He's already a police inspector, and the next step is the commissioner. The commissioner's appointment isn't based on ability, but entirely on the power struggle between the governor and the church.

If the church were in control, they would appoint Arthur as police chief, even if he didn't solve the case. But now the governor is in charge, so no matter how hard Arthur tries, he can only be a police inspector; the chief can only be the governor's man.

On the contrary, it is his failure to accomplish this that will cause serious trouble.

Previously, this case was a hot potato; no police inspector wanted to handle it, and the commissioner himself was also worried because his position could not be promoted any further, and if he failed to solve it, he would lose his job.

For the chief, simply handing it over to a subordinate wouldn't be appropriate, because Ryan was also very concerned about the case and would definitely ask him directly. He couldn't possibly say, "I didn't handle it; my subordinate did it, and if it didn't work out, it's all his fault." But it's different if Arthur takes over. He's a member of the church, and the chief could easily say that because the case involves anti-church cult elements, the church has taken full control, and he can't interfere. Even if Ryan is angry, he'll only go to the church to inquire.

They might even be able to take the opportunity to kick Arthur out. After all, in a police station without a single knight, an awakened apprentice knight is quite formidable, and what's even more terrifying is that he's a member of the church.

“You shouldn’t have stepped forward,” Jacob advised. “Or you could have one of your officers go up and tell him not to do it himself. If it goes well, it’s because of your good leadership; if it goes poorly, it’s because of the officer’s personal behavior.”

Arthur was silent for a moment: "I didn't think that much about it."

“Sigh…” Jacob sighed, “Well, that’s just how we people in the Monte Highlands are. I’ve been working hard for several years and it’s only gotten a little better…”

He and Arthur were both from the northern Monte Highlands, which is why they became friends. The highlands were not far from Speyside, and the people were simple and honest, with many having barbarian ancestry, and all of them were blond, strong men.

“But I think I did the right thing,” Arthur said stubbornly. “Wasn’t our police station established to protect the public? Such a big incident, so many people died, isn’t it ridiculous to still be thinking about our own positions and fighting amongst ourselves?”

Jacob gave a wry smile: "What are you talking about? It's just a job. Why put so much value on yourself? And even if you want to protect the people, you can only do things after you've secured your position."

Arthur remained silent, the bishop's voice still echoing in his mind, as well as the teachings of Commander Logan when he was with the Knights.

“But isn’t my salary paid from the taxes paid by the people?” Arthur said to his friend. “The reason I’m paid such a high salary is that they expect me to do something, to protect the people, not to sit in an office and get moldy.”

Jacob looked at his stubborn friend with utter helplessness: "Fine, fine, you have noble thoughts, then go and get this done. Maybe the director will give you a special commendation and let us all learn from your work experience."

“Really? I’ll thank you specifically during the awards ceremony, Jacob.” Arthur blinked. “I couldn’t do that alone.”

“…I won’t do it, it’s a thankless task.” He refused outright.

“I’ll give you my weekly wage for the next ten weeks,” Arthur said.

Jacob was shocked: "Are you crazy?! Do you really want to do this?!"

"I have to do it," he said stubbornly.

"What will happen to Clara? How will you all live?"

A troubled look appeared on his face: "We still have some savings, and I can still go to church to receive communion. She's a good girl; she knows how to get through tough times."

"...I give up." He sighed.

"Go ask around the backstreets of the residential area, especially Dead Dog Tavern and Cynthia's Secret Box—you can say I introduced you, but don't tell the police it was my idea."

Arthur's eyes lit up: "Thank you!"

“Keep your salary. Even if you can starve, Clara needs money to buy face cream. I don’t want to see the most beautiful girl in District 4 with frostbite on her face.” He turned and walked to the other side of the corridor. “Also—take care.”

Arthur watched his figure gradually disappear and smiled.

"understood."

(End of this chapter)