Torn City: The Almighty System

Sir Detective 2

"Please, I’ll give you anything you want! I will fulfill any request within my power!" Bolton promised him.

"Sir, please calm down. I have to know what’s going before I can be of aid," Lincoln tried to speak in a manner that matched his identity.

In real life, Lincoln had not come across the detective genre.

The memories he had gained through the key did not include investigating skills either.

Therefore, at the time Lincoln could only imitate books and movies inspired from Sherlock Holmes.

He had to imitate almost everything. The way he spoke, the way he moved, everything. It seemed to work on the businessman though.

The man calmed down and continued, "Oh my, excuse my manners. I’m too anxious over this! Please understand that my daughter is missing, and as a father, I’m extremely worried," he apologized before he elaborated on the incident, "It was just yesterday morning that we discovered that Arya was missing from this very manor. I was with my wife here, and we asked the maid to call Arya for breakfast, but her bedroom was locked from the inside. My wife knocked on the door, but she got no answer. I had my men knock down the door, but the room was empty! I’ve sent my men out looking for Arya, but there’s been no news yet. There’s no trace of Arya inside or outside the manor!"

Bolton explained the incident in an orderly manner from beginning till end.

His wife had remained silent throughout the whole narration. She looked even gloomier when Bolton was finished.

"May I have a look at Miss Arya’s room?" Lincoln asked.

"Of course!" Bolton and his wife answered, escorting him to the top floor of the manor.

"This floor is only occupied by me and my wife, and of course Arya. This is her room!"

While Bolton explained, he opened a door to his left.

It was a typical girl’s room, filled with pink and decorated with all kinds of puppets and dolls.

Lincoln entered the room and started his inspection.

He turned on his [Tracking] skill.

If anything could assist him in acting as a detective, it was that particular skill.

It was also the very reason that Lincoln had accepted the detective title right from the beginning without question.

With his [Tracking] turned on, everything before his eyes became more clear.

There were white messy footprints all over the floor.

After a short comparison, Lincoln confirmed that the set of footprints belonged to Bolton himself.

It seemed like Bolton had indeed sent his men to look for his daughter while he had searched the room himself.

However, they were not searching at the right direction.

Lincoln let his eyes wander a little. Other than Bolton’s footprints, there were two more sets of footprints in the room, both smaller than Bolton’s.

After a second comparison, he decided that one of them was Bolton’s wife’s while the second one belonged to Arya.

Arya’s footprints were orderly, unlike her parents’ messy ones. They were frequently circulating between the window and the bed, and less around other places.

Following the footprints, there were two spots that Lincoln was suddenly aware of.

The first one was the spot by the wooden frame of the window, where he could see three claw marks on inside the room.

The second one was the carpet beside the bed, where there were two distinctive drag trails formed by a box. Lincoln could tell just by looking at the trails that it had been a box.

After inspecting both spots, he looked at the other side of the bed and the window that led outside. It had rained the previous day, so despite his Master level [Tracking], there was nothing left for him to discover.

All the clues outside had been washed away.

The room was a different story though. Lincoln bent to look under the bed.

"Arya is a very obedient girl. She’s studying at the church school. She has always been a lady both at school and at home..."

While Lincoln was investigating, Arya’s father praised his daughter like any father would in front of a stranger.

Before Bolton could finish, Lincoln pulled a box from underneath Arya’s bed and stopped him.

The box had been well-hidden, inside a gap on the floor.

If it had not been for Lincoln’s [Tracking] identifying that the drag marks had belonged to a box, it would have taken them a lot longer to discover it.

"What’s this?"

Bolton and his wife looked at each other when they saw Lincoln pull out the box from underneath their daughter’s bed. Their eyes had widened in surprise.

Lincoln shook his head as he inspected the box. It was locked.

"May I open it?" Lincoln asked, pointing to the lock.

"But it’s Arya’s private belongings..." Bolton’s wife said in a gloomy tone.

She wanted to stop Lincoln from opening the box, but she was prevented by her husband.

"Arya is missing! We need to find her!" Bolton raised his voice to remind his wife of the current situation.

He noticed that his wife’s eyes were red and filled with tears. Looking at her gloomy face, he realized that he had gone too far.

"My dear, I’m sorry! I am so anxious. Forgive me."

Bolton hugged his wife with a sorrowful expression.

"I.. I understand!" Bolton’s wife said with tears in her eyes.

She apologized to Lincoln and quickly excused herself from the room.

"Pardon my wife, Arya was her precious jewel. Both hers and mine. I’ve never felt this anxious before in my life, and neither has my wife. I contacted the police, hoping that they could locate Arya, but they brushed me off. They said they were understaffed and had another case. That’s why I called for you. I did not hide this from you on purpose. I just hoped you wouldn’t mind,"

Bolton said in a lowered voice.

"No worries," Lincoln nodded at Bolton’s words.

He remembered that the butler had mentioned the police’s unwillingness to help.

"I’ll get some tools to open it," Bolton offered and walked out of the room.

Lincoln waited patiently.

After a short meeting with the couple, Lincoln could tell that they were both well-mannered and well-educated, and loved their daughter very much.

Even if they were to discover that their daughter had a secret, they would keep it among themselves.

That was why Bolton had gone to get the tools himself.

There were a lot of servants in the manor. All he’d had to do was ask for someone to bring them.

Lincoln waited for a while. About five minutes later, Bolton came back with a hammer.

He did not say much. He just hammered the lock off the box straightaway.

The box opened, but there was nothing much inside.

A dagger, a flintlock revolver, and a firepower pouch.

The items only occupied about a fifth of the space inside the box.

Judging by this new discovery, Lincoln could speculate what had originally been inside the box.

Weapons!

More dangerous weapons than the ones left behind.

"Arya!" Bolton shouted his daughter’s name as he covered his forehead with his hands.

Bolton was not stupid. He owned a big manor and was a renowned businessman. Just like Lincoln, he knew very well what was missing from the box.

"I am not entirely sure about what has happened, but I can assure you that Miss Arya has not been kidnapped. She has disappeared on her own free will. There are claw marks by the window, but it rained yesterday, so that is all that I can say for now."

Lincoln went over to the window and pointed to the claw marks.

"Blasted! Why couldn’t I discover this earlier? If only I had, I could have brought Arya back!"

Bolton seemed full of regret as he looked at the claw marks.

"Sir Lincoln, please help me find my daughter!"

Lincoln’s outstanding performance had won the businessman’s trust, and the man expressed it in the most direct way possible.

A stack of money was placed in Lincoln’s hand.

It was a stack of 10$ that amounted to about 500.

Using the memory of his new identity, Lincoln knew that the value was sky-high.

Even in the Mission Worlds, an average man could only earn around 30$ to 40$ per month.

"This is a deposit. if you locate Arya, I will reward you generously!" Bolton promised.

"I’ll see what I can do!"

Lincoln did not resist. He accepted the money with grace.

Although the money had no value to him, it could be useful to his identity in the Mission Worlds.

[Name: Stack of Money]

[Type: Etc]

[Able to bring out of Mission Worlds: No]

[Remarks: It’s what they use in the current Mission Worlds as money.]

.....

Bolton and Lincoln were standing in front of a painting of a grown-up Arya. Bolton was telling Lincoln more about his daughter, when the kind old butler rushed in.

"Master! Chief Police Officer Johnny has sent his men over. He said that someone has discovered a dead body that looks like Miss Arya!" the butler spilled everything after Bolton gave him permission to talk. There was a small hesitation behind his words.

Lincoln could clearly see Bolton’s face turn white at the news. He clenched his fists hard, his expression transforming him into an angry lion.

A faint cold aura was radiating from Bolton, sending chills down everyone’s spine.

A Killer’s Aura.

Lincoln looked at Bolton in astonishment.

No doubt, Bolton was hiding a lot behind his good father image, but Lincoln did not question him any further.

Everyone had their secrets, right?

"Mr. Bolton, calm down. It just looks like her, we don’t know for sure yet. Shall we take a look at the body?" Lincoln asked Bolton. He needed him to calm down and make

a plan.

Bolton nodded and ordered his butler right away, "Mike, get the wagon ready! And remember, keep this a secret from Madam!"

"Yes, master!" The butler hastened to execute his orders.