Hermaeus squints and takes a look outside, lifting his hat a little as they begins clopping in through the fine cast iron gates, lit up by lanterns while the professor finishes an excellent sketch of the detective. Hermaeus fixes his posture and checks his pocket watch "still twirling," he mutters.
Fredrick perks up in surprise hearing those words from the elf "were you talking to me, sir?"
Dawnbringer shakes his head "No, my good fellow. I tend to talk to myself time to time. It's better to make reason and talk to yourself rather than fill the room with hot air."
"Gossip and chatter not much of your style, sir?" Freddy asks before they finally stopped and got out, getting the suitcase out of the trunk and paying for the driver who tipped his hat in good night before finally riding away.
"Gossip and chatter is fine, it's what we do as social creatures, just that I don't imagine you and I having much interest in each other's conversations at this time," Hermaeus replies, trying not to sound too harsh.
"What makes you say that, Mister Dawnbringer?"
Hermaeus smiles "Because I can be an arrogant bastard when I converse with people after ten o' clock, losing sleep is not all too ideal."
"How can you tell the time with no working clock and fog this dense?" he asks, as the small pieces of gravel crunch beneath their feet before they head up the limestone stairs to the double doors of the incredible mansion.
"I remember small things. Before I hit the fog, it was roughly half nine and the ticket said ten o' clock arrival, I assumed I met you at about ten past ten, so currently it's either ten to twelve or twelve in the morning." Hermaeus explains to the human, showing off the deductive intellect.
"Ingral wasn't lying when he said you were quite the smart bastard." Fredrick replies.
"And you are the same! Being a mathematician, swordsman and detective within the span of a few months is impressive."
"My mana blade was taken from me, so it's not that impressive."
Dawnbringer gives a slight laugh "So this cult is incredibly cautious, yes?"
"Seems so, sir." The human answers, rather disappointed in himself, losing a piece of his culture and religion.
They entered the dark and quiet mansion. Seems like everyone was asleep, to Hermaeus' disappointment. He then heads up the grand marble staircase with the professor and then gets guided to his bedroom down the grand hallway before the swordsman opens the door and bows before motioning him in, flipping the switch "here you are sir, your very own room."
The scent of lavender filled the room, a radio was perched on the table near the grand window and the king sized bed sat against the left wall, around were some wardrobes and bookcases, as well as a trunk filled with alchemical tools and flasks. Seems like Ingral was being thoughtful when it comes to equipment for investigations.
"Everything in order, sir?" asks the human.
"Very much so, good night Fredrick." the elf responds with a curt nod
"Good night, sir." Freddy says before closing the door.
The elf was swift to get into his pyjamas and housecoat from his suitcase, putting on the radio quietly as he couldn't sleep without background noise and switching the light off.
The talk show softly playing and the cool blue light from the electric mana crystal in the radio gently pushed him into a slumber.
The time passes by in his slumber before he wakes up to the sun trying to pass through the fog, looking out the window next to his bed, he seen nothing but the grey clouds above. He was swift to arise from his slumber, the taste of lavender permeating in his mouth making him spit into some paper napkins at the bedside "too strong... too bloody awful..."
He puts his slippers on as he then stands up to do a few stretches and instantly heads to the bathroom, bringing a leather bag with a towel and then turns the hot water tap on the sink. He then begins opening the bag and then puts the plug into the sink once hot enough before he strips his top half nude.
He notes that he slight amount of chest hair has grown back, yet he can't be bothered shaving it off considering body hair is considered insulting by elven cultural practice, but he didn't care for tradition at this point, he seeks answers to this Ruby Dagger problem.
He cracked on, grabbing a soap bar and a sponge as he stood in nothing but pyjama pants while scrubbing himself clean before finally finishing himself off and drying up with the fresh towel before grabbing his shirt and coat and then heading into his bedroom to quickly dress before introducing himself to the rest of Ingral's friends.
he grabs his items from his old clothes and put them into his new ones before he finally heads down stairs and into the dining room, which caused a few eyes to divert his way when the old door squeaks as it shuts behind him.
"Greetings everyone, I'm sure Ingral has talked about me a lot here. I am Hermaeus Dawnbringer, independent detective who is authorised by the Imperial Detectives Bureau or the IDB. In my understanding from a letter from my dear friend Ingral." He points to the dwarf with his hand while leaning on the dining table as everyone has breakfast while maintaining their attention on Hermaeus.
There was a dwarven woman with long ginger hair sitting behind the table who promptly introduced herself "Endara Krez'enthal, former detective now clockwork and technological specialist."
The other detective was a pale orange skinned ogre with auburn hair and a middle part and sideburns that extended to the upper cheek, he had pleasant face, like that of a young adult, dressed in a suit to hide that incredibly strong physique and he introduced himself quite sheepishly,his accent soft and high pitched "a-ah, uhm. I am A-Albert Prinzley. At your service... sir... I am no-one special, just a former detective... really."
Hermaeus clocked on to the ogre, the way he rubbed his thumbs against his fingers, like he's rolling cigarette, sheepish, lack of self confidence showing in his low hanging head "Prinzley... do tell me, have you been accused of child eating as of late?"
"Hm? W-why do you ask, sir?" The ogre asks, the question enough nearly making him break down.
"you're too soft to be a mountainside savage type... yet, for some reason, you're suddenly getting stigmatised in the city you're growing up in because of missing children cases..."
Ingral raises his brow "wait, what?"
"Ingral, do you realise a cult of this calibre would take children from the streets using the dark fog? For Slave Labour and sacrifice to whatever old god they celebrate? People can't blame anyone else but a former ogre detective who still has some law based protection because they have no way to blame the higher ups of the cult." Hermaeus explains.
Hermaeus leans over "our dear fellow here looks like he'd barely hurt a fly. He requires smoking tobacco to destress from some scenarios thus developing an addiction."
Albert starts sobbing, mishearing what Hermaeus says "I haven't done anything! Why would people blame the man who helps his neighbourhood out!"
Endara shoots a lethal gaze at Hermaeus and then firmly states, also mishearing the detective "Stop shooting accusation out of the blue!"
Hermaeus then sighs "I'm not accusing Albert of anything, Endara, I am merely making an observation and summary. Recall my words, He look like he's barely hurt a fly."
"You still, made him sob, even reassuring him!" Edara pats her companions back, trying to comfort him while scolding Hermaeus
Fredrick sighs and rubs his eyes at the ogre being a drama queen "Albert! Stop crying, man! He's saying you're innocent!"
The ogre eventually wipes his tears, trying to strengthen his demeanour after his sadness "I'm sorry... it's just that I used to be loved by my wonderful community and now they shun me, calling me a child eater and all that! I'm a pescatarian for god sake! I only eat fish!"
Hermaeus nods "poor fellow... anyway, introductions out the way, breakfast."
Hermaeus then begins eating breakfast, finishing it, he makes a formal plan to his new allies "I talked with Fredrick about this last night, and I have a plan to try and get to the root of this terrible evil... first, we must investigate the museum over the ruby dagger incident as it may be linked to the goings on, since that is where the cult slowly became more prominent and showed themselves to the town."
Ingral nods "Correct... that was the first crime that we started getting clues that pointed to them."
"Then I shall start there with everyone, perhaps there's something you lot missed that I wouldn't. it may have been months but there's always a possibility that something is amiss..." Hermaeus announces.
"I say we leave in an hour and head to the museum." Hermaeus suggests as his keen mind was still timing everything, and he knows for a fact that he woke up at nine on the dot, his body clock is always perfect and can never make a mistake until one day it will.