Having accepted his fate, Damien finally arrived at VN 25th Street of Eighth Avenue.
This was considered the central plaza and the most populous area for the people. It also happened to be the one where Damien could obtain a geographical map of the world, especially the landscape of Velgrave.
Although Damien wished to stay lowkey and inconspicuous, the truth was that his foreign clothes seemed to attract a lot of attention.
Frequently, there would be people widening their eyes in shock and fear, whereas there would also be some gossiping from afar.
However, the most common words within their gossip were: criminal, investigator, TI, and danger.
TI had initially caught Damien off-guard until he connected the dots with TI being an acronym for Transcendent Investigator. Simultaneously, he also believed his foreign clothes must have been the symbolization of a TI.
Unfortunately, he was unable to find a different set of clothes to change into.
As for trying to buy some new clothes, that was even more difficult. Not only was he feared by many when he approached them, but the currency they used wasn't in dollars either.
They used the typical old-fashioned coin style and they are ranked from lowest to highest value: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum.
'This clothes might be a hindrance, but it's still good enough to scare people into giving me some free money.' Damien smirked.
His vision and clarity improved tremendously. Thus, he was able to spot some bad individuals but not terrible enough to be labeled as criminals.
Bad individuals such as pickpockets, whom he easily noticed from afar and rushed to them.
Sure enough, these common pickpockets were frightened so badly and coughed up the money they stole from others. Since they were that afraid, Damien took the chance to ask about the currency in exchange for letting them off the hook.
Naturally, they quickly fell for the bait and agreed. He only had the appearance of what they claimed him to be. But he didn't even have the authorization, much less an idea of what he could do.
Therefore, he managed to obtain some wealth and a brief understanding of the hierarchy structure in Velgrave.
As Damien glanced around, he finally noticed a board that had the layout of Velgrave. He hastened his steps and arrived just before it.
Similar to previous incidents, when he approached the board closer, the nearby people who spotted him, quickly stepped to the side.
Their eyes were mixed with wariness and nervousness.
"Am I that horrifying?" Damien suddenly turned his attention to one of them and questioned.
"N-No, Sir Investigator.," The unlucky individual had no choice but to shake their head frantically. It was clear that they were unwilling to be mistaken as a troublemaker or criminal whatsoever.
"If I'm not horrifying, then why have you retreated on your steps so far?" Damien raised an eyebrow.
"It's out of respect." The person responded. "We dare not intrude in your business and thus, sidestepped to give you all the space Sir Investigator requires."
Their response was overly similar to the ones he had gotten so far. It was the equivalent of someone copying their buddy's homework and pasting it into their paper as their own.
Despite Damien wanting to question further, he knew doing so would expose his false identity. Therefore, he dared not press the matter and simply waved his hand to dismiss the person.
'I should really purchase some new clothes after memorizing the city's layout.' He thought. The clothes themselves were a great barrier to deflect incoming troubles, but they also deflected tons of valuable information.
A double-edged clothes— one might say.
Sometime later, without anyone to disturb his memorization, Damien managed to comprehend the city's layout.
It wasn't too difficult either, with the middle and upper regions of the city to be quite linear. The only problematic part was the lower region, as well as the so-called slum or poor area.
"The slums have too many turns and corners." He mumbled. Additionally, he suspected there to be hidden passages in between these turns as well.
He highly doubted the city's layout to be extremely precise, but it was definitely eighty percent accurate, at the very least.
"Sir Investigator, he's over there. I've told you that I didn't lie to you."
"Hmm, it's really him. Consider yourself lucky."
"Thank you, Sir Investigator."
While Damien was deep in his thoughts, a commotion could be heard, and the crowd soon gasped in shock when they realized the source.
"Oh dear lord, it's three Transcendent Investigators. Are they here to catch a criminal?"
"Jeez, this is the middle region though. How could those people escape over here?"
As the crowd started gasping, they watched as the three people— one woman and two men, quickly walked toward and arrived behind Damien.
Just when the crowd thought Damien was in trouble, one of them took off their hat and sighed in relief.
"Investigator Damien, we've finally found you." They said and continued, "The crime scene is still untouched and we have been waiting for you the whole night. We thought something had happened to you."
"I think you got the wrong person," Damien responded calmly. But silently, he was panicking inside. He had been posing and allowing others to mistake him as the Transcendent Investigator. Yet now the real deal was here. He got to escape fast and avoid being caught.
Unfortunately, the moment he tried to slip through the crack and flee, he was blocked by the other two people.
"Investigator Damien, please stop joking around." A woman said in an exhausted tone. "I know you don't think much of us since we're only in the Ninth Order, but you should still take this matter seriously.
'Ninth Order?' Confused, Damien gazed at the woman. She had short brown hair, her eyes were of almond shape, her height was around 5 feet 6, but more specifically he paid attention to the insignia pinned in her clothes. Indeed, the number 9 was engraved in it. Realizing that, he took a look at his insignia which displayed the number 7.
Based on their tone of speech and cautiousness, it appeared that the lower the number, the higher their authority was.
However, the most astonishing part was that these people seemed to know him.
Investigator Damien— that would have been the correct form of address if he was actually an investigator.
Without further ado, Damien had no choice but to continue his act. He grinned and said, "Hmm, since you know who I am. Let's hear how much you know about me. Based on your response, I will decide whether to take a look at the crime scene or not. Also, make sure to introduce yourself first."
"Very well, Investigator Damien. I'm Jasmine, a Ninth Order TI, based on Velgrave. We have been informed that Investigator Damien, a Seventh Order TI, would be in charge of the case and that we have to serve you. Investigator Damien is the youngest Seventh Order TI due to his extensive investigation skills and ability to capture even the most slippery Transcendent criminals."
The woman, otherwise identified as Jasmine, reported solemnly. Her tone held a revered tone, but her expression depicted the opposite.
It could be assumed that Damien's antics and conduct so far had disappointed her, but she dared not voice it aloud.
Shortly after Jasmine's report, Damien did the same and inquired about the other two men.
They were respectively in the Ninth Order as well, with the names Lucas and Kyle. Both of them were similar in height, around 5 feet 7, and had the identical short black hair. In addition, their reports were technically the same as Jasmine's, which made Damien rather baffled.
After all, they even provided proof with a picture of him and his data on their tablet. His face and name were the same, along with a list of past achievements he made which he got no clue about accomplishing.
'They really perceive me as the authentic one.' Damien knitted his brows. He had unintentionally realized there was another unknown variable in the equation: his presence.