It all began within her room inside one of the various inns that could be found within Orchidia. Although she had no idea why exactly she had chosen to stay here alongside Alisa, there was something mysterious about this place, a certain nostalgia which lured her to stay in this particular establishment. Not that she had any reasons to complain, the rooms were cheap and yet held a certain degree of comfort and cleanness which was often unfound for that price, in the end, a warm blanket and a soft mattress did wonders in giving her a good sleep for the night and she could certainly use that with all the training she had been going through recently.

It was on this particular that Esperia woke up after yet another night of peculiar dreams which she wasn't sure were fabrications of fantasy or memories of a long-bygone past and after getting a quick shower to cleanse the drowsiness from her mind and getting dressed for the day the purple-haired lass made her way into the dining area to grab some breakfast, although once she arrived there Esperia was quick to notice there was a certain difference in the mood that lingered in the area. People were tense, talking among each other as worry clearly was a recurring emotion heard through their troubled voices.

"Did you hear about it? That serial killer struck again." As Esperia approached her table and took a seat she continued to listen to the ongoing conversation between the two townsmen.

"Yeah, it was old Gustaf this time wasn't it? Heard they found the poor man with his throat slit open, just like all the other victims."

A serial killer? That certainly sounded quite troubling, worrying even and if she was entirely honest, she wasn't quite pleased to think that someone would do something as crazy as murdering people when there was the threat of the demonic incursion looming overhead. Whoever had been responsible for this truly must have been a madman!

"I heard that Inspector Nilan is trying to catch him." One of the men stated quietly, making Esperia raise a hand to her cheek as the waitress served her the goblet of milk. "Hmm, where can I find this Inspector Nilan?" Esperia asked the waitress who seemed a bit surprised by the inquiry. "Umm, he should be at the guard station near the main plaza." A gentle smile lingered on Esperia's lips as she mused softly. "Thank you~" And once she finished her goblet she decided to rise from her seat, handing over the jewels for her payment to the waitress and left the inn.

If someone was causing chaos right before a disaster like the Demonic Incursion, then it was up to heroes to stop him. She might had not been a hero, but she was a member of the Blue Pegasus guild, and as such she felt obligated to help the inspector find the man responsible for those crimes and deal with him!

WC: 500/4000

It was a curious something, for a girl aspiring to become the demon lord of lust to be on a quest of catching a serial killer, but then again she had her reasons. Evil like this couldn't go unpunished, especially since the demonic incursion was sure to cause a lot of chaos and sorrow already, in the end she wasn't delusional enough to think there wouldn't be any casualties in this upcoming war. No, it was pretty clear that with the sheer flood of demons swarming Earthland with each incursion, that some people might end up dying, and it was up to people like her to ensure the number of people was as few as possible, at least until they could end the incursions for good.

As those thoughts lingered on her mind Esperia continued her trip to the office of the rune knights where a certain inspector was supposed to have been stationed at. If she recalled right Inspector Nilan was a reputable, competent and hard-working man who had the wellbeing of the people in mind, so he was someone she likely could work together with fairly easily.

Indeed, as the purple-haired lass reached the office of the Rune Knights she thought about how to best approach this matter. It seemed most reasonable for her to try to convince Inspector Nilan to cooperate with her and that the two of them would capture the serial killer. Of course, the fact she was a member of Blue Pegasus and an active participant in the defense of Crocus during the war likely would make Nilan inclined to let her help. Raising a hand to the door handle she opened it and stepped inside, a brief glance around being made into the entrance lobby.

Just as expected several Rune Knights were stationed, armed and ready should a threat show itself, and at the same time there was also a page, perhaps a receptionist of some sorts filling in the paperwork behind a desk. Approaching said desk she inquired with a gentle smile. "Greetings~ Would you happen to know where I can find a certain 'Inspector Nilan'?"

The page raised his head for a moment, seemingly bewildered at being addressed before he raised a hand toward the nearby staircase. "Up the stairs, end of the hallway is where his office is located, he is inside so just knock before you enter."

And with those words Esperia had at last found the location of where the inspector might had been situated at.

After a short ascending of the staircase and approaching the end of the hallway Esperia finally reached the spot where the inspector was supposed to be working at. A gentle lifting of her hand followed as she knocked lightly on the door. "Inspector Nilan? I am Esperia from the Blue Pegasus guild, could I have a moment of your time please?"

And now all she could do was wait and hope that the inspector would accept her offer. Still, she was hopeful about the matter at least...

WC: 505
Total WC: 1005/4000

A momentary silence lingered in the air when a voice finally answered her from within the room "Please enter Miss Esperia." Opening the door Esperia stepped inside the room, her gaze cast at the surrounding area before stepping further inside. A spacious office was the place she found herself in, various maps and documents pinned onto the walls and further ahead was a desk where a young man, presumably the inspector himself was standing behind, clearly looking over some documents. Raising his head he smiled wearily at her and spoke in a friendly tone. "I apologize for the lack of a warm welcome, I am unfortunately quite occupied right now trying to solve an important case."

So, it was just as she had heard: Inspector Nilan had been assigned to the task of apprehending the serial killer responsible behind those murders. As such it was reasonable to assume that with a bit of effort she could likely convince the man to let her cooperate with him. "Would you happen to be investigating the serial killings that have been unfolding recently?" Esperia's inquiry caused the man to frown for a moment as he inquired calmly. "I presume you are familiar with the case then?"

Esperia shook her head lightly in response to the question, soon explaining herself further. "I was merely enjoying a breakfast earlier when I overheard some townsmen discussing a murder, as a member of Blue Pegasus it is only natural that I would want to assist you in solving this case, right? Especially with the unrest about the activity of the rifts that been sighted nearby, it is only reasonable that we want the serial killer dealt with as soon as possible."

Inspector Nilan nodded his head firmly in agreement to her words. "It is unthinkable that someone would commit such a hideous crime, especially in such a troubling time. Very well, I'll accept your offer for help"

The man gestured for her to approach the desk and motioned toward the map he had unfurled before him. "The map you see here is a layout of Orchidia, the green lines are the patrol routes of our Rune Knights, meanwhile the red crosses are the places the victims were found murdered."

Esperia frowned quietly as a hand raised to her chin. "It seems the culprit is avoiding the patrol routes..." The man nodded his head in response to her statement and tapped a hand to his chin. "I'll send some Rune Knights along so you can investigate the crime scene, perhaps you'll spot something which has been left unnoticed by our knights, a fresh pair of eyes always helps." The Inspector explained as he approached the doorway and called out to one of the guards. "Get me 3 Rune Knights who are off-duty currently and get them armed and ready for guard duty!" The inspector demanded, upon which the knight saluted and rushed off toward the staircase to give the instructions to his comrades. Seems a hunt was being set into motion!

WC: 503
Total Wc: 1508/4000

It only took a few minutes before the group of knights that were called by Inspector Nilan arrived as instructed. Three armored knights entered the room, a brief salute being made toward the inspector. "Squire Alexander reporting for duty!" the first one said. Alexander was a young man, seemingly a few years younger than herself and had a certain energetic and youthful demeanor to him. The next one to response was a young woman seemingly around her own age, although the playful salute being made by the knight almost earned a brief chuckle from Esperia if not for the direness of the situation. "Squire Alleyne ready for action~" The last of the knights to answer the call was a somewhat older middle-aged man, his gentle expression concealing a sharp and trained gaze that reminded her of Sebastian in a certain way. "That would be 'Reporting for duty Alleyne', My name is Joseph by the way." The man said with a slight bow of his head in a greeting toward Esperia while Inspector Nilan proceeded to explain things further.

"Alright, back onto the task at hand, Alexander, Alleyne, Joseph you three will be escorting Esperia to the perimeter of the last crime scene. She has been kind enough to offer us her assistance, so I do not want to have any accidents happen while she is under your care, understood?"

The three knights nodded their heads firmly in acknowledgment while Inspector Nilan turned toward Esperia and continued his explanation. "If anything happens, please do not hesitate to rely on them. If you believe you spotted anything out of ordinary, please ensure to let me know as soon as possible. Any detail, no matter how trivial might be an important clue for us to catch the culprit."

With those words said the three knights escorted Esperia outside of the office, the first one to speak being Alexander. "So~ how long have you been a Guild Mage Esperia?" In response to the inquiry Esperia started to muse softly. "Well, I joined Blue Pegasus shortly after meeting its former Guild Master, she introduced me into the guild so I believe this makes it the third year that I'm officially a member of Blue Pegasus?"

The next one to speak up was Alleyne, who clearly seemed quite interested in the statements made by the purple-haired lass. "Three years? That means you experienced the siege on Crocus, right? How was it?"

Esperia's smile faded for a moment as she answered her in a softer tone. "War is never a pleasant thing Alleyne, a lot of good people got injured, some even died, in a way war is an ugliness that will never change... even if some people consider it a necessity."

Joseph nodded his head quietly in agreement to Esperia's statement, a hand raised to his chin as he mused softly. "You're right, I lost some dear friends during that conflict, can't say that it is something I want to experience again..."

And with the sighting of the demonic rifts emerging around Earthland it might have been just a matter of time before war would reach them once more.

WC: 523
Total WC: 2031/4000

As the group walked along the streets of Orchidia Esperia found that the group was surprisingly talkative despite the threat of a serial killer looming in the shadows of this city. Of course, that by itself left Esperia quite curious about the reason they were able to talk so casually. "Say, Alleyne... aren't you worried about the fact there is a serial killer lurking in this town?" The question caused the knights to pause for a moment, looking at each other in confusion for a moment before Joseph took the lead in the conversation.

"Of course we are worried, but I think I speak for all of us that we trust Inspector Nilan and believe that his skills will help him catch the murderous madman who is at work here." Alleyne nodded her head in agreement. "I'm sure that at one point the culprit will make a mistake and then we'll catch him!" slamming her gauntleted first into her hand Alleyne grinned confidently at Esperia while Alexander playfully shrugged his shoulders. "And there you have it, there is truly no need for us to allow ourselves to become haunted by fear and paranoia, what this town needs is action. Speaking of action, we're about to reach the area the last murder took place at."

As Alexander announced this Esperia soon spotted the alleyway where several tapes were spread, a hand brushing them aside as the knights and the Blue Pegasus mage made their way inside the alleyway. Although it had been a few days since the previous victim was murdered, there was still a gloomy and oppressive feeling lingering in the air, and even despite trying to do her best to ignore the feeling, Esperia had to admit she felt quite uncomfortable being here. The Blue Pegasus mage started to wander around the area, inspecting various details that seemed worthy of her attention. The place the corpse of the victim was found at, although nothing seemed unusual or out of place there. Then there was the alleyway itself, it was a simple alleyway, not too small to be uncomfortable to pass through, but at the same time not large enough to be a place you wanted to walk through unless you were in a hurry or didn't want to take a detour.

Shortly after she started inspecting the surrounding area Esperia started to muse softly. "Nothing seems out of ordinary here, whoever was responsible for this crime likely didn't leave any clues behind.

A glimpse was made into the direction of the knights when finally Esperia shook her head lightly in response. "I'm afraid I won't be able to discover anything from this area." The knights nodded their heads lightyl in response, Alleyne giving her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, we'll get back to our patrols and make sure to catch the bastard responsible for those crimes!"

As Esperia took her leave from the group, little did Esperia realize just how quickly the threat lurking in the shadows would catch up with her all of a sudden!

WC: 507
Total WC: 2538/4000

It all began the same evening she had took her leave from the three knights who had escorted her to the crime scene. After she had finished her dinner Esperia felt she needed to talk to Inspector Nilas, after all there was something which confused her immensely. However, as she was making her way along the streets of Orchidia and into the direction of the Rune Knights their office Esperia couldn't help but pause for a moment. Alexander, Joseph and Alleyne their patrol routes were supposed to be near here, Joseph and Alleyne's were quite close, but Alexander's wouldn't be able to reach them until the end of his patrol, which if she recalled right would last till midnight. It was still roughly three hours till then, so she shouldn't be expecting to meet one of them.

She had a suspicion, something which had been nagging at the back of her mind and needed confirmation, but little did she know how right her suspicion had been, and that it had been too late for her to act upon it. A sudden scream resounded through the air, making Esperia turn toward the direction the sound came from. As if fate had played a cruel twist of the narrative, it just happened to be that it was a large ominous alleyway that awaited her!

Rushing into the alleyway Esperia soon found a lifeless body on the ground, a man clad in the armor of a Rune Knight, and after ensuring nobody was around she swiftly approached the corpse and crouched down beside it, trying to push the body onto its back, when the identity of the man made her gasp in disbelief.

"J-Joseph?" It was the same gentle middle-aged man who had escorted her alongside Alleyne and Alexander but a few hours prior. A mere glimpse at his throat confirmed the man's neck had been cleanly sliced open, not even a chance to resist or react judging from the fact his sword was still sheathed and his shield strapped to his arm. No, the poor man was caught by surprise. But who could have done this? A regular criminal wouldn't have just attacked a Rune Knight like this, especially since there was the risk the knight might had gotten aid. No, the one responsible for this could approach Joseph without suspicion, and also knew the routes of the Rune Knights, which obviously meant that the serial killer was... A fellow Rune Knight!

"I know you're here Alexander! Show yourself or I will reveal your crimes to Inspector Nilan!"

The girl could only hope her taunt would work, and after a moment of eerie silence where the tension felt like it could be sliced with a knife, the purple-haired lass heard a soft chuckle from the nearby shadows. "I'm surprised that you knew it was me... How did you figure it out Esperia?"

It appeared the serial killer had found her, the masked madman slowly approaching her with a dangerous glint in his eyes.

WC: 501
Total WC: 3039/4000

So her guess was right, the murderer was a Rune Knight! And to think it was one of the knights that had escorted her earlier... "Perhaps I'll tell you once we got you locked in a cell..." Esperia answered coldly, brandishing her staff and pointing it toward the masked killer. However, before she could even cast a spell the man lunged forwards, swinging his sword and forcing Esperia to parry the swing with her staff! "Haha! you're not a warrior! How do you expect to stop me?"

The man taunted her in amusement, and yet Esperia could feel she was lacking in strength to keep up with this man. It took all of her strength just not to be knocked off her feet, and she had no idea how long her staff would be able to endure before it would break! However, it seemed the answer to that would soon reveal itself, for when the masked killer swung his sword a second time Esperia found herself knocked backwards, landing onto the ground with a light thud, and only barely able to roll to the side to avoid the jumping thrust the man made toward the spot she had fallen to!

I need to create some distance, else I can't cast fast enough." Attempting to lunge backwards Esperia was just fast enough to deflect the swing of the masked murderer, yet her parry came at a high price, for her staff soon shattered and left her unarmed. The man grinned smugly at her, a hand slowly raised to his mask as he took it off while pointing his sword at the purple-hairded lass. "What a pity that you couldn't arrest me like you planned to? Let your weakness haunt you into the grave, knowing that you couldn't stop me in time!"

The man plunged his sword toward her chest, but it was in that instant a worried voice came from deeper the edge of the alleyway. "Esperia!" Alexander turned his gaze toward the voice, and upon spotting his fellow knight grinned smugly, expecting the killing blow to have been delivered already. "Here to join the party my dear Alleyne? Unfortunately, you're a little bit too late... I just killed our dear guest!"

The man started to laugh maniacally

"Who are you writing off as dead?" Looking in bewilderment toward her Alexander saw how the girl's scarf had wrapped around the knife's blade, effectively intercepting the blow and preventing it from impaling Esperia herself!

"Alexander! You're under arrest under the suspicion of murder!" Alleyne called out to him and brandished her sword while Esperia took the opportunity to lunge backward. She knew that Alexander was likely going to try to escape, which meant she would need a means to stop him, a technique which would force him to remain. But did she have such an power at her disposal? A spell which could force someone to accept her order to stay? Actually... perhaps she did possess such a skill. Although, it would mean relying on her abilities once more...

WC: 507
Total WC: 3546/4000

To think that she would have to rely on Asmodeus at a time like this... Then again, she couldn't possibly permit Alexander to escape, especially not after the heinous crime he had committed! If that meant transforming in front of a Rune Knight? Then so be it... "Luxuria!" With that one phrase Esperia felt the familiar surge of mana escape from her body, the aura of energy rapidly expanding and encasing her into a cocoon of obsidian-tinted magic that after a moment shattered to reveal the raven-haired demoness within. "Alleyne, keep him busy for a moment!" Esperia called out, earning a confused look from Alleyne who quickly recollected herself and nodded her head firmly, sword in hand as she dashed toward the murderous madman. The two of them quickly locked blades in a clash while Esperia thought about the spell she had been preparing to use.

Asmodeus had told her before, that the greatest power that she had at her disposal was the ability to control a person's very own mind by manipulating the desires and longing within them. It was truly an ability that was suited for the Demon Lord of Lust, and yet Esperia had to admit the idea of such a power terrified her slightly.

However, this was not the time for being reserved about using the gifts she had at her disposal! Alleyne was in danger, and if she didn't stop Alexander here, then who knew how long before another victim would be found? Trying to sense the man's desires Esperia could feel only an immense amount of lust for violence and bloodshed, but perhaps she could corrupt it, turn it into something else. Raising a hand to her lips Esperia kissed her fingertips lightly and waved it into the direction of the murderous madman, praying for her spell to succeed.

At first it seemed to do little, the man kept being locked into his skirmish with Alleyne, but it was then all of sudden his body went limb, and no longer sensing any threats in the area toward her, the man started to march toward her like a zombie, a lustful gaze in his eyes. Fortunately for her Alleyne was quick to act, pulling both arms of the man behind his back and cuffing them together with some special handcuffs while Esperia sighed softly. "I'll explain more about this form later Alleyne, for now you best take him to the rune knights, I'll stay at Joseph's body till you and the knights return."

Alleyne nodded her head qucikly as she started to push the love-struck fool down the alleyway, leaving Esperia to look soberly toward the corpse of Joseph. If she had acted upon her suspicions earlier then she might had been able to prevent the poor man from dying. Indeed, while she might had succeeded in helping the knights arrest the murderous madman, Esperia had to admit that a part of her felt like she had failed... especially with the corpse of a kind person at her feet...

WC: 504
Total WC: 4050/4000