CHAPTER 64: | CHAPTER 064 | MISSING VILLAGES INVESTIGATION

As the bells of the entrance chimed, Damien entered the Cambridge Bay Police Station and saw a group of people discussing nearby. With a nonchalant expression, he stepped forward and walked towards them, attracting their attention. The Sheriff and the deputies glanced in his direction while Devon introduced him.

"This is Damien, the Jaeger from the seventh Division of SIGIL." His words echoed throughout the interiors of the law enforcement office, prompting the black-suited young man to tilt his fedora forward. "It’s nice to meet you, Sheriff and deputies. Are you discussing the investigation?"

"Yes, another village has disappeared ten clicks in the north east of the fortified colony. All of the inhabitants are gone. According to the officers, there were no signs of resistance within the desolate village. As though in the blink of an eye, all of those people disappeared." Devon answered with furrowed eyebrows.

"Another group of villages has gone missing, huh? Any movements in the fortified colony?" Damien looked at Devon, who shook his head. "No movements have been detected inside. It seems that whoever abducted those people operated outside of Cambridge Bay."

"Alright, since there is no confirmation of death or struggle. We can conclude that whoever abducted them wanted those villages to be alive. We don’t know why, but this works in our favor. The bastards must be preparing for something, and we have to stop it."

Damien turned his attention to the Sheriff and the deputies of the Cambridge Bay Police Station. "Sheriff, I would like a complete report of the missing villages. We need to identify any commonalities between them. At any rate, we can rule out the aetheric beasts within the list of suspects."

"W-what? Why couldn’t it be the aetheric beasts?" A deputy raised his voice and questioned the words of the black-suited young man. Damien sighed to himself and aloofly explained to the deputy. "The disappearances didn’t leave any tracks behind."

"Either the villages were teleported out of their homes, or someone carefully concealed their tracks and ensured that it would be as clean as possible. But there should be signs. Transporting hundreds of people isn’t without its trouble." Hearing the words of Damien, the Sheriff nodded in agreement.

"I agree... I’ll hand you the reports of those missing villages, Sir Damien." The Sheriff walked into his office and began rummaging through his cabinet. It didn’t take long for him to take out a couple of files, and it stacked into the dozens. "Missing villages have been going on for a couple of months now."

"Because of the cold tundra, we only noticed the disappearance after two-thirds of a dozen were already gone." The Sheriff explained while handing out the files to Damien. The black-suited young man nodded in understanding and started reading them.

It didn’t take long for Damien’s sable-tinted gaze to narrow. "Hmm... Do you have an actual time for their disappearance, or are we blind in the investigation?" He turned his gaze towards the Sheriff, who shook his head. "Communications between villages are lacking."

"Most of the time. We assume that those outside of the fortified colony are either alive or dead. You can consider the ones outside as independent settlements, so we have no way of determining when they went missing. Even our last communications with any of them were months ago."

The Sheriff sighed to himself, realizing how much Cambridge Bay was lacking in comparison to the usual Federal Colonies. "There aren’t any signs of life beyond the mountain ranges. In simpler terms, we are as blind as one can be. An unfortunate circumstance."

"What about the governor of the colony? Heard any news from him?" Damien inquired while staring at the files within the grasp of his fingers. The Sheriff looked at him in a daze, but punctually answered. "That man only wants us to solve whatever is causing the villages to be missing."

"If it wasn’t for that tourist reporting about it, the missing villages would have been kept under wraps by local law enforcement. After all, it’s more trouble than it’s worth." He widened his arms after his response. "He would only impede the investigation and obstruct justice to maintain his image with his politician friends."

"I see..." Damien placed the files on the desk and pondered the investigation. After taking his time, he gazed at the Sheriff and the deputies before questioning. "Did any of you hear about a cult within the northern fringes? I have heard about them while heading here."

"No, I don’t think that there’s any cult here. It’s more likely to be bandits than cults." The Sheriff adamantly opposed, as a deputy promptly added. "The Abominable Cult does not exist within the confines of the fortified colony. I agree with the Sheriff, the suspects should be bandits."

Damien looked at the two with a tinge of indifference while Devon furrowed his eyebrows. The black-suited young man tipped his fedora and interrogated the deputy. "I didn’t remember saying anything about the Abominable? Do you know something about them?"

Cold sweat dripped from the deputy’s forehead as he instinctively backed away when Damien took a step forward. The Sheriff stood between the two of them and was about to unlatch his handgun, sternly staring at the black-suited young man. "I won’t watch my subordinate being interrogated."

"This isn’t an interrogation, but an inquisition." Damien didn’t plan on backing down and glared at the middle-aged man. "We need all the information we can get about the missing villages. That includes the bandits, the cult, the governor, and you." He pointed at the Sheriff.

"So, tell me... Sheriff, what do you know about the Abominable? Are they operating nearby? Where? Why? And how is a cult existing within the area of influence of the Federation?" Damien tilted his head and grabbed the shoulders of the Sheriff. "I think that you should calm down."

"Tell your deputies to lower their firearms before things get ugly." He turned his cold gaze towards the deputies who were unlatching their handguns one after another. The Sheriff glanced at the deputies and took a deep breath. "Stand down... Don’t provoke someone from the central regions."

"Good. Let’s return to our discussion. What do any of you know about the Abominable?" Once again, Damien questioned the Sheriff and the deputies. Devon watched from a distance, curious about the answers that would escape the mouths of the law enforcement officers.

"The Abominable has deep influence over the inhabitants of the northern fringes. During the great famine a couple of years back, they were the ones who ensured that we would have something to eat. Many died during that catastrophe, and it didn’t even make the newspaper for those in the central."

Damien didn’t care about the drama between the north and the central regions of the Federation. He continued to listen to the Sheriff’s explanation. "Since then, all of us have been indebted to the order of the Abominable. It isn’t a cult, but an actual sect of culture in the desolate north."

"I don’t know what you think, but those within the cult are good people. There’s no way the missing villages would be connected to them." The Sheriff vouched for the cult, but Damien and Devon remained indifferent to it. The two glanced at one another before nodding simultaneously.

"Where are the Abominable Cult residing, Sheriff?" Damien stepped forward and questioned the middle-aged man. The law enforcement officers looked at one another, pondering what to do against these operatives from the SIGIL. The Sheriff instinctively gulped, his mind crying at him to reveal the truth.

"Your answer will affect the path of the investigation, so please give us a response." Devon also cornered the Sheriff, ready to tackle the man if he dared to even make a wrong move. Damien looked past the Sheriff and said towards the deputies. "Don’t do anything stupid."

"You will never be able to find the Abominable. No matter what you do. Nobody inside this town will ever betray them." The Sheriff glared at the black-suited young man, puffing his chest forward and holding the grip of his handgun tightly with his fingers. "No one has to get hurt."

"If the two of you and that crimson-haired girl returned to where you come from, it would be the best for this fortified colony. Otherwise, you would be fighting against an entire population. No matter how strong you are. The two of you wouldn’t be able to handle hundreds of humans."

Damien sighed with a shade of aloofness, disappointed by the answers of the Sheriff. While he’d rather avoid violence, he wasn’t someone who would shy away from it when the concept stood before him. He would confront violence and handle it.

"Unfortunately, we cannot do that." Devon shook his head and rejected the suggestion of the Sheriff. "The Abominable Cult is a dangerous group that is worshiping something that shouldn’t be deified in any way. Are you part of the cult, Sheriff?" He narrowed his gaze and stared at the middle-aged man.

"A confrontation seems unavoidable. But we will give you time. If you don’t report any information about the cult, Cambridge Bay will be considered the camp of traitors. The Federation will judge all of you for treason." Damien walked away and stepped out of the police station.

Devon followed from behind as the two of them headed towards the black SUV. Heading there, Damien noticed a crimson-haired girl waiting for them. It was none other than Hecate, his partner. She smirked at them and remarked. "Looks like negotiations didn’t do well."

"It did as well as one would expect. But it doesn’t matter." Damien smiled at her while looking at the cold blue skies. Soaring across it was a giant eagle flapping its wings and screeching with undaunted freedom.