THE DECTECTIVE FROM ASHBROAD

In the remnants of a destroyed universe, there was nothing but void.
A lone human floated in that emptiness, unmoving, as if even gravity had given up on him.

"Nothingness… There's nothing around me. Only void. It's all that exists now."

His voice was hollow, drained of everything but exhaustion.

"I want to die… but I can't. I don't know why the world is keeping me alive, but I don't want this anymore."

He clenched his fists.

"King of the Dark Dimension… that demon… He killed all my comrades, destroyed my universe, and… I was unable to save my world. What a shame."

He let out a bitter, humorless laugh.

"They used to call me, the hero of the Haisenstroms. I was the slayer of the World-Drowning Dragon, the savior of countless people."

His voice dropped to barely a whisper.

"But I couldn't save my own universe. My own people. My comrades."

Silence swallowed the void again.

Then—

"Cederic Clymont…"

Cederic froze. He was supposed to be the only one here.

"Even though you lost, you fought well to save your world, with your whole heart. Hero of this world, the universe is giving you another chance — to live in another world, in your current life, to complete the goals you were unable to complete in this one."

"What?!"

Before he could say anything more, an intense purple light engulfed him.

"What's the point of surviving and going to another world when everyone I know has died?"
he shouted into the light.
"Wait — my mana! I can't feel my mana at all! Maybe it just doesn't exist where I'm heading?"

He let out a hollow breath.

"Whatever. My world was destroyed because I was too weak to protect it. So this time, I am promising to myself that I'll make the world I'm heading to a world where everyone can protect themselves. A world where no one can blame anyone."

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Truth Quest And The Wandering Swords

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Ashbroad Town, a small town in Voymaria Kingdom:

A crowd had gathered in front of the moneylender Finn's house, early in the morning.

"Hey, what happened? Why are so many people out here?"

A man asked another man standing nearby.

"Someone stole the money from the moneylender's house."
"What?! That's bad. Did anyone call Rem?"
"Yeah, the moneylender called him first. Everyone's here to watch him find the culprit."
"Oh, then there's nothing to worry about. Rem will catch him easily."

Rem Worthswords, the finest detective in Ashbroad, was already inside, carefully examining the room where the moneylender kept his cash. He was about twenty-three, well-dressed in clean but plainly cheap clothes — the look of a gentleman who didn't have much money to spare on looking like one. Beside him stood a young girl, clearly younger than him. Only the three of them — Rem, the girl, and the moneylender — were allowed inside.

"Niko, got anything?" Rem asked the girl.
"Not quite. But I'm not the detective — you are. And I think you've already found something."
"Yeah."

Rem thought for a moment, scanning the room one last time, then turned to the moneylender.

"No broken locks. Windows are untouched. Nothing in here is damaged. There's no sign of a break-in. This looks like someone with a key opened the door, opened the shelves, took the cash, and put the key back before slipping away. You still have your key?"
"Yes, I still have it. This morning, when I came in like always, the money was just... gone."
"Was the key where you always leave it, the night before?"
"Yes."
"Then I assume this wasn't a professional thief. I think it was someone close to you — someone who knows exactly where you keep that key. They took it after you fell asleep, opened everything, took the money, put the key back, and left."
"Someone close to me?!"
"Yeah. How many people actually know where you keep the key?"
"Let me think... My wife. My son. My two assistants Ken and Joy. My business partner Pietro. And my servant Mark. But all of them are loyal to me. My wife and son would never do this."
"Fine, set your wife and son aside for now. That leaves four people as my first suspects. Are they all here?"
"Joy and Pietro are here."
"And the other two?"
"My other assistant, Ken, asked for two days off — he's been gone since then. My servant left yesterday to visit his daughter in the next village."
"I doubt the real culprit would be brave enough to stand around during an investigation, so I'll set the assistant and the partner aside for now. Our real suspects are Ken and the servant. I can gather evidence and confirm it properly, but that takes time — and right now, catching the thief matters more than proving it. So let's work with probability instead."
"Probability?"
"There are two possibilities. One — he hid the money somewhere in town. That's the easy case; we'd find it soon enough. Two — he's already fled with it. That's the dangerous one, so let's assume the worst: he's left town."
"Okay."
"East of Ashbroad is the sea, so that's out. West is the mountains — too dangerous to climb at night. That leaves north and south. South is Graywood Forest. North is the road to Crewhut, the nearest town. Naturally you'd think Crewhut. The fastest route there is actually through Graywood, but there's a swamp in the forest that blocks the way — there was heavy rain last night and it is impossible to cross it while raining. So my guess is he took the north road toward Crewhut."
"That's a solid guess, Rem. But can we still catch him? What if he's already left Crewhut by the time we arrive?"
"What time did you go to sleep last night?"
"What? Why does that matter all of a sudden?"
"Just answer."
"Midnight."
"Right. On foot, it's eight hours to Crewhut. By horse or bull cart, four to five. You slept at midnight, woke at six, and found the money gone — so the theft happened somewhere in that window. It's seven-thirty now. He can't have reached Crewhut yet. We can still catch him — if we leave now. Although..."

Rem paused.

"Taking the north road would actually be a foolish move on his part. I'd bet on Graywood instead."
"Wait, really—"

Rem pulled a map from his pocket.

"Look. This shows our town and the towns nearby. If the theft happened around midnight, he left roughly then too — give or take an hour. That puts him somewhere between two and six hours out from Crewhut by now. The northern road takes eight hours total. The Graywood route only takes six — and there's a shortcut through it that only thieves usually know about. Since our man isn't a professional, he won't know it. That shortcut cuts the trip to four hours, and it crosses back onto the main path right—"

he tapped the map

"—here. If your men leave now, they can catch him at this exact spot."

The moneylender stared at him, speechless.

"Thank you, Rem. But... how do you know a shortcut that only thieves would know?"

Rem froze for half a second, then let out a slow breath.

"I mean.... I'm a detective. Knowing what a thief knows is the job. That's not important right now — just get your men moving before he slips past."
"R-right. Okay."
"While they go after him, I'll keep looking into the rest of the suspects."

A few hours later:

The crowd at the moneylender's house had almost completely dispersed. Rem was still having a small chat with the moneylender's assistant, partner, wife, and son — quietly investigating them without their knowledge. Suddenly, the moneylender Finn came rushing toward his house.

"Rem...!"

Finn shouted Rem's name as soon as he spotted him. Rem looked up, a little surprised.

"Hey Finn, what happened? Did you catch the culprit, or was I wrong?"
"Me and my men were able to catch him at the exact spot you said! Ken was the culprit. We caught him with the money he stole from me."

Rem saw Finn's eyes shining with relief and happiness.

"That's good. So where is Ken now?"
"My men have taken him to be handed over to the authorities. I still wonder how you manage to solve every single case. How can you always be so sure?"
"How do I explain that... I'm a detective. It's my job, that's all. I don't really know what else to say."
"Anyway..."

Finn pulled out a pouch full of gold coins and held it out to Rem.

"...take this, Rem."

Rem froze, stunned.

"But—"
"Why do you look so shocked? You did your job, and I'm paying you your reward. You deserve it."
"But you know I already have a fixed pay for my cases, so..."
"That's not a problem. You saved me a lot of money, so this is nothing. Take it as my gratitude."
"Okay... thank you very much."
"No need to thank me. If anything, I'm the one who should be thanking you."

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Later that night, at Rem's house:

Rem and Niko were in Rem's old, cramped little house. Rem bounced on his wooden bed, clutching the pouch he'd gotten from Finn, laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

"You know, you literally look like a psychopath right now."
"Yeah — a handsome, intelligent psychopath who can trick anyone!"

Niko sighed.

"A little too much self-praise, don't you think?"
"Look at this, Niko. We have so much money now. We can do whatever we want."
"Oh, come on. This isn't the first time you've gotten this much money. You always end up spending it all the moment you have enough. You could've built a proper house, or—"
"Who cares about a good house or luxuries? I just want to live. Just live. I only want enough money to get through each day..."

Both of them fell silent for a moment.

"Rem, it's been about a year since you became a detective, hasn't it?"
"Yeah. But it feels like an eternity. I don't even remember how many cases I've solved since then — it feels like so many, and it's been fun. All thanks to you, Niko. You're the one who suggested I become a detective. And before that... you remember how I used to live?"
"Do you really want to bring all that up again?"
"Yeah... I feel like I should. Father died when I was young. Too young. I don't even remember his face. I don't know what kind of person he was. I don't even know if he loved me or not..."

Silence settled over the room for a minute.

"Then there was mother. She did everything she could for me. She worked herself to the bone just to keep us alive. But I was an idiot — I never bothered to notice how much she struggled, never even tried to help her. It was only after she fell ill and became bedridden that I had no choice but to earn a living for both of us. But I was good for nothing. I didn't know how to do any real job — or maybe I was just too lazy to learn one. Normal work never felt like anything to me, but being a thief was fun. Dangerous, but fun. No one in Rustbroad ever realized I was a thief; I made sure of that. I had a goal — to give mother a good life before she died. I never wanted her to find out what I really was. But when she died, I lost my hope, my dreams... there was no one left in the world worth living for. Life felt meaningless, aimless. Even being a thief lost its point, because there was no one left for whose sake I needed to take risks. I thought about death, more than once, but I hate death — it's the thing that took my father and mother from me. So I swore to myself, back then, that I would never surrender to it. I just wanted to live. Just live. Then you gave me the idea of becoming a detective. Since I already knew every way a person could steal, solving cases came easily to me. After I became a detective, people started to notice me. They started to admire me, to love me — and I liked it. All of it was fun. I love the thrill of solving a case, and the way people look at me afterward, like I'm some kind of hero. I'm not a hero. But I like it when people think of me as one... though — is that really love? People only started caring about me once I became useful to them. Before that, I barely existed to anyone at all."

"That's enough. You're talking too much nonsense today. If thinking about the past really hurts you this much, then stop thinking about it. Besides, I already know everything you're about to say, so there's no point telling me. Just go to sleep."
"...What about you, Niko? You've always stayed with me, ever since we were kids. Why? Because we're friends? Are we really friends? What does 'friend' even mean, anyway?"
"...I don't know if we're really friends or not. But you already know I don't have anyone else either, and being with you is fun. It still is."
"Fine. So would you leave me the moment it stopped being fun?"
"...Maybe. I can't say for sure, not yet. But I am sure that someday you'll find people who love you without expecting anything back."
"Really? Me? Someone who only cares about himself and no one else? Do I really deserve people who'd genuinely love me?"
"...Hey, that's enough. You've had enough for tonight. I'm heading out. It's late — sleep well."
"Okay... good night, Niko."
"Good night, Rem. See you tomorrow."

Niko walked off into the dark.

Meanwhile, a little way from Rem's house, a young girl stood watching. The window had been left open, and she'd been quietly observing Rem from a distance the whole time.

(Thought)
"I don't know what kind of person he really is... but is he the one? I think I need to find that out for myself."

To be continued...