Chapter 2

From the very moment I stepped on the Island’s dirty-colored sand I could already tell that this was a bad idea. I stuck my hands deep into my coat’s pockets and looked at my companion.

“Effy, aren’t you cold like that?”

The young woman gave me a sly look. “Oh, Uncle, you really know nothing, huh? Ladies have many ways to be both fashionable and comfortable,” she said with a wink and a raised finger.

Despite her words, however, a very slight shiver betrayed her. I sighed.

All around us, the various workers and sailors began unloading our equipment; we would of course be staying on the ship for the night, but we needed all sorts of tools for digging, excavating, cleaning and carrying the loot we would find here.

Shortly before, we landed on the northern side of the Island, which, according to the Professor, was actually the least surveyed area of all.

Looking around at it, I had a feeling I knew why.

“Look at the size of that!” Effy suddenly exclaimed, pointing ahead.

Not far from the beach was a huge skull.

It wasn’t a human skull, obviously, but it didn’t seem like it belonged to any sort of animal, either. It was made from some sort of black stone, likely sculpted into that shape.

They really were amazing, the people that lived here before… How could they have fashioned something like that? That was both fascinating and creepy to think about.

After all, placing a thing like that right on the very beach was almost as if they were saying, stay out.

Or perhaps… watch out?

While I was pondering this, there was a sudden rumbunctious laughter behind me. Once more I perked up, turning to see someone approach us.

It was a fellow I knew to be part of the research crew—not something evident from his muscular physique, sharp face and dark eyes, but I assumed he was going to serve more on the more physical side of things.

The man called Humer approached us, still laughing.

“Gotta say, never seen a lady getting excited over such macabre things. Man, where did they get you?”

Effy took that as a compliment, puffing up. “Daddy always told me I was a special girl.”

He sure did. I think he thought Effy to be some sort of Nature’s avatar of something, with how he spoke about her at times.

“Heh, definitely. No normal girl would be comin’ all the way here.”

I took a few steps forward as if to shield Effy from him. It was a bit tiring, but since she was the only female on board, I knew I needed to keep a close eye on her.

No matter how much she protested she could handle herself just fine.

“Now, now, no need to be so tense. This is the big day, right?” said Humer, gesturing at the nearby skull peeking from the forest. “The Professor’s looking like he’s going to explode, too. Think we’re gonna find anything interesting?”

“I’m sure we will. See, my Uncle’s an expert at finding things,” volunteered Effy, making me cringe.

Sure, I might be one of the Prime Special Investigators of the Royal Police, but it wasn’t a fact I liked advertising…

“…Yeah, well, it’s not really like she says,” I shrugged. “Mostly I just end up finding trouble.”

Effy rolled her eyes. “Uncle really likes that line.”

“Uncle, huh? Y’know, I can’t see the family resemblance at all,” noted Humer.

“Oh, we’re not actually family,” I explained. “I’m just a family friend. Her dad’s my long-time buddy, so I knew her practically from when she was born.”

“I’m just used to calling him Uncle,” added Effy.

“Hmm.”

The conversation died out just as a familiar voice boomed from nearby.

“Gentlemen!” Professor Follington called out loud. “Oh, and lady too, of course! There is no time to waste! Let us embark on our wondrous journey while the sun is still high!”

Too high to fully pierce the misty skies, but fair enough.

“Yay!” said Effy, clapping her hands softly.

Well, time to get this shit started.

***

“The prevalent opinion,” the Professor said, passing his gaze among the twenty-odd people gathered there, “is that the structure we’re about to find has served as some sort of religious center, or a temple. The theological habits of the natives are still under investigation so we don’t know much, but the curious thing is that this part is the only place on the Island of Woe to feature those exquisite skulls.”

We entered deeper into the wild part of the island, really a small jungle, but the Professor had stopped all of us in the middle of a clearing to deliver this speech.

Just like he said, we’d seen many of those skulls, in many shapes and sizes, planted all over the place with no apparent pattern.

Effy raised her arm high as if she was in class, and the Professor noticed that with a smile.

“Yes, Lady Affivida?”

“Please, Professor, do call me Effy. Anyway, I was wondering—perhaps residing here was some sort of separate tribe? Or separate religion, even? Or maybe this was just a specific place used for specific ritualistic purposes.”

The thin man nodded pleasingly at her words. “Those are all quite robust hypotheses. I, personally, lean toward the final one, and hopefully we will be able to find an answer to that in the following days, which is our purpose here.”

“What, we’re not here for treasure?” called someone from within the crowd; a few joined in laughter.

Despite the interruption, the Professor still seemed to be in good humor. In fact, his eyes were gleaming.

“Oh, there should be treasure enough, don’t you worry. In fact… While my pursuits are of course academical in nature, there is a certain something I would very much like to see…” he said, then started rummaging through his bag.

Soon Follington pulled out a rolled-up paper, called for someone from the crowd to help him and held it open for everyone to see.

Revealed there was what looked to be an intricate sketch of some sort of… rod? Staff? Its tip was shaped like a skull, and its eyes were gleaming rubies.

“Naturally, this is just a sketch done by someone back at the University,” the Professor explained. “Nothing on the Island survived to this extent, but other expeditions discovered various references to an artifact that is supposed to look like that.”

“Pretty,” Effy breathed from the side.

“We obviously do not know its actual name, if it even had one, but have dubbed this the Scepter of Death!”

The moment those words left the Professor’s mouth, I felt a chill. It definitely fit the appearance, at least.

But for me, as a member of the Royal Police, death was not something to play with. Especially since I had someone to guard.

The Professor’s smile widened. “In fact, I will personally grant a bonus to whoever manages to find the Scepter!”

“Oooh!” the crowd erupted.

“By the Double Sunshine, I’ll do it!”

“Just don’t break it, idiots! Haha!”

I knew that Professor Follington was pretty much the only genuine researcher in this entire expedition—apparently no one else was crazy enough to go on this trip—so he likely judged it to be an effective motivator for this sort of crew.

Considering he was the one who paid for the expedition from his own pocket, he could likely afford it.

I glanced toward our crew, and pretty much everyone looked excited by this prospect; Humer was wearing an especially wide smile, his eyes almost twinkling. I could only hope this competitiveness the Professor instilled within them wouldn’t lead to any trouble.

Presently, the Professor rerolled the picture and turned his back to everyone.

“I believe everything is clear? —Let us go see this temple of death and treasure!”