My magic panel is too numerical.

"Mrs. Rowling, is Detective Simon out on a field assignment today?" Farrow asked.

Mrs. Rowling stopped what she was doing and recalled, "No, I don't remember any guests coming today."

No customers?

Pharos's face darkened.

Without hesitation, he immediately took three steps at a time and climbed the wooden stairs.

This is a shared apartment, not old, but not like an old neighborhood on Earth. The walls are covered with phone numbers and nicknames.

"Bang bang bang..."

Finding the door locked, Pharos knocked and waited quietly for a moment.

no respond.

"Detective Simon?!"

Pharos called out, but there was still no response.

Normally, to prevent Pharos from coming to the detective agency while he was away on business, Detective Simon would often put the key under the carpet, but Pharos would check and find it missing.

This means that the detective did not go out.

He took a deep breath, clenched his fists tightly, and stared at the "spirit" inside the door.

Did a vengeful spirit attack Detective Simon while he was sleeping yesterday?

But that doesn't make sense. Only one vengeful spirit escaped yesterday, and Detective Simon is an expert in "spirits." There's no way he would be caught off guard like this.

"Should I go inside and take a look?" Miss Crow suggested.

Miss Crow is in a "spirit" state, which essentially ignores physical barriers.

"No need. If there are vengeful spirits in the room, you will be in great danger."

Pharos vetoed it, saying that if Miss Golden Finger were killed, the joke would be too much.

He took two steps back and pretended to take a deep breath.

After his Strength attribute reached 2, Faros estimated that his body could match or surpass the peak condition of a fit and healthy adult man.

Wooden doors of that era were not sturdy enough to withstand the force of a grown man's impact.

With a powerful kick, the wooden door snapped open with a "crack," scattering metal doorknob parts all over the floor.

Pharos immediately looked around.

Inside the suite, the living room was fairly spacious, but cluttered with miscellaneous items, clearly indicating that Detective Simon was not a refined person.

Faros saw nothing unusual, nor did he see Detective Simon. Then his gaze shifted inward, fixed on the bedroom door.

"In the bedroom," Miss Crow reminded her.

"I know..." Pharos controlled his steps, walked quietly to the front of the room, and pushed open the half-closed door.

A white figure came into view, and he froze on the spot.

A white, vengeful spirit stood silently in front of the balcony, smoking a pipe. At the spirit's feet lay a naked man lying flat on the ground.

Blood seeped under the bed and into the cracks in the floor, looking particularly eerie under the white mist.

Miss Raven huddled behind Pharos's neck, peeking out fearfully.

"Detective Simon!" Pharos felt his whole body tremble uncontrollably, and his heart skipped a beat.

The deceased was none other than Simon Wayne, the boss of Pharos.

The vengeful spirit seemed to be startled and slowly turned around.

That once handsome middle-aged man's face is now nothing but bloody muscles.

The vengeful spirits only appear as the deceased were in their dying moments, and Pharos didn't even have the courage to look at Simon's body.

Miss Raven's voice trembled slightly: "F...F...Faros, this is the same way the vengeful spirit died last night!"

Despite it being early summer in June, Pharos felt a chill run down his spine.

…………

It was evening.

21b Buick Street was surrounded by police, and even members of the Moretti family were there.

With Detective Simon dead, there's no way he'll get dinner. Faros doesn't need to explain anything to Detective Simon, since the dead can't speak.

"Oh my God," Mrs. Rowling said, almost in tears, "Simon is a truly respectable detective..."

Pharos sat cross-legged by the roadside, munching on a sweet honey bread, looking dejected.

He was torn, wondering whether he should use "Spirit Devouring" on Detective Simon's vengeful spirit.

"Pharros, I urge you to calm down. If you continue to suffer severe mental damage within 48 hours, you will have serious problems!" Miss Raven advised.

Pharos was well aware of his mental state; without a stable way to improve his mental strength, continuing to devour 'spirits' would definitely cause problems.

The worst-case scenario is that the deceased's consciousness revives within the body, leading to schizophrenia.

Behind her came a detached and restrained girl's voice. Serena said calmly:

My condolences.

Miss Serena was wearing a mage's robe today. She had just finished class when she heard the bad news and rushed over immediately.

Her exact words were:

"The Moretti family cannot afford to be impolite in a place like this."

Not far away, Luca Moretti was discussing the case with the police officer beside him, both looking at each other with a helpless expression. There were so many doubts that the case was difficult to proceed.

"The preliminary assessment is that it was a revenge killing. The victim had been dead for more than 6 hours, and the cause of death was excessive blood loss. The face was completely peeled off. Serial killings have been preliminarily ruled out because the method of skinning is unheard of."

"A murder in a locked room, with no signs of struggle, suggesting the perpetrator was drugged and then killed, raising the risk of it being an inside job..."

"If we can't find any clues, then we'll have to hand it over to the church."

"The church has sent people over, saying that since it involves the family of an important person, they dare not easily communicate through spirit mediums and are urgently discussing countermeasures."

"Spirit communication" refers to communicating with the "spirit" of the deceased. The prerequisite is that the deceased's "spirit" must be powerful enough, but the "spirit" will be annihilated after the communication.

If the deceased's family has special needs, such as wanting to see them one last time, these needs to be handled with care.

family?

Upon hearing this, Faros frowned: "Detective Simon's...family?"

It wasn't until he was being questioned that Farrow discovered that almost none of Detective Simon's acquaintances had ever heard of him having any family, but there were frequent rumors about his mistresses.

Serena recalled a private conversation between her mother and her close friends, explaining:

"It is said that Detective Simon is from Moonshadow City. Most of his family died in the turmoil in Moonshadow City ten years ago, and it was around that time that he moved to Castile."

Pharos was taken aback.

Was this Detective Simon, like himself, someone who had fled here during that upheaval?

How could such a coincidence happen in this world?

"So, it's been ten years since Detective Simon started teaching at the magic academy in Moonshadow City," Pharos murmured.

Serena added:

"Detective Simon's only family member is his sister, Christina Wayne, who works at the church and is currently a member of the church's 'Agents'."

"Dai is actually 'Dai' (代行者)?" Miss Crow exclaimed in surprise, her feathers bristling.

"Agent?" Pharos repeated, meeting Serena's gaze.

The girl nodded, her long black hair fluttering slightly in the wind.

A faint fragrance wafted into Pharos's nostrils.

As if stirred by memories, Miss Raven looked up at the afterglow of the setting sun and recalled: "The empire has been turbulent for 480 years, and now the internal forces of the empire are divided into three:"

The "Church of Heavenly Prayer" has held sway over human legal traditions for a thousand years;

The "Academic School" of Moonshadow City, the most prestigious academy in the empire;

The Imperial Guard, controlled by the Imperial Family.

These forces are able to dominate their regions because they monopolize magical talent. Among them, the most terrifying and feared group in the "Church of Heavenly Prayer" is the "Agent of God."

They replace the gods and govern the mortal realm.

No wonder even the local church found it troublesome; what kind of person dared to offend such a big shot?

You should know that those who can become agents are the best of the best, the most powerful magicians among magicians.

Pharos's mentality is starting to falter.

As the only person who knows the inside story of the case, and as the core of this incident, he is now deeply embroiled in the controversy and can no longer extricate himself from the situation.

He obtained Paul's memories and successfully rescued Enzo Moretti.

Afterwards, in order to conceal the secret of the cheat code, Pharos attributed all the credit to Detective Simon.

This is very likely the key to Detective Simon's death.