Zion had thought that she would lash out at him for saying such provocative words, but she only stood there with her expressions fiercer than ever. Her cold eyes stared down at him unblinkingly as if telling him that if she weren't considering him as a useful person, he would have died many times already. He pursed his lips and opened his mouth to say something. Just then, Lia raised her hands and said, "Not a word. You're going to be silent. If you open your damned mouth again, I'll make sure to chop off your tongue and grind it!"

He imagined that kind of scene and shut his mouth. His tongue was essential to him, so he didn't dare to say anything anymore.

​​

By the looks of it, Lia seemed to be holding herself back as she turned around and picked up the wooden sword, and said in a harsh voice, "Let's go. We're having a meeting with the village chief."

Zion's lips pressed in a thin line as the two of them walked down the street. It seemed that his remark, this time, pissed her off a lot. But what else could he do? If he hadn't said those words to her, he feared that she would stand by and let the kids die one after another. From the entire Viridis Kingdom, almost a hundred children had died and ended up floating to the banks of the river. And now that the murderer arrived in the current village, he feared that things might go out of hand soon.

To be honest, he wasn't even from this world, so he shouldn't be so invested in the cases that weren't assigned by his system, but he couldn't just sit back and let the crime happen! It went against his morals, and he hated psychopaths. He still remembered vividly how he had ended up dying, burning to death in an explosion due to one such psychopath in his previous life.

After hearing the details about the case, he could tell that it might be the work of another serial killer who was out there to vent his anger. Zion wanted to catch that person and make up for how he had died in the past life.

Soon, the two of them silently reached the village chief's place. Zion looked up to find a magnificent three-story house that was decorated with flowers. A garland hung at the main gate that had an arched opening. Two elf guards stood on either side of the gate, watching Zion and Lia with icy stares.

Just as the princess and a particular human servant walked toward the gate, the two guards pulled up their spears and glared at the girl. "You aren't allowed to enter until you have an appointment."

"Do you know who you're talking to?" Lia was pissed off now. Zion's remark earlier made her so angry that she wanted to beat the man until he would be unconscious, but she suppressed her anger and decided to meet this chief thinking she should at least try to show Zion that she could still fulfil his wish, and she wasn't as terrible of a person.

But now, when they were here, these guards were stopping her! They dared to do this despite knowing she was a Dhampirs? Didn't they all love to entertain her people and respected the residents of the Vanne Kingdom? What happened to that so-called respect now?

'What a bunch of hypocrites!' Lia thought and sneered.

"Even if you were the princess, we still wouldn't allow you to enter for official reasons," the guards said in a serious tone as if he belonged to the righteous faction. "The crime rate in our kingdom has increased to the point that the village chief can't even sleep. So we request you to approach the official route by applying for the appointment from the court. His time is precious for all of us."

Lia's face turned red in anger as she stared at the guards with a furious gaze. "Really? Well, and here I thought I might help the village chief by lending him a hand! But it turns out he doesn't even need one!" She glared at the two guards and turned around before glaring at her human servant and walking away.

Zion stood dumbfounded for a moment before anxiously following Lia. How could the princess leave just like that? Weren't they supposed to meet the chief? He didn't want to repeat the mistakes from his previous case. Back then, he hadn't thought of actually becoming an official detective and just stayed in the shadows. But by doing that, he attracted the attention of that black-cloaked man faster than ever. So this time, he didn't want to take a chance and ask Lia to become an official detective.

Of course, he knew that this princess might not have deduction skills, but he was willing to work in the dark and let her take away all the credit! If something happened, the one who would be facing the enemy head-on and fighting them would be Lia. Although he felt bad for using the princess like this, she was more powerful than him. So he was confident that she could kill a hundred of the assassins like the one he had encountered in the previous case.

But now, when she observed her expressions that spoke of fury and anger, he shut his mouth. He should wait for half a day and let her calm down before saying something.

From the three-story building, an old elf walked out and headed toward the gate as he observed Lia's back with squinted eyes before turning toward the guard. "They didn't argue?"

The guards shook their heads, and one of them said, "The girl said a thing or two before going back."

The village chief sighed in relief. "Don't let anyone enter, and keep an eye on these two. Since the murder has increased, I fear that people might come at me and revolt. So it's better to keep everyone away and monitor the suspected ones."

The guards nodded in understanding. When the murder had occurred, many people had come marching down the main hall of the chief's house and blamed the old man for not having tight security. Things had gone out of hand, and the guards had to use weapons against the villagers. So they really didn't want to repeat the scene from earlier, and the chief decided not to meet anyone until the murderer is caught.