"I ask that the flame disappear!"

The tiny blaze that had been following him got dimmer and dimmer until it was completely gone. Graham then looked at his loafers that were now too small and focused on them.

"I order you to match the size of my feet!"

The loafers that he was wearing magically stretched and the material unraveled. They rapidly became bigger and longer to match his new shoe size, while at the same time became thinner to compensate for the lack of material. After all, Graham's ability couldn't produce things out of thin air.

"This is very convenient, Val. I wish you could feel it as well. It reminds me of the time when we were in 'that place' and we had to manually do everything. If I had been a Contractbound back then, I wouldn't have got this big scar on my back either," he muttered in amusement.

He then fixed his coat and pants so that they would look natural on his new appearance. He hid his Gemini mask under his coat, inside one of the biggest pockets that it had. After that, Graham quickly left the area and went to Grotemarktstraat. Although most establishments were already closed at that hour, there were some stores that are still open. His destination was one of the convenience stores there.

The trip to the commercial street didn't take him too long. The body that he was disguising as had a better build than his original, so moving fast was not a problem. He was now in Grotemarkstraat and currently, there were more people there despite the late hour. Wearing the Police Sergeant's identity, he walked confidently and entered a convenience store called Tulpwinkel.

"A good Police officer needs snacks before going into action, Val. What should we have today?" he said that, but he was already going to the bonbon section near the entrance, where various different brands of chocolate were on display.

Graham decisively grabbed two bars of Dolcebambini with different variants. One was milk chocolate that had fruit jellies in it while the other one was the white chocolate one. He went to the cashier to pay and put the big-sized chocolate bars on the counter.

"Oh, officer Rood! Long time no see!" said the cashier.

There was no one else waiting in line to pay so Graham felt it wouldn't hurt to engage in small talk with the young man in front of him. The cashier looked to be Luuk's age and was probably working the night shift there to help pay for university. That was what Graham concluded after seeing the black circles around his eyes.

"Yes, long time no see," he said shortly, mimicking Rood's way of speaking based on the woman's memory.

"Wow, I didn't know you like chocolate, Sir. Usually, you would only buy coffee here," said the cashier.

Graham wasn't worried about his cover being blown. After all, a person could really change drastically on a whim, so what he was doing was still considered normal. To perfectly act like the real Rood, he had to be confident in his actions while staying within boundaries.

"Yes. This is for the Mrs. She is pregnant and craving some chocolate right now," he answered decisively.

Graham knew for a fact that the man was single. At least according to the woman's memory of him. He just had the urge to play a little prank in revenge for interrogating him back then. It was all made up but as long as he looked confident, people would just believe him.

"Congratulations, sir! When is the baby due?" asked the young cashier excitedly.

"The doctor said in four months, perhaps," replied Graham shortly, and then asked, "How much?"

The cashier checked the price in the register and then replied, "Thirteen pennings for two, Sir,"

Graham had the urge to bargain, but it would be out of character, so he held back as best as he could. He took out some coins from his pants pocket and handed out the exact amount to the young cashier before leaving the store.

"Val, remind me later to ask you to use anti-divination. Don't want to get traced back because of that, do we?" he muttered quietly.

He walked several meters from the store when he heard a faint scream in the distance. He concentrated on the scream to make out what it was saying.

"Help!! Thief!!"

It sounded like a woman had had her things stolen some meters away. Graham quickly ran in the direction of the voice and then he saw someone else wearing a hoodie running far ahead of him in the same direction. The hooded person was carrying a purse that obviously belonged to a woman. Graham increased his pace and tried to catch up with the hooded person.

"This is the Police! Stop right there!" he shouted.

The man heard him and ran even faster not to get caught. He seemed panicked because a Police officer was chasing him. He arrived at a junction and his options were to turn left or right, but instead, he chose to vault over a short fence without thinking twice. He did it smoothly but not fast enough.

"That guy is not bad. It's a good thing this body is fast," muttered Graham.

He vaulted over the fence with ease and was able to catch up with the guy. When he was in the range of his ability, Graham quickly issued an order.

"I order you to stop moving!"

The man suddenly froze in place without being able to do anything. Graham approached the immobilized man and took the stolen purse from him. After that, he left the man alone without doing anything to him.

"Justice wins again, Val," said Graham proudly as he was jumping over the short fence.

He landed safely on the ground and cleaned the dirt off his coat.

"Although it feels weird that I'm stopping a thief since my very own partner is a supernatural thief. But right now I'm Sergeant Rood, so catching bad guys is my job,"

Graham walked back to where he heard the scream and saw a middle-aged woman with a worried look on her face. He raised his hand that was holding her purse and she looked relieved right away. Her expression looked as if she just escaped death.

"Here you go, Ma'am. Don't get this stolen again," he said.

"Thank you, thank you! May I know your name, kind man?" she said with gratitude. The face that was pale gradually got its color back.

"It's Rood. I'm with the Police," replied Graham.

The woman then smiled and thanked him again. However, Graham saw a slight change in her expression for a split second when she heard him say he was from the Police.

"Thank you again, sir Police. I'll be taking my leave then," she said.

The woman walked away from him calmly. Graham watched her back as she got farther and farther away from him and then muttered.

"Did you see that as well, Val? She looked rather displeased for a second there. And anyway, why would a middle-aged woman like her be walking alone at this hour. I smell crime, Val."

Graham walked in the same direction as the woman while maintaining his distance. He didn't want her to know that she was being tailed.

The woman turned left at the intersection so Graham quickly did the same not to lose sight of her. She then turned left again to a small street behind the buildings and hid in the shadow. Graham hid behind the corner and observed the suspicious activity happening in front of him intently.

About five minutes later, a young man wearing a hood came from the opposite direction and approached the woman. His appearance was similar to the thief, but he was taller, so Graham knew it was a different person. They were whispering to each other and Graham couldn't hear it because he didn't have Valentine's boosted hearing. He couldn't really see clearly either because there was no light shining upon the two people.

He had his suspicion, but his only option right now was to approach them. He didn't bother using divination because it was not really necessary. Graham came running at them at a high speed and once in range, he quickly issued orders in quick succession.

"I order you to freeze!" he said to the woman.

"I order you to freeze!" he said to the man.

The two people were caught by surprise and now they couldn't do anything. The two people wore an expression of confusion and disbelief on their faces.

Graham took the liberty to open the woman's purse and saw small plastic containers with white powders inside. He knew right away that those were drugs. If those weren't drugs, the two people wouldn't be doing the transaction in such a suspicious spot.

"A drug dealer? No wonder you were scared to death when your purse was stolen," he said condescendingly.

"Now, Val, what should we do? We can't call the Police from this place, and my Order won't last until they come," he said while crossing his arms.

Graham looked around the small street and saw a dumpster near there. He walked towards it and began dumpster diving to search for something usable. The putrid stench of rotten food penetrated his nose and stuck to his clothes but he didn't mind it; he could use Order later to get rid of it.

It took him quite some time to finally find what he was looking for. He found an unused coat there that had vomit stains all over it. Graham put the coat on the ground and quietly said.

"I order you to tear apart!"

Rip!

The fabric that made up the coat started unraveling and it became the form that Graham had in mind. Now the coat looked like long pieces of cloth that he could use as ropes. Before using them, he tied them up first to make them longer. There were a total of four pieces of cloth in front of him that looked sturdy enough.

"Val, I wonder why the Order worked. Maybe because the coat is not a living being, so ordering it to harm itself works. We know for a fact that ordering someone to directly cause harm to himself will not work..." he muttered.

Graham picked up the makeshift ropes and walked back to the two immobilized people. He then manually tied them with the ropes he just made with their hands behind their backs. He also tied their legs tightly to make sure they couldn't run away. Graham left the woman's purse open on the ground next to them as evidence for the Police later.

"You two stay put. My people will be here soon," he said threateningly.

After making sure everything was alright, he walked away from the two people and exited the back alley. He then looked at his coat that smelled like trash and issued an Order.

"I order the stench sticking to my clothes to go away!"

As he said that, the smell seemed to get unstuck and rose in the air before disappearing. He now smelled like normal Rood instead of homeless Rood.

Graham went back to the main street and stopped the first person that he saw.

"Sir, excuse me," he said politely.

The man stopped and looked at Graham in confusion. There was a slight fear in his expression which Graham understood. It was late at night and a tall man with a scar on his face suddenly stopped him. If he were the man, he would also have his guard up.

"Y-yes?" said the man hesitantly. He seemed to want to get away but Graham's tall body was blocking him.

Graham looked at the confused man right in the eyes and then started speaking in a coercive manner.

"I need you to report to the Police right now that there are two people caught in action dealing drugs. It's important that you do it without telling them about me,"

The man looked lost but then nodded slowly. After that, Graham left as the man ran in the opposite direction.

"Val, it feels nice to be on the side of justice once in a while. I think I have it in me to fight evil," he said, "But it feels ironic since evil is our own partners."

"I wonder what Luuk and Jacco are doing right now. I think Luuk is stealing from people as usual while Jacco is busy beating up people. It is weird that I am the only one among us three who is catching bad guys right now," he said in self-mockery.

Graham quickly walked to another secluded spot and sat down on the ground with his back against the wall. There was currently no one around so it was the perfect place for him.

"Val, it is your turn now. Make sure everything can't be traced back to us, will you?"