Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 551 - Grave Robbery Case

Chapter 551: Chapter 551: Grave Robbery Case Chapter 551: Chapter 551: Grave Robbery Case Because Miss Gawder’s hometown was in a coastal town on the eastern part of the Old Continent, which was far too distant from Tobesk City. Shard had finished writing the letter and immediately went to the Tobesk Post Office with Mia.

The reason he did not drop it into the mailbox at the corner of Saint Delan Square was that he wanted to order some magazines at the post office. Now that he had overcome the initial tightness of his pockets when he first arrived in this world, Shard also wanted to improve his quality of life.

Since there was nothing else to do today, after sending the letter, Shard took Mia with him to the Dawn Chapel, where they listened to a sermon by Bishop Owen together with Priest Augustus.

They didn’t return home until after having lunch at the church. Initially planning to use Priest Augustus’ potion workshop in the afternoon to brew a magic potion introduced in the second-year courses that could change the color of hair, Shard was surprised to see Iluna standing at the door as soon as he got to Saint Delan Square.

She was wearing a brown coat over her white ladies’ blouse with ruffled cuffs, paired with a simple black skirt and the black leather shoes she usually wore.

“Is something the matter?”

Shard hurried over, and Iluna shook her head, waving a kraft paper document bag at him:

“Detective, would you mind if I took up your afternoon to complete a commission together?”

The seventeen-year-old girl asked.

“What commission?”

Shard asked as he fished out his keys to unlock the door. The two entered, and Mia cheerfully scurried down from Shard’s shoulder and leaped onto the staircase.

“To find a missing corpse.”

Blackstone Security Company always managed to receive strange jobs from the Church, and besides the Church’s tasks, the commissions from regular citizens were also filled with bizarre content.

On this Tuesday, after Daknis’ death, Iluna had finally submitted her complete report on “God Summoner and Feliana,” and had also finished her search mission in the areas where the Dark Realm had once descended.

On her first day back at her workplace, Blackstone Security Company, her team captain had shoved a commission case at her.

“I see you’ve been quite busy recently. Since you’ve just returned, handle this one yourself for now. Two days deadline, after that, you can use your remaining time freely.”

In other words, this was essentially giving Iluna a break. The commission had been proven unrelated to mysticism, and Iluna could wrap it up after a brief investigation.

“Finding a body?”

Shard nodded in surprise:

“I can certainly help, but are you sure this has nothing to do with mysticism?”

“Our team has investigated, and it’s absolutely unrelated.”

“Alright then, but I need to look at the information first. Speaking of which, why don’t the police at Riddlevitch Field handle this? In Draleon, theft of corpses is considered a serious crime.”

“It’s because the police couldn’t find it; that’s why they turned to a private security company like ours.”

In this era, it wasn’t just Circle Sorcerers who stole bodies—mad scientists, doctors needing materials for experiments, people with peculiar fetishes, or ordinary individuals exploring mysticism might commission grave robbers or personally commit this crime.

This kind of incident was rather common, hence why cremation before burial, which wasn’t very popular before, had become common in recent decades. Take Sparrow Hamilton, for example; his body was cremated, ensuring no worries about someone exhuming it.

The client for the corpse search was a Mr. Hank Fennell, residing in the western part of the city and looking for his wife, Peggy Fennell’s body. Mr. Fennell worked at the Golden Gear Steam Engine Factory and was a well-known mechanical engineer in the west side of the city.

Half a month ago, his wife died of illness and was buried in Plot No. 3 of Tobesk Public Cemetery. A week ago, which was the ninth day after the poor woman’s burial, Plot No. 3 was targeted by tomb raiders, and three bodies were dug up and stolen.

The police from Riddlevitch Field immediately launched an investigation but failed to bring any updates. Mr. Fennell then approached Blackstone Security Company through a friend’s introduction, hoping to find traces of his wife’s body.

Blackstone Security Company confirmed the involvement of local Circle Sorcerers was improbable, as local sorcerers would definitely not use locally dug-up bodies as materials. Moreover, due to Daknis’ incident, the True God Church was closely monitoring and investigating sorcerers from other places, and no evidence had been found of anyone buying those three bodies from local grave robbers; hence, it was concluded to be a crime committed by ordinary people.

“It seems there’s no issue. But I need to confirm one thing—are you sure that Mr. Fennell isn’t the one who committed the crime?”

Shard sat on the sofa flipping through the files, the dossier he had directly obtained from Riddlevitch Field in his hands.

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

This idea might appear somewhat dark, but Shard still wanted to eliminate one possibility.

“At least from the case materials obtained from Riddlevitch Field, there is no mention of any abnormalities with the client. Plus, if it really were him, wouldn’t he be happier if the police found no leads? Why would he commission us?”

Iluna said, then curiously asked while holding the reluctant Mia:

“Do you always suspect your client first when you receive a commission? I assumed that detectives never investigate cases with any personal bias.”

“Where did you read that from?”

“The Hamilton Detective Stories serialized in the Steam Bird Daily.”

Iluna said with a smile, teasing Shard a bit:

“I heard from Luviya that the author is your friend? Oh, detective, you really need to showcase your detective skills this time.”

After organizing his materials, Shard departed with Iluna, heading first to the public cemetery in the eastern part of the city to conduct an on-site investigation and inquiries.

In the cemetery’s Area 3, where Shard had been just two months before, he had witnessed the resolution of a family feud that dated back half a century and had even played a game of Roder Card with a ghost. Returning here two months later, he hadn’t expected it to still be related to the commission.

The arrival of autumn had brought temperatures to the point where one needed to wear an additional layer of clothing; the city was still shrouded in fog, including the cemetery in the eastern outskirts.

Disembarking from the carriage, the pair walked along the gravel path toward the iron fence gate that was the entrance to the cemetery. Shard held a bouquet of flowers; he intended to first visit the grave of Detective Sparrow Hamilton and inform him that the fifth day of the Month of Harvest was approaching, as a way to fulfill his obligation to Sparrow Hamilton.

The seventeen-year-old girl, seeing the cemetery getting closer, subtly moved closer to Shard and whispered:

“I am not a coward, but I always dislike visiting cemeteries.”

“Why?”

Shard asked curiously. Iluna had just completed her studies at the Papacy earlier this year and had been assigned to this parish. She should have no friends buried in the Tobesk Public Cemetery.

“I hate death, no, not fear of death, but I hate the sadness that death brings.”

She whispered to Shard as they both passed through the cemetery gate adorned with iron thorns on both sides.

“That’s quite normal; being affected by a stranger’s grief shows that you are a person who easily empathizes with others.”

Shard commented.

Hearing that Shard wanted to visit Sparrow Hamilton, Iluna was also willing to accompany him. Thus, as they chatted, they entered Area 2 of the cemetery and placed the bouquet of white daisies before the ground-level gravestone. Shard sighed, his thoughts drifting back to his initial arrival in this world.

Passing through the gate between two cemetery areas, they looked up at the swirling fog and could easily see the small white chapel standing in the cemetery’s center:

“Iluna, next to the church is the tomb guardian’s cottage. If we’re lucky, we might find a tomb guardian chatting with a priest. But under what guise should we inquire?”

“Don’t forget, I am the honorary policewoman Iluna Beath from the Riddlevitch Field.”

Iluna reminded him, searching through her handbag for her ID:

“Look, wasn’t it with this identity that I first visited Saint Delan Square?”

On Tuesday afternoon, while the priest was napping in the church, they met an old gravedigger at the church entrance, humming a tune, ready to prune the cemetery’s trees with his apprentice.

The old gravedigger, dressed in his coveralls, hesitated upon seeing the two approach through the fog. As Iluna produced her ID and explained their purpose, the old gravedigger looked skeptically at her youthful face but reluctantly offered his help:

“We haven’t found any clues here. I was the one who discovered the stolen corpse, as I had encountered similar situations before and immediately notified the police. No one heard any strange noises the night before, and we found no tracks from a vehicle moving the body, though there indeed were some unusual footprints, but it’s impossible to track from them. If you want to look for clues, you could check the excavated gravesite.”

“A week has already passed, hasn’t the grave been refilled?”

Shard asked, the old gravedigger nodded, giving Shard a look as if he recognized the detective who had visited during the peak of summer:

“After we find the body, it needs to be reburied, so we didn’t fill it back in. It was a newly opened grave, with no other buried bodies nearby, so there was no need for concern about complaints from others.”

“All right.”

Iluna noted down these details in her notebook and then asked:

“How often do grave robberies occur in this part of the cemetery?”

“Not often, this is only the third case this year. Do you think I’m a mere freeloader?”

The old gravedigger said somewhat irritably, and Iluna, realizing her faux pas, gave an embarrassed smile.