Guild Wars

｢The Sixty-Fifth Floor – Divine Quest

Description: Welcome to the Kingdom of Clevante, styled after Victorian-era England! A place where…etc

You are the most Renowned Detective of this kingdom, and you've been called to solve the case of Fitzwilliam Darcy, a powerful and prideful noble.

Limitation 1: This is a world of industry and science. All your stats…etc

Limitation 2: You may retreat from the floor at any time, but upon re-entry…etc

Limitation 3: There is a time limit on each case. You have…etc

Limitation 4: If you choose the wrong target at the end of…etc

Provision 1: You have full access to all the resources of the…etc

Provision 2: You are free to use any method to interrogate suspects, but some…etc

Provision 3: You have the senses of a detective, so can…etc

Rewards: Score Points, 1 Gold-Tier Reward Selection.｣

This time, the victim was a noble. Curiously, he had died in the arms of a noblewoman during a ball. It wasn't infidelity, as the last woman he had interacted with was his own mother, Countess Geraldine Darcy, who had been chatting with her son while the two danced formally to the music.

Eyewitnesses confirmed that the two had been smiling and laughing before Fitzwilliam just keeled over in death, his eyes wide open as if he had seen the most horrible thing before his demise. Draco did his usual gambit of waking up the corpse, but just like those before him, the deceased turned out to be unable to identify his killer.

However, he did regale them with a fanciful story about how he had seen the room go dark and a horrible demonfaced entity appear before him, demanding his life and soul as per the agreement. The young Count had never interacted with anything occult, so when he asked that unholy being what agreement he meant, the had been told that someone close to him had sold his soul to this Demon in exchange for eternal youth.

Alas, before he had a chance ask who it was who had betrayed him, or wisely deny the creature any right to his own soul, the Demon had torn into him and pulled out his life and soul on the spot.

The reason why Draco could even raise this corpse which should have been without a soul, was that the brain also functioned as the container for memories. While the soul was basically the active receiver and controller of memories, the brain could be likened to a backup.

Since the noble didn't have any more useful information, Draco laid the corpse to rest, but his investigation team, including the Countess Geraldine Darcy, were speechless and horrified by what they had overheard.

It should be obvious enough by now that even if this place was styled after Victorian-era England, that was it. It was just styled after it. There were subtle differences in the fundamental aspects of the two civilizations, and Draco was discovering more of this with each case.

To find the culprit was simple after that. They searched all men and women associated even remotely to Fitzwilliam who looked like they had de-aged even slightly and brought them in as suspects. From there, Draco did his magic and discovered that it was Elizabeth Bennet, the wife of Fitzwillian, who had sold out her husband.

｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Sixty-Fifth Floor

Time elapsed: 0:8:20

Objectives complete: All

Assessment: EX+

Reward:

69,000 Score Points

1 Treasure Selection Reward - Peak Platinum Grade｣

Hehe, by now everyone should have come to understand what these floors were all about, a seemingly natural setting which dealt with the supernatural/paranormal.

Not a bad plot, but what would the climax be?

｢The Sixty-Sixth Floor – Divine Quest

Description: Welcome to the Kingdom of Clevante, styled after Victorian-era England! A place where…etc

You are the most Renowned Detective of this kingdom, and you've been called to solve the case of Edward Rochester, another powerful noble scion.

Limitation 1: This is a world of industry and science. All your stats…etc

Limitation 2: You may retreat from the floor at any time, but upon re-entry…etc

Limitation 3: There is a time limit on each case. You have…etc

Limitation 4: If you choose the wrong target at the end of…etc

Provision 1: You have full access to all the resources of the…etc

Provision 2: You are free to use any method to interrogate suspects, but some…etc

Provision 3: You have the senses of a detective, so can…etc

Rewards: Score Points, 1 Gold-Tier Reward Selection.｣

At first glance, this appeared to be a pretty standard death. Edward had been in his lavish garden, chatting with his wife, Jane Eyre, when he suddenly tripped. Jane, thinking her husband was just messing around, had tried to wake him, naturally to no avail. After a typical feminine scream from the depths of her voice box, the scene had been cordoned off for investigation.

And here they were. One look was enough for Draco to realize that he didn't even need to wake Edward from the dead, seeing as he had the same expressions as Fitzwilliam, though for evidence's sake he did so anyway.

As expected, Edward's story was like a carbon copy of the last one, with the only difference that he had been betrayed in exchange for wealth rather than eternal youth.

It was simple enough to scour the various acquaintances and friends of Edward to find someone who had struck it rich. Unfortunately, this was hard to discern as it wasn't just one person, and the suspects had legitimate explanations for their sudden wealth increase, be it in the form of lucrative investments, their own businesses suddenly booming or even gambling.

Nevertheless, using the trend from the previous floors, Draco targeted the women around Edward. Lo and behold, a huge stack of pounds were eventually discovered in the wardrobe of one Bertha Mason, Edward Rochester's ex-wife who he had divorced for Jane Eyre.

There wasn't even any need for Draco to use his magic since Bertha actually confessed hysterically upon being caught. She had actually tried to sell Jane off to get revenge, something which had proven impossible since the two had no connection.

As such, she had gone for the next best thing, betraying Edward. Their 'holy vows' had proven to be enough of a connection, and so the Demon had quite literally played the part of ' 'til death do them part'.

｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Sixty-Fifth Floor

Time elapsed: 1:21:33

Objectives complete: All

Assessment: EX+

Reward:

70,000 Score Points

1 Treasure Selection Reward - Peak Platinum Grade｣

Two men's souls sold to Demons, one for youth, the other for wealth.

｢The Sixty-Seventh Floor – Divine Quest

Description: Welcome to the Kingdom of Clevante, styled after Victorian-era England! A place where…etc

You are the most Renowned Detective of this kingdom, and you've been called to solve the case of Jay Gatsby, richest man in Clevante.

Limitation 1: This is a world of industry and science. All your stats…etc

Limitation 2: You may retreat from the floor at any time, but upon re-entry…etc

Limitation 3: There is a time limit on each case. You have…etc

Limitation 4: If you choose the wrong target at the end of…etc

Provision 1: You have full access to all the resources of the…etc

Provision 2: You are free to use any method to interrogate suspects, but some…etc

Provision 3: You have the senses of a detective, so can…etc

Rewards: Score Points, 1 Gold-Tier Reward Selection.｣

Hoho, the scales had truly been UPPED this time.

This murder involved Jay Gatsby, a man who had dabbled in just about everything, making it so that he had owned a bit of every business in Clevante. His death would lead to a social and legal uproar... though that had nothing to do with Draco, not that he cared much about the fate of this world in the first place.

His only job was to uncover the cause of death of the deceased.

Jay Gatsby, despite having 43 this year, had been the picture of perfect health prior to his untimely demise. The coroners had identified his death to be similar to Draco's previous cases, which was why he had been called in.

After all, even though Draco had built a solid reputation over the past few floors, the scale was too high. There were many other higher ranked and higher class detectives who had wanted the case, but he had won it over them on this reason.

Draco did his usual bit and brought the corpse up, who bored them with the known story, this time in exchange for everlasting beauty.

Detective Draco sneered as he saw through the pattern, but he also helped Jay Gatsby write a posthumous will, since the man had never expected to die so abruptly.

Suffice to say, this will alone would damped the social turmoil in the country by 60%, and Draco was even sneakily told that he might be commended by the King, not that he was too interested in it.

Draco had his men scour the women associated with Jay Gatsby - not a small amount, even by his own stanards - and found those who had visually been suddenly beautified compared to before.

It was no surprise when it was found to be the unrequited love of Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan. Looking through her memories, Draco learned that at one point Jay had given her a verbal promise that was akin to a marriage.

Sadly, she had never loved him, nor had she cared for his money. No, Daisy's goal had been to enthrall the King and acquire political power, becoming the new Queen, hence the request for beautification.

All in all, Jay had honestly died uselessly.

｢Congratulations on completing: Tower of Babylon Sixty-Seventh Floor

Time elapsed: 1:13:29

Objectives complete: All

Assessment: EX+

Reward:

71,000 Score Points

1 Treasure Selection Reward - Peak Platinum Grade｣

So now, the three requests were youth, money, and beauty? Given that there were three floors left, Draco predicted the difficulty to scale from the next one going, primarily because he was willing to bet that the next request had to do with the one thing he would least like to deal with.

｢The Sixty-Eighth Floor – Divine Quest

Description: Welcome to the Kingdom of Clevante, styled after Victorian-era England! A place where…etc

You are the most Renowned Detective of this kingdom, and you've been called to solve the case of Heathcliff, foster son of the Earnshawn family.

Limitation 1: This is a world of industry and science. All your stats…etc

Limitation 2: You may retreat from the floor at any time, but upon re-entry…etc

Limitation 3: There is a time limit on each case. You have…etc

Limitation 4: If you choose the wrong target at the end of…etc

Provision 1: You have full access to all the resources of the…etc

Provision 2: You are free to use any method to interrogate suspects, but some…etc

Provision 3: You have the senses of a detective, so can…etc

Rewards: Score Points, 1 Gold-Tier Reward Selection.｣

This time, the fellow who had died was a strangely fierce looking man called Heathcliffe. He had no family name because he was an adopted child. Apparently, he was set to marry his non-blood related sister who he had loved if not for the meddling of another clan.

The Heathcliffes were convinced who the killer was, and Draco had merely been called in because Heathcliffe's sudden death was far too similar to previous cases. Once again, the expertise of the 'Necromancer Detective' was needed.

Heathcliffe was risen and the first thing he did was clamor for his love. After being rightly clobbered by Draco, he settled down and began speaking like a proper undead, telling them of his last few moments.

Demon, same speech, different reason? Check, check, and check!

This time, as Draco had suspected, the price for the soul was neither money, beauty nor life, but power. Not political power, but raw martial power.

Draco sighed deeply. As a reminder, this was floor 68. The previous top fellows, Gavin guy and all those who had long since been forgotten had been stuck on the floor 71.

Helia Nuer, the one who had shared all she had known with Draco, had been stuck on the floor 69, right after this one.

The reason should be obvious. On these floors everyone had been stripped of all powers, so if someone wished for wealth, youth and beauty, you could still catch them.

However, if someone wished for power from a Demon... in this type of setting?

Remember, Scorpion? Just contracting with a mere sex/sin Demon had turned him into a very deadly fighter, so how much more effective would it be, if the other party was a mighty Demon, rather than a bottomfeeder?