Marshall waited outside the medical bay, tapping his feet impatiently against the floor.
'I am fool. I should've gotten rid of the cursed tree as soon as I found out about its existence. What if he reports to the headquarters and gets me fired?
'In a sense, cursed tree's effects are just mind control. That is illegal in World Seas and in most parts of the world. I committed a crime for not getting rid of it.'
He took a deep breath.
He never thought it would be harmful, as he liked to see the smiles on people's mouths, and the effects also made him feel happy and content with his life.
About twenty years ago, he lost his wife and baby son in a pirate attack. It took him a long time to get rid of those negative emotions.
He spent his time at sea hunting pirates and slaughtering them like pigs.
However, he happened to visit Letzer Island once for a supply run, and for the first time in like fifteen years, he stopped feeling pain and found peace within himself.
But, when he left that island, he was back to being in pain and found out about the cursed tree, but instead of destroying it, he decided to protect it.
In the coming months after that, he made Letzer Island into another navy branch island and became commander of it.
It was accepted with open arms by the people of the town, as it meant that they would be safe from pirates.
At that moment, the doors of the medical bay opened, and Viktor walked out, a frown and troubled look on his face.
"Is everything alright?" Marshall straightened his back and asked.
"I am not sure," Viktor said, and caressed his chin. "I went deep into that boy's subconsciousness to try to find his memories, but I found nothing."
"What do you mean nothing?"
"It looks like his memories got decimated. They don't exist anymore, not even in his subconsciousness."
"W-what the hell?" Marshall couldn't believe his ears. "I didn't know Mindbreaker could do that."
"A very powerful one can." Viktor said with a serious look. "What did the doctors say about his injuries?"
"They said that the wound on the back of his head could've caused short-term amnesia, but if it was only that, you could've easily found his disappeared memories."
"Hmm…" Viktor pondered. "I don't know what kind of monster visited this place, but it looks like you guys were lucky."
"Lucky? How so?" Marshall asked with a gulp.
"That guy could've killed all of you and erased all the evidence of him being even here. It would've been as easy as snapping fingers for him, but instead, he chose to leave.
"I am just having difficulties understanding the motive for all this. Why destroy a cursed tree and escape with a navy ship?"
"We found a hole at the bottom of the cursed tree," Marshall said. "It looks like there was something there that no one else had found before, but somehow, this guy knew."
"I am not surprised. Powerful Mindbreakers can see things that others can't even begin to comprehend."
"What will you do, sir?" Marshall asked. "Will you start an investigation?"
"I must, and I will be contacting the World Detective Association; it sounds is a perfect job for them. You must come with me to the headquarters."
"Me?" Marshall's face paled. 'Is this it? I will be thrown in jail despite the fact that I've locked more pirates behind bars than this Viktor brat has seen?!'
"The detectives will be wanting to talk to you. I am sure of it. For now, you will be reassigned to navy headquarters until this mess gets sorted out."
'Reassigned?' Marshall looked surprised. "I will be helping with the investigation?"
"Of course!" Viktor walked away and put the coat back on his shoulders. "We must find this guy. The truly powerful Mindbreakers are the scariest guys in the world. The mind is a powerful weapon, and those kinds of people can't be allowed to walk freely without supervision!"
Marshall looked surprised and then walked after Viktor, his hands slightly trembling in excitement.
He was going to the navy headquarters where only the big shots were allowed to go. However, he wasn't going there for a holiday; he was going there to find the extremely dangerous Mindbreaker!
"What shall we call that Mindbreaker?" Marshall asked as he walked behind Viktor. "Don't we usually assign codenames to these kinds of dangerous beings?"
Viktor contemplated deeply and then looked serious.
"We usually have similar-sounding codenames for every person we investigate. It usually includes a color of some kind, and then the last name is based on the potential danger that the person can have.
"I truly believe this person has the potential to be one of the most dangerous people I've encountered.
"Thus, for now, the codename shall be—Black Curse."
Gothic City, a branch of World Detective Association.
In the office of the detectives, piles after piles of old books and dusty files filled the room. These piles were almost reaching the ceiling—that's how tall they were.
Amongst the books, a detective snored soundly while a flat hat shielded his eyes from the light in the ceiling.
A few other detectives also sat at their desks, lazily scribbling something on empty notepads in front of them.
They all seemed like children, bored out of their minds, and wishing for something interesting to happen.
At that moment, the fax machine started to make noise. A paper began to slowly emerge from the machine.
"A new case?!" One of them cried out and jumped towards the fax machine.
"Mmh?" The snoring detective finally woke up, and with squinted eyes, looked over. "What is it this time? I swear if it's another boring insurance fraud case, I'm going back to sleep."
"Hmm?" An excited detective yanked the paper from the machine and looked at it with a smile.
The further he read, his smile froze, and while others thought it was because it was another boring case, the detective's eyes turned serious.
"The navy headquarters sent us an investigation request. They've come across a dangerous Mindbreaker that seems to have the ability to destroy one's memories."
"Destroying one's memories?" The snoring detective woke up and smirked. "What the hell, that sounds interesting!"
"They've assigned him the codename of Black Curse…" The detective looked serious. "This guy might be one dangerous motherfucker."
"Oh? They call that person a curse?" Another detective smirked. "Also, they assigned color Black to that guy? When was the last time they did that… whew."
The serious-looking detective nailed the paper to the wall with a thumbtack and turned to face the rest.
"Alright—Black Curse—let's try to find out everything we can about this guy!"