God of Systems: Maker of Heroes and Villains

A tall man walked along the streets and stopped in front of a huge wooden gate. He glanced at the nameplate on the wall beside the gate.

"Duke Silas Jude Waverly, Waverly Mansion huh? I didn't expect a direct letter from the duke but if he asked for my services personally, then I guess it's something serious." he muttered and a petite blonde girl smirked beside him.

"Hey Detective, will you allow me to actually help you this time instead of just making me do the chores?" she asked and the man looked at her.

He shook his head, "Nah, I don't need the help of some kid."

"I'm twenty!!" she complained, but the detective ignored her and looked at the two guards that were standing on either side of the gate.

He took out a small letter and showed it to them, "I was invited here by the Duke."

Both the guards nodded and opened the gate for the detective, who quickly walked in with his assistant right behind him.

The two of them headed inside and were escorted to the Duke's study room where they saw him sitting with one of his wives, looking absolutely distressed.

"Duke, I've come here due to your summons." the Detective said as he stood near the door.

Duke Waverly looked up at the guy and nodded, "You're finally here, Detective Asher." he said and took out a few cards from his inner pocket before placing them in front of the study table.

"Take a look at these and tell me what they mean... I got this delivered to me three weeks ago and since then, once in every four to five days, my kids have been disappearing out of nowhere." he said before taking a deep breath.

He then pulled one of the drawers and took out four cards before giving them to Asher, which was taken by the blonde assistant instead.

"These four cards... each one of them were left at the place were my kids originally were. I have my doubts about someone being the main culprit but I have no proof."

Asher glanced at the new set of four cards and raised his eyebrow, "Hmm... The four of spades, three of spades, six of hearts and ace of diamonds huh? Can you tell me more about your kids please? And also about this main culprit that you have doubts on."

"Our kids..." the duchess muttered and began to speak, "Well, I think I already know the connection between our kids and those cards. When the youngest disappeared, there was an ace of diamonds left for us.

Our youngest daughter, who is our youngest child, represents the three of spades and that's basically the pattern here. As for the one we have our doubts on, it's an inquisitor from protection church who is called Keith Zenister."

"Yes, and it's most probably related to the succession wars that began recently. We openly supported the second prince but this Keith is on the third prince's side and we have information that he's camping a few kilometers away from our estate." the duke said before continuing.

"He visited one of the viscounts and a Marquess and based on the information received, he managed to get a total of 1600 soldiers and also got the Marquess's second son to break ties with his family just to take the third prince's side.

Things really aren't looking good for us. We originally expected him to attack us openly since we had plans to accuse him of targeting us, but since he isn't doing that, we really have our hands tied.

I don't care about the second prince anymore... as long as I can get my kids back, I'll do everything that inquisitor says but he's not even replying to the letter's I've sent to him."

The detective looked a the cards for a few seconds before giving them back to the duke, "These are normal cards and I don't think they're cursed or have anything suspicious going on with them. You've told me what happened but what do you need me to do?"

"Bring me concrete proof that Keith is the one who's responsible for my children's disappearance. That's the reason I called you here."

The blonde girl chuckled, "You say that you want to give in to this inquisitor but here you are, trying your best to go against him. Hey detective, I already told you that I don't like working for nobles so why did you even bring me here?" she asked as she pouted.

Asher glanced at her and shook his head, "I never told you to come with me. You simply follow me like you're my shadow." he said and turned to look at the Duke, "Don't mind this kid. As for the proof, I'll need to confirm if he's really the one behind the disappearances first.

Once I make sure that it's really him, that's when I'll start moving to collect proofs. If he's not the culprit, then I'll tell you and collect my payment. I have no interest in falsifying evidences against people."

The duke nodded and took out three golden yellow notes from his pocket before extending his hand forward, "Here's the advance. I hope that you'll stay impartial."

"You should know about my reputation already, right?" Ashen said as he smiled and took a step backwards before turning around, "I'll see you tomorrow or maybe the day after tomorrow."

Once the detective left, the Duke let out a sigh and leaned back against his chair.

"When was the last time one of our kids disappeared?" he asked as he looked at his wife.

"Five days days ago... today is the sixth day. After our youngest was taken, the gaps between the kidnappings were five days each but I'm getting really worried since nothing happened yesterday.

Even though we sent most of our knights to keep an eye on our remaining kids, I'm feeling very anxious..." the duchess said as she placed her hand on her husband's shoulders and squeezed.

Just as she said this, the couple heard a knock on their door; one that sounded extremely urgent since the knocks were fast paced and sounded aggressive.

Duke Waverly immediately opened the door, only to see one of his concubines standing in front of him with tears in her eyes and a card in her hand.

"....." he said nothing and stared at the card that showed the queen of diamonds.

"I... I was there with her but two people with masks just appeared out of nowhere!" she wailed, her voice extremely loud as she fell into the Duke's embrace.

She sobbed for a few seconds before she continued, "One of them grabbed my arm and I was unable to move. It hurt so much... and I couldn't do anything as they grabbed her and disappeared.

It felt like I was looking at mysterious ghosts...."

The duke took a long breath as he saw the detective walk towards him with a curious look in his eyes.

"My other concubine was taken away just a few minutes ago. I focused too much on my kids and this happened... my beloved is gone..." he said as he gave Asher a pained expression.

The detective nodded and looked at the woman who was hugging the duke, "Miss, could you please guide me to the room where everything happened? I just overheard the stuff you said a few seconds ago."

The woman sniffed and nodded before heading to the room, which looked untouched other than the bed sheets being slightly crumpled.

"Hmm.... no signs of struggle." Asher muttered and turned to look at the Duke who was standing by the door, "Give me one day."

Without saying anything extra, he left the room and walked out of the mansion.

"So, what's the plan? Are you really going to meet him?" the blonde asked and Asher nodded before looking at the knights who were standing near the main gate along with the guards.

"Where's this inquisitor at?"

One of the knights pointed to his right, "Towards north, around the outskirts of the forest but a few meters inside. There's a nice tent between the trees and that's where he currently sleeps and does most of his things."

"I suggest that you don't go too close though." another knight added, "Those guys have these huge ass wolves keeping guard."

Asher nodded and bowed slightly, "Thank you for the directions. I'll take my leave now."

His assistant on the other hand, waved her hand cutely at the knights before following behind him.

"Hey Kid," he said as he continued to walk but the girl glared at him, "My name is not Hey Kid!"

".... Okay, Julie." Asher said and sighed before continuing, "You said that you had some sort of spying ability right? Tell me about it."

The girl pouted before clicking her tongue, "We've been together for almost an entire month and you ask me about my awakened ability now? Like... heck, I told you about it two times already! I bet you didn't even pay attention."

Asher turned to look at her.

"Never needed it... not until now."

"Oh mister jack of all fucking trades, guess what? I don't feel like helping you right now."

Asher let out a soft sigh and shook his head, "Your brother is way more cooperative compared to you. I guess I'll go wake him up first and take him with me since I'd probably need his help if things get serious."

Julie stopped walking and turned around, "You both should just fuck each other. I hope you get pregnant too." she cursed before running away.

'There's no way I can let that Keith know that I'm here. Let's play again, and this time... let's play it rough~'