The city fog had thinned by the time Perry and Evi returned to the Bureau, but the stink of Lord Clenworth's death still clung to Perry's coat.
He didn't bother brushing it off.
The marble floors of the front hall echoed with idle chatter and booted heels, voices drifting like smoke—rookie detectives exchanging gossip, bureaucrats skimming reports they didn't care to read. The sharp scent of candle ink and enchantment powder filled the air, along with cheap perfume from someone trying to impress a superior.
Perry moved straight to the front desk.
The same desk clerk from his first day—lean, balding, glasses always about to fall off—looked up as Perry dropped a folded report onto the counter.
"...You again."
"Still alive," Perry said, flatly.
The clerk opened the report, scanning quickly. His brow creased at the conclusion.
Cause of death: Bellshade root. Body frozen prior to discovery to fake boiling. Crime scene staged by Ardell Clenworth. Principal offender: Lady Venra Clenworth.
He blinked. "Frozen? Not... boiled?"
Perry didn't answer. He just raised one brow, as if daring the man to argue with thermodynamics.
A pause. A sigh. Stamp. "Processed."
System Notification: Case Report Received. Report internally consistent. Offender identity accepted. Case status: closed. Reward Dispensed: 8 silver coins. Reputation Increased: +2. Mission Cycle Reset.
Coins slid across the counter. Perry swept them into his coat, weighing them briefly.
Eight silver. Enough for five inn meals. Or three days of rent and one loaf of regret. Still not enough to survive without more cases.
"I still don't get how you figured it out," Evi muttered, standing behind him. "Everyone else thought the pot did it."
"I know," Perry said without turning. "That's why they're not me."
---
The Bureau's Rank Board stood mounted near the rear chamber wall, brass letters engraved beside glowing enchantment runes. Perry glanced at it with idle disdain.
Each detective's name flickered with a colored border—red for Rank F, orange for E, yellow for D, all the way to violet. His own name sat deep at the bottom:
PERRY – Rank F – 2 Cases Solved – 0 Faults – Eligible for Trial
Just above it, someone had scrawled in chalk:
"Next Ervy?"
And then crossed it out.
Evi stepped up beside him. "Why haven't you tested for Rank E yet? You already solved two cases. That Clenworth one wasn't easy."
Perry didn't answer right away.
System Notification: You are now eligible for Promotion Trial: Rank E. Success Rate: 27.5%. Note: Failure will delay next attempt by one lunar cycle.
You qualify, the System added in its neutral tone. Current mission statistics: high logic score, low charisma, high suspicion factor.
"Sounds flattering," Perry muttered.
Not a compliment. Observation only.
He scanned the names above his and sighed. Rank came with resources, yes—but also supervision. And attention. Neither of which suited his goals. Not yet.
---
Back in the rented attic room that passed for his home, Perry sat on the narrow bed beside a scarred desk, flipping through the original case file:
Case 000: Why Was I Reincarnated?
A case that should have been nonsense. But the Bureau had accepted it—reluctantly, because silver made believers out of skeptics.
He scratched out the title with a stub of inked charcoal.
Updated: Why was I specifically chosen by the System?
System Acknowledgment: Case Edit Confirmed. Continuing Investigation. Immunity Maintained.
He leaned back, eyes drifting across the cracked ceiling.
There had been no contract. No voice offering a deal. Just the moment he died—a room full of blood, his partner's final betrayal, a bullet behind the eye—and then this world. And a system.
A protective one, supposedly.
"Systems don't exist unless someone benefits," he muttered.
That is true, the System replied.
He sat upright.
"You never answer unprompted."
Your statement was classified as a direct reflection on system purpose.
"Uh-huh. And?"
The one benefiting is you.
"For now," he said.
The silence that followed was louder than any argument.
---
The next morning, the Bureau hall smelled of overcooked bread and wet ink.
Perry arrived early—not out of work ethic, but to avoid the daily chaos at the notice board. Fresh cases were pinned each dawn like hunted meat: murders, thefts, cursed heirlooms, and the occasional "Possessed Grandmother" report.
None of them caught his eye.
But Evi did.
She came jogging from the east wing, coat half-buttoned, scroll case bouncing behind her.
"Perry—you're not going to believe this one."
"I rarely do."
"I overheard it while delivering scrolls to the Magical Registry. A priest barged in screaming about a sealed tomb. Said they opened it and found an extra body."
Perry blinked. "Extra?"
"A fresh one. Inside a locked mausoleum. Original corpse untouched. Bureau told him it's not serious. 'Probably a prank.'"
He held out his hand.
She passed him the slip. A local parish priest. Tomb of the Sainted Flame, eastern ridge of South Gleswick. Complaint filed three hours ago. No magical residue. No local burial records matching the body.
Perry read it twice.
Body found in sealed mausoleum. Original remains undisturbed. Unknown male corpse. No ID. Fresh condition.
Sealed.
Undisturbed.
But with an extra corpse.
"You overheard all this by accident?" he asked, eyes narrowing.
"I was in the registry. Priest was loud. Half the hall heard him."
Perry didn't answer. Coincidences weren't illegal. Just annoying.
"You think someone broke into a tomb just to deposit a body?" she said.
"I think someone found a way to break pattern," he said. "I take what disrupts logic. That's where the truth leaks out."
Evi muttered, "Gods, that's creepy. What kind of person does that?"
Perry didn't blink. "That's what I intend to find out."
---
The clerk groaned when he saw Perry approach.
"You again?"
"Body in a sealed tomb," Perry said. "Case unclaimed?"
"Yeah, yeah, weird priest keeps screaming about it. But no one else wants it." The man hesitated. "You sure? Graveyard jobs attract lunatics."
"So do politics," Perry said. "And I already lost that round once."
Stamp. Ink blot. Scroll filed.
System Notification: Case Submission Confirmed — "The Corpse That Didn't Belong." Investigation Mode Active. Immunity Granted. Suspect Count: 0 (Temporary). Barrier Inactive. Monitoring begins.
Perry turned.
Evi caught up, panting. "That's really the one you're picking?"
"My purse holds eight silver," he said. "Rent costs twelve."
She frowned.
"And that means?"
"It means tombs don't sound so bad when they might be full of answers. Or at least, enough silver to stay dry."
"You think this is connected to your... original case?" she asked carefully.
"I think," Perry said, "that people don't smuggle corpses into sealed tombs by accident."
A beat passed.
"Or for fun."