October 27, morning.
It has been more than a month since TradeStar Polytechnic College started classes. Most of the new students have adapted to their new campus life and found their niche, preparing for the upcoming class placement exams.
Class placement exams are a unique feature of TradeStar Polytechnic College. Unlike church universities and royal universities, the competition at TradeStar Polytechnic College is fierce and cruel.Only students who are assigned to Class A in the midterm placement exams are eligible to choose a club.
Among the many clubs at the academy, the Combat Club is undoubtedly the most eye-catching and influential club on campus. Below that, the Brotherhood of the True Word and the Starlight Sorority are also organizations that students rack their brains to join, and they are roughly in the second tier on campus.
As a university funded by merchants and aristocrats, TradeStar Polytechnic College has a better overall atmosphere and class system than church universities or royal universities, but this does not change the fact that only aristocrats and merchants are eligible to join the Brotherhood of the True Word and the sororities.
The Brotherhood of the True Word and the Starlight Sorority have their own club activity buildings and dormitories, and ordinary people risk being punished by school rules even if they come close to these two buildings.
Below them are the Student Council, several star clubs, and the school's sports teams. Excluding the Combat Division, which is actually sent to the battlefield to fight, the star clubs represent the pinnacle of what ordinary students can aspire to.
These students are also eligible to live in better dormitories, such as Oriana Manor, which even has butlers, male servants, and female maids to attend to their daily needs.
If one is unlucky enough to be assigned to Class B, they can only join ordinary clubs or serve as errand boys for the star clubs. Though the life of an errand boy is tough, some students are willing to endure it to gain access to better resources.
Edrick is neither the son of a wealthy merchant nor a nobleman's heir, so he had no choice but to settle for the ordinary dormitory building, Osmo House.
Edrick should have enrolled a month ago, but the laundry business, everyone's livelihood, Fogport Raven's relocation, and some arrangements related to Griff, and of course, most importantly, being locked up in prison to cooperate with the investigation, delayed him a lot, and he didn't enroll until late October.
The escape of J, a member of the Cult of Entropic Lies, was a matter of great importance, and as her cellmate, Edrick was inevitably subject to scrutiny. Even though his imprisonment was arranged by Adrian Gray, he still had to spend more than half a month eating prison food. He never expected that the place where he stayed the longest after obtaining Edrick's body would be prison.
Now that the enrollment season was over, Edrick was only able to enroll at this time because of a letter of recommendation from Adrian Gray, a Golden-ranked Hero. Adrian had originally planned to come to school with Edrick, but with such a big incident happening, Adrian Gray himself had a lot on his plate.
Usually, students who enroll at unusual times are either extremely talented or have a very influential background, so whenever such students enroll, they inevitably attract a lot of attention.
Edrick was such a student, but his enrollment went unnoticed because, at the same time, a much bigger news story had captured the attention of nearly all the students.
"The Ripper of Rust District, that villain has finally been caught!"
"What, I've been caught again?" Edrick was quite taken aback when he heard the students' discussions on his way to the dormitory. He knew that for some reason, the royal family and the Holy See were deliberately using this identity to stir up trouble, but he never expected that the copycat would be caught so quickly.
"The fifth most wanted criminal in Stellaxis, and he was caught just like that?"
Due to several recent murders, the reward for the Ripper of Rust District had skyrocketed to an astonishing 400 pounds, and there were only four local criminals above him in Stellaxis.
"Isn't he a dark hero who fights for the people?"
"Maybe he was in the past, but recently he started killing innocent people indiscriminately. I heard that he killed the former warden of Obsidian Spire."
"I heard he was caught by an unknown detective... What was his name?"
"I remember, it's Charlotte Holmes!"
"What a strange name."
"I heard she's a student at our school."
"I've never heard of anyone at our school with the surname Holmes..."
"It's probably a pseudonym."
"How could someone as powerful as the Ripper be caught so easily?"
"That detective must be a fraud. He just grabbed a random fugitive and called him the Ripper..."
Edrick was very interested in what the students were talking about, but he didn't know anyone, and it would be strange to strike up a conversation, so he decided to go to the dormitory to settle in first.
However, when he arrived at the dormitory, he had a new problem.
It wasn't because he encountered some arrogant nobleman bullying the weak, but because the dormitory fees were simply too exorbitant.
The basic tuition was 10 pounds, each course voucher cost 3 pounds, and Edrick had purchased five courses totaling 15 pounds. The expedited service for the recommendation letter certification cost an additional 2 pounds. Although Edrick had originally intended to skip this expense, he decided against it because he wasn't in a hurry. After all, his targets, the Soot Street Scamps and the Blackbeard Gang, were already in serious trouble, and he didn't feel the need to deliver the final blow immediately.
On the other hand, Edrick wanted to go to the textile factory to investigate Miryam's background, which was also a long-term plan that he would have to wait until he became a Pathseeker to qualify for. In comparison, collecting more Faith Essence to extend his life was a little more urgent.
However, Lacus was in a hurry. She wanted to act quickly to disrupt the plans of both the royal family and the church before their conflict erupted completely. Considering that Lacus's goals did not conflict with Edrick's and even overlapped in part, Edrick agreed.
Although there was some risk, the rewards were high, but the initial investment was simply too large.
Before even entering the dormitory, Edrick had already spent 27 pounds!
"Plus £5 for social activities and £15 per semester for a double room in the dormitory!" Edrick couldn't help but cover his face. It was said that these figures were double for aristocratic students, who also had to pay enrollment fees, social activity fees, coat of arms certification fees, and so on.
In any era, university was very expensive, even at TradeStar Polytechnic College, which was relatively friendly to commoners.
He had originally planned to live in the laundry room, but it took two hours to get to the university by public carriage, which was too far to walk.
Come to think of it, this was his first time leaving the Rust Belt. Stellaxis was much larger than he had expected. At least in the 18th century, there were definitely no human cities of this scale on Earth. Was this the convenience brought about by the magic industry?
But Edrick still felt a sense of incongruity about the civilization of the Arcanis continent. The path of development here was very strange. They were clearly capable of building cities with a population of millions, yet they had not developed gunpowder. They possessed Ethercraft technology comparable to that of the future, yet their industrial production capacity was very backward.
Perhaps after learning general knowledge at the university, he would be able to resolve the doubts in his heart.
After paying the accommodation fee, Edrick collected the keys to his room from the dormitory manager, Ms. Maria.
"You're in a double room. You'll have a new roommate moving in tomorrow." Ms. Maria was a very cold person. She handed Edrick the key box and the manual without saying another word and continued reading the newspaper.
Before leaving, Edrick glanced at the headline in the newspaper: "Genius detective Charlotte Holmes bravely captures the Ripper of Rust District, a perverted serial killer!"
Charlotte Holmes, this name was too memorable for Edrick, a transmigrator. That's why he still hadn't forgotten the petite elf girl he met at the pier a few days ago.
At the same time, one of the central figures in the public storm, the elf girl who called herself Charlotte Holmes, stood outside the police station's interrogation room and complained to the police chief, "I told you he's not the Ripper! He's just an insignificant copycat!"
"Now he is," said the police chief, looking at the two police officers sitting in the interrogation room and the prisoner wrapped in a chain of runes. "This case has attracted too much attention. It must come to an end."
"The Ripper will strike again!" Charlotte Holmes emphasized.
"If someone else commits a crime, it will only be an insignificant copycat."The sheriff wore a malicious smile on his face as he glanced sideways at the petite elf girl, who stood only as tall as his chest. From his angle, he could just make out her disproportionately large breasts, which didn't quite match her petite frame. "You should know that letting you stand outside the interrogation room is already a favor to you, considering you're the one who captured him. Most detectives wouldn't even be allowed in here."
In fact, it's because of your breasts, the sergeant silently added in his mind. This little girl is not old—for an elf—and she has a really nice figure. Her face... because it's dirty, it's hard to see clearly, but that's okay, he can fill in the blanks.
Charlotte Holmes looked at the arrested "Ripper" with a grim expression.
This unlucky guy was certainly not innocent. His name was Joseph Black, and he was also a murderer. According to Charlotte's investigation, he had only killed one person, his own wife, whom he had been with day and night, and then disguised himself as the Ripper to commit the crime.
Charlotte had arrested him on a whim, but now he was suddenly facing charges for over a dozen murders. Though the victims deserved their fate, and though Charlotte could suddenly receive a 300-pound reward (after deducting various fees she didn't understand, only 180 pounds would remain), Charlotte still felt a knot in her throat.
Knowing she was powerless to change anything, Charlotte shook her head and prepared to leave. Suddenly, Joseph Black let out a疯狂的呐喊 toward Charlotte: "Have you ever felt like the person beside you is no longer the same person?"
Two interrogating officers tried to stop him from shouting, but it seemed they were just venting their frustration, as they didn't cover his mouth but instead kept punching and kicking him while grinning excitedly.
"One day you wake up, and the world is different from your memories, but you can't put your finger on what's changed. You look at your wife's face and feel like she's been replaced by something else!" Joseph Black screamed wildly, while Charlotte Holmes stared at him in utter shock.
Black's rambling words stirred up the deepest fears within Charlotte Holmes.