Book 1 of the Enchanted Chronicles: The Nine-Tailed Scarlet

Chapter 1: Regarding Shinobu Moriya

Part 1

A normal Saturday morning clad in a chilling touch of autumn. A man that clearly just woke up clicked his tongue in annoyance. He is not a morning man. With a height of six flat, an average build body, disheveled black hair that reaches up to his cheeks, an average face that couldn't grow any beard; a fact that he was disappointed in, dark blue eyes squinted as he read the label on a bottle of vodka. It's not like anyone is going to reprimand him for drinking so early in the morning.

He might look like your average European man, but actually he's half-Asian and half-American. Shinobu Moriya cursed under his breath as he opened the fridge only to discover that it contained nothing but the oh-so-dreaded rations that he had sneaked out of his colleague's lunch when they met yesterday. He had forgotten to buy actual food from the convenience store ten blocks away.

He downed the vodka and proceeded to the balcony of the four-story apartment block that cost twenty-two bucks every two weeks. It has a good view of the rotten Central District, a district where the human scums live. Murder, rape and robbery is on a daily basis and you can throw in slave trafficking, illegal monster trades, and drug circulation as a bonus. It is an unlawful district that even the police has a hard time dealing with them. Petty criminals are thrown here with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They steal or die. That's the policy in this place.

On the bright side, this place is like a treasure chest of jobs for contractors like Shinobu. Most of their employers are either scammed from a trade or wanted to get rid of competition. They pay big bucks, and their targets are mostly magical beasts gone rogue and low-life scums, so it is a Win-Win in a sense. His recent job involved tracking down a slave-trader and freeing a certain slave which was the daughter of his employer. He ended the life of the slave-trader and his companions and freed the slaves. His payment was a sack containing four thousand dollars, with which he distributed half to the now freed slaves.

His cellphone rang inside the pocket of his pants. He picked up at the fourth ring. "Who is it that has the guts to ruin my beautiful morning." He said dripping with sarcasm in his tone.

"This cute little detective from the Police force came to ruin it," an annoyed voice answered him. "It's rare for you to be awake at this hour. Anyway, clean yourself and I'll be there in a few minutes." And the phone went silent.

Shinobu cursed under his breath. Liesbeth Sheinkopff is a childhood friend of sorts and they are of the same age. She lacks femininity both mentally and physically. She is akin to a wild beast than a girl. Hell, she had once killed a bear with a single twig. She stabbed it onto its eyes until it hit the brain. She's forceful and has a no tolerance policy. Many have wondered how she had a good sense of justice and brains on that tiny head of hers despite her reckless and feral personality. Other than complaining about not finding any lovers, the only reason she would come to pay him a visit is when she has a request. Requests from the government bring all-sorts of good stuff to look forward to.

Shinobu washed his face, re arranged the scattered documents pertaining monster ecology, kinds of youkai, and research on thaumaturgy and locked them on a silver briefcase. After tidying up the place, a few knocks were heard on the oaken door that seemed so fragile it might break with a simple kick.

Shinobu opened the door and there stood a five-two tall woman. She has fair skin; shoulder length brown hair; an innocent looking face; pair of emerald eyes glaring at him as he held up the door. Liesbeth Sheinkopff clicked her tongue in annoyance and barged her way in, shoving Shinobu aside with just a wave of her right arm.

What has gotten her so riled up to be using so much prana?

"So? What kind of request you got for me?" He casually asked as he closed the door and headed to a small dusty kitchen to prepare tea.