Klein didn't touch Zreal's corpse as he retreated out of the fork.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Suddenly, a sound came from afar, echoing in the empty and cold sewers.
Klein listened for a few seconds before decisively retreating to the exit along the dirty cement road on both sides of the sewage river.
To him, there was no need to take risks for matters that didn't involve him.
After climbing out of the sewers, Klein closed the metal lid again and cleaned up the surroundings before returning to the one-bedroom apartment he rented in East Borough. He changed his clothes and removed his disguise.
Then, he put on his gold-rimmed glasses and walked to another street. He took a rental carriage and returned to Cherwood Borough at three in the morning in the silence and cold, but it wasn't Minsk Street.
After that, Klein circled around and confirmed that no one was following him before entering his house. He slept until the sky was bright and the doorbell jingled.
He suddenly sat up, put on his shirt, buttoned up his vest, and quickly went down to the first floor and opened the door.
And before that, the premonition ability of the Clown Sequence had already allowed him to naturally outline the visitor's image in his mind.
An old coat that didn't quite fit him, a round brown hat, a tattered satchel, bright red eyes, a delicate face, and a calm temperament. It was none other than the boy who had come to commission the mission yesterday, Ian.
"Good morning, Detective Moriarty," Ian greeted and looked around. "Any luck? Hmm … I was just passing by and wanted to ask. "
Klein nodded solemnly.
"Yes."
"…" Ian seemed to jump in fright and couldn't say a word for a long time.
After a while, he pursed his lips and asked in surprise, "Have you confirmed Mr. Zreal's condition?"
"Yes." Klein paused and said seriously, "I found Zreal's corpse."
"Yes." Klein paused and said seriously, "I found Zreal's corpse."
He wasn't too obviously surprised, as though he had already expected the worst outcome.
"Corpse …" Ian's pupils constricted as he repeated softly.
Klein watched quietly without interrupting.
"Phew …" Ian exhaled and looked around vigilantly. "Your efficiency is amazing. Can you take me to see Mr. Zreal's body?"
"No problem. In fact, that's what I'm planning to do." Klein thought for a moment and said, "I hope you won't mention me when you call the police. Just say that you found it yourself. I think you know how to make up a story."
Ian was not surprised by this. He knew very well that not every detective liked to deal with the police. In fact, other than the famous detectives who often provided advice and assistance to the police department, the others were discriminated against by the police, ostracized, and even blackmailed.
This was the current situation of the Kingdom of Rouen.
"Okay." Ian readily agreed.
Considering that he was going to enter the sewers, Klein changed into a set of ordinary working class clothes, put on a deerstalker hat, and took out a lantern.
The two of them took a public carriage to East Borough. Under the gazes of numb or malicious eyes, they walked for half an hour to the remote sewer entrance.
"How did you find it?" Ian asked in surprise and curiosity as he watched Klein remove the cover and climb down.
Klein looked down and casually replied, "Skillful training.
"Skillful training. This includes a lot of reasoning, investigation, tracking, and interrogating skills."
Ian followed him into the sewers and nodded without feeling disgusted.
"… You seem to have received very professional training."
Klein didn't answer directly. Holding the lantern that had long been lit, he led Ian into a fork in the road and arrived at the gloomy corner.
As soon as he approached, his eyes narrowed slightly. This was because Zreal's corpse was much more mutilated than last night. It was missing an arm and half a rib.
This isn't something a rat can do … Klein muttered to himself, not reminding Ian.
With the help of the lantern's light, Ian clearly saw the corpse's appearance.
He suddenly squatted down and vomited, gradually vomiting yellowish-green bile. Klein took out the Quelaag's Oil he had prepared, unscrewed the cork, and bent down to bring the port to Ian's nose.
Ian suddenly jolted and calmed down.
Ten seconds later, he whispered weakly, "Thank you …"
He slowly stood up and carefully examined the mutilated corpse a few times.
He slowly stood up and carefully examined the mutilated corpse a few times.
"I'm sorry," Klein replied politely. "I suggest you call the police."
"Okay." Ian nodded indiscernibly and followed him back to the surface.
"Mm." Ian nodded indiscernibly and followed the other back to the surface.
"My mission ends here. You decide what to do next."
"My mission ends here. You can decide for yourself what to do next."
"I still owe you three things. You can tell me now."
"I still owe you three things. You can tell me now."
"Actually, I've only thought of one thing for now." Klein answered frankly, "I want to know where I can get a gun and bullets without needing a permit to use all types of weapons."
Ian said without thinking, "The Baekeland Bridge area, Iron Gate Street, The Brave.
"Backlund Bridge area, Iron Gate Street, Bravehearts Bar. Find Kaspars Kalinin. Say that Old Man introduced him."
"Alright, we'll talk about the remaining two things later. I have a feeling that we'll meet again." Klein nodded, pretending to be relaxed.
Ian glanced at him and remained silent, not saying anything.
The two of them separated and headed for different streets in East Borough. The remote area returned to silence once again.
After walking for a while, Klein suddenly turned around and retraced his steps. Then, he hid in a hidden corner and peeked at the entrance to the sewer.
After waiting for two to three minutes, he saw Ian return silently and look around warily.
Klein retracted his gaze in time, leaned his back against the wall, and listened for any movement.
He heard the sound of the metal cover being removed and heard someone climbing down.
Cautiously poking his head out, Klein found that Ian had re-entered the sewer.
Is there a clue or an item hidden on Zreal's body? The water in this matter is indeed deep … He nodded thoughtfully.
Having satisfied his curiosity, Klein didn't stay any longer and left for real. He planned to look for Kaspars Kalinin in two days.
…
Around tea time, Viscount Glaint's home in Empress Borough.
The door to the study was tightly shut, completely separating the four people inside from the guests participating in the salon outside.
"Xio, Fors, this is the reward you deserve." Audrey, who was wearing a pale yellow dress with many lace decorations, pushed a bulging envelope to the two ladies across the desk.
Xio wanted to say something polite, but her hand had already grabbed the envelope and felt the weight of the money.
She had no choice but to say sincerely,
"Miss Audrey, thank you for your generosity. Your honesty makes you even more beautiful."
As she spoke, she untied the thin thread around the envelope and saw the notes inside.
They were uniformly colored notes with black patterns on a gray background. They were thick and exuded a special ink fragrance, one that made one feel relaxed.
"Ten pounds …" Xio pulled out a note and confirmed the denomination. Beside her, Fors, who looked like she didn't care about money, had come over at some point in time.
This, at least … Xio observed the thickness and tried to figure out how many notes there were.
She couldn't help but exchange a glance with Fors and saw the surprise in each other's eyes.
The reward was clearly much more than they had imagined!
Audrey smiled faintly and said, "It's a total of 800 pounds.
"It's a total of 800 pounds. You decide how to split it."
"That incident put you in danger. I'm very sorry for that."
800 pounds … No, there's no need to apologize … If I do it again, even if I knew the possible consequences, I would still accept that commission … Even if it's split equally, with my savings, it's enough to buy the Sheriff potion formula … The 1.5-meter-tall Xio stared blankly at the notes in the envelope, wishing that she could pull them all out and count them repeatedly.
She believed that the generous and beautiful Miss Audrey would definitely not be short of payment, but what if the other party counted wrongly?
Everyone makes mistakes at some point in time! Xio raised her right hand and paused for a few seconds before silently lowering it.
The corners of Fors's mouth couldn't help but curl up.
"That's more than the total remuneration I've received for 'Stormwind Mountain Villa' …"
Should I praise Miss Audrey, or laugh at the writer's poverty? She added silently.
Viscount Glaint, who was sitting on the sofa, was also a little envious, but it wasn't because of Xio and Fors. As a viscount with a decent financial situation, 800 pounds wasn't a huge sum.
What he envied was that Audrey was so generous and didn't feel any burden.
"Ahem …" Viscount Glaint cleared his throat. "If you can get the Apothecary formula, I'll also give you a handsome reward."
"We'll do our best!" Xio replied without hesitation. Then, she looked at Audrey. "We've recently come into contact with people suspected to be Psychological Alchemy. We'll soon have clues to the Spectator potion you want."
Xio, I'm already a Sequence 8.
I'm better than you … Audrey smiled reservedly.
"I'm looking forward to it."
After they were done with their business, the four of them chatted about the various rumors in the Beyonder circle. Under Audrey's example, they began searching for the books they wanted to read.
Suddenly, Xio's eyes lit up when she saw two hard-covered books.
History of the Rouen Kingdom's Aristocracy and Heraldry.
At the same time, Fors also found the books she was interested in.
"Geography of the Feysac Empire" and "Traveling around the Northern Continent".
"Honorable Viscount Glaint, may I borrow these two books? I'll return them very soon. "Xio looked pleadingly at the owner of the study.
Glaint nodded nonchalantly.
"No problem."
Upon hearing his answer, Fors hurriedly made a request and received permission as well.
After witnessing all of this, Audrey's lips curled up slightly. She looked to the side reservedly and pretended to look for books.
As a qualified and promoted Spectator, she had accurately grasped Xio's and Fors's preferences in certain aspects after several interactions. She had used this to make arrangements in advance, arrangements that no one had noticed.
Making the person being guided feel that it was their own will was the embodiment of a Spectator's ability.
…
In the evening, Xio was curled up on the sofa, facing the fireplace. Under the light of the gas lamp, she was reading History of the Rouen Kingdom's Aristocracy. Fors, on the other hand, was attending a gathering of the writers' circle.
After reading for a while, Xio suddenly felt that the hard cover was a little strange. She carefully checked it and found the interlayer. She found an ancient piece of paper.
The front of the paper was covered with the special symbols created by Rosell The Great, and on the back was written a paragraph in ancient Hermes.
"Viscount Glaint's ancestor deciphered some of Rosell The Great's special symbols?" Xio suddenly became excited.
She struggled to decipher the ancient Hermes text and silently recited:
"The Fool that doesn't belong to this era;
"The mysterious ruler above the gray fog;
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