Chapter 172: A Story About Love

Chapter 172: A Story About Love

Watching streaks of lightning illuminate the dark sky, Derrick did not directly knock on the doors of the people he knew. Instead, he followed the widest avenue all the way to the training grounds at the edge of the City of Silver.

After every exploration team returned, they would stay there for some time. It was convenient for them to communicate and report the people and things they had encountered in the depths of the darkness. At the same time, it served as a disguised form of quarantine, guarding against the possibility that something bizarre might have attached itself to one of the team members and would erupt violently after a certain amount of time had passed.

This was an experience the City of Silver had explored and summarized over more than two thousand years. It was not complicated, but it was extremely effective.

The moment he entered the training grounds, Derrick Berg, who carried the Hurricane Axe tucked behind his waist, suddenly saw his surroundings brighten before his eyes. He saw Elder Lovia, who had an imposing and beautiful presence and looked no more than thirty. He also saw two acquaintances of the same age.

The City of Silver was only so large. Limited by the environment, its population had never grown much. There were not few people of any given age group, but there were not many either. Derrick did not dare say he knew all of them, but he had at least seen most, and several had been classmates in general education and companions at the training grounds for years.

Within this exploration team, the person Derrick knew best was Dark Regence, who had once served with him in the same patrol team.

The youth named Dark was of average height and slightly plump. His strength was his strong point. He was optimistic and cheerful, and a smile that made others feel close to him often hung on his face. At present, he was a Sequence 8 Gladiator of the Giant pathway.

At this moment, the two sides were separated by a semi-transparent wall as hard as steel, preventing effective contact. They had to wait until every member of the exploration team was confirmed to have no problems before both sides could meet directly.

Derrick, who had become silent and withdrawn after his parents’ deaths, waved his hand and greeted Dark.

The Gladiator seemed to sense it and turned his head to look over.

“Dark, how was it? You didn’t run into any danger, did you?” Derrick called out.

The black wall was made from a material found not far from the City of Silver. It was called “dark amber.” While being as hard as steel, it possessed a certain degree of transparency and excellent sound conductivity. Derrick’s words passed through without much obstruction.

In Derrick’s mind, Dark would surely reveal a brilliant smile and habitually wave his arm while saying, “You can see I’m not really injured. Doesn’t that tell you we didn’t encounter anything too dangerous? They were all minor problems!”

Hearing Derrick’s voice, Dark walked a few steps closer to the wall and answered with a smile.

“No. Everything went smoothly.”

Looking at that flawless smile, Derrick suddenly felt a chill run through his entire body, as though he were camping at night on the top of an abandoned tower or in a ruined city, surrounded by pitch-black darkness and gathering undercurrents.

…

Inside the Krag Club, Klein and Dr. Allen had reached an agreement on compensation:

Two pounds!

I have to say, doctors’ money is really easy to earn… In the past, for a commission like this, I would have paid ten soli at most… Klein, who had intended to accept the task anyway, sighed inwardly.

He remembered that back when he had been in the Nighthawks team, the Corpse Collector Frye had once mentioned that famous doctors earned a great deal of money.

At the time, Leonard Mitchell, the poet who did not seem like a poet, had responded by saying that, as far as he knew, if one bought a house in a prosperous area of Backlund and turned it into a shop, the fastest way to earn back the investment would be to remodel it into a clinic.

The two sides agreed to visit Will Auceptin’s home after dinner. Since it was not yet three in the afternoon, the equestrian teacher Talim called the three of them together to make a table of four and play Level Up, the card game invented by Emperor Roselle.

What I had imagined was playing some tennis, practicing shooting, and browsing through books in the library. What a healthy lifestyle that would have been… So why has it become this… During a break between hands, Klein could not help thinking.

Frankly speaking, with his current “magical” attainments, he could easily make Dr. Allen, Reporter Mike, and Talim lose every bit of money they were carrying.

But I am an honest person. I believe even more in my skill and luck… While the red-vested attendant shuffled the cards, Klein picked up a cream puff pastry and took an appreciative bite.

He praised sincerely in his heart:

Now this is life!

During the card game, Klein noticed one thing: the equestrian teacher Talim was no longer often distracted as before, nor did he look full of worries.

Has the matter of his friend falling in love with someone he shouldn’t have been resolved? Klein took a sip of Marquis black tea and thought with considerable curiosity.

As a detective, he knew this was not a matter he should ask about in front of others. He restrained himself and focused on the game.

At five o’clock, because Mike Joseph still had to return to the newspaper office, the four-person card game ended there. Klein had won five soli.

My luck really has been good lately… Just as Klein was praising this with gratification, he saw Dr. Allen leave the table for the washroom. He lowered his voice and asked with a low chuckle, “Talim, has the matter with that friend of yours been resolved?”

Talim was throwing the cards in his hand into the middle of the table. Hearing the question, he froze for a moment, then sighed and smiled.

“I suppose so.”

Showing a strong desire to talk, he added, “Actually, it wasn’t anything too serious. I had simply been overthinking things at the time.

“To put it simply, a young gentleman of illustrious status fell in love with a commoner woman. You know how it is. A man of similar status must marry a noble lady. Heh, for him, even the daughter of a wealthy magnate would be unacceptable.”

So that’s all… And I had filled in so many melodramatic and bizarre stories in my head, like falling in love with a man, falling in love with a monster, or falling in love with someone forbidden by family ethics… Klein felt a wave of disappointment and said with amusement, “As far as I know, men in high society don’t mind keeping a mistress outside.”

“No, Sherlock, you don’t understand. Love, do you understand? Love! That young gentleman only wants to marry that commoner woman,” Talim said with feeling.

Yes, I don’t understand. I’m just a single dog… Klein opened his mouth and suddenly found himself unable to respond.

Talim sighed to himself.

“For the sake of that young gentleman’s future, I once thought of asking you to find someone with a few magical abilities to deal with it quietly. Heh, in short, I am a law-abiding person. I only thought about it in my head.”

“How was it resolved later?” Klein asked with interest.

Talim lifted his Highland coffee and took a sip.

“The solution was simpler than I imagined. I went straight to that lady and told her about the predicament. Very rationally, she said she was willing to leave that gentleman and asked me for help.

“I have to say, she truly is a considerate, kind, refined, and beautiful girl. If not for the matter of status, perhaps even I would kneel before her and kiss the back of her hand.”

“All right. It seems I won’t be of any help.” Klein lifted the white-glazed porcelain cup with gold edging that held his black tea.

As someone from Earth, he had absolutely no interest in accepting commissions to break up lovers and ruin other people’s romance.

However, listening to it as gossip was an entirely different matter.

…

After dining at the Krag Club and tasting the limited-supply Sonia lobster, Klein and Dr. Allen took the latter’s carriage to Will Auceptin’s home at 66 Doughton Street in the North Borough.

This was an address Dr. Allen had memorized long ago. He had not returned to the hospital to check the corresponding medical records. According to Klein’s guess, the information related to Will Auceptin had most likely already been taken away by the Nighthawks.

As a former Nighthawk, I understand their procedures very well… Klein sighed with a bitter smile.

They rang the doorbell and waited for a while before the door opened. A maid in black and white asked doubtfully, “Gentlemen, who are you looking for?”

Seeing Allen remain as aloof as ever, Klein took the initiative and said, “We’re looking for Will Auceptin. This is his attending physician. He has come for a follow-up visit to confirm his health.”

“I—I don’t know him. I only came here a few days ago… I’ll go fetch my master. Please wait.” The maid answered with a blank expression.

While the two waited, Allen suddenly said, “That excuse you came up with just now almost convinced even me.”

“That’s a basic quality of being a detective,” Klein said with a light laugh.

At that moment, an elderly gentleman in his fifties walked to the door and said in a deep voice, “Will Auceptin’s family has already moved away. On…”

He gave a date.

After a brief calculation, Allen frowned.

“He had only been discharged two days after surgery. How could he tire himself out by moving?”

He behaved exactly as though he truly had come for a follow-up visit.

Klein, meanwhile, asked with slight puzzlement, “Sir, how do you know so clearly?”

Normally speaking, the later tenant would only move in after some time had passed.

The old gentleman answered in poor humor, “People already came by earlier to ask. I even made a point of asking the landlord.”

The Nighthawks… Holding little hope, Klein asked, “Do you know where Will Auceptin’s family moved?”

“No.” The old gentleman gave only a single word.

“Then did they leave anything here?” Klein considered for a moment, then continued asking.

“Some things.” The old gentleman took a breath and said, “But they were all given to that earlier group!”

Running into colleagues really is a helpless thing… They can always think ahead to the things you’re about to think of… Klein could not help wanting to sigh.

Seeing that there were no more clues, Klein and Allen politely took their leave and left 66 Doughton Street.

“It seems your confusion will have to wait a long time before it can be resolved,” Klein said to Dr. Allen, turning his head slightly.

Allen was silent for a few seconds before slowly letting out a breath.

“After what just happened, I’m not as troubled anymore. I’m a doctor. Doing my own work well is enough. I should make follow-up visits for health, not question the situation. What other people think and why they are not kind isn’t something I should pay attention to. From now on, I’ll try to maintain only the relationship between doctor and patient.”

“It’s best that you can think that way.” Klein agreed sincerely, then asked casually, “What exactly was wrong with Will Auceptin’s left leg at the time?”

“His left calf had grown a ring of strange tumors, forming a perfect loop that seriously compressed the blood vessels,” Dr. Allen recalled. “But that child didn’t show much pain at all. He only seemed rather afraid. At first, we wanted to treat it conservatively, but the situation deteriorated rapidly.”