Chapter 53: Incitement

Watching Ernest board the carriage and leave, the bounty hunters hidden nearby immediately sprang out. Some did not begrudge the early expenses and directly stopped a passing hired carriage. Others memorized the target carriage’s features and tried to cut ahead through remote, narrow alleys. Still others mounted bicycles they had prepared in advance and, amid a series of jingling sounds, passed through the gaps between carriages and crowds, following with great ease.

Among them, only Xio remained unhurried. She stayed where she was, watching Ernest and several colleagues leave one after another.

This form of transportation, also called a bicycle, is more useful than I imagined. No wonder so many bounty hunters save up to buy one. It can save the cost of taking carriages, or the time spent walking… If one often has similar tracking missions, the money saved would be enough to buy a new bicycle… The only problem is that there are still very few styles right now, and all of them are high-seated types… Xio felt increasingly tempted as she watched.

At that moment, a public tramcar drove over from the crossroads and stopped before her.

The place where Xio stood happened to be a station.

After glancing at the double-decker carriage resting on its iron rails, Xio took out several one-penny copper coins, boarded, and found a window seat.

This kind of public carriage could carry nearly fifty people across its upper and lower levels. At that moment, it was not crowded, allowing Xio to look smoothly at the scenery outside the window.

But she was not admiring the view. In her mind, she rapidly sketched the target’s specific appearance:

Brown hair, scarlet eyes, deeply carved facial lines, a nose bridge so high that it looked somewhat deformed, and an oil-painting album in his hands.

With the extraordinary senses of a Sheriff in this regard, and with the distance between the two sides not yet widened too far, Xio vaguely grasped the target’s current position and intended direction.

Thus, she was very calm. She even used the window glass as a mirror, removed her newsboy cap, and tidied her somewhat rough and stubborn blond hair.

After passing an unknown number of stops, Xio suddenly rose when the public carriage stopped again and stepped down.

This was the Backlund Bridge area. The target she sensed had already changed direction and was preparing to head for the bridge.

Xio immediately quickened her steps, planning to enter another street from the corner ahead and board a public carriage bound for the south bank of the Tussock River.

Her luck was decent. The moment she reached the stop, that public carriage arrived.

Xio silently breathed out in relief, took out the other pennies she had prepared, and wanted even more to buy a bicycle.

This public tramcar was very crowded, but relying on the dignity of an Arbiter, Xio still passed through the crowd relatively easily, climbed to the upper level, and found a seat.

The carriage slowly began moving. Xio casually glanced out the window, and her gaze suddenly froze.

She saw Sherman, whom she had searched for everywhere without success!

The young man who believed himself to be female was holding a paper bag containing several long loaves of bread and a stack of newspapers, entering a narrow alley.

His shoulder-length brown hair had grown somewhat longer, and his gray striped trousers were a little tight.

Although his figure vanished in a flash, making him impossible for an ordinary person to confirm, Xio, as a Sheriff, easily made a definite judgment.

Sherman canceled the room he rented in the East Borough and moved here? Seeing that nothing seemed wrong with him, and that she herself was still following the target, Xio restrained the impulse to leap out of the carriage, chase him, and ask about his recent circumstances.

…

Holding a paper bag filled with several long loaves of bread and a stack of newspapers, Sherman passed through alleys and streets, taking a wide detour before entering an apartment building. He followed a narrow staircase up to the third floor, took out his key, and opened the door to his residence.

He seemed to already possess fairly good anti-tracking skills.

With a creak, the door swung open, and Sherman’s eyes suddenly brightened. He saw a young woman in a black dress.

This young woman had a sweet, gentle face and an indescribably graceful figure. Even as she stood before the window, blocking the sunlight and making the area around her seem dim, it was as though she had been gilded with a layer of gold, becoming even more holy and beautiful.

“Why are you here?” Sherman first stared at her in surprise, then could not restrain himself from looking her up and down a few times.

His not particularly obvious Adam’s apple moved, and he swallowed.

In the next second, he abruptly turned his head aside, looking elsewhere, as though he did not dare look directly at her.

“M-Madam Trissy…” Sherman called out in a mumble.

Trissy’s smile slowly bloomed, making even the poorly lit room seem to brighten considerably. Then, in a somewhat teasing tone, she asked,

“Why don’t you dare look at me?”

“I—I don’t know. What I like, what I clearly like, is men. Why, why is it that when I see you, I still have so many strange thoughts…” Sherman still looked at the floor to the side as he answered, stammering slightly.

Trissy’s expression instantly became somewhat complicated. Then, as if nothing had happened, she smiled and said,

“Women can also appreciate beautiful and charming members of the same sex.”

After a pause, she added,

“I came today because I have a mission to give you. Your initial progress was very fast, and I was quite satisfied. But recently, it seems to have stalled.”

A trace of fear immediately appeared on Sherman’s face. He subconsciously took one step back and said,

“I—I don’t think there’s any need to do that…”

Seeing that Trissy did not refute him, Sherman gradually became more fluent:

“I really can’t incite others to steal, rob, and kill. That’s too evil, too hateful!

“Even, even those people you first had me assassinate—I now feel I went too far. Although they did curse me, beat me, discriminate against me, spread slander about me, and hurt me in all kinds of ways just to amuse themselves, their behavior still did not reach the point where they needed to pay with their lives.”

Trissy did not seem surprised at all. She smiled lightly.

“That wasn’t what you said back then. You hated them. You were full of venom toward them. The moment you obtained Beyonder powers, you could hardly wait to take revenge on them. I only mentioned it slightly, and you planned several assassinations yourself. I still remember how you looked with blood all over you, trembling, yet fanatically satisfied.”

As Sherman listened, he could not help retreating until his back pressed against the door, which had closed at some unknown time. Only then did he cover his face with both hands and cry out in a low voice,

“No!

“Every night now, I have nightmares. I dream they are covered in blood, surrounding me, chasing me, biting me…”

Pa. A paper bag fell to the ground. Several long loaves of bread scattered out, and the stack of newspapers happened to fall beside them.

“That is very normal.” Trissy calmly interrupted Sherman. “This is a psychological transformation stage that every Assassin must inevitably undergo. Think about it. When those people bullied you before, did you not wish you could kill them?”

“…Yes.” Sherman hesitated briefly before answering.

Trissy immediately gave a low laugh.

“Then think of it as killing them in self-defense while they were bullying you.”

Her words naturally possessed a quality that made people willing to listen and willing to believe. Sherman rapidly calmed down and nodded.

“Thinking of it that way does make it feel much better…”

Hearing that sentence, Trissy’s dimples appeared, and she added with a faint playfulness,

“Also, they were no match for you while alive. What is there to fear now that they are dead?

“Even if they become ghosts or specters, it doesn’t matter. As long as you seriously complete the ritual and take the potion one more time, you will be able to burn all those souls to death!”

“But—but watching others become ugly, mad, and vicious because of my incitement, I—I can’t bear it,” Sherman said, still quite unwilling.

Trissy curled the corner of her mouth almost imperceptibly. Her smile unchanged, she said,

“Those are evil thoughts they originally possessed. They have nothing to do with you. Even without you, at a certain moment and in a certain place, those evil thoughts might still erupt.

“Also, the tasks I arranged for you all involve gangs. Surely you know what those people are like? Making them fall into internal strife and kill one another is mercy and compassion toward you, and toward innocent residents of the East Borough like you.”

Sherman subconsciously opened his mouth, but the words that reached his lips retreated.

He suddenly became silent.

Trissy’s gaze swept over him with shifting light. Her voice softened as she continued,

“You are only one step from your final goal. As long as you finish the remaining ritual, you can drink the third potion and completely become a woman.

“When that time comes, you can use the name you chose before—Shermane. What a lovely name. Then, as a girl, you can leave Backlund, go to Midsea County or Desi County, and begin an entirely new life, one that no longer has anything to do with this place. Mm, you will surely be full of charm and courted by many outstanding gentlemen. From among them, you will choose the one you are most satisfied with, the one you like most, to enter the hall of marriage. You will give birth to lively children, teach them to grow up healthily, take them skiing in Winter County, vacationing at Desi Bay, and to hunting grounds to enjoy entertainments once reserved for nobles…

“Did you not say that, in order to find your true self, you could pay any price?”

Sherman’s lips moved several times. After pressing them tightly together for a while, he slowly opened them and said,

“Madam Trissy, I understand. I—I will do as you instruct.”

After saying this, he seemed to lose all strength. He swayed and almost fell, instinctively reaching out to support himself on the nearby coat rack.

During this process, his gaze naturally swept over the stack of newspapers on the ground.

That stack of newspapers had already scattered, revealing a certain report in the middle:

“…Mr. Dwayne Dantès, a wealthy man from Desi, is interested in acquiring Larivi Steel Company and believes that it possesses rather good profit-making ability and development prospects…”

…

“Sir, do you truly intend to acquire Larivi Steel Company?” At 160 Böklund Street, as they went upstairs, personal valet Enuni opened his mouth to ask.

Dwayne Dantès shook his head and laughed.

“That news is purely fabricated. Mr. Phil Larivi, the owner of Larivi Steel Company, and I only met once at last week’s ball and exchanged a few words.”

Beside them, Butler Walter breathed out slightly in relief. He then added,

“Sir, Larivi Steel Company is indeed seeking a buyer. At present, quite a few people have expressed interest.”

In other words, Phil himself found a reporter to release this news in order to sell it for a better price? Klein nodded thoughtfully and entered the semi-open room with the large balcony, preparing to go above the gray fog later and, through the prayer light dot of the believer Enuni, observe whether anything abnormal had appeared around Hazel’s family.

This was something he had been insisting on doing these past few days.