Chapter 115: The Name Hidden in the Files

Chapter 115: The Name Hidden in the Files

Inside a carriage at the corner of Böklund Street, Leonard Mitchell was discussing their current investigation target, Dawn Dantes, with two of his Red Gloves teammates.

“For the time being, I have not made direct contact with this gentleman. I have only investigated his servants and neighbors,” Cindy, whose hair was wine-red, began, introducing what she had gained. “It has been preliminarily confirmed that from last night until this morning, Dawn Dantes acted as usual. He entered his bedroom to sleep at eleven at night, and at half past seven in the morning, after washing up, he asked his personal valet to prepare his clothes. During that period, there were no movements and no abnormalities. Of course, sometimes he eats a late-night snack and does not end his day until after midnight. Sometimes he rises before seven to go out for a walk. But those are not the norm.”

Another Red Glove, Bob, nodded.

“From that perspective, there is no problem with Dawn Dantes.”

Leonard Mitchell, who sat in a somewhat casual posture, immediately smiled.

“But the reverse also holds true.

“According to the information currently gathered, the missing servant was probably replaced between 11:20 and 11:35 last night. The infiltrator entered Chanis Gate at six o’clock. We discovered the problem at 7:20, but did not find the target.

“In other words, during the period involved in the infiltration, Dawn Dantes was asleep the entire time. He has no alibi.”

“What you say… makes some sense…” Cindy looked at Leonard with slight surprise.

In her impression, although this teammate of hers often had judgments and questions that struck directly at the core of a problem, he rarely delivered such a long, logically rigorous explanation. He was more like a careless poet, only occasionally blessed with flashes of inspiration.

Bob, whose chin was rather sharp, frowned and shook his head.

“If so, then everyone on this list cannot be cleared of suspicion. None of them slept under someone else’s gaze. Even their wives or husbands would likewise have been asleep during that time.

“Also, I do not believe an infiltrator would be that bold. He had already entered Chanis Gate and successfully escaped, accomplishing something unbelievable, yet he still lingered nearby rather than abandoning his identity and leaving directly. Is that possible?

“The risk he would need to bear is incalculable, unless he is still planning something, or cannot bear to give up certain things. But what else can compare to infiltrating Chanis Gate? What can compare to those sealed artifacts, materials, and formulas?”

If I did not know beforehand that there is a problem with Dawn Dantes, I would probably make a similar judgment…

Leonard had long since prepared his wording. He crossed his right leg and said, “I am only explaining that we cannot eliminate Dawn Dantes as a suspect so simply.

“Besides, Captain Soest also said that the infiltrator may already have died behind Chanis Gate. Even if Dawn Dantes is connected to this matter, he is more likely to be playing the role of an accomplice.

“Mm… Don’t you think there are too many coincidences? He moved here less than two months ago, and the Church suffered an incident that might not happen even once in several centuries. Also, he truly has been going to Saint Samuel Cathedral too frequently. He had sufficient opportunities to figure out the corresponding situation.

“Also, during this period, a strange sewer explosion happened on Böklund Street.”

Cindy smoothed her wine-red hair and said, “You have convinced me. He should be a target we focus on.”

Bob tugged at the edge of the Red Glove on his left hand.

“There are indeed too many coincidences.

“But coincidence does not necessarily equal a problem. Even if Dawn Dantes went to church every day and listened to bishops preach, he could only grasp surface-level patterns. He could not obtain deeper intelligence, such as when the internal caretakers head to Chanis Gate, or how the Nighthawks hand over duties.”

“So he is more likely to be one of the accomplices.” Leonard shrugged.

He likewise could not understand how Dawn Dantes could be so clear on the Nighthawks’ internal procedures.

Cindy agreed.

“No matter what, we must conduct a deeper investigation.

“At noon, should we directly enter Dawn Dantes’s dream and question him? Mm, he has the habit of taking an afternoon nap.”

Leonard raised his right hand and lightly waved it.

“There is no need to be so hasty.

“We have not neglected routine investigation before. We have entered Dawn Dantes’s dream before, yet we did not discover any problem.

“If he truly has no problem, then entering his dream again will not yield any additional gains. If he does have a problem, and he was not exposed previously, that means he has a way to resist dream questioning. If we enter his dream again, he will still deceive us.

“So we should monitor him, see whom he contacts, and prevent him from escaping while we wait for feedback from Desi to clarify this wealthy gentleman’s real identity. Once we discover a clue, we can apply for a higher-level investigation method than dream questioning.”

Cindy was once again rather astonished. Unable to resist, she half-jokingly said, “It is rare to see you analyze the situation so seriously.”

And his thinking is extremely clear!

Leonard fell silent for a moment, then gave a self-mocking laugh.

“Perhaps it is because I have encountered something similar before.”

At that instant, Cindy felt that Leonard’s green eyes had darkened slightly.

She said nothing more.

“Then we will take turns monitoring Dawn Dantes. I will start.”

“Good.” Leonard nodded, then turned to Bob. “Ask for the previous sewer explosion case and see if you can find any issues. I will go back and read the corresponding files to see whether there have been any other abnormalities in this neighborhood before.”

After dividing the work, the three Red Gloves began busying themselves with their own tasks. Leonard returned underground beneath Saint Samuel Cathedral and requested every file involving Böklund Street, along with all case files from the past three years in which the Aurora Order had actively or passively participated in events in Backlund.

The latter was a line of thought Leonard had developed based on the clue provided by the “parasite” within his body:

“Since the Fool’s existence and corresponding honorific name first spread out from the Aurora Order, then certain matters involving the Aurora Order, or certain blows they suffered, may very well be connected to the organization that believes in the Fool!”

Back in the office, Leonard put away his careless and unserious attitude and began reading through the thick stack of layered documents with great focus.

Among the files related to the Aurora Order, the one he was most familiar with was the Lanevus case. In that case, an attempted descent of the True Creator had been ruined by a mysterious report. It contained the appearance of a mysterious person who had killed the main criminal. That person was suspected to be connected to the chivalrous thief Black Emperor, because both targeted vicious criminals and scattered tarot cards over the target’s corpse—only during the Desire Apostle Jason Beria case had there not been time to do so, because Leonard had arrived too quickly.

Likewise, Leonard once again saw the name Sherlock Moriarty appear on the edge of the matter.

“Mr. X of the Aurora Order was assassinated at a gathering he had summoned himself. The scene had traces of demigod-level power… At this time, Dawn Dantes had already come to Backlund, right around…

“Mr. A of the Aurora Order cooperated with the Demoness Sect to create the Great Smog of Backlund and vanished because of it…

“Mr. A of the Aurora Order assassinated the Intis ambassador…

“…”

Leonard read through them one by one and did not find anything especially useful.

He rubbed his temples and decided to change direction, starting instead with the cases related to the chivalrous thief Black Emperor.

“The Lanevus case… the first appearance of the ritual of throwing tarot cards at a murder scene… And the Fool is the beginning of the tarot deck…

“The Capim case… With the strength and status displayed by the chivalrous thief Black Emperor, he would not and could not imitate someone else… He likewise scattered tarot cards over the corpses…

“The Desire Apostle Jason Beria case… I personally saw the chivalrous thief Black Emperor and also prevented him from having time to scatter cards…

“Aside from all involving major incidents and vicious criminals, what other connection do these three cases have?”

Leonard had thought over this question before and clearly knew that Sherlock Moriarty, the great detective, had appeared on the fringes of both the Lanevus case and the Capim case.

Then what about the Desire Apostle case?

Leonard pulled out the attached files and reviewed them page by page, line by line. Finally, in an inconspicuous place, he saw a line of words:

“…The victims attacked include Isengard Stanton, Sherlock Moriarty…”

Leonard’s expression grew invigorated little by little, as though he had found a breakthrough.

He turned back to the Aurora Order’s files, refusing to overlook a single name mentioned inside. Then he extended outward, applying for all case files involving each name.

“Mr. A of the Aurora Order assassinated the Intis ambassador… The Intis ambassador had been presiding over the struggle for the Difference Engine manuscript… The clue to the Difference Engine manuscript came from a spy, whose usual disguise was that of a private detective. Detective…

“It is said that another private detective was also dragged into the matter and nearly killed by gangsters acting on the Intis ambassador’s orders… Another private detective…”

Leonard abruptly stood, left Saint Samuel Cathedral, and headed toward the police station that had handled the case at the time.

Although most of the files had already been taken away by MI9, Leonard still saw the name of the person who had reported the case:

“Sherlock Moriarty!”

I now have reason to suspect that this great detective also appeared somewhere in the Great Smog of Backlund incident, on the contact lists of the many involved parties, at the very edge of the problem! He and Dawn Dantes both belong to that secret organization that believes in the Fool?

The corner of Leonard’s mouth curved upward as he decided to return immediately, search through the information, and verify his guess.

…

160 Böklund Street, inside the master bedroom.

Klein, who was taking an afternoon nap, did not wait for the Nighthawks to enter his dream. Instead, he once again “returned” to the misty town and saw the Demoness of Despair, Panatiya, smiling sweetly, with bloody shreds of flesh caught between her teeth. He saw her being gradually lifted up, her eyes rolling white in despair as her head drooped down.

The densely packed corpses hanging from above, the terrifying giant mushroom, and the twisted cluster of countless transparent worms appeared one after another, jolting Klein awake from his dream.

Rubbing his temples, Klein felt that his mental state truly was not especially good, and this was not a spirit-body contamination problem the gray fog could resolve.

After pondering for a while, he entered the washroom and arrived above the gray fog. He manifested Gehrman Sparrow and had him pray:

“…Please inform Miss Justice and ask when she has time recently. I would like to receive psychotherapy.”