Chapter 9: Sherlock Moriarty in the Investigation Report

Chapter 9: Sherlock Moriarty in the Investigation Report

Leonard?

For a moment, Klein almost thought he had seen wrong.

Yet the light had not blurred the scene too badly, and because he was familiar with the other man, he quickly confirmed his earlier judgment.

In the space of a single breath, Leonard vanished. The light scattered, and the river valley returned to the quiet of deep winter. The scene Klein had seen in his dream shattered with it.

He opened his eyes and placed the badge he had obtained from Lanevus onto the surface of the long bronze table.

“Was that really Leonard, or was it a Faceless disguised as Leonard?” Klein thought briefly, then tossed a gold coin.

Through this medium, his spirituality told him that it truly was Leonard Mitchell, his former teammate from Tingen City’s Nighthawks squad.

“Is he an ‘investigator’ sent by the Church of the Goddess to that gathering, or a revenger who is acting behind the Nighthawks’ backs and taking risks to look for an opportunity?” Klein murmured in puzzlement, finding it difficult to make an accurate judgment.

With absolutely no prerequisite information, his divination could not offer any revelation.

After a few seconds of silence, Klein gave a self-deprecating smile and drew a crimson moon on his chest.

“Good luck. May the Goddess bless him.”

Klein no longer dwelled on the matter. He decided that only after he understood more of the gathering’s details would he determine whether he should participate in the future, and whether he should anonymously warn Leonard Mitchell.

…

Backlund, in a secret room beneath Steam Cathedral.

Ikanser removed his hat, pressed down his fluffy but not particularly soft hair, and sat in the first seat on the left.

Immediately after, he took out the ancient silver mirror Arrodes from a specially made inner pocket and placed it before him.

To his right, across from him, and diagonally opposite him sat deacons and captains of the Machinery Hivemind. They had all been summoned to this meeting by Archbishop Horamick Haydn of Backlund, a member of the Holy Synod.

The archbishop, dressed in white priestly robes, looked at this moment like an ordinary old man, sitting peacefully at the seat of honor.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, he looked around and said mildly, “Begin with Ikanser. Report the investigation results of the past few days in order.”

Ikanser Bernard raked his fingers through his hair. While flipping through a thick stack of documents, he gave a concise report.

“Your Grace, the part we were responsible for concerns Sherlock Moriarty. After a detailed investigation, with the assistance of corresponding Beyonder methods, we have confirmed that he was passively drawn into this matter. Prior to this, there was no evidence showing that he had already known of Prince Edessak’s problem.

“He was friends with the late Talim Dumont and had indirectly completed certain commissions given by the prince, but there was nothing wrong with those commissions. At most, he inflated some expenses.”

When he reached this point, Ikanser suddenly felt a little guilty, because Sherlock Moriarty was also an informant of the Machinery Hivemind. The expenses he had claimed on their side might very well have been exaggerated to a certain degree too.

No matter what, his informant work was effective—outstanding, even—enough to offset many issues. Besides, he has not been our informant for long, and the case involving the greatest amount of money was a “split”… Ikanser slowly exhaled and continued his report.

“Our conclusion is that he is innocent. There is no hidden scheme behind him. He once keenly sensed the danger of Red Rose Manor, but that falls under the typical category of incorrect reasoning with a correct result. What he feared was a power struggle within the royal family. Because of this, he had consistently dragged his feet and failed to carry out any substantive, in-depth investigation. He had reported this to us beforehand.

“Unfortunately, he still failed to avoid being caught up in the incident. However, he was also sufficiently lucky. The descendant of Death he mentioned happened to be monitoring the area near Red Rose Manor and saved him in time from the desperate situation of a meteorite falling upon him. The traces at the scene indicate that it was an extremely terrifying attack, most likely related to 0-08.”

In his letter, Klein had mentioned the existence of Ince Zangwill and 0-08. As for whether he knew that former archbishop and that Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, no one cared. At the time, he had been together with Azik Eggers, so it was entirely possible that he had learned of them from Azik. That was also everyone’s subconscious judgment.

As for Grade 0 and Grade 1 Sealed Artifacts, the seven orthodox Churches had always shared rough information with one another, with their numbering systems also shared. There was no duplication.

“…However, we have not grasped the entire situation. There are still three matters we cannot confirm. First, 2-111 shows that after Sherlock Moriarty fled into the woods, he did not hurry to leave. Instead, he remained where he was, seemingly praying to someone. Second, when exactly did he meet Azik Eggers? Third, how did he escape from that underground ruin? With his strength, he should not have been able to do so. And during that process, he even destroyed the Aurora Order’s descent ritual,” Ikanser summarized at the end.

“2-111” referred to Arrodes, the magic mirror.

Horamick listened quietly until the end, then smiled as though speaking to himself.

“Inflated expenses…”

He immediately cleared his throat.

“In any case, Sherlock Moriarty is a hero of Backlund.

“If not for his timely intervention, if he had felt afraid at that moment and chosen to flee, most of us would not have lived to see the present.

“Moreover, he has displayed faith in God and friendliness toward us. As long as there are no major problems with him, we can pretend not to know about certain minor flaws and small secrets.”

“Your Grace, that is precisely our thinking.” Ikanser let out a breath of relief. “I speculate that his prayer in the woods, including the ritual of blowing the copper whistle, were both methods of contacting Azik Eggers, but with different effects and different speeds. In such a critical situation, the only thing he could do was save himself. We inferred this from the subsequent course of events.”

“Other than saving himself, he could also have written a will,” another deacon of the Machinery Hivemind joked before proceeding to report the part he was responsible for.

“…We still have not been able to find the underground ruin described by Sherlock Moriarty, not even with the help of 2-111. And for now, we cannot obtain the whereabouts of the royal family’s high-Sequence Beyonders on that day.”

“…It can be confirmed that the Church of Evernight was the first to receive the information. It came from a special channel of Earl Hall’s, though the specific circumstances are unknown.”

“…The Aurora Order’s forces in Backlund have, through our joint efforts with the Nighthawks and the Mandated Punishers, been mostly eradicated. But I suspect they still possess hidden strength.”

“…When the incident occurred, Trissy, whom Sherlock Moriarty mentioned, was on her way to Backlund. After that, however, no one has seen her. According to Sherlock Moriarty, she is a key figure and has been renamed Trissy Cheek.”

“…We are unable to determine what method the Church of Evernight used to capture the Demoness of Despair and Butler Finkel. Divination results tell me they are still alive, but they are no longer free.”

…

One deacon and captain after another reported the results of their investigations. Horamick half closed his eyes, seemingly thinking about something.

After the room had been quiet for more than ten seconds, he opened his eyes and spoke at an unhurried pace.

“Put all your effort into finding Trissy Cheek, if she is still alive.

“Gather together all questions for which divination cannot provide effective revelations and submit them to me. The Church has saints skilled in such matters, though they may not necessarily be more effective than 2-111.

“The surveillance and investigation of the royal family’s high-Sequence Beyonders can be placed on the ‘card table.’ There is no need to worry too much. They have always known that we are doing these things. This, too, is a warning.

“Continue searching for the underground ruin and inform the Churches of Evernight and Storms.

“Ikanser, ask 2-111 how Sherlock Moriarty escaped from the ruin and when he met Azik Eggers.”

Looking at the archbishop, then at his colleagues, Ikanser gritted his teeth and said, “Yes, Your Grace.”

He mournfully believed that his legend was about to spread from the few Machinery Hivemind teams he was responsible for to every Beyonder of the Church of Steam in Backlund.

After going through the familiar procedure, he opened his mouth and said, “Honorable Arrodes, my question is: when did Sherlock Moriarty meet Azik Eggers?”

On the silver mirror, whose sides seemed to have grown eyes, watery light suddenly rippled and swiftly formed an image.

Sherlock Moriarty stood inside a room, watching a rat with a rotting belly climb a wall and squeeze into a hole. Behind him were Old Kohler and the owner of a cheap inn.

“He met Azik Eggers while completing a bounty mission related to him. That mission was issued by MI9 and originated from a seemingly coincidental conflict.” Ikanser interpreted the contents of the image.

After speaking, he chose to answer in turn, then held his breath while waiting for Arrodes to pose a question that would pierce his soul.

Without surprise, he saw blood-red words appear:

“Do you know what it feels like to do everything in your power to please someone, only to be abandoned by them where you stand?”

This… This question is not sharp enough. It is not like Arrodes’s usual style… Ikanser suddenly felt that the blood-red words on the mirror lacked their usual sense of horror. They were not bloody enough, instead appearing weak and listless.

He had no time to think about why. He immediately answered, “I do!”

“Congratulations. You have answered correctly.” New words appeared on the surface of the silver mirror, their color pale.

…

January 5th, nine o’clock in the morning.

With a gray scarf wrapped around his neck, Klein carried his suitcase and cane and arrived at Rose Dock.

The White Agate was moored there. Compared to a human being, it was extraordinarily huge, and was said to be capable of carrying several hundred passengers.

It bore the strong characteristics of the current era: smokestacks stood together with sails, and on each side of the ship were twelve cannons and their corresponding gunports. This was a necessity against pirates, as well as competitors.

Under the arrangements of Captain Elland Kag, the selected strong sailors and crew members lined up in a row at the gangway. Some even deliberately exposed their legal revolvers, rifles, and cutlasses.

This gave the passengers boarding one after another a great deal more sense of security, making them less afraid of the nine-day journey ahead.

Klein stood below, raised his head for a glance, then walked up the gangway amid the rising and falling blue seawater.

The journey begins… he silently sighed as he stepped forward.