Chapter 170: Homecoming

Chapter 170: Homecoming

Hearing the familiar description of the scene, Audrey was almost certain that this had been done by one of Mr. Fool’s Blessed.

Immediately, she felt a strong sense of identification, participation, and pride.

He was a human trafficker whose hands were stained with blood and sin… The Judgment card was meant to show that he was being judged in the name of justice, with the verdict being hanging, beheading, or burning at the stake? The Emperor card should represent identity… Was this the Blessed who infiltrated the Kingdom Museum and stole the Black Emperor card? For a moment, Audrey’s imagination ran wild.

She had originally planned to ask more questions about the details and the process, but from Earl Hall’s expression, tone, and emotional colors, she understood that her father did not yet know what had actually happened. She could only suppress her curiosity and doubts for the time being, planning instead to inquire through her friend, Cons Learsen, who served in MI9.

Although directly asking Cons would fit the image I’ve cultivated in this regard, doing so would still be a little abrupt and somewhat at odds with my noble status. Hmm… I’ll have Annie prepare several invitations for afternoon tea and send them to Glaint, Cons, Murray, Christine, Jane, and the others… Most of them are interested in mysticism. They definitely won’t have no reaction to the name chivalrous bandit “Black Emperor.” Under my guidance, they’ll be able to help me ask many questions that are inconvenient for me to raise… Then that’s decided… Audrey withdrew her attention and began enjoying her breakfast in small bites.

She believed that Mr. Fool’s Blessed would not have dealt with Capim purely for the sake of punishing evil. That would not fit his status and position. Of course, if it had been the Audrey of several months ago, when she had just joined the Tarot Club, she would definitely have been willing to accept an explanation like that. Otherwise, she would not have chosen the Justice card as her symbol.

After experiencing many gatherings and no small number of incidents, however, she felt that she had matured greatly and was no longer so naive. She believed that there had to be a more crucial and fundamental factor hidden within this matter—for example, that Capim had been involved with some evil god or secret organization.

I hope Cons can provide useful information… Audrey thought, full of expectation.

…

15 Minsk Street. Klein ate white bread spread with jam while reading that day’s newspapers.

“What? The safe?” As he read on, he almost blurted out the words and nearly choked.

It wasn’t me, I didn’t, don’t slander me… Klein immediately denied, in his heart, the description that he had stolen all the wealth in the safe in three consecutive parts.

At the time, the situation had been urgent. For the sake of obtaining clues, he had indeed found the safe, but he had only slipped inside to see whether there were any important documents or evidence. He had not taken any wealth and had quickly left, moving on to other rooms.

Of course, Klein, in his spirit-body state, had also suffered a certain degree of injury from the gas explosion. The total weight of items he could carry had decreased considerably. Meanwhile, Capim’s safe had contained only gold bars, jewelry, land deeds, property deeds, antiques, and similar items—things that were either inconvenient to take away or difficult to fence.

Perhaps he had another place specially used for cash. Unfortunately, I didn’t come across it and didn’t have time to search… Klein muttered silently, confirming that whoever had divided up all the wealth in the safe had been certain later investigators.

He glanced at the newspaper, took a sip of Sibe black tea, slowly exhaled, and laughed inwardly.

“The chivalrous bandit ‘Black Emperor’… I like that title…”

After finishing breakfast, Klein put on a heavy double-breasted frock coat, picked up his half top hat and hard black cane, opened the door, and left Minsk Street for Broken Axe Lane at the edge of the East Borough.

That was where Daisy had gone missing.

After settling on his plan yesterday, and before putting it into action, he had deliberately gone to Broken Axe Lane. He had carefully searched for clues and knocked on the doors of many nearby homes, asking whether anyone had seen a girl resembling Daisy.

Although Klein believed that the official Beyonders who took over the case would not think that a poor, struggling family could afford to hire a “chivalrous bandit” with at least Sequence 6 strength, and that they would most likely focus their investigation on the secrets Capim had been involved in, supplemented by peripheral inquiries such as “who has recently been asking about Capim,” he still cautiously decided that once the performance began, he would do his best to play the entire act. After all, what if a certain law enforcer suddenly had a brain spasm and decided to do a preliminary investigation in this direction?

Some families might have a bit of savings and could afford to hire other detectives. I’m just a kind-hearted person who accepted the commission yesterday; the probability of me being suspected is extremely low. As long as I’m not suspected, no one will compare my performance this time with my performance in the previous Lanevus case… Moreover, last time it was the Nighthawks who acted, with the military’s special department providing support. This time, in the Cherwood Borough, the ones taking over should be the Mandated Punishers, and communication between them won’t be so smooth… Hmm, Katy and Parker belonged to the Arbiter pathway. I wonder if the military will get involved… As a former Nighthawk, Klein understood the behavioral patterns, working styles, and investigative habits of the various official organizations quite well.

In simple terms, I possess outstanding counter-investigation ability… Klein laughed at himself and boarded a carriage.

He was going to continue investigating Daisy’s disappearance.

Because he was an ordinary private detective who had not yet confirmed that Daisy’s disappearance was connected to Capim.

…

At nine o’clock in the morning, accompanied by the police officer responsible for the surrounding streets, Daisy returned to the dilapidated apartment her family rented.

Last night, she and those other pitiful young women had been placed in various churches in the Cherwood Borough and questioned accordingly. The questions included what the scene had been like when they escaped, what they saw when they looked back, where they each lived, what their family circumstances were, whether they knew any friends who felt less than ordinary, and so on.

Still frightened and shaken, Daisy answered those questions honestly.

After that, no one came looking for her again.

She slept for half the night, and at dawn, she was sent to the East Borough and handed over to the fierce-looking policeman she often saw.

Along the way, Daisy did not dare speak. She was a little fearful and trembling. Only when she entered the apartment building where her home was did she feel slightly more at ease.

She had just stepped through the door and had not yet had time to find her mother and sister through the hanging wet clothes when she heard a scream.

“Daisy!”

Freja put down the work in her hands and, like an agile fawn, dodged the clothes hanging in midair and the miscellaneous objects on the floor, rushing quickly to the door. She hugged her younger sister tightly.

Then she let go, tears streaming down her face as she looked Daisy up and down, both overjoyed and worried.

“Are you all right?

“Thank goodness. You’re finally back!”

Liv also stood up from behind the washtub, wiped her hands on her clothes, and rubbed her eyes.

“Daisy, where did you go these past few days?”

At this moment, the policeman interrupted:

“She was kidnapped. We rescued her.”

“Thank you, thank you! You’re so, so great!” Liv shed tears, using adjectives in a chaotic rush.

The policeman coughed twice.

“This is our duty… Have you encountered any strange people in the past few days?”

Liv froze for a second. Out of the mindset that one less thing was one less problem and an unwillingness to invite trouble, she said:

“No. Truly, no.”

The policeman waved his hand.

“Be more careful in the future! Don’t take deserted paths!”

He could no longer endure the dampness there and the various mingled smells, and immediately turned to leave.

Liv looked once more at her younger daughter and strode to her side. After wiping her hands on the sides of her clothes, she pulled Daisy into a tight embrace.

“It’s good that you’re back. It’s good that you’re back…” she murmured through her tears, not asking whether Daisy had been harmed.

Daisy relaxed all at once and began sobbing.

Freja, standing beside them, also wept. She stretched out both arms and hugged her mother and sister separately.

The three of them cried for a while before letting go of one another.

Liv wiped her eyes again and said, “Let’s wash the clothes first. There’s still a lot.”

Daisy, who had only just been rescued, nodded and quickly threw herself into the busy work.

It was not until noon, when they were gnawing on black bread and drinking plain water that could hardly be called tea, that Liv finally found the time to ask:

“Daisy, were you hurt?”

Daisy shook her head.

“They only hit me a few times.”

“That’s really wonderful! Was it the police who rescued you? Yesterday, a kind detective was willing to help look for you for free, and today you came back. Ah, your wordbook is still with him,” Freja said in passing.

Liv, who had already prepared for this, added, “I’ll ask Old Kohler to get it back and tell that detective that you’ve already returned home and that he doesn’t need to continue busying himself with this matter. No matter what, we have to thank him again.”

Daisy set aside her worry and answered her sister’s question.

“No, it wasn’t the police. There was suddenly an explosion there, and the doors that locked us in strangely opened by themselves. We ran out just like that, but we saw a gentleman—or maybe a lady—standing on the rooftop.

“He was wearing black armor, a helmet like a crown, and a cloak. He just quietly watched us. None of those bad people came to stop us or chase us.”

As a monitorial student at the free school, Daisy’s vocabulary was clearly richer than that of her mother, Liv.

“Someone dressed like that saved you?” Liv asked in astonishment, while Freja waited curiously for the answer.

Daisy nodded seriously.

“Yes. He was like—like the kind of person in a bard’s songs…

“A hero!”

Hero… Freja savored the word, her eyes bright as stars.

…

Inside a certain secret room, a group of people held the distributed materials and carefully compared the Lanevus case with the Capim case, searching for commonalities in motive and method.

“The two matters are completely impossible to connect. The only thing they have in common is that evil—or rather, sin—was defeated, and the owner of the tarot cards upheld justice,” someone said with a sigh.

“What can be confirmed is that the two incidents were not carried out by the same person. Their strength is clearly different, and what they are skilled at is even more different. Although that could be because their own sequence had advanced, the murderer in the Capim case belongs to the category of a Wraith, or rather, can switch into a spirit-body state. That isn’t common.” Another person’s analysis received the approval of most of the others.

Thus, the convener concluded:

“Two cases, two different people, yet both scattered tarot cards. Perhaps the latter is an imitation crime. In that case, we can lock the target onto those who knew the details of the Lanevus case. The other possibility is that there exists an organization!

“An organization symbolized by tarot cards!”