Chapter 30: Catching an Affair

Chapter Thirty
Catching an Affair

Wednesday morning, Cherwood Borough, opposite Cowim Company.

Klein sat on a wooden bench outside Gadley Department Store. In one hand, he held a paper bag containing the nearby famous Xinji Dixi pie. In the other, he held a cup of sweet iced tea.

Beside him, a tramp curled up asleep on the other end of the bench, but after a dozen minutes, he was woken by the department store’s security guards and driven away.

Klein wore gold-rimmed glasses without much prescription on the bridge of his nose and a half-top silk hat on his head. He looked no different from most gentlemen passing through the area.

Leisurely, he watched Cowim Company across the street, lifted his right hand, and took a fierce bite of the Xinji Dixi pie. He immediately tasted dense meat fragrance and rich juice, with lingering flavor filling his mouth.

The reason this pie from Dixi Bay had distinguished itself among the many southern-style pies was that it was generous with oil, generous with fatty meat, yet chopped that fat so finely and mixed it so evenly with lean meat that it did not become greasy.

The juice, rich with meat fragrance, soaked into the outer crust, balancing its dryness and compensating for its flaws, allowing the wheat aroma to unfold in clear layers. Small bits of crushed apple mixed inside brought a slight sour-sweetness that stimulated the appetite and dissolved the oiliness.

Not bad… Although Backlund has poor weather and severe pollution, in every other aspect, it far surpasses Tingen. Different foods from different regions and styles can all be found here. As for operas and plays, as long as one is not afraid to spend money, one can watch them all… Even if one may not necessarily eat them or watch them, at least there is the right to choose. That is the advantage of a metropolis…

Klein lifted the sweet iced tea and comfortably drank a mouthful.

His gaze never left the front door of Cowim Company. For the ten-pound income, he had sat here since eight o’clock. Even breakfast had been bought on the way.

Of course, for most private detectives, a single commission that could bring ten pounds was absolutely enviable business. It was equivalent to roughly three weeks of normal middle-class wages.

According to the information Mary Gale had provided, her husband currently served as the first manager of Cowim Company and was Luke Sammer’s superior. However, the shares they held in Cowim Company came from Mary’s father, part of the estate she had inherited.

One direct reason she suspected her husband of having a mistress was that an employee inside the company had informed her that Dragor Gale left alone every Wednesday and Friday morning and did not return until afternoon. In addition, on two days each week he left work early, yet Mary had never once seen her husband step into the house before seven.

After finishing breakfast, Klein waited for another hour or so before finally seeing the target walk out of Cowim Company.

He wore a black top hat, a woolen double-breasted coat, and a standard bow tie. His figure was slightly plump. His sideburns were pale yellow, his eyes light brown, and his face somewhat long.

Dragor Gale…

Klein silently recited the target’s name, then stood with a swish, picked up his cane and the heavy portable camera, and walked toward the opposite side.

Dragor had not summoned his coachman to pick him up. He stood by the roadside, looking around for a rental carriage.

Seizing the chance, Klein crossed the road, came to his side, and deliberately bumped into him as though careless.

“I am sorry. I was looking for the way.”

Klein lowered his head and apologized.

Dragor immediately furrowed his brows, but he kept silent and waved a hand, indicating that it was nothing.

Klein hurriedly bent and bowed, then walked toward the street corner.

That bump just now had not been for the purpose of stealing some personal item from Dragor and using dowsing to complete the tracking easily. That would have been far too easy to detect and notice.

At the moment of collision, Klein had done only one thing: using the Clown’s agility, he quietly slipped a spare button from his own double-breasted frock coat into one of the target’s decorative pockets.

After turning past the street, he stopped and looked back, just in time to see Dragor board a rental carriage.

Klein did not hurry to follow. He waited patiently for several minutes before leisurely getting into another carriage and telling the driver, “Follow my directions. First, go to the end of this street.”

“All right.”

The driver did not ask why.

Inside the carriage, Klein held his cane and began divination.

However, his divination statement did not point to Dragor Gale. Instead, it became, “The whereabouts of the spare button from this coat.”

The original and most practical use of dowsing was finding objects. Only Diviners could use it to find people. This time, Klein let it return to its original form.

And the easiest and most convenient objects to find were those that belonged to oneself.

All the way along, Klein constantly had the driver adjust direction until he finally arrived before a building facing the street in Hillston Borough. While circling around earlier, he had noticed that behind it were gardens and lawns, making it different from ordinary residences.

His dowsing told him that Dragor Gale was inside this building.

After paying two soli for the carriage fare, Klein walked toward the entrance with marble statues and saw two men in black-and-white checkered uniforms who seemed to be imitating policemen.

“I do not recognize you. Where is your membership certificate?” one of the men, who had Southern Continent blood and brownish-yellow skin, reached out to stop Klein.

“Membership certificate?”

Klein hid the heavy camera behind him and asked with a slight frown.

The brownish-yellow-skinned man’s face immediately turned stern.

“This is Cragg Club. Only our members and guests brought by members may enter—and only one guest each.”

Klein acknowledged this with a soft sound.

“Then how does one join your club?”

“One may join only after obtaining recommendations from two members,” the brownish-yellow-skinned man answered patiently rather than driving him away roughly.

He could not guarantee that the man before him would not turn around and become a member of the club.

“I see.”

The corner of Klein’s mouth twitched slightly. He decided to activate Plan B.

He found a hotel near Cragg Club and asked for a short-term room for four hours.

Then he locked the door, drew the curtains, and entered above the gray fog, manifesting yellow-brown parchment and a round-bellied fountain pen before him.

Taking a breath, Klein wrote the exact same divination statement as before:

“The whereabouts of the spare button from this coat.”

This time, it was no longer dowsing, but dream divination.

The reason he did not perform it in the outside world was that the so-called Cragg Club looked quite high-end. He suspected there might be relatively powerful Beyonders inside. In order not to waste time, he might as well go directly to the highest standard.

Inside the gray, hazy dream world, Klein first saw Dragor’s black woolen coat. It hung upon a coat rack, and before it was a round table set on a carpet.

The image stretched. A man and woman rolling together entered Klein’s vision. The man was precisely Dragor Gale. The woman had brilliant golden hair and was young, at most in her early twenties.

The painful expression formed by her furrowed brows was extremely charming…

Why do I always have to see this kind of scene…

Klein covered his eyes and woke.

That Dragor has a mistress should be confirmed… The problem is how to obtain substantive evidence… Through responding to prayers? But that is limited to what is obtained by the self, so it can only be a sketch. It cannot be done through the camera… I cannot possibly hand-draw a photograph, can I?

Looks like today will not work. Later, I will follow that woman and find out her address and name. I do not believe they meet inside Cragg Club every single time…

Detective Klein quickly formed his next plan.

Just as he prepared to leave the mysterious space above the gray fog, he suddenly thought of another matter.

Should he take the chance to perform another divination and confirm whether the iron-black wireworm that had infiltrated his room had been controlled by a Beyonder of the Diviner pathway?

The reason he had not done so previously was that he felt the corresponding information was too scarce, making something out of nothing. It would definitely lead to a failed divination result, even above the gray fog. Add to that the fact that every time he had entered before, there had been urgent matters to deal with, leaving him no spare attention for other issues, and he had simply never bothered with it. Now, however, he was idle anyway. Divining once would not kill him.

As for whether contacting Azik carried risk, he had divined that long ago. The answer had been affirmative. There was considerable risk, so that could only be used as a last resort.

Writing the corresponding divination statement, Klein unwound the silver chain inside his cuff, allowing the citrine pendant to hang over the paper.

“The iron-black wireworm that previously infiltrated my room was being controlled by a Beyonder of the Diviner pathway.”

…

After silently reciting it seven times, Klein opened his eyes and saw the pendulum rotating clockwise, quickly and with a wide range.

Affirmative… The answer is affirmative!

Should it not have failed?

Klein had not expected such an answer. Based on his instincts as a Diviner, this sort of divination had a high probability of failure.

Why?

He furrowed his brows and thought for a long while, then decided to change divination methods and change the target of divination.

He would directly divine the controller using dream divination.

This time, Klein saw nothing in the dream. He could not obtain any corresponding revelation regarding that Beyonder of the Diviner pathway.

“That is more like it…”

He murmured, then looked back at the previous divination and fell into deep thought.

It should have failed due to insufficient conditions, just like the later one… Could it be—could it be that this mysterious space supplied the necessary conditions on its own? Does it contain something related to the Diviner pathway?

A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Klein, giving him a bold idea.

Perhaps this mysterious space above the gray fog has some connection to the Diviner pathway!

Mm…

Klein lightly tapped the edge of the ancient long table, but after thinking over and over, he could not find any other proof. He could only temporarily set the matter aside and prepare to return to the real world.

“In any case, at least one thing has been confirmed: beside the ambassador is a mid-Sequence Beyonder of the Diviner pathway. Whether that person is a member of the Secret Order or not is not the main point… This may be my opportunity to obtain the Sequence 7, or even Sequence 6, potion formula!”

Klein spread his spirituality, wrapped himself within it, and fell into the gray fog.

…

At the same time, inside Viscount Glaint’s study.

Audrey had the owner guard the door outside. She looked at Xio and Fors and thought for several seconds before saying, “I have a mission that I need your help with.”

“What mission?”

Xio’s eyes brightened, as though she could smell the scent of ink from banknotes.

Audrey revealed a ceremonial smile.

“Assassinate the Intis Republic’s ambassador to the Kingdom: Bakerland Jean Madan.”