Chapter Thirty-Four: The Lady Behind the Door
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“Shad Hamilton. At present, I’m something of a detective. Good evening, madam. My respects.”
Shad carefully considered his words, doing his best to sound proper. Until he knew the other party’s intentions, cooperating was the right course of action. Besides, he was genuinely sorry about what had just happened, even if it could not entirely be blamed on him…
“Say it again: don’t laugh.”
He told himself silently.
“Very well, Mr. Hamilton. As for the matter of the out-of-control Darkness Box, we shall set that aside for now…”
Even a high-ring warlock could suppress the danger caused by a Poet-level relic running wild, but not being angry was impossible. Fortunately, the lady behind the door was very skilled at controlling her emotions.
Shad was relieved that she was a reasonable person. Otherwise, his situation would have been far worse.
“I knew it. Being able to understand every language is definitely not a good thing in a world like this. I must remember this lesson…”
As Shad thought this, the woman quickly composed herself and continued, her tone becoming more relaxed:
“Detective, there is no great matter behind my summoning you here so abruptly. The Darkness Box was merely an accident. What I wish to know from you is the whereabouts of that statue.”
“Excuse me? What did you say? The statue?”
Still thinking about what had just happened, Shad was startled. Yet the words that came out of his mouth expressed only confusion. He truly believed he possessed an exceptional talent for acting.
“The Blood Statue—or rather…the statue of the Old God, the Vampire Duke Loaier. Where is it?”
The woman’s voice had completely regained its composure, as though she were discussing the evening weather with Shad. Yet the pressure conveyed by her newly cold tone was no less than before.
“A one-ring warlock. There is no need to lie. The spells you used on the first and second floors just now carried an exceedingly strong scent of blood.
“But you yourself are perfectly clean, so I assume you are neither a believer of that Old God nor a member of the Mercury’s Blood organization that possesses the statue.
“Since you are a one-ring warlock…a Church of the Righteous God? No, you do not look like a believer. Yet the manner in which you obtained your profession seems quite orthodox…The Mystery Academy? Which school did you newly enroll in as a correspondence ring warlock? That would be better. Correspondence ring warlocks have no loyalty to the Academy.”
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She seemed very familiar with correspondence ring warlocks, but without giving Shad a chance to speak, she said softly:
“None of that matters, in truth. I do not care about your identity, nor do I intend to investigate whether you harbor any secrets. Now, Detective, tell me where the statue of the Old God is.”
Shad glanced in surprise at the half-closed door, but understood that the more perilous the moment, the calmer he had to remain.
“Madam, I am not entirely sure what you mean. You know that I am only a one-ring warlock…”
Tobesk was shrouded in mist today as well. When he had come into contact with the statue in the alley, it had been absolutely impossible for anyone to see him. He had never imagined that someone could detect the scent of blood left on him after touching the statue. Even Blood Echoes had been unable to perceive any trace of it upon him.
This should have been nothing more than an exceedingly simple commission. In theory, when a spell was cast, only someone nearby could sense the fluctuations of spirits and the gathering of elements. The doctor’s notebook had never mentioned anyone capable of accurately detecting the trace of a particular spell through two floors of ceiling.
Shad knew that he had truly encountered someone extraordinary. At least, however, she was not a member of Mercury’s Blood.
“Could she be a believer of a deity opposed to that Old God of Blood?”
For the moment, that was the only guess he could make.
“I possess a special spirit rune and am extremely sensitive to the power of Old Gods, so there is no need to panic. Detective, must I repeat my question?”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop even further. Shad shook his head. He knew that, despite the door between them, the woman could still see him, and so he said:
“No, that will not be necessary. The statue of the Old God, the Vampire Duke Loaier…I did come into contact with it. Today, in fact.”
“That is good. Even if you refuse to tell me where it is, I believe I can investigate your movements today and find it. But we could save ourselves some time, could we not?”
The woman behind the door asked this in a voice touched with pleasure, her earlier anger having vanished completely.
She was waiting for the detective’s answer, confident that he would not disappoint her.
Shad pressed his lips together.
“Then may I take this as your commissioning me to locate the statue containing the remnants of the Old God’s power?”
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This was not because he was so immersed in playing the role of a detective that he could not stop. He was testing whether the other party intended to take the statue for nothing or was willing to make a trade. Although he was very sorry for accidentally causing the relic to run out of control, that did not mean he was willing to hand over something so valuable for free.
Of course, he was also willing to compensate her.
The situation was somewhat better than Shad had expected.
“Of course I can commission you. I have always advocated fair trade. Besides, you and I have no enmity between us…apart from what happened just now. If you wish to proceed by way of an exchange, I have no objection. So, Detective, how much do you require as your commission? Name a figure. If you agree to the exchange, I can forget what happened just now.”
The possibility of becoming rich overnight lay directly before him, and the woman inside the room did not sound as though she were joking. The two labels—noblewoman and high-ring warlock—were enough for Shad to imagine how wealthy she must be. She could even smooth over the minor accident that had just occurred.
Shad resisted the temptation of money and stopped imagining himself sitting in a study with the gas lamps extinguished, counting a stack of coins by the light of the desk lamp.
There were more important matters.
“I am truly sorry about the relic running out of control.
“The statue is in an alley diagonally opposite the Silver Parrot Milk Delivery Company. To the right of the entrance is an old bookshop. Go to the end of the alley; the statue is in the dead space between the pipes and the wall. However, you will need a spell. The statue will appear only after you recite a six-syllable incantation. This is my show of sincerity. I do not want money…”
Not wanting money was naturally a lie, though it could also be considered the truth. As for revealing such important information at once, that was a calculated move. On the one hand, he was showing that he truly regretted what had happened. On the other, Shad believed that she could locate the statue by tracing his movements anyway, so telling her in advance might earn her goodwill.
“I wish to exchange the statue’s location and the incantation that reveals it for power I can use. It need not be an equal exchange. As long as I can make use of it, that will be enough.”
The statue was certain to be lost to him. Besides, Shad had never intended to keep such a dangerous object, and he did not even possess the ability to carry it away. Under the circumstances, making a suitable compromise in exchange for greater benefits was the best course of action.
The lady behind the door had been right: trading the statue to the Academy was no different from trading it to her. Shad still remembered the doctor and the writer repeatedly emphasizing that, as correspondence students, they had no particular relationship with the Academy.
Therefore, he would not consider trading the statue to someone else a betrayal of the Academy. Besides, Shad wished to make at least a small amends for allowing the relic to run out of control. When dealing with a reasonable person like her, suffering a minor loss in their first transaction could prove beneficial in the future.
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