Holy crap..."
Klein's lips twitched, almost blurting out this exclamation, so characteristic of the gluttonous nation.
She had only told him she'd changed jobs, but hadn't specified what those jobs entailed!
Who the hell would have thought she'd be working as an assistant at a detective agency!
It was just as suffocating as when she applied for a waitress position at a maid café! Seriously
, you're someone with abilities comparable to a mid-sequence extraordinary being, someone who calls herself a magician... okay, plus a part-time bard... then at least do a job befitting your persona!
Coming to a detective agency as an assistant, are you planning to use your superpowers to solve cases, and then have this Mr. Henry become a sleeping Kogoro Mouri?
He had so many unspoken complaints, his thoughts running wild.
Alice, of course, had no idea what Klein was thinking. Seeing him just awkwardly tense up and not reply, she smiled slightly, her eyes crinkling.
"Next time, if you want to avoid being recognized, I suggest you wear a stocking over your head, a black one… If you don't have one, you can borrow one from me."
…Damn, does this witch even know what she's saying?!
Klein was dumbfounded.
Who would wear a black stocking over their head? Just thinking about it makes him look like a pervert!
Besides, the stockings in this world are all high-end products made of real silk, weighing at least a pound a pair. He couldn't possibly use them as a head covering.
While he was internally grumbling, Alice in front of him had already returned to her initial formulaic smile, greeting him in a light and enthusiastic tone:
"Please come with me, sir, ah, watch your step…"
The girl led him to a sofa in the reception area and then turned and left. Afterwards, a man with a pipe, wearing a white shirt and a black vest, came over and began to ask Klein about the details of his request.
He thought for a moment, organized his thoughts, lowered his voice, and stated his request, handing over two portraits drawn using ritual magic.
Not wanting the detective to remember his features, Klein didn't haggle. After the detective quoted the combined deposit for the two cases, he nodded, signed the contract, and handed over two one-pound notes. "
Luckily, I still have some of the 20 pounds I received from Alice, otherwise my savings would be almost gone again..."
He silently touched the inside pocket of his trench coat, sighing inwardly.
After entrusting the case, Klein didn't linger at the agency. He quickly left, pretending to take a stroll, and turned into a side alley. He quickly removed his top hat and mask, turned up the collar of his trench coat, and hurried through the narrow alley, leaving Beswick Street in another direction. "
My counter-surveillance awareness is professional, but whether my techniques are professional or not is another matter..."
He picked up his cane, somewhat absentmindedly, and walked towards the public transport stop, boarding a carriage home.
Then, that night, something slightly unexpected, yet predictable, happened.
Alice had returned to his house by a little after eight o'clock, still missing dinner time, but much earlier than the previous few nights when she hadn't returned home until late!
She smiled and greeted Benson and Melissa, who seemed surprised and delighted, before turning her gaze to Klein.
"Do you have time? I want to talk to you about something."
Supported by the silent gazes of the siblings behind him, Klein nodded stiffly.
"Okay, let's go upstairs and talk."
He went upstairs, closed the door, locked the door, and then turned to face Alice.
He completed all this in one smooth motion, deliberately starting with the afternoon's client:
"If I remember correctly, I am now your… your firm's client, a paid customer. You've come to see me, perhaps to tell me that the investigation has made progress?"
The girl
blinked her azure eyes with amusement. "Well, the detective assigned me the task of finding that man you mentioned with 'terrifying observation skills' who occasionally appears at the Dragon Bar. He also told me to take my time and just find a clue within two weeks."
This was practically condoning his employee's slacking off…
Klein was speechless. He thought that if a review board existed in this world, he would definitely anonymously write a bad review for this detective agency.
"Are you looking for someone who is an Extraordinary?" Alice keenly grasped the key point from his description, taking a step closer with curiosity.
Considering that an accurate description would help her investigation, Klein nodded cooperatively and explained:
"Yes, I think he might be an Extraordinary with the 'Spectator' pathway. His strength shouldn't be high; he's mainly good at hiding his Extraordinary identity among ordinary people…"
After briefly describing the characteristics of an Extraordinary with the "Spectator" pathway, he noticed the smile on her face gradually fade, and his heart skipped a beat.
"Hmm, 'the audience'… Hearing you say that, it sounds pretty good. I'm a little regretful…" Alice sighed, seemingly a little melancholy. "If you had told me a few days earlier, I might have been happy to do your job for free and find out where this person is, but now…"
"Why do you say that? Is there any difference between now and a few days ago?"
Klein was confused, but that didn't stop him from understanding a certain meaning from her words—he seemed to have missed a wonderful opportunity to fleece someone!
Before he could even feel sorry for the missed opportunity, he saw the girl in front of him raise her hand to take off her glasses, hang the temples of the glasses into the collar of her shirt that was not buttoned at the top two buttons, and at the same time, a sweet, angelic smile appeared on her face.
"There's a difference. A few days ago, I said I'd find this person for you for free; now… I can locate him right away, but you'll have to pay an expedited fee, otherwise you'll have to wait two weeks."
The mention of money made Klein's heart ache even more. "Expedited fee, how much extra do you want?"
Alice held up one index finger.
"One pound… no, ten pounds?" Klein asked tentatively.
"No, it's one hundred pounds. Hmm, I know you can't afford it." The girl, with her angelic smile, ruthlessly uttered the wicked words only a devil would say.
"Why don't you just rob me!" Klein accused her, his heart aching.
"Because I'm a good person, and a smart one at that, I can achieve the same effect as robbery through a transaction." She simply shrugged, looking completely innocent. "Just tell me if you want it or not. You get what you pay for. Give me 100 pounds, and I can not only immediately provide the location of that 'spectator' gentleman, but also include free round-trip service. I can take you straight to his doorstep. Isn't that a great deal?"
"A great deal…"
Klein wanted to say something, but in the end, he swallowed his words, giving up on arguing with her about the topic, and sighed.
"I don't have that much money, and even if I did, I wouldn't want to spend it on something that's not so urgent…"
He couldn't help but feel a slight pang of unease.
The job to find a suspected member of the "Psychological Alchemy Society" wasn't urgent, but the house with the dark red chimney, and the person behind all the coincidences orchestrating things around him, were weighing heavily on his mind!
If more money could solve this problem…
Klein gritted his teeth, forcing himself to harden his resolve, and asked her about the expedited fee for his first job.
"You mean the job investigating the house with the red chimney? But that's not within my scope of work," Alice answered professionally.
"…Then if I want you to complete it as soon as possible, how many gold pounds would I need to pay for this investigation?…Or," he glanced at her expression and cautiously added, "or whatever I can offer."
Alice's smile seemed to fade slightly; she took a small step back, her reply somewhat irrelevant.
"You should know that the price I just quoted… that 100 pounds is still a huge sum that you can't afford right now."
Klein nodded, frankly admitting,
"Yes, and I understand that money doesn't mean much to you… at least, you won't be short of 100 pounds."
Otherwise, she wouldn't have so casually given him that shockingly expensive high-end tuxedo…
Klein pretended not to feel envious.
But after understanding this, it became easy to understand why Alice had quoted such a huge price that he couldn't afford.
She didn't really want to solve his problem [immediately].
"Let's get back to the details of the commission. Finding houses with red chimneys and collecting information on the residents?" Alice closed her eyes briefly before saying, "You probably want more than just that, right? You possess a certain condition, a condition you haven't told the detective, a condition only you know... You're looking for a specific person or thing, but besides knowing that the other party is related to houses with red chimneys, you haven't been able to gather any further information."
"Yes..." Klein wanted to describe something, but suddenly realized that he had encountered too many coincidences. If he were to start from the beginning, he would probably have to begin with the original owner's involvement in the Antigonus family's death incident!
He needed to think carefully about which "safe" parts of the events that wouldn't expose his own secrets he should reveal to Alice.
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