A Test

Over the next few days, Angel's daily life became more regular.

Every morning, she reported to the Blackthorn Security Company as usual, then went with Klein to 3 Zouteland Street, to the "Zouteland Shooting Club," for shooting practice. After firing all the practice bullets she received for the day, she went to Old Neil to study divination and Ritual Magic.

She ate lunch at the security company, then returned home on Daffodil Street and spent the entire afternoon making "Storm Convergence" and "Phantom Phosphor Eruption" bullets.

For dinner, Angel chose restaurants she had never visited before, enjoying entirely new dishes. This was one of the few pleasures available to her, given her lack of social and recreational activities. After night fell, she tried using the scraps left over from making bullets to produce the Charms she had learned from Old Neil. Her success rate was extremely low, so she treated it as practice.

On Saturday, two days after recovering the lost ring in the Docklands, Mrs. Green came to the Blackthorn Security Company again. She happily paid the balance and took back the ring.

Angel and Klein's first commission had been completed successfully, but their investigation into the mysterious assassin and the organization behind him could be said to have made no progress at all.

On the day Angel sketched the assassin's likeness, Dunn Smith had the Tingen City Police Department plaster wanted notices all over the city. Anyone who provided key information or helped the police capture the target could receive a full 100 pounds in reward.

Unfortunately, no one ever claimed the enormous sum.

Angel even suspected that the assassin had already fled Tingen City. After all, he had been shot during the battle and certainly wouldn't be able to recover in the short term. On top of that, his face had been seen.

"If I were him, I'd do the same." Angel put herself in the assassin's place and made her judgment.

The divination performed on the dagger he had left behind also yielded nothing.

Old Neil tried Dream Divination and a Spirit Channeling ritual. The former could use a short period of sleep to allow one to see the subject of the divination as clearly as if witnessing it in person, while the latter achieved a similar effect through Ritual Magic.

Both methods failed.

Old Neil believed that the divination results had been interfered with by someone. The other party had used some kind of "Anti-Divination" technique, rendering divination and Spirit Channeling directed at him ineffective.

After discussing the matter, they concluded that this was definitely not an ability the "assassin" could possess. There had to be more Beyonders behind him, and they might even include powerful Mid-Sequence Beyonders.

Dunn Smith had also suspected Mrs. Green's identity. He had obtained the relevant files through the police, trying to confirm whether she had any connection to the mysterious "assassin" and the wild Beyonders behind him.

"Mrs. Green's full name is Erlna Green. Her husband was Vincent Green, the founder and largest shareholder of the Green Printing Factory in Tingen City. One night a month ago, Vincent Green's carriage fell into a river. Mr. Green and his personal attendant, who were in the carriage, died on the spot. Both drowned. Only the coachman managed to escape by sheer luck."

Dunn held a file bearing the seal of the Awwa County Police Department. With his other hand pressed against his temple, he said with a weary expression, "The past few days, I've not only had to write reports for the Holy Cathedral, but also contact the Tingen City Police Department and several other churches. Even though a Nightmare hardly needs sleep, the prolonged mental and physical strain has left me feeling somewhat overwhelmed."

It was now Monday morning of a new week, and also the day Angel was to deliver the special bullets she had made.

When she carried the small wooden box that had previously held the materials into Dunn Smith's office, she saw the captain unusually leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed, resting.

"Really an accident?" Angel expressed her disbelief after hearing Dunn introduce Mrs. Green's identity and explain the circumstances of her husband's death.

"According to the coachman's statement, visibility had been poor that night. When Mr. Green's carriage passed another carriage, the horses pulling it were startled and suddenly sped up. They charged straight into the river at a bend in the street. The coachman only thought of saving himself. By the time he swam to shore, the carriage had already sunk completely. When the police arrived, they only managed to recover two bodies."

"The other carriage was investigated as well. It was a hired carriage carrying two Tingen University students. They had no motive to commit a crime. It was simply a coincidence."

Dunn pulled out a page from the file and handed it to Angel. "The deceased was a follower of the God of Steam and Machinery, so the Machinery Hivemind participated in the investigation and issued a brief report. They concluded that no Beyonder powers had been involved."

"What I mean is, it doesn't necessarily have to have been done by a Beyonder. But could someone have... for example, hired a killer?"

Angel felt that Dunn's thinking—or rather, the thinking of these official Beyonders—was somewhat limited. Does the absence of Beyonder abilities mean there are no murders in this world?

"The case has already been closed. The Tingen Police believe it was an accidental death." Dunn shrugged. "I looked through the file. There are no obvious loopholes."

"The interesting part comes afterward. The Greens had no children or other direct relatives. Under the laws of the kingdom, after Mr. Vincent Green's death, his shares in the printing factory and his other assets, worth more than 15,000 pounds, would all be inherited by Erlna Green."

"But she needed Mr. Green's ring?" Angel suddenly understood.

Dunn nodded with a smile. "Exactly. Although Mrs. Green could unconditionally obtain all the property under the inheritance laws, she had quite a few conflicts with the printing factory's other shareholders over the company's management. If she wanted to sell her shares and leave with the money, she needed that ring."

No wonder Mrs. Green hadn't even blinked when she heard that it would cost 120 pounds. There was a fortune of 15,000 pounds behind it.

"So Mrs. Green simply lost an important ring, hired a private detective to locate it, and then hired us to retrieve it. I only happened to discover that the Labor Mutual Aid Society was trafficking people in the process?" Angel summarized. "It was just a coincidence?"

"Exactly. It was just a coincidence." Dunn agreed. "Of course, the Labor Mutual Aid Society won't escape. Its current chairman, Jike Houghton, boarded a ship to Enmat Harbor a week ago. The wanted notice has already been sent there. To avoid alerting him, the Tingen City Police won't take action against the Mutual Aid Society until he's captured."

"Once Jike Houghton is arrested, we should be able to obtain plenty of information about the assassin and the organization behind him from his mouth. For now, all we can do is wait."

Dunn put the file back into its folder, sealed it simply with glue, and placed it in a drawer of the desk. He then took out a slightly smaller file folder bearing the Night Emblem. He opened it in front of Angel and pulled out several thin sheets of paper.

Angel pretended to glance at them casually, then immediately looked away. Her heart pounded.

The top sheet was an identity document bearing her name. Needless to say, it was the one she had bought at Wild Heart for 40 pounds.

Of course, the document she had in her possession was still lying at her home at 6 Daffodil Street. The copy Dunn had taken out should have been retrieved from the police in Backlund.

Dunn spread the papers from the folder across the desk one after another, then looked up at Angel, who was forcing herself to remain calm. "Since you've finished making the bullets I need, I'll submit these reports and the bullets together this afternoon. The Holy Cathedral should reply within about a week."

"This is your identity information. I applied to the Backlund Diocese, and they requested it from the police department."

He first pointed to the identity document on the far left and spoke slowly. Then his finger moved to the second sheet, a letter filled with writing.

"This is a summary of your involvement in the Cole Granger Disappearance Case and the murders he committed."

Angel's eyes swept over the letter. Although the words were upside down, she could still roughly make out Dunn's handwriting.

"Finally, this is the full account of Sharon Khoy's invasion of the Nighthawks' base and her being shot dead. Leonard wrote the report. Read it over, and point out anything that needs correcting."

Dunn pushed the third sheet toward Angel. She turned it around and quickly read through it.

As expected of Leonard Mitchell, who claimed to be a poet—even his battle report had a certain artistic quality. Aside from being somewhat flowery in its wording, however, the report truthfully recorded the battle of ambush and counterambush that night, allowing Angel to review her deadly struggle with a Mid-Sequence powerhouse from another perspective.

"It's very well written. I have nothing to add." After finishing Leonard's masterpiece, Angel rotated the letter 180 degrees and pushed it back to Dunn.

"Nothing at all?"

Dunn did not take the battle report. Instead, he pressed his hand against the other two sheets and quietly watched Angel with his gray eyes, his meaning clear.

Of course there is. The woman in front of you was a man just two weeks ago—the Cole Granger listed on the wanted notice with a 500-pound bounty. He committed multiple murders and instigated crimes in Tingen City over the course of two years, leaving the police at their wits' end. Unfortunately, he failed while advancing to Sequence 7, "Witch," and died on the spot. His body was occupied by a consciousness from another world, which successfully infiltrated the Nighthawks, the Beyonder force of the Church of the Evernight Goddess. He intended to conceal the truth, wash away his identity, and pry into the secrets of the mystical world while searching for a way back to Earth—

"There's nothing else."

Angel could only grit her teeth and answer.

"Mm. Good."

To her surprise, Dunn Smith did not press further. Instead, he swiftly placed the three sheets into the file folder. He then lit the candle beside him, took a piece of sealing wax from the drawer, and heated it. With solemn care, he sealed the folder, pressed his own stamp into the wax, and blew on the seal as if completing a ritual.

After finishing all this, he raised his head again and looked at Angel, whose face was tense.

"Don't be nervous. I already sent a telegram to the Holy Cathedral beforehand. In principle, they've agreed to accept you as a formal member. These documents are merely procedural."

Captain... is it really a good idea to celebrate before the game is over? And when you asked whether I had anything to add just now, were you testing me or simply asking casually?

Angel couldn't figure out Dunn's intentions, so she could only respond with a smile.

"By the way, although I already understood your intentions, I still need to formally confirm them now."

After placing the file folder, its sealing wax cooled and hardened, atop the wooden box filled with special bullets, Dunn straightened his body. His expression became solemn as he slowly said:

"Miss Angel Granger, are you willing to formally join the Tingen City Nighthawks Squad and become one of us? This means obtaining an official identity, more generous pay and benefits, but it also means constantly struggling against danger and madness, and possibly even sacrificing your life."

"Your salary will immediately double. Half will be paid by the church, and the other half by the Awwa County Police Department. You will also become a probationary inspector of Awwa County."

"Once you join, you will be bound not only by contracts and the law, but also by the church's commandments. Leaving without authorization will be treated as desertion."

"Without the squad's approval, you may not leave Tingen City under any pretext."

"You can wait until the Holy Cathedral responds before making your final decision."