A Test

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

Every morning, she reported to Blackthorn Security Company as usual, went with Klein to the Zoteland Shooting Club at 3 Zoteland Street for shooting practice, used up the practice bullets issued to her each day, then went to Old Neil to learn about divination and ritual magic.

At noon, she ate at the Security Company, then returned home to Narcissus Street and spent the entire afternoon making Storm Convergence and Phantom Phosphor Eruption bullets.

For dinner, Angel chose restaurants she had not visited before, enjoying new foods. It was one of her few pleasures, given her lack of social and entertainment activities. After nightfall, she tried using the leftover scraps from bullet-making to craft the charms she had learned from Old Neil. The success rate was low, but she treated it as practice for her craftsmanship.

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

Angel and Klein's first commission had been successfully completed, but the investigation into the mysterious Assassin and the organization behind him had made no progress at all.

On the day she sketched the Assassin's portrait, Dunn Smith had the Tingen City Police Department plaster Wanted Notices all over the Entire City. Anyone who provided crucial clues or helped the police capture the target could receive a full 100 pounds as a reward.

Unfortunately, no one had claimed the massive bounty.

Angel even suspected that the Assassin had already fled Tingen City. After all, he had suffered a gunshot wound in the battle and definitely could not recover in the short term, while his face had also been seen.

"If I were him, that's what I'd do." Angel put herself in the Assassin's shoes and made her judgment.

The divination conducted on the dagger he had left behind had yielded nothing either.

Old Neil tried Dream Divination and a Spirit Medium ritual. The former used a brief period of sleep to see the subject of divination as if witnessing it firsthand, while the latter achieved a similar effect through ritual magic.

Both methods failed completely.

Old Neil believed the divination results had been deliberately interfered with. The other party had used some kind of Anti-Divination technique, rendering divination and spirit mediumship directed at him ineffective.

After discussing it, they concluded that this was definitely not an ability an Assassin could possess. There had to be more Beyonders behind him, perhaps even a Middle Sequence powerhouse.

Dunn Smith had also suspected Mrs. Green's identity. Through the police, he retrieved relevant records and attempted to determine whether she was associated with 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 Tingen City's Green Printing Factory. One night a month ago, Vincent Green's carriage fell into a river at night. Mr. Green and his personal Attendant died on the spot, both by drowning. Only the coachman narrowly escaped."

Holding a case file stamped by the Ahova County Police Department in one hand and pressing the other against his temple, Dunn spoke with a tired expression.

Over the past few days, he had not only needed to write documents for submission to the Holy Cathedral, but also contact the Tingen City police and several other church factions. Even as a Nightmare who barely needed sleep, the prolonged mental and physical strain left him feeling somewhat overwhelmed.

It was now Monday morning of the 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 in rest.

"Was it really an accident?" After hearing Dunn describe Mrs. Green's identity and her husband's death, Angel found it hard to believe.

"According to the coachman's testimony, visibility was poor that night. When they encountered another carriage, the horses pulling Mr. Green's carriage were startled and bolted forward, charging directly into the river at a street corner. The coachman only cared about saving his own life. By the time he swam ashore, the carriage had already completely sunk. When the police arrived, they only recovered two bodies."

"The other carriage was investigated too. It was a hired carriage carrying two Tingen University students. They had no motive, so it was merely a coincidence."

Dunn pulled a sheet from the case file and handed it to Angel. "The deceased was a believer of the God of Steam and Machinery, so Heart of Machinery took part in the investigation and issued a brief report. They determined that no extraordinary power had been involved."

"What I mean is, it might not have been done by Beyonders, but could someone have... say, hired a killer?"

Angel felt that Dunn—or rather, these Official Extraordinary—were somewhat limited in their thinking. Did the absence of extraordinary abilities mean there could be no murders in this world?

"The case has already been closed. The Tingen police concluded it was an accidental death." Dunn shrugged. "I looked through the case file. There are no Loopholes."

"The interesting part comes next. The Greens had no children or other direct relatives. Under kingdom law, after Mr. Vincent Green's death, his printing factory shares and 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 smiled and nodded. "That's right. Although Mrs. Green could unconditionally inherit all the property under inheritance law, she had quite a few conflicts with the other shareholders of the printing factory over its operations. If Mrs. Green wanted to sell her shares, take the money, and leave, she needed that ring."

No wonder Mrs. Green had not even blinked upon hearing that it would cost 120 pounds. There had been a fortune of 15,000 pounds behind it.

"So Mrs. Green merely lost an important ring, hired a Private Detective who found the target, then hired us to retrieve the ring. I just happened to discover the Labor Mutual Aid Society carrying out Population Trade during the process?" Angel summarized. "It was just a coincidence?"

"That's right, just a coincidence." Dunn agreed. "Of course, the Labor Mutual Aid Society won't get away with it. Their current Chairman, Jike Houghton, took a ship to Emmett Harbor a week ago. Wanted Notices have already been sent there. To avoid alerting them, the Tingen City Police Department will not take action against the Mutual Aid Society before catching him."

"Once Jike Houghton is caught, we should be able to get plenty of information from him about that Assassin and the organization behind him. For now, all we can do is wait."

Dunn put the case file back into its document envelope, briefly sealed it with glue, and placed it in a desk drawer. Then he took out a slightly smaller envelope bearing the Night Emblem, opened it in front of Angel, and pulled out a thin stack of papers.

Angel pretended to glance at them casually, then immediately looked away, her heart pounding.

The top sheet was precisely the identification document bearing her name. Needless to say, it was definitely the one bought from Wild Heart for 40 pounds.

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

Dunn laid the papers from the envelope out on the desk one by one, then looked up at Angel, who was forcing herself to remain calm. "Since you've finished making the bullets I needed, I'll submit these reports and the bullets together this afternoon. The Holy Cathedral should reply within about a week."

"This is your identification information. I applied to the Backlund Diocese, and they had the police department retrieve it."

He pointed first at the identification document on the far left and spoke slowly, then moved his finger to the second letter sheet covered in writing.

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

Angel's gaze swept over the letter sheet. Though the text was upside down, she could still vaguely make out that it was Dunn's handwriting.

"The last one is the full account of Sharon Hoy's invasion of the Nighthawks base and her death. It's Leonard's 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 fancied himself a poet, even his battle records possessed a certain artistic flair. Still, aside from being slightly exaggerated in its phrasing, the report faithfully recorded the ambush and counter-ambush battle that night, allowing Angel to revisit her desperate fight against a Middle Sequence powerhouse from another perspective.

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

"Really nothing?"

Dunn did not take the battle record. Instead, he pressed down on the other two sheets with his hand, his gray eyes quietly watching Angel with meaningful intent.

Of course there was. The Female standing before you had actually been a man two weeks ago: Cole Granger, the man with a 500-pound bounty on his Wanted Notice. He had committed multiple murders and Instigation crimes in Tingen City over two years, giving the police endless headaches. Unfortunately, he failed during his advancement to Sequence 7, Witch, and died on the spot. His body was occupied by the consciousness of another world, which even successfully infiltrated the Church of the Night Goddess's Beyonder force, the Nighthawks, in an attempt to deceive everyone, clear his identity, and incidentally uncover the hidden knowledge of the mysterious world and find a way back to Earth—

"There's nothing else."

Angel could only answer with forced resolve.

"Mm, that's good."

To her surprise, Dunn Smith did not press further. Instead, he deftly gathered the three sheets into the document envelope. He then lit a candle beside him, took out a block of sealing wax from the drawer and heated it, solemnly sealed the envelope, pressed his own seal into it, and blew on the wax seal as if completing a ritual.

After finishing all that, he raised his head again and looked at Angel, whose face had gone stiff.

"Don't be nervous. I already sent a telegram to the Holy Cathedral before this. In principle, they have already agreed to let you become an official member. These documents are merely going through the formalities."

Captain... is it really okay to celebrate before halftime like this? And when you just asked whether I had anything to add, were you testing me or merely asking casually?

Unable to discern Dunn's intentions, Angel could only respond with a smile.

"Oh, right. Although I already understand your intentions, I still need to formally confirm them now."

After placing the cooled and hardened sealed envelope atop the wooden box filled with special bullets, Dunn straightened himself, his expression solemn as he spoke slowly:

"Miss Angel Granger, are you willing to officially join the Tingen City Nighthawks Squad and become one of us? This means an official identity, more generous pay and benefits, but it also means you must be ready at any time to fight danger and madness, perhaps even sacrifice your life."

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

"Once you join, you will be bound not only by contract and law, but also by the Church's commandments. Leaving at will will be regarded as desertion."

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

"You may make your final decision after Saint Hall's Reply arrives."