After lunch, Shade read for an hour, then headed out.
He found a carriage at the street corner and crossed the entire city eastward to the cemetery outside the city. Along the way, bored out of his mind, Shade chatted with the coachman about the recent weather, complained with him about soaring prices, and then discussed their respective jobs.
Perhaps because of Shade's somewhat youthful face and approachable manner, the coachman was willing to talk a little more. The carriage was certainly not his; he rented it from the Tobesk Carriage Rental Guild inside the city, picked up passengers within an assigned area, handed a portion of each day's earnings to the guild, and used the remainder to support his family.
Though this job paid more than hauling luggage near the station, it had not truly lifted his family out of poverty. The main reason was that the coachman had five children at home.
Four were his own, while the other was the child of his deceased elder brother. In times like these, it was perfectly normal for anyone to die suddenly—just like Detective Sparrow.
"My income has been decent lately. I even subscribed to milk from the Silver Parrot Milk Delivery Company, one bottle a day, enough for all the children to have some. Oh, sir, I heard drinking milk can make you grow taller."
"There is such a saying. But I remember the Silver Parrot Milk Delivery Company's milk not being cheap?"
Shade asked hesitantly. The coachman smiled.
"The subscription price dropped a little recently. It seems there was some problem with their warehouse, and before repairs are finished, they need to sell off the goods they stockpile every day as quickly as possible. Last time I drove a middle-aged gentleman who worked there, he told me the