"Were there only the two of you at the time? The third woman left with them? Did you know her?"
Shade asked. Miss Lisa nodded:
"I knew her. Fibby from the Honey Tavern. She was a pitiful person too. She was an orphan, then was deceived by a man after growing up and saddled with enormous debts. She had no friends or family by her side."
She looked at Shade:
"You came this time because of her, didn't you?"
"How did you know?"
"After that day, I never saw her again. The tavern where she worked sent someone to look for her, but they only casually asked people nearby. I knew she was probably dead."
Shade did not deny her guess:
"I'm not a police officer. I simply want to investigate the cause of her death for certain reasons. Yes, she died, and it was related to the strange things you saw tonight. Please think carefully. Do you have any other clues about that night?"
Miss Lisa thought again, then shook her head apologetically:
"Probably not. I never heard any news of her after that day."
That Seventh Ring Arcanist had already said that there were no clues here, so Shade had prepared himself in advance and was not too disappointed:
"If anyone asks you about this afterward, tell the truth if they are from the Church. If they are anyone else, insist that you do not remember anything. You live alone too. You should understand what I mean."
Miss Lisa nodded silently, then watched Shade take out his wallet and casually place a stack of banknotes on the table. She pressed her lips together but did not refuse. Shade had not counted them carefully, but there were probably ten or twenty Crowns there, two or three hundred pounds. Even