The Detective's Commission

"Now that I have a short-term goal, my plan is to inspect the rooms more thoroughly, search for money, find a city map, and go through the books. I need to learn about this world through its writing, understand the era, its religious customs, and cautiously adapt to this place. As for whether I should stay for three months and help the detective finish that task, I can decide after I understand everything."

Shade summed up his current situation and accepted the fact that the detective was dead. The worst part was not that this world contained mysteries, but that he had none of the original owner's memories and knew absolutely nothing about this world. Other than that, his current circumstances were not too bad.

Shade stood and headed toward the Washroom.

The Gas Lamp in the Washroom had some problems. Even at full power, it only gave off a faint glow.

In that light, he looked at the person in the mirror. Dim golden hair, dark brown eyes, the face of an obviously Western man, around twenty years old, with an expression that seemed somewhat nervous. He was about one meter eighty tall.

Since he had once been a vagrant, his appearance was not particularly outstanding. Still, by Shade's own standards, he looked fairly decent.

"This is me. Don't let the stranger in the mirror scare you from now on."

He carefully warned himself In Heart, but he did not immediately leave the mirror. Instead, he cautiously glanced around before quietly calling out:

"Hello? Are you still there?"

He tried to communicate with that whispering female voice again, hoping to determine what it actually was. But after a long time with no result, he could only accept reality and give up for the moment.

Next came the search for money. He had not found any food while searching the kitchen Just Now, and this body was clearly hungry. He needed to temporarily forget his other troubles, get some money, and eat.

But another accident occurred. About half an hour later, Shade sat back down on the sofa beneath the warm yellow light, his face filled with indescribable panic.

In Hand, he held a banknote bearing the number 10. It had many creases and stains and was even smaller than the cards in the Diary of Shadows. One side bore a portrait, while the other displayed the royal crest of the Dellaireon Kingdom, where he currently was.

After searching the entire house, going through all the books and documents, and emptying every pocket in the wardrobe, Shade had found only this single banknote, which seemed to have accidentally slipped into a gap behind the bookshelf.

"Could prices in this world be so unusual that this one banknote can keep me alive for three months?"

Even though he tried to comfort himself with a joke, he knew it was impossible no matter how he thought about it.

"This is bad."

He leaned back slightly against the sofa's Backrest, closed his eyes, tilted his head up, and looked at the white ceiling.

"Mr. Hamilton, where exactly did you hide the money? I agreed to stay. You wouldn't leave me without even a single coin, would you?"

Although he found it terrifying, he truly wanted to chase after the carriage Pulling the coffin, shake the corpse inside awake, and question him.

If he could not speak the language, he could still survive by being clever. If his body were disabled, survival would still be possible As Long As he lived bravely. But without money, it was completely impossible.

Mr. Spike Hamilton clearly had not cooked at Home, since there was not even a single vegetable leaf in the kitchen, much less a dead rat. Shade did not know when this body had last eaten, but it clearly needed food now.

Considering the limits of the human body, Shade had to immediately find money or a way to earn it. Otherwise, after the Sun set, he might be forced to use the map to find a restaurant, then search the alleys outside it for trash bins and try his luck.

"No, that won't happen."

He looked at the only banknote In Hand with a terrifying expression, his gloomy face as dark as the sky outside.

"I don't know its denomination, but it is money at least. And there is also the Sun 3 card in the diary. Those can keep me alive. Still, since I can't find money for now, I need to consider a long-term source of income."

A transmigrator's knowledge might be valuable, but turning knowledge into money in an unfamiliar place was not only troublesome but dangerous. Not to mention that this world itself possessed strange powers.

He remembered that this was a Detective Agency, and Mr. Hamilton seemed to have said before his death that he had left behind some relatively safe assignments. They would allow Shade, whose "head did not work very well," to maintain the detective's identity and keep the Detective Agency running.

Since he could not find the dead detective's money for the moment, he had to prepare for the worst and consider how he would make a living from now on.

"Come to think of it, Mr. Hamilton knew that Shade—the original Shade—was not very intelligent, so the assignments he left behind must be simple ones, meant to keep the Detective Agency operating. Maybe he already solved those cases, and I just need to go collect the payment! Although this world has mysteries, ordinary people's lives are still the mainstream."

Shade suddenly had an idea. He got up and brought the Diary of Shadows from the bedside table in the Master Bedroom, then found the ledger, memorandum, and work log left behind by the detective in the study. He had not found money earlier, but he had found all of these things.

Detective Sparrow Hamilton was an extremely organized and rigorous person. Even though Shade had never studied accounting or business management, he still found the records of the agency's operations movingly detailed. Of course, Shade was mainly moved because the agency's unresolved cases were all very simple, and More Than Half had already been completed.

"Find Miss White's younger sister who ran away from Home, follow Mr. Lawrence's mistress, find the missing Orange Cat Miya, and ask around for news of a Doctor who can treat eye disease. They all Seemed easy and not very dangerous. Oh, Mr. Hamilton already handled More Than Half of them. If I stay here and run this place, completely solving one case every two or three weeks should be enough to keep it going."

Shade summarized as he read through Mr. Hamilton's handwritten reports. But what he needed now was not to operate the Detective Agency in the long run. He merely needed to get a sum of money first to maintain his short-term livelihood.

After comparing the remaining difficulty of the four jobs, their payment methods, and the amounts offered, Shade decided to deal with the commission to "follow Mr. Lawrence's mistress" first.

According to the case report, Detective Hamilton had followed her for several months, but had stopped recently because of poor health. The current report could actually be handed directly to the client to settle the remaining payment. However, Mr. Hamilton had left a note in the report, specifically taking into account that Shade did not know many words, so it used only simple vocabulary.

The note said that if he intended to complete the commission, it would be best to submit some recent records as well. That way, the payment might be slightly higher, and the client would be less likely to become suspicious.

In other words, Shade only needed to follow her once more to complete the commission. It would not be a perfect completion, but it would at least meet the requirements of the client—Mr. Lawrence's wife—and be enough to receive the remaining commission payment marked as "1 pound 7 shillings," which was 1 pound 4 shillings.

From the tone of the detective's notes, this was quite a substantial reward.

Shade chose this commission not only because of the payment. Detective Hamilton had handled many assignments involving helping wives catch mistresses, making this the simplest kind of job. Nothing was likely to go wrong during the final handover. Sparrow Hamilton was not a famous great detective, but he was highly skilled at investigating extramarital affairs.

Shade did not want to remain in this terrifying house where someone had just died, drinking cold water and eating paper pages to stave off hunger. So he prepared to begin the investigation and try to deliver the report to the client before Twilight.

"No Problem. I'll get my first money through this commission first, then slowly explore the dead detective's secrets and figure out where the voice in my head came from. Everything will get better!"

He encouraged himself In Heart. First, he found the city map. Using Detective Hamilton's surviving reports and the calendar on the wall, he deduced the likely location where the mistress named Lassoya might appear. All of that was simple work. The most difficult step was finding his current location on the "Map of Tobesk City."

The Tobesk City map in the agency had many annotations left by the previous detective. It even marked the taverns where he commonly gathered information and the locations of black markets dealing in "sensitive goods."

But the original Detective had not been in the habit of marking his own Home on the map. Fortunately, while searching through the materials, Shade found an old surveillance record containing the route taken during that operation. Only then did he determine that this apartment was located at Number 6, Saint Derain Square, in central Tobesk City.

"Thank you, Detective Sparrow Hamilton, for recording everything in such detail. This is a house right beside a square near the city center. Hm? How much would a house like this cost?"

Shade exclaimed in surprise. At the same time, just two streets away from Saint Derain Square, he discovered a palace Building Complex called Yodel Palace.

According to that crumpled newspaper, the second page between the front-page story, "The City's Third Round of Steam Pipeline Renovations," and the third-page "Investigation Report on the Collapse of the Ancient Tower of Kalas Mountain," mentioned that Yodel Palace was the residence of the Dellaireon Kingdom's royal family.

Shade, who had never owned a house in his original world, felt his heart suddenly race. His panic and tension were even swept away for a moment by surprise and delight.

He looked at the documents In Hand and muttered:

"In other words, where I am now is the capital city of one of what seems to be the world's two great kingdoms, the Dellaireon Kingdom. And this is an apartment beside a city-center square. I have a house like this, yet I am worrying about starving to death?"

The oppressive feeling that had weighed on him since earlier suddenly eased. But a house could not be turned into cash immediately, and Shade had no intention of truly giving up Mr. Hamilton's three-month commission. He would consider it after gaining a foothold.

At least a very sincere smile appeared on his face, replacing his nervous expression. With a house in a location like this, he would not have to worry about the smile on his face gradually disappearing in the future. Then Shade realized that he had even found the will, yet had not found anything like a deed or property certificate.

"This apartment isn't rented, is it?"

The more he considered it, the more likely it seemed. If someone could afford a house in such a location, why would they need to run a Detective Agency? Collecting rent alone would be enough to support themselves. Even if the detective's business had not originally been solely for money, the interior furnishings did not look like they belonged to Detective Hamilton.

"In other words, I may very well have to pay an unknown amount of rent every month?"

Shade reached this unbelievable conclusion, then once again Looked Towards the calendar hanging on the Living Room wall.

It was Saturday of the third week of Sunlight Month in the Year 1853—June. If he really had to pay rent, there was a high chance it would be due at the beginning of every month.

"This world also uses a twelve-month calendar, and the dates in each month are very similar to before. Maybe I should just run away instead. Pack my clothes, drag a suitcase, carry a bucket, and flee. I could begin my journey through this mysterious world as a vagrant. Staying here means no income, and Mr. Hamilton may even have left behind debts I don't know about."

PS: The contract has been mailed, so regular twice-daily updates will begin today. One 3K update at 6:50 a.m. and one 2K update at 5:50 p.m. Additional updates will come at appropriate times. New author, new book—support and constructive criticism are welcome.