Roxanne's Last Day

The bar fell into a long silence. In the quiet, all of Roxanne's unusual behavior was explained.

The Imperial Reserve staff mentioned that on the day he ended his life, Roxanne had been completely out of sorts.

His performance, rehearsed countless times, had gone wrong, with no comedic effect whatsoever, causing Marshall to lose face in front of guests from Gear City.

He was kicked out of the banquet hall, stumbling and knocking over a glass of red wine by the door as he left.

The owner's eyes widened, and he raised his hands several times as if to say something, but couldn't. He could only bring out three glasses, filling them all with strong liquor. He didn't care if Ethan and Ivy drank it or not. He picked up his own glass, gestured to the air, "To Roxanne, and his daughter."

Then he drank it all in one gulp.

But a glass of strong liquor couldn't calm his emotions. He simply picked up the bottle and downed the entire thing, and then, as expected, his foot slipped, and he fell onto the bar, passing out.

Ethan had no intention of touching his glass.

It was working hours, and the Leader was right beside him.

"Want to go for a walk? We can go back if you want."

Ivy suddenly said.

Strictly speaking, this case wasn't complicated. Once all the clues were connected, they understood Roxanne's experiences on his last day.

Ethan also understood the reflection that appeared in the apartment.

It wasn't a Magic Book, but a ledger, likely recording the large loans he had taken out from the Imperial Reserve. This explained why Roxanne opened it every day after his performances at the bar, to record the extra income he earned from his nightlife gigs.

"The Cursed Object should be Roxanne's ledger. Marshall had someone take it, so he was cursed," Ethan stated his judgment. He steadied himself, "It should be a 'CI' classified Cursed Object, with the effect of causing people to suffer from uncontrollable laughter. This might be related to his clown persona. It doesn't seem to be overtly fatal."

The case concerning Roxanne thus came to an end. The next step was simple.

Find out the whereabouts of the ledger from Marshall and hand it over to the Containment Bureau. Old Mu's shop in Fireplace Bay had a storage locker specifically for Cursed Objects rated below CI.

They had completed the commission issued by the Imperial Reserve in just half a night, which should establish a good reputation for the Brookwood Town intelligence Base Station.

However, Ethan felt something was missing, or more accurately, even though they had found the truth, there was a sense of helplessness.

The journey was exceptionally quiet. The two of them and the chicken walked side-by-side on the town's streets. This was the darkness before dawn, the most silent moment in this world. Ivy had already made plans. The Imperial Reserve's working hours were 7 AM. They would kill the remaining time, find a place for breakfast, and then put this commission to rest.

Ethan didn't know how long he had been wandering the dark streets. He wasn't someone who liked going out in the first place.

When he came to his senses, they had already deviated from the main road. This was the path leading to Baron Gladin's mansion. The Baron's estate was shrouded in the night, and all the servants were asleep.

Ivy walked to the front of the estate, turned around, and looked towards the winding path leading up the hillside.

"I saw him that day."

She finally spoke. At that time, she was on the second floor of the estate. The view outside the window was obscured by a heavy rain. Captain Haig, under orders, had rushed out into the downpour with the estate's guards. They were urgently investigating the town's water source issue. On their way down the hill, a figure moving through the rain intercepted them.

At the time, Ivy couldn't see the person's face clearly in the rain, but now, that person had a name.

Roxanne, the town's clown performer.

She took out a piece of oilcloth from her inner pocket and lit the powder inside with a match.

This was the first time Ethan had seen Ivy use the spell taught to her by the Enlightenment Society. Just as elemental magic was to Elemental Shapers, followers of the God of Truth also learned many extraordinary abilities after reaching the second tier.

The powder ignited with a faint green flame. The completely burned powder turned into a wisp of smoke that drifted towards the winding mountain path not far away.

Unknowingly, a fog began to form.

The white mist outlined several figures, their faces unclear. However, Ethan heard a familiar voice.

"Hurry up, find all the water sources in town!"

Captain Haig shouted. His distinctive booming voice was very penetrating, and could be heard clearly even from a distance. Therefore, Roxanne naturally heard it too.

Roxanne froze in place.

Just as Captain Haig was about to pass him, he quickly stopped Haig, his voice sounding a little shaky, "...Are the rumors true?"

Haig didn't commit. "A Witch attacked Riverside Town. You should hurry back too. It's not safe to be outside right now. Oh, and don't drink any water randomly until we finish our investigation."

Roxanne was still persistent and asked, "I mean, did everyone in Riverside Town die? Has the news been confirmed?"

"Confirmed."

"Then..."

Roxanne stood there, grabbing Haig's arm, looking like he was racking his brain. He finally found a glimmer of hope and asked persistently, "Is it possible that someone survived? That they managed to hide and escape the attack?"

"How would I know?"

Haig was getting impatient.

They were also racing against time. If the town's water supply issue wasn't resolved quickly, Brookwood Town would suffer the same fate as Riverside Town. "I'm in a hurry. We can talk later if there's anything!"

Ethan watched as Roxanne, looking dejected, walked down the mountain path. Bathed in the heavy rain, he sat by the side of the path. Not long after, a figure galloping on horseback passed Roxanne.

He vaguely recalled seeing someone sitting by the side of the path out of the corner of his eye when he came out of Baron Gladin's house that day. However, it was raining too hard then, and he was in a hurry to get back to the log cabin, so he didn't get a good look.

"Let's go."

Ivy calmly invited Ethan. Seeking the truth was the mission of the followers of the God of Truth. The divine granted them the ability to glimpse the past.

The two walked through the mist, witnessing fragments they theoretically shouldn't have seen.

Roxanne changed into his clown uniform for the performance back at his apartment. He then went to the banquet hall hosted by the Imperial Federation, which was for a distinguished guest from Gear City. The lively atmosphere at the venue overwhelmed Roxanne.

They watched a shoddy performance, which was far from Roxanne's usual standard.

His fumbling lines caused the party to go cold several times. Finally, Marshall, unable to stand it any longer, kicked him out of the banquet hall.

Ethan also learned some things he didn't know.

For instance, Baron Gladin rallied shortly after Roxanne left. He, along with Ivy and Captain Haig, led a combined force of Guards and Guild Hunters on horseback to Riverside Town. They didn't find the Witch or her minions in the town, so they ordered everyone to pile up the bodies.

They meticulously recorded the names of every deceased person they could.

Upon their return, Baron Gladin gave a speech in the town square. He attributed their victory to their bravery and unity, which he believed made the Witch hesitate to attack Brookwood Town. However, he warned that they couldn't afford to relax, as the evil Witch could return at any time.

Roxanne was among the crowd.

After the speech, he desperately pushed his way to the front and obtained the compiled list of the deceased from Captain Haig. He scanned every name on the list until he reached the third page. Roxanne stopped. Time seemed to freeze for him at that moment. He remained frozen in place until Captain Haig patted his shoulder reassuringly.

This was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Back at his apartment, Roxanne checked his ledger one last time and changed into a decent outfit.

He found a thick rope and paused for a long time under the ceiling beam. He picked up a carving knife and crookedly etched a line of text onto the beam.

"Roxanne was here."

The mist gradually dissipated, and the white humanoid figure dissolved into nothingness before Ethan's eyes. Roxanne's apartment fell silent once more.

They stood directly beneath the ceiling beam. He saw all the mist condense into a diamond-shaped crystal, which floated towards Ivy's head.

Ethan had read about the promotion method for followers of the God of Truth. They needed to find enough truths and get closer to the real world to share more Power.

This was perhaps how Truth followers collected truths.

Ivy's face remained expressionless, showing no sign of sadness. Ethan guessed that she had likely grown accustomed to life and death during her pursuit of truth.

But perhaps not entirely.

He watched as the diamond-shaped crystal was absorbed into the golden hair atop Ivy's head.

Then, that lock of golden hair drooped dejectedly and sank into her mass of golden hair, disappearing without a trace.