Mr. Lawyer (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Votes!)

Cromwell returned soon. "I visited the neighbors and 'persuaded' them to give me a few clues. I have a lead now."

Sifa followed him out of the house. He watched the Arbiter lock the door and put the key back where he had found it, then hurried after him toward the street.

"Lynn was kidnapped by the Zimang Party," Cromwell said as they walked.

"The Zimang Party?" Sifa's question made it clear he knew little about the organization.

The Arbiter nodded. "Yes. They're a notorious gang. I've only recently come to Backlund, but I learned about them through two commissions."

"I'm certain it was them because one of the neighbors described a prominent member of the gang."

Sifa quickened his pace to keep up. "Sounds like you know where to find your lawyer friend."

"Mmm," Cromwell said, and walked faster.

Backlund.

East Borough.

For once, there was no thick fog, but the sunlight still struggled to drive away the gloom. Numb-looking pedestrians trudged along the road. A homeless man picked up a fruit pit from the roadside to eat. A woman with no money for treatment sat by the street, waiting to die.

They cast an invisible chill and grayness over the street.

A carriage approached an abandoned factory and stopped nearby.

The door opened, and a middle-aged man stepped out. His hair was slicked back, he wore a formal suit, and a cigar rested between his teeth. He looked at the factory's half-open gate and sneered.

Inside the gate, a lean, wiry man with dark skin and deep-set eyes lounged against the wall.

The man, who clearly had Highlander ancestry, glanced toward the depths of the factory. "I got you the man you wanted."

"Thank you for finding time to help me when you're so busy." As he spoke,