Playing the Same Trick Again

Just as he was about to fall asleep, the Lunatic suddenly snapped awake, shaking his head violently before roaring and charging forward. As he passed the carriage, he grabbed a horse's rein and whipped it out.

Jeffrey hurriedly raised his short baton to block, but the rope wrapped around his arm. The Lunatic yanked hard, pulling the pale-skinned man helplessly toward him.

The Lunatic snatched a sharp piece of glass from the window of a nearby carriage. He seemed able to turn anything he grabbed into a weapon. Clutching the glass, he charged at Jeffrey's throat.

The Lunatic suddenly seemed to sense something. He stopped and backed away.

At that moment, the rein snapped. A gunshot rang out from one end of the street. Sifa looked over and saw Lewis, wearing black-rimmed glasses, running toward them.

Lewis had aimed for the Lunatic's head, but he had not expected the man's senses to be so sharp. The Lunatic had actually escaped the shot.

Perhaps realizing that he could not deal with both Lewis and Jeffrey at once, the Lunatic threw the glass like a flying knife, forcing back Jeffrey, who was rushing in with his baton. Then he turned and ran toward the outer wall of a villa.

Lewis fired several shots in succession from behind, yet the Lunatic still made it over the wall. The officer shouted, "Get after him! Don't let him escape!"

Seeing that they intended to pursue the Lunatic, Sifa quickly called after them, "Officer Lewis, if you get the chance, ask that guy who Haimok is. He should tell you. We can discuss the details later."

Lewis was full of doubt, but he still nodded. He climbed over the wall after them and vanished from Sifa's sight.

Earlier, Sifa had fired at the Lunatic while posing as "Haimok's subordinate," intending to leave the Lunatic with the impression that Haimok had betrayed him.

He had deliberately avoided hitting a vital spot. That way, if they managed to subdue the Lunatic, they could probably induce him to reveal information about Haimok. Anyone who could receive a God's response merely by altering an incantation was unlikely to be ordinary.

Such a person was even more dangerous than the Lunatic.

"Should I follow them?"

Sifa shook his head and decided to go home instead. He had originally wanted to pursue them as Duke and see what happened, but he was worried about exposing himself and chose to give up.

As he walked along Golden Champagne Avenue, Sifa felt the remaining potion digest a little further.

He carefully recalled the course of events and realized that even under those circumstances, he had still unconsciously been acting as a Hunter. He had still been laying traps and hunting prey.

Only, his "prey" had not been the Lunatic himself, but the information the Lunatic revealed. As for the trap, it had been the words he used—especially the so-called "reward" he had given the Lunatic at the end. Whether it was the line, "You don't need to keep living," or the shot he fired into the man's chest, both had been another form of snare and trap.

"So, for a Hunter, prey didn't necessarily have to be alive?"

"The Acting Method really is interesting."

Not long after Sifa left, a caw sounded from atop a streetlamp.

A black crow with red eyes flew into the night sky, leaving behind two pitch-black feathers.

When Sifa saw Lewis again, more than an hour had passed. The inspector with black-rimmed glasses and Martha, with her long red wavy hair, came to visit. Sifa received them in the hall.

"Officer, did you catch the criminal?" The moment he saw them, Sifa threw out the key question.

Lewis nodded and took a notebook from his pocket. "To be precise, he is already dead. He resisted fiercely. In that kind of battle, we had no way to take him alive."

Sifa asked anxiously, "Did you ask him about Haimok?"

"We did, but this matter cannot be disclosed to the public. I'm sorry." Lewis habitually pushed up his glasses before getting to the point. "Mr. Sifa, I'm very curious. Why did you remind me to ask about Haimok?"

Sifa had no intention of concealing anything about this matter. He said frankly, "After I was attacked on the road, I had a flash of inspiration while trying to protect myself and lied that I was Haimok's subordinate. I read that diary, and I knew the criminal had received Haimok's guidance. I thought it might be useful, though I did not have high hopes."

"After all, anyone in their right mind would not easily believe something like that."

"But for some reason, the criminal actually believed it. It was absurd, but it was true."

"It seemed his mind was not working very well. Fortunately, that was also why I managed to keep my life."

"After that—"

And so, Sifa recounted his entire conversation with the Lunatic, including the later gunshot he fired while posing as Haimok's subordinate.

Naturally, Sifa claimed that he had originally intended that shot to kill the criminal, but the man dodged it, so it failed to hit a vital spot.

Having witnessed that man's keen senses firsthand, Lewis did not doubt him.

Instead, he sighed. "Mr. Sifa, you really struck gold by accident. You managed to get so much useful information out of that man."

Sifa deliberately asked, "Useful? I heard him talking about passages and the Spirit World. I thought he was out of his mind and babbling nonsense."

"But later, he mentioned a God descending. I remembered that his diary also mentioned something about a God, so I wrote those words down."

"If you think they are useful, Officer, then my efforts were not wasted after all."

Sifa then asked, half sincerely and half deliberately, "Officer, surely a God is not really going to descend, is it?"

Lewis said with a grave expression, "That was merely the ravings of a Lunatic, Mr. Sifa. You need not take it to heart. The most urgent matter now is finding that Monster named Gorey."

Sifa pondered. "That Lunatic said it was in a safe place. Enqi Town is not large, and there are hardly any places where a Monster could be safely hidden."

Martha, the red-haired young woman, reminded them, "Didn't the criminal once hide the Monster in the mountains? Perhaps he has used the same trick again?"

"Hidden on Awwabergen Mountain? That is possible." Sifa rose to his feet. "How about this? Tomorrow, I'll take you to see someone who knows Awwabergen Mountain very well."

"If the Monster really is hidden in the mountains, he should be able to lead us to it!"

Lewis and Martha exchanged a glance, then stood as well. "All right, it's settled. We'll visit again tomorrow."

After leaving the baron's residence, Martha sighed as they rode in a carriage back to the inn in town. "Captain, you must have forgotten again."

"While pursuing the criminal, you already used that Lucky Coin. That was why the battle did not spread into town."

"So for the next twenty-four hours, you need to remain in isolation. You cannot take part in any operations tomorrow."

Lewis rubbed his forehead. "I seem to have really forgotten. But we cannot simply leave that Monster alone. You heard it too. It has already become a 'passage.' Its state exists in both the Spirit World and reality."

"I have never heard of anything like this, and it is about to become a medium for a God's descent."

"I said that it was only a Lunatic's ravings, but you and I both know this might become reality."

Martha took out a candy box, but did not open it or take out any candy. She said seriously, "Captain, this may already be beyond our abilities."

"Shouldn't you consider notifying them?"

Lewis glanced at her. "Them? You mean the Red Gloves?"