Dreams of Adventure

"I never expected Mr. Grant to be a Corpse Collector, and he clearly knew about the Acting Method. Where did he get the Potion formula and related knowledge?" Abner habitually pinched his chin, thinking uncertainly. "Could it really be the Numinous Episcopate? Hmm, I remember the novel said the Numinous Episcopate had a nominal chief representative in Backlund named Patrick Brain... Wait, Brain? Mr. Brain, whom Jane's father respected so much?"

At that moment, Abner finally connected reality with the plot of the novel and glimpsed a sliver of the truth.

"Xio believed that while Mr. Grant had a solid theoretical foundation, his attitude toward the Beyonder world was rather naive... There's nothing wrong with that. If he really was brought onto the Beyonder path by Mr. Brain—the man Messenger called 'that... immortal... fool...'—then it was perfectly normal! After all, Mr. Brain was merely a byproduct of the Artificial Death project, a hastily made castoff. He himself didn't know much about the current state of the Beyonder world."

Having figured this out, Abner decided to end the investigation immediately. No matter how much of a fraud Mr. Brain was, no matter how unintelligent he might be, he was still a genuine Demigod. How could a Sequence 9 like him dare investigate matters involving such a big shot? Besides, this Demigod would sooner or later become a genuine follower of the Goddess, so there was no great issue with Mr. Grant following him.

Xio watched Abner's shifting expression and asked curiously, "Is there a problem?"

Abner shook his head, not intending to tell her what he had guessed. He did not want to give her needless worries.

Seeing that he did not wish to speak, Xio did not press him. Instead, she brought up something else. "Fors's new book, Stormy Manor, has been published. Once the sample copies arrive, I'll give you one."

Abner froze for a moment before smiling. "Tell Miss Fors congratulations for me... And congratulations to you as well. You're one step closer to entering noble circles and uncovering the truth."

"Thank you!" Xio also smiled happily. She was deeply grateful to Abner, because he had shown her a direction for her efforts and let her see a glimmer of hope for uncovering the truth behind her father's death. She was no longer charging about aimlessly as before.

After chatting with Miss Xio for a while, Abner bid her farewell and left the East Borough. He then returned to the police station in Cherwood Borough.

The foul-mouthed Officer Aitris immediately walked up to Abner when he saw him enter. After studying him carefully for quite some time, he said, "Do you have some kind of mental illness?"

"Mental? Why would you ask that?" Abner asked in confusion. Even if he found yesterday's fainting strange, shouldn't he suspect a physical problem?

"Because it's hard to imagine that someone strong enough to lift that cane with one hand would be so physically weak that he fainted. So it must be a mental problem!" Aitris declared with certainty.

"So you were the one who sent me back yesterday..." Only when the cane was mentioned did Abner realize what Aitris meant. He was hinting that he had helped him yesterday and brought back his cane.

"Who else could it have been?" Aitris raised his chin, then added, "That cane of yours really is heavy, but it was still a little lighter than I expected..."

"Thank you!" Abner thanked him first, then said helplessly, "Don't you get tired of talking in circles like that?"

"Isn't that the style of you Detectives? You never state the key conclusion directly. Instead, you list a bunch of seemingly unrelated details, then show off your deductions." Officer Aitris curled his lip.

Are we really that familiar? Why does this feel like bickering between two annoying friends? Abner's mouth twitched. He ignored this awkward self-familiar fellow and prepared to go upstairs to find his teacher.

At that moment, Aitris said behind him, "Detective Isengard Stanton went out to investigate evidence... And there's a very troublesome person upstairs right now..."

Before he could finish, Abner heard an exasperated voice coming from the second floor:

"I've told you several times already, that guy was only staying at my home! I never wanted to kidnap him, nor did I conspire with him to extort money from his parents! That was all that bastard's own little performance!"

Aitris shrugged. "You heard him. That's Emlyn White, Mr. Little Hattie's friend. We found his address last night and detained him for questioning. But this guy is arrogant, and his mouth is just as foul. He can mock anything. His parents hired a Lawyer to bail him out, so this is merely the final routine questioning."

Isn't he just like you? The words nearly slipped out of Abner's mouth, but before he could speak, he saw a man descend from upstairs. His hair was swept back at an angle, and his proper appearance carried a hint of rakish charm. This should be Emlyn. Behind him followed a middle-aged man with a stern expression and meticulously groomed hair, clearly his Lawyer.

Abner had not intended to speak to Emlyn, but this future "Moon" of the Tarot Club walked straight over and said to Aitris, "Well? I told you from the beginning that this had nothing to do with me, but you said something like, 'Anyone who likes dolls isn't normal and must have a problem,' and insisted on dragging me to the police station! Can you apologize now?"

Aitris muttered an unhappy "Sorry," then added in a sarcastic tone, "Doctor White should really check the birth records at Backlund Hospital."

"What do you mean?" Emlyn had been satisfied upon hearing the apology, but Aitris's latter remark made him turn back. He also muttered, "Backlund Hospital hadn't even been built when I was born. Where am I supposed to find those records? Wait, why would I even need to look for those records?"

"Doctor White is so respected. How could he have such a troublesome son as you? You must have been switched at birth!" Aitris provoked him without the slightest politeness.

Only then did Emlyn understand what he meant. However, he was not angry, because there was simply no possibility of a Sanguine child being switched at birth. Thus, he merely gave Aitris a contemptuous glance, as though he could not be bothered with him, then walked directly past him and out of the police station.

Aitris was so enraged by that attitude that veins bulged on his forehead. He practically wanted to fight Emlyn on the spot.

Abner grabbed him and shook his head. "Are you two children?"

"You saw how infuriating he is! He's even more annoying than you Detectives!" Aitris blurted out.

Abner was utterly impressed. "With your personality, why become a police officer?" You would be much better suited to becoming a Beyonder of the Hunter Pathway!

"I never wanted to become a police officer in the first place, but my father insisted... I actually wanted to become an adventurer." Aitris seemed to deflate as he spoke helplessly.

"Your father is?"

"Sheriff Fasin."

Too lazy to continue talking to this melodramatic, awkward second-generation police officer, Abner went directly to the office and began seriously reading the files of another missing-person case.

In the depths of a narrow alley surrounded by buildings on Consulate Street in southwest Cherwood Borough, Isengard Stanton and Sheriff Fasin, along with four police officers, witnessed a scene that made their sanity plummet.

Scattered chaotically across the ground were numerous bloody thighs, calves, feet in leather boots, feet in high heels, rib bones, hearts, arm fragments, eyeballs of various sizes, and other human "parts." Several pale-red sections of intestines hung from the walls. Though there was not much blood around them, it still made the place resemble hell.

The four police officers, still ordinary people, gagged and vomited on the spot. Sheriff Fasin covered his mouth and endured for quite a while before barely preserving his Majesty. Only Detective Isengard remained calm through his Beyonder Ability. After observing carefully, he found some tissue among those disgusting human remains that had obviously decayed more thoroughly.

"Zombies?" Detective Isengard's brows knitted tightly together.

At the police station, Abner had already formed a conclusion after carefully reviewing the files. He called Officer Aitris again and headed out.

This missing-person case was not complicated.

The people who reported it were a middle-class couple. The husband was a department manager at an import-export company and rarely stayed home. The wife was a housewife, mainly responsible for household chores and teaching their daughter. However, their daughter was rather rebellious, with the temperament of a mischievous boy, and often sneaked out to play. This time, though, she never returned after going out.

From the files, Abner could tell that the girl was highly independent, with both ideas and the ability to act on them. Every sign indicated that she had begun planning to run away from home several months ago, when her mother had introduced her to a prospective fiancé.

Starting with her social circle, Abner quickly learned from one of her friends that she had obtained a false identity and gone to sea in search of adventure.

"She even got herself a fake male identity... This girl really has something!" Although Abner did not approve of her leaving without saying goodbye, he greatly admired her courage in pursuing freedom.

"Tiel Swiger... or rather, Annie Gwen? She truly is remarkable!"

Admiration aside, Abner still handed the results of his investigation to the young lady's parents, thereby completely closing the missing-person case. As for how her parents would search for their daughter who had left home, that was no longer the police's concern.

However, from the moment Aitris learned that the young lady had gone to sea, he seemed somewhat absent-minded. He only returned to normal after the case was closed.

That evening, when Abner bade farewell to Aitris and returned to his teacher's home, he happened to see Detective Isengard returning by carriage as well.

"Our commission is over!" Detective Isengard said directly the moment he saw his student.

"It's over? Did you solve those six missing-person cases?" Abner asked curiously.

"No... The police department has transferred the cases to the Mandated Punishers! You understand. With those Tyrant lackeys involved, it's not appropriate for us to remain on the scene." Detective Isengard did not seem angry at all. Instead, he spoke in a relaxed tone.

"Transferred to the Mandated Punishers?" Most of those families believed in the Goddess. They could not have transferred the cases to the Mandated Punishers merely because they lived near Holy Wind Church, could they?

"Yes. They were committed by a fugitive that the Mandated Punishers had previously overlooked, so naturally they must resolve it."

(End of Chapter)