Under Li Wei's expectant gaze, the Elevator reached the top floor. With a ding, its doors opened, and the potbellied Inspector Lestrade stepped out.
"...Oh, it's you, Inspector Lestrade."
"Who else would it be?"
Inspector Lestrade paused at Li Wei's remark, but Li Wei offered no explanation.
"I thought I might have a client. Come, have a seat. Have your injuries healed already?"
As he spoke, Li Wei invited Inspector Lestrade to sit down and poured him a cup of tea.
"Hahaha, just a few scratches. Injuries like that are all in a day's work for us policemen. Besides, I'm swamped with official business these days. How could I let a little injury hold me up?"
Looking at Inspector Lestrade sitting on the sofa, positively beaming, Li Wei raised an eyebrow. Clearly, the monster corpses and that spellbook had not only fetched him a good price, but also brought the inspector considerable political benefits.
"By the way, this is for you."
Inspector Lestrade smiled at Li Wei and handed him an official letter.
"What's this?"
"Do you remember? When you first came to me, you said you were willing to help us solve cases."
"Yes, I did."
"This is the official response."
Inspector Lestrade laughed.
"If you accept, you'll be a special consultant for our Police Station starting today."
Li Wei opened the letter and read it carefully. Its contents were quite straightforward. The police were hiring him as a special investigative consultant, on the condition that he provide assistance whenever they had a case requiring his help.
"The Police Station will pay you an annual allowance of twenty-five pounds. I imagine that's pocket change to you, but we can also install a Telephone so we can stay in touch."
"Oh?"
That piqued Li Wei's interest. This era already had devices resembling telephones, but they were far from widespread. Letters and telegrams remained the most common means of communication, while Telephones were still a luxury-much like when the telephone had first been invented, only the wealthy and influential qualified to have one installed. Even if ordinary people could afford the expense, the bigwigs at the Communications Authority would not give them the time of day.
In other words, unless they had connections, ordinary people could only use a Telephone in the post office's public communications hall.
And at a penny per second, the cost was not something everyone could afford.
"Is this because of the Courtesan Killer?"
Li Wei was no fool. The city council had given him such a substantial reward, and now Inspector Lestrade had come calling again, seeking to bring him on board. There could be no other explanation.
"That's right."
Turning to business, Inspector Lestrade lost his smile and nodded solemnly.
"You already know the inside story, so I'll be frank. We now suspect this may not be the only case of its kind. We're assigning more personnel to investigate unsolved cases, as well as solved cases that still have questionable details."
Just as I thought.
Li Wei was not surprised. Strictly speaking, this case had been far too supernatural. In his own world, practically no one would have taken such occult nonsense seriously. But this world was different. As mentioned before, the Steam Revolution had brought with it a human desire for "comprehensive advancement." Even Spiritualism and black magic could be openly discussed and studied in newspapers, so it was hardly strange for the police to give such matters special treatment.
Still...there was something a little odd about it.
Li Wei gave Inspector Lestrade a puzzled look. In the novels and games he knew, rulers generally had departments that wielded mysterious powers, and matters like this should have fallen under their jurisdiction. After all, magic, sacrifices, and the like were not recent developments like steam technology, which had only existed for a few decades. They had long histories. Did the royal household have no safeguards against them?
Why leave it to the Police Station?
"Couldn't you simply publish something in the papers explaining how dangerous these things are and warning people to stay away from all this nonsense?"
"Of course not."
Inspector Lestrade shook his head.
"If we publicly announced that the Courtesan Killer case was caused by some mysterious, evil ritual, it would create quite a stir among the public. Besides, so far, the popular studies of magic and rituals haven't caused any major trouble. People only regard them as a diversion, something to pass the time. But if we made an announcement..."
"All right, I understand. That really is a headache."
Li Wei understood perfectly. At least for now, they had no effective means of countering these mysterious powers. If they really issued a warning in the papers, black magic and cult rituals might start springing up throughout Fog City within days.
"But that's not the only reason you came to see me, is it, Inspector Lestrade?"
"Of course not."
At Li Wei's question, Inspector Lestrade nodded, then grew solemn.
"You remember Doctor Dolittle's spellbook?"
"Yes. What about it? Did your investigation turn up anything?"
"It did. Look at this."
Inspector Lestrade took a photograph from his pocket and handed it over. Li Wei accepted it and looked down.
In the photograph, a line of bold, forceful lettering appeared on one of the spellbook's inner pages.
[Steel is a plague, machinery is corruption, technology is a curse!]
"This is..."
Seeing those words, Li Wei raised an eyebrow and looked at Inspector Lestrade, who nodded gravely.
"That's the slogan of Luddism!"
No wonder Inspector Lestrade was so tense. Luddism had gone quiet after a heavy crackdown, but that did not mean it had disappeared entirely. The authorities had long since classified its adherents as terrorists. Their goal, after all, was to wreck machinery, destroy civilization, and return everything to the pastoral age before steam technology.
They considered this noble, beautiful, and sacred.
But for everyone else...that was another matter entirely.
If the authorities had previously regarded the adherents of Luddism as mere terrorists bent on destruction, the appearance of this spellbook had instantly raised the severity of the situation several levels!
A band of terrorists who could only smash, loot, and burn was a very different proposition from a band capable of performing black magic rituals!
"The higher-ups are taking this case very seriously, so we hope you'll investigate as a special consultant. As you know, being a policeman can be a disadvantage in many situations. A detective like you has much more freedom. We went to that church to investigate the parishioner who gave Doctor Dolittle the spellbook, but they told us no such person existed!"
At that point, Inspector Lestrade could barely contain his anger. No such person existed? Had that sinister spellbook in Doctor Dolittle's possession simply fallen from the sky?
"Officially, the case is closed. That's partly to mislead whoever is behind it, but because it's closed, we can't continue investigating either. We'll have to rely on you."
"All right, I understand. I'll take the commission."
Li Wei did not hesitate much. After all, his life still depended on system missions. As things stood, following this lead offered his best chance of staying alive.
Hearing his answer, Inspector Lestrade breathed a sigh of relief and extended his hand.
"Here's to working together."
"Here's to working together."
They shook hands, and Inspector Lestrade stood up.
"I should get back. Fletcher will handle the arrangements."
With that, Inspector Lestrade walked over to the Elevator, then stopped.
"Oh, right. What about Miss Katie? Have you seen her since?"
"No. I've been looking for her too. I have no idea where she's gone."
Li Wei shook his head, though he suspected the young lady had probably been confined at home by her family...Running around the slums and trading blows with monsters at a murder scene were entirely different levels of danger. Still, that young lady truly had guts, and her punches were no joke either...At least, Li Wei did not think he could manage anything like that.
Inspector Lestrade laughed at Li Wei's reply.
"I think the two of you make quite a good match. By the way, Mr. Li Wei, I'd suggest hiring a servant to take care of things for you. Just about every household has one these days, doesn't it?"
"Thank you for the suggestion. I'll consider it."
Watching Inspector Lestrade's short, stout figure disappear into the Elevator, Li Wei sat down again and looked around.
A servant...He really had not considered it, but Inspector Lestrade had a point. Li Wei had quite a bit of money now. Hiring a servant to tidy the place, cook, and do the laundry would be perfectly reasonable.
As for how to hire one, that was easy enough. This era had dedicated servant schools, and the newspapers frequently carried advertisements for events resembling job fairs. Incidentally, maids were in much greater demand than male servants. The reason was nothing as romantic as something out of an anime, but something far more practical.
During the late Silver Era, the empire's constant disputes and wars with neighboring countries had required large numbers of men to enlist. Consequently, legislation imposed an additional "Servant Tax" on households employing male servants, while maids were exempt. For that reason, most households chose to hire maids to avoid the extra tax.
Yes, it was a thoroughly practical consideration.
Yet being a maid was no easy job. Take the courtesans Li Wei had met earlier-why would they rather become courtesans than maids? The answer was simple: being a maid was far more exhausting.
Being an upper servant was quite comfortable, but getting there was not easy. An upper servant needed to be able to read and write, understand all sorts of household tasks, and even possess additional skills. In this era, however, women capable of all that generally came from well-off families.
Women left wandering the streets after the Industrial Revolution cost them their jobs in textile mills had no such skills. Even if they became maids, they could only take the hardest, most exhausting jobs as maids-of-all-work. They might even have to attend to every need of an entire household-the very definition of too much work for too little pay.
By comparison, being a courtesan was more comfortable.
His place really did need some attention, whether he hired someone by the hour or took on a servant. As for the details...Well, he would see how things went.
Before you continue