All the Elements

That evening, at 27 Besik Street, inside the Leon Private Detective Agency.

The setting sun washed the entire street in a dusky yellow. Light streamed through the window, coating Leon in a faint layer of gold.

He began changing clothes, following his predecessor's habits.

A dark brown, double-breasted wool coat, a white shirt, dark gray trousers, and black ankle boots.

A silk half-top hat hung on the coat rack. Beside it stood a cane with a dark red gemstone set into its tip, supposedly a "protective charm" passed down through the family.

According to his predecessor's memories, the cane was actually a supernatural item, but after fiddling with it for a while, Leon found nothing special about it.

The only thing he could say was that it was exceptionally hard.

Fully dressed, he stood before the dressing mirror and looked at his reflection.

In the mirror was a young man in his early twenties, with medium-length black hair, black eyes, and an exceptionally handsome face.

He had to admit, if his predecessor hadn't been so fixated on revenge, he could easily have found a rich woman to support him and lived comfortably for the rest of his life, given those looks.

"Leon Kaspar," he said softly, then turned to look through the doorway.

Leon took out his wallet, drew out a few banknotes, and handed them over along with the room key. As he did, he patted Dangdang on the head-that was the little orange cat's name.

"Consider this an advance bonus. Same as usual. Until I get back, you only need to keep the place clean."

"If any of my previous clients come looking for me, tell them I've gone out to investigate."

"Remember to lock the door at night."

"All right, young master." Martha took the money and key and looked down to count the notes. There were exactly thirty soli.

She adjusted her hold on the kitten and asked a little nervously, "Young master, don't we need to move somewhere else?"

"Plans have changed, Martha." Leon sounded casual. "Plans never keep up with changes. That's how things usually go."

"But young master, didn't you say smart people should avoid unnecessary trouble?" Martha was visibly nervous, and the orange cat in her arms pricked up its ears as well.

Leon glanced at her, thought for a moment, and said:

"That's right, Martha. But there's actually another part to that."

He turned and pulled open the front door.

"Smart people avoid unnecessary trouble, while the strong can choose whether or not to face it."

As he spoke, he suddenly paused and took a small silver-white handbell out of his coat.

"Oh, right. If you run into urgent trouble, try ringing this."

"Huh?" Martha took the bell and was just about to ask why when she saw Leon step out the door.

The door gently closed behind him.

Leon stood on the steps, squinting at the sun as it sank in the west.

The light was no longer so dazzling, and orange-red clouds blazed along the horizon. The bakery across the street was closing up. The owner's wife put the last few loaves of rye bread into a basket, looked up, and smiled and nodded when she saw him.

Leon returned the greeting politely, then walked toward the end of the street.

He hailed a carriage and gave the address written on the slip of paper.

Watching the street scenery rush past through a gap in the carriage, Leon considered his plans for what came next.

At first, he really had intended to leave immediately and avoid trouble.

After all, with this body able to wield only a tiny fraction of his power, he would be better off staying hidden, whether he was looking for fellow earthlings or pursuing something else.

But Ranni's warning and the sudden appearance of a New Life Tarnished in Roundtable Hold had made him realize that things might not be so simple.

There was nothing unusual about being warned to watch out for the other gods of the Lands Between. Outer Deities invading other worlds was common enough.

What Mr. Sailor had said happened to confirm it. Although Leon couldn't be sure whether he had been lying, what he described was unquestionably the Frenzied Flame.

And the faith in the Erdtree in this world, along with the prayer ritual, essentially showed that the gods of the Lands Between had already made their presence known on this continent long ago.

Even Leon himself had invaded other worlds more than once. Otherwise, he would never have found those fellow earthlings.

But when he considered it alongside Ranni's words, something seemed off. What did she mean, they were trying to find him before the Lands Between arrived?

Something must have happened in the Lands Between.

Judging by the timing Sailor had described, the Frenzied Flame had appeared before Leon was summoned here. In other words, he could essentially rule out the possibility that it had been aimed at him.

If it was just that group of old opponents, things weren't so bad. Leon had plenty of experience dealing with them.

But the problem had emerged when he sorted through his predecessor's fragmented memories. He discovered that his predecessor's actions for a period before joining the Erdtree Church had all been very strange.

According to those memories, his predecessor had fled to Tingen City a year ago, burdened by hatred, yet he had never become a Beyonder in all that time.

Although Leon knew this was because his predecessor believed those Pathways wouldn't allow him to complete his revenge in the short term.

But clearly, the money his parents had left him was more than enough to buy a Sequence 9 Potion for the vast majority of known Pathways.

Leon refused to believe that not one of the local Pathways was powerful in its early stages.

Yet this Erdtree Church, which he had joined only half a month ago, had somehow made him willing to give his life in exchange for an unconventional Pathway?

Immediately afterward, Leon had followed the aura of Earth here. By coincidence, this world had faith in him, and by coincidence, he had answered it, leaving him temporarily unable to return to the stars.

It was all a little too coincidental. After experiencing the many schemes of the Lands Between, Leon personally didn't believe in anything that looked like a coincidence.

When he was still on Earth, he had once read a saying.

When the facts tell us that everything looks like a coincidence, then, ten times out of ten, there's a twelve-out-of-ten chance something is wrong!

Fate often named its price in secret.

On top of that, there was the mysterious organization that had killed his predecessor's parents. There was bound to be plenty of trouble ahead.

So rather than sneak around fighting and killing like a little rat in a gutter,

Leon thought it would be better to let the dear police protect him, a vulnerable, law-abiding citizen.

And if he had no way to return to the Lands Between for the time being and couldn't find his fellow earthlings,

there was no harm in sheltering beneath a great tree. Much as he wanted to avoid all this trouble, sometimes there was clearly no avoiding it.

Besides, he wasn't the sort of person who would lie low and quietly build up his strength.

Leon rubbed his chin, and before he knew it, he had reached his destination.

After paying the coachman, Leon examined the sign for the Blackthorn Security Company.

He didn't even feel like commenting anymore. It had all the elements.

A special operations department disguised as a security company. Perhaps there were even secret passages inside leading to all sorts of places.

He pushed open the door and stepped inside. A reception hall came into view, furnished with simple but expensive sofas, tables, and chairs. A partition behind the furniture blocked the view farther in.

Directly opposite was a standard oak reception counter. A brown-haired girl sat behind it, her head drooping as she nodded off.

The Nighthawks are a little lax... But it really is already time to get off work...

Leon thought this made perfect sense. He walked over to the girl and politely tapped on the desk.

"Hello."

The brown-haired girl jolted awake, her body snapping upright with a boing! like a spring. "I wasn't sleeping, I just zoned out!"

I know, I know. If someone calls me, I'll definitely wake up too. But miss, you need to learn to wipe away your drool on the sly.

Leon closed his eyes and, like a gentleman, put on an expression that said he hadn't seen a thing.

Seeing that he was a stranger, the girl breathed a sigh of relief. When her eyes passed over Leon's face, they suddenly lit up, and her voice softened instinctively.

"Um, if you're here to make a request, you'll probably have to come back tomorrow. Everyone at the company has something to do today."

"I'm not here to make a request. Captain Dunn should have mentioned it beforehand." Leon smiled slightly and gave his name.

"Ah! The captain told me about you! It's my first time meeting someone under supervision who could come report in on his own... Ah, no, someone under protection." The girl's face reddened slightly. She had suddenly remembered the instructions she had been given, only to let it slip by accident.

She hurriedly changed the subject. "I'm Rozanne, a civilian employee of the Nighthawks. The captain is on duty at the Chanis Gate and can't leave, so I'll take you to him."

With that, Rozanne led Leon around the partition and farther inside.

Behind the partition was a short corridor, with what looked like three offices on either side.

She stopped at the office on the left at the end and pushed the door open. There was nothing in the office except a flight of gray-white stone steps leading down.

Elegant gas lamps lit the walls on both sides of the stairs. The two descended the winding steps and came to a level passage paved with stone slabs.

Gas lamps set behind metal grilles were embedded in the walls on either side, and a conspicuous intersection lay in the distance.

Then Leon heard Rozanne say, "At the intersection ahead, the left leads to Saint Selena Cathedral, the right leads to the weapons, materials, and document storerooms, and straight ahead is the Chanis Gate."

Hearing this, Leon nodded inwardly. Just as he had guessed, there was a passage leading to all sorts of places. He wondered whether there was also a white-haired old man full of stories, or a beautiful, sorrowful older sister in some secret room.