That afternoon, Isaac returned to his room, changed into a clean shirt, and put on his dark brown waistcoat. He straightened his collar in the mirror and made sure he didn't look too disheveled.
When he came out of his room, Carlo was already waiting by the door. "Let's go."
Fenri got up from the floor, and Carlo glanced at him. "Are you coming too?"
Fenri looked at Isaac, waiting for him to decide.
Isaac thought about it. Bringing a dog into a place like the Joint Investigation Bureau probably wouldn't be appropriate. "Fenri, stay home and guard the door. We'll be back soon."
Fenri lay down in front of the fireplace, apparently accepting the arrangement.
Isaac closed the door and followed Carlo, and the two headed east along Red Maple Street.
After they rounded a corner, the buildings lining the street changed from residences to shops and offices. There were more pedestrians too, hurrying along as carriages traveled the street. Occasionally, a uniformed patrol officer walked past.
Isaac looked at the shops and pedestrians, trying to match the markings on the map to the streets around him.
The Joint Investigation Bureau was not far from the office. It occupied a square, solid-looking grayish-white building on a street corner. Its facade was three stories high, with neatly arranged windows, each fitted with black wrought-iron bars. Above the main entrance hung a metal plaque engraved with an emblem: a five-pointed star drawn in a single stroke, surrounded by a ring of letters spelling out "Western Territory Joint Bureau of Investigation into Anomalous Incidents."
There were no guards at the entrance, and the doors stood open. Isaac followed Carlo inside.
The lobby had dark floor tiles, and several chandeliers hung from the ceiling, apparently powered by what was called electricity. Their light was bright. There was no one at the reception desk that afternoon, but several desks stood in the lobby on the other side of a wooden partition, with quite a few people sitting or standing around them.
They were all dressed alike in white shirts, black trench coats, and black ties. They looked quite uniform, with only some differences between the men's and women's styles. These were presumably uniforms that identified their status.
When the two entered the lobby, everyone's eyes turned toward them. The people who had been looking through documents, holding teacups, or leaning against desks and chatting all stopped for a moment, their gazes landing on the entrance in unison.
Carlo met their gazes and leisurely surveyed the room. "Good afternoon, everyone. You have time to stand around staring at me? Looks like you don't have much to do."
As soon as he spoke, the others looked away. Some bent over their documents, some turned to reach for their teacups, some pretended to discuss something with their colleagues, and some simply turned and headed deeper down the corridor. It was as if everyone had suddenly remembered they had plenty to do.
"You're not even going to say hello? How rude. I'm standing right here, and every one of you is pretending not to see me. Are you waiting for me to call you out by name?" Carlo raised an eyebrow.
No one answered. Someone sitting in the back quietly buried their head behind a pile of documents.
Isaac: "..."
What was that reaction supposed to mean?
Carlo looked around the lobby, finally settling on a young woman behind a desk. She had her head down and was quickly flipping through a booklet, looking as though she were hard at work.
"I choose you, Daisy."
The young woman, Daisy, stopped and looked up, a strained smile on her face. "Mr. Schuster..."
Carlo walked over to her desk. "Long time no see."
"It's only been three days since you were last here..."
"Isn't that a long time?"
"Um..." Daisy's gaze wandered. "Mr. Schuster, I still have important work to finish and don't have time to chat. If you need something, could you..."
"Cut it out. Knowing you, if you start by saying you're busy without saying what you're busy with, that means you have plenty of time on your hands."
Daisy: "..."
Carlo pointed at Isaac. "I hardly ever bring newcomers here. You could at least welcome him."
Daisy turned to Isaac, and he nodded. "Hello, ma'am."
Daisy briefly looked Isaac over, then... sighed?
Isaac: "...?"
Daisy closed the booklet in her hands and stood up. "Welcome. I'm Daisy Miller, a logistics clerk at the Joint Investigation Bureau."
"Register him as an auxiliary investigator. He'll be coming along with me often from now on, so getting the paperwork done beforehand will save us trouble," Carlo said.
Daisy nodded. "Follow me. The records room is on the second floor."
She headed for the corridor at the side of the lobby. Isaac followed, with Carlo strolling along behind them.
The moment Isaac entered the corridor, he heard a pronounced collective sigh from the lobby behind him, as though people who had held their breath for a long time could finally breathe again. There were also a few hushed conversations. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but their tone was plainly one of relief.
...Why do these people seem so unwilling to see Carlo?
He turned his head and lowered his voice. "Boss, they seem..."
"Seem what?"
"Like they're pretty scared of you."
"That's reverence," Carlo said without a change of expression.
The three went upstairs. The second floor was much quieter than the first, and the doors on either side were shut tight, their nameplates bearing the names of the various department offices.
Daisy stopped at one of the doors and took a ring of keys from her pocket. She picked one, inserted it into the lock, and turned it, then pushed the door open to reveal an office. Several filing cabinets stood against the wall, and a desk sat in the middle of the room, with several stacks of documents and a typewriter on it.
"Please sit down, sir." Daisy pointed to the chair in front of the desk, then went around and sat behind it.
Isaac sat down in the chair, while Carlo wandered over to the filing cabinets and glanced idly over them.
Daisy opened a drawer and took out a blank form. "Mr. Lessing, I need to record some basic information... Your name, including the spelling."
"Isaac Lessing." Isaac gave his full name, then spelled it out.
When Daisy heard the surname Lessing, she paused and looked up at Isaac, then lowered her gaze again. "Age?"
"Twenty-two."
"Place of birth?"
"Palmer."
Daisy recorded each answer and asked some more routine questions, such as his educational background and whether he had a criminal record. Isaac answered them one by one.
But when she asked about his faith, Isaac hesitated. He didn't know whether he should continue falsely claiming to believe in Blackthorn on this question.
"Doesn't believe in a righteous god," Carlo said from the side.
Isaac looked at him. Carlo didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with that answer, and Daisy wasn't particularly surprised either. She simply wrote down "doesn't believe in a righteous god."
...The Joint Investigation Bureau really is quite tolerant and open-minded, Isaac thought.
"One last question," Daisy said. "Have you ever experienced an anomalous incident?"