The two retraced their steps. After walking for a while, Isaac said, "I didn't expect a meal of potatoes to bring up so many topics."
"I'm very good at stretching a topic too far." Carlo had his hands in his pockets. "What people commonly call talking a lot of nonsense."
Isaac's mouth twitched. "Still, boss, you know more than I thought. I figured someone with your personality wouldn't care about politics at all."
Carlo kicked a piece of broken brick out of the road. "Not bothering to care and not understanding are two different things. Politics is the liveliest arena for competing interests. You get to see all sorts of interesting struggles and deals."
Isaac thought about it. "Should I learn to analyze these things too?"
"Of course. Did you think an investigator's job was just chasing otherkin around with a gun? A lot of cases don't start with an otherkin suddenly appearing and going on a killing spree. Otherkin are either minor monsters along the way or the big boss at the end. Everything else is the tangled mess of people's relationships. If you can see where people's interests lie, you can anticipate how a lot of things will play out. That's an important skill for an investigator."
"What if I can't figure out where those interests lie..."
"Then you can only be a brute-force detective."
"A brute-force detective?"
"Someone who only looks at the clues in front of him and ignores the interests behind them. When he runs into a problem, he charges in with a gun, takes a few beatings, and by the time he finally drags out the mastermind, he's half crippled himself. Then he has to put a cigarette in his mouth and say a few lines of really cool nonsense."
"Oh..."
As they rounded the corner, Isaac saw light shining through the windows of 122 Red Maple Street. He paused. "I remember leaving the lights off when we went out."
"Then the dog turned them on," Carlo said casually.
"...Huh?"
"It opens its mouth and calls itself 'this august one.' What's so strange about it turning on a light?"
Isaac supposed he had a point.
Carlo opened the door. The living room light was on, and Fenri lay in front of the fireplace.
"All right, there shouldn't be anything else today. Come out with me tomorrow morning," Carlo said.
"A case?"
"Shopping. We're getting you an outfit."
Isaac looked down at his shirt and vest. They weren't exactly worn out, but they fell short of what the respectable people on Vista's streets wore.
"These are still wearable, aren't they?" Isaac said. "Besides, doesn't the Joint Investigation Bureau have uniforms?"
"You're an outside agent. You only wear the Joint Investigation Bureau uniform when you're conducting a joint investigation with another division." Carlo glanced at him. "As for what you're wearing, wearable and presentable are two different things. It looks too cheap. Anyone who didn't know better would think I was a terribly stingy boss."
Isaac felt a little helpless, but he understood what Carlo meant. In Vista, appearances were a passport. Dressing respectably could spare him a lot of unnecessary questioning and obstruction when he was getting things done.
"All right, let's go."
"Good. We can also try an experiment while we're at it."
"An experiment with what?"
"You'll find out when the time comes."
Carlo headed for the stairs. Isaac watched him go up, wondering what he meant by "experiment."
Eventually, he gave up trying to follow his boss's train of thought and looked at Fenri, who raised his head in turn.
"Fenri, are you sleeping here?"
Fenri nodded, then rested his head on his forepaws again, his tail sweeping across the floor.
"Then... good night."
Isaac turned off the living room light and returned to his room. He sat down at the desk, picked up the books, and leafed through them one after another.
A Preliminary Study of Urban Forms in the Early Residual Daylight Era, A Reconstruction of the Ancient Empire's Courier Road System, The Century Before the Great Sunset: Social Change in the Late Empire, A Study of the Origins of the Western Territory's Cities...
Most of the books were works of history, and most of those concerned the history of the Ancient Empire.
As far as Isaac knew, his adoptive father Edward's research had always centered on the Ancient Empire, from its social structure to the changes from the late Ancient Empire to the early Residual Daylight Era.
And the "Great Sunset" was the greatest mystery in the history of the Ancient Empire.
There were many theories about the cause of the "Great Sunset." Some said it was due to divisions within the empire, some said it was a large-scale invasion by otherkin, some said it was the gods' punishment of humanity, and others said some indescribable disaster had descended.
But none of the theories had gained widespread acceptance, because so few records remained. Almost every surviving version had been altered by later generations, either by the church or by nobles, and contradictions were the norm.
People only knew that the "Mad King's Folly" had triggered a calamity, and the "Great Sunset" had followed.
His adoptive father Edward had spent his whole life studying this period of history. Had he discovered something? Isaac didn't know.
Isaac browsed the tables of contents and chapter headings, trying to find a clue, but the books all looked like ordinary works of history. There was nothing valuable enough to make someone go to such lengths to seize them.
Unless the secret wasn't in the contents of the books themselves. If that was the case, he needed to examine them more carefully, not just read them, but also look for any details that might conceal something...
That was clearly no simple task.
The next morning, Isaac opened his eyes. Outside the window, daylight had already filled the sky.
He got up, washed, changed, and left his room. Carlo was sitting behind the living room desk with a teacup in his hand and a newspaper spread out before him.
"Good morning, boss."
Carlo sipped his tea. "Find yourself something to eat in the storeroom."
Isaac went to the storeroom and scanned the shelves. On the shelf near the door were rows of cans containing corned beef, beans, and fruit. He walked a few steps farther in and found a packet of tea leaves and a packet of biscuits in a wooden cabinet.
He came out holding both. "Boss, where's the kettle?"
Carlo lifted his chin toward a corner of the living room. A narrow table stood against the wall, with a brass-colored gas stove on it. A kettle sat beside it, along with a faucet.
Isaac picked up the kettle and hefted it. Though it looked shiny, as if it were silver, it was empty and had no warmth left in it.
He looked at the kettle, then at the steaming teacup in Carlo's hand. "Boss, how did you make that tea?"
Carlo raised his cup and took another sip. "Rolled the dice."
"...Seriously?"
"Of course. The tea leaves, cup, and water were all there. All that was missing was hot water, and the dice heat it up quickly." Carlo put down his cup. "You can make yourself a cup the same way, but it depends on your luck... Here, put the tea leaves in the cup and pour in some water."
Isaac did as he was told, taking a small pinch of tea leaves from the packet and dropping them into an empty teacup, then pouring water in.
Carlo pulled out the pair of dice. "Can the water in the cup in front of Isaac Lessing be brought directly to a boil? Check value... 80."
"That high?"
"It's just heating some water. How hard can it be?" Carlo didn't seem concerned.
The dice landed on the table and rolled a few times.
...91. The check failed.
"Hmm, it is a little difficult after all." Carlo rubbed his chin.