Ch.101009 Investigation Record – Towards Gremory (8)

Madam Gremory had prepared a car, so Paulina didn’t need to drive this time. We were able to head into town in a car driven by that ogre bodyguard named Oleg.

After arriving at the library, I left the ogre bodyguard looking confused about why he’d been ordered to transport a journalist here, and went inside. Clichy Corporation had a Pennsylvania branch as well.

So I’d need to start with Philadelphia newspapers and search through everything. Since I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, thoroughly searching everything was the only option.

Would it have been easier to do this in New York? No. If I’d done it in New York, there would have just been more work. I was somewhat familiar with New York’s newspapers, but I didn’t know which ones carried more stories about the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn.

“Paulina, can you help me? Could you categorize the incidents caused by the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn? I’ll look for information about Clichy Corporation.”

Paulina must have realized she couldn’t stop me anymore. She nodded somewhat weakly. Her expression suggested she already knew how this would end. I wouldn’t let that happen this time.

All I had was a cause, so I needed to gather people with this cause. If my father was truly with the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn, he would have many enemies. The key was gathering my father’s enemies.

I haven’t forgotten your lesson, Cowboy. I’ll look at what I have in hand, not what’s at stake for tomorrow. For now, Paulina and Gremory were on my side. The detective… I needed to bring him to my side.

And who else? Someone who would dislike my father… Could I contact Madam Noll? She seemed to have abandoned her thoughts of revenge after talking with my father at the restaurant. She might have been threatened.

Is it even right to do the right thing with the help of the mafia? I could propose revenge to Madam Noll, but I couldn’t manipulate her as I wished. I didn’t have that ability.

I needed to think about what help I could use. I could also contact Ysil. Now I understood what she meant when she said she liked that I was the opposite of my father.

After searching through old newspapers for a long time, I found news that Clichy Corporation, which had grown significantly due to war profits, had opened a branch in Pennsylvania. It was from 1919. Five years… yes, five years.

“Paulina, I think we should look from around 1919. Have you found anything? Let me know right away if you have.”

Was I still intoxicated by what I’d said at the party that day? Was I moving without knowing what I was doing, colored by my words about wanting to be others’ eyes? No, that wasn’t it.

If my father was the kind of person who killed people as if they had no value, I had to stop him. I could make excuses that I grew up in prosperity earned by killing people without hesitation and raising fanatics without knowing, but now that I knew the truth, I didn’t want to conform to that prosperity.

Animals choose only the good things when presented with both good and bad. People are different. What makes us human is our ability to willingly choose the bad for ourselves. I am human.

At the restaurant, didn’t Madam Noll give meat that trolls eat to the detective, who she saw as closer to a beast, while not giving me lamb shoulder? It was probably an insult, but right now I should be grateful for that insult.

Paulina, who had been listlessly flipping through newspapers, watched me for a while, then organized the pile of newspapers by date and skillfully pulled out several papers to hand to me.

She seemed to know not only what had happened but also the exact period when it occurred. I examined the newspapers she handed me. The first one was from mid-1918. Before Clichy Corporation came to Pennsylvania.

It was a story about the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn attacking a suburban residential area, massacring an entire family and the families of friends who had been invited to their home. The homeowner’s friend was an oil businessman from the South.

Paulina took a deep breath and confessed, almost literally:

“Our law firm handled the defense for that case. It wasn’t difficult. It was just about proving that the masked assailants weren’t our defendants. I didn’t handle the defense myself, but…”

“It’s okay as long as you still feel responsible, Paulina. You’ve helped me find this, haven’t you? So don’t be afraid. This is your role, to say these things.”

I would need to compare this with newspapers from my hometown, but this was evidence for now. The other newspapers Paulina had pulled out and handed to me contained similar stories.

The Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn were indiscriminately killing non-elves in certain areas. And among those victims of random violence, there were always businessmen.

Executives or presidents of companies that were either competitors of Clichy Corporation or had already established themselves in places where Clichy Corporation wanted to enter were dying like that.

It seemed that in areas with many elves, he recruited those elves into the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn to build power, and in areas without many elves, he prepared the groundwork with these Followers.

The Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn were thoroughly tools. He used them where needed, and if they were caught and taken to court, he would help them to some extent, but if it seemed too costly, he would just leave them to be punished.

I could understand why other businessmen had already noticed. Wherever the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn went, Clichy Corporation benefited—anyone would be suspicious.

I took another deep breath while collecting those newspaper articles. Facing my family’s sins was burdensome. Especially when I could feel in my skin the fact that I had lived off the prosperity those sins had brought.

Still, this was enough evidence that Clichy Corporation might be connected to the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn. I could write an article with just this.

I could feel Paulina’s worried gaze brushing my cheek. She barely managed to speak.

“Are you okay, Rose? It seems too much for you…”

I deliberately smiled at her words. I reached out and tapped the tip of her nose.

“I told you not to treat me like a child, Paulina. I’ve nearly died before. I’ve seen things that might never have been resolved if the detective hadn’t killed someone. I’ve felt what it’s like to have the mafia wanting me dead. I’m fine.”

This is probably the part of me that resembles my father. Getting used to things. Getting used to it over and over until it might become habitual. But it won’t become habitual.

After recording all the contents of those newspapers, I left the library. Thanks to heading out early in the morning, it wasn’t even noon yet despite spending quite a while searching through newspapers.

In front of the library door was the person I had been waiting for. The detective. As always, with a gun tucked in his coat, Michael was smoking a cigarette while his companion’s car was parked on the roadside.

Oleg was giving him an uncomfortable look, and though the detective was dressed neatly as always, he smelled of dirt. It was almost covered by the smell of cigarettes, but still noticeable.

He still had that dry, sharp expression. Judging by the smell of dirt, he must have been out all dawn before driving here, but he showed no signs of fatigue.

“Mr. Michael! Ah, let’s move somewhere else first. Oleg, could we take this person back with us? And the people he brought too?”

The ogre bodyguard rubbed his forehead as if he had expected this. He slightly clenched his tusks and groaned as if he had a headache, but eventually nodded willingly.

“Since they must be Madam Gremory’s guests. Did you call for him, Miss Journalist? What dirty work are you planning to… Ah, I’ll keep quiet. I’m just an employee after all.”

I smiled briefly at the ogre bodyguard and shook my head. He must have only seen the detective doing dirty work, so I didn’t blame him.

“If Oleg is an employee, then Mr. Michael is a contract worker. He does take on dirty jobs, but that’s not all he does. He doesn’t discriminate between jobs.”

“That’s unlike you to say that.”

As the detective smirked and commented on my words, I responded with a joking tone. This was better than swallowing his awkward sarcasm.

“I must have been influenced by you, Mr. New York. Follow me! I’m staying at Madam Gremory’s mansion.”

The detective’s car, carrying two elves who seemed somewhat anxious, followed our car. It didn’t take long to reach Madam Gremory’s mansion near downtown. Having him behind me felt quite reassuring.

Only after arriving there did the detective unload the people he had brought. They were elves trembling with fear like criminals, and their build seemed familiar. I think I had seen them on the train.

That wasn’t all. The detective took out a map from his trunk and handed it to me. When I unfolded it, it was a map of the geography near the exact place where we had been attacked.

It had detailed instructions to overturn a train that would pass through there around 10:30 PM after departing at 4:30 PM, along with a photo of a neatly dressed orc. This would also serve as evidence.

After slowly examining that evidence, I took out a notebook from my pocket and recited what I had found in the library while looking at him.

“In August 1918, two families were killed by the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn in the southern suburbs of Philadelphia. The head of one of those families was an executive at a competitor of Clichy Corporation. And after Clichy Corporation entered in 1919, the number of riots by the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn clearly increased. Each time they occurred, Clichy Corporation’s competitors weakened.”

“And?”

The detective asked with an expression that was still weighing things. After sighing deeply, I looked up at him and said:

“What do you mean ‘and’? Even with just this, I can write an article about Clichy Corporation and the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn being in collusion. With the evidence you’ve brought, the credibility of the article will be even higher. Thank you for your thorough work, Mr. Michael. Send me the bill, and I’ll pay the completion fee.”

I’m showing that I can do this without his help. I showed that I accomplished everything a journalist could do with my own hands. He smiled sarcastically.

“Clichy Corporation has been buying up radio stations lately. And that orc who was the target is a broadcaster. An orc with quite a lot of influence. They were trying to get rid of him because he was an obstacle to the Clichy president’s expansion.”

The detective then pushed forward the two elves he had brought. The portraits of the two elves, who seemed to lack the energy to resist like trimmed pieces of meat, were just listless.

“These are the ones who attacked the train. The only two survivors, they say. Do you know how you can use them?”

“How about connecting them to a radio station for a confession, making sure their faces aren’t shown? I can promise protection afterward. People are weak to tearful confessions and accusations. We all want to be rational, but we’re inevitably emotional.”

I try to extract everything I can from my mind. People inevitably have emotions. And emotions often invaded the role of reason. This time too, we can make them overflow.

“What will you do about the broadcasting station?”

“That, um… You said the original target was an orc broadcaster, right? I can try contacting that orc. You know how many orcs the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn kill. And if we tell him we want to reveal that all these people are dying because of one person’s greed, he’ll surely listen.”

The smile that seemed either sarcastic or simply a smile never left the detective’s lips. He asked the next question as if he was enjoying himself.

“When you say one person’s greed, what do you mean?”

I took a deep breath. I looked at the detective in front of me. Only now did I properly look at his rough and dry skin, his sharp and strong impression, and his body full of that cursed power.

“Because Charles Clichy, my father, is the Forest’s Firstborn. Father used the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn to grow his company, and I grew up in that prosperity. So I’ll reveal it. I’ll expose him. Father used everything in his hands, and he used it knowing it was madness and hatred. Because my father isn’t a stupid person.”

The two elves standing in front of me gaped as if their jaws would fall off, then trembled again. They seemed worried that I might be an elf like my father.

“So, are you asking for help? I’m not the kind of person who switches from a sound ship to a raft. Don’t expect miracles from me.”

“That’s right. It would be faster for my father to quietly silence me. He’s also the father who taught me how to love and be loved… and he’s the Forest’s Firstborn, as well as the president of Clichy Corporation. Still, I can do it. I’ll seek help from Ms. Ysil, my father’s former wife. And Madam Gremory is already helping me.”

The detective twitched his eyebrow. Had he not thought I would get Madam Gremory’s help? No, that’s not it. He would have anticipated even that when he came looking for me.

“Ysil will help you. She definitely will. Do you know that your lawyer is reporting to your father?”

“Of course. Paulina has naturally agreed to take my side. You showed it openly because you thought I could persuade someone like Paulina, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. Not bad. Where will you handle this? In New York, or here in Pennsylvania?”

Where would be better? If I say I won’t accept Mr. Michael’s help, it would be better to do it here in Pennsylvania, where Madam Gremory’s popularity is sky-high. She was a devil who had earned people’s love.

But I couldn’t completely abandon New York. There were more people in New York than in Pennsylvania. I needed to let many people know and get many people talking about it to find more of my father’s enemies who could help me.

“I’ll do it in Pennsylvania first and then take the news to New York. With Madam Gremory here, I can speak freely and write articles freely… and there are many people in New York. There must be many people who are sharpening their claws against my father but don’t know if now is the time. Now…”

I was about to ask if he would take my side now, but the detective clicked his tongue. He shook his head as if to say I shouldn’t say such things.

“Don’t make a mistake there. Hide your intentions until the end. If you’ve been persuading by saying ‘I have the winning hand’ all this time, you shouldn’t beg for help now. What you should say is this: ‘Now, do you want to place a bet on me too?’ Come on, say it. Hurry?”

“Um, hmm… This is what I’ve prepared in just one day. If I gather more people with the cause I have and refine it further, I might dare say we’ll definitely win. Do you want to place a bet on me in this game too?”

I can feel my heart racing. It feels like some unknown engine is running inside my body. The answer was hopeful, though not definitive.

“Contact me after you recruit Ysil. Until then, it’s just a plan in words, nothing but a fantasy.”