Ch.134010 Investigation Record – At a New Corner of Life (2)

As I left the mixed-race merfolk who were still waving enthusiastically at Carmen, she whispered to me again. She also wore a subtle smile that suggested she knew everything.

“You want to know more, don’t you, Rose? You’re a transparent person. I can see right through you. You don’t really think these rumors are completely baseless, do you? You think there’s more to the story, right? When you want to know more, you should pretend you already know everything. That’s how you get people to talk. Shall we go?”

Carmen was an unpredictable person. She could smile with just one corner of her mouth lifted, or she could giggle innocently showing her white teeth. There seemed to be no pattern to when she did either.

No, I could understand her behavior now. Carmen simply did what she wanted to do. For whatever reason, she wanted to help me, so she was helping me.

If that was the case, I should accept her help when she wanted to offer it. I smiled and nodded at her words. I didn’t know our destination, but I wasn’t worried.

“Where are we going? If we’re looking for information, I suppose…”

Carmen smiled innocently. Of course, as usual when she smiled like that, what she said was far from innocent.

“A brothel. The branch manager who runs it has the best personality. She’s straightforward and speaks bluntly, but she’s the one who gets angriest when any of her people get hurt. She’s a fairy.”

Though I thought I’d become independent, I still couldn’t get used to such talk. Feeling blood rush to the tips of my pointed ears, I waved my hands dismissively.

“Is it, um, is it okay for us to go there? I mean…”

Carmen narrowed her eyes and smiled. As if she had no idea what I meant, while perfectly understanding and deliberately saying something to fluster me more.

“It’s fine. Little Eire’s brothels have many female customers too. Unlike the establishments in the red-light districts where Pandemonium or Iris are located, the male selection is quite good quality too.”

I tried not to get flustered by gritting my teeth, but at those words, I couldn’t help but shake my head vigorously with my ears trembling. I knew Carmen was saying this just to enjoy my reaction, but knowing didn’t help.

“Th-that’s not the issue!”

After seeing me stutter at the beginning of my sentence, Carmen burst into laughter as if she was having the time of her life. Still laughing, she gestured for me to follow her as she rounded the side of the bar building.

She continued laughing until we reached the back of the bar, then whispered:

“You’re such a typical Southern girl. When your father talked about you, it was all ‘amazing journalist!’ and ‘remarkable growth!’ and such things. But how can a person have only one face? Carmen just wanted to see a different side… if you were flustered, I enjoyed it. Really.”

“Shouldn’t you normally say ‘I’m sorry if I flustered you’?”

She tilted her head, pretending to be innocent again. She was nothing like the Editor-in-Chief. Really.

“I’m not particularly sorry? I did enjoy it though. Ah, wait a moment.”

Sometimes too honest, sometimes too secretive about her intentions… Carmen was truly difficult to deal with. She approached the back door of the bar and knocked a couple of times with the back of her hand.

Soon, a fairy hybrid came out from inside. He looked completely drunk with a strawberry-red nose, an unkempt bushy beard, and half-drooping eyes.

He too waved at Carmen when he saw her. His hiccup-laced voice spread through the alley.

“Hic, Carmen. Is today your shift? No, it can’t be… there are other girls on stage. Don’t tell me to, hic, get rid of them again. And no, you can’t sing with them either. Though, if you’re asking a favor… I might agree. Anyway, what brings you here?”

Carmen, as if it were the most natural thing, pulled me by the waist to face the fairy hybrid and smiled.

“Just give us a bottle of champagne. This young lady will pay for it. I heard you had some trouble recently? But looking at the situation now, it seems like it was handled well. Since no one will appreciate the branch manager’s efforts, I thought I should. This is my friend. She’s a journalist. She already knows everything that happened anyway. She just wants to write an article saying that the people of Little Eire weren’t planning to wage war on the streets of New York. Carmen is helping her.”

The fairy hybrid looked me up and down, then went inside and came back with a long rectangular box wrapped in paper. He naturally extended his hand toward me.

“Don’t know why you got suckered by Carmen, hic… but it’s not my business. That’ll be 30 dollars. It’s expensive because it’s smuggled goods, but if you’re giving it to Mr. Leprechaun, it should be this quality.”

Isn’t 30 dollars too expensive for information? I hesitated a bit, but I still had 120 dollars left from what the detective had paid me, not counting my savings, so this seemed worth spending. I hoped it would be worth it.

Though Carmen could be mischievous, I believed she would have pointed it out if this fairy hybrid was trying to scam me. That must be the real price. Still, I couldn’t help my hands trembling.

I carefully counted out 30 dollars, handed it to him, and received the champagne. It felt three times heavier than its actual weight. Must be because of the price.

It seemed like I would need to earn a lot more money if I wanted to cover these kinds of stories. I headed toward the Little Eire casino with her. The sounds of pleasure and glitter, cards being dealt, and dice rolling were loud.

Still, the music was good. Talented jazz bands were putting their all into performances that would simply become entertainment for casino-goers. After briefly glancing at them, I headed to the second floor of the casino with Carmen.

The path to the upper floor was blocked by two fairy hybrids in suits, but they let us pass without any issue when they saw Carmen. She seemed to be loved everywhere.

However, Carmen wasn’t the type to return that love. She seemed to tire quickly of people who made efforts for her, and only burned for those she took a liking to.

The second floor… didn’t have a casino atmosphere. There was a strong smell of alcohol, and each table had about six or seven people sitting around it. They were having pleasant conversations, getting cozy… it was decadent.

It wasn’t exactly the kind of unwholesome establishment Carmen had mentioned, but it was certainly more decadent than the first floor. I might indeed be thinking like a common Southern girl, but I couldn’t help it.

As she said, despite all the talk about being a great journalist and whatnot, it seemed I had only taken a step or two away from being Rose Clichy. Trying not to look around, I just followed behind Carmen.

She passed through the area where those tables were clustered, scanning them casually, and approached a fairy who was smoking a strong cigar. I wanted to cover my nose, but I didn’t want to appear weak, so I gritted my teeth and endured.

A red-haired fairy in a green suit, who had been lying on a sofa hugging a jar and blinking, raised an eyebrow when he saw Carmen. He sat up to look at her.

“What brings you here, Carmen? And who’s this person with you?”

“Carmen is always up on the gossip. I heard you had some trouble recently. You handled it well, didn’t you? No one will appreciate the branch manager’s efforts, so I thought I should. This is my friend. She’s a journalist. She already knows everything that happened anyway. She just wants to write an article saying that the people of Little Eire weren’t planning to wage war on the streets of New York. Carmen is helping her.”

Carmen spoke very frankly. She gestured for me to hand over the champagne, so I extended it with both hands to the fairy in the green suit, who accepted the box I offered without saying much.

After checking the contents, the red-haired fairy placed the box beside him and let out a deep sigh.

“A journalist who buys a 30-dollar champagne, are you hoping we’ll commission an article? If so, I think I’ll need to bring my wallet. How much do article commissions usually go for? 100? 200?”

I was momentarily dumbfounded by his casual question, but it didn’t last long. I took a deep breath and shook my head at his words.

I wasn’t going to let my journalistic principles be insulted. Even Giuseppina couldn’t cross this line, and neither could the Irish mafia branch manager.

“You don’t need to pay me. I’m here to write the article I want, not what the Irish gang wants. People need to be anxious and alert because of those rumors.”

The fairy seemed somewhat surprised by this. He stopped stroking the jar and finally looked at me properly. It was something I couldn’t have said without Carmen’s introduction as her friend, someone loved everywhere.

“You’re worthy of being Carmen’s friend. But…”

The fairy began tapping the lid of the jar with his finger, as if making calculations. The weighing took time.

After about thirty seconds, he tapped the jar lid once and removed his hand. The calculation seemed complete. I could probably trust what he was about to say as the truth.

“It seems you don’t want to write an article defending us… But you said you know, right? We didn’t do anything wrong this time, Miss Journalist. If anything, we’re the victims. People whose establishments were attacked and who can’t even report it to the police should be called victims. What would you call us? Huh, well I never.”

I didn’t voice the thought that if they weren’t violent criminals running illegal businesses, the police would have helped them. I could say what I had just said with Carmen backing me, but not make such snide remarks.

But, judging by how he claimed they had done nothing wrong when telling the truth… it seemed they really hadn’t been trying to provoke a conflict with the Italians. Remembering what the detective had said, I asked:

“Even if the goblins were at fault, there must be some basis for the rumors, right?”

“There might not be baseless rumors, but there can be people spreading baseless rumors. What you know is all there is, Miss Journalist. We haven’t done anything worth reporting, so if you want to search Little Eire, go ahead and search.”

The fairy in the green suit wore a confident expression. If he was inviting me to search, he either truly hadn’t done anything or was confident it wouldn’t be discovered.

Was it really just the goblin mafia provoking other organizations, as the detective had said? This was all I could find out from this fairy branch manager for now.

This seemed enough to write an article saying the city was safe. Still, it would be better to get confirmation from Inspector Leonard and add his statement that the city would be safe.

The information I got from the detective by offering to buy him dinner was more accurate than what I got after spending 30 dollars here.

Could the detective be involved in this too? The merfolk had mentioned seeing a human frequenting Bar Reno… I wanted to dismiss it with “no way,” but it seemed entirely possible for the detective.

He had once collaborated with the mafia to try to kill me, and another time he had worked with me and fought against those same mafia members… If the Irish gang had wanted to hire him, he would have certainly nodded.

If that was true, New York might not be as big a city as I thought. It was big enough for 6 million people to live in, but perhaps too small for two people to avoid running into each other.

Since I had nothing more to say to this mafia branch manager, I was about to say goodbye and leave when he picked up the box beside him and handed it back to me. He seemed to want me to take it back.

“If you had come hoping for a commission, I could have accepted this as a bribe, but if you already know everything, there’s no benefit for me in taking it. I have no reason to be accused of colluding with a journalist. Take it back.”

I reluctantly accepted the box. My first attempt at investigating the back alleys resulted in… half failure, half success. It felt like the failure part was slightly larger.

Still, thanks to Carmen, I was fortunate to be able to wander through the Irish mafia’s inner sanctum and come out unharmed. It was different from Paulina’s way, but she had definitely protected and helped me.

I should thank her then. Conveniently, I had a bottle of smuggled champagne that couldn’t be returned, and I had agreed to have a drink with Carmen after work. I looked at her with the casino’s glitter backlighting her.

Carmen was like Little Eire. She seemed full of pleasure and glitter, but inside was nothing but desire. My journey to find news stories often ended up finding people to interview.

This city wore human faces everywhere. It had good points and bad points, or points that were neither good nor bad—all aspects of humanity.

“I think I’ve already spent too much for one night, but would this be okay as a substitute for the drink I promised you, Carmen?”

Carmen half-opened her eyes again and grinned. She rolled her eyes as if unsure what to do, but then nodded. She probably hadn’t been considering it at all.

“But champagne is for celebrations. Ah, should we celebrate that you’ve rummaged through places like this for the first time and returned without any injuries? Carmen enjoys celebrations. Celebrations are for good things, and good things are joyful things. It’s simple. I’m not someone who thinks too much. Oh, and my answer is yes.”

At least I seemed to be getting better treatment than the people who had been flirting with her in Little Eire. The Editor-in-Chief never touched alcohol, so we couldn’t go to his house…

Should I take her to my place? But then I might be late finishing the article. No, no. Properly thanking a source was also a journalist’s duty.

With the detective, I had blurted it out after unloading my loneliness, but with Carmen, I spoke properly. Instead of speaking as if lamenting, I smiled at her.

“Then I’ll invite you, Carmen. It’s not nice enough to be worthy of inviting guests, but it’s quiet and good for having a drink.”

With a slight hope, or slight anxiety, that I might get more accustomed to alcohol, I returned to my apartment with Carmen, who smiled back at me.

This drink wasn’t as good as what I had at Old Empire with the detective. The carbonation made it quite painful for an elf’s sensitive senses.

In the end, Carmen drank most of it. She seemed to be quite the drinker, though not as much as the detective, and she laughed with amusement when she saw that I couldn’t even finish one glass.

“I don’t know if you’re as amazing as your father says, but Rose, you’re a fun person. You act like a Southern girl but can say some cool things too, and then you can’t even touch champagne because it has carbonation… Can you show me the article after you write it? Carmen is good at reviewing. I’m used to people asking me if something looks good. I want to see another side of you.”

Somehow, it felt like looking at Paulina. Paulina was always the one who reviewed my articles, and she was always the one who helped me when I was poking around dangerous places.

Of course, Carmen wasn’t as reliable as Paulina, but at least she wasn’t someone my family had assigned to me. Then again, we hadn’t exactly become friends naturally either.

She was ambiguous in every way, but it would be fine to call her my first friend who wasn’t on an installment plan.