Ch.198013 Investigation Record – World of Sword and Magic (1)

“So… you’re saying you fell down the stairs?”

It’s a ridiculous question to ask someone who’s been hospitalized in the middle of downtown New York, where you need to record your name and contact information just to visit, and who even has a fierce-looking man sitting as a guard in the room.

The detective, dressed neatly as usual but wearing a hospital gown with the hospital logo and slippers instead of shoes, nodded briefly. Then he corrected what I’d said.

“I didn’t roll, I fell. I figured the bartender would tell you about it, but I guess she didn’t give you the full story?”

“Sarah didn’t believe you were the type to get injured falling down stairs either. So, why the guard?”

“Can’t have the stairs that made me fall hiding a shotgun somewhere and coming after me.”

He smirked. It didn’t take long to realize he had no intention of explaining. Still, he seemed unusually relaxed. He must have money coming in from somewhere.

His bedside was already filled with gifts. A bottle of juice labeled “the best medicine” must have been from Carmen. The contents were alcohol. An elf could smell it from across the street.

The detective probably didn’t need it anyway. He was already drinking whiskey labeled “medicinal”—almost the only legal alcohol during Prohibition.

Sarah probably rushed over empty-handed. She must have arrived full of worry, seen him drinking medicinal whiskey, and lectured him for nearly two hours. That’s surely what happened.

He didn’t seem to need to be careful about what he ate. He could probably even visit Bar Two Face. He was just pretending he needed to stay in the hospital room to recover.

Besides that… on a table in the spacious hospital room sat a small box that reeked of troll hair. I couldn’t tell what was inside, but it was something the trolls had sent.

After looking around once, I mixed laughter into my voice. There were traces of many visitors.

“You don’t seem like the type to call around telling people you’re injured, Mr. New York.”

“I didn’t. I only called the bartender because I’d get three days of nagging if I didn’t. Carmen said she came looking for me all over Little Eire when I didn’t show up, and the trolls have lots of connections with the police. Somehow everyone found out and came.”

Something involving trolls and the police… What could it be? From what he was saying, the trolls found out through the police and came to visit, which meant it should have been something arrest-worthy.

But he didn’t appear to be under arrest. I hurried around to check if his other hand might be handcuffed, but his other wrist was just as free.

What on earth happened? My reporter’s instinct was burning, but I had no idea where to start. Besides, I had another reason for coming.

“Anyway… I wanted to ask if you know any way to get from New York to California within two days.”

“You never let me rest, do you?”

“If you really needed rest, I would have gone to figure it out on my own. Anyway, just tell me if you know a way!”

He thought for a moment. He wasn’t trying to come up with a method. If he had one, he was probably thinking about why I was asking. If my reason seemed harmless…

“Go ask the bartender. Dragons could fly there in half a day, and that bar has quite a few dragon customers. There’s an airport in the San Francisco Empire too, so they could take you straight to your destination. Dragons are crazy about people trying to accomplish something, so they’d give you a ride. You might even meet the Emperor, who has immortality that the God-President could revoke at any time.”

I wasn’t bothered that he’d so easily guessed my purpose. We’d talked about the San Francisco Empire before, and someone like him would remember that.

Still, I spoke with a slightly suspicious expression. I didn’t think the detective would be fooled.

“You didn’t learn that magic from Mircala, did you?”

The detective smiled as if it were just a funny joke. It wasn’t exactly a warm conversation, but we were sharing a comfortable moment.

I vaguely remembered how he had helped me find peace with idle talk when he protected me long ago. He had always been someone seeking stability.

“You know I don’t have enough mana to spare for that kind of magic.”

He was just an ordinary magician who could barely create a flame for his cigarette. If he had his father’s talent… it would have been terrible to think about.

“If you were someone with a large mana container too, I would have complained it was unfair to the God-President, Mr. New York. Though I don’t think you would have made it out of the Divine State Hotel alive in that case!”

My own crisis had completely become a joke now. It wasn’t that I’d developed a false sense of security. There was simply no one who would hire him to harm me right now.

He was a loyal person. That loyalty extended even to betrayals of his own choosing. The Clichy family couldn’t hire him. As for others… I hadn’t done anything to earn that much enmity.

Since there was no need to comfort him during this hospital visit, and I’d accomplished my purpose, I was about to say goodbye when the detective unexpectedly continued the conversation.

“Since I’ve given you something, I should get something in return. Remember that unworshipped god you interviewed last time?”

The unworshipped god from last time… Ah, yes! The vagrant god who smelled like sun-dried bedding. I remembered him well. I nodded, though I didn’t know why he was asking.

A god who proclaimed that people grow through struggle, the only one who spoke positively about the Great War… probably a god who would never get along with the detective. That’s why my words were hesitant.

“Ah, yes! I remember. Even eating shrimp sandwiches with him. But… I don’t think he’s a god who would get along with you. You know, Michael, you dislike people who don’t make sense, and that god, being a god I suppose, really didn’t make sense! He couldn’t even understand what a camera was…”

The detective stared at my face for a moment. It was hard to read what he was thinking. His mouth still held a faint smile, but his gaze was dry.

“You’d sooner see yourself going back to your family home than see me becoming friends with a god. Anyway, what kind of god did he seem like to you?”

Ugh. He asked what I’d been worried about. I would have preferred receiving twice as many threatening letters than explaining about the war god to him… Wait, is that not what he’s asking?

From my perspective, I wasn’t that reliable an informant. In contrast, the detective had many assistants and sources who could gather objective information for him.

So he must be asking something that only I, who had interviewed the god directly, would know… He might really be asking about my personal impressions.

I didn’t know why Michael would ask such a thing, but thinking it would be easier than explaining about the war god, I opened my mouth without difficulty.

“Ah, haha, I suppose so. Anyway! He seemed like a thirsty god. Thirsty enough to seem dangerous. And he was definitely stubborn. How should I put it… Yes. He had a fixed way of seeing the world. Oh, did something happen between you and that god?”

To be honest, I was more worried about the vagrant god than the detective. Even if he was as big and strong as an ogre, I had seen the detective bite Giuseppina’s wrist.

The detective still dryly shook his head. He made what looked like a disgusted expression. This much I could tell: it wasn’t genuine but affected.

“I just got curious about what kind of god he was after reading your article. But it seems he’s just some insignificant deity not worth bothering with. That’s all I needed. Are you heading straight to Two Face?”

I was still a bit worried, but Sol Invictus was a god after all. Dealing with gods was the job of the Divine Security Bureau, not humans.

Besides, Sol Invictus had said he was wandering in search of a life-changing destination, so there probably wouldn’t be any problems. A big city was better than the countryside for finding followers.

Having made unfounded suspicions about the detective last time, I decided to trust him this time and nodded. I got up from the hospital chair I’d been sitting in and waved.

“Yes! I need to ask if there’s a way! If I really can get to San Francisco in half a day, I’ll treat you to a meal. Get well soon! Well, if there’s anything to get well from!”

I could painfully understand why Sarah had sighed deeply while telling me to visit him. Still, I had received helpful advice.

Or had I? I would have gone to Two Face to complain anyway, and if I’d gone there, I would have asked Sarah… so maybe it would have ended the same way as coming to see the detective.

If I could find out the method even two or three hours earlier, I could say it was thanks to him. With that thought, I headed to Two Face. It was still Cafe Two Face now. It becomes a bar from six o’clock.

I felt more like a New Yorker than when I was wandering around with Paulina. Now I had quite a few sources, my own regular places… I felt a bit more integrated.

In that sense, Two Face, with its various potted plants and the autumn sunlight that had grown higher, had become one of my favorite places.

It was perfect except for the slightly expensive elven coffee. Today too, I open the door and enter. Thanks to it being daytime, Sarah with her brown ponytail swaying was there.

Today too, she raised her hand high and waved. She seemed to want to appear as a more serious bartender at night, but during the day, even that desire seemed less intense. I heard it was a werewolf trait.

“Rose! You’re early today? You’re starting to look less like a dried-up person. Are you here because there’s somewhere to report nearby?”

She was easy to get along with, and we had our own connection. She remembered little Mickey, and I remembered Detective Michael Husband. They were somewhat the same person.

“No! Like you said, I visited Michael and came back wondering why he rented a hospital room when he’s clearly faking. I’ll have an elven coffee today too!”

Now I was sure. The reason Sarah had told me to visit him wasn’t because she was worried, but because she needed someone to listen to her complaints. Hearing this, she frowned again.

“Ah, you went? Then you saw it? He’s completely fine and… Anyway, when I heard he was injured but saying it was nothing, I thought he was pretending to be okay. You should never believe Mickey when he says he’s fine. Well, I might have worried too much, but if he knew that and still talked that way, it’s too much!”

Hearing these words, it stung my heart to know what had caused the kind, friendly, somewhat sleepy and boastful seventeen-year-old Mickey Husband to change into the twenty-year-old detective Michael Husband.

I tried to forget that ache while listening to her complaints for a long time, even after receiving my elven coffee. And when the ache started to subside, her complaints ended… and I mentioned why I had come.

“By the way… are there many dragon customers at Two Face? I’m looking for a way to get to San Francisco within two days, and Michael said asking dragons would be best.”

“To the San Francisco Empire? Ah… it’s almost the anniversary of the Emperor’s ascension, right? It would be quite a scoop if a New York reporter could go there to cover it and come back. For something like that, I can introduce you to one of our regulars. Draig! Could you come over here for a moment? This short-lived species has something they’re burning with life’s will to do!”

Her playful voice and joking tone easily broke down people’s defenses like a ten-ton hammer.

At her words, an orc wearing sunglasses who had been drinking coffee while leaning against a wall-integrated chair got up and came right over. He sat at the bar and took off his sunglasses.

Those weren’t human pupils. The vertically elongated reptilian pupils couldn’t be hidden, and looking closely, his skin was a vivid red color not found among orcs. He must be a polymorphed dragon.

The dragon spoke in quite an elderly voice. For a dragon to speak with a voice close to that of an old man meant he was unimaginably old.

Still, he wasn’t the oldest person I’d met recently. I had met someone old enough to treat this dragon like a child.

“Seeing how you tempt me with sweet topics, it seems you’re planning to give me another troublesome task. So, little elf. This wolf called me because of you, right? And I might gladly fulfill the request of the Two Face bartender. As long as you’re not asking me to burn something down. Speak.”

His voice was like flame. No, it was flame. Even when he sighed, flames leaked out slightly, and when he cleared his throat, flames could be seen swirling in his mouth.

“Ah, yes! I want to go cover the anniversary of the Emperor’s ascension in the San Francisco Empire… but I missed my chance. I was wondering if you could fly me there…”

The dragon tapped the bar with his fingertips as he continued speaking.

“A reporter, eh? What’s the most famous article you’ve written?”

My shoulders started to hunch as if I were in a job interview, but fortunately, Sarah helped me get through it smoothly.

“She’s Rose Leafman from Golden Age Press, Draig. The very reporter who directly exposed the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn.”

Only then did the dragon take some interest in me. It was small, but opportunities always lie in such small interests.

“The reporter who exposed my father?”

This was a question I had to answer myself. I nodded firmly. I loved my father but hated the Forest’s Firstborn. At the same time, they were the same person. I remembered as I spoke.

“That’s right. The person I exposed was the Forest’s Firstborn… but he was also my father. So, yes, that’s correct.”

A confident attitude helps in most situations. The dragon nodded with satisfaction.

“Not many non-egg-born species would willingly do such a thing. We dragons consider whatever we see after hatching as our parents, whether they resemble us or not, but you born species don’t. If you truly severed the connection of flesh and blood to expose him for justice, that’s the kind of short-lived species behavior dragons admire. I’ll gladly help you.”

The small, shining fame I gained at the end of my childhood always served as a compass. And each time that sparkle guided my way, I revisited the sad end of my childhood once more. This time was no different.