Ch.217014 Investigation Record – Enemy, Slanderer, and Adversary (2)

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous for both of us if we went together? Neither I nor Carmen… well, we don’t exactly have fighting skills, do we? I know some basic magic, but that’s about it…”

When I mimicked covering my ears with my thumbs as if I knew how to use fire magic, Carmen laughed as if she found the gesture amusing and covered her own ears while looking at me. Really, she always seems like she’s intoxicated.

The demon who had handed us the paper bowed politely before returning to his post. It seemed he had come specifically to deliver this paper to us.

He didn’t offer a single reassuring word that we wouldn’t be in danger. He apparently didn’t think it necessary. Carmen spoke with remarkable nonchalance.

“Then should we call Carmen’s friend? He’s Rose’s friend too. He’s Carmen’s drinking buddy. What kind of friend is he to Rose?”

It was obvious who she meant. I felt my ear tips twitching almost unconsciously before I stopped them and answered.

“Well, it’s a collaborative relationship. Sometimes I pay him for protection… and sometimes Michael gives me tips for my articles. About Carmen being Michael’s drinking buddy…”

Carmen burst into laughter at my words. Seeing this cat-like person laugh so merrily might be considered a privilege, but I was more interested in her answer than her laughter.

“Carmen drinks with Michael. We talk nonsense for hours. Then Michael says, ‘I don’t plan on getting shot by your father,’ and lets me in. That’s about it.”

When she imitated Michael, she perfectly captured his sharp gaze and voice. She leaned toward me with a grin.

“So impatient. Well, are you going to call him?”

I decided to sort out what I knew for certain. This was an invitation written by a demon. And all demons cared about—or rather, enjoyed—others’ attention.

The admiring gazes others sent their way satisfied their vanity more than anything else. That’s why even sending an invitation through an acquaintance was considered playing above the rules.

The truly demonic way would have been to suddenly appear before me and present a flashy invitation. If a demon was willing to go that far to invite me… nothing came to mind.

Still, it shouldn’t be dangerous. This invitation would serve as good evidence, and demons hated being entangled with crime, even by a hair’s breadth. More precisely, they wanted to avoid appearing entangled.

“Thinking about it with a cool head, it probably won’t be dangerous… I wasn’t being impatient! It’s just that, well, I don’t want to bring a detective when meeting a demon.”

“Only your head is cool. Well, that’s not bad either. I thought they’d at least let us use a phone since they gave us the invitation here… we’ll have to use a public phone. Carmen likes adventure.”

By the time we left the restaurant, I thought I’d just want to go home and rest, but now I had more to do. I left the restaurant with Carmen and entered a well-maintained public phone booth on the street.

I dialed the number on the invitation. After a brief connection tone, the call connected. It was as if someone had been waiting for my call.

“Good evening, Ms. Rose Leafman. It seems you liked my proposal. Journalists can’t resist mysteries, can they? Isn’t that right?”

I raised my guard again. I took a deep breath before answering. I knew how to talk to someone who seemed to know everything and completely dominated the conversation.

“I am quite intrigued. However, I’m not the type to fall head over heels for someone who reveals nothing about themselves yet expects me to publish their words. Who are you?”

The person on the other end of the line cleared their throat lightly. They spoke in a rather atmospheric voice.

“Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. Chairman of the American Anti-God Party… well, you know my name. Who doesn’t know me? I’d like to hear from a journalist who has met Sol Invictus. I’d also like to publish the statement that serving God is no different than a master obeying a slave. That’s why I asked around and had this invitation delivered to you.”

So there was a reason they wrote “enemy, slanderer, and adversary.” This would build my reputation as a journalist. Still, this wasn’t someone who was socially well-regarded.

Every four years, we voted on whether to keep the God-President as president or to impeach him. The votes for impeachment were always in single digits.

The God-President was a god who loved us, and there wasn’t much reason to think anything more was needed… To be honest, there weren’t many politicians who wanted to stand against him either.

The Anti-God Party was a party led primarily by demons who called for the impeachment of the God-President. To be honest, they looked like anarchists, so I couldn’t really like them.

“The impeachment vote is coming up soon. Not much time left until November. Is that why you’re doing this?”

He didn’t even try to hide his purpose. He didn’t see it as something that needed hiding.

“That’s right. If something like this happens now and I use it, wouldn’t that also be the will of the omniscient and omnipotent God-President? I intend to act according to his will.”

But his voice contained obvious mockery. He was ridiculing the God-President and using his words to justify his own actions. The God-President wouldn’t care.

Still, I didn’t think he was a bad person. Instead of spreading false information, he tried to verify correct information, and he hesitated before spreading his beliefs as if they were truth.

If the world isn’t black and white, then even the party leader, the serpent, the deceiver might have some good qualities. There was no one in this world so evil that they weren’t worth meeting.

“I’ll come hear what you have to say. Though it won’t be an official interview…”

I glanced at Carmen beside me. Carmen probably wouldn’t mind. If the person next to me had been someone more devout than Carmen, they might have objected, but Carmen wasn’t particularly devout.

“Would it be alright if someone else came along? They’re one of my sources.”

Demons tend to be meticulous in their dealings. He spoke in a still polite voice, without a hint of fire.

“I wish to meet you, the journalist, and the meeting place will be quite open. But bringing someone along might, just might, appear as distrust, don’t you think?”

“Then I’ll come alone. Where shall we meet?”

Demons are generally polite. Even if they aren’t, they at least know how to speak indirectly. Knowing that my words were half permission, he continued cheerfully.

“If you enjoy beverages more stimulating than tea, let’s meet at Eden. If not, a cafe on Fifth Avenue would be fine too. I prefer more formal places, but since you seem quite uneasy about meeting me, you’d probably prefer a crowded place in broad daylight.”

Where is Eden? From the talk of alcohol, it sounded like a bar, but I’d never been there. New York had many bars. It must be one of those places.

It was absurd that a demon would casually talk about paradise… but at least I wasn’t a racist like my father. I was wary of him because he was a member of the Anti-God Party.

“I don’t particularly want to show that I’m afraid of you. I’ll see you at Eden. Where should I go?”

“Let’s meet on Fifth Avenue at 8. Eden does have a rather strict dress code… but you can come casually. If I say you’re with me, they’ll gladly let you in.”

The only bar I’d ever been to was Two Face. Ms. Sarah had given me an invitation to a bar called Bouton de Rose, saying it was a place where my name would be recognized, but it was too far from where I lived, so I hadn’t been there yet.

Is my second bar going to be with the leader of the Anti-God Party? Carmen was standing beside me, her eyes sparkling as if she had something to say. I needed to end the call.

“Yes, I’ll see you at 8. If you’re planning to persuade me to publish your story, I hope no one will be at the meeting place.”

He hung up with a laugh. Perhaps I had been too sharp with him. Carmen, who had been watching with sparkling eyes, looked at me with a grin.

“Carmen is interested in someone who can take her to Eden. It’s an exclusive members-only bar on Fifth Avenue. They usually only give invitations to angels or important people… Isn’t he a demon? Carmen hasn’t been to Eden yet either.”

Was I invited to a more impressive place than I thought? I had just assumed it would be… well, a place with a few trees growing and a comfortable interior.

“He was definitely a demon. He was from the Anti-God Party. I’ll go see if he’s a decent person. Would the editor-in-chief be happy if Carmen and I parted ways at this hour?”

I could now throw in a mischievous joke or two. And Carmen giggled, showing her teeth as if my words were cute and childish. She spoke in a half-whisper.

“I haven’t done anything to make Father sad yet, Rose. Hmm?”

Feeling my ear tips trembling, I stepped back and bumped into the wall of the phone booth. Better to worry about Carmen right in front of me than a demon I’d never met.

Carmen laughed again as if it had all been a joke. Seeing her laugh often gives me the feeling that I’m somehow privileged. Still, we had to part ways for now.

She walked out of the phone booth first, smiling. She waved her hand with her fingers half-bent.

“I wasn’t planning to go home yet anyway, so I’ve failed to make Father happy, Rose. I hope you have a good interview. That way you’ll call me again next time.”

After saying goodbye to her, I headed to Fifth Avenue a bit early. Even if I went home, there wasn’t much I could do anyway. I spent some time at Cafe Caligula before leaving as 8 o’clock approached.

The new dwarf employee at Cafe Caligula was quite cheerful and nice. It made Michael’s suspicions about dwarves seem quite trivial.

I left Cafe Caligula and stood looking at the road. Should I stay here? As I was thinking this, a car with a dragon ornament on its hood stopped in front of me. It seemed to have been circling around.

A demon got out. Unlike Madam Gremory, this demon didn’t have red skin. With tanned skin and very curly hair, he looked like someone from the Mediterranean, though he probably wasn’t.

He was so large that if his curly hair had been golden, he would have looked like an angel. No, he had been an angel, so he looked like one. He always introduced himself as a failed experiment.

Contrary to his angelic appearance, his attire was demonic. He wore a perfectly tailored suit with a vest that fit his large frame, which couldn’t wear anything but custom-made suits, along with a leather belt that matched his shoes. Combined with the unique aura of angels, if he had tried to enter any party looking like this, no one would have stopped him.

He spoke politely. His manner of speech was refined, but energetic and with a sense of humor. For an Anti-God Party member suddenly trying to enter my life, he seemed too nice.

“You shouldn’t ask a demon about the location of paradise, but Eden is across the street. Let’s go together. If you have any questions beforehand, feel free to ask.”

The most curious thing was, apart from being an Anti-God Party member, why someone who seemed so ideal would be in the Anti-God Party. So I asked lightly. I was quite direct.

“Why is someone like you in the Anti-God Party? I mean, most people who want to change things dislike the present, right? Do you have a reason to dislike today?”

He didn’t seem like someone who would be disrespected—a capitalist, a demon, someone who could probably subdue the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn with his bare hands… he seemed like someone who lacked nothing.

With an expression full of conviction, he clenched one fist. Where angels would have had a gold-crafted right hand, his hand was unmistakably human. It was evidence that he had quit being an angel.

“I oppose slavery. Not just institutional slavery, but even non-institutional, purely psychological slavery. As long as the God-President exists, people cannot place themselves as the subject. It becomes not that they did something, but that the God-President made them do something. ‘Person’ is not a word that should be in the object position. It should be in the subject position. That fact made me angry at the God-President.”

Anger had power. The anger of the French had the power to overthrow the monarchy, and the detective’s anger had enough power to beat the Old Gourmet Society to death. Anger always serves as a driving force.

I don’t know if I’m in my right mind, but he… seemed to be using that energy in the right place. People should come first. People should desire. It sounded like saying today should be ours.

Still, the God-President was a god who allowed choices. He only crossed his self-imposed line of non-interference when showing people options they wouldn’t have known on their own.

I followed the Anti-God Party leader across the street to a building where only the upper floors were lit. The bar called Eden must be there. We took the elevator up, passing walls full of religious paintings.

They were densely painted religious scenes, from the Independence War era to the declaration of the end of the Great War. It was breaking the Prohibition Law, which bore the half-seal of the God-President, while depicting his religious paintings.

Two angels guarded the entrance to Eden, both with shotguns at their waists. The enemy, slanderer, and adversary greeted them warmly.

“Everything alright at Eden? I’ve brought my guest, and I hope we don’t need to show an invitation. I’m not so unloved by our juniors, am I?”

The gatekeepers quietly opened the door, and I followed him into Eden. With a single apple tree planted in the center, a small artificial stream flowing around… it was truly decorated like the paradise of imagination. I sat across from him at a clean table made of cloud-like marble and took out my notebook.

He gestured as if to say not to focus solely on the interview just yet, then called over an employee and began ordering. An employee wearing a golden mask that seemed to imitate angels was taking the demon’s order.

It somehow made me feel like a racist. Nevertheless, the Tree of Life liquor he ordered for me was delicious, even considering it came from a demon, especially this particular demon.

Still, it wasn’t delicious enough to cool my determination to conduct a thorough interview. Whether demon or not, he was ultimately just a source.