Ch.29Request Log #005 – Proci’s Concern (4)

The fairy with goat hooves gave her permission, and the selkie approached me. Draped in a fur coat over luxury and indulgence, she extended her hand to me.

“Please understand Bavan’s rudeness. It would be strange for a life-drinking fairy to be kind, wouldn’t it? Oh, I’m Selkie. I’ll summon the Fenids, so please wait a moment.”

The Gremory workaholic. Someone who’s unconditionally kind up to a certain point. Still, gangsters and businesspeople were different types. Selkie snapped her fingers to call her subordinates.

“Ron? Rooon. Come here quickly. I have something for you to do.”

She called out in a cutesy voice, and men who looked like they’d just been pulled from water approached Selkie.

With seaweed strands stuck to their heads and emitting an unpleasant dampness, they were clearly fairy hybrids too. I don’t know how many times I’ve had this thought. Even the dogs in Little Eire must be fairy hybrids.

She showed my note to the gathered hybrids and spoke.

“Tell the Fenids living within ten blocks of this house that there’s a gathering. If they seem to know what it’s about, subdue them and bring them here. Understood?”

A unified response rang out, reminiscent of unpleasant times. I might need to take back calling her a Gremory workaholic. It would be more accurate to say she’s kind to outsiders but fierce with internal discipline.

While the other fairies began to disperse, Selkie sat back down at the small fairy table and looked up at me. Her face appeared innocent, but her smile was far from naive.

“The Rons are like beasts. They’re boys whose blood flows half to their lower bodies instead of their heads, so they’re useless as Fenids unless managed properly. But I can’t just let such lust-soaked boys loose in these streets, so I’ve trained them very diligently. Shall we introduce ourselves? I remember speaking to you, but not hearing your name.”

I don’t even want to know what that training entailed. I looked down at the tiny fairy. There was no need to hide my name.

“Michael Husband, detective. Is there anything else you need to know?”

“No. I’m not your client, after all. Still, seeing someone who would come to a place like this for a client makes me a bit curious. Is that strange?”

“Of course it is. A detective investigating you is an unpleasant person, not someone to be interested in. Don’t you think?”

This fairy gave off a completely different scent than Gremory. Unlike Gremory, whom I could manipulate, this one seemed ready for a street fight, grabbing collars and trying to knock each other down. Better to avoid troublesome matters.

Selkie was still quietly smiling.

“You know how to handle people well, detective. Still, I can’t help it. I’m living so far from my home in the sea because of territory disputes with those hyenas. How could a sea-less sea and seal fairy possibly be normal? Why do all those old stories about stealing a selkie’s coat and forcing marriage end in tragedy?”

There were certainly similar stories. Common tales of small-minded men trying to reverse their fortunes by capturing women of other species. If a selkie lost her skin, she couldn’t return to the sea, or something like that.

So she’s not in her right mind because she can’t return to the sea. As long as this fairy doesn’t show an even more twisted side, it’s not my concern.

If she completely loses her mind, I could just throw her into the sea. Everyone living in this city had at least one reason not to be in their right mind. This was just another volatile story.

“I don’t care. My only goal is to finish the job well, and whether your original personality was different or not, your sending out your boys to resolve things simply helps me now. Okay?”

“That’s something humans often say. How hard are you trying not to care? Don’t you ever get tired of hiding weapons in your chest?”

Not in her right mind, but not unwise either. Judging by her behavior, she probably used to be excessively kind like Gremory, but that’s long been a thing of the past.

“Not at all. It’s almost a habit now.”

“That’s also something humans say. Why do I see so many people like you these days?”

“Because of the Great War. War produces many things. Canned food, bullets, and humans like me. Satisfied?”

Finally hearing a fragment of honest words, the madness in Selkie’s expression diminished slightly. It seemed people became unhinged in places without sea or kindness. I should be careful.

After that, there wasn’t much conversation until the subordinates returned. Those who had faithfully followed Selkie’s orders gathered around her chair like a pack of dogs. It wasn’t difficult to infer her training methods.

The Irish mafia members who lived near Giuseppina’s brother’s place, brought by the subordinates, gathered around. In fact, they seemed closer to ordinary citizens than mafia members.

Before interrogating them one by one, there was something I needed to ask. I pushed aside the subordinates who were rubbing their wet bodies against Selkie’s sealskin, transferring the fishy, damp smell to her.

“Before letting them do as they please, you should tell me who didn’t show up. If they’re obedient enough to come here, you probably didn’t have to be bothered.”

Despite my interrupting her rest, Selkie didn’t get angry. She slowly looked them over, then just nodded briefly.

“Two are missing. Ron? Could you tell me who’s missing? This is my guest, so we need to be respectful.”

The subordinates clinging to her side, probably the hybrids called Ron, exchanged glances as if reluctant to leave Selkie’s side. Finally, the one who looked youngest stood up.

“Well, one is in the hospital, so he couldn’t come. We sent a Ron to the hospital to confirm.”

The one in the hospital could be the informant… No, there are three possibilities. I need to be careful not to be bound by my own words.

He could be an informant, he might not be, and most importantly, there might not be an informant at all. If they were low-ranking enough to be summoned by Selkie, relationships between such low-level members wouldn’t really qualify as informing. It was common for people who roamed the same back alleys to become friendly without having to bite and scratch each other.

But someone had planted a phone line in that gnoll’s room, choosing a spot that wouldn’t normally be visible. It didn’t smell like cheap friendship between low-ranking organization members.

“What about the other one?”

“The other one, I’m not sure. We went to his house, but he wasn’t there, and he hasn’t shown up at work for several days. It seems to be around the same time that hyena disappeared. Isn’t it?”

Giuseppina’s brother disappeared a few days ago too. Did they disappear around the same time? Bad things always had intentions behind them. Coincidence was a modifier that could only be attached to good things.

“Similar timing. Tell me if you have any plausible theories. I’m not your superior, but your mistress told you to be polite.”

I clicked my tongue and gestured toward Selkie with my chin. Neither the subordinate nor Selkie denied the word “mistress.” Not even I, who had spat out the word mockingly.

“Could it be a love affair? An elopement perhaps?”

“First tell me everything you know about the missing member. What did he do, and what kind of hybrid is he?”

The possibility of a love affair was low. According to Giuseppina, her brother had tried to escape several times but was always caught by organization members and brought back.

People get tired after failing so many times. And fairy hybrids are people too. If there was a fairy who could love a gnoll who, despite all efforts, couldn’t escape the leash of his sibling’s name, then such blind love would truly be a special ability.

Generally, they would grow sick of such floundering and move on to a new lover. Male gnolls tended to be fragile and were often easily discarded after a day or two of fun.

“Well, he was a hybrid with some kind of house fairy. A fairy that protects homes, and can use magic to create rooms in houses that people can’t see…”

That would be the perfect magic for escaping. Giuseppina’s brother had always been caught before even leaving New York, so Giuseppina probably searched the outskirts of New York first this time.

And her brother, having been caught multiple times, wouldn’t fail to anticipate this. Even rabbits don’t fall for the same trap twice. At least, not if they haven’t been skinned after being trapped.

Anyway, I form a hypothesis. Giuseppina’s brother must have made a perfect escape plan this time. With help from an Irish mafia member living next door, the brother disappeared and would wait until both the police and detectives gave up searching… Then, when Giuseppina also gave up, or when she recalled her gnolls from the outskirts of New York due to practical issues, he would escape.

If that’s the case, he’s probably still in New York. But not in his own house. If creating secret rooms was magic, there would be the smell of mana reacting with air, like ozone, and I didn’t detect any such smell in Giuseppina’s brother’s house.

“You said you went to his house. Did you smell magic there? The smell of mana reacting with air? Like a metallic scent?”

Ron began to ponder a bit. Then he nodded briefly.

“I think there was, um, I can’t be certain, but probably…”

“Give me the address. I’ll go check it myself. And, Selkie.”

Selkie, who had been moistening herself with the salty dampness dripping from the subordinates kneeling around her, opened her eyes. Her expression was gentle and kind.

“What is it, detective? Do you need help? I may not be able to help much, but…”

“That’s fine. Just assign someone to confirm I haven’t harmed your member. I don’t want unnecessary suspicion. Even an incompetent one will do. I won’t be giving them tasks.”

If Giuseppina’s brother hadn’t requested help but had instead barged into the house with a gun and forced assistance through threats, things would get messy.

He wasn’t an ordinary member. He was the branch manager’s brother, and his intentions would be interpreted as Giuseppina’s intentions. That would complicate matters.

While I didn’t particularly like gangsters, Giuseppina was my client now. What I had sold to her wasn’t simply my legwork but trust. The saying that a detective shouldn’t cross lines out of personal curiosity also meant taking responsibility for matters within those lines.

There was only one rule a detective had to follow while working. Take responsibility, don’t go beyond the line of responsibility, and get the job done. That was it. So I had to get it done.

Selkie reached out and called someone from outside the half-open conference room door. It was the headless driver who had brought me here with the goat-hooved fairy.

He wasn’t an ordinary driver. Even the goat-hooved fairy had added a plea when telling the driver the destination, and he had entered the conference room with the other fairies.

“Gancan, please follow this detective. If anything happens to one of our children, take care of it too. Can you do that?”

The driver, lifting his head with its fedora, raised his right hand to his left chest in response. He couldn’t speak with his severed neck.

“Gancan says he’ll go with you. By the way… it seems like the inconvenience is shifting from us to the gnolls now. Am I understanding correctly? If Giuseppina’s brother kidnapped or threatened one of our children and is hiding inside, we would naturally consider it the branch manager’s intention. In that case…”

“My job would be ruined. I’d lose my payment.”

“Ah, that was more important to you. What I was going to say is that revenge would breed revenge, and people would die.”

“Preventing that is also part of my job. Satisfied?”

Brushing off his request for human sentiment for the second time, I left the conference room with the driver who had already started walking. A voice sounded from where his severed neck should be. How does he speak?

“I know the address. Get in the back. Keep the curtains closed. Understood?”

It was a deep voice. In human terms, maybe around fifty? He definitely seemed older than the other fairies.

Telling me to stay in the car with the curtains closed—I’ve been loaded into cars like luggage with a hood over my head before, but this was the first time I’d voluntarily blinded myself. How much did he hate showing his driving?

“Fine. Drive.”

Just not having to drive myself made it an acceptable deal. I got back into the car that had brought me to this casino and, as he instructed, didn’t open the curtains.

Driving with closed curtains isn’t common. I was curious about what was beyond the curtains. Still, fighting curiosity was part of a detective’s job, so I could endure it.

Whatever was beyond the curtains, his driving skills were good enough to transport me to the organization member’s house without issue. Getting out of the car, I sniffed the air. There was a faint smell of magic.

As I tried to enter the house following the smell, I found the door locked. Selkie’s subordinates had said they’d searched the house. If so, someone must have locked it afterward.

After glancing at the headless driver watching from a distance, I checked the garage door first again. This time, the garage door was locked from the inside.

Well, there’s only one option then. Without hesitation, I broke one of the locked windows, opened it, and entered the house. Inside, there was definitely the smell of mana reacting with air. I just needed to find where the smell was strongest.

The interior of the house I’d entered through the window was perhaps the cleanest of all the places I’d illegally entered. Not a single discoloration on the carpet, not a single stain on the walls or floor.

If the house had been a garbage dump, this smell of mana reacting with air could have been hidden, so the hybrid owner of this house had gained a chance to be saved thanks to his habits.

After opening the door for the headless driver to enter, I took out a silenced pistol from my chest and searched the interior. The smell was coming from the first floor. The living room.

“Notary, come verify this. The magic smell is overwhelmingly strong in the living room.”

The fairy who followed me entered the living room and smelled the air with his severed head. Again, he raised his right hand to his left chest.

“Confirmed. It’s behind the fireplace, detective. That’s where house fairies typically create hideouts. You won’t be able to open it.”

“Open it.”

If anyone could easily open it, it wouldn’t be a hideout. Since I’m not proficient in magic, I couldn’t open it myself, but this headless driver should be able to.

“Why do you think I can open it?”

“You knew I couldn’t open it. How could someone who doesn’t know how to open it judge whether others can or cannot?”

“Truly, speech is silver and silence is gold.”

He approached the living room fireplace and inserted his hand between the fireplace and the wall. He pulled. From between the wall and fireplace, which should have been flush against each other with no space, a human voice began to sound.

“What the—I thought no one could get in from outside!”

Just barely a job I could finish in a day. It was the distinctive voice of gnolls.