Ch.63006 Investigation Record – In Search of the Clues to Sorcery (4)

“Investigating the detective? Giuseppina probably knows he’s a veteran, and she seems to have misunderstood my actions in seeking out veterans.

No, actually she might not have misunderstood at all. She might be angry that I’m stubbornly conducting my own research instead of accepting the information they provide, refusing to give up.

She lowers her head and growls as she leans into the car window. Though the beast-like growl makes my hair stand on end, I try to hide it as I turn to look at her.

Once again, she has the face of a beast. It’s more irritated than angry. Her expression suggests she finds my activities merely annoying, which is why she’s come to find me.

“You seem to make a habit of saying we should resolve things through conversation, Ms. Giuseppina.”

When I speak politely, her growling intensifies. She stares at me with a face that looks like she might open that blunt hyena muzzle and bite me at any moment.

“I’ve had enough of your smart mouth—the detective is plenty for that. Wouldn’t it be better to come out before things get troublesome?”

Think. Think! If I keep my mouth shut and bow my head again, this will just repeat. I won’t let them interfere with my work as a journalist.

The veterans’ hall is near a busy district. Right behind me is New York’s 5th Avenue, already beginning to sparkle with evening light.

She belongs in back alleys. She had said she couldn’t bring herself to sell her family name until dinnertime, but that wouldn’t apply to Giuseppina.

Besides, this was the game where Giuseppina seemed to like it when I showed defiance, pouring out harsh words because I had nothing to lose. She might actually prefer this approach.

I glance around briefly. There are still pedestrians nearby. Some occasionally look at this car where we’re talking with heads bowed.

Though Paulina told me not to, I take out my two-shot derringer pistol from my chest and show it to Giuseppina’s face. Seeing my expression, Paulina doesn’t stop me.

Giuseppina bursts into laughter. I know very well that a gun small enough to fit in an elf’s hand couldn’t possibly threaten her, so how amusing this must be to her.

“Are you going to shoot? Here? Ha, if you want to gamble on whether those bullets can pierce my hide or not, be my guest… but can you handle the consequences?”

She narrows her eyes and openly displays her killing intent. She was fiercer than the detective, but not as skilled. Imagined killing intent was scarier than what was visible before my eyes.

“If this were a gun, I’d have to worry about consequences, but this isn’t a gun—it’s a pager. What do you think would happen if I fired a gun in this busy area with so many pedestrians? If I remember correctly, it took angels less than five minutes to fly to the outskirts of New York… they’d get here even faster.”

She raises her hands with palms out, pretending to be scared, but I could easily see the mockery in her eyes.

“Oh, sure. The angels might protect your body right now… but do you think you can fire a gun on a main street and get away with it? What childish imagination for an elf girl. Yes, so innocent. Ha!”

I feel myself crossing a line, but only with Giuseppina. I return her mockery with my own.

“Who would be blamed if a businesswoman’s daughter with powerful backing got into a dispute with a thug like you? I could just ask my father to summon a school of shark-like lawyers.”

“There’s no businessman with the surname Leafman, little one. Is your father some corner store owner?”

I felt like I was crossing a line, but my voice grew stronger. This is why crossing lines is dangerous. I feel a false courage filling my chest, as if I could do anything right now.

I exhale deeply to expel that false courage, and with one hand still holding the gun, I use the other to find my family account checkbook in the glove compartment and toss it at her face. It would say Rose Clichy.

“That’s my mother’s surname. Even for gnolls, you must know Clichy Corporation.”

Words I would never normally say flowed naturally as if they were familiar. This isn’t who I am, but… still, it felt good to stand up to Giuseppina.

Giuseppina takes the checkbook, reads the contents, and makes a slightly sour expression. I could pour out my hatred only to her.

“And investigating my detective? Don’t make me laugh. I’m just doing my research. I only learned the detective was a veteran after I started my investigation. But if you interfere with my work, I’ll hire not just that detective but the entire Blingkerton Detective Agency, even if I have to withdraw money from my family account. You shouldn’t be afraid of a detective you were just mocking for lacking skill, right?”

I don’t know if I could really do it. But all the emotions I’d been suppressing while watching the newspaper bow to Italian gnolls came pouring out endlessly once I let go.

My legs were trembling, but Paulina slightly raised her shield arm to hide them. Only Paulina would know I was giving this my all.

“If you solve everything with your father’s money…”

“Isn’t that the family love you mafia types cherish so much? I suppose a gnoll who killed her own sister wouldn’t understand family love, so you spout such nonsense.”

I revive the reason I first felt disgust toward her. My articles, the things I discovered—none of them had any help from my father. All he did was listen to me when I was sad.

Giuseppina starts growling so hard the car shakes, and people’s gazes gather around us. The gazes are on my side. When a female gnoll with such a body confronts a tiny elf like me, people root for the elf.

Normally I wouldn’t like how people quickly judge right and wrong based on size and strength, but I’ll use every prejudice I can to deal with Giuseppina.

The firmly closed door of the veterans’ hall opens briefly at the commotion outside, and a veteran I’ve never seen before walks out.

He seemed older than the Professor who acts as their leader, with neatly trimmed sides of his hair showing some gray. He approaches and grabs Giuseppina’s shoulder.

“Are you causing a disturbance in front of the veterans’ hall? I came out because I heard noise this evening, and here I find gnolls harassing a single elf…”

Several more former soldiers walk out behind him. They were simply warning us not to fight here… but despite the fact that I came here to investigate their taboo, I felt very reassured.

As soon as I get home today… no, I should hire the detective right away using the veterans’ hall phone. I’m just now beginning to feel the reality of having declared war on Giuseppina.

Giuseppina pulls her head out of the car window, fixes her gaze on me as if to say she’ll be watching, and mutters softly. The back of my neck feels a chill.

No matter how malicious my intentions or how strong I pretend to be, a person like me can’t change easily. Rose Leafman… no, Rose Clichy has always been Rose Clichy.

“When you speak impudently like that, well. Someone else will pay the price, not you. See you around, reporter.”

As fear begins to rise at those words, Paulina briefly shakes her head as if telling me not to back down until the very end. Yes, I’ve already poured out all my emotions, but I’ll keep up the pretense.

“Don’t even think about touching the people around me, Giuseppina! If you do something like that, I’ll hire not just that one detective but the entire Blingkerton Detective Agency to make you pay, and I won’t slink away saying things like ‘see you around’!”

I’m a fearful person. I have unnecessary compassion and am hopelessly incompetent in these matters. So if I must act, I’ll go all the way without knowing where to draw the line.

You can share comfort and settle things with reasonable deals with that detective who’s used to such things. I stared at Giuseppina’s back as she ignored my words and got into her car.

After the storm-like moment passed, I felt the strength drain completely from my legs despite being in the car.

I recline the seat fully and lean back, when the veteran who came out from the hall approaches us and bows his head. It’s the same posture as Giuseppina’s, but the feeling is very different.

“Are you alright? It seems you have bad blood with those mafia types. And I just witnessed that bad blood getting deeper. Ah, by any chance, have you been baptized in the blood of the lamb?”

Hearing that code phrase, I snapped back to attention. They weren’t baptized in the blood of the lamb. Nor in soil mixed with gunpowder. It was… it was… people.

Now that I knew the true meaning, I couldn’t easily give the response code as before. My lips trembled, but I managed to force out the answer for the sake of my investigation.

“No, that was definitely not a lamb… I’m Rose Leafman. The Professor taught me the response.”

He had been suspicious about my knowing the response code, and perhaps even more about my delivering it with the same guilt-laden tone as them, but his doubts cleared when I mentioned the Professor.

“Ah, so… you’re the reporter who was with the poet at the end. Have you come to visit the veterans’ hall?”

My nodding head felt incredibly heavy. Now they’ll ask what I don’t want to answer, and they’ll learn what they don’t want known.

Despite this, I felt guilty seeing the well-groomed veteran smile at me for coming to see them. How much greater must be the guilt that gnaws at their hearts?

“The Professor contacted us. He said a pretty decent reporter had come, and that he’d taught them the code phrase because letting them in might help the old soldiers. That’s unusual—the Professor doesn’t give such evaluations easily.”

He smiles as he makes a slightly joking comment about how strict the Professor is, then walks through the stone tables fixed to the ground like trenches, heading into the hall.

He gives me a casual tip as he passes. He seemed like the type who becomes endlessly kind once he considers you one of their own.

“If the gnolls try to harm you again, you can run to the hall. The Professor is here during the day, and I’m here at night… someone will help you. There are usually at least three or four more of us around.”

I shake my head, as I had no intention of dragging these people into my problems. If I needed to flee from Giuseppina, it wouldn’t be just one or two gnolls.

“No, no! That gnoll usually travels with thirty or forty gnolls. Five or six of you couldn’t stop them. There’s no winning against such numerical disadvantage.”

I spoke thinking of the gnolls who visited the newspaper office, but the veteran slowly shook his head. He still wore that kind smile.

“Numerical disadvantage, you say? Ah, don’t worry and feel free to ask for help. No matter how many gnolls there are, we won’t be at a disadvantage for long.”

He clenched his fist in front of me. The ominous aura that emanated from the detective and the sword thief was intense, but it didn’t feel threatening to me now.

The numerical disadvantage wouldn’t last long. His demeanor suggested he could easily handle however many gnolls came… honestly, he seemed like someone I could rely on. It was reassuring.

I felt nauseous at the thought that all that power came from sacrificing people, but I shook my head to clear it. I can’t treat them with disgust when I don’t fully understand yet.

Still, hearing his words made me think I should prepare immediately, so I asked for permission.

“Ah, could I use your telephone? I think I should call someone before those mafia types do anything. You know, that veteran who works as a detective.”

The veteran in front of me was about to say the detective’s nickname but swallowed his words when he saw I was an elf. The reason the veteran nicknamed Professor was uncomfortable was probably because I’m an elf.

“Michael is quite thorough in his work. Sometimes he seems to take jobs that… cross the line, but well. He’s a good guy at heart, so you’ll be fine.”

Obviously, these people don’t know he tried to strangle me to death. I swallow that secret.

“Thank you! Paulina, can you call that detective? You can contact my father if you need to… honestly, I don’t think he can help. I’ll leave it to you, Paulina!”

Just pouring out my hatred in front of Giuseppina feels like I’ve used up all my energy for today. I wonder if I can properly question the veterans in this state? It felt a bit uncertain.

Paulina went to the telephone, and the veteran who had intervened with Giuseppina guided me to a table inside and brought me tea instead of asking about my purpose.

Since I was obviously an elf with long ears and small stature, the tea was very weak—water with lots of milk and just a little tea leaf. This was just the right strength for elves to enjoy the aroma.

As I drank the tea and gathered my strength, he sat across from me and finally asked about my business. Unlike the Professor who acted like he would organize the situation by blowing a whistle, this man seemed more laissez-faire.

He didn’t mind me bringing in a camera, but he would clearly stop me with a click of his tongue if I tried to photograph anything.

“I’m glad you seem more settled now. Ah, if you came at this late hour knowing the code phrase, you must have a reason… may I ask what it is? If it’s important, that is.”

Originally, I would have come looking more presentable and asked confidently… but right now, I couldn’t ask why they used magic in my drained state.

That gnoll really… she only interferes when things seem to be going well. I felt I should at least make an appointment, so I quietly shook my head.

“No… it’s not that urgent. I just ran into that gnoll and spent all my mental energy on that. I was hoping to meet someone who was a warlock-soldier in the Argonne Invincibles… could I possibly make an appointment?”

At the mention of warlock-soldier, his eyes seemed to sharpen a bit. It might be my imagination. After my conversation with the warlock I met before coming here, seeds of doubt about them had been planted.

“Warlock-soldier, warlock-soldier… That fellow rarely comes to the veterans’ hall. I’ll call you if he happens to come to the hall. May I have your contact information…?”

Could I meet him? Or is he just politely saying I can’t? I decided to believe the former.

On a day like today when I could even drive away Giuseppina, my luck couldn’t be bad. I handed him my business card.