Ch.95009 Investigation Record – Towards Gremory (2)

“This is the article by Rose Leafman that I know. Everyone must have heard that Congressman Edward Collins committed suicide, but they wouldn’t know why. But you wrote an article that explains exactly that reason. However… your reporting style seems a bit unlike you—you didn’t outsource this, did you? You’re not the type to lie and sneak in to get information.”

Phew, today’s article received praise too. I felt relieved knowing the detective’s compliment about my article wasn’t just empty words, and my mood improved again.

I didn’t know why I wanted his approval so much. Perhaps it was guilt. I had been such an inexperienced reporter and such an immature person that I wanted to show the grave-digger that I had changed.

Anyway, I confidently shook my head to indicate “of course not” in response to the editor-in-chief’s question.

“A person can’t always use just one method, right? And… last time when I wrote about the dwarves, I realized that if I want to say something, I need to have solid evidence. So, I changed my strategy!”

After saying that, I briefly looked away and surveyed the newspaper office visible through the editor-in-chief’s window. The trolls no longer came and went, and the once-silent company was now bustling with activity.

My fellow reporters, who had been struggling to fill pages with news other than what the trolls brought, were now working hard to make up for that brief period of deception. When everyone else is running, you can’t afford to stand still.

“That’s true. It’s a joy to see someone improving day by day. And about your travel expenses… I’ve done some quick calculations, and it might be better if you claim them after you return. If I give you an advance, money might get tight, and I don’t want to treat my family’s benefactor that way. Just don’t spend lavishly like you’ve become a rich young lady.”

This… I should nod to this, right? Yes, I’m reporter Rose Leafman after all. As usual, I nodded emphatically. The editor-in-chief lowered the blinds on his office window. It seemed he had something personal to discuss.

“Oh, and… that contractor who came when you saved my family last time. Can you still contact him? I’d like to treat him to dinner sometime. I’m a person with a sense of propriety, you know.”

I recalled the editor-in-chief’s son shouting that the Angel of the Trenches was real. It wouldn’t hurt to give him the contact information, right? The detective had no qualms about giving me Gremory’s contact information.

I took out the detective’s business card from my wallet and handed it to the editor-in-chief. The smile that spread across his face as he read each letter of “Husband Detective Agency” was as bright as sunshine.

The sunshine of my home state of Texas, that is. New York’s sunlight wasn’t as brilliant or vivid, filtering through a blue sky tinged with gray.

“Well then, have a good trip. And don’t make any deals with demons.”

“It’s not like they’re going to take my soul or anything!”

“Your soul might stay with you, but with their silver tongues, they could get everything they want without giving anything in return. Though I doubt an archdemon would try to swindle you…”

He worries too much. I nodded firmly and then walked out of the newspaper office. I got into the car where Paulina was waiting. Two pieces of luggage were already inside.

Though I didn’t know how long we’d be staying, this should be enough. The road to the train station wasn’t too congested. When we arrived at the station where my father had come, I was picking up my luggage when I saw him there.

Paulina had called my father before we left, but had he come all the way here? Seeing the two bodyguards who always accompanied him standing beside him, it seemed he had come straight from work.

The peaceful atmosphere, the sunlight streaming into the station, and the sight of family—as far as scenes to see before starting a journey go, there couldn’t be anything better than this.

When my father saw me getting out, he immediately sighed. Soon, one of the bodyguards standing behind him approached and took my bag.

“I came all the way to New York hoping to see my daughter’s face, only to hear she’s going on a business trip… Since there’s no one else here to see you off, this old man came. You’ll need to buy your ticket first, and if you take the afternoon train today, you’ll probably arrive tomorrow afternoon. I heard you were completely emaciated when you first came to New York from Texas…”

He was sometimes overprotective. Feeling the blood rush to my face, I waved my hands to dismiss his concern.

“That was so long ago! I’m going to see a good person, so you really don’t need to worry!”

Of course, such words wouldn’t dispel his overprotectiveness. After purchasing a ticket for the 4:30 PM train, my father spent a long time examining the train number and departure time before finally returning it to me.

At least he didn’t insist on watching me board the train. My father left around 3:30 PM, and only then could I enjoy the feeling of not being treated like a child while waiting for the train.

As I was sinking into a chair in the waiting room, completely drained, Paulina caught me. Though her eyes remained hidden, the corners of her mouth were turned up in a grin.

“It felt like returning to your hometown after a long time, didn’t it, Rose?”

“Exactly! When I was young, I don’t know how I lived saying ‘thank you’ for such attention. Have I changed?”

“Everyone changes. In life, you get to choose your path about four or five times. Rose, it seems you’re choosing good directions.”

I was curious about Paulina’s expression. Half of a person’s expression is shown by their mouth, but the other half is shown by their eyes. Paulina always covered her eyes, so I could only know half of her expression.

“How many times have you made decisions, Paulina?”

“Probably about twice. I still have two or three more to go… but I think I’ll choose to maintain the status quo. I’m quite satisfied with how things are now. There’s just the right amount of tension, just the right opportunities to use my abilities… and my employer is a good person. A lawyer couldn’t ask for a better working environment, Rose.”

I smiled at her words. The time for the train to enter the waiting room was approaching, but somehow, I didn’t sense the train coming. Elves could hear train sounds from an incredible distance.

Soon, a station attendant came into the waiting room, clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention, and announced in a loud voice. It seemed the train time had been delayed a bit. It was fortunate that someone was informing us.

“To all customers planning to take the 4:30 PM train to Pennsylvania, I ask for your understanding! There’s a slight issue with the train, and it might take about two hours to resolve! We kindly ask all customers currently in the waiting room to wait a bit longer!”

A two-hour delay shouldn’t be a problem, right? I took my ticket, which said 4:30 PM departure, to the station attendant and had it changed to 6:30 PM before returning. My father wouldn’t question that either.

After waiting for two more hours, I waved to the apologetic station attendant to indicate it was okay and boarded the train. Of course, I took a compartment car.

The seats were more suited for small people like elves than for large people like Paulina. After making her suffer because of the car, I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable on a train journey that would take all day.

The journey seemed to be going smoothly. It didn’t take long to leave New York’s urban landscape and enter the green-filled suburbs, and at this rate, it seemed we might reach Pennsylvania in less than a day.

Though I wasn’t moving around much, drowsiness inevitably set in after 10 PM. After confirming it wasn’t yet 11 PM, I leaned on Paulina’s shoulder and tried to sleep. Her arm was comfortable to lean on.

Normally, I should have woken up the next morning. However, an unexpected sound woke me up. I felt the unpleasant metallic friction sound of the train suddenly making an emergency stop.

An elf’s sensitive senses picked up that torturous sound, and with my pointed ear tips in my grasp, I was forcibly awakened. I patted my cheeks to clear my drowsy mind.

Paulina, whom I had been leaning on while sleeping, seemed to have never fallen asleep, holding a book in her hand. Soon, I felt our bodies being thrown toward the backrest of the compartment as the train came to a stop.

After a moment, the train stopped. I checked the time first. It was 12:33 AM. What could cause a train to stop suddenly after midnight? At the very least, there shouldn’t be a reason for such an abrupt stop.

“Paulina, what’s going on? I woke up because of the sudden stopping sound…”

Paulina shook her head as if she didn’t know either. This wasn’t the era for train robberies. The era of such outlaws had completely ended with the death of the Cowboy.

But then, a gunshot rang out from outside the train. It was close to an explosion sound, and… comparing it to what I’d heard when the detective fired his gun, it was a shotgun. I immediately tugged at Paulina’s collar.

“It’s a shotgun, Paulina. The detective’s shotgun sounded just like that. You brought your shield, right?”

Paulina nodded briefly and took out her mythril shield with a bluish moonlight tint, which she had kept between her legs, and secured it to her wrist. I put my ear to the compartment window, thinking I might hear voices from outside.

“Which train did the Forest’s Firstborn tell us to let pass? Was it this one?”

“No, that train would have passed two hours ago. Even if it was moving slowly, it would have passed at least an hour ago. This is definitely the one we’re after. Go in! Bring everyone out except the elves!”

The Forest’s Firstborn… of course, these were the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn. Was the train really being attacked? In the place where the justice of the old era had faded and the outlaws of the old era had disappeared, the hatred of the new era had sprouted.

I had to do what I could. I wouldn’t be a helpless, stupid person. I took out spare bulbs for my flash from my luggage and said to Paulina:

“They’re the Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn. It looks like they’re trying to attack the train. I need you to handle the physical argument. I don’t know how many there are, but definitely more than two. So, do whatever you need to.”

Paulina thumped her chest, which was covered in a formal suit. The lawyer’s suit, lined with mythril chain mail, made a reassuring jingling sound.

“I’ll alert the other passengers. Rose, can you figure out how many there are? It might be difficult to tell from voices or footsteps…”

“Difficult or not, I have to try. And don’t get shot, Paulina.”

Paulina pulled out a gun from inside her suit. It was the police revolver that the detective had given her last time. She was gritting her teeth.

“You won’t mind if I match them with guns, right, Rose? A lawyer’s duty is to protect their client, not to follow lawyer regulations. If they don’t play fair, neither will I.”

They didn’t seem to have entered the train yet. I put my ear to the window again. First, I heard the sound of something heavy hitting wood, like someone kicking the train door, followed by an elf’s scream.

“Aaagh! D-damn it… Why is this door so sturdy! In movies, they always open when you do this!”

Fortunately, they were stupid. I sighed and distinguished the voice. It was different from the two who had mentioned the Forest’s Firstborn earlier. And the voice asking if they were okay was the elf who had mentioned the Forest’s Firstborn first.

“Try shooting it. You know the driver’s already dead, so we just need to break in!”

I didn’t feel nauseous. I couldn’t let my concentration waver with such things; otherwise, innocent people would die needlessly. An elf who had been bold in front of the Mafia Godmother didn’t need to be afraid of these idiots.

Expecting them to shoot, I covered my ears and waited briefly. A gunshot rang out from closer by, and screams erupted from the corridor of the compartment car where Paulina had been alerting the situation.

“Hey, you idiot! If you shoot the doorknob, how are we supposed to open the door! Hey, hey! Gael! No, I mean, Number 16! Try picking the lock on the other door!”

“Number 16 left because he was upset about getting the last number, remember? That’s Number 15, Number 1.”

How kind of them to clarify. I immediately got up and approached Paulina in the corridor. The Followers of the Forest’s Firstborn hadn’t completely opened the door yet, so we had time to prepare.

“Paulina! There are fifteen of them! And they’re going to pick the lock on the right door. The left door’s lock is broken, so they can’t get in that way… Are there any passengers who can use magic?”

Paulina couldn’t use magic. The detective seemed to only use it to light his cigarettes, but Paulina couldn’t even do that much, so she couldn’t use the bulbs I had infused with mana.

“I found another person with a gun and brought him… Mr. Willem! Can you use magic? Oh, Rose, please go to the back car quickly. We’re evacuating people to the very last car used by the Idealists, and we’re trying to handle this ourselves if possible. It would be better if the Idealists could help, but even with just the two of us, the corridor is narrow enough that those guys won’t be able to pass through easily.”

Soon, the person Paulina had called approached my compartment. He was a human male wearing an elegant ivory-colored suit with a round hat without any folds, and an orange stylish scarf instead of a tie around his neck. Judging by his graying hair and beard, he seemed quite old, though younger than my father.

His face was full of confidence, and his well-groomed graying mustache… apart from his protruding belly, he was quite handsome. The fact that he was holding a revolver in one hand made him seem even more like a detective than the detective I knew.

“Willem Straessen. I’m a detective. Retired, but… Anyway, I can use magic. But I can’t cast a spell that would sweep all of them away with just the two of us.”

I showed him the camera flash bulbs infused with mana. Seeing the camera hanging around my neck, he smiled pleasantly under his mustache.

“Ah, it’ll be as bright as the glory of the God-President. Give them to me. I’ll throw them. The lawyer lady can stay back… These are flash bulbs, right? Then please cover me while the flash goes off. I might not know much else, but I’m a good shot. My old revolver, bought for three pennies in a back alley, is as reliable as I am.”

Good, someone who understands. I handed him two bulbs and kept one in my hand. It would be better for me to have one too.

This time, Paulina was holding her shield to properly cover his face. The fear that bullets might fly toward her body was covered by the suit lined with chain mail she wore, and her tightly closed lips were firm, as if determined not to make a mistake this time.

The era when train robberies worked had long passed. If it were still that era, the Cowboy wouldn’t have died. I would let them know that fact too. From now on, everything would be consequences of their own actions.