The Trap

The light dissipated, and peace returned beneath the night sky.

Steam rose from the beach, where the fine sand had fused into a sheet of glass a hundred meters in diameter. Its mirrored surface reflected the silver-white and crimson of the night sky, making the beach exceptionally bright.

The center of the glass was completely empty. The powerful Deep One, who had withstood a rank six ability, didn't even have time to let out a cry of alarm under the illumination of the crimson light before it completely dissolved into ash and vanished into the sea breeze.

On the shore, only Miss Valente remained. Her mouth was slightly agape as she stared blankly at Lynch's back.

Back in Zur-Baha-Sahr, when this man had forcibly banished Mordiggian from her body and back into the Dreamlands, Miss Valente had already realized that Lynch possessed powerful trump cards. It was just that she had been unconscious at the time and hadn't been able to witness it with her own eyes.

But today she had seen it, and from point-blank range at that. It sent a surge of hot blood rushing through her veins, leaving her mind somewhat numb, with only a single thought echoing in her head.

So strong. He is practically a god of war walking the mortal world.

“No, it is the crimson moon.”

Detective Lynch Levive withdrew his fist, turned around to face the oncoming sea breeze, smiled as he tipped his top hat, and bowed slightly to Miss Valente.

“Fighting for you, my lady.”

“Glory to you, my hero.”

Miss Valente brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, a brilliant smile blossoming on her face as she reached her hand out to Lynch.

Lynch was taken aback for a moment before quickly catching on. He took her hand and, like a proper gentleman of Lande, helped her over to sit down by the reef. Then, he turned around to check on the four journalists, leaving Miss Valente to examine her injured shoulder herself.

The knife wounds and bruises from his dream memory did not exist. The four of them were simply unconscious, though whether they were knocked out or asleep was hard to tell. Still, their breathing was steady, so it probably wasn't a major issue.

“Do you have any idea what exactly happened?”

Miss Valente massaged her shoulder for a moment. Under the effect of her rapid healing ability, the minor superficial wound quickly restored itself to how it was before. Calming down from the excitement of witnessing Lynch's power, doubt reoccupied her mind, and she furrowed her brows in thought.

“What just happened was truly too bizarre.”

“I can't say for sure, but I have a guess.” Lynch didn't try to wake the four young people. He simply sat down beside them and said thoughtfully, “One of the authorities stolen by the Lord of R'lyeh is dreams. I suspect we were dragged into a dream by that Deep One leader just now.”

“When did that happen?”

“It should have been after I met the four of them but before they went mad. I suspect it started right when those Deep Ones emerged from the water. At the time, I heard them chanting prayers as they came out, and I found it strange in my heart—why would they need to chant prayers just to come ashore?”

“Ah, right, I heard that too.”

“Hmm?” Lynch was startled. “It could travel that far?”

“It came through the telepathic conch. Did you forget? We were communicating at the time, talking about the Dockworkers’ Mutual Aid Association.”

Lynch immediately realized that the fishmen's dream ability likely took effect through their chanting. Somehow, they had known in advance that someone was lying in ambush on the shore, so they began using their ability the moment they landed, dragging everyone on the beach into the dream. Miss Valente, having heard the sound through the conch, was dragged in because of that as well.

“That is indeed possible,” Miss Valente said thoughtfully. “So... everything I saw and heard after that was a dream?”

“It should be. By the way, what did you see? Weren't you waiting in the carriage to back me up? Why did you follow me here?”

“Didn't you suddenly call for help through the conch and urgently ask me to come over? Oh, right, that was all a dream, but while my consciousness was dreaming, my body followed suit and acted. It was a bit like sleepwalking. I thought you were in some kind of danger, so I rushed over at top speed, only to see those Deep Ones. Their leader said you had a message for them to pass on to me. Just as I was about to listen closely, I realized from its reaction that someone was behind me. I turned around and fired a shot out of instinct. When I realized it was you, I switched my target back to the Deep Ones.”

Then everything fell into place. It seemed that everyone dragged into the dream had what they saw and heard influenced by the one releasing the ability. That was why he had seen a duplicate-like Miss Valente. The enemy's goal was likely to have him kill her with his own hands.

Lynch exhaled and smiled softly. “But you really dared to turn around like that. Weren't you afraid I would actually thrust that sword through you?”

“As it turned out, you didn't.” Miss Valente wrinkled her nose and smiled rather proudly. “So what about you? What did you see?”

Lynch briefly explained what he had seen. The smile on Miss Valente's face gradually faded. “These Deep Ones didn't just want to frame my family for colluding with pirates; they also wanted to incite us to attack each other. This is truly too vicious. I suspect today's incident was itself a conspiracy targeted at you and me.”

“It shouldn't be,” Lynch said, shaking his head. “Our coming here was a highly coincidental event. Let alone these fish-headed men, even West of the Black Cat Theater couldn't be certain we would show up today. It's unlikely they put on this show just for us.”

“So... excluding us, they were actually targeting these four journalists?”

“That is likely the only possibility.” Lynch sighed. “I don't know what the four of them saw, but in my eyes, it was your image—and specifically your appearance from yesterday's banquet, not today's dress. That was exactly why I mistakenly believed you had been duplicated. Since it wasn't a duplicate but a dream, it means their use of your image was premeditated, decided at least as early as yesterday.”

Miss Valente pondered for a moment and nodded gently, agreeing with Lynch's analysis.

“In other words, they intended from the start to let these four fools see a scene of you colluding with the Deep Ones. But when they discovered you were listening as well, they simply lured you over too, and then tried to provoke a conflict between us.” Lynch struck his palm with his fist and said in a low voice, “So on the surface, it looked like they were targeting these four, but in reality, they were still targeting us, preparing to throw mud at the Valente family. We just happened to have good luck and stumbled right into their conspiracy.”

“My family's business rarely involves ocean trade, and we have absolutely nothing to do with Deep Ones or pirates,” Miss Valente said, biting her lip in thought. “They wouldn't target our family for no reason. For these people to use my appearance from yesterday, they must have either snuck into the banquet yesterday, or someone who attended the banquet showed them my appearance. Whew, it likely has something to do with yesterday's banquet. It couldn't be that foreign princess coming to seek revenge on me, could it?”

“Huh? Just for something so trivial? And if she wanted revenge, she should have targeted me. Why target your Valente family?”

“No, we can't rule out the possibility that they believe once the Valente family is too busy to assist you, you won't have the ability to find that gem. But there's no need for us to guess. Can't we just ask them? They must know who did it.”

“True. The person who gave them the tip-off is definitely linked to this trap.” Lynch raised his cane and poked Maya's stomach. “Stop pretending. I've let you eavesdrop for so long. Get up and get to work. First, tell us clearly what exactly you saw just now.”

With a start, Maya sat straight up. She gave Lynch an embarrassed smile and nudged herself to the side, moving a bit further away from Miss Valente. “A bunch of monsters were shouting and jumping around there. Then she arrived and was talking and laughing with those monsters, and then we passed out. It looked so real, was it really just a dream?”

It seemed to be similar to what he had seen, with only minor differences. Lynch nodded and pressed further. “You saw it too. These aren't ordinary pirates at all. Your source of information clearly wanted to drag you down to your deaths along with us. There's no need for you to hide anything for them. Speak up—where did the information come from? It couldn't really have come from the Count of Lorand's residence, could it?”

The several journalists looked at each other in a shiver. Finally, Maya answered, “No, it came from City Hall. An aide to the mayor introduced us to a high-ranking member of the Dockworkers’ Mutual Aid Association, and that person revealed it to us.”

An aide to the mayor? And there was even an insider from the Dockworkers’ Mutual Aid Association feeding them information. Could this really be related to the railway project?

Lynch and Miss Valente exchanged a look, and he pulled Maya up in one swift motion.

“Let's go. We need to leave quickly before the police manage to find their way here, or you'll likely be interrogated for a long time again. Take us to find that dockworker informant immediately. I suspect he knows something.”