At 10:30 on the morning of May 15th, the two entered the city hall at Crown Square.
With Victor's order, Officer Natalie Angel escaped the tedious and exhausting on-site investigation, allowing her to follow Lynch around and slack off with a clear conscience. This angered several Watchers, who stood behind them stomping their feet, filled with the resentment of field personnel.
Lynch, however, was quite happy. Not only was a large sum of money coming his way, but he had also gained a capable assistant.
The cooperation from the night before last left Lynch both grateful and admiring of the officer. Now that they could work together a second time, and with Victor ordering her to assist him, Lynch could not stop smiling. After all, apart from being a bit violent, this temporary partner was perfect in every way.
Especially her identity as a Watcher.
All information related to the railway was kept within city hall. For an ordinary person, navigating the procedures to access it would be a headache, but with Natalie's presence, it was much easier.
Although Watchers were not exactly police, they held higher authority and carried the label of an agency directly under the royal family. No one dared to obstruct their actions, making Lynch incredibly grateful for his sudden inspiration to pull the Watchers into his investigation.
His reasons for convincing Natalie were also quite sound. The tragedy in the square was clearly aimed at the protest, and the protest was an extension of the Bester Mountain conflict. Since the Bester Tunnel was part of the overall railway project, it was better to look past the specific case and sort out the information from the source.
Although he had his own motives, this reason was indeed justified.
The bizarre deaths had only recently caught the client's attention. Before that, they had existed only as fringe news that no one took seriously, and the Watchers had never intervened. Thus, no one had ever organized the railway information in depth, and now was the opportunity.
Entering the grand and magnificent building of city hall, the interior was solemn and quiet.
The impact of the chaos from two hours ago seemed to have dissipated. Government officials in formal wear and top hats hurried through the building, yet the atmosphere remained exceptionally still.
The archives were in the basement. The guard at the entrance led them deep into the hall and was about to go downstairs when Lynch suddenly stopped, his gaze shifting to the side.
Seven or eight people were coming down from the upper floor. Surrounded by servants, a young lady wearing a green shawl and a goose yellow lady's dress walked down the stairs, holding a folding fan. She spoke to two government employees with an elegant smile and graceful demeanor.
Lynch did not turn back because the aristocratic young lady was beautiful, but because a scene had suddenly flashed before his eyes.
A lady with a unique appearance, half human and half beast, yet equally graceful, was lifting an exquisite necklace to put around her neck.
【Karina's Exquisite Makeup, may my makeup never fade.】
Hiss, it is likely a mystery relic that guarantees makeup will not smudge. How can there be such a boring mystery relic in the world, and why does someone actually use it? She is carrying a mystery relic on her person; is she a Soul Severer too?
【Yes.】
"What is it?" Although Lynch had looked away after a mere glance, Officer Natalie had keenly noticed him stealing a peek at the passing lady.
"That woman just now, a Soul Severer carrying a boring mystery relic. I find it a bit strange."
"Uh... do you know that lady, sir?" Officer Natalie was a bit embarrassed. She did not know her either and could only turn to ask the guard.
"It seems she is a great aristocrat, the eldest daughter of the Valente family. She reported her identity when she came in earlier."
A great aristocrat, a Soul Severer, and she just happened to appear in the city hall next to the square?
Lynch narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment: "Do you remember when they arrived?"
"A little past eight. Work had just started, and there was no one in the hall yet."
Hiss, the timing also matches. Appearing here just before the incident broke out—could she really be related to this?
It shouldn't be such a coincidence. I can't just see a Soul Severer and get suspicious. Travel Companion, are there any other mysterious reactions nearby?
【No more.】
Alright, then I will keep it in doubt. The eldest daughter of the Valente family—I will check on her later.
Lynch nodded, took one last look at the backs of the group as they walked away, and followed the guard into the archives.
With the identity of a Watcher, the two faced no obstacles. In fact, the biggest obstacle was that the archive staff were too cooperative; they obediently dug out almost all the files related to the railway, piling them into a high stack in front of them.
Their faces turned pale. Only then did they realize they were checking materials for a national project that concerned the people's livelihood; it would be strange if the content were sparse. Fortunately, construction had not officially started, or the materials could have been several times more voluminous.
No choice. Let's look.
"We'll split it up. Tell me if you see anything important."
The officer gave a soft hum.
They each went to work, opening the thick files. For a time, the only sounds in the archives were the rustling of paper and their occasional low-voiced exchanges.
Soon, the curtain slowly opened before them.
The steam age had begun, and the roaring trains were starting to influence the fate of every nation.
As the leading nation of the steam age, the Kingdom of Lande had laid a vast amount of track. However, the Carlos Mountain Range, stretching for hundreds of kilometers, blocked the railway's extension. Between the two major economic pearls in the north and south, there was still no connecting railway, and they were forced to rely on the Lande River for water transport or take a detour of hundreds of kilometers through other cities.
Freight was delayed by at least three to five days, and every train trip could result in the loss of thousands of Lande pounds.
A philosopher once said that profit is the driving force behind all actions.
The loss of money made everyone's eyes turn red. Thus, proposed by the Rose family and the Duke of Vane family—the governor of Rhine who had controlled the surrounding area for hundreds of years—the first Norin-Rhine Railway to cross the Carlos Mountain Range was put on the agenda.
After several years of preparation and surveying, a feasible route was finally planned. It only required the excavation of several tunnels, each a few kilometers long, around Bester Mountain to connect the two sides and build the railway.
To ensure the tunnels were cut through, 'special personnel' were mobilized on both sides to assist with construction, showing the importance placed on the project.
Construction was originally expected to start officially in August, and some preliminary work had already begun. But as the date approached, the mountain people of Bester Mountain suddenly erupted in fierce opposition, inciting workers to stop work and engage in violent resistance, leading to many bloody incidents and even deaths.
As for today's protest, it was clearly a counterattack against the mountain people.
Lynch let out a long breath and closed the file. When he looked up, he found Officer Natalie sitting opposite him, resting her chin on her hand and staring at him, seemingly lost in thought.
"What's wrong?" Lynch looked down at himself in confusion; he was dressed neatly, and there was nothing out of place.
Looking up again, he found that the officer had looked away. Her expression was slightly stiff, but she quickly returned to normal: "Nothing. Watching you be so focused, can you really summarize anything from this?"
"Well, I can."
Lynch opened his detective notebook, flipped to a new page, and habitually wrote down the time and location using Chinese characters and Arabic numerals.
Natalie just glanced at it casually and said nothing. There were too many languages in this world, and since Lynch's original body was a graduate in archaeology and natural history, it was perfectly normal for him to know a few ancient scripts she didn't understand.
"What did you see? I think it's just a railway project. Maybe it's useful when built, but it's being opposed now."
Like he used to do when watching political dramas, Lynch organized his thoughts while recording the information, while also asking back: "Who would oppose it?"
"The mountain people."
"The reason?"
The officer tilted her head, showing a confused expression, and watched as Lynch spoke faster and faster.
"The mountain people oppose it, but why? And then, can a group of people from mountains a hundred kilometers away cause such a huge disturbance in Rhine City? Could there be someone pushing it from behind? If so, who would it be?"
Officer Natalie shook her head vigorously.
"Then we have to consider why they would support the mountain people. Most conflicts can be attributed to conflicts of interest. So, whose interests are damaged? Whoever they are, they could be the supporters of the mountain people. Whose interests would be damaged?"
"I think the whole country would benefit."
"No, in fact, many people's interests would be secretly damaged. Specifics require investigation, but I can think of a few right now, such as the shipping industry on the Lande River."
Lynch's finger slid over the mention of water transport in the file.
"And the cities on the original railway transport route."
He slid his finger over the text about the detour of hundreds of kilometers.
"In general, those who benefited the most under the original model are mostly the ones whose interests are damaged. As for those indirectly damaged, there are even more, though we are not sure yet." Lynch sighed, knowing that if he were a local, he would surely have gained more. "These people whose interests are damaged could all support the mountain people in obstructing the plan. Then, those whose interests were damaged by their obstruction could become the organizers of today's protest, and those who support the mountain people could become the planners behind the mysterious tragedy."
"Hiss, so that's it. It makes sense. Doesn't that mean this case might involve a lot?"
"Well, that's just a possibility. It's too arbitrary, so we need further investigation. But try not to leak information about our investigation to the outside."
Lynch recorded as he spoke, his headache growing with every word. It was no wonder Archbishop Trinlais said that too many factions were involved. After reading the file once, he felt that all of Lande, perhaps even half the world, could be implicated. And that was just on the surface; counting those potentially involved in the shadows, there were even more.
With such a complex matter, no wonder the Archbishop wouldn't even provide a direct introduction—he was afraid that his description of these factions would influence Lynch's judgment. It seemed this investigative report would not be easy to write.
"What's the next step?" Seeing Lynch finally close his notebook, the officer asked.
Lynch thought for a moment. He didn't mention the bizarre death cases he heard from the Archbishop but pointed to the information he had just found: "Look here. The mountain people incited workers to engage in violent resistance, which also caused deaths, and more than one. That induced the series of problems that followed. This is very strange. Who were they resisting? And the project hadn't even started yet; how could they resist? People even died. I think something is wrong here. We can check the case files on the deaths and see if there are any hidden problems. Also, let's see if there are any other cases related to this railway; they might hide a connection."
"Are you saying that the deaths mentioned above might be related to the mysterious?" Officer Natalie immediately straightened her back, her voice becoming serious.
"Since today's incident is confirmed to be caused by a mystery relic, why couldn't the previous deaths be related to the mysterious? Moreover, the wording here is vague and unclear; there might be something wrong."
"Indeed, that's even more reason we can't ignore it." The officer grew interested. "However, information on such vicious cases and deaths certainly won't be found in city hall; we need to go to the Hall of Order."
As she spoke, the officer took out her pocket watch and looked at it.
"It's past twelve. The police should be at lunch; we definitely won't find anyone if we go now. How about this: let's eat something, and then on the way, we'll solve another problem. It's right near the Hall of Order." The officer pointed to the box by Lynch's side. "This mystery relic—didn't you say you wanted to try to see if you could track the action path from it? I'll take you to a place that might meet your requirements."
"Hm? Can someone do that?"
"Otherwise, how do you think I tracked you down the day before yesterday? I'll introduce you in a while. If nothing goes wrong, you will have a lot in common with her in the future."
"Hm? Why?"
"She is also someone with keen intuition, a partner of the Watchers who specializes in buying and selling the mysterious. By the way, she also sells holy mysteries—the kind you need. She might have some in her hands. Let's go; we'll go take a look now."
Rate on N.U.
