"They specifically asked for Mr. Bruce Wayne."
Sophia looked at Elias over the rim of her cup, a faint, teasing smile playing on her lips.
Beside her, Old Crowley puffed on his pipe, his face full of amusement as if he were enjoying the chaos.
What?
Elias's eyelids twitched, and his brow furrowed into a tight knot.
How did the Seventh Agency find this place?
He remembered when he had dragged Ophelia away from the Wayland Shipping office and fled.
He had been extremely cautious, clearing all his spiritual traces along the way.
He had done it specifically to prevent anyone from tracking him down.
How did they track him here as if they had a bird's-eye view of the whole city?
Elias's brain short-circuited for only a second before he realized the heart of the problem.
Crowley! That old scoundrel had really screwed him over!
It was easy to figure out once he thought about it.
The Seventh Agency must have squeezed the information out of Marcus Weaven.
What excuse had he used with Marcus back then?
Oh, right.
He said he was there to collect a debt for Old Crowley.
Naturally, when the Seventh Agency questioned him, Marcus would have told them everything he knew.
After a bit of investigation and cross-referencing his attire at the time...
Combined with the fact that only 'Bruce Wayne' had arrived in Hastings Port in the last few days!
I was careless, Elias cursed inwardly.
It seemed his 'Batman' persona was completely burnt; he'd better prepare a few more outfits in the future.
But for now, it was too late for regrets.
He had to face the coming interrogation.
"Why aren't you going down yet?" Old Crowley tapped the table with his pipe, issuing a blunt order to leave.
"You can't lead those Hounds, whose noses are sharper than dogs, up here to the second floor."
"We don't want the Wayland moles in their ranks reporting back."
The old man rolled his eyes.
"Saying that the kind and respected Captain Crowley is actually a member of the Resurrection Society?"
Ms. Sophia tucked away her smile, her beautiful face becoming serious.
"Elias, we can cooperate to solve the matter of the Mist Veil Society."
"But you cannot bring your personal problems to the Resurrection Society."
She spoke flawlessly, distancing herself at the speed of light.
"Fine."
Elias stood up helplessly and picked up his cane.
He turned, resigned to following Bloodsong, who was still waiting at the door, downstairs.
He had only taken two steps when Ms. Sophia suddenly turned her gaze toward the bewildered Ophelia.
"And you, miss."
Sophia's voice was gentle, yet it carried a power that brooked no refusal.
"Some of our conversation just now involved things you shouldn't know."
"We need to perform a small memory redaction on you. You don't mind, do you?"
Hearing this, Ophelia's pale face tightened, and she shook her head like a rattle.
Resistance was written all over her.
But in a room filled with transcendents, it wasn't up to her.
The process didn't even require her cooperation.
Of course, Elias, who had already turned and stepped onto the stairs, didn't know exactly what was happening above.
Even if he did, he would only give a silent thumbs-up and think, "Nice job."
In this mad world, ignorance was the best protection for an ordinary person.
Following the stairs, Elias trailed behind Bloodsong to the cleared-out main hall on the first floor of the tavern.
The air was still thick with the smell of cheap ale and sweat.
He stopped.
His gaze pierced through the dim gaslight.
Standing before him were two people.
A girl with a lilac headband and rare, pale yellow hair.
And standing behind her was a tall, thin young man carrying a heavy toolbox.
When he saw the young man, Elias's pupils contracted slightly.
An acquaintance.
They had had a "pleasant" encounter back at the Bay Hotel.
Elias was just calculating how to use some nonsense to brush these two off when...
"Hello, Mr. Rockland."
The very first sentence. That seemingly harmless girl with pale yellow hair used the flatest tone to directly strip away the disguise he thought was so tight.
"..."
The girl smiled slightly, her eyes clear as she looked at him.
"My name is Xia'an."
"Xia'an Dainfield."
Xia'an had originally thought that when she said the name "Dainfield," the Freeman Moon Lord believer before her would show a shocked, reverent, or even bewildered expression like other transcendents.
However, there was no change in Elias's expression.
He merely gave a polite, slight inclination of his head.
"Hello, Miss Dainfield."
Xia'an was stunned for a moment.
The young man behind her, Dabu, clearly didn't have as many complicated thoughts.
He stepped forward and familiarly extended a hand wearing a leather glove.
"Hello, Mr. Rockland."
The young man grinned. "I'm Tom Dabu."
Dabu?
Elias looked down at the extended hand, his lip twitching involuntarily.
That was a very literal surname.
He almost wanted to ask on the spot if everyone in his family was that tall.
However, just as Elias was about to exchange a few lines of nonsense, Old Ed suddenly popped up in the back of his mind.
"You'd better be careful."
The old ghost's voice was unusually grave. "This girl's surname is Dainfield."
"What's the story?" Elias quickly asked in his mind.
"That surname belonged to Pope Lothar I of the Dawn Church," Old Ed explained gloomily.
"What do you think the story is?"
"Even though the Dainfield family hasn't produced another Pope since then, their influence within the Church—and even throughout the Kingdom of Velen—is still terrifying."
The old ghost smacked his lips.
"I just don't know why this girl would give up her family's divine position in the Dawn Church to come here and be a rank-and-file investigator for the miserable Seventh Agency."
So, she was a runaway princess from the Vatican.
Elias understood now.
With this background and setup, it was clearly another case of a wealthy young lady coming out to experience life and seek excitement.
Knowing the other party's background, Elias actually relaxed.
He didn't reach out to shake the hand of the young man named Dabu.
Instead, he leaned on his cane and stood up straight.
He looked at the two of them, neither humble nor arrogant.
"May I ask what brings you two here to see me?"
Elias's tone became businesslike.
"If it's about me cleaning up that cultist on the beach..."
He paused, speaking plainly to try and seize the initiative. "That was just a small favor. As an upstanding citizen, there's no need to give me a reward."
However, Xia'an did not follow the opening he provided.
She directly reached out a fair hand to stop Elias's nonsense.
"That is only one of the matters, Mr. Rockland."
Xia'an's eyes, which seemed able to see through one's soul, stared intently at Elias.
"Mainly..."
She took a deep breath, her tone becoming strangely serious. "The two of us are very interested in you."
"?"
Elias's head was full of question marks.
What kind of ghost reason was that?!
In the middle of the night, two official investigators came to a tavern just to tell someone they were "very interested"?
Before he could even voice his complaint, Dabu, standing behind Xia'an, reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
His hands waved frantically as he clarified, "Not me! I'm not!"
Dabu looked at Elias with a face full of horror.
"I'm just accompanying her! She's the one who's interested; it has nothing to do with me!"
The serious interrogation atmosphere Xia'an had managed to create was completely ruined by her idiot teammate's sentence.
A flush of embarrassed crimson instantly climbed onto the girl's pale cheeks.
She snapped her head around and gave Dabu a glare so fierce it could have carved a piece of meat off him.
Dabu immediately shut up and obediently tucked in his neck.
Xia'an turned back, preparing to reclaim her authority as a Seventh Agency investigator and properly interrogate this tower guard full of secrets.
Suddenly, a dull rumbling sound came from deep underground.
Immediately after, the entire floor of the tavern began to shake violently.
Tables and chairs rocked wildly, and wine bottles on the shelves clattered to the ground, smashing into pieces.
Everyone was jolted by the sudden earthquake, throwing out their arms to try and stay upright.
Elias grabbed a nearby support pillar and complained in his mind.
Interested? It was all an excuse! It was so fake!
See? Even the earth couldn't stand it anymore!
Rate on N.U.
