"Don't tell me you're actually a pirate!"
Arthur's deduction actually made quite a bit of sense.
Wasn't it normal for pirates to plunder valuable items?
Look, Elias knew a captain named Edward who had a white beard.
He even had a crew member named Marco... lm.
"Absolutely not!"
Elias shouted.
He couldn't exactly start talking to Arthur about the Grand Line, could he?
"This is a promotional gift from a merchant! Do you understand?"
He pointed at the white-and-green-tinted hand-axe, speaking with a look of aggrieved innocence.
"Oceanic trade is incredibly competitive these days. Buy ten barrels of rum, and they throw in this kind of maritime self-defense weapon as a bonus."
"I have to be able to protect myself from those blind pirates at sea, don't I?"
To increase his credibility, he fished a brooch out from a crevice in the suitcase where it had been tossed into a corner. It was a silver lily brooch that shimmered with a soft light in the dim room.
"Look at this! This is the actual gift I prepared for Lottie."
Charlotte, who had been sitting primly, saw the exquisitely designed brooch, and her eyes instantly lit up.
"Oh, Al!"
"It's beautiful!"
Charlotte cheered, taking the brooch and cradling it carefully in her palms.
She didn't even wait for Arthur to speak again before quickly running upstairs.
"You two talk first!"
She acted as if she were afraid Elias would change his mind and take the gift back.
Only the two brothers remained in the living room.
Seeing his sister so happy, the frown on Arthur's face finally relaxed a little.
"This bracer is for you."
Elias took the opportunity to hand over the leather bracer, which was tough and sewn with some unknown white hard material, his tone becoming a bit more serious.
"You're serving in Hope County, dealing with desperate criminals and thieves all day. You need to protect yourself when you're making arrests."
Arthur was stunned for a moment. He looked at the bracer in his hand, his fingertips tracing the thick texture.
He casually tossed the belt he had used for intimidation onto the sofa chair and gave a soft huff through his nose.
"...Thanks."
The brothers sat and chatted for a while, the topic shifting from the length of this leave to the upcoming holiday.
After talking for a bit, Elias stood up, intending to return to his room to rest.
Of course, he actually wanted to talk to old Edmond about today's events.
Whether it was that Ms. Cecil from the Seventh Agency or Brian's state today.
Oh, right!
He could ask Arthur about Brian's situation!
When he reached the stairs, he suddenly stopped and turned his head as if he had just remembered something.
"Oh, right, Arthur."
"Did Brian... experience anything special recently?"
Arthur was fiddling with the bracer and looked up at the question.
"You met him?"
"Yeah, I ran into Lottie when I got off the train. Did you send him to pick her up?"
"I did."
Arthur nodded, and then his brow furrowed again.
"Since you two met..."
"Why did you only just get back?"
"Is that the point?"
"Arthur, is this a professional habit?"
Elias looked speechless.
"Sorry..."
"I've been interrogating suspects for the past two days,"
Arthur said apologetically.
"I dropped something and had to go back to find it."
Elias had no choice but to repeat the excuse he had used on Charlotte.
"You haven't told me about Brian yet."
"Did Brian do something strange to Lottie?!"
Arthur stood up abruptly.
Elias was so startled by this leap in logic that he almost missed a step on the stairs.
"No, no! Absolutely not!"
He quickly waved his hands to stop Arthur's impending rampage.
"He was in a very wrong state today, completely dazed. He even fainted in the street."
"Eh?"
Arthur's mounting anger was instantly extinguished by this bucket of cold water, and the series of personal attacks he had prepared for Brian were forced back down.
He sat back down dejectedly, pinching the bridge of his aching nose and sighing.
"That guy went through a breakup last month."
"It's caused the recent cases to be handled in a complete mess."
"Cases?"
Elias keenly caught the keyword.
"The case at the Golden Rose Hotel."
"Do you remember it?"
"The luxury hotel on Knight Street?"
Arthur said crossly, clearly frustrated by the setbacks of this period.
"We stayed there for an entire day when the incident happened!"
"And the result?"
"We got nothing!"
"A month wasted, and in the end, we only caught one suspect, who turned out to be just a thieving vagrant!"
"Al, have you ever seen a person whose identity cannot be found no matter what?"
"That victim was like he just popped out of thin air."
"We distributed sketches. There were plenty of witnesses in the city, but almost all of them were on the road from the train station to the hotel."
"The Chief even applied to have the sketches distributed to other areas."
"The result was someone saying they saw him at the train station in Rockaway City, claiming he boarded a train to Harrington—that's complete nonsense!"
"Harrington and Hope County are in two completely different directions!"
At the moment he heard 'Golden Rose Hotel', Elias's heart skipped a beat almost imperceptibly.
That was the place Captain Crowley had mentioned.
A victim whose identity couldn't be found? Some kind of disguise spell?
He would have to consult his good advisor, Mr. Edmond Russell, tonight.
But Arthur, are you sure it's okay to talk to me about these things?
Oh, this is the steam age; there are no confidentiality regulations.
Then it's fine...
He suppressed the waves in his heart, maintaining a casual, gossip-seeking expression on his face.
"Forget it, it's useless telling you."
"The higher-ups have already transferred this case,"
Arthur said with some frustration.
"Oh right, didn't you ask about Brian?"
He finally remembered the previous topic and continued.
"Because of the breakup, the Chief told him to find a way to adjust."
"So he's been seeing a psychiatrist recently."
A psychiatrist?
Elias narrowed his eyes.
He was almost certain that Brian's state today was related to this.
The relationship between the mind and spirituality was like pineapples and ananas; they were almost the same thing, yet with slight differences.
Brian's situation served as a reminder.
He couldn't allow an unknown threat to lurk around his family.
Especially not for Arthur, Brian's partner.
"We have psychiatrists here?"
Elias asked with feigned curiosity.
With Arthur's rigorous personality, he couldn't stand it when people asked such basic questions.
He was almost certain to explain.
"Of course! While we can't compare to Landon, we still have professional occupations like that,"
Arthur replied casually, falling for it.
"It's on that street at St. John's Cross in the East District."
"Then I really am learning this for the first time."
...
Late at night, Elias lay on the bed he hadn't occupied in a long time according to the original body's memories. He closed his eyes and reopened the mental channel.
"I was nearly bored to death! You finally got back to your room!"
Old Edmond's voice exploded in his mind like a rebirth.
Elias did not respond to old Edmond's outburst.
"I want the recipe for the Scale Two potion now."
He had been asking all the way on the train, and the old guy had always avoided the subject.
Improving his strength was an urgent matter.
And the upcoming actions in Hope County required even more caution.
This time, he would not tolerate the old man changing the subject.
He even suspected the old man didn't have the Scale Two recipe at all.
Because every time Elias asked after his promotion, the old man would ramble on about something else.
"Wait, don't you want to talk about something else?"
"Like that case your brother told you about?"
"No. I want the recipe now."
"Immediately. Right now."
"Uh..." Old Edmond fell silent for a moment, his tone becoming a bit subtle.
"Actually..."
"I don't know."
"What the hell?"
Elias bolted upright in bed.
"To be precise, I don't remember clearly."
"Don't forget, I've been dead for fifty years!"
"Who could remember this stuff without it being on paper?"
"I bet you wouldn't dare drink it even if I told you!"
Rate on N.U.
