She is not an investigator.

"It's a raven!"

The angry witch repeated herself and slammed her hand on the table in front of her.

"It wouldn't leave me for no reason. Logically, it should have come back long ago, but it hasn't. Something must be holding it back!"

"Then you can say a little more."

Igris rested her chin on her pen, pretending to look seriously at the somewhat frantic witch in front of her.

"I will remember that."

The Fools of the Gods - The Rainstorm: Chapter Twenty-Six, The Library

"It's really smart! Although it's a bit playful and sometimes sneaks out to find bugs, it always comes back to me on time every day and tells me where it went to play that day..."

Igris slowly stopped moving and asked in a doubtful and incredulous tone.

"You mean your crow can talk?"

"It's a raven! It can talk, so it couldn't have escaped on its own. It must have been trapped by something."

The witch was absolutely convinced of this. Although Igris intuitively felt that the raven had probably already been stewed, since its owner said so, Igris could only try to believe it.

"Any other clues? For example...when was the last time you saw it, or where it used to like to play?"

At least Igris was now seriously preparing to search, instead of just grabbing any crow to make do, and the witch was unusually satisfied.

"It likes to play on the clock tower here. It's very high and has a great view, but the clock tower has been closed for a long time and the door is locked. There's no one inside, and besides, it wouldn't stay inside the clock tower anyway... So I guess it must have gotten lost near the library."

"..."

Igris blinked, a hint of confusion in her large eyes.

She smoothed her hair, carefully choosing her words, and cautiously inquired.

"You mean to say that your...raven likely got lost in the city's library?"

Is that so hard to understand?

"Your crow can read books?"

"It's a raven!"

The witch slammed her hand on the table in anger, and finally stood up, unable to bear it any longer.

"I've said it so many times! It's raven, raven, raven! If you call it a crow again, I'll turn you into a crow too!"

Igris shrank back and nodded weakly.

"Okay... Anyway, I understand the details now, and I'll try to find your... familiar."

"...You're not going to go to the police, are you?"

Igris shook her head, patted her flat chest, and said with a serious expression.

"Of course not, I'm a detective, and detectives are the most trustworthy people."

The witch looked at Igris suspiciously for a while, and finally threatened her.

“If you really go, even if you get caught and imprisoned, I will turn you into a crow.”

"Of course!"

In the end, the uninvited guest believed Igris and left the agency.

Igris watched her departing figure, sighed softly, lowered her two-colored eyes slightly, and then lay down on the table.

Even witches have appeared in this city, and Igris can't help but start to doubt whether there is any future left for this place.

But why would Olivia open a shop here? The environment here is clearly terrible.

There has been no word from Olivia, perhaps she's very busy, or perhaps she hasn't had the chance, but it's impossible that she's forgotten about it.

"Sure enough, people tend to overthink when they have free time."

Igris stood up, took down the "Open for Business" sign, and locked the office door.

She pulled up her collar and wrapped her neck completely with a scarf to prevent the cold from getting in and causing her to fall ill again.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Igris should arrive at the Special Investigations Department in about five minutes and meet Alex and Emily. Of course, she might also be smashed to pieces by a suddenly appearing meteorite.

The probability of a person being hit by a meteorite is not zero, so it is indeed possible.

Divergent thinking helped Igris recover mentally and adjust her emotions, to the point that she was inexplicably in a pretty good mood now.

Since she was in a good mood, she decided to go to the library to take a look at the raven that might exist.

The talking bird has come to us of its own accord.

Although I don't know why a bird would be interested in a library, it's already quite remarkable that this city has a library at all. There isn't even a school here, but there is a library.

Perhaps there will always be people who would prefer to study independently in this not-free library rather than receive general education at a school? Who knows? Maybe the library can make some ill-gotten gains a little less dirty.

Walking through the somewhat unfamiliar streets, Igris arrived at the city's library for the first time.

It is located at the end of the northern street, not far from the clock tower and a hotel that does not look very big.

The iconic landmark of Molkens is undoubtedly that clock tower, but unfortunately, it hasn't rung in a long time, and it's unclear who is in charge of it.

The library is not free. To borrow a book, you need to pay two copper coins and you cannot take it away. If you want to take it away, you need to pay a deposit of ten copper coins and bring the book back within seven days.

Of course, you can also pay ten copper coins to buy the book.

However, this rule does not apply to all books. For example, some books are not allowed to be taken away and can only be borrowed from the library, so you cannot buy them with money.

Igris's purpose in coming today was simple: to find a crow who liked to study.

Upon entering this not-so-small library, tall bookshelves immediately came into Igris's view.

She tilted her head slightly, trying to glean some clues from the bookshelves, but standing here, all I could see besides the books was the desolation and silence of the library.

"Two copper coins, pay first and then go in."

The librarian sat at the entrance of the library. He was a middle-aged man who looked stern and spoke in a rather unfriendly manner. His slightly furrowed brows also revealed some wrinkles on his forehead.

He was holding a book in his hand, the title of which was not visible, only the green cover. If he wasn't trying to leave any marks on the book, then he was most likely reading it.

Two copper coins were indeed a negligible expense for Igris, and even for most people.

Igris reached into her purse, placed two small copper coins on the table in front of him, and asked curiously.

"If I encounter any difficulties, can I ask you for help?"

"of course."

He put the copper coin in the drawer and handed a card to Igris.

"Take it and give it back to me when you come out."

"Thank you."

Igris took the card and slowly walked into the eerily quiet library.

The Gods' Fool - The Rainstorm: Chapter Twenty-Seven, A Chance Encounter

The library is very large, and it certainly has a lot of books. Different types of books are displayed on different large bookshelves and arranged on different levels according to their titles.

The advantage of this is that it prevents some people who come here specifically looking for a certain book from making a mess of the place because they don't want to seek help from the librarian.

There really are guys like that; they're even willing to pay the two-copper-coin entrance fee.

And it is quite obvious that crows appearing in such places will most likely hover around the bookshelves first, looking for the books they want to read.

But a crow's claw is not enough for it to select the books it likes and place them on the table to read.

Therefore, it's highly likely that if that crow really does appear here to read a book, it will only be reading the same book with other people.

I don't know if the crow told its owner about this, but Igris guessed it didn't, otherwise the witch would most likely have come here directly to find the kind person who was willing to share the book in the crow's possession.

He might be an oddball.

After all, why would a normal person read a book with a crow?

Igris wandered among the bookshelves, picked up a book at random, and flipped through it.

She certainly didn't come to read, but the book in her hand contained many things that she might find interesting.

It is a history book that records most of the events and experiences that have occurred in Molkens from ancient times to the present. Although finding the raven is also crucial, Igris is prepared to calm down a bit and take a look at the history of the city.

She enjoyed the feeling of peeking into the past, like tomb raiding.

Molkens has not been an industrial city for as long as one might imagine; long ago, it was most famous for its surrounding climate and natural scenery.

Because of the location of Molkens, the temperature here is relatively higher than other coastal areas. However, due to the surrounding topography, forests, and mountains, it is not completely surrounded by high temperatures. Instead, it is a very pleasant place with mild winters and cool summers.

Because this place is suitable for living, people prefer to live here, and during that time, the city's population continued to increase, and the precursors of gangs gradually emerged at this time.

Then came the history of witch hunts.

During that period, the plague began to spread in most human settlements, especially in the western regions. Infected people died one after another, and their corpses underwent horrific changes, spreading to each other.

Some believe it to be a curse, a demonic ritual, or divine punishment.

Ultimately, the church at the time, the Old Church, in order to maintain its position, pinned the blame on the witches.

What happened next was obvious: witch hunts began to sweep across the continent, and witches who did possess mysterious powers but were not much stronger than ordinary people were hunted on a large scale. It was arguably the bloodiest period in history. As a result of the witch hunts, many innocent women were burned at the stake and branded with the name of evil.

Molkens was one of the few areas that did not undergo a thorough witch hunt, and it became a refuge for most witches at that time.

This hunt lasted for fifty years, finally coming to an end after the plague was cured and the old religion was completely overthrown.

Despite this, the hatred between witches and humans did not diminish, and prejudice still existed in everyone's heart. However, due to the summons of the law, most witches returned to the western region, making it their home.

Then, the first steam engine was invented, and humanity finally moved beyond theology and vague beliefs to engage in industrial development.

The development and research of the steam engine, as well as its continuous refinement and expansion, brought many conveniences and some valuable technologies to human society.

Subsequently, Molkens underwent a complete transformation into an industrial city and gradually lost its livability.

Unlike the industrial city Igris imagined, Molkens doesn't exist, nor does it possess any high-precision technological creations. Instead, countless factories occupy most of the vacant areas, so you'll hardly find any entertainment venues in such a city.

The former mayor didn't seem to care about the city's future, so much so that Molkens was gradually heading towards its demise.

Even now. (The remaining text appears to be gibberish and unrelated to the preceding sentence.)

Igris put the book down and shoved it back into the shelf.

The conflicts and hatred between different races are difficult to completely eliminate in a short period of time. For example, even though Igris does not discriminate against witches, she is still somewhat wary of them, even though witches rarely, if ever, intentionally harm anyone.