Lord of Mysteries

Chapter 384 Going Home (First Update, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

Upon hearing the familiar scene description, Audrey was almost certain that it was done by Mr. Fool's followers.

She immediately felt a strong sense of identification, participation, and pride.

That was a human trafficker with hands full of blood and sin… The “Judgment” card indicates that he is being given a just trial, and the verdict will be hanging, beheading, or burning at the stake? The “Emperor” card should be a symbol of identity… Is this the one who broke into the Kingdom Museum and stole the “Black Emperor” card? For a moment, Audrey’s mind wandered.

She intended to ask for more details and a more thorough account of what had happened, but from her father Earl Hall's expression, tone, and emotional state, she realized that he was not yet aware of what had occurred. So she suppressed her doubts and curiosity and prepared to ask her friend Cons Rearson, who worked for MI9.

Although asking Cons directly would fit my image in this regard, it would still feel somewhat abrupt and slightly contradict my aristocratic status. Hmm... I'll have Anne prepare a few afternoon tea invitations and send them to Grynt, Cons, Murray, Christine, Jane, and the others... Most of them are interested in the occult and wouldn't be unaware of the title "Black Emperor" for the chivalrous thief. With my guidance, they could help me ask many questions that I wouldn't feel comfortable asking otherwise... That's settled then... Audrey withdrew her attention and began to enjoy her breakfast in small bites.

She believed that Mr. Fool's followers would not target Capin purely to punish evil, as that would not fit his identity. Of course, if it were Audrey, who had just joined the Tarot Club a few months ago, she would certainly have accepted a similar explanation; otherwise, she would not have chosen the Justice card as her symbol.

After attending numerous gatherings and experiencing many things, she felt she had matured a lot and was no longer so naive. She believed that there must be more crucial and essential factors hidden in this matter, such as which evil god or secret organization Kapin was involved with.

Hopefully Cons can provide some useful information... Audrey thought expectantly.

…………

At 15 Minsk Street, Klein ate a white bread spread with jam while flipping through today's newspaper.

"What? A safe?" He almost blurted out as he looked at it, nearly choking himself.

"No, I didn't, don't talk nonsense..." Klein immediately used a triple rebuttal in his mind to deny his claim of stealing all the valuables from the safe.

The situation was urgent, and in order to obtain clues, although he found the safe, he only went inside to check if there were any important documents or evidence. He did not take any valuables and quickly left the safe, moving to another room.

Of course, Klein in his spirit form was also injured in the gas explosion, which reduced the total weight of the items he could carry. Kapin's safe only contained gold bars, jewelry, land deeds, house deeds, and antiques, which were either inconvenient to take or impossible to get rid of.

Perhaps he had a special place to keep cash, but unfortunately I didn't come across it, nor did I have time to look for it... Klein muttered silently, confirming that it was some subsequent investigators who divided up all the valuables in the safe.

He glanced at the newspaper, took a sip of Xibe black tea, slowly exhaled, and smiled to himself:

"The Robin Hood 'Black Emperor'... I like that title..."

After breakfast, Klein put on his heavy double-breasted long suit, took his half-high silk hat and black sturdy cane, opened the door and left Minsk Street, heading towards Broken Axe Alley on the edge of the East End.

That's where Daisy disappeared.

After finalizing the plan yesterday, before putting it into action, he deliberately went to Broken Axe Lane to carefully look for clues and knocked on the doors of many houses in the vicinity to ask if they had seen a girl who looked like Daisy.

Although Klein believed that the official extraordinary individuals who took over the case wouldn't think that a poor and destitute family could afford to hire a "Robin Hood" with at least Sequence 6 strength, and would most likely focus their investigation on the secrets involved with Kapin, supplemented by peripheral investigations such as "who has recently inquired about Kapin," he still cautiously decided to put on a full performance from the start. What if some law enforcement officer had a brain fart and decided to conduct a preliminary investigation in this regard?

Some families might have some savings and be able to afford other detectives. As a kind-hearted person who only took over yesterday, the probability of me being suspected is extremely low. As long as I am not suspected, my performance will not be compared with that in the last Lanius case... Moreover, last time the Night Watchers were dispatched, assisted by special military departments. This time in the Jowood district, the ones taking over should be the Punishers. Their communication will not be so smooth... Hmm, Katie and Parker belong to the "Arbitrator" route. I wonder if the military will get involved... As a former Night Watcher, Klein has a good understanding of the behavior patterns, working styles, and investigative habits of several official organizations.

Simply put, I possess excellent counter-surveillance capabilities… Klein chuckled self-deprecatingly and boarded the carriage.

He was going to continue investigating Daisy's disappearance.

Because he was just an ordinary private detective who hadn't yet confirmed that Daisy's disappearance was related to Cappin.

…………

At nine o'clock in the morning, Daisy returned to her rented, dilapidated apartment, accompanied by police officers responsible for the surrounding neighborhood.

Last night, she was placed in various churches in the Joewood district along with other equally pitiful girls and questioned about the circumstances of their escape, what they saw when they looked back, where they lived, their family situations, any friends they knew who seemed a little unusual, and so on.

Still in a state of panic and lingering fear, Daisy answered the questions truthfully.

After that, no one contacted her again.

She slept through the night and was taken to the East District in the early morning, where she was handed over to the vicious policeman she often saw.

Daisy remained silent the entire way, feeling somewhat apprehensive. She only felt a little more at ease once she entered her own apartment building.

She had just stepped into the room, and before she could even find her mother and sister through the hanging wet clothes, she heard a scream:

"Daisy!"

Freya put down her work and, like a nimble deer, dodged the clothes in mid-air and the debris on the ground, quickly ran to the door and hugged her sister tightly.

Then, she released her grip, tears streaming down her face, and looked Daisy up and down with a mixture of surprise and worry:

Are you alright?

"Great, you're finally back!"

Liv also stood up from behind the washbasin, wiped her hands on her clothes, and said while rubbing her eyes:

"Daisy, where have you been these past few days?"

At this moment, the policeman interjected:

"She had been kidnapped, but we rescued her."

"Thank you, thank you! You are so, so great!" Liv cried, using adjectives indiscriminately.

The policeman coughed twice and said:

"This is our duty... Have you encountered any strange people in the past few days?"

Liv paused for a second, then, wanting to avoid trouble and minimize problems, said:

No, really no.

The policeman waved his hand and said:

"Be more careful next time! Don't take deserted side streets!"

Unable to bear the dampness and the mixed smells, he immediately turned and left.

Liv looked at her youngest daughter again, strode over to her side, wiped her hands on the side, and hugged Daisy tightly.

"It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back..." she murmured through her tears, without asking Daisy if she had been hurt.

Daisy immediately relaxed and began to sob.

Freya, who was standing next to her, also shed tears and reached out her hands to hug her mother and sister respectively.

The mother and her two daughters cried for a while, and then they all relaxed.

Liv wiped her eyes again and said:

"First, starch and wash the clothes; there's still a lot left."

Daisy, who had just been rescued, nodded and quickly threw herself into her busy work.

It wasn't until noon, as they ate dark bread and drank water that barely qualifyed as tea, that Liv finally had a chance to ask:

"Daisy, are you hurt?"

Daisy shook her head and said:

They hit me a few times.

"That's great! The police rescued you? A kind detective offered to help you find someone yesterday for free, and you're back today. Oh, your vocabulary book is still with him," Freya said casually.

Liv, already prepared, added, "I'll ask old Kohler to get it back and tell the detective you're home so he doesn't have to bother with this anymore. Anyway, we should thank him again."

Daisy put aside her worries and began to answer her sister's question:

"No, it wasn't the police. There was a sudden explosion, and the door that was locked to us was strangely opened. We just ran out like that, but we saw a gentleman or lady standing on the roof."

"He was wearing black armor, a helmet like a crown, and a cloak. He just watched us quietly, and none of the bad guys came to stop us or chase us."

As a "mentor" at the free school, Daisy's vocabulary was significantly richer than her mother Liv's.

"Someone dressed like that saved you?" Liv asked in surprise, while Freya waited curiously for the answer.

Daisy nodded seriously and said:

"Yes, he is like, like the bard's description..."

"hero!"

Hero… Freya chewed on the word, her eyes shining like stars.

…………

In a secluded room, a group of people carefully compared the Lanius and Capin cases, looking for commonalities in the motives and methods of the crimes, using the distributed materials.

"The two things are completely unrelated. The only thing they have in common is that evil, or rather sin, was defeated, and the owner of the Tarot cards upheld justice," someone remarked.

"What is certain is that the two attacks were not committed by the same person, and their strengths were clearly different, as were their specialties. Although this could be due to an increase in their own spiritual level, the culprit in the Kaping case is a vengeful spirit, or rather, someone who can switch between spiritual states, which is not common." The other person's analysis was widely accepted.

Therefore, the convener concluded:

"Two cases, two different people, and both involved tarot cards. Perhaps the latter was imitating the crime, which would allow us to focus our investigation on those who knew about the Lannüs case. Another possibility is that there is an organization involved!"

"An organization symbolized by tarot cards!"

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(End of this chapter)