In the name of the true god

Open a detective agency

2:40 PM.

By asking around as he went, Jude finally found the Seagull Apartments where Stefan Nolan was staying.

It is located among a cluster of apartment buildings, separated from a dilapidated slum by only a dirty street.

"Wow—they really know how to pick a spot—" Jude slowed down, bumping along the uneven road before finding a relatively flat spot to stop.

Outside the apartment building, groups of idle people stood in twos and threes, smoking cigarettes and hunching their shoulders, casting deep glances at them.

"It stinks—" Jude locked the car door, covered his mouth and nose, and couldn't help but search for the source of the pungent stench.

Perhaps due to blockage, or perhaps due to freezing, foul-smelling water was gushing up from the nearby sewer opening from time to time.

On the other side, one of the two trash cans was overflowing with garbage, and the other was overturned on the ground, but no one tried to right it.

Looking at the Seagull Apartments, the walls have been eroded by wind and rain for a long time, and the paint is already mottled and peeling. One side of the front wall is even charred black, as if a major fire had occurred there.

They must also be suffering from the same stench. At least dozens of households on the fifth floor of the apartment building had their windows tightly closed, and some windows were even broken and haphazardly patched up with cardboard and tape.

Although this place isn't classified as a slum, in terms of environment, it's comparable to the cheap apartment I rented when I first started working as a loader.

The problem is, shouldn't private detective agencies be quite sophisticated?

Jude muttered a few curses to himself, then quickly walked in through the main entrance of the apartment, went up to the second floor, and arrived at the door of room "36".

There was no doorbell on the door; instead, there was a crudely made cardboard sign with a few lines hastily written on it:

Seagull Private Detective Agency

We are at your service 24/7. Please feel free to knock on our door if you need anything.

If there is no response to your knocking, it means I am out at work. Please write your contact information on a note and slip it under the door. I will visit you as soon as possible after receiving the note.

Seagull Private Detective Agency —

"Knock knock knock".

Jude knocked on the door.

At the same time, hurried footsteps could be heard from the otherwise soundproof room.

Just seconds later, Stefan Nolan, dressed in a gray trench coat, opened the door, flashed his standard smile, and bowed slightly: "Welcome to Seagull Private Detective Agency. May I ask if you are Jude?"

"It's me." Jude extended his right hand from his pocket and shook hands with Stefan Nolan.

"What brings you here? Please come in!" Stefan Nolan was quite surprised and warmly invited Jude into the house.

The room was small and very simple.

On the left, directly opposite the door, there is a table and two chairs in a relatively open space, while on the right is a bed and a single-door wardrobe.

It's clear that this was originally Stefan Nolan's residence. Within the limited space, he managed to divide his life and work into two separate areas.

"Have a seat," Stefan Nolan invited Jude to sit in the office area. "Would you like something to drink?"

Jude waved his hand: "No need for that, let's talk business."

Stefan Nolan insisted on pouring Jude a glass of hot water before sitting down opposite him: "Is there something you need me to investigate?"

"How's your business?" Jude asked in return.

"Heh, so-so." Stefan Nolan gave a bitter laugh. "I don't have the money to rent a better place. Those who come all the way here to find me are mostly poor people from the neighborhood, and the fees they can offer me are quite limited. I still have to use that money to bribe my informants, so in the end, I don't make much—"

This detective agency, tucked away in some remote corner and seemingly unreliable, actually has people coming to support it.

Jude was slightly surprised: "Why didn't you try to join one of those established detective agencies? With your past background and connections in the police force, it shouldn't have been difficult for you to get a job, right?"

“I’ve been there,” Stefan Nolan said. “Those big detective agencies all serve the powerful and wealthy. I tried two. The first agency’s employer was a factory owner. They put me in the factory to secretly monitor the workers, stir up conflicts between the workers and the union, and seek benefits for the factory owner. I really didn’t like doing that kind of shady work, so I quit after only two days. The second agency investigated my background and found out that I had been fired from the police station because of my low case-solving rate. They didn’t even give me a trial period—”

Jude nodded slightly.

In this alternate world, due to rampant crime, shady dealings, and the limited capabilities of the police, the private detective industry is in its golden age.

However, the golden age does not mean that anyone who enters the industry can easily get a share of the pie.

Large detective agencies pursue higher profits and basically only serve wealthy and powerful people. Criminal cases, civil cases, personal commissions—regardless of opposing positions or whether the law is violated, as long as the remuneration is generous, there is nothing they dare not take on.

Small detective agencies, as well as those capable and somewhat famous independent detectives, mostly have their own street intelligence networks. They mainly take on cases that large detective agencies don't consider, as well as extremely sensitive clients who don't want their privacy to be known by more people. Their target group is generally the middle class.

"And private investigators like me, who are unknown, just starting out, and don't even have a decent reception room, often have to make a living by taking from the lower classes," Stefan Nolan said helplessly.

That's really tragic.

In particular, some private investigators will stop at nothing to find clues, and some will even blackmail their clients, which has given the entire industry a bad reputation. Without the endorsement of a major detective agency and the reputation built up over the years, it is difficult to get decent cases.

After hearing this, Jude could only reply dryly, "Everything is difficult at the beginning—"

"And you?" Stefan Nolan had heard about the commotion at the capital's heavy prison. "I heard that a heretic escaped a week ago?"

"Yes."

"What exactly happened?" Stefan Nolan asked curiously. "It seems that the government and the church are deliberately covering this up. It's all over the place, but not many people can explain the specifics."

"All the heretics who were imprisoned have escaped. The heretic ward in the capital's heavy prison has been abolished. From now on, any heretics arrested in the capital will be directly sent to the church temple," Jude said, highlighting a few key points.

"Ah—no wonder the lockdown has lasted so long—" Stefan Nolan exclaimed in astonishment. "Then you—"

Jude then got to the point: "I had my pay cut, and then I felt that staying in prison was pointless, so I just quit."

"You resigned? There are so many people vying to be prison guards at the Royal Capital Heavy Prison—" Stefan Nolan said with a look of regret.

The key reason he valued Jude was that Jude worked in the capital's heavy prison, which allowed him to come into contact with thousands of prisoners who were intricately connected to various cases.

With Jude as an intermediary, he essentially gained access to the prison's intelligence network, which greatly aided his subsequent detective work.

pity.

A great source of intelligence was cut off.

"No matter how good a job is, there's no need to force yourself to do it if you find it boring. Like you, you could have just dealt with cases half-heartedly and increased your case closure rate, but in the end, you still became a private investigator to pursue what you wanted," Jude said.

"That's true—" Stefan Nolan nodded. "So, why did you come to see me?"

"I'm coming to you for refuge."

"Join my service?" Stefan Nolan chuckled. "Don't be ridiculous. You already have connections to get a job at the capital's heavy-duty prison. Why would you need to work for me?"

Done.

He pointed to the surroundings and patted the two commissions on his desk: "I've only taken two jobs in the past two weeks. One was to find her gambling husband, and the other was to find the mole in the bakery who was stealing change. The total pay for the two jobs is only three gold coins, not even enough to pay the rent."

Jude asked with a smile, "Don't you have any requests to catch your partner cheating?"

"This is something only the middle class would do, mainly to get a larger share when dividing the assets," Stefan Nolan explained. "The lower class is dirt poor, where would they get the money to divide the assets? Even if they did need to divide the assets, they wouldn't have the resources to hire a private investigator."

Jude discovers that his expectations of a private investigator differ significantly from the reality of one.

At least for ordinary private investigators, the commissions are mostly trivial matters, and business is quite dismal.

With such low challenge, and only a few commissions coming in a month, how can this help me develop my contact skills?

Or should I go and join the Great Detective Agency?

That probably won't work either.

Firstly, the Great Detective Agency doesn't accept just anyone. If you don't have relevant experience, even if you get in, you won't have the opportunity to handle any decent cases.

Secondly, the example of Stefan Nolan is right before our eyes. Would he really infiltrate the workers' ranks to incite conflict for the factory owners' benefit? At least his principles haven't sunk to that level—

After much thought, Jude felt he needed to have some decision-making power and not be reduced to working for someone else, forced to do things he didn't want to do.

At the same time, it is also necessary to be able to receive some difficult and challenging commissions that cannot be solved by simply using the law of contact once.

If you want the power to make decisions, you have to be your own boss.

To get high-quality work, you have to... "So—" Jude asked again, "How do you think you can get more high-quality cases without joining the Grand Detective Agency?"

"It's essentially a matter of trust. If a client trusts you to do it, trusts you to keep secrets, and trusts your prices to be fair, then they'll hire you," Stefan Nolan said. "And to meet all three, you either need an outstanding resume or a convincing background—in short, you can't be like me, living in a cheap apartment, seemingly struggling to even afford food. Who would hire someone who can't even afford food to investigate something so important?"

That's right.

Essentially, you need to make customers feel that you are reliable.

Jude wholeheartedly agreed.

However, having just entered this industry, it's not easy to join those big detective agencies yet and gain the trust of clients.

"Let's go somewhere else," Jude said.

"Huh?" Stefan Nolan didn't understand what he meant.

"You're right. Opening a detective agency here will only attract some small, miscellaneous clients. We have no connections, no experience. If we want to get things going, we need to find a prominent place where clients can spot us at a glance."

Stefan Nolan grasped the key word "we".

Is Jude still planning to fight me?

He cautiously reminded him, "Changing locations isn't that easy. Even renting a small shop in the eastern part of the capital would cost at least two thousand gold coins."

Jude's face darkened: "A month?"

"One year."

"Oh—" he breathed a sigh of relief.

If the rent is more than 2,000 gold grams a month, then my savings of 15,000 gold grams would only be enough to last for half a year.

With such a large expense, it's better to honestly think of another way.

However, with a yearly income of over two thousand gold grams, that averages out to about two hundred gold grams per month, which he can still afford.

Even if we don't consider that receiving commissions will help us recover our losses, even if we are spending more than we earn, if we just consider it as a necessary expense to train our contact laws, it is still well worth the money!

"As a friend, I sincerely advise you to find a more stable job as soon as possible, or see if you can even go back to prison," Stefan Nolan said earnestly. "The private investigation profession—is not worth your time."

"Have you finished these two commissions?" Jude didn't answer.

"Of course I finished it. If I couldn't even do these two small things well in half a month, wouldn't I have wasted more than ten years as a policeman?"

'

"Alright, you can temporarily suspend operations and go to the eastern part of the capital to choose a location tomorrow."

"Choose—huh?"

"Just like you said, the annual rent is around two thousand gold coins. The place doesn't need to be very big, but the location should be as good as possible." Jude

To be honest, it's just the two of us anyway, so we might as well hire one more receptionist.

Stefan Nolan paused for four or five seconds, then asked incredulously, "You really want to work with me?"

Jude corrected, "I originally wanted to join you, but according to the current arrangement, it's like you're working for me."

"Are you serious? Just the two of us? Rent a shop in the most bustling eastern part of the city?"

"Yes."

"I only have a dozen or so gold coins in my pocket."

Jude glanced at Stefan Nolan's wrinkled clothes: "You should keep that little bit of money for yourself and buy some decent clothes. I'll cover the rent for the shop."

"Where did you get so much money?!" Stefan Nolan knew that the prison guards in the capital's heavy prison were well-paid, but even with such good pay, coming up with two thousand gold coins was still too outrageous.

Jude didn't want to explain too much: "You don't need to know the specifics. I'm just asking you, do you want to join in?"

"Even if you have that much money, we're new to this business, so we probably won't get many orders at first. What if we keep losing money for several months in a row?"

Two thousand gold coins.

Say no more, say less.

Fortunately, Jude, who was determined to advance his Law of Contact rank, still had the guts: "I'll pay a year's rent upfront. If we make a profit, we'll continue. If we lose money, I'll take full responsibility."

"But there aren't many 'buts.' I'm just asking you, are you going to do it or not?"

You don't have to pay rent yourself, and you can still get a lot of high-quality commissions.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

But such a good thing actually happened to me.

Stefan Nolan looked into Jude's earnest eyes.

He wasn't joking.

Since others are willing to take a big gamble with a large sum of money, what do I, who only benefits from it, have to worry about?

After a moment's hesitation, Stefan Nolan finally agreed excitedly: "Let's do it!"