Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

The cane has a simple shape, a tough style, and no messy decorations.

Lacie could sense slight fluctuations of magical power ahead - just as Crazy John had said before, the old investigator not only used this cane to walk, but also used it as a wand to assist in casting spells.

At this time, Crazy John noticed their arrival, turned around, held up his wine glass, raised the brim of his hat and greeted them:

"Hey, you two are here?"

It was Charles who negotiated with Mad John yesterday, and Rachel felt that this difficult task should also be handed over to Charles today.

So she quickly stopped and waited for Charles to pass her before following him closely.

Charles didn't care about this. He just nodded slightly to Crazy John:

"As agreed, here we are."

Crazy John smiled, put down his glass, and took out a pocket watch from his coat pocket. The watch had been polished to a shine and was obviously weathered by the years. He checked the time and joked:

"Should I say that you two really keep your promise? Just like the hands of my old pocket watch, you arrive at the agreed time. I thought you two would be impatient and wait here long ago."

But then he added:

"Of course, there is nothing wrong with that. Being punctual is a gentleman's virtue. At least from this point of view, both the brave man and the wizard have this virtue..."

Charles said nothing and accepted Crazy John's compliment in silence.

His eyes, like Rachel's, were fixed on the cane.

Crazy John obviously noticed this, and the smile on his face became more obvious - but he did not directly hand the cane to the two of them. Instead, he said to them calmly:

"Don't worry, guys. Both me and this cane are in front of you now. There's no way they can get away. So why don't we put this cane aside and talk about something else and have a couple of drinks? How about that?"

After saying that, without waiting for the two to respond, Crazy John shouted to the guy at the counter:

"Please bring over the wine I ordered earlier!"

The waiter came over, but behaved quite rudely, even with a sullen face, and slammed the bottles of wine heavily on the table.

Apparently, he had a problem with Crazy John.

Charles had no idea what was going on, so he looked puzzled.

But before he could ask, Crazy John took the initiative, spread his hands and shrugged, and answered him in a very innocent tone:

"He's still upset about what happened yesterday. It was clearly him who asked me to introduce him to Mrs. Veronica, and I kept my promise, but in the end he was still the one who was dissatisfied..."

At this time, the waiter had not walked far. After hearing what he said, he quickly turned back and cursed:

"Then why the hell didn't you tell me in advance, that Lady Veronica...that crazy woman..."

The guy didn't finish his words, perhaps because he was too embarrassed to talk about something, so he could only glare at Crazy John and mutter:

"What a damn bad luck! I wasted a whole bottle of ale!"

Then he limped away.

When the clerk walked back to the counter, Crazy John lowered his voice, pretended to be mysterious, and said in a cheerful voice:

"Did you notice the way he walked?"

Ciel nodded subconsciously.

"That's why he's so angry," Crazy John's mouth curled up wildly, "Do you remember what I said yesterday, that Madam Veronica is pursuing a love interest?"

"..."

This topic was really...delicate for the usually serious Charles, so much so that he didn't know whether he should continue nodding.

But Lacie had no scruples at all, she was even curious about what was going on.

Ciel didn't nod; she nodded.

Now that he has an audience, Crazy John doesn't keep the secret any longer:

"Anyway, I'm not lying. Madam Veronica is indeed courting a beautiful woman. She has also promised a very generous reward. If she takes a fancy to you, you probably won't have to work for the rest of your life."

"But the lady actually has some quirks - she doesn't like to be on the defensive, she prefers to be on the offensive."

At this point, Crazy John sighed rather exaggeratedly, as if he really felt sorry for his old friend, the guy who had just served the drinks:

"Compared to the remuneration that lady could offer, this quirk is nothing, so I guess he originally wanted to refuse righteously, to maintain his dignity as a man, and to denounce Madam Veronica's perverted hobby, but there was no way..."

Crazy John winked playfully:

"——Who asked her to give too much?"

Lacele noticed that after Charles heard this, his whole body stiffened imperceptibly.

Apparently, her dear hero didn't seem to be able to accept Lady Veronica's new... way of playing.

So, she immediately came up with a plan.

"I see," the witch said with an expression of sudden enlightenment, still smiling elegantly and calmly, "But speaking of which, I actually have some knowledge of Madam Veronica's hobbies... You could say that I have dabbled in them."

"?"

Charles's body trembled.

Crazy John also fell into a brief silence.

Then, with a rather strange expression, he looked at Lacie and then at Charles.

"So," he sighed, "you two actually have this kind of relationship."

"..." Charles was speechless.

But Crazy John never clearly pointed out the relationship between the two of them. At most, he just looked at him with a strange and meaningful look that said, "You're going to have a good time, kid."

All that was in Charles' mind was the miserable limping figure of the tavern waiter as he left just now.

In order to dispel the awkward atmosphere, Charles silently grabbed Lacele's hand under the table, cleared his throat, stared into Crazy John's gray eyes, and his expression became serious:

"Let's get down to business. Mr. John, how did you get this cane?"

Crazy John can also be flexible. He was clearly joking just now, but once Charles got serious, his expression also became serious.

"It's in the palace."

His voice was a little heavy, and his head drooped involuntarily, with a hint of sarcasm that ordinary people could not understand.

"I found this cane in the palace," Crazy John told the two men, "specifically... beside His Majesty's throne."

[To be continued]

-

34. Crime of usurpation

"That Emperor...next to the throne?"

Lacey frowned.

The emperor again.

Still the emperor.

Always... Diesel's Emperor.

Lacie felt as if she had vaguely glimpsed a huge spider web, with countless threads dotted on it, branching, interweaving, and extending into intricate relationships, but no matter what, in the end they were all born from one origin.

And that origin is none other than Diesel’s mysterious Emperor.

He is like a spider, quietly lurking in the center of a giant web, weaving everything silently.

Spiders weave webs to hunt, but why does His Majesty the Emperor weave his web?

Lacie seemed to smell some conspiracy.

But she didn't say anything.

She just calmly tried to shake off Charles's hand - she was not used to such close physical contact with a man.

But the damn hero was too strong, his hands were like iron pliers and couldn't be pried open no matter how hard he tried.

Laceel had no choice but to curse the villain in her heart while asking Crazy John:

"You mean, the old investigator disappeared in the palace?"

But Crazy John remained calm, smiling and shaking his head:

"I didn't say that. I just told you everything I know."

Lacie couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

What do you mean?

It has come to this point. There is no need to play dumb about some things. Do you have to continue to riddle people?

Still the Riddler, still the Riddler, if you come again the Riddler will take your mother away!

After the witch had said this, she no longer concealed her intentions and asked directly:

"Mr. John, I need you to tell us why you want to assassinate the Emperor?"

As she spoke, she stared into Crazy John's gray eyes, her expression becoming serious:

"——Have you noticed anything wrong? Is there something wrong with your emperor?"

Facing Laciel's question, Crazy John was calm and composed. He seemed to have guessed that Laciel would ask this question, so he did not hesitate and answered quickly:

"Regarding your question just now, I need to correct two points..."

"First," he raised a finger, "Our emperor is a living person, not a machine. You asked me if he had any abnormalities, which is not very rigorous."

"As for whether His Majesty really has some problems... maybe there is, maybe not."

"what?"

Rachel didn't understand what Crazy John meant by this answer.

But it doesn't matter, Crazy John quickly gave her an explanation:

"Because like you, I also think that there is something wrong with His Majesty, but perhaps only you, Miss Mage, me, and the Brave Master think so. Except for the three of us, all the people of Diesel think that their Majesty is absolutely normal."

"Even if they don't know why they should be loyal to the emperor?" Rachel frowned and continued, "Even if they don't remember what great achievements the emperor had accomplished in the past thirty years that were worthy of their fanatical following?"

Crazy John seemed a little surprised when he heard this, and he sighed:

"As expected of an investigator from the White Tower, both the old gentleman and you have discovered the biggest anomaly of the Diesel people in such a short time."

His expression finally became serious, no longer as humorous and relaxed as before:

"Yes, that's it."

"All the Diesel people believe that there is nothing wrong with their emperor, and the emperor... at least on the surface, it seems that there is indeed nothing wrong with him."

Having said that, he crossed his arms, glanced at Charles, then turned his gaze back to Laciel:

"Excuse me, after you realized this, did you go to the palace to meet our Emperor?"

Rachel subconsciously wanted to say that they didn't go because they didn't want to alert the enemy, but before she could open her mouth, Crazy John shook his head.

"It seems that you two didn't go - but this is also good, at least it won't waste time - because even if you two went, I'm afraid you won't be able to figure out what's wrong with His Majesty."

He said this with a strange, heavy expression.

"Your Majesty is very normal," he whispered, "At least on the surface, Your Majesty is more sober and normal than most people in this world."

"Except for denying the fog that hangs over all the Diesel people, he is as wise and intelligent as before. When I met him last time, he even told me that Diesel is now too backward compared to Victoria. If it continues like this, sooner or later Diesel will become a vassal of Victoria, so Diesel urgently needs a change..."

Crazy John couldn't help but smile bitterly:

"——Your Majesty is always like this, with sharp insight, long-term vision, and strategic planning. Therefore, Diesel has not been affected by the chaotic situation in the past thirty years. Even though it is adjacent to Victoria, it still maintains stability and the people can still live and work in peace."

Lacey was stunned and asked subconsciously:

"But...don't you Diesel people remember what great achievements he accomplished?"

"That depends on how you define 'great achievement'," Crazy John said patiently. "I always think that being able to keep the little boat like Diesel stable under the pressure of the huge ship like Victoria is a 'great achievement' in itself."

"But the people will not agree with this. In other words, no matter how hard your Majesty tries to protect Diesel and ensure that this small boat will not be capsized by the waves raised by the giant ship, the people will only think that this is a matter of course."

"'The emperor should protect his subjects' - even His Majesty himself thinks so."

"So this doesn't make sense, Miss Mage. You should understand that at least in the past thirty years, all the contributions His Majesty has made to Diesel should not make the Diesel people follow and be loyal to him so fanatically."

Listening to Mad John's words, Lacele subconsciously thought of the innkeeper who almost threw a glove at Charles to duel, and the passers-by who accepted their inquiries and expressed their fanatical love for the Emperor.