'What am I supposed to do with this information now? If the churches haven't been able to find these guys with the resources they have how can I...'
"...."
"....He..."
"..He he he..."
These were valid reasons but this did nothing to appease the hatred in his heart, so he just let out an empty laugh as he raised a hand to his face.
'Who am I kidding? I'm going to find them and I'm going to make them sing about everything they know about those neutered bitches'
After laughing for a long time, Adryan calmed down and began to think more coldly about what to do with the information he had.
'One of the reasons why the churches haven't found these cops, and supposing they haven't, should be because those who they did catch sang like little birds in the morning, so the fugitives are no longer a priority....
After all they are much more busy with the issue of annihilating the Black Skull,they are a more dangerous threat than some corrupt cops...'
'So if I were a dirty cop, I'm on the run but there are no posters with my face and no bounty on my head where would I go?'
The information Glaint had managed to get included a bit of each other's personalities.
They were all quite similar in the fact that they were treacherous, lacking in morals and would do anything for money but there was one crucial detail that they all shared and was the strongest one....
'They are huge cowards so they wouldn't try to leave Backlund for fear of being caught, nor would they stay in any decent part of the city....'
Using his right hand to scratch his chin, he already had an idea and couldn't help but growl in annoyance.
'The best option would be exactly East Borough, the police have no power there and the power of the churches is greatly reduced, they would be practically ghosts, they could join any gang to get money and nobody would care, what better place for a rat than to hide in the sewer?'
'But this is a big problem I can't go there to collect information as Adryan nor Mr.Holmes, that would be serving me on a silver platter with a juicy red apple in my mouth ready to be devoured by whichever of the three churches manages to catch me... ..'
His mind turned several times on what to do, but it didn't take long for an idea to come to his head and this made him smile dangerously.
'If neither Adryan nor Mr.Holmes can go then let's leave the job of gathering information to Batwoman!'
'Xio has a large number of contacts so it shouldn't be too difficult for her to move some of them around the East Borough to find these wretches and I have several ways to pay her~'
Paying Xio would not be a problem, after all he had the Trickmaster formula and a part of the Sheriff formula.
'Today in a few hours is our meeting so I can talk about this with her.'
The week that Xio had requested was over and they would have to meet again today, perhaps it would be the last time considering that Joseph is still alive but Xio has no chance against him, and he had already been reported to the Churches so his days were numbered....
'I may have already joined the Tarot Club and it's no longer necessary to maintain contact with her but the channels she has would take a long time to create, time I don't have so I'd better try to think of a way to keep this relationship alive.....'
Thinking about that last part, the redhead couldn't help but let out an funny laugh as he tried to cover his mouth with his hand.
"I already sound like a little kid trying to keep his parents' toxic marriage alive..." Adryan whispered with another laugh....
...
Leaving that episode behind, he left the alley in the direction of his house.
'First I write the letter to Glaint about the party and then I prepared myself for marriage therapy~'
....
It was already 6:00 pm and around this time was when the sunset fell painting everything a beautiful orange.
Adryan was already behind the bar waiting for Xio's visit, he was wearing a black leather jacket which was another one that he had modified so that it had many more pockets inside where he had various tools, tripwires, first aid kits , etc. This jacket also concealed the revolver under his left armpit.
He also wore black hunting pants as well as his hunting boots and black gloves, to crown his appearance was his short black windbreaker that barely exceeded his shoulders with the hood raised and with his faithful mask.
The best way to describe the windbreaker would be the short cloak that the Hunters in Yharnam wear to wipe off the blood of the beasts they hunted in the nightmare.
And this was the main reason why Adryan hadn't gotten a new one other than that it was much more comfortable to move like this...
'Xio shouldn't take too long but if that's the case I'll just wait until 20:00 because I don't have anything else to do to be honest and I don't want to be bored at home....'The redhead thought as he leaned against the wall and began to wait.
After 20 minutes he heard light footsteps heading towards him and turning in the direction of them he saw the figure of the Miss heading towards him from the bottom of the alley.
"Good evening Miss," he said in Mr. Holmes's tone as Xio came up to his side.
Looking up, Xio still had the costume she had used when she 'hid' her identity, but with the hood down, this allowed him to see that she no longer had her makeup on.
"Good evening Mr. Holmes" Xio's tone despite being well hidden Adryan managed to notice the sadness behind it and this made him sigh.
"How are you doing?"
So so sorry guys I oversleep
Hearing the masked man's words, Xio couldn't help but sigh as she leaned against the opposite wall with her eyes on the ground.
"I don't know why you care about this Mr. Holmes" she spoke in a calm tone as she took out her triangular sword and looked at her reflection in it.
"It's been bad huh?" Ignoring the question, Adryan spoke but Mr. Holmes's usual tone was now a little softer.
Raising her emerald gaze to the man, she observed that he was calmly observing the orange sky.
Looking down at her triangular sword again, she just sighed as she nodded.
"Her mother is devastated... when I told her about Coin's death she just shut down, she hasn't eaten for several days and I can hardly get her to drink anything" Xio replied in a heavy tone, the last few days had left her unable to rest and she had barely been able to sleep.
"You didn't tell her how..."
"No" Xio cut off the man's question but she already knew what he was going to ask.
"I don't want to imagine how she would react if she knew how it happened, when she asked,in one of the few moments that she spoke,how she had died, I could only say that it was quick and painless, that Coin had not suffered..." Xio's voice broke at the end and she had to take a moment to regain her composure.
Adryan just kept watching the sky giving the woman time to calm down and after a few moments Xio took a breath and continued talking.
"I'm not sure if she believed me but so far she hasn't asked me where her body is, I don't know what I'm supposed to say when that happens"
Averting his gaze from the sky, he looked at Xio who kept looking at her sword but her hands were trembling and her eyes were slightly red.
"You can tell her that the recovery of the body was impossible, the only thing you could do was find out what had happened and that you had to escape" Adryan spoke in a somewhat cold tone and Xio gave him a strong look.
"How could I do that to her..." Xio muttered with barely contained anger but...
"You already hid the truth from her once" Adryan cut coldly causing Xio to bite her tongue to shut up and start to tremble in anger.
"Or are you planning to tell her that her daughter's body was blown to pieces? That the truth is that her beloved daughter died in a basement at the hands of a pedophile?" Adryan raised his voice making Xio tremble harder and she clenched her fists so hard that blood began to drip.
Sighing, Adryan just moved away from the wall and stood next to the woman, leaning against the wall, the masked redhead looked at the woman and spoke still with a cold tone.
"I know you want to bury that sword of yours in my neck and twist it because of what I said but you also know I'm right, the way Coin died was horrible and any mother would be horrified that her child died like that, you know that woman better than I do, so If you didn't tell her how it happened then you know very well what she can do to herself."
"..." Xio didn't say anything but she had lowered her arms and her gaze had fallen to the floor of the alley.
"For her mental stability, you will have to hide the truth until the end of your days" Adryan finished speaking, Xio said nothing, she remained silent, still looking at the ground and the alley returned to its silence, only the sound of the carriages being being dragged by the horses and the footsteps of the people outside the alley could be heard.
After a while of silence and seeing that Xio did not move from her place nor speak, Adryan sighed and spoke again but this time in a much softer tone.
"I'm sure you did it with the best intentions for her, you did everything you could for her, you don't have to blame yourself for what happened" Adryan consoled Xio who remained silent.
"The pain you feel now is one you shouldn't be ashamed to feel, you are grieving too."Adryan continued and when he finished speaking Xio raised her head and looked at him, her eyes were red and tired but there were no tears.
"Will the guilt ever go away?" Xio finally spoke and asked in a weak voice to Adryan who only had a weak smile behind his mask.
"No, it will always be there and you will have to live with it but at least I can tell you that it gets easier with time" Adryan replied as he looked at the sky.
Xio also did the same, looking up at the orange sky that was already getting dark, after a few moments she closed her eyes.
The memories that had been torturing her all the previous nights reappeared but this time she didn't repress them but rather let them come despite how much it hurt her.
She saw when she first met Coin, how her mother tried to hit her with the broom for thinking that she had hurt her, how the girl asked her for help with her homework, the lunches she shared with the small family,how she went to their house and how her mother begged her to find her.
As she spent several days and nights looking for her to the point that Fors begged her to rest, she saw how she entered the house and finally found her...
The good and bad memories.
Finally after a long time she opened her eyes and looked at the almost dark sky of Backlund, she cried a little but she felt a little less heavy.
Turning to look at the masked man next to her she just gave him a weak smile.
She didn't know why she had told all this to the man who she didn't even know his face but maybe the fact that he had saved her life motivated her, also maybe it was because she needed a different approach.
Fors wasn't very good at comforting people...
"I needed that Mr. Holmes"she was truly grateful and Adryan smiled under his mask.
"Whenever you want Miss~" he replied, returning to Mr. Holmes's original tone.
Guys I'm not good at writing someone consoling another.
I tried to keep the essence of Mr Holmes, what do you think?