章 23: Chapter 23: The Child of Lanevus
Chapter 23: The Child of Lanevus
Alice was feeling very confused.
She had been on her way to the Divination Club when suddenly, a horse pulling a public carriage on the roadside went mad for no apparent reason. Despite the driver's desperate attempts to control it, the carriage charged straight towards Alice.
Alice was so frightened that she froze in place. She felt she should do something, but her body was paralyzed with fear. She could only watch as the carriage rushed towards her—then it tripped over a pole knocked over by the scattering pedestrians and fell right in front of her.
Alice could even feel the gust of wind as the carriage approached her. The stunned Alice was met with the driver's apologies. She, still shaken, refused any compensation and left the scene.
But why did this thrilling and dangerous incident feel strangely familiar to her? It was as if she had experienced such coincidences countless times before—narrowly escaping bizarre accidents and death, yet emerging unscathed.
When Alice stepped into the Divination Club with this confusion, three people brushed past her. She felt a spark of inspiration as they passed, and instinctively looked in the direction they were leaving, but their figures had already disappeared around the corner of the stairs. She only caught a glimpse of a bonnet.
"Alice?" Klein noticed Alice's arrival with surprise and was the first to speak.
Unaware of anything amiss, Alice quickly closed her eyes and walked to the source of the voice, sitting down: "I didn't expect to meet you here."
This should have been Klein's line, but he fell silent—after all, it was perfectly normal for him to be here summarizing the rules of playing a diviner!
"You seem quite famous here, Mr. Diviner," Alice said, taking advantage of her inability to see Klein's expression, and started chatting with him with the mindset that if she wasn't embarrassed, the awkwardness would be someone else's problem.
Klein, who knew Alice's personality to some extent, decided to take control of the conversation: "Do you know? I just heard about a despicable fraudster."
"How despicable?" Alice asked curiously.
"He swindled over ten thousand pounds!" Klein's tone carried an inexplicable sense of indignation.
"…What's his name?" The amount stirred some emotion in Alice as well.
"Lanevus, his name is Lanevus," Klein replied. "Two of his victims came to me for divination just now. They have reported it to the police, who are taking it very seriously. Moreover, they are willing to offer a portion of the recovered money as a reward. Providing effective clues can earn ten pounds, and helping the police catch Lanevus can bring a reward of one hundred pounds!"
Alice was momentarily amazed by the generosity of these two people, then she asked, "But didn't he swindle ten thousand pounds?"
Klein's train of thought was disrupted for a moment. He recalled the conversation's logic and confirmed Alice's point: "There are more victims than just these two."
Alice nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "Didn't you try to divine Lanevus's location?"
"I wanted to try," Klein admitted his desire for the bounty without hiding it, "but there was no information at all. Even the name is likely fake, and there are no personal belongings… well, not exactly."
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Alice pressed.
"Lanevus's girlfriend is pregnant with his child…" Klein answered hesitantly.
Alice recalled the inspiration she felt earlier and the trio she missed. Her smile suddenly vanished, and she asked, "Did Lanevus's girlfriend just leave before I arrived?"
Klein was slightly taken aback. He didn't understand the purpose of Alice's question but was influenced by her sudden seriousness and answered, "Yes, those two victims came with Lanevus's girlfriend. They left just before you arrived. You should have run into them."
Alice then said to Klein, "We need a place where we can talk freely."
Klein received the hint, and that evening, they met above the gray fog.
"What do you want to say?" Klein asked eagerly.
Alice frowned and began:
"This afternoon… I encountered a carriage accident.
"The accident ultimately caused no harm, only delayed me, leading to me missing… those people you mentioned at the door.
"And when we brushed past each other, one of them, a girl wearing a bonnet… she must be Lanevus's girlfriend? She triggered my inspiration."
Klein didn't speak. He suddenly remembered the interrupted spirit vision he had forgotten to perform. He realized that something must be wrong with that Megose.
"Klein?" Alice asked, puzzled by Klein's prolonged silence.
"…This afternoon, I wanted to use spirit vision on her but forgot." Klein said softly.
"…" Alice pressed her lips together. After a while, she hesitantly spoke, "Maybe, just maybe, seeing her would be dangerous?"
"But what kind of danger could come from just a glance…" Klein didn't finish his sentence because he suddenly realized what shouldn't be looked at—gods or mythical creatures.
"That child…?" They looked at each other and said no more.
…
The next morning, they unusually went together to Dunn's office.
Under Dunn's gaze, Klein couldn't wait to speak:
"Captain, yesterday at the Divination Club, I met the victims of Lanevus's fraud. They wanted me to divine Lanevus's whereabouts. I told them I needed a personal item of Lanevus, and they suggested using Lanevus's child for divination.
"They brought Lanevus's child's mother, Megose. Megose's behavior was very strange. I wanted to use spirit vision on her, but…"
"But he forgot," Alice took over Klein's words. "Yesterday afternoon, I was on my way to the Divination Club, but I encountered a carriage accident. When I arrived, I just missed Miss Megose, and she triggered my inspiration."
After a pause, Alice added, "I also didn't get to see Megose."
"You suspect there's something wrong with that child?" Dunn clarified Alice and Klein's thoughts.
"Spirituality warned Klein not to look at that child, and fate helped me avoid seeing that child… Captain, what kind of child would be unseeable?" Alice posed the question to Dunn.
"Which district did this happen in? What is Megose's family's faith?" Dunn began his routine inquiries.
"Lanevus's steel company is located in the southern district. As for Miss Megose… her family believes in the God of Steam and Machinery." Klein answered.
Dunn then indicated they should go back first. He needed to consult with the Arbiter and the Heart of Machinery. Klein and Alice had to comply—after all, even if they wanted to sneak a peek at Megose, it would have to be done secretly.
(End of Chapter)
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