1336 Interaction
Backlund Steam Locomotive Station, Platform 3.
Alfred chatted with his parents and sister for a while before rus.h.i.+ng to leave the train during the gap in between. He came to the platform and said to his squire, “Give me an East Balam cigarette.”
If the past few years had any negative impact on him, other than his mental suffering and pain, he still retained a few bad habits.
After smoking plenty of East Balam cigarettes that consisted of spices and herbs wrapped in roasted tobacco leaves, Alfred was no longer used to the paper cigarettes that remained popular in the Northern Continent. He believed that they were bland and tasteless, as though they were liquor diluted with water.
As for cigars, he felt that it needed a good environment to slowly savor it. It didn’t suit his present situation.
Of course, his smoking addiction wasn’t too serious. A Disciplinary Paladin had a good enough const.i.tution and spirit to resist such influences. Alfred came to the platform to smoke because he felt that it was too stuffy in the train carriage. Besides, his mother often raised the issue of him not being married.
After the squire took it out and lit the East Balam cigarette, Alfred brought the stick that was nearly charred black to his mouth and sucked it deeply.
The strong smell entered his body, causing his spirit to jolt.
At that moment, he saw a blond-haired man who looked like a cla.s.sic sculpture walking over with his valet.
Alfred hesitated and smiled. He raised his right hand and said, “Hibbert, I thought you wouldn’t be returning to East Chester.”
It was Earl Hall’s eldest son, Alfred’s brother, Lord Hibbert Hall.
Hibbert drew a perfect smile and said, “I’m just a cabinet secretary, not the cabinet chief secretary. I won’t be so busy that I don’t even have the weekend off.”
In fact, he had no plans on being a cabinet chief secretary, either. His main goal was to acc.u.mulate experience at the various departments in the government and build up his own networks and resources to prepare for entering the House of Lords in the future.
Alfred took another puff of the East Balam cigarette and smiled.
“Happy weekend.”
After watching Hibbert enter the carriage, Alfred sensed that someone was looking over and was discussing.
“Why aren’t there any pa.s.sengers waiting for that train carriage?”
“It doesn’t seem to be full.”
“Haha, that’s a special carriage. It was pre-booked by an important figure for a large sum of money. I know that you might not have seen such a situation before, but you have to remember that this happens frequently in big cities like Backlund and Constant. When those important figures bring their entire family out, they will definitely have more than a hundred servants follow. Perhaps there might even be pets, so how can they squeeze in a train carriage with ordinary people…”
“Is that so…”
“I wonder who is this big shot?”
Alfred turned his head to look. There were dozens of people in gray-blue uniforms on Platform 2 who were quietly surveying Platform 3 across the empty tracks.
The distance between the two parties wasn’t small. If Alfred’s hearing wasn’t outstanding, he wouldn’t be able to figure out what they were discussing.
“They are?” Alfred turned to ask his adjutant.
He could only recognize that the uniform they were wearing belonged to a railway company.
The adjutant turned around immediately and asked the staff at the platform.
Soon, he jogged back and whispered to Alfred, “General, they’re train dispatchers from all over the kingdom. They’re undergoing short-term training in Backlund.”
Alfred nodded slightly and glanced at the Platform 2 again.
The oldest of the train dispatchers had white hair and the youngest looked to be in their early twenties. Most of them were middle-aged men in their thirties or forties with gray sideburns.
…
In the Sonia Sea, City of Generosity, Bayam.
Verdu carried his luggage, which didn’t contain many valuables, and boarded the boat at night. He left the harbor and boarded a pirate s.h.i.+p.
As a Sequence 7 of the Apprentice pathway, he wasn’t very good at combat. And even though Verdu had a mystical item with him, he was rather afraid of its negative effects. He wasn’t willing to use it unless it was critical to do so. Therefore, in order to avoid danger, he tried his best not to bring anything that would easily attract the greed of pirates which he didn’t trust.
The pirate on the deck glanced at Verdu and scoffed.
“There’s no need to be afraid. We always keep our promises. As long as you pay for the journey, we definitely won’t throw you into the sea. Here, it’ll be even safer than you taking a pa.s.senger s.h.i.+p. At least you don’t have to worry about encountering pirates.”
Seeing Verdu silent as though he appeared somewhat afraid, the pirate gleefully threw a key to him.
“The second floor on deck, the room at the end.”
Verdu caught the bra.s.s key and entered the cabin. He climbed up the stairs and headed down the corridor.
This level seemed to be specially prepared for the people who boarded the pirate s.h.i.+p for various reasons. Along the way, Verdu encountered a few pa.s.sengers that were totally unlike pirates.
Among them was a street girl who was dressed rather scantily, a middle-aged man with a protruding belly and oily faces, an extremely cold young man wearing a cloak and a top hat.
“Do you want to join me?” the lady smiled and asked when she saw Verdu looking over. She fluttered her eyes at him as she asked. It wasn’t clear if she was planning to do some business on the trip, or if she was doing business while happening to make a trip.
Verdu ignored her and withdrew his gaze before walking to his room.
That well-defined and cold young man also stopped at the entrance diagonally opposite.
…
Backlund, West Borough, 9 Bellotto Street.
“Come in.” Xio straightened her body from the huge, wide seat.
The door creaked open, and two MI9 members who were under Xio walked in.
“Colonel, we’ve found some information regarding the investigation of Utopia.” A man in a dark-colored jacket handed Xio a report.
Xio was startled as she perked up.
“What is it?”
The man in a dark-colored jacket simply said, “In the past few days, we took advantage of the free time we had from completing our previous mission, to visit all the pa.s.sengers in Backlund from that particular steam locomotive through our informants.”
Without a doubt, he was referring to the steam locomotive that had stopped at Utopia.
“Okay.” Xio nodded and gestured for her subordinate to continue.
The man in a deep jacket pointed at the report and said, “We have preliminary confirmation that none of the pa.s.sengers that successfully arrived in Backlund show any abnormalities. They’re in good spirits and have no problems with their memories.
“However, we discovered something: at that time, not everyone returned to the train. According to two pa.s.sengers, their neighbors chose to remain in Utopia.
“One was a lady who loves traveling and exploration. She has a deep love for foreign places. After witnessing the outstanding red wine, desserts, and unique Fizzling Ice Tea in Utopia, she decided to give up on her original plans and stayed in this small unique city for a while longer to discover even more wonderful things.
“The two pa.s.sengers learned about this when they were chatting with her. Not only did they share neighboring seats, but they also chose to stay in the same hotel. They met in the morning.
“That hotel happened to be the same one our intelligence agent stayed in. It’s called Irises.”
Xio slowly nodded and said, “Have you investigated the lady’s situation?
“What’s her name?”
“No, we can’t be sure if she has left Utopia,” answered the other MI9 member with a bushy goatee. “Those two pa.s.sengers only know that lady’s name is Monica, but they don’t know her last name or background.”
Xio tersely acknowledged.
“Your subsequent mission is to investigate this lady’s background, find her family and friends, and confirm if she has returned.”
“Yes, Colonel.” The two MI9 personnel saluted and left Xio’s office.
Xio read the report they had submitted and sighed silently.
Compared to her subordinates, she was actually closer to the truth of Utopia. She already knew that it was a ritual that had a certain connection with Gehrman Sparrow.
However, she had no way of reporting this news to her superiors for credit.
Without mentioning the origins of the information, Xio needed to consider whether Gehrman Sparrow was willing to let this news leak out.
Perhaps I can try contacting Gehrman Sparrow and ask him for his opinion… Xio tidied her desk in thought and left MI9.
After changing her clothes, she returned to East Borough and the bridge area. She headed to different bars, just like back in her bounty hunter days, to gather all sorts of information from different people.
During this process, she asked about Utopia in pa.s.sing, but no one had heard of it.
Finally, Xio entered a bar located in the Backlund Bridge area and sat on a high stool. She said to the bartender, “Anyone suspicious recently?”
“A lot of people are suspicious, but they don’t have any bounty,” the bartender replied casually.
Xio circled around this topic for more information, and when done, she asked according to plan, “Have you heard of Utopia?”
“I’ve heard of it,” the bartender replied as he wiped the gla.s.s.
Xio moved her gaze from the bar counter up slowly.
She looked at the bartender and asked, “Where from?”
“There was a guest who came earlier, and he controlled his drinking,” the bartender said indifferently. “I promoted our specialty c.o.c.ktail to him. He said that he has other things to do, so he could only drink a gla.s.s of beer. I praised him and asked where he came from. He said, ‘Utopia."”
…
Wendel had just finished his breakfast when the doorbell rang.
Through the peephole, he saw a police officer in a black-and-white checkered uniform standing outside. He opened the door in puzzlement.
“Might I ask what’s the matter?” Wendel asked politely.
This house was a place he had been a.s.signed to after coming to Backlund. This was because he would be staying in this city for quite some time, receiving internal investigations and monitoring.
The police officer was still young and a little inexperienced. He was only in his early twenties.
He forced a smile and said to Wendel, “h.e.l.lo, I’m Biles, a police officer. There’s a case that requires you to provide testimony in court.”
“What case?” Wendel frowned slightly.
The young policeman named Biles said with a polite smile, “It’s the Tracey homicide case in Utopia.”
“…” Wendel’s eyes widened.