Chapter 128: Xia De's Rhetoric

"Is that so?"

The young girl with long brown hair seemed to be observing herself through Xia De's eyes as well. She rubbed the golden ring on her finger.

Xia De had already mastered the technique of talking to Miss Beiya:

"Yes, and we both need each other. You seem to be a newcomer among the so-called Ring Mages of the Orthodox Church. You want to show your worth, so you need extra sources of information outside the Church, and you need reliable helpers and connections in this kind of city."

Xia De pointed to himself. He realized for the first time that he actually had such good eloquence:

"And as a detective active in Tobesk, I will sooner or later encounter dangers like today's again. I also need someone who can help me at such moments."

Instead, he took a step toward Miss Beiya. The other party stepped back instinctively, then felt slightly annoyed that she had been frightened by an ordinary person.

Xia De reached out his hand:

"Although today is only our first meeting, I am a clumsy detective at St. Deran Square, and you are a low-ring mage of the Church of the Sun. We both need each other's strength; this is a very good cooperation. And the beginning of cooperation is to keep the secret of what happened today for each other."

Iluna Beiya stared at Xia De. Just when Xia De almost thought she was going to refuse, she reached out and grasped the outsider's hand:

"You will definitely be able to become a very great detective, not because of your social circle, but because of your wisdom."

"Thank you, but I actually... Miss Beiya, if possible, please be sure to find the person who killed Mrs. Lawrence."

As he spoke, he looked at the carriage and the corpse lying in the alley:

"So what now?"

"Leave the corpse here; don't worry about it. We will leave immediately. Don't let the club's investigation get involved with the murder case here. Afterward, I will report what happened here through my own channels to the Church. They wanted to take us away, so they won't let anyone notice that we boarded this carriage."

Miss Beiya arranged things very skillfully, making Xia De suspect she had done this before.

"As for you, detective, I think I will visit you in the near future. I hope you keep your promise. Of course, you should also pay attention to your safety recently; many dangerous people have come to the city. Not long ago, a man under the moon easily triggered an earthquake in the southern part of the city with one move."

Miss Beiya seemed to have infinite emotion about this:

"When will I be able to have that kind of power?"

"This... I won't reveal your secret."

Xia De could only answer like this, and in this way, he wouldn't ruin Miss Annette's plan.

"However, when I take the initiative to tell her that I am a Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi, will I need to apologize for today's concealment?"

He asked himself in his heart.

Although the detective and the female sorceress were righteous, obtaining spoils after killing had nothing to do with justice.

Miss Beiya took away the "sword," while Xia De was allowed to take the coins from the two corpses. But unfortunately, neither the man killed by the Gun of Kindness nor the guy killed by the "Sunlight Spear" had the habit of taking all their wealth with them when they went out.

The loose change Xia De found on the two of them added up to only 3 pounds, 5 shillings, and 10 pence.

"I thought people like you who are like wizards would be very rich."

He even complained to Miss Beiya, who sighed:

"We are Ring Mages, not wizards, and gold pounds are never enough. This is the same for everyone."

By the time Xia De and Miss Beiya parted ways and he walked back home, it was already dinner time.

But on this day, he rarely played with Little Mia after returning home. Instead, he first pulled the curtains in the living room and, in the dim environment, carefully took out the envelope hidden in his chest.

Little Mia immediately darted over, thinking it was something to eat, but was immediately caught by Xia De by the scruff of her neck with one hand. Xia De, holding the cat in one hand and the envelope in the other, went to his bedroom. He still pulled the curtains and sat at the desk without turning on the room's gas lamp.

Carefully turning on the gas desk lamp, there was some light in the dark room. Placing Little Mia on his lap, he took the banknotes out of the envelope with both hands, licking his lips while carefully counting them, and placing the banknotes in stacks of ten under the lamp on the desk.

The elegant brass gas desk lamp wasn't turned to its brightest, so it could only illuminate the area of the desk and couldn't illuminate Xia De's face. The outsider watched his hands under the lamp, quickly and skillfully counting the number of gold pounds.

The small orange cat couldn't reach the desk on Xia De's lap, so it could only step on Xia De's leg with its hind paws and grab the desk with its front paws to barely poke half its little head out from under the desk.

It watched the man's hands skillfully flipping the banknotes. The cat couldn't understand the specific meaning of those pieces of paper, just thinking this scene was very interesting.

After counting the money and putting it back, Xia De leaned back, holding the cat, and sat in the dim room for ten minutes before getting up. He very carefully locked the envelope in the drawer and pressed several books on top of it. He solemnly put the drawer key into his pocket before leaving the room.

When he entered the living room, a smile finally bloomed on his calm face. He picked up Little Mia with both hands, held her high, and put her down when the cat was confused:

"Let's go out to eat together."

He stroked the well-behaved orange cat; life was really getting better.

Regarding the contact with Miss Beiya, he should have notified the female fortune teller immediately to confirm whether this would affect her "clever plan." But Xia De didn't know the fortune teller's address. Fortunately, he was going to the Prophet Association on Friday to do the final appraisal for 【Genesis · Silver Moon】, so maybe he would have a chance to meet Miss Annette at the association.

(Little Mia is running...)

When he woke up early Friday morning, the sky outside was gloomy, as if it were going to rain. So Xia De took an umbrella when he went out. As a result, just as he reached the entrance of Silver Cross Avenue, a light drizzle began to fall from the sky.

Under the rainy sky, the city was still shrouded in a thin gray fog, which was one of the reasons why Tobesk had the title of "Northern Fog City" in addition to "Pearl of the North."

Stepping onto Silver Cross Avenue, treading on the road paved with rectangular stone bricks, his mood was much better than the terrible weather.

The entrance to the Prophet Association was still crowded. Even without a weather forecast, it was hard for people to think about going out without an umbrella when seeing the gloomy sky. Limited by dye technology, most practical umbrellas in this era were black, but the prototype of folding umbrellas had already appeared.

A four-wheeled carriage passed by Xia De and stopped steadily at the entrance of the association. Police officers would also stop to take a look when passing by.

Taking advantage of the fact that the rain hadn't gotten heavier, Xia De merged into the flow of people at the entrance of the Prophet Association. Carrying his cane and holding his umbrella, he bypassed the carriage hanging the family crest with two wheat ears decorations and reached the door.

After entering the room, he wanted to go see the bulletin board located on one side of the door. Although he didn't need to sell the Rhode cards he got from Professor Manning for the time being because of his large income, it was good to understand the current market conditions.