Chapter 174: Mrs. Lemuel's Commission

When he woke up, it was already half past six on Tuesday morning.

After preparing breakfast for himself and Mia, Xia De glanced at the advertisement section while reading the newspaper, and only then realized that in the more than half a month he had been keeping Mia the cat, he seemed to have never given her a bath.

But before Xia De could do anything, the orange cat, as if sensing something, finished her goat-milk-soaked cat food, then darted to the first floor of the house. No matter how Xia De called, she stubbornly refused to go upstairs.

And when Xia De voluntarily went downstairs, the petite cat dodged his hands, and when Xia De cornered her, the cat stared at him for the first time and let out a near-roaring "Meow~" at Xia De.

Light poured in through the first-floor window into this room that didn't even have a decorative wall. Xia De, squatting in front of Mia, showed a stunned expression, then immediately revealed a dejected one, looking at the cat he had kept for half a month with some shock.

"You actually to me......"

He opened his mouth wanting to say something, but in the end just slowly stood up and withdrew the hand that had been about to pick up the cat.

Standing there, looking down at Mia, his lips trembled once, and still he said nothing. First he turned his head, then his body, and with slightly heavy footsteps, walked toward the stairs.

Mia the cat stood in the corner watching Xia De's back. The cat's big eyes blinked twice, then immediately followed. The cat walked beside Xia De's feet, looking up with her big eyes, wanting to observe Xia De's expression.

"Meow~"

She called out softly.

Xia De stopped walking and looked down, bent down and picked up the orange cat, then his expression changed:

"Ha~ Got you!"

He revealed a happy smile, holding the orange cat by the waist with both hands and lifting her high. A man skilled at acting, even when performing for a cat, displayed excellent acting skills—this was the basic ability of an Outsider surviving in another world.

"Meow~"

The petite orange cat struggled twice but couldn't break free from Xia De's hands, so she stopped dejectedly. Fortunately, Xia De wasn't giving the house pet cat a bath today either.

Because he simply didn't know how to bathe a cat.

The people of this world believed that the animal "cat" possessed the ability to bring good luck; this was a cultural and customary view, and thus many oddities related to "luck" could be connected to cats.

Xia De's act of catching the "cat" this morning also seemed to bring him good luck. That morning, instead of waiting at home for the maid Xiao Gao Gao Jie Di Fa to come by, he instead waited for an entirely new client.

The advertisement placed in the newspaper last week had, after all, worked.

The client who came was a petite middle-aged woman; judging from her clothing, her financial situation probably wasn't good. When she nervously followed Xia De upstairs, Xia De was still guessing in his heart that this client had also come to commission something like "investigating a husband's infidelity."

But the situation was more outrageous than he thought.

"Detective Hamilton, the matter is like this. My distant relative Mr. Jonathan Lemuel...... how distant exactly I can't sort out either, I only met him a few decades ago. Mr. Lemuel has passed away, and he left me a large inheritance......"

The middle-aged woman sat uneasily on the sofa, her bottom barely touching the edge of the sofa, as if afraid of breaking it. She didn't reach for the tea Xia De had prepared, and after sitting down nervously tugged at the hem of her skirt as she explained her commission,

The middle-aged woman's surname was also Lemuel, but her kinship with the deceased Mr. Jonathan Lemuel had to be traced back to the Ceng Zufu generation.

"A few days ago his lawyer...... is that the word? I think so. His lawyer found me and said that after I signed, I could take Mr. Lemuel's inheritance away, but I'm very afraid this is some kind of trap. Sir, you know, the kind of trap where they trick people into signing documents and then take everything away at once."

This kind of trap was still relatively common in this era, but for the Outsider, in this somewhat unenlightened era, traps like "Ponzi schemes" were actually the most cost-effective cons.

Of course, Xia De wouldn't do such a thing. Even if he wanted to make money, he would earn it openly with the knowledge in his head. He had always considered himself probably still a "positive character"......

"Come to think of it, I haven't done anything illegal so far either, and the steam bomb wasn't thrown by me."

He thought to himself, then gently comforted the somewhat nervous woman, having noticed that she had never been to a place like this:

"So, what would you like to commission me to do?"

"Investigate that lawyer, the one who wants me to sign. I don't understand these things, not at all, so I need to find a reliable person to investigate the whole matter clearly. I can't read much, but I know a detective who runs an office in St. Delan Square definitely wouldn't be a swindler."

This was the innocent thinking of the lower-class citizens; they just couldn't imagine that while the fellow running a detective office in St. Delan Square might not be a swindler, he might be a foreign spy or a visitor from another world.

"Investigate the lawyer...... do you have any information on him?"

Xia De thought for a moment and asked.

"Yes, I have his address, sir, I only need you to confirm whether he really is a so-called lawyer. Oh, God, that word is really a mouthful."

The middle-aged woman, whose education level wasn't high, said embarrassedly, and Xia De shook his head to indicate it was nothing.

If it was just confirming whether the other party was a lawyer, that was quite simple. The rough way was to go directly to the door and confirm whether he was a Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi; if so, immediately tell the client to ignore the matter; if not, pull out a pistol and threaten the other party into telling the truth.

And the non-rough method—going to the door to chat with the other party, or conducting a one-day surveillance—these methods he could also do.

"Let me inquire a bit, how much is the inheritance you mentioned?"

Xia De asked again, and Mrs. Lemuel didn't have much wariness:

"About 50 pounds or so."

"That's quite a lot."

This wasn't an exaggerated metaphor; for the lower-class people, 50 pounds was a large sum enough to change a family's fate.

"Then what did Mr. Jonathan Lemuel originally do for a living, and do you know how he passed away?"

Xia De asked again; although this information seemed unrelated to investigating the lawyer's identity, it was relevant to judging whether this was a scam.

"I know, that lawyer told me."

Mrs. Lemuel recalled, but some details she wasn't clear on either:

"When I was in my twenties, I heard he went out to sea with a fleet to explore the new northern route to the New Continent. Later we gradually lost contact, and I only occasionally heard that he had joined a remarkable fleet...... That lawyer said he died in a shipwreck, and people later discovered the will he had left with his friend in Haigang. He seemed to have long anticipated that those who went to sea would eventually run into trouble. In his inheritance, the cash was fifty-three pounds, and besides that there were some personal items, a diary, collected books, and some strange little souvenirs...... oh, that was probably that poor man's lifetime of savings."

Although she wasn't close with the distant relative Jonathan Lemuel, Mrs. Lemuel still dabbed at her slightly reddened eyes with a handkerchief.

Letting Mrs. Lemuel calm down a bit first, Xia De deliberated over the details of the commission and finally decided to take it on.

After all, no matter what, investigating whether a stranger was a lawyer was only a day's worth of work.

As for the commission fee, because Mrs. Lemuel herself was a middle-aged woman whose husband had run off and who was raising children alone, Xia De didn't set too high a price.

When the two finally signed the commission agreement, they agreed that if that lawyer wasn't a lawyer, then Mrs. Lemuel, unable to obtain the inheritance, would pay Xia De a 5-shilling investigation fee.

If the other party was a lawyer, then Xia De would accompany Mrs. Lemuel to sign, and receive a suitcase of inheritance. After Mrs. Lemuel obtained the inheritance, Xia De would receive a hefty reward of 5 pounds.

This pricing method satisfied both sides, and when the client was about to leave, Xia De specifically asked which newspaper she had learned this address from. The advertisement had been placed last week, so Mrs. Lemuel must have been drawn in by some newspaper's commission ad.

"The Steam Bird Daily. I was worried about being scammed and didn't dare go to the detectives advertised in those small newspapers...... my neighbor, the kind-hearted young man studying art at Tobesk University, read me the advertisement; I can't read much......"

Mrs. Lemuel said embarrassedly, and Xia De saw the client downstairs, feeling in his heart that his debt to Miss Lu Yi Sha had grown even greater.

"At worst I'll just cooperate more with her research on 'The Little Match Girl'; right now I have no other way to repay her."

He thought as he watched the client merge into the bustling crowd of St. Delan Square.

Compared to when he first arrived in this world, Xia De could now be considered to have escaped the poverty line. Continuing to take on such relatively low-paying commissions was not because he was addicted to the detective identity, but because he had more in mind.

First of all, leaving the civilized world to head for the Saint Byrons Comprehensive Academy in the far north was something for much later. Before that, he needed to mingle in Draguirea, so maintaining a necessary respectable identity was very important.

Moreover, detectives could earn big money too, but that required the accumulation of countless small commissions, so looking down on low-paying commissions was a truly foolish act.

Not to mention that the way Circle Sorcerers studied meant that the correspondence-school academy-style Circle Sorcerers needed to have an identity within their respective areas of operation that could handle crises.

Therefore, even though he was no longer as desperately eager to earn money as when he had first come to this world, taking commissions was still very necessary.

Not to mention that Xia De was actually quite interested in this type of small commission; the outlander intended to use such means to see more of this unfamiliar world.

The client arrived in the morning. Xia De planned to use a full day of surveillance tomorrow to confirm whether that lawyer was a fake. Tracking the lawyer would start from tomorrow during the day, so he spent this rather quiet Tuesday elsewhere.

At around ten in the morning, Xia De took Mia out and headed for "Good Peter Pet Shop" on Purple Iris Lane, which was also where Xia De had first met Miss Beyas and picked up Mia.

The shop owner, who had a bulbous red nose, had a deep impression of this young orange cat. Seeing Xia De show up carrying the cat, he nearly declared on the spot that he wouldn't be taking any business today.

But fortunately, Xia De wasn't planning to leave Mia in the shop's care again:

"I want to know how to bathe a pet."

He stated his purpose, but the shop owner blocked the doorway, with no intention whatsoever of letting the man and the cat inside.

"Just wash it directly, what else could you do? Just don't scrub it like you're doing laundry."

In this boisterous era, complex and diverse pet service offerings had yet to develop.

"Then could you have it......"

"When this cat was in the shop, it was usually my wife and Miss Cindy who bathed it."

The middle-aged shop owner said, shaking his head rapidly, as if afraid he would leave the cat behind.

The cat in Xia De's arms still remembered this place, but it didn't seem to have a good impression of it, and now it curled up in Xia De's arms, refusing to move no matter what.

"Then are those two ladies in the shop right now?"

Xia De asked again, and the man answered without even thinking:

"No, they haven't been here for the last half month—no, the last year. They...... eloped. But actually, you don't need to bathe a pet cat that often; cats are different from people. Mr., just bathe the cat yourself, it's very simple. Once every three or even four months is fine; cats aren't actually that delicate."

Xia De strongly suspected the man just wanted him to leave quickly, but he also knew that Mia had left a very "deep" impression on the middle-aged shop owner, so after expressing his regret over the man's wife and female shop assistant eloping, he left the place.

As he spoke, the middle-aged shop owner's expression was extremely colorful, and Xia De even found himself looking forward to the scene on his next visit here.

As for the matter of bathing the cat, he still needed to think it over carefully.

After leaving Purple Iris Lane, it was about lunchtime. Xia De found a nearby restaurant, spent 1 shilling and 10 pence, and had a decent lunch with his cat.

After leaving the restaurant, seeing that today was still shrouded in thin fog, with the fierce summer sun unable to penetrate the fog layer, he took Mia and strolled toward the direction of the Prophets Association.

It was a very dull afternoon. After last night's heavy rain, the standing water on the ground had evaporated quickly, so much so that there was no sign at all that it had rained just over a dozen hours ago.

The outlander, wearing a long-sleeved outer coat, wasn't quite used to this city's climate, but fortunately the Prophets Association on Silver Cross Avenue was relatively cool.

He hadn't come for Luo De Pai, but to find Miss Annart, wanting to tell her about his recent contact situation with Miss Beyas.

According to the contact information left by the brown-haired female diviner last time, he first stated at the first-floor hall that he had come for a divination, then gave Miss Annart's name. But he was quite unlucky—Miss Annart wasn't at the Association right now.

The Association's management of Circle Sorcerers was relatively relaxed, not like the Church Circle Sorcerers who had to report for duty every day. And although Xia De knew Miss Annart's residence, it was obviously unlikely that she would be home during the day.