CHAPTER 22: FOG IS BOTH CHEAT AND LIMIT

A new day began. The rising sun illuminated the earth, injecting vitality and life. The city of Londan came alive. In the few minutes before sunrise, the fog that had settled overnight slowly dissipated, as if they had reached an agreement to never meet each other.

Wayne sat at his office desk writing furiously. Over the past two days, he had been looking into the pet shelter and following up on the story to make his dog happy. It had kept him so busy that he didn’t even have time to write in his diary.

He named the Doberman Do. Initially, he was going to name it Ado, but on second thought, he didn’t think it would be appropriate; the dog was too big to crawl under cars[1].

The pet shelter incident was more or less concluded. Several staff members were hospitalized with high fevers after getting attacked by Do. The public outpouring of sympathy on the first day made the revelation that they deserved the punishment that much more effective. The denizens were disgusted, especially those who had left their pets with the shelter before. They furiously threatened to teach those bastards a lesson at the hospital.

In response, the hospital superintendent spared no effort to treat their fevers and discharged them as quickly as possible. They could not stay at the hospital, oh no. How unfortunate that there weren’t enough beds for them.

The hospital’s response wasn’t reasonable at all, nor was it legal, but no one dared to criticize them when the public was still boiling with anger. No one wanted the public to turn on them instead.

Conversely, the outrage was also a great opportunity for publicity and image-building. Many council members joined in condemning the pet shelter for their poor management, earning themselves respect and support.

Londan now had an updated regulation for animal protection. The advocacy was bringing in funds. Wayne no longer had to pay for the headlines; plenty of people were willing to do that in his stead.

The night after the staff members were kicked out of the hospital, Do had a night out. She fell in love with the game of chase and had a newfound respect for Wayne. She willingly became his watchdog, dedicating her future to her master.

Having won over his first vengeful spirit, Wayne didn’t rush to find a second one. He didn’t have enough mana to support another servant. Raising two would very likely lead to an eventual rebellion.

That said, Do was actually quite low maintenance and required not much mana from him.

At night, she would merge with the fog, greatly reducing the necessary mana expenditure. To make an analogy, the dog was a considerate pet that understood their financial condition and thus hunted for food on its own.

Dogs would not look down on their masters for being poor. Were it a cat... well, cats usually didn’t care if their masters were rich or poor; they looked down on their humans all the same.

Anyway, Wayne had been busy during the day and didn’t idle at night, either. He had learned the correct way to handle a vengeful spirit.

Do became energetic at night, able to move freely whenever there was mist. Within it, Do’s speed, strength, and endurance would be pushed to incredible heights, and with the fog as cover, she could not only achieve invisibility and stealth, but also use magic-like superpowers.

The fog was both a cheat and the limit!

Once Do left the fog-covered areas—Londan, that was—Wayne would have to use his own mana to sustain Do, and the amount required was so terrifyingly high that it would drain him completely and still need more.

During the day, Do was listless and severely weakened, looking sickly as if it was going to become deader. Sunlight would also disperse the fog that made up its body, leaving only a bare skeleton.

He could use his mana to give Do her nighttime buff, but again, the mana cost was too great. He couldn’t afford to care for the dog during the day. Therefore, he only allowed her to be active at night. During the day, she dug a hole in the backyard of the agency and buried herself without needing her master’s orders.

At the moment, the vengeful spirit, turned from a wraith into a magical creature by the Book of Greed, was his most powerful ally.

***

Wayne made time to revise the report on Klofron and cut out all mentions of the supernatural, turning it into an unassuming record. Then he opened his diary and truthfully wrote down the praises his clients offered him, using a small section to praise his unwavering integrity and excellent professionalism.

Inspiration struck, and he poured words onto the paper with increasing fervor. When he finished the entry totaling around five thousand words, he felt like he could still write more.

It didn’t matter that no one was here to read it. As long as he continued to write and leave the diary in a conspicuous place, some day, a beautiful girl would discover his worth.

“Alright. There is such a thing as writing too much. Readers can get tired of me.”

Wayne opened the agency’s door, waiting for business to come knocking.

He was out of money!

To make his dog happy, he had spent all of his earnings from the young lady. His wallet had lost too much weight, and he faced the predicament of not being able to pay rent once more.

He didn’t think he had made a mistake. Money was meant to be spent when necessary. He was just unhappy with the young lady for not showing up to lift him out of poverty; he was so poor that he only had potatoes at home.

As he waited for clients, he unfolded today’s newspaper and browsed it, following up on the pet shelter story and reading about the strange recent happenings. As a detective, he had subscribed to numerous publications and developed the habit of listening to the radio. Now that he had changed classes to mage, he also started reading the gossip columns and weekly magazines, looking for hidden clues and truths from a mage’s perspective.

It’s all intel!

“Serial disappearances suspected to be linked to human trafficking. Victims are mostly young women aged sixteen to twenty-four...”

“Another technician was stabbed to death last night, marking the third vicious attack against a technician this month. Years later, the Ripper’s shadow looms over Londan once more...”

“Authority urges residents to avoid nighttime outings...”

He went through the columns with a frown. “God bless—no, Goddesses, please let these bastards run into Veronica at night.”

“Hm, the disappearances and the technician attacks both happened at night. The culprits are likely not part of the ordinary world.”

He narrowed his eyes. Time to let Do do some work rather than chasing the former shelter staff every night. Playing with those bastards occasionally was fine, but she would only be degrading herself by being too devoted.

“Wayne, I’m here!”

Vera’s energetic voice came from the door. Wayne looked up at her as she skipped and bounced her way to him.

He was disappointed not to see Veronica, and his disappointment was clear on his face.

Vera swung her fist angrily and snatched the newspaper from him, ranting as she read, “I bet the perpetrators aren’t ordinary people. They must be villains from the Free Mage Alliance, especially those dark mages who attack women for wicked blood magic every now and then.”

Wayne nodded in agreement.

“Let’s not talk about that. Do you know the recent headlines? The biggest pet shelter in the Eastern District shut down. It’s close to the warehouse areas—we went past it before.” She quickly flipped through the newspaper.

“I’ve heard something about it.”

“Those bastards. If I ever get my hands on them, I’ll break their legs,” Vera said through gritted teeth.

That won’t be necessary! Wayne shook his head. Kindly spare those men their legs, or Do won’t have as much fun chasing them.

“Right. Enough about terrible people. Why are you here today?”

“To bring you a gift!”

Vera put down the newspaper and lifted her chin with her hands on her hips, obviously asking to be praised.

And where’s the gift?

Wayne lowered his gaze. Right, she had quite the assets, not as impressive as Kristen's, but definitely more substantial than Veronica's. Although it wasn’t quite the gift he had expected... he would take it!

1. This is a reference to the Singaporean singer A-do and his breakout song, He Loves You Very Much, in which he sings about how he should be under the car rather than watching the woman he loves being lovey-dovey with another man. ☜