CHAPTER 27: CATHEDRAL STATION

“That’s the situation. Mr. Lando will handle the big shot after you. And you...” Veronica scoffed and said sarcastically, “I don’t know what depravity you were up to, Boss, but you better leave the city and lay low for a while, or you may fall asleep one night and never wake up again. Then I’d have no one to pay my salary to.”

That bad?

Wayne’s eyebrow jumped. He just disliked trouble and didn’t want to get involved with someone who had connections to both the underworld and the authorities, thereby falling into the endless cycle of everyone and their mother coming after him.

If the enemy came to his doorstep, he wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that he... he... that Do would take them out single-handedly! Come at night, and she would bury all of them in the detective agency’s backyard!

“The person may let you off the hook by my father’s request, but it’ll take time, during which you’ll be in danger.” Veronica seemed to have read his thoughts. “Don’t think you’re above regular people just because you’ve become a mage. No matter how fast you are, you can’t be faster than a bullet. What are you going to do if they send a sniper to take you out?”

He nodded. From seven steps away, a gunshot was fast; within seven steps, a gunshot was fast and accurate.

It was a shame that he didn’t know how to shoot, and it would be impossible for him to become a sharpshooter overnight. Otherwise, he would’ve armed himself with two magical items as insurance.

“Besides, the other side may have access to magic, too. There is no shortage of dark mages who will provide their service for a price,” Veronica said gravely.

She was right. Take the Northern District, where Vera’s home was, as an example. The fog there was much thinner than in the Eastern District, where warehouses and ports abounded. The main street, especially, was well-lit and entirely devoid of fog.

The Northern District wasn’t even the most wealthy, mainly housing the middle class. Things would’ve been even more different in Inner Londan, with the richest and most powerful people residing there.

He had witnessed with his own eyes what money power was capable of. The rich knew how to make mages do their bidding, or their families could consist of generations of mages!

“If you’re leaving the city, it’s best that you leave at night. I’ll take you to the train station. Mr. Lando has a manor under his name away from Londan. I’ll make the call for you to stay there temporarily.”

She scowled. It would be her first time bidding farewell to someone of the opposite sex at the train station, yet it was going to be Wayne. Ugh, she had held onto an elaborate romantic fantasy where she said goodbye to her boyfriend under the setting sun; her boyfriend would be waving at her on the train, and she would chase the train until they couldn’t see each other.

Then she remembered how she had put clothes on Wayne while he was unconscious, and her scowl deepened further. How would she face her sacred love in the future now that she had been tainted? What if her husband couldn’t get over her past, and their marriage fell apart as a result?

“You’re the best, Veronica!” Touched, Wayne reached toward her hands to hug them to his chest, but she dodged him.

Teeth clenched, she glared at the man who would destroy her happy marriage and hissed, “Pack up. Bring some changes of clothes and go to the train station with me.”

“Now? What about my owl?”

“Leave it with me. I’ll take care of it for the next few days.”

She told him not to bring the owl to the train. It would attract too much attention, especially from the other mages, and his trouble would only grow bigger.

Wayne nodded. While packing, he reached out to Do through the Book of Greed and told her that he would be out of town for a while; she should stay put for the time being and watch their home properly instead of marking territory outside all night.

***

Graveyard, somewhere far from the agency, Londan.

Thick fog made it impossible to even see one’s own fingers. Will-o’-the-wisps hovered in the air. Amid their cold light, trees brandished their twisted branches like claws.

A vengeful spirit in the form of a hound swirling with fog growled and conjured walls with it. Soul light gathered in its mouth before splitting into seven tiny particles; they were the children she had lost. Even now, Do could not move on, and she tried to use her power to summon her children to her.

Beside her, a tall, strongly-built ghostly warhorse snorted through its nose, breathing purple flames and wisps of black smoke. Its mouth was filled with crisscrossing rows of sharp teeth and fangs. Its incorporeal body, resembling Do’s, was covered in cold light, strapped in harness. And a skeletal knightly sword hung from its back.

The horse was Do’s new friend. Both being magical creatures, they got on decently well. The horse was teaching Do how to better use spiritual magic when Do heard Wayne calling out to her. She paused and said to the horse, “Julia, my master’s calling me home to keep watch.”

“Must be nice. My master’s missing...”

“Let’s call it a day. Once my master returns home, I’ll seek you out for more magic lessons.”

“What do you mean? Is your master not home?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why don’t we just move this to your place?”

“Will that be okay? You said that you had been waiting for your master’s summons.”

“It’s okay. I’ve been considering serving someone else.”

“How about my master?”

“I don’t really care. As long as they can draw this sword...”

***

Cathedral Station.

Wayne departed that night with Veronica paying for the ticket, and she had booked a seat onboard a luxury train for him. She huffed as she saw him off and huffed as she turned to leave. Her romantic imagination was shattered tonight, with her wasting her first goodbye at the station.

Not only had Wayne killed her imagination, but he had also borrowed two thousand sillings from her before his departure. Dancing on the grave of her fantasy wouldn’t even begin to cover it; it was as if he had dragged her shattered fantasy out of the grave and defiled it.

“Bastard, you better die out there and never return!”

Her pretty face arranged into a scowl. As she fumed with increasing anger, her grievances seemed to manifest as black smoke, visible from afar. She wouldn’t know how much she looked like a broken-hearted girl abandoned by her lover to an outsider.

A woman wearing a black dress hat passed by. With the brim of the hat covering half of her face, it was difficult to tell her age, but her delicate, fair chin and gently curved red lips suggested a real beauty.

She wore a black dress shirt with a long skirt, walking on a pair of black high heels. Her coat covered the curves of her figure, and only her calves were revealed under the hem of her skirt. They were elegantly shaped, the skin practically glowing like snow against the black fabric.

She stopped to glance at Veronica before entering the car Wayne was seated in.

“Edith, something comes up. I need to adjust my schedule. Cancel all my work.”

“I know. Let them wait!”

Not long after the train started, a pure black owl flew out of a window, vanishing into the night in an instant.