Kapusky? I would have forgotten about him if Susan hadn't told me… Ebner thought for a moment and decided to intervene in this matter. Although Roman didn't know him very well, he was still a friend of the original owner. He didn't mind doing something that could be easily resolved.
Ebner organized his words and told Susan again what he had said to frighten Jane. Finally he said sternly, "Anyway, whether Mr. Kapusky intended it or not, his actions are likely to be illegal. You can't let Roman fool around with him again."
"So what do I do?" Susan asked, flustered by Ebner's tone.
"Just repeat what I just said to your mother. I believe Sergeant Fiona can handle this," Ebner replied with a smile. It was more reliable to report this to the police.
Susan nodded thoughtfully, feeling deeply that after Ebner Senior became a detective, whether it was his bearing or his way of thinking and handling things, he had changed a lot from before… In comparison, whether it was her, Roman, or even Custer, who had been admitted to college, they all seemed rather childish.
Later, Reporter Mike arrived as well. Ebner went forward to greet him and expressed his gratitude.
Reporter Mike waved his hand and said, "This is something that we agreed on long ago, there's no need to be so polite. Maybe I'll need your help when I go to some special places for an interview."
After the two of them chatted for a while, it was almost eight o'clock. Detective Isengard stopped waiting in the foyer and pulled Ebner to the second floor of the public dance hall. He stood behind the railing facing the door and signaled for the band to stop playing.
After all the guests looked over, the best detective in Backlund said loudly,
"I'm very happy that everyone can attend this ball. Thank you for coming…"
"I have prepared some music and food for everyone with Desi characteristics. I hope you guys will like it…"
Having said that, he made Ebner take a step forward and continued,
"In addition, I hereby formally introduce my student, Ebner Bryan, to everyone. He is already a detective who can hold his own. The case he cracked has even been published in the second edition of the Daily Observer…"
"He's still very young and needs the help of friends and peers…"
After Ebner also gave a simple speech, they went down the stairs to the dance floor on the first floor and prepared to invite the ladies for the opening dance.
Since Ebner had been pushed to the front of the stage, he was now the main character of the ball. Naturally, the opening dance had to be started by him.
Normally speaking, during the opening dance, the married master would definitely look for his spouse. Unmarried men and women would either dance with their relatives of the opposite sex or invite the person they liked. It was a different kind of blind date.
But Ebner had neither a suitable target, nor any relatives present, and it was a little awkward in this matter.
Fortunately, Ms. Fiona, the female sheriff of the North District, had gotten him out of the situation in time. As the mother of one of Ebner's classmates, she could be considered an elder. It would be appropriate for her to dance the opening dance with her. As for why not Susan? She wasn't at the age for formal socializing. She couldn't dance on such occasions.
The two of them entered the dance floor and began to dance to country music. When they were nearing the end of the opening dance, Fiona suddenly said in a low voice,
"Susan has already told me everything… You're very sensitive to these kinds of illegal events and handle them very well. You're indeed a detective who can make it into the mainstream newspapers at such a young age. I'm very assured that Susan is keeping in touch with you."
Why does this sound wrong? It's as if I have something going on with your daughter… Ebner complained in his heart, but he pretended to be humble. "You flatter me."
After the opening dance, Ebner followed behind the teacher and visited the invited detectives one by one. When he walked to Detective Zreal, the Feysac spy suddenly smiled and said to Ebner, "Young man, I have a commission in my hands. As it's very cumbersome, I don't have enough manpower. Are you willing to share some of the burdens with me? I'm willing to pay five pounds. If the employer is satisfied, I'll pay you another five pounds."
"Hello, Detective Zreal." Ebner greeted first, then asked warily, "What kind of request is it?"
This detective's five-pound request wasn't easy to accept. After all, one of his assistants had hired Klein for five pounds. In the end, because of those five pounds, Klein had no choice but to plot to kill an ambassador.
Furthermore, at this moment, Ebner had already recalled why he found Mr. Zreal familiar. Back when he had just advanced to Reader, it was this gentleman who had used a Disguise Spell to follow beside Kaspars as a backup plan for dealing with Beyonders who might lose control.
"This commission actually comes from the Church of Storms. They request to use the bridge district as the center to investigate who has suddenly gone mad or suddenly become demented in the past month or two. They also want to investigate who died from an accident due to the previous two reasons." Detective Zreal glanced at Detective Isengard before explaining with a smile to Ebner.
"Doesn't the population of these districts add up to a million? It's indeed a tedious job." After Detective Isengard said that, he shot a glance at his student. He roughly guessed what the Church of Storms, or rather, what the Mandated Punishers were looking for. However, he didn't like such a crude method of investigation. If it weren't for the situation being wrong, he would definitely have mocked them.
Suddenly going crazy… Dementia… This is a symptom of being contaminated by a Beyonder, right? In the past month or two… With this in mind, Ebner had a vague guess. The Beyonder characteristic of the "deduction student" that the original Klein had picked up couldn't have been taken from a certain death Mandated Punisher, right? The Mandated Punishers couldn't find the lost characteristic and were busy with other cases, so they hired people to investigate it? Unfortunately, the direction was wrong.
At this moment, after hearing Detective Isengard's words, Mr. Zreal smiled and said, "Therefore, regardless of whether the list of people the Church of Storms is looking for is on the list we have found, they will pay 100 pounds. If they find the person they are looking for, they will pay an additional 100 pounds." With that said, he looked at Ebner and continued,
"Don't think that I only gave you five pounds for the commission. After all, I only need you to help me investigate the bridge area. It has a much lower population compared to the other places."
Ebner thought for a while and decided to accept the commission. After all, it was very likely that he was investigating himself. Instead of passively expecting the Mandated Punishers to be exploring in the wrong direction, he might as well take the initiative to join in. Perhaps he could even mislead them at the appropriate time.
…
At the same time, in the dark bedroom of a condominium in West Borough, two figures were entangled with each other. Drunken moans drifted in the room.
Just as the men below were about to reach their peak, the lady riding on top took out a glass bottle from somewhere. Inside the bottle was a dark and sticky liquid.
The lady looked at the man with a twisted expression and took a deep breath before pouring the liquid into her mouth.
Right on the heels of that, a terrifying change began to happen to the lady's beautiful body. Countless pustules and black sores surged on her skin, and her beautiful face turned terrifyingly hideous.
But at that moment, the man beneath him suddenly began to twitch. An unknown force left his body and entered his body through the connection with the lady, constantly repairing the terrifying pus.
As a result, the lady regained some of her consciousness. She took out a syringe with a container from a mirror with great difficulty and poured the blood in the container into her blood vessels.
…
July 23, Monday.
In the morning, because he had accepted Detective Zreal's assignment to check the bridge area, Ebner left the house after lunch.
He was not in a hurry to investigate immediately. After all, if he really wanted the results, he could just hand himself over…
He wanted to take this opportunity to read some dossiers from the police stations in the bridge district to see if there were any traces of the Demoness. Due to the commission, the Church of Storms had already made contact with the various police stations in advance, making it as convenient for the detectives who had accepted the commission as possible.
Hence, Ebner, who had been reading the dossiers all morning, only arrived at his rented apartment in East Borough at two in the afternoon. There were quite a number of people at his teacher's house for the commission, so it wasn't convenient for him to participate in the Tarot Club without being disturbed.
At three o'clock sharp, above the gray fog.
Ebner, who had just regained his vision, saw the magnificent temple once again. He saw Mr. Fool sitting upright in the seat of honor, shrouded in thick grayish-white fog. He saw Justice and The Hanged Man, who were still blurry, appear in their fixed seats.