The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 120: On the Road

The detective agency had grown livelier. Not that it had ever been truly silent, but with the arrival of Anna and the unremarkable sculpture, the word "quiet" had become entirely out of place.

Piles of supplies now covered the agency's main table, a carriage waited outside, and Anna was still bustling back and forth, carrying out anything she deemed essential for the trip: several books, a water flask, a spare torch like the ones all residents kept, two oil lamps, a few pounds of kerosene, and the portrait she could retreat into.

Lu Li didn't stop her. He knew many people enjoyed this kind of pre-travel ritual, the pleasant deliberation over what to bring and the nagging worry of forgetting something. This continued until Anna decided to empty her entire wardrobe.

"Tenebrae isn't far," Lu Li remarked, watching her calmly. "We'll set out tomorrow morning and should be there by evening."

Anna, her hand on the wardrobe door, froze. "So, just one outfit then...?" she asked uncertainly.

Lu Li raised his eyes, considered her for a few seconds, and then answered, "You can."

With his approval, Anna joyfully dove back into the wardrobe, retrieved a set of clothes, and tossed it onto the table.

The flurry of activity continued for half an hour, perhaps longer. When Anna finally finished her preparations, Lu Li delivered the disappointing news: they wouldn't be leaving until the next morning.

"It's already past noon. If we leave now, we'll be traveling more than half the way in darkness."

While it was safe enough in the light, there was no guarantee they wouldn't run into trouble at night. A distance of 80 kilometers wasn't immense, but the journey wouldn't be as simple as the trip from Belfast to the Sentry Post. Every journey carried its own risks, especially one undertaken after dark. Lu Li had no intention of taking any unnecessary chances.Anna had no choice but to accept it. It was a good thing she didn't need to sleep; otherwise, she would have been tossing and turning all night in anticipation.

Utterly spent from the excitement, Anna waved a hand at Lu Li and floated into the portrait she had placed on the table.

After she had gone to rest, Lu Li stood up and put away the superfluous items she had gathered, such as the extra pounds of kerosene. He was going to Tenebrae to deal with the Bloody Tentacles, not to open a general store.

By the time Lu Li finished packing, dusk had begun to fall. He lit a lamp, went to the bakery for his dinner, and ate in silence. Afterward, he took out the trash, filled a basin with water-soaked beans, and went outside to feed the horse. The carriage yard had provided the beans, likely hoping to secure Lu Li as a new client. Since this rental was for an extended period, they had supplied enough feed for the entire trip.

Having tended to the horse, Lu Li returned to the detective agency, quietly clicked the lock shut, and walked past the sculpture by the door, only to stop.

He had remembered something.

Regardless of how things went, they wouldn't be able to return in a single day. Lu Li stood before the sculpture, which hadn't seemed to move an inch since its arrival. He studied it in silence for a moment before speaking. "While we're gone, the agency is in your care."

He waited a few more seconds, but the sculpture gave no response. Lu Li turned and, rolling up his sleeves, headed for the kitchen. Soon, the sound of running water echoed from within.

After washing up, Lu Li returned to the desk. The night was quiet. He sat, lost in thought for several minutes, then laid his head down on the table and, under the dim glow of the oil lamp, fell asleep.

Time drifted by. A dog barked somewhere down the street. The flame in the lamp flickered from time to time, its dancing shadows making the sculpture seem almost alive.

Sometime near midnight, a translucent silhouette floated out of the portrait. Anna stretched her arms as if yawning, about to say something, but when she saw Lu Li asleep at the desk, she quickly covered her mouth.

Her movements became even quieter.

Anna drifted over to Lu Li, took the cloak hanging on the back of his chair, and gently draped it over him. Her clear eyes rested on him for a long moment. Assured that he hadn't stirred, she flew over to the table, picked up a half-read book from the neatly arranged pile, and opened it to the bookmarked page.

She lowered her head, strands of her hair falling over the book. Anna became absorbed in her reading, though she would occasionally lift her gaze to look at Lu Li, a faint smile touching her lips before she returned to the pages.

The only sound in the room was the soft rustle of turning pages.

At some point, Anna noticed the room growing brighter. Thinking the lamp was running out of kerosene, she looked up and saw the first light of dawn breaking through the window.

Morning was coming.

Anna closed the book she was halfway through, stretched, and suddenly realized Lu Li was awake and watching her.

"Oh..." Anna gasped, embarrassedly lowering her arms. "When did you wake up?"

"Just as you noticed it was getting light," Lu Li replied, sitting up straight. His gaze fell to the cloak that had slipped from his back. When he looked at Anna again, he saw she was staring at him strangely—more specifically, at his hair.

"What is it?" Lu Li asked, tilting his head.

"N-nothing..." Anna covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head. "Nothing."

Lu Li raised a hand and felt his hair, discovering a rebellious lock sticking straight up.

"Is my hair sticking up?" Lu Li asked. Anna nodded. He smoothed the stray lock down, but the moment he removed his hand, the stubborn black hair popped right back up.

"Pfft..."

Amused, Anna couldn't hold back her laughter.

"Go wash your face," she said with a wave of her hand.

Lu Li lowered his hand and shook his head.

"There's no time. I'll just wash my hair."

He stood, went to the kitchen, and returned a moment later, toweling his wet hair dry.

The sky had not yet fully brightened, but a few early risers were already on the street.

Anna prepared the feed for the horse. Lu Li loaded their belongings into the carriage, fed the animal, and went back inside the agency for a sheet of paper on which he wrote: "Temporarily away. Agency closed."

"What if that baroness comes by?" Anna asked, thoughtfully rubbing her chin.

Lu Li, who was about to cap his pen, paused. Then he added another line at the bottom:

"If you wish to leave any valuable gifts, you may slide them under the door."

"There."

Capping the pen, Lu Li went into the hallway and affixed the notice to the door. Returning to the agency, he donned his cloak, picked up the lamp from the table, and he and Anna stepped outside.

Click.

The door swung shut. The last sliver of lamplight vanished, and the room was plunged into darkness.

At six in the morning, the sky was overcast, the day just beginning to break. Everything in the room fell still.

Here, the dawn arrived in silence.