The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 609: Enveloping the Earth

Anna wanted Lu Li to return. The fall of Ellen's royal capital was clearly just the beginning; like the destroyed city of Belfast, it was merely the first of many cities to be claimed. With Anna's protection and their other companions, the Elm Forest was the safest place to be.

Lu Li, however, wanted to travel to Waynford County to deal with the true forms of the spirits of defilement, Sarah and Adam. The outside world was growing more dangerous by the day, and Lu Li needed to finish all his business out in the open while daylight still offered some measure of safety.

"We can return to the Elm Forest, and then I'll go to Waynford County myself to finish them off. I'll take The Atonement," Anna proposed, not wanting Lu Li to take any more risks. "Besides, Lilia, Adamfiya, and the Mother of the Swamp are waiting for us."

Anna thought this would be enough to persuade Lu Li to return, but she had forgotten one thing.

"We should be together," Lu Li said.

Although Anna knew the rational Lu Li meant that her aura would conceal his humanity, the chill in her eyes thawed. She glanced away slightly and gave a quiet nod.

They took a map from their luggage and spread it open. Waynford County was in the eastern part of the Kingdom of Ellen, about 500 kilometers away—a distance equivalent to one and a half lengths of the Allen Peninsula.

If they didn't push the carriage too hard, they could reach it during the day, with an hour or two to spare before darkness fell. It was slower than Anna flying, but more reliable. However, the carriage was too conspicuous and could attract trouble if they encountered other refugees.

So they left it at Rico Farm, planning to retrieve it on their way back.

...Eileen irritably pushed aside the newspaper spread out before her.

The very first headline had ruined her mood for the entire day—and maintaining a good disposition in the shelter was a devilishly difficult task.

"Shall I read it to you?" Lulu asked.

Eileen lowered her head without answering, but after a moment, she finally nodded.

As much as she disliked it, she had to know what was happening on the surface. Glancing around the table, she saw that most of the people seated there looked mournful, but a few seemed relieved, grateful to be hidden away in the shelter.

A flicker of undisguised disgust crossed Eileen's eyes.

"Rylburg in the Kingdom of Ellen was also attacked last night, as were Manolok Island, Kandergin, Port Mattesayalen, Vinnelag... some towns have lost contact... the cities around the Tronmans Swamp, the cities around the Sahe Heights, Dellonas-Id, Flarand..." Lulu, sensing Eileen's growing agitation, skipped the remaining two pages of names. "They were invaded by anomalies and have suffered heavy losses."

"Have they already begun?" Eileen asked, her head still bowed over her bowl of oatmeal.

"With your permission, yes," Lulu replied.

Rustle...

Nearby, Tesla set aside his newspaper and began to eat his bread.

Eileen looked at him and, after a moment's hesitation, asked, "I want to send a letter to the surface. How do I do it?"

Tesla tore his bread into pieces and dropped them into his oatmeal, wiping a stray drop from his mustache. "It's impossible right now. The anomalies are rampant, so the shelter has forbidden all communication with the outside world."

Sending a letter to Lu Li had been a privilege granted to Tesla due to his status—most of the shelter's residents and staff had no right to contact the surface.

"We're like prisoners in here," Eileen said angrily, pulling Lulu by the arm to have her sit and eat breakfast as well.

"But for many, living in prison-like conditions is still better than dying on the surface," Tesla replied, scooping a spoonful of soggy bread into his mouth.

Tesla quickly finished his meal, stood up, and walked to the edge of the dining hall, where he picked up a pickaxe and headed for the exit. On his way, he passed two shelter employees, then stopped and turned to watch as they posted a notice on the communal board.

[A reception will be held this evening in the open dining hall. Shelter residents will be treated to an abundance of food and wine.]

Tesla understood the shelter's motive, and it worked. As people read the notice, the atmosphere in the dining hall, which had been thick with sorrow just moments before, began to brighten.

At least in terms of living conditions and freedom, it was a far sight better than a real prison.

...

The gray plain had a name—the Plain of Serenity.

At least, before the anomalies had multiplied, it had lived up to its name. But now...

From the edge of the Plain of Serenity, at an altitude of hundreds of meters, Lu Li and Anna could see a gaping abyss in the distance. It was nearly the size of a city, a chasm so deep that its bottom was lost to sight.

Guided by an instinct for self-preservation, Anna flew a wide arc around the massive pit, which spanned tens of kilometers in diameter. She had no desire to know what was inside, and neither did Lu Li.

"That was Rylburg, the third-largest city in the Kingdom of Ellen," Lu Li remarked, looking up from his newspaper. The city's designation on the map had been replaced by a terrifying void. Only the darker lines of roads converging on it like a spiderweb indicated that a city had once stood there.

"So it wasn't just the royal capital of Ellen that was destroyed," Anna sighed.

Humanity was being erased from the face of the world faster than anyone could have imagined.

They skirted the colossal abyss from a safe distance, unbothered by whatever lurked within—perhaps thanks to the daylight. Anna increased their speed, and by eleven in the morning, they had reached Waynford County.

Waynford County was one of a dozen counties in the northeast of the Main Continent. It answered to the Kingdom of Ellen, but like the Allen Peninsula, it had been granted as a fief to some duke.

"That duke's name was... I can't remember," Anna said. It was knowledge she had acquired when she was twelve or thirteen. "Where should we look for the Flarand sanatorium mentioned in the records?"

"It should be here," Lu Li said, tapping a point on the map that marked the town of Flarand, less than fifty kilometers away.

Anna glanced at the map on her lap and the compass in Lu Li's hand, then adjusted their course slightly and flew toward the still-unseen town of Flarand.

A little over twenty minutes later, the outline of a town appeared on the horizon, along with tiny, repulsive, and frightening creatures.

Blood Dandelions.

The blood dandelion that had fallen on Ellen's royal capital may have been carried there by chance. The main swarm had remained far beyond the Plain of Serenity, in Waynford County. Or perhaps these were new generations that had already multiplied...

The wind drove them onward, and clouds of the things—stretching, writhing, and tinged with red—enveloped them as they flew, only to be stopped by the barrier of Anna's aura.

Aside from reducing visibility and casting a bloody haze over the world outside, they didn't cause Lu Li and Anna much trouble.

But their appearance was not a good sign.

Because these blood dandelions were drifting from the direction of their destination—Flarand.

They could have originated there, or they could have been just passing through. Either way, things in the town below were unlikely to be going well.