The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 729: The Route and Traces of the Shadow Maiden

The people from the shelter had been sent to Vinnelag.

This was devastating news for Katerina.

The Wastelands were rife with danger; even the best hunters rarely traveled between the "islands" of civilization. Katerina could barely manage the journey to Midnight, located within the Gloom Wastes.

But to travel to another continent?

To cross the Anomaly-infested Wastelands, leave the Gloom Wastes, traverse the Shard Abyss and the World Rift, then sail across the Sinking Sea to reach Vinnelag—

Everyone has their dreams: to become a proper citizen, to live comfortably, or to travel to a place they long for.

Vinnelag was clearly one of those places for Katerina. She hoped to one day see the famous port city of the Age of Anomalies—but that was just a dream.

A transcontinental journey to Vinnelag was far beyond Katerina's capabilities. Even a trip to a small town near Mantistown, right here in the Gloom Wastes, demanded immense resolve.

One had to be prepared to simply vanish into the endless Wastelands.

Katerina seemed lost in thought, falling silent.Lu Li, who had been listening, finally asked, "Do you have a map?"

He still didn't know where he was.

"Of course," Krot managed a smile. Trading in maps was always lucrative. "What kind are you looking for? Mantistown, Midnight, the nearby towns, or the Gloom Wastes?"

"Maps marking the hazardous zones are extremely expensive," Katerina cautioned Lu Li.

"Then let's trade information instead."

But what Lu Li needed wasn't what Katerina and Krot were thinking of.

"These are the Wastelands," Lu Li explained, dipping a finger in a nearby water barrel and tracing a rough outline on the table. He looked up at Krot. "Where is Mantistown?"

"Two shillings..." Krot stated his price. Had this been a more generous client, he might have offered the tidbit for free. With a sigh, he stood on tiptoe and jabbed a stubby finger at the western edge of the drawing. "We're here."

The Old Riverbed Plain, he thought. The place where he'd fallen into the chasm.

"And where is this?"

Lu Li pointed to a spot about a handspan from Mantistown.

Krot's expression brightened slightly. "Four shillings... That's the Brink of Silence, where the Calamity, Silence, resides."

It's still there.

Lu Li wanted to ask why no one had tried to deal with Silence, but that could expose his identity, so he held his tongue.

"I need a route to Midnight, not a full map."

It was Katerina who spoke.

A full map was more detailed, but also far more expensive.

She planned to try her luck in Midnight first. Perhaps the church or the nobility there would take an interest in Lu Li.

Mantistown was too small, and too many people knew her; keeping secrets there would be difficult.

"Twenty-five shillings, and I'll need to see the coin first." A deal this large meant Krot wasn't offering any credit.

"Of course..." Katerina replied, her expression pained. She pulled shillings from a pouch in her leather armor and counted out twenty-five coins.

She could have gotten a route map on the black market for a little over ten shillings. But black market intelligence was often unverified and unreliable—a huge risk. An information broker like this, while more expensive, was a safer bet.

After all, no one would betray a source of steady income.

Lu Li watched. If his few hundred shillings hadn't been ruined by the water, he could have easily afforded such a luxury.

Krot took the money and, with a satisfied grunt, began to sketch out the route map for Katerina.

"Any requirements? The shortest route or the safest?"

"Safe and short."

"Of course... of course..."

The room fell silent, save for the sound of their breathing and the scratching of the pencil on paper.

And the high-pitched screams that had resumed in the corridor beyond the door.

"Done. I guarantee this is the safest path to Midnight."

Krot handed the map to Katerina and muttered, "This route will help you avoid the Ghoul Nest and the Screaming Corridor. Once you reach the City of Phantoms, enter the Old Sewer. Midnight is at the other end."

"The Old Sewer?" Katerina looked at Krot with disbelief. "It's crawling with mutants and the distorted. You call that safe?"

"Safer than the surface," Krot retorted, giving Katerina a skeptical look. "I take it you haven't heard that a flock of Flying Jaegers has occupied the eastern approach to Midnight?"

"Of course I know," Katerina shot back, shutting down any attempt by Krot to charge for that tidbit of information.

"Damn it, you really didn't know," Krot muttered in annoyance.

Krot's physical deformities clearly hadn't affected his shrewdness. The dwarfish information broker had used a potentially worthless piece of news and a simple trick to make Katerina feel better about the money she'd spent.

"I have a question," Lu Li said.

"What is it?" A fresh pang of regret over the spent shillings shot through Katerina. "I don't have much left..."

Hunters had a hard time saving money; most didn't even bother trying.

"It's very important," Lu Li said simply.

"How important?"

Lu Li paused for a moment before answering. "It's about my family."

"As long as the price isn't too steep," Katerina conceded.

"No, I think I can pay," Lu Li replied. He pulled out a faceted, matte stone and held it out to Krot. "Is this Anomaly Currency?"

The dozen eyes in Krot's left socket quivered, shrinking and shifting in their cluster. He reached out a stubby hand to take it, but Katerina snatched it away first.

"A hundred and eighty shillings! No... I'll give you two hundred!" Krot exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement. "Just sell it to me!"

Krot's offer only made Katerina more determined not to part with the valuable currency. "I have shillings to pay for the information."

"Two hundred and thirty shillings!"

"If you keep trying to buy it, I won't be buying any information," Katerina threatened.

Krot had to suppress his craving for the Anomaly Currency. "What do you want to know?" he asked grudgingly.

The words had barely left his lips when a church bell suddenly began to toll outside.

The high-pitched screams in the corridor vanished in an instant.

The tolling of the bell continued for a few seconds, then faded.

"That's Silence. What a nuisance," Katerina grumbled under her breath, then urged Lu Li, "Ask your question, quickly. We don't have much time."

Lu Li turned to Krot. "Do you know of an evil spirit called the Shadow Maiden?"

"The Shadow Maiden?"

Krot considered this for a moment. Suddenly, all dozen eyes in his socket swiveled to focus on Lu Li. "I remember now... Fifteen shillings."

Ignoring Katerina's pained expression, Lu Li nodded, accepting the price.

"There's a saying on the Main Continent," Krot recalled, his voice turning shrill. "In the Hillerwig Mountains, no one can kill a cat."

"Why?"

Just then, the tolling of the church bell, which had been fading, rang out a second time.

Krot glanced out the window, shook his head, and refused, "Silence is here. We'll talk next time."

Silence permitted noise, but not speech.

The tolling faded, and the entire town was abruptly plunged into an eerie quiet.

Every other sound remained, but the sound of conversation had vanished into the stillness.

Lu Li dipped his finger into the water again and wrote on the tabletop.

"Write it down."