Free Web NovelChapter 2028: Chapter 2028: Detective Hamilton’s Summer
Of course, in his leisure time, Shard did not forget to visit his friend who helped him at Green Lake, referring to Captain Lades.
On the day Miss Galina and Margaret were assassinated, Captain Lades led a squad to create friction and conflict at the border, thus marking the closing of the second shot of the Green Lake negotiations... Shard fired the first shot. After that, Captain Lades was relieved of his military duties and temporarily transferred back to Tobesk City.
On the third day of the Sunlight Moon month, Shard took a bottle of wine to visit the captain at his rented apartment, only to find him packing his luggage.
"Good morning, Detective. Don’t be surprised, a new assignment has come down, and I’m about to leave Tobesk, I’m no longer with the army."
"What? So urgently, but..."
"Don’t worry, Detective, I’m now part of the navy.
He turned around, smiling as he showed Shard his newly received uniform, then let Shard look at the medal box on the cluttered table:
"From now on, please address me as Major Lades."
The middle-aged man’s eyes were bright, and Shard was happy for him too:
"From captain to major? Congratulations, from... the future address is—Major Lades. This is really not easy."
"Yes, it really isn’t easy."
Thinking about his ups and downs over the past two years, the once "Captain Eight-Guns" couldn’t help but sigh:
"My promotion and award aren’t under ordinary circumstances, so the military is letting me stay with the navy for a while. Next year or the year after, I’ll revert to the Royal Army, and by then, no one will care where I, the major, come from anymore."
"But the work in the navy should be different from the army, right?"
Shard asked, and the major nodded:
"Yes, I have a lot to learn, but this is already quite good. This time I’m sent to the West Coast to join the coastal patrol forces, which is reportedly a nice idle duty, spending more time at the docks than on a ship."
He turned and extended his hand to Shard, saying seriously:
"No matter what, Detective, I’m really grateful to you this time. Otherwise, I can’t imagine how a military officer like me, having once been captured and without any background, could obtain a major rank before formally retiring."
Shard shook his hand, with sunshine pouring on their tightly clasped hands, Shard shook his head:
"I’m still of the opinion that you chose the future yourself, I just gave you an opportunity. Until we meet again, Major Lades, I hope next time we meet in some foreign city, not just by looking up."
"Goodbye, Detective Hamilton, I also look forward to our next encounter, you are my friend forever."
He gave Shard a hug.
Major Lades took a train leaving the city that same evening, leaving in a hurry as he had come, taking with him seemingly just his orders and the new medal.
Shard bid farewell to this friend at the train station and watched the train departing for the West Coast, still reflecting on the impact of his presence and the influence he had on everyone he met.
After bidding farewell to Captain Lades on Tuesday, early on Wednesday morning, Shard indeed received a letter from Miss Mia Gold from a secluded town on the East Coast.
He had actually already packed his luggage and his cat, ready to leave at any moment. Receiving the letter that morning, he even planned to remind Luviya not to forget to water the flowers he kept on the windowsill while he was away.
But opening the letter at the breakfast table, Shard was struck by a bolt from the blue:
"What, plague?"
"Plague?"
At ten in the morning, holding that letter, Shard appeared in Miss Galina’s office at Yordle Palace. He sat on the sofa while Tifa poured tea for him, and Miss Galina spoke from behind her desk, reading a file:
"Which plague are you referring to?"
"Are there many plagues recently?"
Shard was confused by her:
"I read the newspaper before coming, only saw news concerning the spring flu. Miss Gold mentioned in the letter that while organizing the excavation of the old family pleasure garden, she discovered many frightening corpses not resembling humans, followed by a plague spreading across the town. This is different from the ancient town plague last winter; this time it is more terrifying. Now all roads to the small town and its surrounding area are closed, no one can enter or leave."
He was quite worried about this:
"The outbreak has already reached Astra City. Although I can still use the train ticket I bought, even if I get to Astra City, I can’t proceed further. I’m worried she discovered something strange in the garden, triggering the plague."
"Don’t worry, it’s not as terrifying as you think. Tifa~"
Miss Maid took a document from the table and handed it to Shard, and the Duchess continued:
"Since the beginning of this year, mysterious plagues have been breaking out all over the Old Continent and New World, but recently the situation has suddenly become more serious. The Tobesk Region is still fine for now because it can still be controlled, so in order to prevent panic, the newspapers have not reported extensively on this matter."
The report in Shard’s hand was from the Draleon Health Department about this mysteriously originating plague:
"The main symptoms are low fever, skin blotches, rashes, ulcers, photophobia, physical deformities, nighttime frenzy, hydrophobia, weakened immunity to other diseases, mental frenzy, and in some cases, blood thirst."
Shard quickly flipped through the documents and saw some black-and-white photographs, which made him frown:
"Is this a variant of leprosy? Or are the Vampires declaring war on the Church?"
"Oh, Shard, don’t think too much; the Church’s investigation shows that at least for now, this is indeed just an ordinary plague, albeit with some peculiar characteristics."
The Duchess behind the desk set down her files and looked at Shard on the sofa not far away:
"Your travel plans are likely to fall through. The regions where the plague has broken out are strictly controlled by the Church to prevent any other issues.
Since this trip has been postponed again, you should just stay in Tobesk. Didn’t you plan to rest well? Just don’t worry about these matters. Perhaps next month the plague in the town will calm down. I haven’t received any reports of the plague getting out of control in Astra City, so things are still within control."
Given that, the trip certainly had to be canceled. Miss Gawder described in her letter that the town had once again entered a state of emergency, and the townspeople had all been unified in refuge with the help of her and the town’s small church.
Even if Shard were to force his way into the quarantine zone, Miss Gawder probably couldn’t host him. And taking a cat to such a dangerous place was clearly not a suitable move.
Shard wanted to return home to write a reply to Miss Gawder but was kept by Miss Galina:
"Can’t you write letters here? You write now, and I’ll have the Maid send it out for you. It’s almost lunchtime, and you can accompany me for a meal. I’ll go book a place now. I heard from Tifa that you recently got a beautiful Pocket Watch?"
Miss Maid’s expression remained unchanged, and Shard immediately thought of Miss Adel Isabella’s Pocket Watch, only to realize that it referred to the "Night Light Pocket Watch."
Once again, being unable to visit Miss Gawder made Shard disappointed, but no matter how disappointed, he could only accept this reality.
Thus, leisurely life continued. After receiving Miss Gawder’s letter on the third day of the Sunlight Moon, Shard did not experience any adventures for the next three weeks.
Reading, studying, experimenting with Alchemical Potion, dating various ladies at home, at the racetrack, Opera House, mountains, and islands, occasionally taking on commissions to find lost cats and dogs. The early summer time seemed to slow down because of this, and the weather this summer indeed stayed at a very low level as predicted by the Chosen of the Earth.
Shard also recalled receiving a gentleman who had been waylaid by robbers on a snowy morning. After half a week of investigation, he assisted the police at Riddlevitch Field to apprehend a gang of bold robbers planning to rob the Draleon National Bank.
Shard also remembered walking a cat with Dorothy along the riverside street in the University District one evening, where they accidentally met a fan of Dorothy’s. After chatting with the lady living in the north of the city, Shard received a commission to investigate a haunted house next to her home.
Of course, there were no ghosts, but there were indeed Cultists sneaking around. Ultimately, with the efforts of Shard and Blackstone Security Company, the Cultists attempting to stir up rebellion in the northern slums of Tobesk were caught in one net.
Although a priest of the Tyranny Club escaped to the Coldwater Port Region before being apprehended and planned to hide in the New World, he was shot dead in an alley in the Coldwater Port Dock Area by an unknown person.
At that time, the dramatic Cultist case made headlines for two consecutive days in the "Tobesk City Morning Post," "Terael River Gazette," and "Kingdom Morning Post." However, the photo of Shard receiving the "Tobesk Model Citizen Medal" alongside the mayor of Tobesk was ultimately absent from the newspapers due to the wishes of himself and Miss Galina.
The Detective of Saint Delan Square became famous once again, making Dorothy’s "Hamilton Detective Stories" sell out again. Consequently, the generous Earl Fafner of Tobesk City invited Shard and Dorothy to attend a reading salon at his country estate, and Dorothy, discovering that many of her writer friends would be present, agreed to attend.
On that night when a sudden blizzard trapped 16 people in the manor unable to return to the city, they experienced a thrilling ordeal. An unknown gunman shot through a window during dinner, killing a poet, and continued committing crimes throughout the night.
By the time the city police hurriedly arrived the following morning, there were already four corpses in the manor and two guests injured by gunshots.
Among the four corpses, two were murdered guests, one was a servant killed in the afternoon, and the last was the murderer disguised as a servant. Shard, relying on the "Echo of the Past" and the fast-beating heartbeat he heard through the "Heart of Stone," identified the murderer after the second guest’s death, and even found evidence through the "Echo of Blood." But to avoid suspicion, he only secretly rescued the next two guests from being shot, pretending later to identify the murderer through meticulous deduction.
The murderer’s cause of death was having his head smashed with a chair leg after being caught. Everyone on the scene could testify that Detective Hamilton acted in self-defense and to protect his fragile female companion, Miss Luisa.
Later investigations revealed that the murderer’s reason for infiltrating the manor to kill was hatred for the manor’s owner, Earl Fafner. Further investigation discovered he was an illegitimate child of Earl Fafner, whom even the Earl himself was unaware of, and committed such acts due to his mother’s death and his dissatisfaction with his own Fate.
If Shard hadn’t acted in retaliation, the murderer would have killed everyone in the manor, forced the Earl to commit suicide, and forged a letter attributing all the deaths to the Earl.
This case involving the stormy manor, noble scandals, and detective stories spread throughout the city in no time, providing intriguing gossip for people enduring the cold summer of 1854. Editors at "Steam Bird Daily" even urged Dorothy to quickly turn the event into a story and publish it before the case’s popularity waned, but the Writer Miss refused under the guise of "respecting the Deceased."
She actually just didn’t want to rush her writing.
Although Lecia later joked that no one would dare invite Shard and Dorothy to vacation at a country manor again, Shard thought it was no big deal:
"It’s just an ordinary people’s case, not like I encounter Relics everywhere I go. This isn’t bad luck."
"Yes, my Knight, you’re always right. But I do enjoy your name frequently appearing in the newspapers."
"Why?"
In the Princess’s emerald eyes, Shard’s face was reflected:
"Every time I see your stories in the newspapers, it feels like you’re right by my side. After all, you don’t visit me often, so I can only look at the newspapers to know what my beloved Knight is up to."
Then she happily saw the guilty look on Shard’s face and knew she was going to have many sweet dates soon.
