Chapter 185: Thieves

From her side of the story, she just had this huge chance that was presented to her. A chance at making her life better, as well as the people's lives around her. That huge chance just happened by. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. That was a naive story that was born from a naive thinking.

How would she make that easy money if she didn't have the easy information she had to give me? At first, she sat a distance from me, opposite to my side. She faced me with childish eagerness, smiled a lot, maintained strong eye contact, and only spoke with affirmative words. "Yes, I will help you." "Yes, I might know something about that." "Yes, I can tell you more about that." But all was in vain. Little did she know the investigation she wanted to work on with me was fake, for the most part.

The girl wasn't so naive. She didn't qualify for the job. The defeated girl quickly got over the growing feeling of desperation she felt. "Of course, I couldn't help..." she murmured. "Like, what do I know...?" That was evident.

"Sorry?"

"It's nothing, sir."

Still, she was well-determined to earn the coppers she needed. Part of her still tried to try to sell the "information" she withheld, but the plan B aspect of her plan was kicked into gear, too.

I mentioned that she professionally sat in front of me, at the beginning of our meeting. I had a handful of sheets neatly placed next to my hands, on the coffee table, seized them all, acted as though I reorganized them, and placed them back onto the wooden surface, in one pile.

My elbows on the table, I crossed my hands together and squinted my eyes at the young lady.

She was spread unevenly on the other end of the square, tiny table, and had buried her face into her arms. "Well," I said, "we did try. It's normal, you know. Both you and I might have been expecting too much of it all. Honestly, it doesn't even matter. I still have your aunt to interrogate, just as was planned; she will know something. Don't let it bother you, then. As was convened, if you'll allow me, I'll be upstairs to see if I—" I was ready to stand up, but...

Before she whispered one long childish moan of complaint, the maiden straightened her spine again and placed her hand upon her chest. "Let's review the case one last time." Her eyes almost pleaded to me. "Please."

"I... I mean... Sure, haha. If that's what it will take."

I gently laughed, but she started to irritate me. She wasn't even the last boss, yet, I had to spend so much time with her, keeping up my role as an officer investigator person, just trying to do their job. I still had handfuls of documents to sort through afterward.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! Sir!"

"Why, I should thank you for your help, haha."

We were ready to get back to it, but a third party let their voice be heard then.

"...Eh?" The kid brother.

The young lady looked straight into my eyes with a beaming smile. Self-satisfied, she was ready to get back to it.

"Bet y'know you're just disturbin' the young mister, sis'." And the kid brother was back to his toys, not minding any response from his sister.

Still, the young lady looked straight into my eyes, but I could see her beaming smile twitching with irritation.

I politely laughed and shook my head.

The second part of the young lady's, who was so desperate for coppers, unfolded. To starve was a tough thing. To have your kid brother, who still needed to grow by a lot, be starving with you was a tougher thing.

It lasted just a second, but for the third time, I got to see the dark, heavy look on the teenage lady's face. For just a brief second, the same dreadful face she made twice when she faced me: First when I, the stranger, announced myself to her house. And then, when she asked that same stranger about two linked things—did I enjoy myself at her aunt's workplace, and possibly, would I do it again?

A heavy expression that was half-filled with sorrow and half-filled with resignation. But the young lady's dull, lifeless eyes were quick to go away. She put up a facade again and had her first cup of imp's tears for the night. A cup that wouldn't be the last, for reasons only the girl knew.

I had had a few glasses. Liquor didn't affect me. [Resistance to Poison] helped. Well, maybe it didn't. I already knew that anyhow, so the constant positive status effect "Magic Remedy" didn't surprise me.

Liquor did affect the young lady, on the other hand. Going in and out of the kitchen, without her lamp, she sought refuge in the darkness. By the same occasion, she brought herself and her guest drinks.

In the five minutes that passed, I played at being detectives with her again, and many things happened. Well, absolutely non-important things, that is. Things that were entirely non-important to me, but very important to the young lady. Through the course of these five minutes, she gradually sipped more and more of the distasteful drink and worked her way closer to me.

The coffee table was a little squared plateau above the floor, and the young lady navigated by its coast. The goal was for the young lady to safely sail to her young mister. Be sufficiently intoxicated. Seduce the young mister. Be done with what she had to do. Then, earn a few coppers to afford bread and milk.

But fate wouldn't have it that way. In the neglected family of the neglected household, the young lady drowned before she could sail to me. She didn't have half a drink, but a few sips of imp's tears sufficed to take her far, far away.

Later, she would tell me about how that was the way her aunt told her she also forced herself with her first customers, easing the whole process. She knew that doing that with the first young mister she encountered wasn't the way to go, that there was a place and time for this, but I seemed kind and rich. Two qualities she wanted in a man.

She sat next to me. We weren't really reviewing any case, thanks to the state she was in. Then, she collapsed. For the second time, her face was buried deep into her arms, but this time, she didn't lift it back up and slept.

Unfortunately for the girl, I wasn't as pleasant a person as she thought I was. No, I didn't know about what she hid behind her whole act of tonight. No, I didn't know that, as I played a game with her aunt and all the other pieces of cloth, she also played a game with me. I didn't.

When her kid brother saw what drunk state his sister was in, left his toys, and quickly skipped to her to see if she was all right, I left her to him.

I had spotted them some time ago already. A group of two. Constantly tailing me from a distance. They hid well. Thieves, most likely. I couldn't pinpoint their exact location. Since they were, I decided to still patiently wait for them, and carry on with the game I was playing. I couldn't alert them.

"...I'll be upstairs, boy."

"Yes... sir. Thanks for indulging my sis', sir."

In the meantime, I could also wait for the whore to hit back home.