“Oh!”
Shade's physical fitness was simply too strong, so it was the other party who was knocked over. The stranger Shade collided with let out a cry of pain; if he hadn't been held back, he would have truly fallen to the ground. This wasn't because the man intended to scam Shade, but rather because he was simply too old.
“Sorry.”
Shade looked up slightly to apologize, and the elderly gentleman he had bumped into shook his head, saying it was nothing.
Shade's pupils contracted slightly. The elderly gentleman before him, who seemed to want to avoid drawing attention, was actually an acquaintance—the Cassenrick linguist residing on the fourth floor of the Sicar Hotel, Professor Rule Higgins, whom he had just thought of an hour ago.
Without letting his inner surprise show, Shade helped Professor Higgins pick up his fallen hat and continued walking forward.
【Aren't you curious?】
“Of course I am.”
Despite saying this, Shade still didn't turn his head
“Help me check if he stopped at the entrance of Warehouse Eighteen.”
【No, he continued walking forward.】
“Cautious as expected.”
Shade turned right and entered an alley that connected to Punjab Street. He stood in the alley and counted to thirty; by the time he stepped back out, Professor Higgins was no longer visible on the street.
He called over a young newsboy and bought a copy of this morning's *Sicar Morning Post*. Then, he entered a street-side tobacco shop, thinking of buying some pipe tobacco for the priest as a thank-you for the occult arts provided. Incidentally, he could also arrange a meeting with Father Augustus this Sunday.
This Sunday, Shade would go with Sister Devlin to meet the boy who was said to be able to see through death. After meeting Father Augustus, he could have Luvia use two or three coins to divine whether he had truly encountered a Chosen one that day.
Although the suspects were still limited to three people, it also meant he could determine if his current guesses were correct.
After all, they didn't have enough spare coins to test them one by one.
While shopping in the tobacco store, Shade continued to observe Warehouse Eighteen diagonally opposite through the shop window. Sure enough, about twenty minutes later, Professor Higgins—using movements almost identical to Shade's earlier—pressed down his hat and slipped out of the warehouse door, then walked along the wall toward the street corner without looking back.
This proved Shade's guess correct: Professor Higgins was also a member of the Grey Gloves. And compared to twenty minutes ago, he now held a black leather briefcase in his hand.
“Picking up goods, and it's just a briefcase? What could possibly fit in there?”
Shade thought in surprise. He stopped chatting with the shopkeeper about the great earthquake, paid for the tobacco, and walked out of the store with the newspaper. By now, Professor Higgins had walked far, but if Shade wanted to pursue, he could still catch up before the man boarded a carriage or turned a corner at the next intersection.
【So, are you going to chase him?】
This time, Shade didn't say he wasn't interested. Before the actual goods appeared, he didn't want to contact them himself and invite trouble. But now the goods had appeared, and it seemed to be just a briefcase.
He was indeed curious about what it was, but he was still weighing whether following him would bring other troubles.
“However, there was no more intelligence inside that fountain pen. How did Professor Higgins know the location and time of the warehouse?”
After hesitating for a moment, Shade chose to follow. If the professor headed straight for the train station to leave the Kingdom of Delarion, Shade would act as if he knew nothing. But if the professor returned to the hotel, Shade would decide based on the situation whether to see what was inside that briefcase.
“It's four o'clock in the afternoon. Regardless of what happens, I must leave Midhill Castle before five-thirty. That way, I can reach Quill Street by six-thirty, ask Dorothy out for dinner, and tell Lacia about the quantity of goods in the warehouse.”
Having made his arrangements, Shade walked briskly forward and caught up with Professor Higgins' figure.
In truth, for this Cassenrick agent, the safest method would be to take the briefcase and immediately return to the Cassenrick United Kingdom at the southern foot of the Rommel Mountains. However, he didn't choose to do that; instead, he actually returned to the Sicar Hotel.
Shade intentionally lingered behind for five minutes before entering the Sicar Hotel. He had thought the professor would have already returned to his room on the fourth floor, but to his surprise, the man was sitting in a corner on the first floor, talking to a strange man while holding the briefcase.
The stranger looked to be around thirty years old, with blonde hair clinging tightly to his scalp and very pale skin—the kind of pale that looked unhealthy. He wore a somewhat dirty black coat, and his boots were covered in mud.
The moment Shade saw him, red blood-qi almost immediately rose from the man, subsequently condensing above his head into a symbol of a small, blood-red bat that could even be described as cute.
Only Shade could observe this scene. He felt a slight surprise before realizing that this was a new effect added to the 【Blood Echo】 given to him by the God of Vampires during the last banquet—the ability to easily identify vampires.
“This method of identification is truly simple.”
Shade glanced again at the small bat symbol floating above the man's head, then walked to the counter to order drinks. The shopkeeper, Mr. Tyles, naturally remembered "Mr. John Watson" who had helped settle things with the police; he greeted him familiarly and recommended today's special wine.
At this moment, Shade roughly understood how Professor Higgins had obtained the intelligence regarding the warehouse.
Whether vampires belonged to the undead race was still a matter of debate in the circle of Ring-Wizards, but they were indeed skilled in abilities like spiritualism. Therefore, if Professor Higgins could find a way to break into the police station and steal the fountain pen, he could certainly find a way to have a vampire help him commune with a corpse.
“Speaking of which, the Deputy Chief of Police did say that on the night the pen was stolen, the corpse shot on the fourth floor had also been tampered with. So it was spiritualism... how interesting. Could this professor have contacted vampires through the uncle and nephew living on the fourth floor? Or do the Grey Gloves themselves have connections with the local vampire population?”
Speculating in his mind, Shade sat by the counter, chatting sporadically with the shopkeeper Mr. Tyles about yesterday's earthquake in the mountains. He planned to wait until Professor Higgins finished talking with the strange vampire, then use 【Echoes of the Past】 to try his luck and eavesdrop on their conversation.
But the conversation between the professor and the vampire was not harmonious. After a short while, the two had a dispute. The pale man who looked quite destitute suddenly stood up and shouted
“This won't do! You promised me 200 pounds! If you don't pay now, don't even think about leaving!”
(End of Chapter)