"I have more experience than you, I have more authority than you, I am your guide!"
"You should be the assistant!"
"You can just tell him straight away. I don't mind."
Hitzfeld acted as if he was a dead pig that was not afraid of boiling water.
Anyway, these titles such as strange person, famous young girl detective, etc.... were all made up by these people.
She doesn't mind the work.
If you have the guts to tell your employer that this is all fake, go ahead and do it.
Darent was so angry that his teeth itched.
But he really couldn't do anything about the current situation.
The main purpose of their trip was to find Dr. Dante Blum and see if Hitzfeld's insomnia could be cured.
Don't forget that Hitzfeld was originally supposed to stay in Flo Street and wait for a possible summons from the capital.
So this is a private trip.
The goal is to find Dante Bram.
The reason was to accept Mickey Gebrina's commission.
If he said that he was the detective, there would be even the slightest possibility that Gebrina would give up the commission and be unwilling to find them to go to the town of Barvik.
Then Darent could only take the girl back and wait until she had completed the review process at Shadow Lion before they could act together.
……
The group's goal was very clear.
They took a train from the northern railway station of Blackwood City to Port Wayne and caught the last train to Middle-earth City before 10 o'clock that night.
So Hitzfeld spent this week's Eternal Night on the train.
Darent had said that this was a tour at his own expense, and indeed it was. He paid for the tickets and travel expenses, and judging by the generosity with which he paid, it was probably not his original money.
There were two berths, one for Darent and Gebrina, and one for Hitzfeld and a strange woman.
The woman was about 30 years old, had her hair in a bun, wore glasses, and was of medium build.
She was dressed in jewels and precious stones. She was wearing a felt coat that was obviously not cheap, a scarf that seemed to be made of fox fur, and high-heeled boots. When she took off her clothes and lay down, Hitzfeld saw that she was wearing black stockings underneath.
"What are you looking at?"
Sensing the gaze, the woman snorted in disdain.
"There's a police officer on the train, you'd better behave yourself and don't cause any trouble!"
After saying this, she took a small brown leather bag with a shiny luster to the bed, obviously to guard against Hitzfeld.
Sure enough, this is how a normal person should react.
Hitzfeld was delighted.
She asked the woman, "Are you going to Barvik?"
"Nothing to do with you."
"If you want to buy blood-veined gold there, then I'm afraid it must be related to me."
"...???"
The woman's body stiffened for a moment, and her face, which was originally facing inward, turned little by little.
"how do you know……"
"How do you know you're a jeweler?"
The girl sat leaning against the head of the bed, writing and drawing in a notebook, with a nonchalant grin on her face.
"He's dressed luxuriously, even his glasses are inlaid with diamonds. And he's from Wayne Port. I don't think it's a coincidence that I'll meet a nouveau riche..."
"But she was reluctant to buy a first-class sleeper ticket, so she could only squeeze in with people of unequal status, living in fear and on high alert."
"Then why does she dress herself up so glamorously? I think it might be... She is indeed not that rich, but she needs to package herself to a certain extent, especially highlighting those exquisite jewels."
"Plus, Middle-earth City is a poor place with no business around. The only thing that can make people fantasize is the former gold rush site of Balvik... I guess you are a jeweler who received some gossip. It makes sense, right?"
"…who are you?"
The woman was completely shocked.
"Esun Hitzfeld."
The girl still didn't look up, and continued to use the tip of her pen to outline the other person's surprised expression on the paper.
"An ordinary private investigator."
--------
Thanks to: Fengyu Happy Stick, Li Nokia, Silver Moon Wolf, Naka_de_Aili, hdvjsxy, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to Ai Li!, siki, Xiaoyanμ, Jin_binding_Aili, vli, melon seeds, Li Nokia, Ai Li's evil-falling into the middle, Shuke 53641256652, Those who break the chapter must be beheaded, cc2, cogito, Alice's stockings are really fragrant, Shuke 9233408955, Weak Cactus, This name is taken, kp/31, It's really embarrassing, Fool's Gold, Kevin o Augustus... These classmates' blades and rewards~!
特别感谢：sjdhduso22刀、梦里什么都有？10刀、爱丽の中秋踩脚袜10刀、平板萝莉大小姐50刀……以及最后隆重感谢干锅毛玉8940+93刀这些大额打赏支持！
thank you very much!
ps: I wish everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival~!
ps2: Three updates will start this Thursday~!
Chapter 9: The Rotten Town
Hitzfierlu's move managed to intimidate the strange woman, and she finally stopped adopting such a bad attitude.
She even tried to befriend Hitzfeld deliberately, and kept trying to get her to talk along the way, wanting to know where her final destination was.
"Like you, a Barvik."
Hitzfeld glanced at her.
"The holder of the Blood-Patterned Gold has recently encountered some troubles that even the police have difficulty handling. I went there to help him solve the problem."
"Oh!" The woman exclaimed, "I see... No wonder you said before that the blood-patterned gold was also related to you!"
"I was disrespectful before."
She bowed to the girl opposite her.
"My name is Molly Fister, and I'm the owner of Fister Gold Shop... I'm half the boss. It's just like what you said. I received some gossip and want to go to Balvik to collect blood-marked gold."
She tried hard to make her attitude clear, but because she was already sitting on the bed with her lower body wrapped in the quilt, this overly formal etiquette seemed inappropriate.
"Fester Gold Shop..." Hitzfeld recalled and confirmed that he had never heard of this term.
This is normal, as she can't even recognize all the shops in the Bridge Street District.
"Is blood-veined gold really that important?" She looked at the woman seriously, "It actually made the jeweler in the capital travel overnight."
"It's very important!" When it came to the professional field, the woman finally regained her confidence and began to explain the gold market to the girl.
“现在市面上黄金的价格是530歌利/克——这是号角金行给的公开价。实际上视地区不同，在地下换金所交易还可以高出10~20%，也就是1克超过600歌利。”
"But Blood-Veined Gold is not in this price range."
Her tone became more serious: "Many people think that the reason why blood-veined gold is so expensive is because of the legends about vendettas. I don't deny that those legends have added some value to it, but the real reason why it is so expensive is that there are too few of them."
"How little?" Hitzfeld showed a little interest. "How many grams a year?"
“Not a gram.” The woman shook her head slowly. “Really, not a gram, Miss Hitzfeld.”
"Blood-veined gold has not been seen in the market in the entire Sara for more than 1960 years. The last time blood-veined gold appeared in an exchange or auction house was in . It was a blood-veined gold ring, and it caused a sensation in the king's capital at the time."
“So its price is…”
"More than 1000." Ms. Fist nodded heavily.
"More than 1000, 1 gram."
"And it wasn't Goli, it was Sera."
“…This price is a bit too outrageous.”
Hitzfeld raised his eyebrows slightly.
Although Sarah's monetary system has three types of money, Sera, Goli and Bek, most people do not use the first type in their daily lives.
The reason is simple: it can’t be found.
Only people who buy something particularly expensive or do business will often deal with Sera, otherwise you will hardly ever see it.
The price of blood-veined gold here is 1 Sera per gram.
Converted into base 11, it is equal to 1 gori per gram.
This means that the value of the gold that Gebrina had previously displayed at 12 Flo Street was high enough to buy a house, and according to him it was only "a small part".
It's indeed a bit exaggerated.
"You don't know the beauty of blood-veined gold, so you have such doubts."
The woman smiled with satisfaction.
"It's a color brighter than ruby... It looks like a piece of jade wrapped in gold. It shows an extremely strange color under the light..."
She began to talk incessantly about various professional knowledge and deeds.
Hitzfeld continued to paint.
Gradually, the woman felt sleepy.
From talking while sitting to talking while lying down.
From murmuring in the mouth to light snoring.
After a while, the only sound in the carriage was the friction of the pen tip on the paper.
……
The distance between Middle-earth City and Wayne Port does not seem far on the map, but the actual journey is much longer because it has to go around and even through the mountains.
After passing through six temporary stops where passengers could get off and stretch their legs and rest, the train continued on its way and arrived in Middle-earth at 6: am on Tuesday.
Along the way, Hitzfeld had introduced Ms. Fister to Gebrina and Darent.
When he heard that she came here for the Blood-Veined Gold, Gebrina was a little worried at first. Her enthusiasm was too much for this veteran who had not seen much of the world.
However, after listening to Darent's analysis of the pros and cons ("Once things here are settled, you can take the opportunity to sell the gold for a good price, and just move your family out of Barvik."), he also tried hard to get along with her.
So this time there were four people who came out of the train station together.
Ms. Fest also wanted to go to Balvik, so they decided to charter a car together.
There is nothing interesting to see in Middle-earth City.
There are earthquakes all year round here, so it is impossible to build any exotic landscapes. After the mines were exhausted, capital gradually fled here, and over time it became a deserted place. If there were fewer earthquakes, it would be a good place for retirement.
There are four-wheel vehicles for rent here, but if you want to go to the town of Barvik, you have to go into the mountains. Unless the owner of the vehicle has been kicked in the head by a donkey, he would never take such business.
Darent volunteered to find a carriage, but was cheated out of 300 dollars by the local tyrant.
Fortunately, the car finally arrived. Although it was 300 yuan lower than the specifications it should have been, at least it could take them there.
After having a meal, they rested for a few hours in the lounge arranged by the car company. They set out again in the afternoon, drove out of the city and followed the path heading northwest.
In the evening, Hitzfeld woke everyone up and told them: It's time.
"Yes."
Gebrina pulled himself together. "See that crooked tree? We'll use it as a signpost. If we see it, we'll see the town in 10 minutes."
Sure enough, not long after, Hitzfeld looked out and saw a dark town appearing at the foot of the hill.
It is very small, with less than a thousand households.
More than 50% of the houses in the town are made of mud and tiles, and the roofs are just a thin layer of wooden boards covered with thick straw.
After entering the town, the girl saw a hunchbacked old man holding a long pole, carefully lighting a street lamp under the watchful eyes of some children.
Even these street lights are few and far between.
From above she could only make out three main roads, each with an average of four lamp posts.
