When Xia De woke up, it was already 6:30 AM on Tuesday.
He prepared breakfast for himself and Mia. While reading the newspaper, he glanced at the advertisement section and realized that he hadn't given Mia a bath despite having her for over half a month.
But before Xia De could do anything, the orange cat, as if sensing something, darted to the first floor after finishing her milk-soaked cat food. No matter how Xia De called, she steadfastly refused to come upstairs.
And when Xia De went downstairs proactively, the small cat dodged his hand, and even when Xia De cornered her, the cat, for the first time, stared with wide eyes and let out a sound similar to a roar, "Meow!" at Xia De.
Light from the first-floor window streamed into the house, which didn't even have decorative walls. Xia De, crouching in front of Mia, showed a look of surprise, then a dejected expression, looking at the cat he had raised for half a month with some shock.
"You actually..."
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but eventually just slowly stood up, retracting the hand he had extended to pick up the cat.
Standing there, looking down at Mia, his lips trembled slightly, but he still said nothing. He first turned his head, then his body, walking towards the stairs with a slightly heavy step.
Mia stood in the corner, watching Xia De's retreating back. Her large cat eyes blinked twice, then she immediately followed. The cat walked beside Xia De's feet, her big eyes looking up, trying to observe Xia De's expression.
"Meow~"
She let out a soft meow.
Xia De stopped and looked down at his feet, then bent down and picked up the orange cat, his expression changing immediately:
"Ha! I got you!"
He showed a happy smile, holding the orange cat by its waist with both hands, lifting her high. A man skilled in acting displayed excellent acting even when acting for a cat; this was a basic skill for an Outsider to survive in another world.
"Meow~"
The small orange cat struggled twice but couldn't break free from Xia De's grasp, so she stopped, sulking. But fortunately, Xia De didn't give his pet cat a bath today.
Because he simply didn't know how to bathe a cat.
People in this world believed that the animal "cat" had the ability to bring good luck. This was a cultural and customary belief, and as a result, many Miracles related to "luck" could be linked to cats.
Xia De's action of catching the "cat" this morning seemed to have brought him good luck. That morning, he didn't wait for Miss Tifa Servett, the maid, to arrive at his home; instead, he received a brand new client.
The advertisement placed in the newspaper last week had, after all, worked.
The client who came was a thin, middle-aged woman. From her attire, her economic situation did not seem good. As she nervously followed Xia De upstairs, Xia De guessed that this client was also coming to commission something like "husband's affair."
But the situation was more outrageous than he thought.
"Hamilton Detective, it's like this. My distant relative, Mr. Filas LeMer... I'm not clear on how distant, I only saw him decades ago. Mr. Lemeir passed away, and he left a large inheritance to me..."
The middle-aged woman sat uneasily on the sofa, her bottom just touching the edge of the sofa, as if afraid of damaging it. She didn't pick up the tea Xia De had prepared. After sitting down, she nervously pulled at the hem of her skirt, explaining her commission.
The middle-aged woman's surname was also Lemeier, but her kinship with the deceased Mr. Filas LeMer traced back to their great-grandparents' generation.
"A few days ago, his lawyer... is that the word? I think it is. His lawyer found me and told me to sign and take Mr. Lemeir's inheritance, but I'm very afraid this is some kind of trap. Sir, you know, the kind that tricks people into signing documents and then takes everything away."
This was a relatively common trap in this era, but for an Outsider, in this slightly ignorant era, "Ponzi schemes" and similar traps were actually the most cost-effective scams.
Of course, Xia De wouldn't do that. Even if he wanted to make money, he would do so legitimately, relying on the Knowledge in his mind. He always believed he was probably a "positive character"...
"Speaking of which, I haven't done anything illegal to this day, and I didn't throw the steam bomb either."
He thought to himself, then gently comforted the somewhat nervous woman. He could tell she hadn't been to a place like this before:
"So, what would you like to commission me to do?"
"Investigate that lawyer, the person who wants me to sign. I don't understand these things, not at all, so I need to find a reliable person to investigate the whole matter thoroughly. I'm not very literate, but I know that a Detective who opens an office in Saint Delan Square definitely won't be a swindler."
This was the innocent thought of the common people, but they didn't realize that a fellow who was a Detective in Saint Delan Square might not be a swindler, but could be a foreign spy or a visitor from another world.
"Investigate the lawyer... Do you have his information?"
Xia De thought for a moment and asked.
"Yes, I have his address, sir. I just need you to confirm whether he is indeed a so-called lawyer. Oh, God, that word is a real tongue-twister."
The not-so-highly educated middle-aged woman said apologetically. Xia De shook his head, indicating it was nothing.
If it was just to confirm whether the other party was a lawyer, that was quite simple. A crude way would be to directly go to their home to confirm if they were a Ring術士; if so, immediately tell the client to ignore the matter. If not, pull out a pistol and threaten them to tell the truth.
As for a less crude method, he could go to their home and talk to them, or conduct a day-long tailing. He was capable of these methods too.
"If I may inquire, what is the amount of the inheritance you mentioned?"
Xia De asked again. Mrs. Lemeier was not wary at all:
"About 50 pounds."
"That's quite a lot."
This was not an exaggeration; for the common people, 50 pounds was a large sum capable of changing a family's destiny.
"So, what did Mr. Filas LeMer do originally, and do you know how he passed away?"
Xia De asked again. Although this information seemed unrelated to investigating the lawyer's identity, it was relevant to determining whether this was a scam.
"I know, the lawyer told me."
Mrs. Lemeier recalled, but some details she wasn't clear on:
"When I was in my twenties, I heard that he went to sea with a fleet to explore a new northern route to the New World. Later, contact gradually ceased, and I only occasionally heard that he joined a very impressive fleet... The lawyer said he died in a shipwreck, and people later found his will that he had left with a friend at the harbor. He seemed to have anticipated that those who went to sea would eventually encounter problems. Among his inheritance, there was fifty-three pounds in cash, besides that, there were some personal items, diaries, collected books, and some strange small souvenirs... Oh, this was probably the poor man's life savings."
Although not close to her distant relative Filas LeMer, Mrs. Lemeier still wiped her slightly red eyes with a handkerchief.
After letting Mrs. Lemeier calm down, Xia De considered the details of the commission and finally decided to accept it.
After all, no matter what, investigating whether a stranger was a lawyer was only a day's work.
As for the commission fee, because Mrs. Lemeier was a middle-aged woman whose husband had run off and was raising children alone, Xia De didn't set too high a price.
When they finally signed the commission agreement, it was agreed that if the lawyer was not a lawyer, then Mrs. Lemeier, unable to obtain the inheritance, would pay Xia De 5 shillings for the investigation fee.
If the other party was a lawyer, then Xia De would accompany Mrs. Lemeier to sign and collect a suitcase of inheritance. After Mrs. Lemeier received the inheritance, Xia De would receive a huge remuneration of up to 5 pounds.
This pricing method satisfied both parties. And as the client was about to leave, Xia De specifically asked her which newspaper she had learned of his address from. The advertisement was placed last week, and Mrs. Lemeier must have been attracted by a commission in a certain newspaper.
"Steam Bird Daily. I was afraid of being scammed and didn't dare to commission Detectives from the advertisements in those small newspapers... My neighbor, a kind young man studying art at Tobesk University, read the advertisement to me, as I'm not very literate..."
Mrs. Lemeier said apologetically. Xia De escorted the client downstairs, feeling even more indebted to Miss Louisa.
"Worst case, I'll cooperate more with her research on 'the little match girl.' Right now, I have no other way to repay her."
He thought as he watched the client merge into the bustling crowd of Saint Delan Square.
Compared to when he first arrived in this world, Xia De had now escaped the poverty line. Continuing to take on relatively low-paying commissions wasn't because he was overly attached to the identity of a Detective, but because he had more thoughts.
Firstly, leaving the civilized world for Saint Byron's Comprehensive College in the far north was still a long time away. Before that, he needed to blend in with Delarion, so maintaining a necessary respectable identity was very important.
Moreover, a Detective could also earn a lot of money, but this required the accumulation of countless small commissions, so looking down on low-paying commissions was a very foolish act.
Not to mention, the learning method of a Ring術士 destined that a correspondence-course academy Ring術士 needed to have an identity that could handle crises in their respective areas of operation.
Therefore, even though he wasn't as desperate to make money as when he first arrived in this world, taking on commissions was still very necessary.
Not to mention, Xia De was actually very interested in these types of small commissions. The Outsider intended to use such methods to see more of this unfamiliar world.
The client arrived in the morning. Xia De planned to use a full day of tailing to confirm whether the lawyer was a fake. Tailing the lawyer would start tomorrow during the day, so he spent this relatively calm Tuesday elsewhere.
Around ten in the morning, Xia De left with Mia and went to "Good Peter's Pet Shop" on Violet Iris Lane, which was also where Xia De first met Miss Bei Ya Si and adopted Mia.
The shop owner, with his wine-red nose, had a deep impression of this young orange cat. Seeing Xia De come in with the cat, he almost immediately announced that he wouldn't take any business today.
But fortunately, Xia De wasn't trying to re-board Mia there:
"I want to know how to bathe a pet."
He stated his purpose, while the shop owner blocked the doorway, showing no intention of letting the man and cat enter.
"Just wash it directly, what else? Just don't scrub it hard like washing clothes."
In this boisterous era, complex and diverse pet services had not yet developed.
"Then can you give her..."
"When this cat was in the shop, it was usually my wife and Miss Cindy who bathed her."
The middle-aged shop owner said, shaking his head quickly, as if afraid he would leave the cat behind.
The cat in Xia De's arms still remembered this place, but seemed to have a bad impression of it, now shrinking in Xia De's embrace, refusing to move.
"Are those two ladies in the shop now?"
Xia De asked again. The man answered without thinking:
"No, not for the past half a month, no, not for the past year. They... eloped. But actually, bathing a pet cat doesn't need to be that frequent. Cats are different from people. Sir, you can just bathe the cat yourself, it's very simple. Once every three or even four months is fine. Cats are not actually delicate."
Xia De strongly suspected the other party just wanted him to leave quickly, but also knew that Mia had left a very "deep" impression on the middle-aged shop owner, so after expressing his regret for the elopement of the other party's wife and female shop assistant, he left.
While he was speaking, the middle-aged shop owner's face was very expressive, even making Xia De look forward to his next visit here.
As for bathing the cat, he still needed to consider it carefully.
After leaving Violet Iris Lane, it was almost lunchtime. Xia De found a restaurant nearby, spent 1 shilling and 10 pence, and had a decent lunch with his cat.
After leaving the restaurant, seeing that it was still hazy with thin fog today and the scorching summer sun couldn't penetrate the fog layer, he took Mia and strolled in the direction of the Prophet Association.
It was a very dull afternoon. After last night's heavy rain, the standing water on the ground quickly evaporated, so much so that it was impossible to tell that it had rained just over a dozen hours ago.
The Outsider, wearing a long-sleeved coat, wasn't very accustomed to the City's climate. Fortunately, the Prophet Association on Silver Cross Avenue was quite cool.
He wasn't there for rhode cards, but to find Miss Annette, wanting to tell her about his recent contact with Miss Bei Ya Si.
According to the contact information left by the brown-haired female Diviner last time, he first stated in the first-floor hall that he wanted a Diviner, then gave Miss Annette's name. But unfortunately, Miss Annette was not at the association at the moment.
The association's Ring術士 management was relatively relaxed, unlike church Ring術士 who needed to be on duty every day. And although Xia De knew Miss Annette's residence, it was clearly unlikely that she would be home during the day.
