“It was a tremendous success!”
Once the believers had left, Mrs. Mary was overjoyed.
She clasped each club member’s hands in turn and thanked them.
“I have never seen Count Koel so pleased! He always scolded me for indulging in luxury.......”
Mrs. Mary beamed at me.
“It is all thanks to you, everyone, and to Armand. I think we will be able to hold tea parties more often from now on!”
“Congratulations.”
Then Mrs. Mary, who had been looking at me, tilted her head.
“Come to think of it, someone I know also said he was from the North. Do you happen to know Gerald?”
Mrs. Mary’s expression brightened when she mentioned Gerald’s name.
Many thoughts passed through my mind in that brief instant.
First, I shook my head.
“I do not know him well.”
“I see. Shall I introduce you two sometime? It would be nice for two people from the North to meet.”
“That will not be necessary. If we are meant to meet, we will.”
“What a shame. Let me know if you change your mind.”
“Very well.”
It seemed Mrs. Mary had feelings for Gerald.
Then again, why else would she entrust an entire shop to him right away?
It was concerning.
Mrs. Mary said that her former husband had passed away, so it would be good for her to find someone new.......
The problem was Gerald.
More than a few noblewomen had lost their hearts to him so far.
Gerald had never gotten into trouble, but whenever he politely turned them down, the noblewomen shed tears.
I hope Mrs. Mary doesn’t get hurt.
Unaware of my worries, Mrs. Mary smiled again.
“And Sorin told me something. Armand, you came here for your own club, did you not?”
“Yes, embarrassing though it is, that is true.”
“What is embarrassing about that? It is wonderful. Even though you are a first-year student, you are working so hard for your club. Your sense of responsibility is remarkable. Sorin praised you greatly, Armand.”
Sorin pressed his index and middle fingers together against his brow and grinned.
He’d have looked truly cool if he hadn’t made that gesture.
“So, I would like to repay you for what you did today. I will invite you to the upcoming patronage gathering. I will send you a formal invitation. It is called the Lumen Patronage Gathering, an event where Ark’s influential figures convene. There, you may meet someone willing to sponsor you and the Mystery Society. Of course, I will make a modest contribution as well.”
Success.
I couldn’t even enter an event like that without an invitation.
I bowed deeply to Mrs. Mary.
“You are truly generous. Thank you for your consideration.”
“No, I should be the one thanking you. The gathering was a tremendous success! Thanks to you, Armand, I was able to save face!”
I clasped my hands before the delighted Mrs. Mary.
“Because God is watching over us.”
“That is exactly right. It seems God watched over us.”
Things had gone well for both Mrs. Mary and me, which meant everything had gone well for everyone.
***
By the time I left Mrs. Mary’s estate, dusk had already fallen.
The Love Fellowship said it was going to the temple, as befitted a religious club, so we parted in front of the estate. Karl said he would follow me, but I managed to dissuade him.
“I’m going alone.”
“What? What kind of mischief are you plotting that you need to go alone?!”
“I’ve got a private life too.”
“Are you going to meet an ex-girlfriend?”
“Shut up.”
“Then what is it? I’m coming with you!”
I could not shake him off by force, so I used another method.
“Karl. What do you think of Marco?”
“Out of nowhere?”
I leaned in and whispered as though I were about to tell him a tremendous secret.
“Karl, I’m only telling you this because it’s you. Do not tell anyone else.”
“What is it?”
“I recently saw Marco disappear into an Ark back alley with dangerous-looking people.”
“M-Marco?”
“Yes. Karl, have you ever gotten a bad feeling about Marco?”
“A bad feeling about Marco?”
Karl’s eyes flew open. He looked genuinely shocked.
“What are you talking about? Marco’s a great guy. You can tell just by looking at his smile. There’s no way Marco would associate with dangerous people!”
The gulf between our ways of thinking was vast enough to be disconcerting.
Didn’t the mere fact that he was part of a clique in the classroom make him look like a delinquent?
At this point, I should probably find out what people besides Karl thought of Marco.
Why was Marco so well liked?
Didn’t those ever-smirking eyes make them wary?
I collected myself and adjusted to Karl’s worldview.
“That’s precisely why it’s more suspicious. Think about it.”
I lowered my voice.
“Imagine a cool guy like Marco actually being the crown prince of the back alleys.”
Gasp!
Karl covered his mouth.
“Imagine that Marco actually enrolled in the Ivory Tower to win over its students and become the future king of the underworld. What an outrageous thought.”
Gasp!
Karl’s eyes wavered wildly.
I whispered in an even more suggestive voice.
“For the record, the area where reports have come in that Marco has been spotted is the Brick Road District.”
“B-Brick Road District.......”
I placed a hand on Karl’s shoulder and gently urged him forward.
“Karl, go to the Brick Road District and track Marco down yourself.”
“You want us to investigate him?”
“Investigate him? Perhaps.”
I brought out the one decisive phrase Karl could not resist.
“Investigation is a detective’s fate.”
“D-Detective!”
“We’re going to form a detective team.”
Karl’s breathing grew faster.
“In the meantime, I’ll investigate Marco through another route. I’ll gather information behind the scenes, and you’ll work in the field. Today’s the day our detective team begins.”
“What’s the detective team called?”
“That.......”
I plucked the first words that came to mind.
“The Mystery Detective Team.”
“The Mystery Detective Team. A detective team that tracks all the mysteries of the Ivory Tower and Ark.......”
“That’s right.”
I drove the point home.
“We’ll find the darkness Marco hides in his heart and save him.”
“Armand!”
Karl gripped my hand tightly.
“All right. We’ll save Marco!”
“That’s it, Karl.”
I pushed Karl from behind.
“Go! Find Marco!”
“Count on me!”
Karl vanished into the distance in an instant.
He’s absurdly fast.
Once he got excited enough to lose his reason, his true ability came out.
Where on earth did a monster like that come from?
Marco was one thing, but I needed to look into Karl’s true identity as well.
Having shaken Karl off, I continued on my way with peace of mind.
I had a few things to ask Gerald, and a letter to deliver as well.
I left the wealthy neighborhood where Mrs. Mary’s estate stood and took a different route from Karl’s toward the district near Brick Road, where Gerald’s tavern was.
As darkness fell, the shadows stretched long.
The streetlamps flared to life.
The streets looked different.
The large estates and broad gardens disappeared, replaced by rows of small houses.
I suddenly stopped in front of a general store nestled between the homes.
Various kinds of stationery were displayed on a stand.
There was plenty of stationery decorated with the Ivory Tower or with Ark’s scenery in the background.
I picked up one of them.
It bore a picture of the Ivory Tower bathed in sunlight.
The only person I had to send a letter to was my mother.
My mother, who was not born in the North, always missed the warm climate of her hometown. Her hair, too, was not pitch-black like Father’s and mine; it was blond like sunlight.
I thought Mother would like this stationery.
However, the counter where the owner should have been sitting was empty.
[Temporarily away. If you are in a hurry, you can pay at the shop inside the alley twenty paces to the right of this shop.]
I considered simply passing by, but I liked the stationery, so I took it and walked about twenty paces to the right of the shop.
I didn’t think there had been an alley in this direction.......
That thought had barely crossed my mind when a jet-black alley, like a fissure, appeared.
The gap between the buildings was so narrow that a single person could barely fit through. A well-built person would likely have to turn sideways just to squeeze in.
A faint light leaked out from deep within the alley.
Creepy.
Yet on the street right in front of it, people passed by without a care.
Hearing the laughter of a child walking hand in hand with their parents, I felt foolish for being nervous for no reason.
It should be fine.
I stepped into the alley.
The following words were written on a small wooden door.
[Horror Express Mystery Shop]
I stopped dead.
Right. Jelly had once told me a strange story.
‘It is a shop that suddenly appears when you wander around Ark after sunset, and it sells all kinds of bizarre objects. If you encounter that shop, you will get caught up in strange events. What do you think? Interesting, right?’
Wasn’t that just nonsense?
I looked down at the stationery in my hand.
Under the dim light, it looked even more beautiful.
But there was no particular reason I had to buy it.
Mother was already somewhere with plenty of sunlight. There was no need to go out of my way to buy something like this.
Right, this wasn’t like me.
Neat stationery with nothing but horizontal lines was more to my taste.
I turned around.
I should just go back.......
Customer.
Someone spoke.
Welcome.
Something grabbed my wrist from behind.
But it was not a human hand.
Knobbly, rough fingers, like talons, had clamped around my wrist.
I tried to wrench myself free, but it pulled me in faster.
Payment is here.
I was sucked inside.
***
Before I knew it, I was standing inside a bizarre general store.
Every object on display was grotesque.
But I could not tell why they were grotesque.
No, I did not want to know.
I could tell that something was displayed all around me, yet I could not fully perceive it, as if an image beyond the point of focus were blurred.
If I fixed my gaze and concentrated, I felt I might be able to see their true forms, but my instincts screamed that I must not.
Draco’s Eye displayed a warning message.
[Do Not Look]
There are things in this world that are better left unseen than seen. Turn away from such things. But if you truly want to see them, it cannot be helped. Rare treasures are sometimes hidden among ominous things.
I tried to keep my gaze unfocused.
Now and then, outlines of things such as toys, dolls, and jewelry flickered at the edge of my vision, but each time, I shook my head.
An unidentified being with a hood pulled over its head stood at the counter.
Its shoulders were far too narrow for its head, and the hand resting on the counter was far too large. The six fingers exposed beyond its sleeve looked like a desiccated mummy.
It resembled a human, but it was clearly not human.
What are you looking for?
The smooth, kindly voice was all the more chilling.
Without showing it, I spoke as though I had entered an ordinary shop.
“I would like to pay for this stationery.”
The inside of the hood was too dark to see clearly, but I could sense a change in it.
Its eyes extended outward.
As people put on glasses to see something more clearly, the shopkeeper’s eyeballs protruded and lengthened as it inspected the stationery.
Stay calm.
I don’t like supernatural things.
I’d had a hard time beyond the border, where supernatural nonsense like sorcery and superstition ran rampant, and I never imagined I’d encounter this sort of crap in the heart of a city in the Empire.
Customer, this is not stationery.
It looked like stationery no matter how I looked at it.
That is a Fortune Letter.
I wanted to ask whether that did not make it stationery, but I merely nodded.
There was no need to talk to it.
I just had to get out of here quickly as though nothing had happened.
“I understand. I will buy the Fortune Letter. How much should I pay?”
The shopkeeper’s eyes, which had protruded like antennae, turned toward me.
The shopkeeper did not say anything for a while.
I wondered whether I had misspoken, but eventually, an answer came.
All the items in our shop are assessed at the current market price.
Tonight, a waning crescent moon will rise, but cloudy weather will make it difficult to see with the naked eye.
Rain may fall briefly in some areas.
Wicked thoughts flourish, and anxiety and loneliness grow.
Therefore, this month’s price for the Fortune Letter is.......
The shopkeeper whispered in a voice as soft as cotton candy.
Your fate.
The price will be settled the moment you read the Fortune Letter, and it will be paid automatically.