Chapter 13 On the Road
After packing up casually, Angel followed the three "Nighthawks" and left home.
Before that, she offered to take her own weapons, the dagger and revolver she had inherited from Cole Granger, and the lady's pocket pistol she had picked up last night in Lower Iron Cross Street and had received from her stalker.
Dunn Smith did not object, but requested that the weapons be handed over to another night watchman, Leonard Mitchell, for safekeeping while Angel was "under protection."
It's the same as not bringing it... Angel curled his lips, but still agreed.
When she was getting the gun in the study, she secretly glanced at the secret compartment under the desk. There was a Beyonder of unknown purpose in it. It seemed that it had not been touched by the visitor, but she did not dare to take a closer look in front of Leonard who was following her.
She took the weapons out of the drawer and handed them to Leonard for safekeeping. She also took a few pounds in cash with her. Then she walked out of the house, escorted by several night watchmen.
Outside, it was the next morning, and Daffodil Street was bustling with people. Horse-drawn carriages passed through the crowds, bounding off in all directions. Parked at the entrance was a police carriage, the same one Angel had seen late a few nights before. It was painted with two crossed swords, surrounded by a royal crown, demonstrating the class nature of the police system, which served the royal will.
The street was not very wide, and a carriage parked like this had already had a considerable impact on traffic, but the people who were detouring around it had no complaints. Instead, they looked at Angel with surprise as he was surrounded by several policemen and was about to get on the carriage.
Now she was famous in the neighborhood... Angel just wanted to find a hole to crawl into and regretted not wearing a hood before going out. Seeing that the crowd was about to gather around, she quickly stepped on the step next to the carriage and got on.
The interior of the car was quite spacious, with thick carpets, curtains covering the windows, and a faint scent of incense.
Following her in was Daly Simone, who was dressed in a gypsy style. She seemed to be unaccustomed to the public's attention. She put on a hood before going out, and only revealed her face with eye shadow and blush after getting into the carriage. She sat down opposite Angel and relaxed her tense body.
The car door was still open, but the remaining two Night Watchmen did not come in.
Does this carriage need to be driven by two people?
Angel thought curiously, she pulled aside the curtains and looked out the window.
…
The Grangers' house was located at 6 Daffodil Street, near the end of Iron Cross Street. This area was lined with low-rise residential buildings with gates leading directly to the street. Unlike the wealthy houses in the North District, they did not have their own gardens and lawns.
At the door of another two-story house next to No. 6, three men and one woman were talking in low voices. One of the middle-aged men, holding a keychain, introduced the other three men and women, who were clearly familiar with each other and were standing closer together.
"Daffodil Street is right next to Cross Street, so it's convenient for transportation and has a complete range of amenities. Respectable people like teachers and government employees live nearby. A lawyer lives at number 4, next to you, and number 6 further away..."
He was just pointing at Angel's door when he saw several people walk out. Two of them were wearing the recognizable black and white checkered uniforms of the Tingen City Police. They escorted two other women into a police carriage. This made him swallow back all the words he hadn't yet said.
I just boasted that the neighborhood is full of respectable people with legitimate jobs, and the police came here with great fanfare to arrest people...
Scart from the Tingen City Housing Improvement Company was sweating profusely as he racked his brains to figure out how to smooth things over. Suddenly, the young man among the three clients in front of him greeted the police officer beside the carriage with a look of surprise.
"Captain, why are you here too?"
Did they know each other? Scat stared at the two policemen, especially the stars on their epaulettes, and fell into deep thought.
…
Next to the carriage, Dunn Smith and Leonard Mitchell were chatting with a young man in formal attire. Angel listened at the window for a while and learned that the young man was a newcomer to the "Night Watchers" in Tingen City. His name was Klein Moretti. He came to Daffodil Street today with his brother and sister to visit the houses for rent and sale here.
It seems that he is planning to rent next to Granger's house. Angel looked at the two men and one woman standing at the door of No. 2 Daffodil Street behind him. One of the middle-aged men was holding the same brass door key as Angel. Judging from his attire, he must be the agent introducing the house.
The house prices on Daffodil Street are not cheap. If you buy a house, it will cost between 600 and 1,000 pounds depending on the specific location and area. Even if you rent it, the weekly rent is about 15 soli, which is about 40 pounds a year. This is close to the income level of ordinary workers in Tingen City, but obviously the income cannot be used only for renting a house, so the residents here are all "high-level workers" with income far above the average.
The salary of a "Nighthawk" should be much higher than the average income, which is why this "newcomer" Klein Moretti couldn't wait to sublet a better house and improve his living conditions as soon as he got the job.
She looked at Klein Moretti, who was thanking Dunn Smith for the salary advance, and suddenly found this young and bookish face in her memory.
It turned out to be the young "second-generation official" who had ridden in the same carriage with Dunn Smith late that night. It seemed that it was common practice for the Night Watchmen to go out late at night to perform official duties. Angel remembered Dunn Smith's potion "Insomniac" and his ability to invade dreams, and thought it was not surprising that they liked to go out in the middle of the night.
Feeling the gaze from inside the car window, Klein Moretti raised his head and looked at Angel. The moment their eyes met, he was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly looked away, looking back at Dunn Smith in front of him.
"This is Angel Granger, a distant relative of Cole Granger who lives here. We received a report that Cole has been missing for several days, so we asked this lady to return and participate in the investigation. She is not a suspect, only a witness."
Dunn Smith took the initiative to introduce himself to Klein, but his voice was clearly louder than needed for the two of them to communicate, so loud that the people around them could hear it.
Is he explaining it to me because he’s afraid the neighbors will misunderstand?
Angel saw that the eyes of the onlookers were different after hearing Dunn Smith's words. She couldn't help but look at Dunn again. She felt that this serious "Sleepless Man" did not make her as nervous as when they first met.
Klein Moretti seemed a little confused. He opened his mouth to ask more questions, but suddenly stopped as if he had thought of something. He said goodbye to Dunn Smith and Leonard Mitchell and returned to the door of 2 Daffodil Street.
The remaining two exchanged a few words, and then Dunn took over the task of driving the carriage, drove Leonard onto the carriage, and drove away from Daffodil Street in the eyes of the Moretti family, other neighbors, and passers-by.
Leonard Mitchell, with his black hair and green eyes, looked more like a poet than a policeman. He bent down and entered the train, closing the door behind him. On the two facing benches sat the "psychic" Daly and Angel. Seeing Daly sitting in the middle of the seats with a sullen expression, showing no intention of giving up her seat, he offered an apologetic smile to Angel, who raised an eyebrow and sat by the other door, leaving half of the seat for Leonard.
"Thanks."
Leonard breathed a sigh of relief, thanked Angel, and sat down.
The carriage fell into an eerie silence again, with only the occasional shouts of street vendors outside the window and the regular "clicking" of wheels rolling over paving stones.
Less than two minutes later, Leonard Mitchell, who couldn't stand the loneliness, took out the box of bullets that he had kept for him, took out a bullet and examined it carefully.
His eyes swept across the intricate engravings on the shell, finally stopping at the emblem of the Goddess of Night.
"Is this a demon hunting bullet? Did you make it yourself?" Leonard turned around and asked Angel Granger, who was sitting next to him. The latter had been staring at him since he took out the bullet.
"I made it myself, but it's not the demon-hunting bullet you mentioned. I've never seen a demon-hunting bullet before."
Angel really didn't know what a demon hunting bullet was, so he answered truthfully.
Leonard Mitchell took out his revolver from the armpit holster inside his police uniform, swung the cylinder, ejected a bullet from the cylinder, and handed it to Angel.
"This is a demon-hunting bullet. The engraving and emblem on it give it extra lethality against extraordinary creatures."
Angel took the bullet and looked at it carefully.
This is a silver-white pistol bullet that is obviously expensive. It is smaller than her "Gathering Storm" and is about 0.38 in size. There are complex patterns engraved on the bullet head and the shell, and there is a black and red emblem of the Goddess of Night on the bottom of the bullet.
"The engraving is different, and the function is also different. My bullets are mainly used to enhance penetration and power, and are not targeted at specific targets." She returned the "Demon Hunter Bullet" to Leonard and explained.
Leonard nodded, put the silver-white "Monster Hunting Bullet" back into the magazine, put away the pistol, and picked up the crudely made but more deterrent-looking 0.45-inch "Storm Gathering" bullet again.
"Demon Hunter Bullets are the standard ammunition used by Nighthawks to fight extraordinary powers. They are manufactured and distributed uniformly by the Church. Even the Captain doesn't know how to make them. Where did you learn how to make this bullet?"
He asked seemingly casually.
Angel was about to make up a lie to get away with it, but he caught a glimpse of the "psychic" Daly sitting opposite him. Daly had sat up straight without him knowing, and was holding the copper wine glass that she had held when they first met at Cole's house.
Angel's heart tightened as she thought of the conversation she had with Dunn Smith in her dream, his occasional strange gestures and the way he looked behind her. She swallowed the lie she had prepared and answered honestly:
"This is a recipe inherited from my original religious tradition. I plan to use it against Madam Sharon."
"Originally? Do you mean other Orthodox churches?" Leonard Mitchell first looked at Daly, and when he saw her nod imperceptibly, he continued to ask.
"It's not one of the seven great churches. It's just a religion that no longer exists in this world."
Angel said this with a sadness in her voice. This was not an emotion she pretended. Thinking that she might never be able to return to her original world, she spoke with a bit of frustration and regret.
"But don't worry, this isn't some organization that worships an evil god. Besides, I should be considered a follower of the Goddess of Night now. You see, She answered my prayers and granted this bullet its power."
Angel picked up a "Gathering Storm" and released a little spirituality to his fingertips. Sensing her spirituality, a faint crimson flowed in the engraving on the shell, and the holy emblem of the Goddess of Night shone brightly in the flowing light.
Leonard Mitchell's eyes widened, staring at the bullet intently, as if in disbelief. It took him a moment to come back to his senses. He seemed to be asking someone, but also seemed to be muttering to himself, "Is this truly the power of the Evernight Goddess... Well, it seems so. With the added divine power, this is already an extraordinary item. If I hadn't confirmed you were an 'assassin,' I would have almost thought you were a 'craftsman' from the Church of Steam."
Confirmed... It seems they had another way to confirm the truth of what I said in my dream. Now it seems that it was probably the effect of the wine glass held by Ms. Daly. Fortunately, I didn't lie just now...
Besides, what was a "craftsman"? He mentioned the Church of Steam. Was it the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery? Angel picked up on the key words in the conversation, analyzing them silently in his mind, but he kept talking:
"This is indeed the power bestowed by the Goddess of Night. Last night, when I was making bullets, I prayed to the gods but received no response. I was almost in despair. I didn't expect the Goddess of Night to answer my prayers at this moment and bestow her blessings, allowing me to complete the production of these bullets. Praise the Goddess."
After saying that, Angel drew a crimson moon on his chest to thank the goddess of night for bestowing his blessing at the critical moment.
"Ah... Praise the Goddess," Leonard Mitchell quickly chimed in, a lingering look of confusion still on his face. "Made it last night? You mean you prayed to the gods of old for blessings first?"
He hesitated for a moment, but still asked, "Excuse my intrusion, but how long have you been worshipping the Goddess of Night?"
Angel glanced at Ms. Daly, who remained silent but still clutched the copper goblet, and spoke frankly, "I haven't been a believer in the Evernight Goddess for long. It's mainly due to the recent events, especially..." She spoke tactfully, then decided it wasn't something that needed to be kept secret. "...To be specific, it's probably been less than 24 hours."
ah?
Leonard Mitchell turned to Daly Simone, who was holding 3-0688, the "glass that speaks truth," and saw that she was also looking at him with a puzzled expression.
The truth?
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