Chapter 15

Iris leaped backward to dodge the attack just as a middle-aged man rushed out from the open main entrance.

"Don't come any closer!" He glared at Iris, his eyes filled with fury. "You demons! Butchers! The Church will send you all to the gallows!"

The man was short and thick-set, sporting a dense beard. His hair was so sparse that it looked almost awkward against his shiny, bald scalp. Now, he gripped a wooden club with both hands, watching Iris with intense wariness.

Iris raised her palms in a gesture of pacification. "...Calm down, sir. I heard you were hiring here, and I came to inquire about the details."

The bearded man remained suspicious, taking half a step back without lowering his weapon.

"...So, are you still hiring?" Iris asked. "If you're uncomfortable, we can talk right here outside."

The man scrutinized Iris for a few seconds before finally lowering the club. "Come in."

The granary was poorly lit. The man walked to a table and pushed aside the newspapers scattered on it. As he noticed a postcard underneath, he paused, then quickly flipped it over and shoved it into a drawer. He then pulled out a registration ledger from under the table, opened it, and tossed it in front of Iris.

"Fill it out yourself," he said. "Don't get the address wrong; someone will come to look for you."

Iris scanned the ledger immediately. It required a name, age, gender, address, and family situation, including whether there were any "transcendents" in the household...

*Is all this information really necessary for hiring a common laborer?*

She noticed that the handwriting on the entries appeared to be from the same person, suggesting that a clerk had been filling them out previously.

*That makes more sense, I suppose, since many applicants are illiterate,* she thought.

This sense of discordance heightened her vigilance. She deliberately made her handwriting look shaky and crude, feigning difficulty.

Seeing her hesitate, the bearded man said impatiently, "Are you done yet?"

"..." Iris rubbed her nose awkwardly. "I'm illiterate, sir. I only managed to write my name."

"You should have told me that from the start." The man huffed through his nose.

He leaned in, pressed his hand on the ledger, and upon seeing her worm-like scribbles, his attitude softened slightly.

The man picked up the pen and ledger. "I'll write it. You dictate it to me."

As Iris recited her address, she observed him. His posture was standard, his back straight.

Her peripheral vision caught the wooden club he had left by the door. She sensed something even stranger: if he had been so wary of her earlier, why had he "let his guard down" so easily? Shouldn't he keep the club close by when dealing with a suspicious stranger like her?

Iris had assumed he had accomplices inside, which was why he dared to be so bold, but upon entering the granary, she was certain he was alone.

The scratching of the pen ceased. The man stopped writing. Iris glanced at the text—it was clean and orderly.

"You can go now. We'll send notice when the time comes," the man said, ushering her out.

"...Actually, there is one more thing," Iris said, sounding a bit embarrassed. "I forgot to ask earlier—is Mr. Walnut here?"

"What do you want with him?" The man looked up sharply.

Iris put on a fawning expression. "I heard this gentleman has connections. I was hoping to see if he could help me get a better dormitory... I know the rules."

She tapped her pocket, and the few remaining coins inside clinked, signaling a bribe.

The man’s frown smoothed out, and he almost looked amused. "He’s not here right now."

Iris: "Then about this matter..."

"Wait until you've been selected," he waved her off. "I have work to do. Don't bother me."

Iris finally left the granary, her expression turning colder with every step.

During her conversation with the bearded man, her quest progress had actually updated!

【Current Quest: Find Ebony】
【Quest Progress: 40%】
【Quest Description (Updated): You seem to have touched upon an important clue. The similar names have put you on alert; you believe they are intricately connected. Where will these connections ultimately lead?】

Iris looked back at the closed granary doors, deep in thought, before turning and walking away.

***

Iris headed toward the homes of the workers Annie had mentioned, hoping to glean more information. Recently, she had grown accustomed to planning her schedule in advance—a form of forced self-discipline she hadn't experienced in a long time.

*...Come to think of it, my dream was to live a lazy, easy life, but reality always contradicts my dreams. Since arriving here, I’ve had endless worries, and the life I wanted seems to be drifting further away,* Iris thought with a touch of sadness.

Following her plan, she knocked on the doors of the workers, but she found nobody home at the first several houses. Just as she was about to give up, she found a turn of events at the fifth house.

Two men were arguing on the side of the street, their voices loud enough that it looked like they were about to start a brawl.

The older one threw a punch at the younger, who scrambled away in fright. People in nearby houses poked their heads out to watch, only to be dragged back inside by adults shouting about "work still to be done."

"You can't do this to me!" the younger one cried, shielding his head. "I just wanted to prove myself! I can earn money, I have the ability..."

"So you took the hard-earned money I made and handed it to a swindler?" The older man’s eyes bulged with rage.

"He's not a swindler!" The younger one was backed into a corner; with nowhere to run, he simply crouched down.

The older man raised his fist high, but after a few seconds of hesitation, he didn't let it fall. He let out a heavy sigh. "...Andy, you've disappointed me so much. There are many ways to prove yourself, but stealing your brother's money to give to a con man claiming to be an intermediary is not one of them."

Andy crawled out from under his brother's reach and stood up, looking disheveled. "Ellen, listen to me! The gentleman I met at the tavern is capable! Conn was placed by him too. He—he said his connections with the recruiters are real!"

"Is anything he says credible?" Ellen was clearly the more rational one. "You have no way to verify if it's true! What if he and Conn are working together to cheat you?"

Andy continued to quibble, "But their names are so similar! Walnut, Ebony... maybe they have the same boss behind the scenes! You have to be good at finding patterns!"

"It's just a name," Ellen said, exhausted.

"I checked with Conn! They really seem to have a connection—" Andy rubbed his hands together, biting his dry lips, trying to convince Ellen again.

Ellen knew his brother’s ways all too well. He didn't want to argue anymore, and Iris, who had been standing nearby watching them for a while, became a perfect distraction.

"Do you need something?" Ellen asked, annoyed by the onlooker. "You've been staring at us for a long time. If you’re just here for the show, then get lost."

"I wanted to ask you about the hiring process," Iris said. But now, it seemed... less necessary.

Ellen sighed in relief. He wasn't surprised. "I've told many people already; there's nothing much to say. Just fill out your information according to the rules and wait to be contacted. If you’re looking for 'insider methods' or 'gossip' from me, I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you."

"I suppose so. Where are there really so many shortcuts in this world?" Iris replied. "It’s just that I heard you mention a name while you were arguing, and I wondered if it might be someone I know."

Ellen's expression turned grim. He looked at Iris with suspicion. "The swindler from the tavern?"

"Yes, my friend was cheated by this person," Iris said quickly. "The name is unusual. It might be the same person."

As soon as she finished, Andy nearly jumped. "That's impossible!" he protested loudly.

Ellen warned him to shut up and nodded at Iris. "Can you tell me about this swindler?"

Iris began to improvise: "...He told my friend he had a good job, but after my friend paid the intermediary fee, he disappeared."

Ebony already had enough stains on his reputation; she didn't mind splashing another bucket of mud on him. Still, the guy was really scamming everyone everywhere. Was there any corner of Newt he hadn't polluted? She really wanted to meet him; getting the money back was one thing, but she at least needed to figure out what he had fed the original owner and whether there would be any lasting side effects.

Ellen looked at Andy. "What did the swindler you met look like?"

"First of all, he's not a swindler..." Andy stopped when Ellen glared at him. "He's about as tall as you, brown hair, gray eyes, very thin... he looks like he's under thirty."

It was him. Ebony, just as Iris remembered.

"Which tavern does he frequent?" Iris asked.

Andy’s not-so-bright mind sparked with rare wisdom. "You want your money back? No, don't think you'll ruin my opportunity! I see... you're an accomplice Ellen hired to trick me!"

Ellen, unable to take it anymore, finally punched his foolish brother. Andy stumbled back, realized his brother was genuinely furious, and stopped resisting, his expression clearing up slightly.

Andy answered Iris honestly: "...The Raven Tavern, on the back street of Golden Locust. But he isn't there right now."

Iris suggested, "What about the meeting time you agreed on? I'd like to go with you to see this Ebony."

Ellen pulled Andy up and forced him to stand. Once Andy was leaning against the wall, Ellen turned to Iris. "Andy gave the swindler a down payment; he's supposed to give him the remainder tomorrow morning. They agreed to meet on the path by the side of the tavern."

"I'll meet you here tomorrow morning?" Iris said.

Ellen replied firmly, "Fine. See you tomorrow."

As Iris left, she could still faintly hear Andy pleading with his brother.

The next morning, she asked Claire to cover for her, changed her clothes, and drank a transformation potion to meet them. The scene was somewhat comical. The brothers were waiting for her in front of their house. Ellen, using his height advantage, had his arm draped over Andy's shoulder. The door was open, and several children inside were watching and giggling. When they saw Iris, the children vanished back into the room at lightning speed.

"Those are the children of the other families we share the rental with," Ellen explained simply.

"How is the rent here?" she asked casually.

"The room Andy and I share costs 3 silver coins a month," Ellen said. "There are two cots and a table, but it's very cramped. You have to be careful not to step on each other if you need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night."

He spoke lightly because this was just the way they were accustomed to surviving.

"...That's why I'm trying to earn more money, so we can move to a more spacious place," Andy tried to find a chance to interject.

"Don't mention that again," Ellen sighed. "Let's go. It’s a long way to the tavern."

Ellen kept a close watch on Andy just as he had the day before, to avoid any unnecessary incidents. Andy felt embarrassed being handled like this by his brother and kept asking him to stop treating him like a child, but Ellen ignored him.

The three of them passed through the "residential area" where the locals gathered, heading toward another street. The further they went, the more Iris felt that something was wrong. Some of the residents on both sides of the street poked their heads out, then began to walk quickly in the same direction they were heading, as if they were in a rush to do something.

"What's going on?" Iris asked Ellen. He looked just as confused.

Soon, they had their answer. At the end of the road, the red-brick granary stood quietly, but it was already surrounded by a crowd. In the Golden Locust back street, where residents were busy struggling to make ends meet, "watching the show" was a luxury, so such a crowd was highly unusual.

"...Too cruel."

"Lord, this is the work of a demon... please protect us..."

"Did someone call the police? Is this demon still lurking around here?"

"Don't say such terrifying things!"

Iris had an ominous feeling. She stepped forward and pushed through the crowd. "Excuse me, let me through, thank you."

The shocked onlookers didn't mind her rudeness. She easily broke through the circle and saw the scene in the center.

Two men lay on the ground, faces up, their chests pierced by black, column-like weapons.

The man on the left was tall, black-haired, and wore a small mustache.

Iris was even more familiar with the face of the corpse on the right—it was Ebony.

The two dead men’s heads touched to form an angle, used by the killer as a directional arrow pointing toward the blood-stained words on the ground in front of them:

"—This is the fate of those who blaspheme the Lord."

Andy pushed through as well, and upon seeing the two gruesome corpses, he covered his mouth and nearly gagged.

On Golden Locust back street, death was not a rare occurrence. Most people who fell on hard times died silently, and the police would periodically clear away their bodies. Those with families and friends were luckier; someone would collect them for a simple funeral. Relatives could send the bodies to the Church's charity point for cremation for free, provided they had proof of employment or residence.

But a murder like this—leaving the bodies exposed in a high-traffic public area and high-handedly leaving a message—was rare.

Iris stood in the noisy crowd, staring at the two corpses without a word.

*...The other victim, judging by his appearance, is likely the Walnut Annie mentioned. Ebony and Walnut were taken out together, which confirms they were connected.*

The killer's message claimed this was the fate of those who blasphemed, meaning their actions must have touched a nerve. The message sounded like something a fanatic would write, or perhaps it was someone with ulterior motives using the situation to their advantage.

Iris's quest progress updated at that moment.

【Current Quest: Find Ebony】
【Quest Progress: 70%】
【Quest Description (Updated): The target you were looking for is now lying quietly before you. The good news is you don't have to run around looking for him anymore; the bad news is that some secrets will be buried with his death... However, corpses can sometimes "speak."]

Iris frowned.

*...The quest isn't 100% complete?*