Half-elf Notebook

Knock, knock, knock... There was a steady and orderly knock on the door.

The owner of this room.

Shu Xi looked up in surprise, looking at the red-painted door facing his desk.

The glow before sunset shone on his face, and his pair of purple pupils were inevitably tinged with a hint of gold.

Normally, this is not a good time to visit someone.

As I am about to get off work, if I have an important commission, my excellent assistant will help me postpone it until tomorrow...

"Please come in."

Despite his doubts, Shu Xi still invited the other party in.

At the same time, the feedback from his mental scan also let him know the identity of the visitor.

A man in fur that reached down to his knees pushed open the door and walked in.

Judging from the size of the fur, it was more like that from some kind of bear than a wolf. He casually hung a silk hat on the coat rack.

The right hand wearing precious jewelry, revealed from the long fur sleeve, closed the door.

From beginning to end, the man's indifferent eyes were always fixed on Shu Xi who was leaning back in the leather office chair.

"This is not a wise time to visit. I'm almost off work. What can I do for you, Mr. Burke?"

Shu Xi was the first to speak, and he asked with interest.

"About the princess." Burke briefly explained as two documents, one thin and one thick, were pushed in front of Shu Xi.

An investigation report on the princess's incident? It's only been a day, what can be found out?

It's not like I have to summarize useful information from a bunch of scattered data...

Then you should find your intelligence advisory team and excellent bounty hunters...

Shu Xi's thoughts flowed as he casually flipped through a few pages of Dinghe's paper.

The wizard's abilities were enough to allow him to memorize the contents of the next stack of reports with just a few glances.

But that doesn't mean he can understand and analyze at the same time.

Burke told him the summarized intelligence, which was obviously more efficient.

On the other hand, at this moment when he should be off work, Shu Xi really didn't want to use his brain.

So, he immediately asked:

"Can you tell me the details?"

He knew Burke would not turn him down.

"The body has been confirmed."

Burke sat down on the reception sofa, looking forward, no longer facing Shu Xi.

"The person who used the teleportation magic was a shareholder of the Golden Vein Chamber of Commerce, a famous businessman, who was invited to the scene by Baron Henschel."

"It's fake, isn't it?"

Shu Xi I asked back confidently.

As he stopped to read the investigation report, he noticed something different about another slightly thicker document.

Compared to the report which was filled with vocabulary all over the page, there were only simple notes on it.

What occupies more space are the faces printed vividly.

At this time, Burke continued without saying anything:

"The deceased's original name was Hasaya Femi. He was a citizen of the city of Kasai. He was once a rising star in the theater and had a certain hobby of gambling and drinking."

"Later, due to career setbacks, he became completely addicted to gambling and alcohol."

"As his career went from bad to worse, he ended up leaving the performing arts stage a year and a half ago with a debt of more than a thousand gold coins, and his whereabouts remain unknown."

"Is this information something that can be found out within a day?"

Shu Xi was a little surprised.

If it were him, even if he used all the detection spells he knew and some unconventional divination magic, it would be considered good if he could achieve similar results within three days.

But it was both unexpected and reasonable.

Unlike transparent nobles like him, Burke is a newly promoted viscount with a great reputation, and his abilities and channels are genuine.

"So what's the result? Where did the "reward" go?"

If someone is doing the work, there must be someone who entrusts it and pays it.

It is not impossible to persuade a man in great debt to accept a commission which would amount to suicide.

But this is by no means cheap. At least it will not be as simple as repaying the debt. The subsequent balance cannot be a small amount.

Shu Xi didn't believe that Burke would miss this, nor did he think he was the kind of person who would leave important matters entirely to his subordinates.

The other party came here to show that there were many setbacks in the progress of this matter.

As expected, Burke pinched his nose and looked sad:

"Hasaya Femi has a wife and a child, which is the most likely destination for the reward, but there has been no correspondence between the two sides for a year."

“The possibility of the killer paying for his services is also questionable.”

"All I can do is ask the local new-school nobles to monitor it secretly."

"The origin of the magic item is unknown. There are no relevant auction or tax records. It is speculated that it is circulated in an underground black market or illegally traded through foreign channels."

"In other words, the clue is broken?"

Shu Xi raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and smiled faintly:

"But it's not surprising. After all, the other party is a well-known silver bounty hunter. If he could be caught by superficial efforts, he would have been in jail long ago."

He tapped his fingers on the desk, making a "da da da" sound, and changed the other party's train of thought:

"What about the person who posted the 500,000 yuan reward and the ones in the South District?"

"One is a huge sum of money that even the five major duke families of the kingdom can hardly afford, and the other is more than 30 arrested criminals and dozens of corpses."

"It's not like any of them are as white as handkerchiefs made for ladies."

He took the black tea that had been cold on the table for a long time, ignored Burke as a guest, and took a sip.

Shu Xi probably had an idea of ​​the identity of the mastermind behind the incident.

At the same time, he was sure that Burke would never be able to catch them.

Burke, who didn't know what the wizard was thinking, said with a serious expression:

"The reward came from a bar in a large city. According to preliminary on-site investigation, it was the bar owner who posted the reward himself..."

"You put it up for sale yourself? A price that even the four great dukes could hardly afford?"

"Why would any hunter feel he could afford to pay?"

Shu Xi deliberately asked back with a tone of surprise and amusement.

Meaning in words.

He wondered why Burke didn't suspect the people behind him, or point out the identities of those people directly.

Burke explained:

"We don't think he has the ability to pay this, but we can't prove who pushed this."

"why?"

"The bar owner was dead. He died a month before the stabbing. He died in a common dispute. A drunk customer killed him with a knife he carried with him."

Dead "true words" cannot be confirmed.

Without an important witness, there was no way to present effective evidence. It was a clumsy cover-up, but it was quite effective.

This is treating the new nobles in charge of the investigation as idiots... no, it's like giving them two slaps in the face.