Chapter 13
[You must not have seen the newspapers. There are so many reports of people going missing and never being found, or being brutally murdered by assailants. The world is becoming a truly frightening place lately. Please be very careful when you're out at night, Miss.]
‘Brutally murdered by assailants.’
I squeezed my eyes shut.
While I was hesitating like this, it seemed the world was steadily preparing for its demise.
“Thanks for the news. Then, please pass a message to Harrison. Tell him to bring the items I requested down personally. Eden Duncan Lancaster is down here in this village right now. If you tell Harrison that he’s investigating those items, he’ll understand.”
If Eden discovered the firearms, the problem would become severe.
With so little time left, I could end up facing the apocalypse while under investigation—or worse, facing the end of the world from inside a police cell.
[Yes. I will deliver the message, Miss.]
I set down the receiver and the mouthpiece and took a deep breath.
‘Everything would be solved if Eden would just head back up to the capital.’
The law of the original plot's immutability. I shook my head vigorously as that ominous phrase crossed my mind.
‘I will definitely break the law of the original plot and survive.’
To do that, I needed to be even more thorough in my preparations.
Leaving the train station, I pulled a notebook from my pocket to check the shopping list I had written down.
‘Now I should go look at furniture.’
Do you know what the most important thing is when building a great shelter?
‘It’s money.’
I headed straight for the furniture store district in Kintne.
* * *
The police station located in the center of Brunel village.
Eden was sitting in the station, scanning through files of incident reports from Brunel and the surrounding areas.
[The Westmore Urban Legend Case]
A case file from last year caught his eye in particular. It was likely because Cherry and Vanilla had mentioned Westmore earlier.
The Westmore urban legend case, which began to spread last year, was quite famous within the police force. This was because as many as ten residents of Westmore had gone missing.
Around this time last year, a report came in that human screams were heard every night from an abandoned house in Westmore.
It was said that after the human screams, something sounding like a beast's howl would always follow.
However, although the police dispatched to the scene searched the abandoned house thoroughly, they could find no trace of either humans or beasts.
‘It’s similar to the incident at Notium Street No. 61, and yet different.’
At Notium Street No. 61, there were several witnesses and a monster eventually appeared, but that wasn't the case for the Westmore incident.
There were plenty of rumors, but no witnesses. That was why it was called an ‘urban legend.’
‘That’s why the case was buried so quickly.’
The Westmore legend file didn't even have the address of the abandoned house where the incidents occurred.
‘Tsk. Even so, they didn't do their jobs properly, failing to leave a proper record.’
It was just as Eden was clicking his tongue in disapproval.
“Hahaha!”
Boisterous laughter rang out. A group of village residents were sitting together inside the police station, chatting and sharing tea.
A restaurant owner, who said she had just dropped by because she was bored, suddenly brought up Cherry.
“That lady at the abandoned mansion, she’s a bit strange, isn’t she?”
As the restaurant owner started the topic, the grocery store owner and the bookstore owner who had come with her chimed in.
“She keeps hauling things into that old place, doesn’t she?”
The villagers' chatter continued. Eden couldn't understand why the residents here gathered at a police station to gossip like this. Didn't people usually avoid police stations?
Then again, seeing Inspector Hans, the head of the Brunel Police Station, joining in the gossip circle and chatting away excitedly, he felt he understood the reason why.
“Even an abandoned house is a home, I suppose. She’s working hard on repairs.”
“If the repairs are done well, the basic structure is decent. It was originally a villa bought by a noble, after all. Doesn't it look like a perfect place to hide after committing a crime?”
“Oh, my goodness. Then, could that lady perhaps…?”
Hearing their conversation, Eden also felt a flicker of suspicion. Maybe?
If it was Cherry Sinclair, who drew public attention with everything she did, she was more than capable of causing trouble. Especially recently, wasn't there that 100-million gold loan incident?
‘That was quite a big issue.’
This was a reasonable suspicion. What if she had caused an accident, found herself unable to handle it, and was hiding in this village?
‘Did she say she was hiding her identity?’
If Brunel had been a large town, Sinclair’s identity would likely have been exposed before long.
The media loved news about Cherry Sinclair.
However, Brunel was a tiny rural village without even a train station, and the residents were people who had lived here their whole lives without ever leaving.
If she had chosen this village to hide her identity, it was an excellent choice.
‘Or she might really be hiding because of the firearm smuggling.’
Cherry was clearly at the center of the suspicious incidents that had occurred recently, and Eden could not overlook that fact.
He was quietly monitoring Cherry, waiting for the right moment. The ‘moment’ to catch her in the act.
“Oh, what’s that?”
Just then, the villagers began turning their eyes toward the outside of the police station one by one.
Eden also looked up with a puzzled expression. Through the gap in the open door, a strange sight met his eyes.
He saw a woman lightly dragging four giant scarecrows made of straw, all tied together with rope.
It was none other than Cherry Sinclair, the subject of the gossip until just a moment ago.
Watching the scene, Eden thought to himself: Cherry Sinclair is no ordinary strange woman.
‘She certainly doesn't seem normal.’
Nothing she had done so far was understandable within the bounds of Eden’s common sense.
“What on earth are those scarecrows for?”
“Wait, is she carrying all that by herself?”
The people inside the police station whispered as they watched Cherry. Perhaps hearing the noise, she looked up.
Because the station door was open, her eyes met those of the people inside.
“You’re all gathered here. Hello.”
She waved at them and offered a friendly greeting.
“Why are you taking those scarecrows?”
The grocery store owner, sensing the atmosphere, asked Cherry. She shrugged and replied.
“I’m going to do some practice.”
“What kind of practice?”
“Well, researching how to cleanly take off a head requires some study.”
Take off a… what?
The people's faces turned pale. At that, Cherry hurriedly waved her hands.
“Ah, don’t misunderstand. It was a joke. Ahahaha!”
As she burst into laughter while scratching the back of her head, the scarecrows fell to the ground in a heap along with the rope she had been carrying over her shoulder.
Cherry easily hoisted the fallen scarecrows back up and bid the people farewell.
“Well then, excuse me…!”
After she disappeared, silence hung over the police station for a moment.
The Cherry Sinclair Eden knew was a hothouse flower who hated physical labor and hardship.
He watched Cherry’s receding back as she lightly carried four large scarecrows and thought to himself.
‘In what way does that look like a fragile hothouse flower?’
Suddenly, something Cherry had said a few days ago came back to Eden.
“I do tend to be misunderstood a lot. Since I love luxury and just go around causing trouble like a child. It makes it look like I’d commit a crime without a second thought.”
“I’m fine. I’m used to those kinds of misunderstandings.”
Just as she said, he began to think it might indeed be a misunderstanding.
‘If you think about it, the weapon smuggling was Lawyer Howard’s doing.’
Of course, there wasn't a single thing about Cherry Sinclair that wasn't suspicious from start to finish.
However, one thing was clear: though she was quite peculiar, she didn't seem to be the arrogant and thoughtless person the rumors suggested.
‘I’ll have to keep watching her.’
Eden watched Cherry’s retreating figure before asking the villagers.
“Does the lady from the mansion come down to the village often?”
A short silence followed. The villagers exchanged looks with eyes full of curiosity.
Eventually, the innkeeper took the lead and spoke up.
“Oh, don’t even get me started. Yesterday, she completely cleared out the grocery store.”
The innkeeper said, pointing to the grocery store owner standing next to her. The grocery store owner nodded vigorously.
“I heard she cleared out the general store today?”
This time, the general store owner nodded.
“She swept up everything as if she were preparing for a war.”
“I don’t know where that lady living in the old house got all that money.”
Hearing that, Eden barely suppressed a laugh. To Cherry Sinclair, that amount wouldn't even count as money.
“But why is our new young man so interested in the lady from the mansion?”
“You’re asking because you don’t know? She is incredibly beautiful, after all.”
Eden was so flabbergasted he was lost for words. Of course, he admitted that Cherry was a stunning beauty.
But looks weren't the important thing, were they?
