Part 1 The Joker Chapter 177 Suddenly
After sharing some interesting facts and gossip among the nobility, Audrey paused in her writing and assumed a thoughtful and reflective attitude.
She relied on the excellent memory of the “audience”, the father of the Earl of Hall’s words and occasional teachings, the banquet, ball and salon heard part of the news, one by one, combed out, organized into paragraphs.
After a good belated draft, Audrey put pen to paper and wrote:
”Regarding your inquiry about the political situation in Berkland, it is outside my area of interest, and I can only describe to you the details that I happen to know, from memory.”
”It was only some time ago that father told me that, after the repeal of the Grain Act, the price of grain had plummeted, and the rate of rents for fields and pastures had slipped off a cliff, the exact magnitude of which I don’t really know, and can only give you an example to make you understand.”
”As you know, Duke Negan is the most land-owning nobleman outside of the Crown, claiming more than twelve million pounds of fields, pastures, and mountains, and last year, his land-rent income reached its highest level ever, 1.3 million pounds, whereas this year, the entire land-rent income that can be foreseen is 850,000 pounds, a reduction of fully 450,000 gold pounds, which has already exceeded the amount of money that I can partake of the of the whole property.”
”It is not necessary for me to explain more; surely you, my dear brother, understand the character of the great majority of the nobles of the old school, who are proud of their landholdings, who are chiefly concerned with the income from the land rents, and who, decency prevailing over all else, even when they are in debt, maintain a living sufficient to match their own position, with the cost of repairing their castles, which is reckoned in the ten thousand pounds per annum, and the expense of clothing and jewels, which is in the thousands and tens of thousands per annum, as well as the persevering of hunting, social banquets, occasional grand weddings, extravagant funerals, etc., etc.”
”Owing to the severe decline in the revenue from land rents, I understand that some of the nobility are in financial difficulties, for which reason the Earl of Wolfe sold 840,000 acres of land in the country for 290,000 gold pounds, and Viscount Conard sold his collection, valued at 55,000 gold pounds, to the National Gallery.”
”With the exception of a handful of enterprising nobles who have long since shifted their focus to steel, coal, railroads, banking, rubber, etc., everyone else has suffered badly in this Grain Bill fiasco, and let us praise our dear Earl of Hall here!”
”Father tells me that the financial embarrassment will cause the nobles’ control of party politics over the seats in the House of Commons to slip, and it is conceivable that the number of MPs from landed gentry will be much reduced in next year’s changeover.”
”And both the Conservatives and the New Party, in an effort to raise funds, have promised that they will seek knighthoods for whomever, with no criminal record, donates enough money, provided, of course, that that gentleman has the minimum land area to match the knighthood.”
”An example of this is that the wealthy Mr. Sindras purchased the minimum 600,000 acres of land required for a baronetcy, then donated 100,000 gold pounds to the Carlton Club, 400,000 pounds to the Conservative Party, and a cumulative total of 300,000 pounds in charitable activities, and eventually succeeded in receiving a royal title from His Majesty the King to become the Honorable Mr. Baronet, and in that regard, I’m told there’s a price list that goes from Baron is £300,000, Hereditary Baron is £700,000 to £1,000,000, there is no definite answer for Viscounts and Earls, but I think it must be sufficiently exaggerated.”
……
”During this year, many nobles with financial problems began to seriously consider the possibility of marriage with wealthy merchants, and within just two months, there were three similar marriages with very coveted dowries for the women.”
”Also, those workers who marched to protest the Grain Bill in the first place did get a reduction in food prices, but the quality of their lives didn’t improve, it even got lower, as the salaries of the laboring classes skyrocketed as bankrupt farmers moved into the cities and snatched up the jobs with the demand for low wages.”
”I remember the day, after saying all these things, when my father had asked me, who do you think is the winner in this Grain Bill affair?”
”My dear Alfred, you must know the answer to that, and surely you too can get a hereditary knighthood on your own efforts.”
……
Hugh Dilcha and Forsyth Wall, who had gotten a letter back from Audrey, were riding in a carriage back to the Birkeland Bridge area.
Hugh, with his blonde hair in disarray, looked out the window, his eyes so bright that they seemed to be burning with two flames.
She kept muttering the word “450 pounds” to herself as if she were reciting a mantra, and with each recitation she gained courage and strength.
”Duckholme hasn’t come to us to-day to tell of the latest investigations; let’s go straight to his house!” Suddenly Hugh twisted his head to look at Forsyth.
Duckholm was the leader of a gang in the East End of Birkeland, controlling many beggars and thieves.
Although he always had a kindly look and always wore a smile full of affability on his round face, Hugh knew that this was a cruel and vicious villain, who once stomped off the hand of a thirteen or fourteen year old thief just because the other party had hidden the harvest.
Hugh wouldn’t even have wanted to see Duckholm if he hadn’t been bound to, but the other man was one of those who knew the city’s vagabonds best.
Forsyth flicked his slightly curled brown hair behind his ear and said:
”As long as it doesn’t delay my lunch.”
”No problem! Maybe after this week, I’ll treat you to an Indis feast!” Hugh promised feeling very good about himself.
”Do I have to thank God for that?” Forsyth asked rhetorically in amusement.
Unlike Hugh, she was a shallow believer in the God of Steam and Machinery.
As they spoke, the two girls changed to another public carriage and traveled to the East End of Birkeland to find Duckholm’s home.
It was a townhouse located in a narrow alley, with turquoise plants growing on the walls and a rather messy environment outside.
Hugh walked up to the door, raised his right hand, and with a distinctive rhythm tapped on the door a few times.
With a creak, the door, which was not closed, opened backward with her knock.
Hugh’s slightly dazed expression instantly turned serious, like a lion with its hair blown out.
She drew the three-pronged thorn she carried with her, carefully pushed the door and stepped slowly inside.
Voorhees also changed his diffident state and fished out a dagger from somewhere.
Neither of them smelled a strange odor, but their vast experience made them keenly aware that something was wrong.
One step, two steps, three steps, and Hugh and Forsyth entered Duckholm’s home.
Then they saw the pale severed arm resting on the gas lamp, the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys on the coffee table, and flesh and blood spilling out onto the floor and hanging from the coat rack!
A single white bone, on the other hand, was shaved clean and stacked in a messy heap right in front of the doorway.
And among the clusters of white bones was the head with open, empty eyes of none other than Duckholm.
His round face still held a benign smile, as if everything was normal, and the smell of blood did not permeate the interior of the house, not one iota.
As a former clinic doctor, later best-selling author, and Sequence 9 Extraordinary, Forsyth had seen more disgusting death scenes than this, and while patting down a tense, vomit-like Hugh, she looked around and said in a hushed voice:
”Zillinger? ‘Lieutenant General Hurricane’ Zillinger?”
”He found out that Duckholm was investigating the missing homeless man and followed him in reverse, straight to the door?”
”Or maybe Duckholm checked out his whereabouts, but he found out?”
Hugh held back the throb of nausea and nodded with a solemn expression:
”It’s worthy of being a pirate general known for his ferocity and cunning …… And the weirdness here is in line with the performance of that magical item of his.”
”Cunning ……” snapped Forsyth with a sudden start, “Could he still be waiting around, trying to ambush the mastermind who investigated him?”
Hugh froze for a moment, and then replied in a slight panic:
”Very likely!”
That was a Sequence 6 “Wind Favored One”, a great pirate who possessed a magical item, while the two of them were only Sequence 9!
This is a very simple and easy comparison!
……
In the house opposite to Duckholm’s house, a man in his thirties with a unique wide chin and dark green eyes stood by the window, coldly watching Hugh and Forsyth push open the door and slowly enter the house.
This was the “Hurricane General” Zillinger!
The black glove he wore on his left palm suddenly wriggled as if it had life force, and a layer of dark golden scales emerged on its surface.
Zillinger reveals a cruel and pleasant expression, the dark green eyes then turned into light gold, merciless vertical pupils.
……
Foerth’s thoughts turned, and she was busy pulling Hugh to run to the other side, avoiding the area facing the door of the room.
Immediately afterward, with a clench of her white teeth, she removed a string of bracelets hidden by the ruffled edges of her cuffs.
The string of silver bracelets had three dark green rough stones on top of it, the surface of the stones filled with burn marks and bumps.
Vors snapped and pulled off one of the stones, shouting low in ancient Hermetic:
”Door!”
She grasped Hugh Dilcha firmly and watched as the stone blossomed into an illusory light blue light.
The two ladies’ figures blurred with it, approaching invisibility.
They saw things of indescribable form, even so transparent that they seemed to be nonexistent, and they saw one bright light after another of different colors and containing endless knowledge, and they entered the mysterious spirit world.
In that weird world above reality, Forsyth pulled Hugh to take a step in a certain direction.
Three breaths later, they were out of their transparent illusory state and back in reality, back in Beckland.
However, the place where they were was no longer Duckholm’s home, but an unoccupied cemetery.
……
Wearing fine scaly gloves, Zylingus silently appeared in Duckholm’s doorway, his gaze sweeping icily inside.
He froze for a moment, frowning slightly as he muttered to himself:
”‘Traveler’?”
……
Cemetery.
”What next?” Voorhees gasped in pain and fear.
The bracelet was another magical item she had gotten during the encounter where she had gotten the recipe and materials for the Apprentice, and it had no hidden dangers except that it made her hear strange, vague murmurings during the full moon every month.
There were originally five stones on the bracelet, all of which allowed her to travel through the spirit world with the help of the spirit world and do something akin to teleportation, but now, there were only two left.
Hugh fixed his mind and spirit and nodded solemnly:
”Notify Ms. Audrey first, then, then call the police!”