Lord of the Mysteries

Old Kohler seemed to be a slightly afraid of her ferocity as he subconsciously took a step back.

“Liv, this is a detective, and he w-wishes to help you find Daisy.”

Liv’s wrinkled, peeling face turned to Klein and said coldly, “We’ve already made a police report.”

Although she was perhaps in her thirties, she looked to be in her fifties.

Klein looked around the room where many wet clothes hung. He vaguely remembered the last time he was here. There had been a thirteen or fourteen-year-old girl, carefully holding a crude homemade iron to iron the clothes which had wrinkled from being hung to dry. Her hands had been covered with burns.

She’s the “missing” Daisy… Klein looked back at the laundry maid, Liv, and said in a neutral tone, “Do you believe that the East Borough police will really be looking for Daisy?

“Are you sure the people who caused Daisy to go ‘missing’ wouldn’t cast their sights on your family?

“Do you wish to lose another daughter after losing one?”

When the cruel yet heart-wrenching words reached Liv’s ears, the indifferent expression on her face slowly crumbled. She turned agape, but she couldn’t say anything. The corners of her eyes gradually turned red.

She abruptly lowered her head and muttered to herself in pain and despair, “I don’t have any money…”

The room suddenly became silent. Even the sobbing girl didn’t make another sound.

Klein pursed his lips and let out a silent sigh.

“I occasionally do volunteer work, simply to help others. Heh heh, I haven’t done so in a long time, so please give me a chance.”

“Volunteer work?” Liv lifted her head and ruminated over the phrase.

Klein nodded slightly and answered, “The job will be done pro bono. No, it is not completely free either. Kindness will bring me great satisfaction.

“Since you have no other solutions, why not give it a try?”

Liv was silent for a moment. She raised her hand, which had wrinkled from being soaked in water for an extended period of time, wiped her eyes, and said in a low voice, “Mr. Detective, you… you really are a kind and good gentleman…”

Her voice suddenly became choked with sobs.

“… This was what happened—at midday before yesterday, at noon, Daisy delivered a load of washed laundry under Freja’s lead. It was just outside East Borough, and they needed to cross several streets.

“In order to rush back for lunch, Freja had chosen a secluded alley, but a momentary distraction left her realizing that Daisy, who had been following her, was gone.

“She retraced her route but never found Daisy, and Daisy hasn’t come back yet.

“Where did this happen, Freja?”

stood up, her eyes were red

and said, “Right here, right here in Broken Axe Lane, Mister Detective. Will

without much of an

a police dog. It has an excellent sense of smell and

thought for a moment and

again shed tears. She felt as if the

blinked and said,

“Daisy’s vocabulary book!”

book?” Old

and said, “I make Freja and Daisy attend the free school at night. I can keep washing

such a good mother…

the evening, the school would be free of charge and would even provide stationery and a certain amount of paper. It was an education that was need-blind, and it would at most involve some religious knowledge. Klein had heard Old Neil mention that he had once been a teacher for

the few students who had the best academic progress, imbue them with the content for that day’s class, and then put them in charge of

workshop, which were

and it was difficult

liked studying very much. She was made the tutor of her class by her teacher. She would put together the vocabulary words she had copied and hugged them in her bed every day. She would wake up early and go out into the street to recite them under the light of dawn. She’s always found it regretful that there are no

to the bunk bed and took out a stack of crumpled paper from under

environment for extended periods of time, the words that were copied on it had

worn out, as though they had been turned over and over by someone for a long

vocabulary book,

Klein answered very

wasn’t trying to comfort Freja. Although it wasn’t the kind of items Daisy carried around all the time, it was something that had accompanied her all this while. Moreover, it had been projected with Daisy’s

I’ll start taking action. The

find words to describe their feelings. All they could do was watch as Klein and Old Kohler leave, repeating the words “thank you,” “thank you, Mr. Detective,” and “thank

pay attention to those female textile workers who lost their jobs, especially those who have neither found new jobs nor become street girls, and pay more attention to those who have gone

your own safety. Ask less and listen more. If you do

Old Kohler nodded

he asked with a tone full of expectation, “You’ll find Daisy, won’t you, Mister

only say that I will do my

sighed and

lost my child, so I’m very unwilling to see

hand and

the head of the cane and, without attracting any attention, completed a

confirm if I’m suffering any interference or misdirection… He looked down at the direction in which the cane

Klein went all the way out of East Borough and

an hour later, the carriage, which occasionally changed directions, stopped at Iris Street, near Cherwood Borough and West Borough. It stopped in front of

Klein’s cane had fallen down inside the carriage and was aimed straight

inside the

security inside

spiritual intuition made him sense

How can Daisy’s disappearance involve such a dangerous place?Klein thought