After leaving 134 Iron Cross Street at Lower Street, the three Nighthawks and Bitsch Mountbatten parted ways. Silently, they took a turn to the nearby workhouse in West Borough.
As they got closer, Klein saw a long queue. It was just like when the people from the Foodaholic Empire on earth queued for a shop that gone viral on the Internet. The place was packed.
"There's about a hundred, no, closer to two hundred," he muttered in surprised. He saw the people queuing were in tattered clothes with numb expressions. They only occasionally looked towards the door of the workhouse impatiently.
Frye slowed down and said coldly, "There is a limit to the number of homeless poor each workhouse will accept daily. They can only take them in based on the queue order. Of course, the workhouse will examine and refuse entry to those who fail to meet the criteria."
"The economic recession in the recent months has played a part too..." Leonard sighed.
"Those who don't manage to queue will have to figure out a way of their own?" Klein asked subconsciously.
"They can also try their luck in the other workhouses. Different workhouses have different operating hours. However, each one has the same long line. Some of them would wait from two in the afternoon." Frye paused. "The rest of the people mostly starve for a day. Then, they lose their ability to find a job and fall into a vicious cycle that leads directly to death. Those who can't withstand the hardship end up losing their struggle to stay on the good side of the law..."
Klein fell silent for a few seconds before letting out a sigh.
"The newspapers never publish any of this... Mr. Frye, I hardly ever hear you speak so much."
"I was once a pastor in a workhouse of the Goddess." Frye maintained his cold attitude.
When the three of them arrived at the door of the workhouse in West Borough, they showed their identity documents to the doorkeeper, who was eyeing the queuers arrogantly, before they were taken into the workhouse.
The workhouse was transformed from an old church. There were mattresses and hammocks all over the Mass hall. The pungent scent of sweat mixed with the smell of Athlete's foot permeated every corner.
In and out of the hall, there were many poor families. Some swung hammers to break rocks, some picked oakum; no one was free.
"In order to not let poor people rely too much on workhouses and turn into scoundrels, the Poor Law established in 1336 enforced a rule whereby every poor person can only stay in the workhouse for five days at most. Any longer than that, one would be cast out. During the five days, they have to do manual labor, such as breaking rocks or picking oakum. These are the same tasks that criminals in prison do," Frye explained to Klein and Leonard briefly without much emotion.
Leonard opened his mouth, and no one was sure if he was teasing or explaining, "When they leave this workhouse, they could go to another one. Of course, they might not be able to move in. Heh, perhaps, to some people, poor people are like criminals."
"... Picking oakum?" Klein was quiet. He didn't know what else to ask.
"The fibers of old ropes are actually a great material to seal the gaps in boats." Frye stopped and found a burnt mark on the ground.
A few minutes later, the director and pastor of the workhouse rushed over. They were both men in their forties.
"Salus started the fire here and only burnt himself to death?" Leonard asked, pointing at the ashen mark on the ground.
The director of the workhouse was a man with a broad, bumpy forehead. He scanned the area where Inspector Mitchell was pointing with blue eyes and nodded in affirmation.
"Yes."
"Before that, did Salus act strangely in any way?" Klein asked.
The director of the workhouse thought and said, "According to the person that slept next to him, Salus had been chanting 'The Lord has given up on me', 'The world is too filthy', 'I have nothing left', stuff along those lines. He was filled with resentment and hopelessness. But no one expected him to break all the kerosene lamps and start a fire to burn the place down while everyone was sleeping. Thank the Lord, someone found out in time and stopped his wicked act."
Klein and Leonard then found a few people who had slept next to Salus the night before, and they also found the guard that stopped the tragedy. However, those people didn't have anything new to tell them.
Of course, they used Spirit Vision, divination, and other methods to check if any of the people were lying or misleading them.
"It seems that Salus long had the idea to take revenge and self-destruct. It seems to be a very normal case." Leonard waited till the director and the pastor left to express his opinion.
Klein pondered and said, "My divination tells me that a supernatural factor had influenced this case."
"Let's eliminate Salus's fire case temporarily," Leonard concluded.
Just then, Frye suddenly said, "No, maybe there is another possibility. For example, Salus acted at the instigation of someone else, a Beyonder who didn't take any supernatural measures."
Klein's eyes lit up as he echoed, "It's very possible, such as the Instigator from before."
Instigator Tris!
But that wouldn't have any connection with Mrs. Lauwis's death... He thought, creasing his eyebrows lightly.
...
After hearing Klein's and Frye's guesses, Leonard tugged on his collar and paced about, saying, "Then we have to investigate everyone in the workhouse who came into contact with Salus, as well as everyone he came across after he went bankrupt and was chased out of the house. It's very troublesome indeed... Time is of the essence. Let's split up and do a cursory check here, then head to the third reported death in the West Borough and leave the rest to the police."
"Alright," Klein answered without hesitation.
Frye didn't have any objections. He turned towards the people who had been sleeping near Salus last night.
Klein was about to find someone to question when he suddenly saw Leonard shooting looks at him. He was motioning at the side hall of the workhouse with his chin.
What does he want? Klein was a little lost. He acted as though nothing had happened and strolled around the hall, then followed Leonard into the side hall while Frye was distracted. They made their way through the partition to a silent corner which had no one else around.
"I have a hypothesis," Leonard suddenly said, stopping in front of a shattered window.
Klein looked around in confusion. "What's your hypothesis?"
Leonard with his deep green eyes, he returned a question, "If there were no supernatural factors, what do you think Mrs. Lauwis's outcome would've been?"
Klein thought for a moment, then said solemnly, "The same, just delayed by a week or two, perhaps a month. But to a family like theirs, they would've only seen the doctor when she really was at her limit. As long as her heart problems turned for the worse, there would be no way for her to be saved."
"Then what about Salus? If he hadn't been instigated by someone, what kind of end would he have?" Leonard asked again.
Klein pondered and said, "From the description in the information, Salus was already very angry about his bankruptcy, and was furious that no one saved him. I think that he would've exacted his vengeance sooner or later, but not at the people at the workhouse. He might've targeted the boss that made him bankrupt or the staff of the bank that seized his house."
"What would the result of his revenge be?" Leonard pressed on.
"Without a doubt, he had already decided to end his life. He would have died no matter what the result of his revenge was." Klein gave an affirmative answer.
Leonard nodded and revealed his signature flippant smile.
"Then can we conclude that Mrs Lauwis and Salus were both people fated to die soon?
Klein was a 'knowledgeable' keyboard warrior. Upon hearing the question, he immediately had a guess.
"You're saying that their deaths were moved forward by some supernatural factors? But why?"
"A more accurate description would be, their 'life force' had been shortened by some supernatural factor. It was stolen. And life force is the best material when it comes to summoning evil gods and devils or conducting terrifying curses." Leonard smiled as he corrected Klein's guess.
"Summoning evil gods and devils or conducting terrifying curses..." Klein looked into Leonard's emerald eyes and recalled the Milo ritual site, viewing it from Galopin's point of view.
Life force... There are mounds of corpses piled at the foot of the figure tree and willow phantoms around. Selina's hometown...
Leonard noticed Klein's change in expression. He smiled cynically, "Seems you recalled something?
"Heh, Klein, there's no need for any pretense between us. I saw you break free from the control of Sealed Artifact 2-049, and I know that you're special. You and Selina."
Klein's pupils constricted indiscernibly. It was enough for Leonard to quickly tell.
"And what made you deduce that from Ms. Roy?" He tried to retort.
"She possesses that item that I can hardly classified as a mere seed. See? Even you are left guessing its true source." Leonard confidently replied. "Being around her most should have made you sense that I'm a little different from the average Beyonder."
His smile disappeared as he looked into Klein's eyes.
"I've told you that there are many special people in this world that can always do things others can't, such as both of you... and me.
"This world has a long history. There are many magical items that people wish to obtain, to control. They wish to become the stars of their own show. There aren't many people like that, but it's impossible that there are only one or three of them.
"I don't think that a Beyonder with his or her secrets is a bad person or an evil thug. I don't think that we even need to be clear on where their special abilities come from, and what they represent... As long as you and Ms. Roy's actions are not endangering me, the Nighthawks, or Tingen City, then the both of you are still my partners. Similarly, I hope that you'll look at me with the same attitude. Of course, it's best not to speak of this to the higher-ups. Those fogies are old fashioned and conservative, always thinking that special people like us will definitely lose control, definitely feel the pull and temptation of the evil gods or devils."
I'll keep in mind whenever Selina is around... Klein thought to himself. He said frankly, "I share the same sentiments as you. I'll only look at your actions and your motives and don't care about how special you are. I will also try not to probe into your secrets."
Leonard unfastened the buttons of his shirt and nodded with a chuckle.
"I'm glad that we have this understanding. Do let me in on your tandem with Ms. Roy. Three protagonists fated in the action novel, it's intriguing don't you think?
"The wheels of history are truly set in motion."
How shameless... Klein gave a perfunctory smile.
The phrase "wheels of history are set in motion" came from the Emperor Roselle!