Wuxian, wearing his neither too tight nor too baggy black robes, made his way along the bustling main street of Cang’An’s eastern district. The Northern Dark Edge was concealed with that same tablecloth which he’d ‘borrowed’ from Black Emperor Mountain Hermit not so long ago and attached closely to his back, angled so that its shaft rested diagonally, bisecting his neck and right shoulder.
Despite his outstanding height, Cang’An was a city that was accustomed to uniqueness and strangeness. While it was true that being taller made it difficult for him to go unnoticed, unless one was specifically using height as a measurement to detect their target, he was merely one of many. A city with as much diversity as Cang’An was bound to have more than one person whose stature surpassed the norm, after all.
He attracted very little attention, partially due to the sheer volume of activity that was taking place on the main street, and partially because Wuxian made sure to stay out of the paths of others, though it was quite a challenge. Being midday, the place was packed, with swathes of people making their way in and out of various storefronts, meeting others for various activities, or travelling to the nearby bazaar.
Ducking aside to allow a middle-aged woman to pass by, Wuxian shifted to give himself a better view of the local city watch station. Unlike the Nightwatch headquarters, which appeared small and insignificant on the outside, being the prefecture chief’s office nominally, but internally, being a mess of convoluted corridors and hallways, the city watch station appeared to be slightly more impressive.
It seemed rather out of place on the main street. Unlike other buildings that were wedged between one another, with sometimes walls and interconnecting alleyways between, the station had its own specially designed enclosure. The walls that surrounded it were taller and larger, denoting a big square area within which the station itself was positioned, small gates facing each cardinal direction.
Wuxian remembered how on his first visit to the Nightwatch, there had been a long queue that spanned the distance of several streets and alleys. Comparing that now to the city watch station, he felt slightly confused.
‘There’s barely anybody here.’
With a subconscious shrug, Wuxian made his way inside, unable to help but note how sparsely populated the station was. The prefecture office was small and had little shelter from the elements, while the station’s interior was warm and cosy, yet the streets lining the path to the prefecture office were often jam-packed, while the eastern district’s city watch station was barren.
Despite the lack of traffic, the interior of the station bore a professional atmosphere. Clean wooden benches lined the walls with potted plants breaking the monotony in furnishing. On either side of the entrance were banners that read “respect the law!” and “tolerate not misbehaviour!”. Sitting at the end of the bench to the left was a man who seemed to be on in his years. He had his head lowered, so Wuxian couldn’t quite see his face, but the white and grey hairs on the man’s head were a dead give away. The man gripped a scrap of white paper between his hands, gaze fixed on it tightly.
Wuxian paid no more attention to him, shifting his gaze to take in the rest of the surroundings. After a couple more moments, he made his way to the front desk, where a pretty duty officer sat. She had been looking at him from the moment he entered the building. Seeing him approach, she flashed a subtle yet friendly smile.
“Hello sir, how may I help?” Her voice was mellow and mature- in stark contrast to her youthful and lively appearance.
Wuxian greeted her with a quick cup of his hands, a gesture that had become second nature to him, and a nod. “Hello. I am here to see the constable.”
Hearing this stranger suddenly request to see the highest ranking officer at the station, the duty officer was startled. Seeing this, Wuxian preemptively unfurled his hand, revealing the golden Nightwatcher badge for a brief second, before concealing it again within his sleeves. The duty officer remained stunned for a second more, blinking her shock away and nodding several times in succession.
“R-right away. I’ll be just a moment.” She stuttered, cupping her hands and standing up in haste. Her sudden movement caused her chair to emit a harsh creak as it was pushed across the floor.
Wuxian felt slightly unsure how to react to her behaviour, merely nodding coolly in response to her salute. Throughout his life, he’d only ever held two positions of relative power or importance. In Liang’s army, he was a mere lieutenant. Though they had attempted to be formal, having a section composed up of a band of friends meant that while his position and leadership was respected, he was not feared either. At the same time, this level of respect did not often translate into day to day communication either, since they spent a lot of time either bantering or training.
The other position was his current one- a gold badge Nightwatcher. However, within the Nightwatch, everyone knew that Wuxian’s position was more of a nominal one. If he really tried to issue commands to his ‘inferiors’, while a bronze badge might obey sceptically, a silver badge might directly bring the issue up with another gold badge or even the chief himself.
But the duty officer that was scrambling away before him didn’t know that he was a nominal Nightwatcher.
‘Perhaps her reaction is the norm. That innkeeper from before mentioned that he was afraid of a Nightwatcher inspection- to the point where he ditched the place without a look back at the slightest sign of trouble.’
There was a commotion out back and the sound of hurried footsteps that came ever closer. Even the attention of the destitute man sitting in the corner was captured, looking up from that piece of paper for the first time since Wuxian had arrived.
Without further delay, a man whom Wuxian presumed to be the constable emerged. He was a tall individual, measuring just a head shorter than Wuxian. He wore dark blue robes with a stylish surcoat on top. He wore a black silk hat with a pair of wings that stuck out from behind, his official wear accentuating his stern and proper facial features. Wuxian couldn’t help but glance at the large civil official’s embroidered pattern on the constable’s surcoat which depicted a crane mid-flight, surrounded by blue patterns symbolising the sea.
The two greeted each other with respectful gestures.
“You must be constable Tie.”
“Indeed. The prefecture chief has just informed me about you- it is my honour to receive you.” Tie replied, his deep voice giving off the impression that he was a serious and no-nonsense sort of individual. “Please, we have much to talk about.”
Wuxian nodded at the constable’s gesture, circling around the desk and following him through to a more private area, though, it wasn’t like there were many people nearby to eavesdrop anyway. As he passed by the duty officer, he gave her a polite smile, though this gesture seemed to have effects opposite to what he intended, only causing her to shift away slightly and retake her seat at the front desk.
Turning away, Wuxian couldn’t help but frown. Seeing this, constable Tie couldn’t help but give him a sideways glance.
“Is there something on your mind?” He asked.
Wuxian’s expression returned to one of neutrality quickly. With a shrug, he voiced his doubts. “Not much. I do find it odd that there aren’t very many people here though.”
Constable Tie responded with a helpless look. “Ah, well…”
He took a few moments to form a response. “Since we’re in the eastern district, where the prefecture office is, most people tend to directly go there instead. Small matters are not worth reporting to the city watch, while more important matters, such as assault and burglaries, are difficult for us to investigate and solve quickly. The constant flow of people in and out of the city makes it so that many cases are left cold, but the citizenry interpret that as our incompetence.”
Tie let out a quiet sigh. “Since the Nightwatch has many gifted individuals, these sorts of things are much easier for them to handle. Now, people take their cases directly up to the prefecture office instead of handing them to us.”
Wuxian raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t familiar with police work, so he refrained from commenting on the difficulties and ardours of the constable’s work. However, he was surprised to hear that people were jumping the rung and taking matters directly to the Nightwatch.
With this in mind, he voiced his question. “Matters like assault and thefts are not listed within our jurisdiction though. At worst, they’d be brought up to the city guard. Surely, the people know that pestering the prefecture office is pointless?”
Constable Tie shook his head. “When bronze badges have spare time, they often go out of their way to accept requests from the people. Not only do they get to test their mettle in the field, they can often receive gratitude and rewards from their beneficiaries too. For them, it’s an ‘everybody wins’ sort of situation.”
As they turned the corner, Wuxian couldn’t help but nod thoughtfully. After a moment, he spoke again. “I have another question.”
Constable Tie gestured for him to speak with a raise of his hand.
“I’ve heard or experienced only negative reactions from the people whenever the Nightwatch are mentioned. If we’re helping them on occasion, shouldn’t their attitudes be the opposite?”
Constable Tie gave him a wry grin. “Some of your people have handled cases in… sub-optimal manners. Notoriety spreads quicker than renown. A man can do good for almost all his life, only to be recorded in history as a villain for a single slip up later down the line.”
“Yet despite that, people keep taking their chances anyway.” Wuxian mused.
“Indeed. After all, in the worst case scenario, they are able to claim compensation from the Nightwatch if things do go sour. If you’re not getting the missing person back, you may as well profit off of it.” Tie chuckled bitterly. “Alright. We’re here. Do excuse the mess, I’ve been quite busy recently and haven’t had the time to tidy up.”
Wuxian waved a hand to indicate that it was no problem. Despite Tie’s words, the office was quite clean, with only a few documents scattered over the desk and the adjacent tables that were positioned beside the walls.
Seating himself down, Wuxian noticed that the window was facing the main entrance of the station, allowing him to monitor the activities of the people within, though there were only the duty officer and the decrepit man at the moment.
Tie poured two cups of tea, pushing one over to Wuxian, who declined politely. Taking a quiet sip, the constable exhaled.
“Alright. Though you’re not technically my superior, you’re from the Nightwatch… so my men and I are at your disposal. How would you like to go about doing things?”
Wuxian held his chin, tapping it lightly. “First, let me ask. How much did chief Li tell you about me?”
Constable Tie couldn’t help but give Wuxian a confused glance. “Not much. He just told me that you’re here to aid us in the missing persons cases, as well as anything that might be related. I just thought that since most of your people don’t like being ordered around, and taking into account your rank, it’d be better to let you take the lead.”
Wuxian blinked twice. “Well in that case, could you show me records of your men, provisions and cases?”
Constable Tie nodded. He rolled up one of the unravelled scrolls before him, bundling them together with a few more from beneath the desk as well as off the shelf behind him, carefully passing them over.
“That’s everything pertaining to matters of the last month.” Seeing Wuxian’s slightly perplexed look, constable Tie grinned. “Would you like me to surmise everything up for you?”
“Please do. Time is of the essence.”