The man who had commissioned the search for his son had left. Nitya rubbed her face, which had become slightly stiff from maintaining a smile. She watched as he rose, turned, and pushed the door open to leave. Then, with a sigh, she took a stack of white paper from under the table and pulled out a sheet to write on.
This was a habit of hers, one that helped her organize her thoughts.
“The commissioner’s identity is a dockworker. This is a job with a lot of financial strain… Of course, this is relative to other professions, like lawyers and company employees, which have a lot more financial security. He’s from Nymph Fu, working in this city which is a major transportation hub for the continent. His wages wouldn’t be low. Enough to support his family and send his son to school… The commission fee is set at five Lanstier silver coins. He has paid one in advance.”
“There’s no deadline set. He just wants me to report back on the progress every week. He’s staying at an inn under the Adventurer’s Guild, so I can find him easily… Hmm, he must have temporarily quit his job in Nymph Fu. After all, it takes a week to walk from Schwerdt Town to Nymph Fu. Even with a carriage, it takes two or three days. If the commission is completed and he returns to Nymph Fu directly, I can either reduce the frequency of reports or charge an additional fee to cover his travel expenses. If he stays here, it’ll be a loss of wages but also add an extra expense for lodging. In the end, both options have their pros and cons.”
“He’s desperate for news of his son, but deep down, he seems to have given up hope… No wonder. After all, it’s been a month and a half since the incident. He must have searched high and low in Nymph Fu, but obviously got nowhere. Coming to me now, it’s just a last resort, a Hail Mary, really…”
“Hmm… Kidnapping… What’s the point of kidnapping a dockworker’s son? It can’t be extortion; the amount of money gained wouldn’t be worth the risk… A feud with Sam? The Nymph Fu local authorities aren’t just eating dry bread, they must have investigated all the suspects. Those authorities, though inept, aren’t just sitting around doing nothing. Such a simple case would have been solved in a day…”
“Human trafficking is a possibility. Both the North and South continents prohibit human trafficking and slavery, but there are still nobles who enjoy the feeling of having absolute control over someone’s life… Wait, this Reigns kid isn’t particularly handsome, and seems to have some kind of innate deficiency…”
Nitya’s pen moved across the paper, making simple deductions. But she quickly stopped, because with such meager clues, it was impossible to draw any conclusions.
Even if Holmes himself were reborn, he wouldn't be able to do it.
She rose from her chair and looked around the first floor. A large living room with a fireplace, a decent-sized dining room, a kitchen, a guest room, and a bathroom. And on the second floor, three bedrooms, a living room, and a study.
Besides those, there was an unused basement. Since she bought the house six months ago, she hadn’t used it even once.
This was all her possessions in this world.
—— Like many in such stories, she wasn’t a native of this world.
About two years ago, she was still a seasoned employee in a multinational corporation, having accumulated considerable wealth over the years. She planned to use her savings to travel the world, so she submitted her resignation to the company. Everything went smoothly, and she was in the process of handing over her work. But then, on her flight back home, the plane suddenly lost control, spiraling out of control and taking her and over 100 lives to the heavens.
When she woke up again, she found herself in the wilderness of this world.
She used the wilderness survival knowledge she gleaned from her previous life to escape the jungle, making her way to Schwerdt Town and registering as an adventurer. After a year of hard work and dedication, she finally gained some local recognition, using her savings and help from friends to buy this house. Then, she began working as a private detective, accepting commissions from the guild based on her mood.
She was initially confused and overwhelmed, but after two years of living in this world, she gradually adjusted. With her life settled, she began to appreciate the beauty of this world and planned to fulfill a lifelong dream she had back in her previous life—to travel the world.
This world, called The Divine Construct, was also a planet, but otherwise, it had nothing to do with her previous world. The entire planet only had one continent, slightly larger than the continents in her previous life, growing exponentially in size. The continent was separated into north and south by a treacherous strait, with a small island floating off the east of the South Continent. The rest was all ocean.
At first, she thought this was a world of swords and magic. After all, she was an adventurer in the “Adventurer's Guild,” and the locals frequently used words like “wizard” and “priest” in their conversations. The surrounding architecture, though neat and orderly, wasn’t as dirty and backward as the Middle Ages, but it could be explained as a difference in technological development. Until she saw a newspaper in someone’s hand elsewhere, then later heard about something called a magic train.
From a general perspective, her assumptions about this world being one of “swords and magic” weren’t too far off. At least, thirty years ago, the Divine Construct wasn’t like this. Though as a whole it was still a bit more advanced than the Middle Ages, it was still in a primitive stage. Kingdoms, magic, and knights were still the world’s mainstays.
It was still the otherworldly world she imagined – with winds, travelers, poets, swords and magic, dragons and knights.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Until, thirty years ago, the Mittal Empire on the South Continent welcomed an Empress.
Orantes Ormshines
This empress invented magical machinery, a kind of steam engine, except it was powered by magic. She used this as the basis for creating many practical, even groundbreaking inventions that were ahead of their time. After her ascension, she reformed the rules of the entire empire, using an iron fist to dismantle many powerful interest groups, revoked many aristocratic privileges, and established a central government directly under the emperor to replace the original lords, big and small.
In addition, she reformed the military system, established universities, started construction of factories, and implemented a series of measures to raise literacy rates… As a result, the heavy winds of epic tales vanished, replaced by the cold steel and the earth-shattering magic machines.
Under her rule, the imperial power grew at an incredible rate. Ten years ago, she annexed the neighboring Tophis kingdom, almost unifying the entire South Continent.
Also during her reign, industrial magic developed rapidly. The initial magical equipment was quickly upgraded, and many new inventions based on these magical devices appeared in the world. Things like newspapers, magical trains, and even police departments that were approaching the concept of modern policing…
The entire world was propelled forward, quickly entering a new era.
She was currently in the North Continent, part of the Lanstier Empire. Though this nation had also chosen a series of measures to close the gap after witnessing the rapid development of its southern neighbor, it was clearly still in a catch-up phase. Its capital and major cities had gained a degree of “modernization,” with tracks and trains being built between them. But frontier towns like Schwerdt Town still retained the flavor of the “swords and magic” era…
Which allowed her to misjudge the progress of civilization in this world.
...
While pondering, Nitya casually picked up the newspaper on the table.
As a detective, she subscribed to a lot of newspapers, but as mentioned before, Schwerdt Town was a frontier town, so the arrival of these new inventions was bound to be delayed. Often, by the time the newest issue was published, the old one would be delivered to her hands.
But luckily, Schwerdt Town was remote and had limited contact with the outside world. So, the newspaper still served a purpose, albeit in a time-sensitive manner, not completely turning into mere paper or something more entertaining than informative.
She picked up this particular issue, the “Nymph Fu Weekly.”
Nitya’s gaze flitted across the newspaper. She first glanced over the price lists, comparing them to past ones before noticing any abnormal fluctuations. She then moved on to other sections, pausing briefly at the news and gossip sections, reading about the strange and unusual events happening in the bigger cities, looking for any hidden clues.
This was all intelligence.
“A Mittal scholar was stabbed to death. That’s the second vicious attack this month… Scholar, that’s unlikely to be related to this case. Hmm, I hope this doesn’t affect the international relations between Lanstier and Mittal. I don’t have much faith in my head’s durability…”
“The police department is urging people to reduce their outings at night… I hope that helps. But there are many professions that require people to go out at night. So, the effectiveness of this appeal isn’t great.
“Continued missing persons cases. The victims are mostly women and children…”
Nitya’s gaze lingered here, scrutinizing this article, then she stood up and rummaged through the stack of newspapers, finally finding related content in another publication.
It was an issue of the “Molan Weekly,” dated a month ago. Molan was a city near Nymph Fu, the largest in Silver Wheel Province, and had its own newspaper.
She flipped through the issue until she found a related article about the missing persons cases.
“Heretical dealings. The Molan city guard has cracked a major missing persons case. Over a hundred people disappeared from there, mostly women and children. When they were found, most were already dead, victims of a bloody sacrificial ritual by a cult… Could the missing person case in Nymph Fu also be the work of a cult?
“The two locations are relatively close. Could it be the same cult operating in both places? This cult’s name… Gathering of the Lost? I don’t recognize it… If they are responsible, this could be a bit dangerous. I should just do the basic detective work… If there are leads, I can submit a report to the police department.”
Nitya quickly made her decision.
—— Cults are dangerous. So, can’t I avoid them?
She tidied up the newspapers spread out across the table, then hurried back upstairs. She gathered the fortune-telling materials she had prepared from her bedroom and study, then drew a circle with a hexagram and square pattern in the middle on the living room floor.
This was a divination ritual for seeking answers from the gods.
She decided to directly divine the whereabouts of the child named “Reigns.”
—— In a world with magic and divination, why bother with logic? You can get answers without leaving the house. Why go out and meet people?
Magic in this world is something everyone knows about, and so are magicians. It’s perfectly reasonable for her, as a transmigrator, to become a superhuman after living here for two years.
This world, a long time ago, had a very crude division of superhumans, categorized simply as warriors and mages. They were further divided into lower, middle, and upper tiers, a rough and unsophisticated classification. So, as time went on, these categories were refined, giving rise to professions like knights, astrologers, and clerics. With the arrival of the magic-driven era led by Mittal, these superhuman professions were further refined, and now there are nearly a thousand different ones, from the highest to the lowest.
She chose the profession “Ritual Magician,” a profession focused on divination and rituals, giving her a slight boost in physical attributes. Apart from that, she only gained the right to perform divination rituals… Extremely impersonal, because the specifics of divination are up to the individual. The profession itself doesn’t come with any instructions.
She took out the materials one by one and laid them out, placing a piece of paper depicting the world, a jar of nighttime dew, and a clump of damp clay on the three corners of the square. A ray of sunlight shone in through the window, landing on the final corner.
These represented the four Primal Gods who created the world.
Then, she used her wet fingertip to inscribe the names of each god onto the hexagram, and then stood solemnly in the center of the ritual circle…
A knock, knock, knock echoed through the door, interrupting her actions.
“Another visitor?”
Nitya paused for a moment, but the divination hadn't begun yet, so there was no harm in stopping now. She stepped out of the ritual circle, her footsteps light as she walked up the stairs, making no sound at all.
A cold sensation swept through her neck, followed by a whisper so subtle that ordinary people couldn't hear it. Nitya tilted her head, listening intently. Then she walked upstairs and took a vial of crushed herbs from her bedroom, pouring them into the fireplace.
A few seconds later, a faint herbal scent filled the room. Nitya sat down in her armchair, assuming a reading posture.
Something akin to a sixth sense wrapped around the person outside, informing her of his shape. A grown man, with a newspaper tucked under his arm, wearing a coat.
The distinct smell of grime and blood were the most noticeable features of the coat.
“An unwelcome visitor…”
Nitya muttered, flipping open a book.