"Nanmu Restaurant", third floor.
Klein glanced at the person in the portrait; he was around thirty years old and looked listless.
He asked, "Is this mission dangerous?"
"There is some danger," Odis said. "However, you only need to find someone; there's no need to do anything else, so the danger shouldn't be too great."
He said, "As for the reward, if we find the person, it's £60. If we only find an important clue, it's £20."
"The reward is very generous." Klein smiled and said, "I'll take this job."
He didn't even bother to divine whether the mission was dangerous, because he had no intention of going to find the person himself. Instead, he planned to find time to go "above the gray fog" to divine the person's whereabouts.
Even if there is only a portrait and no hair, clothes the person wore, or frequently used items, some vague clues can still be obtained by using the power of "above the gray fog".
Through divination, he can know whether his search in the real world will be dangerous.
If there is no danger, he will go and check.
If there is any danger, provide the clues to Mr. Gard and earn only the 20 pounds reward for the important information.
Then Klein added, "However, I can only help you find this person after my mission to protect Mike is over."
Actually, it doesn't have to be that complicated. He could complete a significant part of the task by simply going to the restroom. However, that would mean spending a long time in the restroom and potentially exposing his secret of using divination to solve cases, so he doesn't plan to do that.
"Okay." Odis nodded. "This task isn't that urgent."
He chatted with the two men for a few more minutes, then used the "teleportation array" to return to the herbal medicine shop.
Odis had a lot to do this week. First, he used Gandalf's name and identity to rent a townhouse.
They began using the intelligence network of the "Nanmu Ballroom" to spread the news that the "famous wizard" Gandalf had come to Backlund.
The message essentially stated that the wizard Gandalf was skilled at solving all sorts of strange and mysterious mystical problems, and anyone with such needs could consult this "famous wizard."
Odis planned to use the next period of time to try to play the role of a "wizard," maintain his good condition, and seek opportunities to digest the magic potion.
In the afternoon, Odis returned to the herbal shop and began to think about how to renovate it.
First, the lighting should be a bit dim. The house we rented today didn't have very good natural light, so there's really no need for much renovation. Just replace the sofa cushions and some brightly colored furniture with darker colors.
You can plant some herbs in the house to add a sense of mystery, and there must be a cauldron on the fireplace.
In people's minds, wizards use this to brew potions, but Odis had seen it before and it didn't seem to work very well.
But in order to maintain the image of a wizard, I had no choice but to give it a try.
After deciding on the decorating style, Odis, seeing that she still had some time, went to the library to look up books about wizards.
For example, novels featuring wizard characters, and wizard figures in some horror stories.
Odis did not return to the herbalist shop until the library closed.
However, Odis did not go to help out at the shop in front, but instead studied new witchcraft in the backyard.
He wondered if he should actually write a "Complete Book of Wizardry"? Because he had already invented more than a dozen kinds of witchcraft, and he even needed to make a record of them.
Wednesday was a very fulfilling day, and I did the same things on Thursday and Friday.
After two days of setup, the newly rented townhouse at No. 77 Rose Street is almost finished and is expected to open for business next week.
Meanwhile, because Odis had a well-developed intelligence network, the information he spread had already yielded results, and it was said that some wealthy merchants with special needs were inquiring about the wizard Gandalf's address.
In addition, Odis decided to write a book called "Complete Book of Magic" because of his experience with "The Compendium of Combat," and the outline of the book appeared in Odis's mind.
The opening section still discusses wizards and witchcraft, and he will include his own insights into digesting magic potions. The second part is the witchcraft he created, and the third part is the application of witchcraft.
This book certainly cannot be published publicly like "The Combat Manual." Odis intends for it to exist in the form of "The Book of Secrets."
It circulated only among the extraordinary, and apart from a few "official" books printed by Odis, the rest were all handwritten copies.
Odis also used these days to prepare various powders to be used in conjunction with witchcraft. Since the "Mysterious Queen" had predicted a test over the weekend, she was prepared to take it seriously.
In addition, he is also keeping track of the progress of the fighting arena and the Lelouch incident.
Lelouch has now become a hero who punishes those who have not received their due punishment, which has led to a media war. On Thursday, a newspaper suddenly published a report smearing Lelouch.
However, on Friday, another newspaper immediately praised Lelouch's spirit and condemned the smear reports.
Odis did not participate in this war of words; it was a struggle between radicals and conservatives in the Ruhnn political situation.
Conservatives were unwilling to see such a hero emerge, while radicals hoped to use Lelouch to strike at the conservatives.
Thus began a war of words in which the parties involved became bystanders.
The radicals' attack on Viscount Veder was just beginning, and the whole week in Backlund was full of news.
On Saturday morning, Odis was eating breakfast and reading the newspaper at the herbalist's shop.
Today's headline is that the King has ordered Viscount Veder's noble title to be downgraded to Baron.
Odis smiled; clearly, the radicals had gained a considerable advantage.
This is not hard to understand. After all, Viscount Veder's son had such a big scandal, and the king only demoted Veder's title. This was already to prevent the radicals from pressing their advantage after their great victory.
It's estimated that Wade is no longer in the mood to avenge his son, and reporter Mike is completely safe.
However, Odis still plans to wait until next week to send the manuscript of "The Fighting Manual" to Mike.
Odis received Mandy's report in the morning, and reporter Mike and detective Sherlock left the "Nanmu Ballroom".
Then we should soon get important clues about Bernie.
Just as Odis had expected, his pocket watch lit up again in the afternoon, a signal from Mandy.
Odis immediately went to the basement to change into Mr. Gar's clothes and rushed to the "Nanmu Ballroom," where he indeed saw the "Sherlock Detective" who had returned.
"We've found the person in the portrait for you," Klein said seriously. "To be precise, we've found his body."
"I have already confirmed that the body is the person in the portrait."
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Odis had anticipated this outcome, so he said, "Please take me to see it."
The two people took a carriage provided by the "Nanmu Dance Hall" and arrived at a relatively secluded street in the North District. They jumped over the wall and entered an abandoned courtyard.
Klein opened the door to the basement, where a musty smell and a faint stench of decay wafted out. Upon entering the basement, he saw Bernie's body.
Odis's spirituality confirmed that this person was the same one who had previously purchased "sunflower" from Gar's herbal shop.
He was sitting in the corner, his eyes lifeless as he stared ahead. His face and the backs of his hands, among other exposed parts, showed signs of being gnawed by rats. In particular, several teeth were protruding from his cheeks, making him look ferocious.
Odis asked, "Can you speculate on how he died? And approximately how long he has been dead?"
Klein replied, "The time of death should be last week..."
"Last week?" Odis looked at the corpse again, confirming that there were no signs of extensive decomposition.
Klein noticed Mr. Garr's confusion: "When I first arrived, there were ice shards around here. They must have used the ice to slow down the decomposition of the corpses."
Actually, it was the time of death he divined. There was no ice in the basement, but strangely, even after about a week, the body showed no obvious signs of decomposition.
Klein guessed that this was a side effect of some extraordinary ability, but he had no idea what that ability was, so he made up the story about ice.
Although Klein and Mr. Garr both knew that the other was an Extraordinary, neither of them had yet revealed it.
Odis roughly understood what Klein meant. He guessed that Bernie might have died shortly after buying the "golden-edged sunflower" from the herbalist's shop.
"He looked like he died from blood loss," Klein continued, "but I couldn't find any wounds."
Odis observed carefully but found no clues, so the two of them left the basement together.
As the two men were climbing the steps, Bernie's corpse, which was leaning against the wall behind them, suddenly turned its eyes and looked at the two men who were leaving.
Both Odis and Klein's spirits sensed this and turned back together.
But Bernie's eyes had returned to their previous angle.
The two men exchanged a glance and both realized that something was wrong with the corpse.
However, Klein had no intention of continuing the investigation, and Odis also planned to send the information to the "Mechanical Heart" so that the official extraordinary individuals could investigate it.
So the two of them tacitly looked away, pretended nothing had happened, and quickly left.
Once in the carriage, Odis counted out 60 pounds in cash: "You are a very capable detective."
Klein took the money and, while verifying its authenticity, said, "It was just good luck. My informant happened to find a clue."
"I have two more requests," Odis continued. "First, find this person's address. Second, try to find out who he met in his lifetime."
"This commission may be somewhat dangerous, but the reward will also be increased."
"The first commission is £30, the second commission is £30 for each person found, and £100 if the person hiding behind Bernie is found."
Klein smiled and said, "I'll take this commission."
He accepted the commission without consulting the oracle, because he planned to complete only the first commission, which was almost without danger, while the second commission sounded very dangerous. He could then claim that he was not capable enough to find the person Bernie had met in his lifetime.
In addition, he did not perform divination in front of Mr. Gard, also to prevent Mr. Gard from discovering his divination abilities.
The carriage took Klein back first. After Odis returned to the herbal shop, she immediately went to write a letter to "Mechanical Heart". When she was halfway through writing the letter, the shop assistant Kaina came to the backyard and said that a medicine buyer wanted to see Odis on something important.
Odis didn't think much of it and followed them out.
When he arrived at the store, he saw that the customer who had bought the medicine was none other than Bernie!