Outer Side, Birmingham New Street Railway Station.

Two men stood outside a public phone booth near the station.

A burly, blond man smoked, rubbing his hands together and letting out puffs of fog. The young man, his face obscured by a tartan scarf, held a newspaper and also had a Dunhill cigarette dangling from his lips.

The early morning in Birmingham was bitingly cold. A frigid wind swept south from the Trent River Valley Plain, gathered at the foot of the Benning Mountain Range, and settled into a mass of cold air that lingered over the city of industry and transport, refusing to disperse.

"Damn, why is Birmingham so cold today!" Jack complained.

Baron folded the newspaper, which read, "Police Receive Anonymous Tip, Lloyds Bank Robbers Arrested, Millions in Stolen Funds Still Missing."

"Did things go smoothly?"

"When I’m on the job, you can rest easy. I just slapped your Black Card on the table, and the HR manager from Westminster Cathedral on the Inner Side was all nodding and bowing."

Jack looked at Baron. "I just don’t get it. Why did you suddenly decide to use your Black Card’s authority to help a little flower girl?"

"I once nearly cost her father his job. This is just compensation."

After speaking, before Jack could ask anything else, Baron asked, "What about the information I asked you to dig up?"

"Hey, hey, L, my junior. I’m the senior here. Could you show a little more respect when you talk to me?"

Despite his words, Jack still answered, "There is indeed a Dragon Land Railway service passing through there today. But are you sure you want to go? What if they’re lying in wait for you? Aren’t you just avoiding one trap to fall into another?"

"Falling into a trap is better than doing nothing," Baron said. "As long as Anthony’s killer isn’t found, I’ll always be on the Law Enforcement Organization’s wanted list... I can’t count on Freya for now. All we can do is start investigating from the most basic clues."

"Let’s go. Like you said, the train will be here soon. We don’t have time to waste."

Jack stamped out his cigarette butt, Baron dropped the newspaper, and the two entered the train station one after the other.

As usual, they dodged the fare.

...

At noon, the two men took a Dwarf-pulled carriage to their destination: the small town of Plains, located on the outskirts of the Inner Side’s Scottish Highlands and under the jurisdiction of the Constantine Clan.

The Scottish Highlands consist mainly of ancient, fractured plateaus, leaving behind an extremely irregular mountainous terrain where nearly all the peaks are of the same height, and thus, sparsely populated.

After getting off the Dragon metro in Inverness, it took Baron and his companion a great deal of effort to finally get a carriage to Plains.

They had only one objective for this trip: to find the Dwarf in Plains who, according to the Judge, had crafted the cane of the Assassination Knight Order Leader.

Upon entering the small town, Baron’s party was stopped by Dwarf soldiers at the entrance and asked to pay a toll of ten pounds.

As he motioned for Baron to pay, Jack explained that Plains was a self-governing territory for Dwarves and the mixed-blooded. Half of all the bureaucratic personnel here were Dwarves and mixed-bloods of various races. The Constantine Family had only two responsibilities.

Taxes and a protection fee for sweeping the fog.

Jack said the Dwarves were a simple and hospitable people, so they probably wouldn’t have to worry about being given a hard time.

After Baron paid, Jack added that the mixed-bloods here weren’t what L might imagine, like Eurasians, but were mixtures of different species.

"Like Black people and white people?" Baron asked.

Jack nodded, then quickly reacted and shook his head violently, his horrified gaze seeming to say, ’Brother, you’re not a Dragon Rider, are you actually a Racial Knight?’

The carriage continued onward. When the Dwarf driver called out that they had arrived, the two men lifted the curtain, jumped out of the carriage, and immediately froze in place.

A group of Dwarf soldiers had surrounded them with long spears.

"What’s this? A welcoming ceremony?" Baron said in a low voice.

Jack scratched his face and said, "Frankly, I’m more inclined to believe they’re about to rob us than that this is a welcoming ceremony."

The driver ran over and whispered to the Dwarf soldiers. A soldier then nodded and pointed at Baron. "The ten-pound toll was because we thought you were Dwarves or mixed-bloods. Pure-blooded Old Races from out of town have to pay another ten pounds!"

"So you’re just ripping us off. I thought they’d found us," Jack sighed, muttering under his breath.

Baron could see it clearly; the Dwarf driver and this group of soldiers were all in on it together.

The Dwarf Captain pointed a spear taller than himself at the two men. "Pay the toll! Or I’ll report to the City Lord Council that you forced your way through the pass and are suspected of being Lawbreakers!"

Baron was silent, his eyes glinting. Jack thought he was about to lose his temper and quickly tugged on his sleeve.

"L, our mission this time is stealth. If we get exposed, the mission is a small matter. Saving our own hides is what’s important."

Baron glanced at him silently, his expression seeming to say, ’So this is what you call simple and hospitable?’

’Looks like Master Bagins was still too conservative.’

’Even if I have money now, being scammed out of it and willingly paying for something are two different things...’ But Baron still obediently paid up. Jack was right; the mission and their lives were both important.

Just as they were about to leave, the Dwarf Captain stopped them again.

Baron frowned. ’Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile, is that it?’

He understood the saying that the kind always get bullied, but if this happened a third time, he wouldn’t mind turning this dwarf into a wife afterward.

The Dwarf Captain pointed at Jack and said, "How much for this Golden-haired Baboon?"

At his words, the other Dwarves burst out laughing, the sound grating.

The Dwarf Captain chuckled and waved his hand. "Alright, outsiders, get lost..."

As Baron and Jack walked away, they heard a chorus of shouts and jeers from behind them. "Welcome to Plains! Hahaha... Golden-haired Baboon..."

Baron glanced at Jack’s expression, but to his surprise, the D Level Commissioner acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing and began critiquing the town.

"The road is warped and uneven. Bad review.

"The storefronts aren’t neat enough. Bad review.

"The asphalt road is full of potholes and puddles. Also a bad review... But these Dwarf and mixed-blood chicks aren’t bad... Perky butts and round chests, just a bit short..."

Baron: "..."

’A D Level Commissioner is a D Level Commissioner, I guess. I was being too sentimental.’

He gradually slowed his pace, following a short distance behind Jack, keeping a gap that wasn’t exactly close but still allowed him to see the other man’s back.

After a series of twists and turns, they had arrived at what could be called the main thoroughfare of Plains.

The street was bustling with people. Although it was an asphalt road, the vehicles running on it were all box carriages. The carriages were said to be built from some kind of lightweight, living metal. They looked heavy but actually weighed only about a hundred pounds.

Jack said these horses were a mixed breed of Unicorn, with a top speed comparable to the trains in the United Kingdom today. At top speed, they could even carry the carriage into a brief glide.

The reason they moved so slowly was because they consumed a lot of energy, unless the passenger was willing to pay extra for more food.

For the average family, they were the budget alternative to traveling by Griffin.

Cars? Just relics of a bygone era.

He had only taken two steps when someone suddenly shouted, "Insolence!"

Baron instinctively reached for his gun. Squinting, he saw three people on horseback blocking his path. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

One of them, who looked like an Attendant, swung a whip at him. "Who is so rude! How dare you obstruct Lord Sorlo’s carriage!"

Baron subconsciously dodged the whip as it cut through the air. He looked up and saw a young man in his early thirties being protected by the Attendants.

His eyes were cold as a curved blade, his lips were thin, and he was wrapped in a gray robe embroidered with golden tulips and red rose patterns.

Baron recognized the man.

On the way here, Jack, taking into account that Baron was once one of the Bloodless, had shown him photos and related background information on the current members of the Constantine Clan.

Sorlo Constantin, formerly known as Sorol Per.

He was the second son of Baron’s third maternal uncle, Eugene Constantin. The pattern and color of the tulip embroidery on his robe indicated he was a third-year student at Edinburgh Wizard School, a Black Iron Wizard.

The red rose pattern, on the other hand, signified that he was a disciple of the Constantine Clan.

He was also Baron’s cousin.

Seeing that Baron dared to dodge, the Attendant, Chang Mei, raised an eyebrow and sneered, "You still dare to dodge?"

Seeing that his master did not stop him, he cracked his whip again.

’If I weren’t trying to stay hidden, I’d do more than just dodge. I’d fight back.’

Baron raised his arm to block, Dragon Scales covering his skin. The whip struck his arm with a sharp CRACK. He shot a look at Jack, who had been about to speak, warning him not to interfere.

’Can’t cause unnecessary complications.’

Seeing that the surrounding pedestrians were looking, another Attendant drew his blade and shouted:

"What are you looking at? Young Master Soron is searching for Lawbreaker spies! Keep looking, and when the fog comes in the future and you’re without the Constantine Family’s help, let’s see what you do when the Beast comes!"

The pedestrians shrank back, not daring to look any longer.

After a few lashes, the Attendant seemed to have had his fun. He raised his whip toward Soron, as if to suggest he take a few swings as well. "Second Young Master..."

Baron’s face darkened. ’A relay race?’

Though the Dragon Scales protected him from the pain, being watched by so many people was embarrassing, and exposing himself was an even greater risk.

Soron took the whip, weighed it in his hand, and sized Baron up for a moment. His eyes were cold and vacant.

Baron had activated the Chain of the Imitator upon entering the town. To others, he probably just looked like a random passerby they might have seen somewhere before.

Right now, Soron was probably wondering who this person was, someone who was in a Constantine city but didn’t recognize him, Soron.

Soron narrowed his eyes. "Forget it. He looks like an outsider. These few lashes should be enough to teach him a lesson."

With that, he flicked the whip and spurred his horse forward.

The Attendant watched Soron’s departing back, then shot Baron a vicious glare.

"Young Master Soron is merciful; he can’t stand the sight of people like you. Next time you see the Constantine Family’s rose pattern, remember to get the hell out of the way!"

Finished, he too spurred his horse and galloped off.