Night deepened.
Alger arrived at the dilapidated house where Danitz was hiding, carrying a heavy, black suitcase large enough to hold an adult.
He knocked on the door rhythmically, according to their pre-arranged signal.
Soon, the door was pulled open a crack from the inside. Danitz cautiously peeked out, and only after seeing that it was Alger, did he open the door and let him in.
"How was it? The bounty, is it settled?" Danitz didn't mention the body, but instead asked directly, his tone filled with urgency.
"They've agreed to the exchange." Alger placed the suitcase on the ground and walked into the room, feigning a somewhat troubled expression, "However, the bounty amount—is not yet finalized. They're estimating around five to six thousand pounds."
"Bullshit! That little?!" Danitz's expectation instantly crumbled by half upon hearing this, and he cursed disappointedly, "Was that ten thousand pounds just for show?"
"After all, the bounty notice asked for him alive." Alger spread his hands, "I'll try my best to negotiate for more. But for now, I need to take Brando's body to hand over to their people."
To show "sincerity" and also to prevent Danitz from becoming suspicious, he took out the thick envelope Ozil had given him from his pocket and handed it over.
"This is their down payment, fifteen hundred pounds, you take it first."
Danitz took the heavy envelope and, in front of Alger, opened it and quickly counted the banknotes inside with practiced ease.
Seeing the substantial cash, the disappointment on his face eased considerably. Seeing Alger's "sincerity," he didn't say anything more, nodded, and led Alger into the room's partition.
Brando's body now lay on a worn blanket.
Alger noticed that the spirituality in the room was somewhat chaotic, seemingly with traces of residual ritual magic.
"To prevent the body from decaying, I used ritual magic to do a simple 'preservation'," Danitz explained.
Alger nodded, accepting the explanation.
Afterward, the two stopped talking and began packing. They worked together to painstakingly stuff the already stiff body into the large suitcase Alger had brought.
During the packing process, compared to the excitement for money in Danitz's eyes, Alger's heart held a hint of ineffable regret.
He recalled a time before a certain gathering. He had bought several pages of quite good quality Rosell's Diary from this young man named Brando, and Mr. Fool was very satisfied with those diaries.
He hadn't expected that after such a short time, this seemingly lucky young man would… die before his very eyes.
The sea was just that cruel.
If you have to blame someone, blame yourself for offending someone you shouldn't have… Alger sighed silently in his heart.
He latched and locked the packed suitcase. He then asked Danitz for some details about Brando, such as his reaction when he later encountered Danitz, how he was "captured" by Danitz, and what his cat looked like and how it escaped.
After confirming that everything was more or less ready, he picked up the heavy suitcase, preparing to make the delivery.
After Alger, carrying the suitcase, completely disappeared from sight, Luo En, who had been hiding in the shadows of the house, silently emerged.
He pushed the door open and entered.
"How was it?" He looked at Danitz, who was sitting on a chair with a pained expression.
"Damn it! This is too dark!" Danitz immediately complained upon seeing Luo En, "The body can only fetch five to six thousand pounds in bounty! That's half of the original!"
"As expected." Luo En, however, showed no reaction to this, his expression instead appearing somewhat grave.
During his observation just now, he keenly noticed that Alger seemed to be a little different.
As a Calamity Priest, he could not only vaguely perceive the flow of calamity but also, to some extent, touch upon the deeper level of what was called "fate." Although this feeling was very faint, almost imperceptible.
But just now, he clearly felt a sense of "discord" from Alger.
Was it an illusion? Or…
Perhaps due to his limited ability, Luo En was silent for a moment, temporarily suppressing this thought. He could not let such things disturb his mind.
Danitz had also finished complaining and finally calmed down. He took a swig of alcohol, looked at Luo En, and with a hint of worry on his face, asked, "Hey, Brando, seriously—what if this plan fails?"
Luo En glared at him, his tone flat: "You want to earn ten thousand pounds and have no risk at all? Where in the world is there such a good thing?"
He said this to Danitz, yet it also seemed to be directed at Alger.
"That's not what I meant," Danitz sighed, "I mean, if Disease Maiden finds out the truth, we…"
"That's why I'm gambling," Luo En interrupted him.
He walked to the window, looking at the dark night outside, his voice somewhat cold: "I'm gambling that Tracy won't discover this is a scam.
Even if I do nothing, and that ten thousand pound bounty completely ferments and spreads throughout Bayam, our situation won't be any better."
He turned around, his glasses glinting with a cold light,
"So, I must take this gamble, gambling that we can once and for all, completely resolve this big trouble."
Bayam, Fragrant Tree Leaf Bar, in a dimly lit private room.
"Captain—you, you arrived so quickly?"
Mithor looked at the figure that suddenly emerged from the shadows before him, his face filled with terror.
Tracy was still wearing the ill-fitting men's coat, looking travel-worn, her black curly hair somewhat disheveled from the hurried journey, and her beautiful face was now covered in gloom.
This was the second time he had seen the Captain in such a disheveled state.
He immediately realized that there was only one possibility for the Captain to arrive so quickly: after hearing the news, she had rushed back from the "Black Death" almost non-stop at the fastest possible speed.
"Where is the person who wants to claim the bounty?" Tracy ignored his surprise, her tone cold as she questioned.
"It—it's already arranged." Under that terrifying gaze, Mithor trembled all over, "He—he will bring Monchi Brando's body… body, over in a while."
He stammered the word "body" because he could clearly feel that as the word left his mouth, the chill emanating from Tracy intensified by several degrees.
In fact, ever since he had reported to the Captain through the mirror earlier, he had noticed that something was amiss. The Captain's reaction was completely different from the "happiness" he had imagined.
It wasn't the joy of avenging a great hatred, but rather a— an extreme, suppressed fury on the verge of erupting.
Could it be— I was wrong… Mithor swallowed, a chill rising from his heart.
The Captain and that Brando, their relationship isn't that of enemies at all?
Body. Tracy clenched her hand.
She took a deep breath, forcibly reining in her almost uncontrollable aura.
She took out the dressing mirror from her pocket and handed it to Mithor, ordering in an unquestionable tone:
"Take this with you when you deal with that person. I want to hear with my own ears exactly what happened."
She paused, and in her clear blue eyes, a hint of unconcealed, crazed killing intent flashed.
"If… he really killed Brando, then kill him."
"No, make him wish he were dead."