The end of the exams allowed the intense pace of life to slow down a bit, but the upcoming 15 practical credits and the Holy Prayer Festival almost completely filled next week's schedule.
Xia De didn't have time for more relaxation.
Early Sunday morning, after breakfast, Xia De went out. After a whole week's delay, Mrs. Lemeier's inheritance acceptance could finally proceed.
The timid middle-aged woman, having believed the terrifying rumors from her neighbors, temporarily moved to the countryside with her children after the City-wide lockdown ended last Friday.
Seeing that nothing else had happened in the City of Tobesk, Mrs. Lemeier finally returned to the City and, according to the original plan, accepted the deceased sailor's inheritance at her home on Sunday morning.
Mrs. Lemeier had an unfortunate marriage; her husband left years ago, and she raised her two children alone. The family of three lived in a cramped rented apartment in the northern part of the City. When Xia De jumped out of the rented carriage and found Silver-Gray Alley based on the house number, he was astonished by the dirty and chaotic living environment.
This was a slum in the standard sense, a scene of life for the lowest-class citizens of this era. An Outsider from another place, whose impression of slums in a backward era came only from his imagination, had only glanced at them when passing by previously. Now, truly walking into one, he realized everything was worse than he had imagined.
Even though there had been no rain recently, the ground was still muddy. Taking a deep breath, the muddy ground was covered with strangely smelling liquid, which, mixed with the smell of the narrow, winding alley itself, made one nauseous. The damp, dark, and even somewhat strange alleys, unlike the City streets, were not easily entered even by the patrolling Leedweich Field police officers.
Compared to this prosperous and frenzied era, the Tobesk slum seemed like an anomalous zone where time had lagged three hundred years. Last night at the Queen Maria Opera House, Xia De had seen the best side of this era; now he saw the worst side of it.
“Perhaps this isn't the worst; I just can't see the places far from the City. What was that squishy thing I just stepped on?”
He was very glad he had chosen to wear boots today.
Mrs. Lemeier lived in the attic of No. 6 Silver-Gray Alley, sharing a kitchen and bathroom with everyone else in the building. After knocking on the somewhat greasy door downstairs, a chubby woman wearing a wig opened it.
After explaining his purpose, he was allowed to enter. Xia De stepped onto the narrow stairs, and at the stair landing, he had to turn sideways and wait to avoid a young man carrying a stack of books and wearing patched clothes.
The first floor was where the landlord's family lived. The dark and damp second and third floors were divided into more than a dozen areas and rented out to different poor families. A large gas meter hung in the dim stairwell, and rust-covered gas pipes, as thick as a wrist, climbed the moldy walls to every household on the floor.
Each time this old-fashioned gas meter clicked, it made an unusually clear 'click-clack' sound. Although he knew that such outdated goods, which should have been eliminated long ago, were still in use, likely because the landlord couldn't afford to replace them, Xia De still believed that the clicking sound of the old gas meter was also the landlord's way of warning the poor people living there that every use of gas meant pennies slipping from their hands.
The smell of mold mixed with various strange odors in the air, and every step on the stairs produced a creaking sound.
Even though Xia De was only visiting for the first time, he was very certain that such a place must be a hotbed for diseases and parasites. Not to mention humans, even animals accustomed to living in the wild would find it difficult to survive for long in a similar environment.
A simple staircase at the end of the third-floor corridor led to the attic. After Xia De knocked, the middle-aged woman he hadn't seen for over a week indeed opened the door. Seeing that the Detective had arrived at the agreed time, she smiled and let Xia De in.
Xia De had arrived ten minutes early, but he hadn't expected Lawyer Laurel to be even earlier than him.
“It’s you!”
The Lawyer stood up to greet him, then immediately recognized the young man he had played rhode cards with, and in his surprise, he instantly recalled the abnormal behavior that day:
“Wait, when you approached me that day, you weren't investigating me, were you?”
“I have the right to keep secrets for my client.”
Xia De said with a smile, then stepped forward and shook hands with the Lawyer:
“But this time, I really am here to help Mrs. Lemeier accept the inheritance.”
“I know. I also know that you're earning more this trip than I am. Is a Detective’s income always so substantial?”
The two gently shook hands, and Lawyer Laurel, as expected, did not mention the money he had lost to Xia De last time.
With work to do, Mr. Laurel today looked very different from his image in the tavern that morning. At least, he didn't suggest playing another game with Xia De after work.
Similar to the living conditions of all residents in this area, Mrs. Lemeier's home, where the family was squeezed into the attic, was equally dilapidated. Due to the low ceiling of the attic, Xia De instinctively ducked his head when entering, then realized he would need to be at least one Mia taller to hit his head on the ceiling.
The children were not home now. Mrs. Lemeier served the Detective and the Lawyer with very clean teacups.
The three sat at a dining table with legs padded by old newspapers. The three chairs were all of different styles, giving reason to believe they were all second-hand items of unknown origin.
The house was kept very clean. Perhaps the family's life was very difficult, but the middle-aged woman maintained an optimistic attitude. Sunlight streamed in from the attic window, and the long-standing stains on the floor were cleverly covered by furniture. The attic had no separate rooms; upon entering, there was the dining table, then two mattresses placed directly on the floor.
This family needed money. Although the thought was somewhat cruel, the sailor who died because he provoked the Mermaid statue truly died at the right time.
Everything on the dining table had been cleared away. Although there was still a pungent sour smell, at least it looked tidy. The Lawyer took a kraft paper file bag from his briefcase and solemnly took out the documents inside. He first handed them to Mrs. Lemeier, who then handed them directly to Xia De.
She was not very literate; the advertisement for Hamilton Detective Agency had been read to her by a neighbor.
The document was the main body of the will, handwritten in blue ink, with a date of one year ago. It seemed the sailor, who often went to sea, had long anticipated that he would one day encounter an accident.
“If the will is in order, we can proceed with the transfer of the inheritance now.”
Lawyer Laurel said. Xia De asked him to wait a moment, then read it carefully:
“No problem.”
Mrs. Lemeier was satisfied with the Detective's thoroughness.
“The inheritance is divided into three parts. First, the cash portion. Mr. Jonathan Lemmer had 53 pounds and 4 shillings in cash stored with a friend. Because probate involves inheritance tax, you will receive 49 pounds, 16 shillings, and 7 pence.”
The Lawyer pushed the envelope containing the money and the tax form to the middle-aged woman on the other side of the table. She awkwardly took the envelope and counted the banknotes inside, while Xia De took the tax form to read.
If the inheritance was transferred privately, it would not involve tax reporting, but an inheritance notarized through the City Hall must be reported for tax. It was no longer wartime, so the tax rate was not very high. The inheritance tax of about five percent was mainly due to the property being transferred from a different location.
“No problem.”
Xia De whispered to his employer, who nodded nervously. The banknotes in front of her were already stacked by denomination, and it was indeed that amount.
“The second part of the inheritance is Mr. Jonathan Lemmer's personal collection, mainly some souvenirs from the New World and items obtained during sea voyages. The value of these items is difficult to estimate because most are not valuable. Therefore, there is no tax issue. In addition, Mr. Lemmer did not leave a manifest recording what he had; these were given directly to me by his friends, so I cannot guarantee that everything is here.”
As the Lawyer spoke, he bent down and lifted a black briefcase from beside his feet onto the table. After clicking open the latches, he opened the lid and laboriously pushed the case to Mrs. Lemeier. The briefcase had markings made with red ink, but the contents were casually placed inside, not neatly arranged:
“By the way, this case also belongs to the relic; it was not provided by me.”
The Lawyer added, probably thinking that the case itself might be more valuable than its contents.
The sailor's collection was very rich: dark minerals, fish specimens, strangely smiling colorful masks, badges of unknown origin, anchor-shaped pendants, wooden toys, and so on. They all looked like miscellaneous items, but if described as travel souvenirs, they would be acceptable to people.
Xia De had originally worried that there might be dangerous items among the relics, even fearing that the Mermaid statue belonging to the sailor had also been sent to Tobesk. But until the case appeared before him, he did not feel any whisper element.
After getting Mrs. Lemeier's permission, he took out the items from the case one by one to examine them. When he touched them, the voice in his head gave no prompts.
“Sure enough, it's not that easy to encounter a relic.”
The keywords “inheritance of a sailor whose distant relative died in a shipwreck” combined to sound like the opening of a classic horror novel, but it seemed at least this time everything was normal, so Xia De signaled to the Lawyer that he could read the final contents of the inheritance.
“The third part of the inheritance consists of Mr. Jonathan Lemmer's personal belongings. He spent many years at sea and left some personal items with a friend, mainly a diary, clothes, and some books. This part of the relic is also tax-exempt, but similarly, there is no inventory.”
He laboriously lifted the last briefcase onto the table, opened it, and pushed it to Mrs. Lemeier.