The Devil’s Cage

The forenoon sun of Eiders was a lot stronger than the morning sun. It shed its light on the ground through the window, causing a dazzling reflection.

Kozert was standing there looking at Kieran under the sun with a gaze of admiration.

Kieran, who got more information after dominating, Kozert frowned, but his furrowed brows eased up quickly.

He got enough pieces of information from Kozert already. Despite it not solving all his questions and doubts, it answered the majority of them.

Firstly, according to Kozert, humans and monsters lived together in this dungeon world, and dusk and dawn were the signal for both species.

During the day, humans worked.

During the night, monsters lurked.

Of course, it wasn’t an absolute rule though.

When human populations reached a certain height, the monsters that lurked slowly went away even at night, like the Eiders of before.

On the contrary, the wilderness, which housed only a few humans, became a paradise for monsters to go rampant.

However, as time passed, the monsters that vanished from Eiders a long time ago slowly became active.

Kozert did not know what caused the changes. Similarly, he also didn’t know what the ‘Snitch’ stole or who threw out those things.

But as a ‘hyacinth’, the informant or messenger of the dungeon world, Kozert provided Kieran with an extra bit of news: someone published a bounty of $1,000 to find out Kieran’s identity; if anyone had detailed information on him, the price would be doubled.

Kieran’s appearance undoubtedly attracted someone’s attention.

That was probably also the reason why Kieran was followed by a bunch of men before this.

$1,000 bounty wasn’t considered high, just an amount that barely mattered, but since it was only information gathering and didn’t require one to engage in fights, the price became quite attractive.

At least according to Kozert, the other idle ‘hyacinths’ in the city had their eyes on Kieran.

The other information that concerned Kieran was that Kozert knew the shop where the ‘Snitch’ disposed his goods.

Unfortunately, after the ‘Snitch’ was exposed, the shop was turned to cinders by a fire.

Everyone assumed the cause of the fire was arson. Some said it was the one who threw the things while others said it was the result of a gang double-crossing, but the real details?

No one knew.

“Let’s go have a look there,” Kieran said.

“Yes, my lord.”

Although he knew the ruins wouldn’t hold any more clues, Kozert wouldn’t disobey Kieran’s orders.

Of course, he bore in mind Kieran’s other order as well, which was to maintain his identity as a surveillant, a ‘hyacinth’, not one of Kieran’s men.

…

The back alley of Aimeda Street.

Kieran reached the alleged shop for goods disposal.

There was no need for further searching because the shop was very eye-catching.

Among the whole row of buildings, only the shop was in ruins and had the marks of a fire.

Kieran scanned the surroundings.

Looking at the neighboring buildings, Kieran speculated that when the shop was still intact, it must have been a one storey civilian shophouse; there wasn’t a front yard, so one could enter the shop straightaway through the main door.

Of course, since it was a place to dispose of stolen goods, it wouldn’t have signage outside.

Kieran walked towards the spot where the door was supposed to be. The crispness under his boots told him how fierce the fire was.

He then looked at the intact neighboring buildings on both sides that were tainted with burn marks and scanned the two meters wide passage along the shophouse.

Finally, his eyes returned to the shophouse itself.

“After the fire, the police and fire department came and cleaned up the place. No clues were found. No casualties either, as there weren’t any bodies in the fire.”

Kieran was recalling what Kozert said before as he walked to the center of the shophouse.

This place… was the ignition point!

Under [Tracking]’s vision, even after a few days, the fierce burn marks were revealed to Kieran clearly, together with some other traces mixed in them.

Kieran bent over and saw traces of digging by a shovel, which were buried again.

“Interesting.” Kieran squinted his eyes.

Fires caused by accidents mostly spread from the corners, gradually transforming into an unstoppable force.

The ignition point being in the middle of the shophouse could only mean one thing: this was an arson!

It matched the information Kieran had acquired.

This shop for goods disposal was destroyed intentionally by someone but the digging after that seemed to have not been planned.

After the incident with the ‘Snitch’, this shop should have been put under surveillance, and as a matter of fact, there was someone else in the area at the moment.

Since Kieran reached the place, he had picked up more than one gaze.

So, it was natural that one couldn’t appear here with a shovel to dig after the cleaning from the authorities without being detected.

Which meant, the only possibility of the digging to happen was right after the fire had spread!

While the police and firefighters fought the fire!

Or more precisely, the digger should have been a police officer or a firefighter.

As for the traces left behind during the firefighting?

Dirt could put out a fire, but no one would want to dig the ground beneath the fire as it raged.

With lingering thoughts, Kieran walked out from the burnt ground, and when he glimpsed at Kozert in the shadows, he subtly ordered Kozert to get “the list of the police officers and firefighters that participated in the rescue mission that day.”

Kieran then moved on without stopping.

Kozert, who was in the shadows, quietly followed as well.

No one else noticed the difference. Even if someone noticed Kozert, they would think that he was another watcher.

Everyone placed their attention on Kieran as he walked out of the alley to Aimeda Street.

Watching the endless stream of people on the street, Kieran unconsciously looked towards the few restaurants that had their signages standing out.

As for those gathering that gazed at him?

He didn’t even care.

But when one of the owners of the gazes walked out brightly to stop him, Kieran was forced to detach his gaze from the restaurants.

It was Mier.

She was actually one of the special consultants of the police. She and her grandfather, Wier, had always been active in the front line of the battle with monsters. Her temper and personality were extremely weird. Based on what Kozert told him, the young lady was someone Kierean should stay away from.

You didn’t know what a smiling lady would do to you in the next moment.

Mier was smiling at Kieran, her brown hair tied up into a ponytail, her jaded eyes smiling into a single line.

She crossed her arms and pushed her chest up, showing off a ravishing cleavage. She circled Kieran and sized him up in detail as she walked; it was a different kind of sizing up from yesterday night.

Mier was still holding back last night, but she wasn’t now.

The heat hidden in her gaze was like a lady when seeing her favourite bag in the mall.

When she made a full circle around Kieran and stood back in front of him, she asked in a pleasant voice, “What did you find?”

Kieran didn’t answer. He made a detour and headed towards the restaurant he had eyes on.

But right away, he was forced to pause, because…

“I know your secret!”