When Luke and Alexis finally arrived at the address they had been told, they knew they were in the right place because there was a single store with blue details. On the second floor of a five-story commercial building, there was a shop window with large letters that read 'Dauphiné - From embroidery to collars'.
The half-wolf entered the store, and the bell on top of the door shook, causing a ruckus. He held the door, and Alexis entered right behind him.
"This is right here, isn't it?" She asked looking to the place that was totally different from the tavern, they were in just a few minutes ago.
"I think so."
All around the room were expensive-looking clothes of all kinds. There were clothes with embroidery and social clothing in the window display, but inside the store, there were even some types of cloaks for winter and pieces of clothing with room for armor.
"Hello, how can I help you?" A gray-haired, thin man with thick glasses asked. He was wearing a typical black vest, and underneath was a red social shirt, which matched perfectly with all the rest of his also red clothing.
Luke looked at the store's surroundings and made sure that there was no one present to eavesdrop on. "Are you Jonak?"
"Maybe I am. What could you offer me?"
"Money in exchange for information," Luke answered quickly, in a way that surprised even his companion, who no longer had a penny in his pocket.
"Ha... I'm sorry, man. I don't need any money... Hmmmm... I got it. You buy one of my clothes and I'll tell you everything I know. How about that? The best way to promote my brand is with customers wearing my clothes."
Luke shrugged; after all, that would be the same as giving money to the man, except at least he would get something. "Which one would you recommend to me?" He asked the shopkeeper.
"This one would look perfect on you." Alexis cut in and pointed to a mannequin on the left, displaying a thick jacket in which you could see a bulge in the breasts. "Hahaha! Kidding... Is that really a man thing?"
"That's fashion, miss! Male breasts are in fashion here in Uptown, haven't you heard?" The shopkeeper replied nervously.
None of the half-beasts doubted because the rich part of Oukiwa really did seem to be weird. Internally, the shopkeeper was embarrassed because this was only a test model.
Luke walked for a few seconds through the store window and stopped in front of something that looked to his liking. "I liked that one," Luke said.
He was standing in front of a cloak almost identical to his own, except that the fabric was not faded and seemed much more rain resistant, plus the fact that there were actually buttons at chest height.
The shopkeeper looked at the half-wolf from head to toe and wasn't even surprised by the choice because this was one of the best-selling pieces of clothing in his store.
"That's 300 silver coins, please."
"100 silver coins." Luke bargained, for 300 coins was something otherworldly for such a simple item.
"There's no such thing as a stranger's discount..." The shopkeeper saw Luke's serious look and turned back before he finished his sentence. "150 coins are a fair value, don't you think?"
"It will be a fair value if what you are going to say really worth it, don't you think?"
The half-dragon held back from giggling while impressed with Luke's shopping skills.
"Sigh... Son! Come here; there's someone wanting to know about your gossip!" The man shouted. Then quick footsteps came down the discreet ladder behind the counter, hidden by some hanging clothes.
"Who needs me?" A boy no older than sixteen questioned, excited to be asked. "Who are you?" He asked the half-beads.
"Do you know anything about the fire at the con in the harbor?"
"Do you know what this rumor about 'The Beast' is? And why did people get so worked up that they set a place on fire?" Alexis stepped forward and inquired.
"There are rumors going around town that there is a humanoid monster in the forests surrounding Oukiwa. Since no one knows if it's actually a monster or a killer, they get aggressive like that."
"So... it's just another legend and there really were people who believed it?"
"Well, it really could be just another legend, however, over a month ago almost a dozen dead men were found in a nearby wood, and this was confirmed by the guards."
"What a waste of time..." Just then, Luke placed a small bag of coins in the shed.
From the bulk in the bag, the shopkeeper could clearly see that there were no more than 100 coins inside the bag.
"Wait, wait, wait. There's more stuff, isn't there, son?"
"Yes, yes!"
The teenager agreed with excitement. He didn't seem to care one bit about the money, only about the gossip anyway.
"Apparently, there was indeed someone inside the shed and the person managed to survive, but few people got to know about it, because someone paid the guards to hide it."
Luke's eyes widened as he finally heard an intriguing clue. "Does that mean the person is still in the hospital?"
"Did you see the state the shed was in? If someone managed to survive that, they must surely be in the hospital for at least a month."
So pleased with the information he received, Luke gave another 100 coins and left the 'Dauphiné' Shop.
"Luke, you're not thinking about going to the hospital, right?" Alexis questioned, seeing the burning look on the man's face.
"Why not? That's the only clue I have, not to mention there's only one large hospital in town, and it's not too far away."
"You won't be able to get in. You must know well that hospitals in cities like Oukiwa are very secure and strict..."
At that time, the S-Class didn't know that Luke was an experienced thief, and although he is a terrible investigator and horrible at making plans, he is excellent at invading.
Initially, Luke pretended to agree with Alexis, so they gave up the idea of going to the hospital. Since it was almost night and both were tired from the trip, they went together to hunt for a cheap and comfortable hotel.
The half-dragon current idea was to wait until Ayumi Yamazaki arrived in town, and then they could quickly get into the hospital. However, Luke thought that those 3 days would be too long to wait.
Therefore, he took a single mid-standard hotel room away from the Upper City and waited until Alexis fell asleep. To his misfortune, this only happened after a few hours of darkness, and when he went out the hotel room window, there were hardly any people on the street.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter