Raphael sat on a chair, crossed his legs, and took a metal cigarette case from his coat pocket, extracting a cigarette.
Carter, his subordinate, produced a match and stepped forward to light it for his boss.
When they had knocked on the door earlier, Audrey had indeed thought the two kidnappers before her were utter scoundrels. She had been under the impression that the crippled homeowner, Mark, was coerced into letting them use his home as a hideout for their hostage situation.
However, just now, when Raphael sent the man to buy food, Audrey observed that Mark's expression showed no reluctance of someone rbeing forced. Her kidnappers also trusted the man enough to let him go out alone for supplies.
Audrey speculated that Mark was likely their accomplice...
...
~Townshend Street~
Senior Deacon Oliver of the Nighthawks was investigating the primary crime scene.
By now, the horses and coachman had regained their senses. The coachman was vomiting in a corner from eating too much tree bark. But more than the pain in his stomach, the man worried about whether he could keep his job...
At that moment, a carriage bearing the Hall family crest arrived and stopped before the scene. Several men and women in formal attire stepped out.
Leading them was a man who appeared to be in his thirties, his face impassive. This was Noel, the leader of the Hall family's Beyonder bodyguards.
Upon seeing Oliver, his expression softened slightly into a faint smile, "Any progress?"
"My colleagues have already pursued the trail with the sketches," Oliver replied, "But they found the carriage used in the crime in an alley on Morning Street, along with their clothes, fake mustaches, and other items, suggesting they had disguised themselves and escaped."
Moreover, in that rental carriage, they had discovered Miss Audrey's dress...
Noel frowned and said, "A bunch of madmen, daring to commit such a crime in Backlund."
He then glanced at the other two Nighthawks not far away and said to Oliver, "A word in private, please."
The two stepped away from the scene. Noel took an envelope from his pocket containing a thin sheet of paper and handed it to Oliver, saying, "The Earl hopes this matter can be kept confidential. He will publicly announce that Miss Audrey had urgent business and returned to the family estate in East Chester County."
Oliver pushed the envelope back slightly and said, "Rest assured, the Nighthawks are not journalists. We will maintain confidentiality."
Noel, however, extended the envelope again, "Inside is Earl Hall's letter of recommendation for the Voscod Grammar School."
Oliver was taken aback. Voscod Grammar School was a prestigious aristocratic institution with exceedingly strict admission requirements. His own child had failed the entrance exam twice.
But with a recommendation letter from a school trustee, one could enter without examination.
Earl Hall was one of the school trustees...
Oliver took a deep breath before accepting the envelope, then gravely said, "We will not breathe a word of this to anyone!"
Just as he tucked the envelope away, a carriage bearing the 'Dark Sacred Emblem' raced over. The door opened, and Eugenia, a female Nighthawks member in her twenties, said, "Deacon, all my divinations have failed. I need to apply for the use of a Sealed Artifact for further investigation."
She was a Beyonder of the 'Seer' Pathway. Glancing at Noel beside them, she didn't mention the artifact's serial number.
Oliver, however, knew which Sealed Artifact she meant. He tipped his hat in farewell to Noel, handed the scene over to a Nighthawks captain, and boarded the carriage with Eugenia and returned to headquarters.
After applying to the Archbishop and being escorted by a bishop, they retrieved the needed Sealed Artifact 1-46, Marionette Pendant, from behind the Chanis Gate.
This Sealed Artifact was a pendant that constantly changed form; one moment appearing as a gem-encrusted piece, the next as a simple gold pendant... one moment in Loen style, the next in Southern Continent style.
All divinations had to be completed within 15 seconds, and the pendant resealed, or the user would become its marionette.
Eugenia took Audrey's accessory, which she found in the carriage where the crime took place, to divine the noble lady's current location. The result, however, only showed a rolling gray fog.
Eugenia was stunned, but she quickly took out the clothes left by the kidnappers and divined their location, only to see the same rolling gray fog.
Consequently, the Nighthawks concluded that High-Sequence members of a secret organization must be involved in this case. Otherwise, even a demigod-level divination wouldn't have yielded such blank results...
...
~Backlund Bridge District~
Inside the dilapidated apartment, Raphael was cooking, while Carter was washing the dishes and utensils, carefully drying them and placing them on the dining table.
Mark wanted to help but didn't know what to do, so he seemed to be wandering aimlessly around the room.
Audrey, sitting in a chair, found it somewhat strange. She couldn't quite understand why the kidnapper leader was personally doing the cooking.
This was mainly because Raphael had certain standards for food.
After transmigrating to this world, besides the lack of the internet and electronics, what he found extremely difficult to adapt to was the cuisine.
He discovered that this world's cuisine seemed to have two extremes. The food of the nobility and the wealthy was exquisitely refined and delicious, while commoners ate exceptionally crude food.
The bread here was nothing like what he remembered; it was hard and dry rather than soft. Everyday dishes were either excessively greasy or utterly bland, with no concept of balanced meat and vegetable pairings.
If Raphael wanted to eat well, he had to go to hotels for set meals with appetizers and main courses, but that wasn't cheap. So he started cooking for himself.
Carter knew his boss's habits, so he only assisted from the side, eagerly anticipating the food his boss would prepare...
Raphael boiled the noodles first, then poured a little oil into a pan to stir-fry garlic slices and cabbage. Bean sprouts were out of the question. In over three months since transmigrating, he had never managed to find bean sprouts for sale in Backlund.
After the cabbage softened, he added the cooled noodles. Unfortunately, Backlund had no shops selling fresh noodles, or the taste would have been even better.
Then he seasoned with salt and soy sauce. Just before serving, he sprinkled a bit of cumin. The aroma was so enticing, even the high-class noble lady, Audrey, couldn't help but glance over.
Raphael cooked in two batches to make enough for four people. Once the food was plated, Carter and Mark immediately began to wolf down theirs.
Initially, Audrey didn't want to eat. For her, a dinner without even pre-dinner soup or aperitif seemed too shabby.
But the noodles on the plate smelled truly excellent. So, she twirled a bit onto her fork and put it in her mouth. A little broth perfectly blended the cumin's fragrance with other seasonings on the noodles.
One bite of the chewy noodles, and complex yet perfectly balanced flavors exploded on her tongue. It was a completely different experience from eating Feynapotter-style fried noodles.
Raphael, who had poured a little vinegar over his noodles, noticed Audrey's somewhat astonished expression.
He thought to himself: 'The food for nobles isn't that great either. Over twenty years old, yet she's never even had a proper plate of stir-fried noodles...'