If there portunity to meet Annie's “cousin,” Charlot mused to himself, it could undoubtedly expand his work. Perhaps it would even help secure a powerful supporter for his marriage to Annie.

  Whether this would offend the other party was not Charlot's . A proper person would never shrink back from an endeavor simply because of the possibility of failure. They would prepare thhly and boldly face the sequences of defeat.

  Annie nodded firmly and said, “In a few days, my cousin will return to Strasb. I’ll arrange for you two to have tea together.”

  Charlot handed her a cup of freshly brewed coffee and said, “Miss Annie, you truly are my lucky star!”

  Annie blushed slightly, took the coffee, and sipped it gracefully like a proper dy.

  Charlot invited Ao the third-floor terrace to enjoy the sery of the Lukavaro River. Annie gdly accepted, and the two of them spent a leisurely afternoon there.

  Even so, Charlot still did not earn the privilege of dining with her. He apanied Ao the entrance of a small alley before dinner and watched her carriage depart. Just as he turo find a pce to eat, a chill suddenly swept over him. The Eye of Insight activated automatically.

  A stranger exuding a murderous aura, disguised as a passerby, was rapidly closing in on him.

  The assassin was already very close. Charlot instantly determihat there was no time to use the Anti-Space Le Rifle. The rifle required a reloading process, and the assassin was too near. With a flick of his wrist, the Blood Rose sliced through the air, “thrown” directly at the threat.

  The assassin hadn’t expected Charlot’s rea to be so swift and decisive. He thought his cealment was fwless and that his target could not have detected him. With no time to react, he bent backward into a stance simir to the Ire, his upper body nearly parallel to the ground.

  The Blood Rose brushed past his nose and looked as if it would fly off harmlessly. However, the vampiric rapier miraculously twirled mid-air, circled back, and coiled around the assassin’s neck.

  g! g! g!Three sharp collisi out in rapid succession.

  The assassin had produced a dagger, g with the Blood Rose three times in the blink of an eye, breaking Charlot's lethal strike.

  Charlot summoned his Bloodfire Qi, trolling the Blood Rose to shift its movements. Simultaneously, he revealed the Vampiric Axe and hurled it viciously toward the assassin's thigh.

  The assassin could no longer hide his identity. His bat energy erupted, and with a forceful kick, he sent the Vampiric Axe flying. His dagger whirled defensively several times to fend off the Blood Rose, after which he spun around and sprinted away at full speed.

  An assassin had e for him.

  How could Charlot let him escape alive?

  This assassin’s teiques were ing, his strength superior to Charlot’s. Last time, he had retreated when sensing danger. Now, he had even ged his appearance.

  Although the assassin had been temporarily repelled by Charlot's mastery of Bloodfire Qi-trolled ons, this was merely the assassin being cautious. If he chose to fight recklessly, he would likely have overwhelmed Charlot.

  Should the assassin prepare himself aurn, there might not be another ce for the newly promoted third-rank Chief Clerk to survive.

  Charlot pnted his Battlefield e into the ground arieved his Anti-Space Le Rifle. The assassin had been too close earlier, leaving him no time to take out the rifle. But now that the enemy had fled, he was finally within firing range.

  Charlot crouched, brag his arm on his knee in a standard shooting stance. He hadn’t realized before how steady his hand could be when pulling the trigger!

  The first Anti-Magic Armor-Pierg Round flew out, striking the assassin's left shoulder.

  The specialized Anti-Magic Armor-Pierg Round could kill a Titan ogre with one shot. Even high-level transdents like Grand Duke Ferdinand or Lord Leo wouldn’t be able to withstand its power.

  Half of the assassin’s body was obliterated instantly. The remaining half was flung far away by the bullet’s residual force.

  Charlot spped the Anti-Space Le Rifle bato his Battlefield e, recalled the Vampiric Axe and Blood Rose, and quickly ran to the assassin’s body. The assassin gave him a venomous gre, as though trying to say something, but died before he could utter a word.

  Charlot searched the body arieved a wallet, a dagger, and an alchemical pistol. As he was about to get up to notify the City Patrol Guards, something thin slipped off the assassin’s face.

  It was a thin human face!

  Beh the flimsy face c was an unfamiliar visage.

  Charlot’s eyes flickered in realization. “So, he used this magical artifact to ge his appeara No. 1 Fal Street, he disguised himself as Aubrey Tildon Atwood, and this time, he took on another face.”

  “Unfortunately, he didn’t know I have the Eye of Insight! And evehat the Eye of Insight automatically activates against killing i.”

  “This extraordinary ability has saved my life again!”

  Charlot beed to a group of neer boys nearby and said, “Anyone willing to run to No. 1 Fal Street in the Lukavaro Distrid report to the City Patrol Guards go now. Tell Dubin t at least fifty men. The first oo arrive gets five times, the sed four, the third three, the fourth two, and the fifth one. No rewards for aer that.”

  The boys took off sprinting, eager to win the five-time reward.

  Less than an hour ter, Dubin arrived at a jog with a squad of City Patrol Guards. When he saw the assassin’s corpse, he couldn’t help but say, “Boss! You used that rifle from st time, didn’t you? Its power is ridiculous.”

  Charlot shrugged and said, “Take the body to the mass grave outside the city. ister it!”

  The City Patrol Guards managed public security iy. Although this was the Picardy District, the Picardy squad hadn’t shown up, and Charlot had teically hahe matter outside his jurisdi. But that wasn’t a problem.

  Charlot had taken his spoils and didn’t feel like iigating further. The culprit was the Fierce Horse Detective Agency. The grudge between them was growing deeper and deeper. Charlot believed dueling wouldn’t solve the problem. Even if they temporarily backed off, he would one day uproot the Fierce Horse Detective Ageirely.

  The neer boys soourned. Charlot called them over, firmed their rankings, and handed out the promised rewards. He even gave ara time to each child as a sotion prize, including those who had arrived after the top five.

  He lived on Elysée Avenue, and these boys were sharp-eyed. With such generosity, it would be much easier to get their help iure.

  Dubin, who had handled tless simir cases, ed the assassin’s body in a shroud and took it away. Ohe City Patrol Guards left, Elysée Avenue quickly returo its usual bustling state.

  This era was like that.

  No one cared about the lives or deaths of strangers. Such street killings were so on that most residents were unfazed.

  Charlot returo 58 Elysée Avenue and examined his newly acquired spoils. The wallet tained fifteen ten-flor bills, a bit of loose ge, and a h an address:

  5 Dragon Fort Street, Alcatras District. Chelsea Detective Agency.