Chapter 1427 (2/2)

“You are right about that,” Derek grunted. They had reached the archway that housed the segmented rope bridges swaying down to the city below. Of course, most people didn’t need to utilize the bridges to get down; they possessed enough Endurance and Vitality to just jump off the edge and crash into the ground. But both to prevent damage to the surrounding area and for the sake of appearances, they made the bridges. “It might not mean anything that the people of Kharon are angry by itself. But that means we need to be extra careful that there isn’t any further spark to set this place ablaze.”

Derek continued to walk forward toward the main thoroughfare into and out of Kharon, but Hydie’s steps gradually slowed. Her eyes were on the fragile ropes of the bridges that creaked side to side with the wind and people’s casual steps. “Derek… aren’t we just supposed to patrol Kharon?”

With more speed than Hydie had expected, Derek spun around and studied her with sharp eyes. That gaze became a blade that lanced through her body and pinned her to the ground. While he watched her, Hydie felt like a rare butterfly that had been extremely difficult to catch, now victoriously suppressed by a grudge-holding insect collector.

But gradually, Derek’s expression eased. “...we won’t be leaving. And I suppose waiting here is fine.”

So the two stood, Hydie staring at the ground and wondering if he was mad at her and Derek looking toward the bridges. They waited for about three minutes before a skinny man with excessive arm hair walked up onto Kharon proper and looked around. Even though Hydie’s image detection was much less acute than Derek’s, her gaze immediately locked onto this young man when he entered her line of sight.

The man scratched his arm habitually and looked around with a gaze encumbered by extremely deep, purple bags under his eyes. From the curl of his lip, it was clear that he didn’t have any positive intentions toward Kharon.

Derek immediately stepped forward. “Excuse me, sir, can I ask you a few questions?”

Derek’s voice was low, but he immediately drew the gazes of everyone going in and out of the arch. Those people subconsciously slowed their pace to get a better look at what was happening. In the face of Derek’s calm smile, the man with the heavy bags under his eyes looked uneasily side to side.

Even those not from Kharon would recognize the eye-catching sigil of the Order Ducis on Derek and Hydie’s arm. The young man cleared his throat. “I… I’m sorry, do you have the wrong person? I’m just here-”

“Kharon is home to some of the most sophisticated image users in the world,” Derek interrupted. His smile widened. “Did you really think that you could walk in with all of that resentment and ill will and not be noticed?”

Hydie flexed her fingers and then dropped her hands to the pair of handcuffs at her belt. Even if she was still feeling somewhat worried about Derek’s opinions of her, this was at least a good distraction. Since they were filling in for patrol officers, Hydie was ready to work out some of her frustrations through an arrest.

What she didn’t expect was for the young man to stare at Derek for a long time and then burst into tears.

For the moment, they took him back to the station to be put in a holding cell. Then, for the next six hours, Hydie rushed after Derek Moss, watching him avoid the misfortune that came along with remaining near her and also casually intercepting other individuals with malicious intent as they came into Kharon. All told, they had caught five such people before their shift was over.

Hydie understood the principles behind what Derek was doing. The moss spirits of Kharon were naturally attracted to people who loved Kharon and avoided the people who hated Kharon. And because of the sheer amount of moss spirits that the city was producing, basically every person who wanted to enter Kharon couldn’t avoid passing through areas at least sporadically filled with moss spirits.

Derek was simply monitoring the whole of Kharon, looking for minute deviations of moss spirit movements. Which was especially difficult because moss spirits behaved erratically even at the best of times. Just thinking about it gave Hydie a headache.

Basically all of Hydie’s enthusiasm had returned once they had all the perps in holding cells. She grinned over at Derek. “Hehe, no way we don’t get a commendation for this! We captured these fools before they could even accomplish anything.”

Derek frowned. “That’s… not necessarily true. If someone was watching carefully, they would realize that Kharon has the ability to detect infiltrators. To a force with nefarious motives, this is quite an important piece of information.”

“You are always so negative,” Hydie muttered.

Derek shrugged. “Comes with the job, I guess. Anyway, ready for some more interviews?”