"Why do we still have to go out on patrol on such a snowy and windy night," Rhodes grumbled as he walked the streets of Copenhagen, barely managing to return from the battlefield only to be assigned the night shift. Even young people are human!
"Just shut it. There was such a horrifying murder at Chaofeng Tower at noon today that I’m afraid every policeman in the entire city must be dead busy. It’s just a night of patrol," his cousin glanced back at him, seemingly annoyed by his cousin’s complaints.
"Alright, Mr. Sudel, you and your cousin have just come back from the battlefield, indeed tired. We understand," said a member of the City Guard team walking behind the two brothers, trying to diffuse the tension between them with a smile.
In his eyes, these two young men had bright futures ahead of them—Sudel, the young cousin, was already a lieutenant, and his brother was a sub-lieutenant. They seemed to be not yet twenty years old. It’s such a pity I don’t have a daughter; marrying her off to them wouldn’t be a bad choice.
"Come on, Rhodes, Lord Malin is at the front now; at least do it for his sake," Sudel said to his cousin.
"I would have no problem if it were for Lord Malin, but our orders came from the military headquarters, weren’t we told that the military wouldn’t handle our affairs?" Rhodes retorted.
"The military pays our salaries, my cousin," Sudel replied.
"Ha, a month’s salary is precisely five Mowish standard coins, not even as much as I’d earn from patrolling here for one night," Rhodes loudly complained, yet his steps didn’t slow down as he continued onward with his cousin.
Today, their responsibility was the rich district of North City District—Copenhagen’s North City District is divided into two parts: the northeast side is the Noble District, and the northwest side is the rich district. They were in the northwest part today, working with eight other teams to patrol the streets of the entire rich district.
The Noble District is generally the responsibility of Noble apprentices, so Rhodes and his company wouldn’t rotate into that area.
Passing an intersection and meeting the team responsible for the adjacent block, they checked their watches, exchanged passcodes, and confirmed there was no issue. After that, Sudel led his team forward.
In this blizzard, Rhodes was reminded of the day when they first fled the town: "This snow reminds me of the day we escaped from the town. We were traveling through a dark night just , thanks to Lord Malin."
Whenever Malin was mentioned, Rhodes’ cousin always seemed more amenable: "Yes, thanks to Lord Malin, everyone in the town survived."
"But they stripped you of your position as acting head of the town," Rhodes said, giving his cousin a sidelong glance and thinking to himself: How could you not have beaten up those elders’ faces back then, please, you are the son of the town, you led the entire town to safety.
"Probably because Waldin Town no longer needs someone from the Walden family," Sudel finished and fell silent.
Rhodes sighed inwardly—this would probably be the biggest regret of his cousin’s life, those damn ungrateful wretches.
Not only were they ungrateful, but they even wanted to harm those who had saved them, these fellows would get what they deserved.
As Rhodes cursed to himself in his thoughts, the edge of his field of vision caught a slight distortion in the space under the streetlight at the side of the road.
Odd, Rhodes turned his head to look in that direction but found everything unchanged, which puzzled and mystified him.
Invisibility? Stealth?
Neither, although there were many footprints on the ground, they were clearly made by the patrol team from the opposite block, and no new footprints appeared on the snowy ground, nor did the snowflakes seem to fall on anyone’s body.
He must have seen wrong.
Thinking this, Rhodes curiously glanced at the mansion across the road and then turned to the captain: "That house is really beautiful. The homes of the rich merchants in our town look like pigeon nests in comparison."
"Of course, it’s beautiful. That’s the mansion of Chopin Corbin, the famous city councilor of the Southern District," the captain’s face seemed to express more than words could say.
"Didn’t you say he is a councilor of the Southern District? Why is his mansion in the North City District?" Rhodes was puzzled.
"Lad, you’re not a local, you don’t understand. Mr. Chopin was born in the Southern District; he has an old mansion there, so he’s still considered a councilor of the Southern District," the captain’s explanation made Rhodes nod: "I see now, but that mansion must be filled with heartbroken people tonight."
Rhodes was just stating a fact as he knew that Chopin Corbin had been killed that afternoon.
But he found his remark made all members of the City Guard team laugh.
"What’s so funny?" Rhodes inquired.
"It would take a long time to answer, but you’re not wrong, everyone in that mansion tonight is heartbroken," the captain said, struggling to hold back laughter.
Rhodes wanted to ask more, but his cousin coughed dryly, and Rhodes ultimately chose to keep quiet—this city really is full of mysteries.
The young resident of a small town in the Northern Kingdom lamented in his heart—as he also noticed that his cousin had no reaction at all.