2026-01-21 18:12:50
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Tangled Web
Towards the end of Little John’s explanation, Duncan didn’t interrupt at all. He simply listened and fell into deep contemplation once he was done speaking. Little John’s words revealed a lot of information to Duncan, who began analyzing and organizing what he’d learned. First of all, it was now certain to Duncan that whoever was organizing this auction had used Little John to exclusively get his items into the city. There could be many reasons for this that Duncan could think of, but he dismissed most of them and focused instead on one possibility. To Duncan, the most likely reason why the auction organizer used Little John’s organization that was primarily made up of ordinary people must have something to do with the disappearance of Little John’s men. Perhaps there were some supernatural items that required a kind of sacrifice in order to move them, or perhaps a ritual of some kind was being conducted that required the lives of many people as a sacrifice. In either case, the
Scary Commission
Staring coldly at Little John, Duncan accused, “You just lied to me. When I mentioned auction, you clearly reacted, which means you know something about it. So let’s try this one more time, but this time try not to lie to me, do you understand?” Without giving Little John the chance to respond, Duncan quickly followed up with another question. “What do you know about the auction happening two days later in the manor on the outskirts of the city?” This time, having been caught lying, Little John had no choice but to answer truthfully. “I don’t know much,” Little John started saying. He explained, “Several months ago, I received a huge deal from an anonymous person who wanted me to smuggle a lot of items into the city and deliver them to the manor over a long period of time.” “This was a very huge commission, and I readily agreed when I saw how much I was going to be paid to accept the job, but what I didn’t know at the time was how scary the job would actually be after I had ac
Threats And Intimidation
Duncan finally finished his meal, and when he was done, he asked for another refill of pineapple juice and then turned his attention to Little John. “So, I see you’ve done pretty well for yourself since the last time we talked. Decided to expand, eh—how’s that working out for you?” Starting off light, Duncan complimented Little John on his recent activities. But while it seemed like praise, there was actually a hint of sarcasm hidden within Duncan’s words. Little John knew this, and he responded less than pleasantly. “Yeah, the expansion has been great. Ever since I got my leash taken off, I’ve been able to spread my wings freely and grow. What about you, though, how’ve you been ever since you left your cushy job to become a deadbeat PI?” Duncan answered nonchalantly, “I won’t say I’ve been better off, but going private has its perks. More freedom for instance, less restraint from the law, not having to follow the rules all the time anymore… but then you know what that's lik
Little John
“Do I make myself clear?” Duncan asked one more time. This time, Little John responded with a nod, indicating he understood. “Good. Now hold on a moment, let me finish my breakfast. I don’t like to discuss business during a meal 'cause it affects the taste.” With that, Duncan continued eating the rest of his breakfast while Little John sat quietly observing him in secret, various thoughts going through his head. Little John, that is what people called him, but it wasn’t his real name. His real name was Shawn Mendalay, but ever since he started living with his uncle when he was little and started helping out in his stall, people started calling him Little John after his uncle, Old John. Since then, the name had stuck with Shawn forever. For Little John, he didn’t mind that his real name had been forgotten by almost everyone. To him, a name was just something you called yourself when you wanted to be identified, and just like the name Shawn had been changed and forgotten, name
Informant
Duncan and the locals were in a standoff, and to his credit, Duncan was not backing down, but then again, why should he? Duncan was not afraid of these people ganging up on him and lynching him in public. They were currently in a society that was ruled by order, and the police were very competent in their jobs when it came to solving crimes and arresting wrongdoers who break the law. So although crime was not entirely nonexistent, the rate of crime was actually low, with a good chunk of the crime that happens in the city falling under the category of organized crime and the rest being attributed to supernatural events. In any case, this lot, although they were sketchy at best, wouldn’t dare to actually harm Duncan, so he was quite relaxed. The situation seemed to be at an impasse, and this lasted for a few seconds until finally, a voice pierced through the standstill. “I’m here, I’m here, nobody start any fights, he’s with me, so scram, you lot. What are you doing lallygagging
Rendezvous
Duncan had no idea he was being plotted against. Right now, he was enjoying breakfast at a street stall located in a shady neighborhood. The people around him had unfriendly faces, with the stall owner sporting a particularly permanent frown on his face that seemed to grow a notch tighter whenever he served Duncan, despite the latter having been a regular at this stall for some years now. The same went for the other diners in the stall; they all looked at Duncan the way you would look at a complete stranger, with eyes that said he was unwelcome over here. And yet, Duncan ate on, enjoying the simple breakfast of eggs on toast while sipping a cup of pineapple juice, completely unbothered by the fact that it might be poisoned. Ahh! Taking a sip of his juice, Duncan smacked his lips in relish for the heavenly taste that he’d been missing for a long time. No other place served pineapple juice in the morning like this place, with the special lemon honey syrup mixed within that gave i
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