Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 5:  Visits and Investigations

Jesse Chuck.

She was the woman who had seen the victim’s corpse last night.

According to the testimony in the case file, she and the victim were in the same line of work.

They had arranged to solicit clients in that area and then return together.

When the time came, Jesse, who had not found any customers, went to the agreed meeting place, but did not see the victim.

She searched around, and then discovered the victim’s body in an alley.

There was nothing wrong with that—her account matched what Levi and the others had seen at the time.

However, there was one problem.

That was……… why wasn’t she killed?

If the killer had already left the scene, then of course it made sense.

But at that time, the killer had still been lingering nearby.

He might have just taken the victim’s internal organs.

Since Miss Jesse had arrived, the killer could have easily killed her as well before she discovered the body, without anyone noticing.

Yet he hadn’t done so.

That was very strange.

The police file did not reveal much in her testimony, but……… at present, Levi intended to follow this lead and investigate.

Fortunately, the file recorded Miss Jesse’s address.

No. A392, White Birch Street, Pink Lady Bar.

Like most bars, it did not open during the day.

So when Levi arrived, he was unsurprisingly stopped by the doorman.

“All right, kid, we’re not open yet.”

Standing at the bar’s entrance, a burly man built like an orc flexed his forty-inch biceps, the tattoos on them standing out vividly.

“If you’re here for a woman, come back after 18:00. I think I made myself clear.”

“Hello.”

Levi extended his hand, adjusted his hat, and gave the man a polite bow — a courtesy he had “acquired” from his memories.

“I am indeed looking for a lady, but it is not to discuss business.”

As he spoke, Levi continued.

“I simply have a few questions I’d like to ask her.”

“Questions?”

The burly man frowned, staring at Levi.

“That’s right, Miss Jesse Chuck. I’m here to ask her about last night’s murder case……….”

“You a cop?”

The big man’s eyes bulged again, like a guard dog baring its teeth and about to pounce.

“No, I’m a detective.”

Levi shook his head, meeting the man’s gaze.

At that moment, Levi suddenly had a feeling — he sensed that this burly man wasn’t as fierce as he appeared.

On the contrary, he seemed a bit nervous, even uneasy.

He was hesitating.

And the reason for that hesitation………

“I imagine things haven’t been easy for you lately, have they?”

Levi looked him over and spoke, then took out a coin and placed it in the man’s hand.

The latter took the coin, and his earlier bluster faded as he nodded.

“Yeah, Detective, you can see it yourself. Hardly any customers come here anymore……… Fine, I’ll go let her know.”

After saying this, the big man turned and went inside.

A moment later, he came back out.

“Madam Claity agrees to see you.”

“Much obliged.”

Levi handed him another coin, gave him another nod, and then stepped inside.

The Pink Lady Bar had two levels, inner and outer.

The outer section was a regular bar and performance venue.

It was closed at this hour, with almost no one around.

The staircase leading to the second floor, hidden behind curtains, was the real passage to heaven and earth.

“Poor little Jesse is terrified.”

Contrary to Levi’s mental image, Madam Claity was not the sort to wave a handkerchief at the door calling, “Come in and have some fun, sir!”

She struck Levi more as a dignified old lady.

Her dress was simple yet proper.

In Levi’s eyes, she seemed more suited to drinking tea at home than running such a business.

“I can’t really blame the girls. Ever since the Courtesan Killer appeared, our business has dropped sharply. Everyone thinks there’s some monster prowling the streets at night……… Four girls dead in a row. They were all good girls, Mr. Levi. You might think I’m making excuses for them, but that’s the truth in my heart.”

Madam Claity sighed.

“These days, life’s hard for everyone. You know those steam engines……… they’ve taken away many jobs that used to belong to the girls.”

“I can understand.”

Levi nodded.

This was no different from the world he came from.

The widespread adoption of steam engines had robbed craftsmen of their livelihoods, with textile workers being the first to suffer.

Their social standing was already low, and the only way they could earn a meager living was by doing repetitive labor.

But with the advent of steam engines, even those jobs vanished.

They had to seek other means to support themselves and their families, and becoming a courtesan was the easiest profession to enter.

“If they could, they’d prefer a decent job, but they can’t manage it.

Now, even we old folks can’t make sense of those machines.”

As she spoke, Madam Claity shook her head in weary resignation.

“Do you know, Mr. Levi? Why is it that those metal gears just turn with a click-clack, and somehow print out so much information? There are only numbers on them, and I can’t understand how they work. It’s like some sort of sorcery… magic……….”

Levi felt he could relate.

He didn’t understand how they worked either, and to be honest, those things seemed just as magical to him.

Madam Claity reminded him of the elderly women who lived in rural areas — slow to adapt to modern technology, unable to comprehend it.

The girls were the same.

They had little education and simply could not keep pace with such rapid progress.

At one door, Madam Claity stopped and turned to Levi.

“I know you’re a decent gentleman. Please don’t hurt that girl — she’s already at her breaking point.”

“I’ll do my best, Madam Claity.”

Levi removed his hat and replied softly.

Miss Jesse was a plain-looking woman.

Perhaps from the trauma, her cheeks were gaunt, and dark circles hung under her eyes, as if she had not slept well.

“I’ve already told the police everything there was to say.”

Wrapped in a worn shawl, she sat at the edge of the bed, her small frame trembling.

She kept her head down, staring at the floor as if flowers were blooming in the rough wooden boards.

“I understand, Miss Jesse.”

Levi reached out a hand to reassure her.

“Actually, I’m not here to ask about what happened last night. I only want to know some things……… well, about your line of work.”

“About our line of work?”

This unexpected question made Miss Jesse lift her head hesitantly, a trace of doubt in her brown eyes.

“You can think of me as a reporter, investigating the current state of your… profession.”

“Ah, I’ve seen that kind of interview before.”

Hearing this, Jesse gave a soft sigh.

“I still remember when the boss told us he didn’t need us anymore, and then threw us out. At that time we were lost and angry. We’d done so much work, so much… working more than twelve hours a day, without insurance, living in rooms only a few square meters in size. Everyone’s hands were swollen from soaking, fingernails cracked, but we endured it because we needed wages to survive. But—but those machines —————!”

Jesse’s voice suddenly rose sharply.

“Those damned steam engines! Cold steel! They took everything from us! We have nothing left! That’s how it is……….”

“…………………”

Levi said nothing.

He had read in history books about the transformations brought by the steam revolution.

At the time, it was considered a necessary sacrifice — the development of human civilization inevitably eliminated the outdated and the unadapted.

It was seen as natural and unquestionable.

It was the same now.

In this world, the advance of the steam revolution meant advanced productivity replacing the backward — an unavoidable fact.

But that did not mean those left behind would accept it willingly.

And as the ones being eliminated, they naturally felt the deepest pain.

“Later, we joined a movement for a while… we wanted to smash those machines and take back our jobs…”

Luddism.

The word surfaced in Levi’s mind.

It came from the first worker, named Ludd, who smashed a steam-powered textile machine.

After that, Luddism became the representative ideology against machinery, flourishing in the Empire for a time.

But under the Empire’s harsh suppression, it eventually disappeared without a trace.

Levi was not surprised.

Such people had passion, but that was all.

He remembered a similar case in his own world — shortly after the reinstatement of the university entrance exam, in an era when one test determined one’s fate.

A student, protesting this exam-focused system, handed in a blank paper in fury.

It had caused a public stir, and the student was called a “Blank Paper Hero” who had declared war on the exam system…

And afterward?

Nothing.

Perhaps most people no longer even remembered such a person.

“Of course, the movement failed. We couldn’t get our jobs back, but we still had to live, so I started doing this.”

Jesse gave a bitter smile, staring at Levi.

“As a gentleman like you, what is it you want to know?”

“Just a few small questions… I imagine, in your line of work, you would try to avoid having children.”

“Oh, of course.”

At this topic, Jesse immediately began to speak more freely.

“I suppose you know we have many ways, such as using things like sheep intestine… all to avoid such awkward situations. But most clients don’t like that. They always want to be a little more intimate with us. Some will sweet-talk and deceive girls who are new to the trade. This happens often, so we are always careful — but it’s no use…”

“No use?”

“Many girls are just foolish.”

Jesse sighed.

“You see, women who have been through what I have are not rare here. I’m older now, so I don’t have such fantasies. But those just entering the trade often dream that someone will take them away from here, dress them in a white gown, and let them stand in a holy church, becoming the happy princess from a fairy tale. Such girls are easy to deceive. If a client whispers sweet promises of happiness in her ear, she might be swayed and act without thinking.”

“So they get deceived?”

“I haven’t yet seen one who hasn’t.”

That was indeed rather miserable.

“I truly sympathize with their plight…”

Levi weighed his words.

“But I suppose you must have ways of dealing with this problem?”

“…………………”

“I understand your hesitation, Miss Jesse. But please believe me, I am a detective, not a police officer.”

Levi looked at her intently, speaking each word clearly.

He understood why she had gone silent — because in this world, in this era, it was a criminal act.

If discovered, it meant arrest and sentencing.

“I’m only looking for clues.”

“I understand. I read the newspapers.”

Jesse bit her thin lips, staring at Levi.

“All right, I admit it. We do have ways to deal with the problem. We find a doctor, and he gives us certain medicines — you know. But I believe that man is not the killer.”

“Why?”

Seeing Jesse’s confident look, Levi was somewhat surprised.

“When such matters arise, we always send another sister to fetch the medicine, so the doctor never knows who actually needs it. And besides……………”

Here Jesse paused.

“Doctor Doolittle is a kind and morally upright man. He would never commit such a monstrous and evil act.”

Levi had to admit — he truly had no detective’s talent.

It was actually a simple deduction: since the victim had signs of abortion before death, and given her profession, someone must have known they did such things.

If the killer’s target was specifically this, then it was easy to deduce that someone aware of their shared situation was a suspect…

But Miss Jesse’s answer directly overturned Levi’s thinking.

Indeed, for courtesans, having a child was a serious mistake.

If the manager learned of it, they would be punished or fined.

So they would secretly ask a trusted friend to fetch the medicine instead.

For example, this time, the victim and Jesse were good friends, and the victim had asked Jesse to fetch the medicine.

But Jesse didn’t go herself — she asked another sister instead.

That meant even if that sister let something slip, the other party would find Jesse, not the victim.

Yet in this case, the one found in the end was the victim…

That was baffling.

And Jesse also said this was basic practice for courtesans — meaning the others could have done the same.

But this was only a hypothesis.

Levi felt he still needed to investigate.

What if he was wrong?

However, the result turned out to be nothing like what Levi had expected.

“Whew……………”

By the time Levi returned to his home in the clock tower, he was utterly exhausted.

It wasn’t just from climbing more than ten flights of stairs — the lift was broken — but also from having spent the entire day running around, investigating the lives and connections of the other victims.

The answers he received were all similar to Miss Jesse’s.

Those victims had indeed, for various reasons, made mistakes.

And they knew they had made mistakes, so they asked others to help them fetch medicine from Doctor Doolittle.

But everyone claimed they had never told Doctor Doolittle who needed the medicine, and he had never asked.

It was considered a very good doctor–patient relationship.

Levi also could not detect any lies in their words.

Even so, the investigation had to continue.

For now, it seemed this Doctor Doolittle had no suspicion attached to him.

But Levi could only keep investigating through this lead.

He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, recalling in his mind everything he had learned today about Doctor Doolittle.

A good man.

A doctor.

He had a clinic in Oak District, dedicated to treating the poor.

A devout follower of the Holy Church, kind and gentle, compassionate enough to often help those too poor to pay their medical fees.

No matter how one looked at it, he seemed like a good person.

He had lived in this area for more than ten years, knew everyone here well, and was no newcomer.

His reputation was spotless.

Of course, in a detective novel or television drama, the more innocent someone seemed, the more likely they would turn out to be the killer.

But that was artistic license.

Whether that held true in reality… that was another question.

Although Levi had always been interested in detective novels and had even thought about becoming a police officer, it had only been a passing idea.

Aside from the novels, films, and games he had experienced, he actually knew little about what a detective’s job truly entailed.

He didn’t even understand why he had drawn such a profession in the first place.

“Sigh……………”

Levi reached into his pocket, silently pulled out a cigarette, placed it between his lips, and struck a match to light it.

Ever since his illness and hospitalization, it had been a long time since he last smoked.

Now, with his mind in a jumble, perhaps a cigarette could help clear his head……… Hm?

Just as Levi took his first puff, he noticed in the corner of his vision — like data appearing in a first-person action game — his life countdown, which had been slowly ticking away, suddenly began to plummet.

In the time it took to exhale that single mouthful of smoke, his countdown had dropped from 9 days, 3 hours, and 20 minutes to 9 days, 1 hour, and 10 minutes.

“………………………”

Levi quietly stubbed out the cigarette, crushed it into a ball, and tossed it into the trash.

Smoking really was bad for one’s health.

Forget it — better get some sleep, and continue the search tomorrow.