Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 20: Mysterious Place

This was not some kind of reasoning, but more like intuition.

Levi instinctively felt———this was not quite normal.

The reason was very simple: it was all too smooth.

They came here to search, and then easily found a safe, and then found the notebook.

If they had not known Madam Clattie’s true identity, and had only come to investigate, they might have been misled by this answer———that Madam Clattie, just like others in the Lower City, had many secrets and was involved in some illegal dealings.

But that was nothing unusual in the Lower City, and would have seemed normal.

However, that was not the case.

Levi and the others came looking for clues knowing Madam Clattie’s true identity.

So this answer, in Levi’s eyes, was very unqualified.

Could this be some kind of smokescreen?

Something to hide Madam Clattie’s real identity?

Levi thought, glancing at the excited Katie beside him.

Indeed, for most people, the first thing they would think upon seeing a safe was that it must contain important secret information, or at least the most valuable possessions.

And since this safe was so easy to find, if others discovered it, they would naturally ignore searching elsewhere………

Levi carefully inspected the safe, then closed it.

“Keep looking.”

“Eh? Nothing inside?”

“It might just be a smokescreen.”

Seeing Katie’s slightly surprised face, Levi explained it to her in a low voice.

The girl quickly caught on, and immediately grew annoyed.

“Never thought Madam Clattie would be this cunning. But my mother did tell me before, that things easily obtained are often not what we truly want………”

“In any case, we still have to keep looking.”

Levi shifted his gaze away from the safe, and the two of them began searching through Madam Clattie’s office once more.

But the office itself did not hold much.

Clearly Madam Clattie had not intended to live here permanently.

Aside from some documents, money, jewelry, and medicine, there was hardly anything useful here.

“Ah, seriously, why can’t we find anything at all!”

Katie plopped down on the bed beside her, muttering in complaint.

Levi too was somewhat disappointed.

They did not have much time to waste here, but now it seemed………hm?

Levi suddenly noticed something.

He walked over to Katie and closely observed the corner of the bed.

“There are traces of movement here.”

“Eh?”

Hearing Levi’s words, Katie curiously leaned over the bed and peered underneath.

On the floor, there was a faint scrape mark, obviously something that had formed over long periods of time.

“This bed can actually move?”

The bed Madam Clattie had here was a heavy single bed, looking quite luxurious, and not at all like something that could be easily shifted.

Whether Katie could move it, Levi certainly could not.

“Search around, there should be some mechanism nearby.”

“Mm!”

Excited by the clue, Katie hurriedly began feeling around the bed.

When her right hand reached the side pressed against the wall, her expression suddenly shifted.

“There’s a pull ring here!”

“A pull ring?”

“That’s right, watch this!”

As she spoke, Katie lifted her arm upward.

The tail end of the bed gave a faint sound and slowly slid aside, revealing a hidden door beneath it.

It was an ordinary-looking wooden door.

Levi reached out to open it, and a flight of stairs appeared before him, stretching downward into the darkness.

“What’s inside?”

Katie crowded up beside him, eyes sparkling with excitement as she gazed into the pitch-black passage.

Sometimes Levi truly envied her innocent energy.

He, at this moment, already wanted to close the door.

After all, in movies, places like this usually never contained anything good.

Only piles of bad things.

Unfortunately, for now there was not enough evidence, and Levi could not bring others here to investigate.

“I don’t know either.”

As he spoke, Levi took a gas lamp from the table and lit it, then drew the revolver from his chest.

“But we’ll know soon enough.”

The dim yellow light illuminated the darkness.

Levi held the gun in his right hand and raised the lamp high in his left as he walked ahead, with Katie following behind, looking about curiously.

Together they stepped down the cold, dark stairs one step at a time.

The air was chilling.

The walls were covered in cold dew and slippery moss.

The stone steps stretched downward under the dim glow of the lamp, seemingly endless.

Strange.

Levi stared at the steps before him, filled with doubts.

It was clear these stone stairs had existed for a very long time.

Though Levi could not determine their exact age, his 【Perception】 and 【Investigation】 faintly told him they had been here for at least several hundred years.

Which meant, unless the Pink Lady had been in business for centuries, these steps could not have been built by Madam Clattie.

If that was the case………then it was truly odd.

Finally, after about a quarter of an hour, the narrow stairway ended.

A heavy stone door blocked their way.

“What do we do now?”

Katie blinked in surprise at the thick stone door and looked at Levi.

Levi, however, took out the keys he had found earlier on Madam Clattie.

“What else? Try them one by one.”

Levi’s luck was not bad.

On the third key, a low hum echoed from within the stone door.

Then, with a “rumbling” sound, the massive door slowly opened to either side.

Seeing this, Katie instinctively clenched her fists and stepped forward.

Levi too tightened his grip on his gun, watching the darkness with wary eyes.

Then………light flared.

“Whoo………whoo…………whoo……….”

The opening of the stone door seemed to trigger some mechanism.

The next moment, flames sprang to life one by one, lighting up the surroundings.

“Waaah……………”

Katie’s eyes shone in excitement.

“This is just like the adventure stories I’ve read!”

“Adventure stories?”

“Mm! I love adventure stories most.

Brave knights enter underground labyrinths, slay monsters, solve mechanisms, defeat demon kings, seize treasure!

Maybe down here, some legendary demon king is sealed away!”

“……………”

Let’s just hope no real demon king appears.

“In any case, we’ll know once we go in.”

Levi muttered inwardly and made his decision.

Honestly, Levi was very reluctant to enter.

According to horror movie logic, in places like this, once someone goes inside, the big door always slams shut with a “boom.”

And then, no matter how much they scream, no one can save them, and all that awaits is despair and death.

If possible, Levi would much rather not go in!

But unfortunately, there was no “if.”

Though his lifespan had increased to over a month, he still needed missions to extend it further.

And now that this mission had been triggered………hm, whether he wanted to or not, he had to enter.

So Levi could only grit his teeth and step forward.

The only fortunate thing was that he persuaded the eager Katie to wait outside.

In Levi’s mind, if he really got trapped inside, at least Katie could run out to call for help.

Of course, Katie was very displeased with this, but after Levi promised to call her in as soon as he confirmed it was safe, she reluctantly agreed.

Inside, the space was much larger than outside.

By the light of the flames on the walls, Levi could see this was something like a church.

Well, that was not outside of his expectations.

Cultists—if they did not perform sacrifices, how could they call themselves cultists?

But unlike many depictions in games and films, there were no blood, bones, or flesh scattered about.

It was actually very clean.

At least on the surface, it looked like a perfectly ordinary hall.

Aside from the altar in the center, there was nothing strange.

Which meant the problem clearly lay with the altar.

Levi turned his head to look at it—and then froze in shock!

On the altar, a woman wrapped head to toe in a black robe sat with her head lowered, gazing down upon him like a monarch.

She sat there, high above, her silver-white eyes glimmering faintly, like a ruler looking upon her subjects!

Levi shivered all over and hastily raised his gun.

But when he focused again, the altar was completely empty—only a stone bench stood there.

An illusion?

Or some kind of omen?

Levi frowned, staring fixedly at the bench, unmoving.

But after a long while, nothing unusual happened.

Only when Katie’s voice called from afar did he finally withdraw his gaze.

“Detective sir, is everything alright? Can I come in?”

Katie’s voice rang out again.

Levi warily scanned the hall once more before replying.

“Seems there’s no danger. You can come in.”

At his words, Katie ran in like a freed puppy.

But her expression quickly shifted from excitement to disappointment.

“Eh? No treasure?”

“What did you expect to find here?”

“Piles of gold coins, treasure chests, and endless riches?”

Confirmed.

This young lady had definitely read too many adventure novels.

“But this is still pretty interesting.”

Katie clasped her hands behind her back, curiously gazing at the altar.

“What is this? Why would it be down here?”

“I’d like to know that too. Unfortunately, perhaps only Madam Clattie truly knew.”

“Mm………………”

Katie circled around the altar, looking puzzled.

“Feels like I’ve seen something like this somewhere before………ah, right!”

Suddenly she clapped her hands.

“A sanctuary! That’s it, this looks like a sanctuary’s layout, just smaller.”

“Sanctuary? You mean the Holy Lord Church’s chapel?”

Levi blinked, looking again at the hall before him.

But no matter how he looked, it did not resemble one.

He had been to church before, and the arrangement there was no different from his world—pulpit at the front, rows of seats after.

Nowhere like this.

“Not a chapel, a sanctuary.”

Katie shook her head.

“Every year, the New Year’s sermon is held in the Holy Lord Church’s sanctuary. At that time, the Pope personally ascends the high platform and prays in the name of the Holy Lord before the throne, bestowing blessings.”

Katie giggled.

“Every time I see it, I think—such an old man like His Holiness the Pope, trembling as he walks. If he tripped down the steps before everyone’s eyes, that would be hilarious……….”

“Oh, come to think of it, yes, that ceremony does exist……….”

With Katie’s reminder, knowledge resurfaced in Levi’s mind—the Holy Lord Church’s New Year Prayer.

However………according to what he knew, only the nobility and high-ranking elites of nations could attend it………

Hm, this young lady was indeed of extraordinary status.

“And then he sits on the chair to pray?”

“Of course not, he kneels before it.”

Katie shook her head again.

“That is the Throne of God. Ordinary people are never allowed to sit there. Only God may sit upon it. That is why the throne is placed atop a high altar. Even the Pope may only kneel at the third step below the chair and beg the Holy Lord’s blessing.”

“Why the third step?”

“That I don’t know……………”

As for why the Holy Lord Church did not simply build an idol, Levi did not need to ask.

For in this world, the Holy Lord Church also upheld the commandment of “no making or worshiping idols.”

Thus even the omniscient and omnipotent God was only worshiped in the form of the symbol of the “All-Seeing Eye,” not as a statue.

“And that throne has the All-Seeing Eye carved upon it?”

“Mm.”

“Well, that’s interesting……….”

Levi muttered, turning again to the tall altar and the throne atop it.

He was not sure whether what he had just seen was an illusion, or something else.

But if this was the cultists’ place of sacrifice, then the throne should have borne the symbol of an evil god instead.

Thinking this, Levi drew a deep breath and stepped up onto the altar, climbing toward its peak like a pyramid.

Nothing happened along the way.

He soon reached the top and stood before the throne, silently staring at it.

“Detective sir, anything discovered?”

“Nothing.”

Levi sighed quietly at Katie’s curious question.

“The mark upon it is the All-Seeing Eye.”

So, once again, he had guessed wrong.