Did Tende really not see anything? Not completely.

At least Tende saw something from the scene. There were more than one person there at the time, because the size and depth of the footprints on the ground were different.

But no one really expected Tende to uncover the truth through deduction alone.

Most security officers have this level of reasoning ability, and if it were that simple, The Vigilant wouldn't be so worried.

"What's wrong?" Bernie spoke up when he saw Tende still in the same spot.

"We can keep moving forward," Tende said to Bernie.

"But you said you didn't see anything."

"I didn't see anything, but I still feel like we can find clues by moving forward," Tende said calmly, looking ahead.

The person who escaped from the intermediary is impossible to turn back, so the only direction left is ahead.

Of course, it's also possible that the person jumped into the river, conveniently located next to the bridge.

Thinking that the person wouldn't commit suicide, Tende led Bernie to walk about two to three hundred meters forward.

"A carriage?" Tende muttered to himself, noticing the traces of the wheels.

The width of the carriage seemed to be of a high-quality type, not like those roadside taxis.

"How long do you think we have to follow these wheel tracks to reach our destination?" Tende turned to Bernie and asked.

Bernie stood and watched Tende for a long time, then walked off the main road and raised his hand.

"Carriage," he shouted to a nearby carriage.

Although there weren't many carriages in the evening, there were still some.

If it were in the middle of the night, there would be no chance of finding a carriage.

"Where to?" the carriage driver shouted.

"Ask him, he'll give you directions," Bernie said, pointing his thumb at Tende, who was standing there lost in thought.

Following the tracks on foot? No way, Bernie would rather spend some money to hire a carriage.

---

"Left."

"Right."

"Turn right after two intersections."

Tende sat at the front of the carriage, squinting his eyes and giving directions to the driver.

It was his first time sitting next to a carriage driver, and the feeling of wind hitting his face was refreshing.

Tende's eyes were focused on the complex wheel tracks on the ground, quickly identifying which one was the one he wanted.

Finding the right part among overlapping wheel tracks was incredibly difficult.

But Tende managed to do it.

Unfortunately, Bernie didn't realize how impressive Tende's series of actions were.

In Bernie's impression, Tende was still a simpleton.

"Okay, stop here," Tende suddenly said.

The carriage driver promptly found a place and stopped the carriage.

"This much," the driver made a gesture with his two fingers forming a "ten".

Ten rupees? Exactly ten dollars?

Upon seeing the driver's price, Tende instantly thought of running away.

He didn't know if it was even two kilometers, yet he was charged ten rupees.

"Just a moment," Tende said and leaned into the wagon.

He stared at Bernie for a long time, then slowly spoke, "Ten dollars."

Bernie crossed his arms and remained completely indifferent.

"Half each," Tende continued.

A furrow appeared on Bernie's forehead, and he wanted nothing more than to pull Tende out of the carriage and beat him up.

But Tende was his current partner, so he couldn't.

Unpleasantly, Bernie took ten dollars from under his clothes and threw it at Tende.

The way he did it was like a rich man dismissing a beggar, but Tende didn't mind at all.

He threw back five dollars to Bernie and took out half of the money for himself.

After giving the money, he jumped off the carriage without looking back.

And Bernie had no choice but to follow Tende.

Once the driver received the money and confirmed its authenticity, he lazily stretched himself.

Bernie adjusted his clothes and surveyed the surroundings.

We were still within the bounds of the North City district, so even though it was late, there were still relatively many people."Are you sure this is the place?" Bernie couldn't believe that the location related to the recipient would be in such a crowded place.

No matter how you think about it, it's too conspicuous here.

"It's not here, we may have to walk a bit further." Tende replied.

"Then why didn't you let the carriage go a little further? Don't tell me it's because it's expensive." Bernie glanced at Tende.

He had a feeling that Tende might use "it's too expensive, we can't" as an excuse.

But Bernie guessed wrong. Tende wasn't so tight-fisted. It was just that he was struggling to make ends meet in his business, so he needed to earn money.

It wasn't because he loved money to the extent of being a miser.

"We'd be too ostentatious if we drove the carriage over like that." Tende touched the wall and said.

"We really owe it to the rain clearing up after the rain, otherwise the mud tracks wouldn't be so obvious."

"But now we have no clues."

Because there were no obvious footprints, let alone tire tracks.

Although the scope could be narrowed down to this area, it was still difficult to continue.

"It has a smell." Suddenly, Bernie's pupils shrank, murmuring.

"?" Tende had a question mark above his head.

Tende sniffed hard and found that besides the smell of bread from the bakery, fabric from the clothing store, the odor from the sewer, and the smell of machine oil... there was no other smell.

"It's the scent of the recipient, it seems you're not fooling around." Bernie continued, as if he were trying to sense it with all his might.

"???" Tende continued to sniff seriously, but he didn't smell the so-called scent of the recipient at all.

By the way, what does the recipient smell like? The smell of lamb?

"Are you a dog?" Tende blurted out.

Bernie gave Tende a stern look, warning him to mind his words.

"I'm particularly sensitive to anomalies of this kind of monster type Image phenomenon." Bernie pointed to his nose.

It was precisely because of this reason that he became aware of the existence of Image phenomenon in this world, and thus became The Vigilant.

After all, there was no special reason why ordinary people would get involved in these weird things.

Tende touched his chin. He was just an ordinary person, so why did he get involved in the Image phenomenon? It's really unlucky.

Well, it's actually quite common for ordinary people to get involved.

"In this direction." Bernie indicated a direction with his eyes.

That direction led to a narrow alley, with neon lights hanging on the side of the alley constantly changing colors between red and green.

"Why do you want to become The Vigilant?" Tende asked Bernie this question before they set off.

"I don't like these monsters, it's that simple." Bernie said so.

He felt that these monsters were not good, so he became The Vigilant to get rid of them. Is there any problem with that?

"In broader terms, I want to protect Layton City, what's wrong with that?"

He lived in this city and didn't want it to be broken by the Image phenomenon.

"That's a good reason." Tende shrugged.

Only overly naive young people still believe in justice, "adults" have long stopped believing in justice and judgment.

That's why Tende prefers the former.