Italian Sculptor (4)

Twenty talents is too little. Let’s make it about fifty talents.
Fifty talents. Okay, thank you! Okay! Fifty talents!
-Gaius Julius Caesar, upon hearing his ransom was 20 talents when he was captured by Cilician pirates-

What greeted me as I entered the workshop inside Gelder Workshop were three masons.

Until Gelder spoke to them, they remained absorbed in their work, and aside from the sound of chisels splitting marble and marble chips falling to the floor, no other noise could be heard.

-Clap clap!

Gelder clapped his hands a few times to draw their attention, then spoke to the masons.

“What are you doing without greeting? This Kung-Fu gentleman here has come to entrust us with a big job.”

Only then did the sculptors set down their tools, smile awkwardly, and bow their heads to me.

“Hello, signore.”
“Grazie for visiting the workshop.”
“It is an honor to meet you, signore. Truly, it is as if light has come to our humble home.”

Just as Gelder had asked for understanding earlier, the masons’ English was awkward in some way.

They mixed in vocabulary not used in everyday life, like literary terms, and they arbitrarily replaced words they didn’t know with Italian, and even their accents were hard to understand.

Judging from the differences in accent, the masons had come from Italy, but each seemed to have a different origin.

Since not much time had passed since the Kingdom of Italy unified under the House of Savoy and it was still in turmoil, there were no few who crossed overseas like them.

And among the foreign laborers living in the East End, the largest portion were Italians and Jews.

That meant it would not be strange at all if a few exceptionally skilled masons were mixed among the immigrants.

However—

“I’m curious whose work the sculptures displayed outside are. Among you, I don’t see anyone I can entrust work to.”
“……?!”

Hearing my words, Gelder and the artisans widened their eyes and exchanged glances.

“I do not quite understand what you mean.”
“The one I wish to speak with is the most outstanding artisan in this workshop. The three of you seem to have sufficiently fine hands, but you do not meet my expectations.”

I had noticed from the moment I entered the workshop.

That the person I sought was not among the three.

Beppo is not among them. I remember Beppo’s face clearly, so this was certain.

And second, the sculpture the three masons gathered here were working on together, no matter that it was unfinished, was of such low quality it could not be compared to the displayed works.

“If you keep pretending you don’t know, I have no more business with Gelder Workshop. I’ll be going now.”
“P-Please wait a moment! Sir!”

I turned at once to leave, but Gelder urgently called out to stop me.

“I swear, I had no intention of deceiving you!”
“It is not too late even now, so bring me the artisan I want.”

It was the reaction I expected, so I gave him one more chance.

Beppo, from southern Italy, was a fiery-tempered underdog.
Perhaps he thought something might blow up if he let him speak with a customer who looked wealthy and genteel, and told him to stay out.

No matter how much he wanted to draw upper-class customers, that worry was excessive.

On the outside, he looked utterly dependable.

Either they had failed to properly recoup the costs they spent producing Her Majesty’s Sword Debate Chess set, or they were undervalued by the wealthy because their shop was in the East End slums, and their finances were surely tight.

That’s what I thought, but.

“……I’m sorry, but that is impossible.”

Gelder’s answer was far from my expectation.

“The artisan you are looking for disappeared last night.”

And then some.

I left the workshop with Gelder and continued the conversation.

At first, Gelder simply said the mason had vanished, but when I pressed him persistently, he readily confessed what had happened.

“The artisan you are looking for is named Beppo. He’s the face of our workshop.”

The missing mason’s name was Beppo, as expected.

“A man does not suddenly rise into the sky or sink into the ground. What in the world happened?”
“It was a kidnapping. Someone took Beppo, then demanded a ransom.”

Only then did I realize why Gelder had welcomed me.

He must have planned to coax me somehow, take an advance payment first, and use it to pay Beppo’s ransom.

‘Still, since he’s the face of the shop’, it seems he means to spare no money and bring him back safely no matter what.’

It might have been a decision made purely for his own profit, but the way Gelder moved to save the artisan’s life itself felt responsible.

Perhaps, even in that other world, before the incident where Beppo stabbed another Italian with a knife occurred, the two of them might not have had a bad relationship.

Because even then, Gelder cursed Beppo, yet regretted his skill and talent.

“I’d like to hear about this in more detail. Perhaps I may be able to rescue him.”
“Truly?! I knew from the moment we met you were no ordinary person. If the great hero brings Beppo back safely, I will surely repay you!”
“Leave it to me. Solving this type of Kung-Fu crime is my specialty.”

I revealed to Gelder my status as a Kung-Fu consulting detective.

“Ah, so you were a detective…….”

When he first heard my profession, Gelder showed obvious disappointment.

It seemed he had taken me for a noble with ties to high government officials, or a disciple of a wealthy businessman’s great clan, or else a member of a Kung-Fu Noblesse.

But.

“My goodness! I never thought I would meet great hero Little Heavenly Demon in person……! I’m truly sorry I failed to recognize you!”

The moment I stated my name, Gelder’s eyes lit up and he asked for a handshake.

“I heard your exploits at the royal ball in Forbidden Palace were tremendous. That you had an impressive duel with the transcendent master, Lord Alfred Nobel…….”

Come to think of it, did the newspaper under the Homeless Clan publish this and that article when the royal ball ended.

Stories like how the Drake Family Lord, who had been hiding his face, donned a human-skin mask and infiltrated the royal ball to cause trouble, only to be slain by the Lily Swordsman who was present.

Or the article about how I seized a rare spirit beast from Mr. Dynamite, Alfred Nobel, at the battle royale garden party.

“I had long been hearing rumors since the Debutante Ball, but lately I’ve been seeing news of the great hero even more often, and it pleases me.”

From the time an article came out about a murder happening at the Debutante Ball and my contributing to the resolution, I began to gain recognition among London’s Kung-Fuists to some extent.

Perhaps because of that, even at the royal ball, many recognized me.

The Homeless Clan’s reporters also must have been hoping for the day when I, who gained the winner’s seed by solving the murder at the Debutante Ball, would be swept up by Buckingham’s strict laws and released into the Thames.

Well, in the follow-up report introducing the Kung-Fuists who survived to the end without being eliminated at the royal ball, my name was properly included as well, so it wasn’t strange that Gelder knew me.

“If the great hero helps, it is no different from gaining an army of a million. Please make the wretches who kidnapped Beppo spill blood, sweat, and tears to their very last drop.”
“No matter that they are of the underworld, I have no intention of killing them. Instead, I will have them judged under the strict laws of the British Empire, and ensure they can never touch this shop again.”
“Thank you! Great hero!!”

With an extremely moved face, Gelder began rattling off Beppo’s information even though I hadn’t asked.

According to him, Beppo’s conduct was usually not upright, and he had ties with several underworld figures from Italy.

Surely, one of the villains who heard of his skill realized the monetary value of an outstanding sculptor and committed the crime.

“I’m sorry the only clue left in hand is the ransom letter they sent.”
“It’s enough. I’ll handle the rest myself.”

The ransom letter Gelder handed over was made by cutting out newspaper letters and pasting them onto paper.

It was a shallow trick, meant to keep one from identifying who wrote it and where they lived by handwriting alone.

It was unpleasant, but their ploy was rather effective.

Now that the underworld pack had taken the signboard sculptor, Gelder ended up unable to publicize the credentials he had worked so hard to obtain, that he carved the Sword Debate Chess set Her Majesty favored.

As long as he could not easily identify the kidnappers, Gelder would have no choice but to pay the ransom in painful mustard tasting.

The culprits of this incident had accurately grasped the shop owner’s ambition, to escape the East End, open a splendid shop in central London, and have a wealth of rich regular customers.

“It’s odd that there’s no phrase that typically appears in this kind of ransom letter.”

One thing that bothered me was that, perhaps because the underworld had grown bold, they had not written a cliché like, ‘If you report this to the police, Beppo’s life is forfeit,’ in the ransom letter.

Either they were confident enough in their Kung-Fu prowess to smash everything even if Scotland Yard inspectors rushed in, or they believed they would never be exposed even if the police intervened.

Either way, they were certainly arrogant opponents.

To kidnap the artisan who made Her Majesty’s Sword Debate Chess set, of all people.

No. They would not have known.

That Beppo’s Sword Debate Chess set had been delivered to Buckingham.

In summary, one could say this incident was a tragedy caused by the fact that Gelder Workshop, not yet having obtained a Royal Warrant, could not openly go about proclaiming that a member of the royal family was using the shop’s product.

“It’s late today, so I’ll begin the investigation in earnest tomorrow. Do not reveal my name to the masons.”
“Why is that?”
“The culprit is Italian.”

A faint smell of tobacco leaves lingered on the ransom letter.
A blend of Smoking Leaf and Orient. A scent preferred in Italy.

“Half the foreign laborers living in the East End are Italians, though…….”
“Listen to the end. The culprit would be someone with the cultural sense to gauge an artisan’s skill. And the crime of kidnapping is only possible by grasping the target’s movements in detail. It means there is a possibility that at least someone around Beppo is cooperating with the culprit.”
“Don’t tell me…….”
“For now, tell the masons that I left with a disappointed face. Once I find a clue to solve the case, I will come again.”

A kidnapping case.

For once, it seemed I might be able to catch the culprit without seeing a corpse.