As she spoke, Helene's eyes moved up slightly as though she was immersed in her memories.
"Early on, I transported iron and coal from Midseashire to Feynapotter, then I shipped back tobacco, coffee, cocoa, and other native specialties back to Intis. This is a sea route that borders the shore, so it was rather safe. The competition was intense as well. In order to quickly get out of my predicament and save up money, I worked hard to raise my Sequence, hoping that I could trade in the colonies.
"Unfortunately, just as I familiarized myself with the sea route and made some money, I chanced upon Ailment Maiden Tracy, who wasn't Vice Admiral Ailment at the time, in one of her raids during my second trip to West Balam. She only had one ship back then, but she was very powerful. My partner and I resisted with our lives, but all of that was in vain.
"She doesn't have the habit of killing mindlessly. All she did was snatch the goods, as well as myself..."
As expected of an oddity among Demonesses... Klein listened in silence and used his Clown powers to suppress his embarrassed emotions to expressionlessly ask, "How far did the relationship between the two of you go?"
"We didn't!" Helene instinctively denied. "She forced me! I-I didn't want to die. I-I could o-only choose to accept it. B-besides, she's a woman!"
Lady, there's no need to get so worked up. If I had asked if the two of you had a relationship that went beyond friendship, would you have jumped out? It's only because I'm kind enough and had considered your shame which had prevented me from being so direct... Sigh. Under the facade of the crazy Gehrman Sparrow is a gentlemanly me... That's the true me... Klein switched to asking without a change in expression, "What kind of food do you like? Are there any dishes you especially like? Do you prefer sweet or salty food, or somewhere in between?
"What food do you dislike? What food are you allergic to?
"Do you have any dietary restrictions? If you do, what are they?
"..."
These questions made Helene feel like she was in a dream, as though everything was surreal.
She never imagined that the man would ask her such questions. It was like a pursuer was asking his crush what hobbies she had.
No! No pursuer would ask such questions! These are all indirectly obtained from numerous chats, or are obtained by other means! No woman would like to be questioned like that! T-this is like a survey which Emperor Roselle created... W-what does he want? He's asking these questions without any expression. I'm so afraid... Helene fell silent for a few seconds before answering them one after another under Klein's cold, unmoving gaze.
Klein maintained his seating posture of leaning forward and continued asking, "How do you usually sit? Do you have any habitual motions..."
The more Helene answered, the more panicked she became. She had the inexplicable feeling that answering these questions would make her disappear.
By the time the perplexing and terrifying "survey" was done, she felt heavy deep down, constantly suspecting that a terrible outcome awaited her.
Why don't I risk it and jump off the carriage while he isn't paying attention? Helene seriously considered the possibility.
However, the man didn't seem to have any indication of attacking her, and this made her indecisive. She felt that there was hope to resolve the matter amicably.
After grasping Helene's personality, habits, and preferences, Klein turned the topic towards Vice Admiral Ailment.
"What do you know of Tracy?"
Helene fell silent as her mouth quivered a few times. She couldn't bring herself to speak.
After the carriage continued on for quite a while, it was only then that she finally smiled ruefully.
"She possesses excellent combat abilities. She's good at infiltration and curses, with her being capable of turning invisible and becoming light.
"She grasps the means of swapping bodies with a mirror or magic staff, as well as black flames and frost. She can make enemies in a certain range suddenly fall sick, including colds, pneumonia, gastroenteritis, and other illnesses. The longer the fight lasts with her, the worse the ailments inflicted. Some Beyonders might even directly die from a heart attack.
"She c-can also create invisible threads to control her enemy. She knows human ana-anatomy very well. She can easily give people pleasure through contact—th-that kind of pleasure.
"She has an active charming ability that would make many pirates give up putting up a resistance once they're near her.
"S-she's often friendly, but she's cruel to her enemies. She enjoys destroying the perfection that others would wish to protect, making them suffer immense pain and torment..."
Helene didn't go into detail on how Tracy destroyed the state of perfection of others. There were many cruel stories and hilarious matters. This Ailment Maiden had once made her enemies—a father and son duo—kill each other, as well as instigate an enemy's wife to betray him and let him come across the scene.
As expected of a Demoness. She's a Sequence 5 Demoness who's one Sequence higher than Demoness of Pleasure... Klein gained a basic grasp of Tracy's combat style, and he calmly asked again, "Does she have any mystical items?"
"... Yes. A bangle that's inlaid with diamonds. As long as she wears it, it's very difficult for Tracy to be injured." Helene hesitated before revealing Vice Admiral Ailment's secret.
Klein asked a few other detailed questions as he straightened his body a little.
"Tracy is helping the Demoness Sect perform human trafficking?"
This was something he took great notice of when he heard Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina mention it.
The Demoness Sect cooperated with Ince Zangwill, and it was related to the royal family. It involved an underground ruin whose location was unknown.
Tracy helped them in the human trafficking.
Baelen, who was pointed out by The Hanged Man, was someone who orchestrated numerous disappearance cases of slaves and the disappearance of primitive tribes in the Southern Continent. With him appearing at the underground ruins, he would be a member of the upper echelons.
The biggest human trafficker, Capim, had Beyonders who were of the Arbiter pathway protecting him. And this is a pathway controlled by the Loen and Feynapotter royal families, as well as their military...
All of these matters that Klein was aware of linked together to form a line, but he wasn't sure what it actually exposed. Vice Admiral Ailment Tracy was a breakthrough point.
"What Demoness Sect?" Helene asked in puzzlement.
"You don't have to know," Klein calmly replied.
If you don't know what a Demoness is and end up suspecting that the extremely charming Vice Admiral Ailment who gives you pleasure is a dirty and savage man, then I'm afraid that you would've lost control on the spot... You don't have to thank me. I'm a good person... Klein lampooned inwardly.
Helene suppressed her puzzlement and said while recalling, "In recent years, she's been busy shipping slaves. The other end of the trade is Crazy Captain Connors Viktor. Rumor has it that he and many human traffickers and slave merchants in Loen have a deep partnership."
Crazy Captain Connors Viktor... Klein remembered the nickname and name.
He nodded and no longer spoke in a heavy voice. Instead, he said in a relatively gentle voice, "Did you involve yourself in such matters? Such as being a part-time pirate?"
This very polite and amiable tone left Danitz trembling for some baffling reason. He felt that Gehrman Sparrow being in such a state was much more terrifying than his cold and expressionless state.
"No." Helene shook her head. "The blood of the Sauron family flows in me. I will not bring shame to my family. Be-besides, Tracy always said that she wouldn't let me be tainted by bloodshed and darkness. All of that would be faced by her."
She must've read too many romance novels... Klein took out a gold coin and allowed it to weave between his fingers like it was dancing.
He didn't keep it from Helene as he performed a divination in front of her to confirm that she wasn't lying.
The result was that she was rather honest.
This is also because I didn't ask in detail about her emotional entanglements with Tracy; otherwise, she wouldn't be that honest... Klein secretly reflected and put away the gold coin.
At that moment in time, the carriage had circled around the harbor, no longer heading for the ship that Helene was meant to board.
Klein looked at the scenery outside the window and took out a small metal bottle. He handed it to Helene and said, "Use the liquid inside to wipe away your makeup."
"Why?" Helene subconsciously asked.
"This isn't something you should be asking," Klein leaned forward once again and said without expression.
Despite feeling aggrieved and furious, Helene didn't wish to agitate the man and get on his bad side at such a critical moment. She could only remove the bottle cap and took a sniff at it to test if it was poisonous.
"Can it be used directly?" she asked.
Klein tersely acknowledged in the affirmative.
Helene took out a white handkerchief and dabbed it with the bottle's liquid. Then, she began wiping her face and quickly cleaned away her prior disguise.
Her aesthetically-pleasing masculinity vanished and her contours became softer as Helene's original looks were presented before Klein.
After careful observation, Klein calmly said, "Take off your hat and let down your hair."
Helene furrowed her brows and had a nagging feeling that what followed would be unacceptable instructions such as taking off her clothes.
She took a deep breath, removed her hat, and released her coiled red hair. Immediately, she appeared extremely feminine.
Klein straightened his body and leaned back on the carriage wall before calmly instructing, "You can put on your disguise again."
Is he a madman? After all this, he wants me to revert to how I was before? Helene didn't dare to voice her displeasure, afraid that the man would raise unacceptable requests. She hurriedly opened her suitcase and took out a mirror to look at herself.
The makeup has been removed so cleanly... She was stunned for a moment before she quickly put on makeup and coiled her hair.
When the carriage came to a stop, she was already looking like a handsome young man.
Klein nodded indiscernibly and looked out the window before retracting his gaze.
"One last question."
"What?" Helene asked nervously.
Klein raised his line of sight a little as his facial muscles moved.
"How big are your breasts?"
"..." Helene was first taken aback before her face flushed red.
This wasn't a redness caused by embarrassment, but an anger from wanting to punch the man in the chin.
Klein didn't move his gaze as he calmly added, "It's an academic question."
"..." Noticing no sexual intent from his eyes, Helene inhaled and closed her eyes to answer the question.
Klein secretly heaved a sigh of relief and took out a boat ticket and a stack of papers.
"New identification, tickets to Tiana Port.
"Once you're there, buy tickets to Pritz Harbor."
Helene glanced at him vigilantly before receiving the tickets and documents. She carried her suitcase and carefully alighted the carriage to see the ship she was taking.
Klein followed behind her and watched her leave. From the corner of his eye, he saw Danitz trying hard to hold back his laughter.
