What has "me receiving the mission the day before yesterday" have to do with when I find him? If I didn't need to spend a day waiting for the Snake of Fate, Will Auceptin, to locate me, I could've done so 24 hours earlier... That's what professionalism is! Klein answered calmly, "You can choose not to hear what I have to say."
Darkwill choked back the words he had prepared as his facial muscles twitched.
"Go ahead and say it."
Klein described flatly, "I received intel that Roy King has been captured by the military and is presently imprisoned in the governor-general's office."
News I received from Arrodes... he added inwardly.
"For real?" Darkwill couldn't hold back again as he widened his eyes and blurted out a retort.
Klein nodded indiscernibly and said, "My information source is sufficiently reliable."
"But I have no way of confirming it..." Darkwill said in hesitation.
"This is because it involves an important Sealed Artifact of the Life School of Thought," Klein said directly.
Darkwill immediately jumped in fright as he took two steps back and looked around warily, afraid that someone had heard what Klein had just said.
Can this sort of thing be said out on the street? He knows that we're from the Life School of Thought, and he knows that Old Man is involved in an important Sealed Artifact... I only learned of that from my last communication with him... Darkwill gradually began to believe the adventurer in front of him.
Klein swept a glance at the owl who swooped down and landed on the chubby Apothecary's shoulder.
"You can make your payment."
"I can't confirm it. I can't just believe what you say, right..." Darkwill said stubbornly.
Then, he saw the eyes of the adventurer in front of him turn abnormally cold.
He trembled and hurriedly said, "Alright. I'll barely count it as you completing the mission."
Unwillingly, he took out a wad of cash from a secret pocket in his witchdoctor robes and handed Klein 100 pounds in change.
Although he was a Beyonder, the physical enhancements he obtained from his job as an Apothecary and Beast Tamer wasn't enough to play a role in direct combat. He wasn't necessarily able to defeat an ordinary person with a revolver. As for the Beyonder pet he reared, it was also a fellow without any combat powers. Faced with an experienced and resourceful adventurer who was also likely a Beyonder, both he and the owl together wasn't necessarily his match. All he could do was act as he said.
It wasn't easy saving up that amount of money... he lamented inwardly.
It was indeed profitable being an Apothecary, even more so when out in the colonies. There were pirates, sailors, and adventurers. There were all sorts of people, and the official organizations were more relaxed on enforcing the rules. He could sell certain banned medicine without anyone coming to knock at his door. For the past two months, just the customers from the Red Theater was enough to earn him more than what he previously earned in a year.
However, as a Beyonder, his expenses were huge as well. The savings he had had primarily been expended when advancing to Beast Tamer. Later, he reared a pet and, with great difficulty, bought the potion formula and ingredients for it. He also purchased defensive charms for himself, leaving him only a few hundred pounds in savings.
Klein received the cash and, while counting it, verified their authenticity before putting it in his pocket and leaving.
After seeing Klein's figure disappear from the alley, Darkwill's expression sank.
It's too dangerous here... Too dangerous... I have to leave as quickly as possible! As he mumbled, he returned inside his herb store. Once inside, he dragged a brown suitcase and quickly stuffed all sorts of clothes and cash which had been folded neatly into it.
Finally, he poured out the notes and coins of different denominations from the cash register, stuffed them into his pocket, and took the fake identification documents he had spent a fortune on. With the brown suitcase, he walked out of his folk herb store.
Looking back at the various medicinal ingredients he hadn't finished selling yet, Darkwill's chubby face clearly twitched.
He took a breath and locked the door while resisting his aching heart. He went straight for the harbor by getting a rental carriage, heading for Bayam's liner ticketing company.
It's too dangerous, way too dangerous. Old Man has been caught... He's been caught... he sat in the carriage and repeated himself silently as he trembled.
In this state, he finally arrived at the ticketing company, and after paying for the carriage, he rushed into the lobby and queued up for the liner to East Balam.
Phew... Phew...
Darkwill kept taking a few deep breaths as he closely followed the customer ahead of him and shifted forward.
"Get me the first ship out of here," he emphasized to himself.
As he sporadically inched forward, Darkwill finally calmed down.
His expression occasionally turned twisted before quickly calming down. This repeated numerous times.
When there was only one customer left in front of him, Darkwill paused on the spot.
Dumbass! You dumbass! he cursed himself and immediately turned around, carried his suitcase, and walked out the ticketing lobby with his identification documents.
...
Klein didn't care how Darkwill was saving his teacher, Roy King. He believed that it wasn't something that needed his concern.
They have the Life School of Thought backing them. Even if they recently fractured, they're an ancient organization that was born in the early Fifth Epoch, making it have hundreds of years of history. It has a considerable heritage. Chubby Apothecary will naturally be able to find someone to help... If even the Life School of Thought can't do it, it will be useless even if I get the entire Tarot Club to help. So there's no need for me to worry for him. The military in Bayam has a demigod... Of course, he might not be in the governor-general's office and might be in the military base. Inside the carriage, Klein took out his wallet and looked at the paper crane in it, wondering if he should immediately throw it above the gray fog.
I'll wait longer. Perhaps that Snake of Fate, Will Auceptin, might want to give me some perks... I should prepare a pencil next time. I neglected a problem. A paper crane is only this big. Using a fountain pen will quickly leave it without space to write... That will make me unable to contact Will Auceptin and end up just waiting passively. And I can't keep the paper crane on me all day. In a few days, I'll send it back to the junk pile above the gray fog. After all, I cannot always have Will Auceptin tracking me. I have to be careful... Klein quickly made a decision and returned to the Wind of Azure Inn, packed his suitcase, and checked out of the luxurious suite.
To his delight, on Danitz's second time here, he had made a prepayment, making him responsible for the 5 soli in fees.
Soon, Klein switched to a different district and came to Otum Street, which was close to Amyris Leaf Bar. He stayed in an inn called Tiana. He got a clean and simple room which cost him 2 soli 2 pence every day. There was also a complimentary cup of fruit juice squeezed from the gigantic fruit named Tiana.
As he drank the slightly sweet milky fruit juice, Klein no longer cared about his image. He slumped into a reclining chair and decided to daze off and take a nap for the next two hours before going above the gray fog to browse through the prayers of his believers to experience the different facades people have.
...
Backlund, the White family.
Emlyn looked at the blood-red "gem" that appeared in front of him at the altar, and he seemed to be able to hear it resonating with his blood.
After thanking Mr. Fool, he picked up the gem and felt the uniqueness flowing within it, so as to confirm that it was the inheritance from a Sanguine baron.
As long as I prepare the corresponding inheritance ritual and supplementary ingredients, I'll become a Baron. And this isn't difficult at this stage,
Emlyn thought with anticipation and glee. According to the humans' system, I would be a Sequence 6 Beyonder. The corresponding name is Potions Professor!
...
In the blink of an eye, it was Monday again. Above the Fog Sea, a fleet was tearing through the thin fog and blue sea.
Their flagship was a gigantic sailboat which hung a unique flag on it. It depicted an eyelash-less eye with ten stars surrounding it.
Admiral of Stars Cattleya stood by the window of the captain's cabin as she quietly looked at the sunlight that shone through the thin fog until the wall clock produced its cuckoo.
She glanced at the time and quickly converted the time to Loen time. She then pulled the curtains and sat behind her desk.
Placed on the red wooden table were a brass sextant and a light-blue celestial globe. The latter's surface had a large swath of blankness, regions that hadn't been explored or were impossible to explore.
Cattleya reached out her fingers and played with the celestial globe before closing her eyes as she awaited The Fool's summoning.
Before long, a crimson light flooded her eyes, drowning the prepared her completely.
By the time she got used to the changes, she found herself in the holy palace propped up with stone columns. She was before a long, mottled bronze table.
While Miss Justice was greeting everyone energetically, Cattleya also expressed her respects to Mr. Fool who was still covered in the grayish-white fog.
She did a simple sweep, and her black eyes with a slight tinge of purple suddenly constricted.
She realized that The Hanged Man, The Moon, and The Sun who were sitting opposite her had slight changes in their outward spirituality. It was different from before!
This indicated that they had advanced!
This meant that they had advanced in the past few days!
In just a week, three Tarot Club members have advanced. It's likely that The Hanged Man and The Moon have already reached Sequence 6... Is this a coincidence? They happened to consume the potion this week? In terms of probability, there's a possibility. The Moon and The Sun were purchasing ingredients last week, but this also serves to show that the Tarot Club members advance very quickly; otherwise, there wouldn't be such a coincidence...
Of course, it's not strange to advance quickly below Sequence 5 once a Beyonder masters the acting method and isn't lacking in resources... From Sequence 6 to Sequence 5, there's a need for a ritual, and the digestion becomes increasingly difficult. It's difficult for such matters to happen again... Cattleya retracted her gaze.
Following that, Audrey apologized to Mr. Fool, saying that she hadn't been in contact with the Psychology Alchemists recently and wasn't able to provide any Roselle diary pages. Fors was in a similar situation. Her teacher was slow in replying to her, and the cold weather outside left her resistant against the idea of heading out.
Having just advanced and having many things to settle, Derrick wasn't able to produce new ancient myths. Klein could only calmly nod.
Upon seeing this Derrick heaved a sigh of relief and turned his head to the other end of the long bronze table.
"Mr. World, I've obtained the method for separating a Beyonder characteristic from the mental corruption left by a Rampager."
Don't say it so directly... At the other end of the bronze table, Klein's expression nearly froze.
Little Sun, although you have promised several times in the past, making Miss Justice and Mr. Hanged Man know of this matter, can't you see that Ma'am Hermit just joined? Klein resisted the urge to facepalm.
