"It's fine," Klein replied with a warm smile.
Although he didn't seem to notice anything, thoughts were flying through his mind. He began considering what the anomaly that happened during that instant meant.
Previously, the Keepers would head upstairs along the nearby staircase. It can be preliminary determined that they live there, coinciding with the area where the anomaly happened... The Keepers aren't in the best of conditions, so the chances of them losing control are greater than ordinary Beyonders, causing them to suddenly release a sense of an evil and diabolical will?
And this was suppressed and quelled by the core seal deep behind Chanis Gate?
If that's the case, there are two possibilities. One, the core seal behind Chanis Gate can sense all the anomalies in Saint Samuel Cathedral, and then react instinctively. Second, during the Keeper's watch over the years, they are constantly corroded by the core seal's powers. In a certain sense, they are a part of it, or they bear the weight of the corresponding traits. Once any abnormalities happen, their bodies will immediately intervene.
If it's the former, that means that when I knock a Keeper unconscious and replace him, it will easily be detected by the core seal behind Chanis Gate. It will produce an anomaly like before, causing my plan to fail right at the beginning. If it's the latter, I'll definitely be repelled when entering Chanis Gate, even when disguised as a Keeper...
I need to figure out the problem before coming up with a direct countermeasure...
It's really difficult to steal Sealed Artifacts from the various Churches. It's no wonder almost no one is willing to do so...
As Klein's thoughts wandered, he superficially paid attention to Bishop Elektra's explanation of Saint Samuel's experiences and letters that he left behind. When it was almost time, he politely bade him farewell.
After returning to 160 Böklund Street, he saw his butler approach just as he handed his hat and cane to Richardson.
"Sir, do you plan on holding a ball or banquet next weekend and invite the neighbors?" Walter wasn't using a suggestive tone, but a tone of inquiry.
However, Klein knew very well that since his butler had raised the matter, it meant that it was almost time.
He nodded gently and said, "Saturday night then. A ball.
"I'll have to trouble you and Taneja to make the preparations.
"Is there enough money?"
When saying the last statement, Klein looked to his housekeeper.
Taneja sternly nodded and said, "There's enough.
"The various alcoholic beverages in your wine cellar is enough to handle several banquets."
When moving into 160 Böklund Street, Klein had handed her 1,000 pounds in cash for the household expenses. From the looks of it, even with the need to replenish fine wine, tea leaves, and coffee beans, it wasn't something that could be spent in a month.
The gold pound is rather strong after all... Klein nodded and smiled.
"Let's not use wine that's too expensive for our first ball. It's common to be reserved in Loen."
"Yes, sir." Although Walter was very aware of how to run a ball, he still paid serious attention to his employer's instructions.
He paused and said, "There are only two things you need to do. First, it's to settle the guest list with our help, thinking up some small talk for each guest, matching the person's corresponding status and experience. Second, it's to order a suit for the ball."
How troublesome... When greeting Hazel, can I say that the sewers here are cleaner than the squares in the Southern Continent? As Klein sighed and lampooned, he nodded slightly.
"No problem."
...
Deep into the night, the crimson moon hung high in the sky. The smog which had significantly thinned made Backlund have an additional sense of tranquility.
In Dwayne Dantès's master bedroom, Klein set up a ritual to summon himself.
He planned on entering the sewers tonight to confirm that Trissy had left. He then planned on heading for the fork she had described, to explore the so-called hidden passageway to see if he could discover anything.
Klein didn't have extravagant hopes of gaining anything. He was only worried that the secret hidden in the sewers would pose a hidden risk that would one day explode. This could easily involve Dwayne Dantès who lived nearby, spoiling his plans in stealing the Antigonus family's notebook.
On this matter, I can't be an ostrich that buries its head in the sand and pretend not to know anything... I should discover the problem early and destroy what needs destroying or report what needs reporting before it completely erupts. That's the most effective solution... Of course, I also need to be sufficiently careful. I mustn't let my exploration end up lighting a fuse... Klein's Spirit Body tore out of the candlelight, and with Azik's copper whistle augmenting him, he possessed the physical body of Dwayne Dantès, controlling him to walk to the boundary of the wall of spirituality and sit in the reclining chair.
To the external world, it looked as though the tycoon had dozed off reading the papers.
Summoning my soul to possess my own body feels different from returning to my body. There's an obvious barrier in between... Klein did a comparison of the experience and floated to his desk, cleaning up most of the items on the altar and leaving behind the candle that maintained his summoning to burn silently.
After doing all of this, Klein wore Creeping Hunger, and with Azik's copper whistle, Death Knell, and the Senor gold coin in possession, he flew out of the master bedroom and left 160 Böklund Street, drilling into the sewers.
Just as Klein found himself in the moist and dirty environment, he immediately released Wraith Senor and made his marionette open up a distance from him, turning into the hidden fork where Trissy was previously recuperating.
This time, he saw that the clean region in the sewers was already stained with dirt containing signs of rats.
From the looks of it, Trissy has really left... Klein, who was following far behind, heaved a sigh of relief.
As a Spirit Body, he didn't need to breathe, nor did he need to walk on the ground. Therefore, he didn't mind how disgusting the sewers were.
Senor walked out of the area and continued walking ahead and turned on the sixth left turn. Klein constantly maintained a distance of fifty meters, perfectly acting the role of the person behind the scenes.
At the end of the fork was a corroded wall covered in moss. At a glance, there weren't any abnormalities to it. If Trissy hadn't mentioned it, Klein wouldn't have gotten his marionette to observe every inch of the area in detail.
A few minutes later, Senor suddenly straightened his back and walked forward, entering the wall.
Passing through the rather thick obstacle, Klein's eyes opened up. With the marionette's vision, he saw a half-natural, half-artificial cave. It wasn't more than 1.8 meters high and was about 3 meters wide. The ground was littered with tools like shovels which were wrapped in oilskin and large piles of mud and rubble. Right up ahead were two hidden passageways that extended downwards.
The left one was about five to six meters deep, while the one on the right was nearly ten meters deep. However, nothing seemed to have existed in them, as though they were still being excavated.
This was dug up by Hazel? In the day, she's an arrogant lady of high society, and at night, she's an excavator in the sewers? Furthermore, she's moving the dirt and rubble one pail at a time? She was loitering around to find the exact spot, and digging was the subsequent step? That wall must've been a secret door... Klein hid himself at the fork's entrance as he made Senor scrutinize the area.
Following that, he made the Wraith enter the left passage until he reached a completely sealed off area.
Senor's figure slowly turned faint as it turned incorporeal. In this state, he passed through the soil and explored deeper.
But even when reaching the hundred-meter limit, he didn't discover anything of use. All he saw were ordinary insects and worms.
Klein made the marionette switch directions, "swimming" in the sea of soil without finding anything.
Senor soon returned to the cave from before and entered the right passageway without being affected by any obstacles.
There's still nothing... It's not without reason that Trissy determined that it will only work for a particular pathway or being in possession of a certain item... Hmm... She must've probed the area with the invisible threads of a Demoness of Pleasure... Unfortunately, I've already lost Tinder... I wonder if the gray fog's aura on me would work. It seems to strongly attract Beyonders from the Marauder pathway... Klein silently commented and, using his Spirit Body state, planned on personally visiting the two hidden passageways that Hazel had dug up.
However, he curbed his desire because he was now a Marionettist. Doing it personally in situations that didn't require it was in violation of the acting principles.
It's fine even if I don't use the gray fog's aura. I'll just request to purchase a mystical item from the Marauder pathway during tomorrow afternoon's Tarot Gathering. It doesn't need to be too expensive. It can just correspond to Sequence 8 or 9... Hmm, that badge from Lanevus is only a signal receiver, not an item of this pathway... While not aware of the exact situation of what's hiding inside, rashly using my Spirit Body to explore it might result in me attracting a High-Sequence monster... Being careful and cautious will forever be a condition for myself... Klein slowly heaved a sigh of relief and retrieved Wraith Senor.
He wasn't worried that Hazel would continue coming in the near future. Any person with normal intelligence wouldn't continue coming unless they had the means to deal with the situation from before!
Ignoring how Hazel hasn't had any contact with Beyonder circles, even if she has, getting an item from the Sun domain isn't simple. After all, Backlund is the territory of the Church of Storms... I do have something that I don't use often. Heh heh, can I find an opportunity to sell it to her and then let her use it to harm my marionette? Klein jeered at himself before shaking his head with a laugh.
He ended the summoning and returned above the gray fog, vanishing from the sewers.
...
On Monday morning, the bright sunlight tore through the thin clouds, shining onto every corner of Backlund.
Emlyn White pulled down on his silk top hat. As he left the carriage and walked to the Harvest Church, he squinted his eyes and mumbled, "What terrible weather...
"Backlund's worst season is coming soon..."
He was just about to step onto the stairs when he saw a paperboy approach him, handing him a copy of the Tussock Times.
"Sir, today's morning papers!"
Emlyn wanted to reject it when he discovered a small slip clasped in the middle of the boy's fingers.
"..."
Emlyn maintained his countenance as he took out a penny and passed it to the boy, receiving the copy of the Tussock Times and the slip.
Before entering the Harvest Church, he quickly spread it open and scanned it.
"There are clues to the people you are looking for. Please come to the Bravehearts Bar."
