Chapter 14: A Chance Encounter in a Small City

Chapter 14: A Chance Encounter in a Small City

A steam locomotive raced toward Constant City in Midseashire.

Dressed as a wandering magician, Klein looked across the narrow table holding various items at the young man and his parents opposite him.

“My magic comes in two kinds. The first makes your wishes come true. The second uses a mirror to answer your questions. Of course, the first kind of magic requires payment, while the second requires you to answer the mirror’s question. Which performance would you like to see?”

The young man had black hair and brown eyes and seemed to have received a fairly good education. He looked at his parents beside him and said with a smile,

“My wish is far too difficult, so I won’t trouble you.

“Comparatively speaking, I’m more curious about the mirror that can answer questions.”

Klein sighed and shook his head. With a flip of his left hand, he revealed a silver mirror small enough to be slipped into his sleeve, with a black gem on each side.

“It seems to be an antique,” the young man across from him commented with interest. Then he said, “My question is: what is the purpose of my trip to Constant City?”

A smile commonly seen on street magicians appeared on Klein’s face. He stroked the mirror’s surface with his right hand and whispered with great seriousness,

“Magic mirror, magic mirror, tell me: what is the answer?”

After repeating it three times, he moved his right hand away and displayed the mirror’s surface to the three passengers opposite him.

A few silver words had appeared on it:

“To get married.”

“…Amazing.” The young man and his parents exchanged glances, all revealing expressions of disbelief.

After boarding the train, they had never mentioned anything related to a wedding, nor had they displayed any item that might lead someone to make that association.

It was their first time seeing magic that did not rely on props or planted audience members.

“All right. Now the mirror will ask its question.” Klein smiled and covered the mirror’s surface with his right hand.

“Very well.” The young man replied with considerable curiosity.

“Next, let us see what question the magic mirror will ask.” Like a formal magician giving a performance, Klein released his right hand with a somewhat dramatic flourish.

The silver words on the mirror’s surface had already changed, stretching into a complete sentence:

“You prefer your bride to be a lady over forty, correct?”

The young man’s expression immediately froze, then turned deathly pale before becoming completely flushed.

“How could that be possible!” he immediately retorted, unable to resist turning to look at his parents. He hurriedly complained, “What kind of strange question is this?”

“…It was joking.” Klein smiled apologetically and quickly pressed his right hand back onto the mirror’s surface, putting on the appearance of someone who had not expected such a situation beforehand.

Immediately afterward, he removed his hand again.

As expected, the text on the mirror’s surface changed once more:

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-five…” the young man answered with extreme caution, as though deeply afraid of falling into a trap.

He felt that the looks his parents and the surrounding passengers were giving him had already changed slightly.

“All right, this magic performance ends here.” Klein smiled and put away the mirror. “You may try the other kind of magic.”

The moment he finished speaking, the steam locomotive let out a whistle. It was the sign that they were about to arrive at a station.

“My apologies. I should get off.” Klein took out his gold-cased pocket watch, clicked it open, and glanced at it.

He then picked up his luggage and followed the flow of some passengers out of the steam train, arriving on the platform where the gas streetlamps had not yet been lit.

This was Belltaine City in Midseashire, a city that had risen because of coal mines and declined because of coal mines.

To Klein, this place’s greatest significance was that, during the previous world war, it had been an important node on Feysac’s invasion route.

Feysac had three invasion routes. One attacked the Amanda Mountains at the border, attempting to break through the land defenses there. One set out from Sonia Island to attack coastal ports and attempt a landing. The last began from the Midsea, following the main railways toward Backlund.

Among them, because of the Church of Storms’ existence and the power of ironclads working together with high-ranking Arbiters, the navies of Feysac and Feynapotter never achieved their intended results. They had not even managed to seize control of the sea. As for the Amanda Mountains battlefield, the headquarters of the Church of Evernight had blocked wave after wave of attacks until the war ended, never falling. This spared places such as Winter County and East Chester County from direct devastation by the fires of war.

Of the three routes, the only successful one had been the Midsea forces. Combining land and water, they captured Constant City, the capital of Midseashire and Loen’s second-largest city. From there, they advanced southeast and joined the Intisians in the Backlund region.

Klein was acting as a wandering magician. On one hand, he needed to accumulate wishes, display miracles, digest his potion, and raise his strength. On the other hand, he intended to retrace the path of the war, using his own eyes, ears, and heart to truly witness the wounds left by that war.

After learning the secrets of the cosmos and the underground, he could understand the Evernight Goddess’s plans and accept them to a certain extent. But that did not mean he would be unmoved by the sacrifices.

At the same time, he had confirmed one thing: even if he had not stopped George III from becoming the Black Emperor, the world war would still have broken out. The difference was that Loen would have held the advantage, and the Evernight Goddess and Her allies would have pressured the God of Combat directly, forcing Him step by step to seek the Earth Mother’s help.

In that case, the number, intensity, and scale of divine wars would all have surpassed the current one.

It was for this reason that Klein wandered stop by stop along Feysac’s invasion route.

After leaving the platform, where traces of cannon smoke still lingered, he carried his old suitcase filled with changes of clothes, identified the direction, and walked toward what was likely an inn.

At night, he would stroll through the streets and alleys of this city, performing wish magic for people.

After taking a few steps, Klein’s inspiration was touched, and he turned his gaze toward the end of the street.

There, he saw a woman walking by. She wore a simple linen robe, a belt made of tree bark, and had long black hair. She wore neither shoes nor socks.

Arianna!

The head of the ascetics of the Evernight Church, the angel walking the earth, Arianna!

Why would She come to Belltaine? At this time, shouldn’t She have already returned to the Evernight cloister in the Cathedral of Serenity? Or been sent to the Feysac capital, Saint-Milon, to oversee the reception of the God of Combat’s legacy? An angel walking the earth appearing in a small city like this is definitely not simple… Klein felt puzzled, and his brows faintly furrowed.

After some hesitation, he ultimately decided to ask a question or two.

It was not that he wanted to meddle in others’ business. Rather, they were in the same city. If something unexpected truly happened, no one would be able to escape.

But by then, Arianna had already disappeared into the crowd. As the Servant of Concealment, She left Klein with no way to track Her. Likewise, when it came to matters related to Concealment, Arrodes the Magic Mirror was somewhat powerless.

Klein slowly inhaled, turned thoughtfully, and entered an inn. He opened a room and placed his luggage inside.

Then, still dressed as a wandering magician and carrying Arrodes the Magic Mirror, he followed the spiritual intuition of a Seer all the way to Belltaine’s municipal square.

Near the city hall stood a noticeboard with quite a few announcements posted upon it.

Seeing that many people had gathered to look, as though some new official document had been released, Klein moved closer, stood at the edge of the crowd, and looked toward the board of unpainted wood.

In the center of the noticeboard, a slightly yellowed white sheet of paper covered the other announcements. Written on its surface in black ink and Loenese were the words:

“Ladies and gentlemen, I am your newly appointed consul.

“Now, I hereby proclaim three new laws:

“First: without my permission, no living being may leave this place.

“Second: all living beings are equal before the law. Even an angel can be killed by an ordinary person.

“Third: those who commit the following crimes shall suffer severe punishment, up to and including death:

“1. Murder;

“2. Theft;

“3. Reciting a deity’s full honorific name;

“4. Sacrificing to an evil god;

“5. Fraud;

“6. Leaking secrets;

“…”

An announcement like this… Klein’s brows lifted slightly. He did not need spiritual intuition to notice there was something wrong with the contents.

By instinct, he turned his thoughts and tried to let his spirit body return to Sefirah Castle.

However, an invisible force blocked his “departure,” allowing him to touch only that grayish-white fog without passing through.

This… Klein narrowed his eyes slightly and took several steps back, distancing himself from the crowd.

In his view, an abnormality of this degree had nearly reached the level of a deity.

He had experienced situations before where he could not return to Sefirah Castle, but the reasons had mainly been that he did not have enough time to reverse four steps and recite the incantation, or that he was being interfered with and obstructed by “himself.”

There had only been one case where external power, in the truest sense, prevented him from leaving the real world:

That had been inside the foggy town, a concealed world and powerful seal personally created by the Evernight Goddess.

Aside from that time, even the Blasphemer Amon had not done something similar. Of course, back then, Amon’s main objective had been to force Klein to stir Sefirah Castle, then seize the opportunity, exploit a loophole, and replace him as the Great Ruler Above the Spirit World. Otherwise, the Time Angel could absolutely have prevented Klein’s return by stealing his thoughts.

Who is this newly appointed consul of Belltaine… Is this why Madam Arianna came to Belltaine? As thoughts raced, Klein let the Magic Mirror slide from his wide sleeve into his left hand.

“What happened here?” Klein asked in a low voice.

Waterlight shook chaotically on the silver mirror’s surface. Somewhat pale silver words appeared.

“Several of this place’s rules have been replaced. As for who specifically did it, that cannot be known. Great Master, you may try to find the Servant of Concealment Arianna and learn the truth from Her.

“Are you satisfied with my answer?”

The rules were replaced… Lawyer? Arbiter? Or did a Bug appear? Klein thoughtfully raised his head and looked around. He found the citizens in the square all rather confused, not quite understanding why the new announcement mentioned angels or why leaving required an application and permission.

The war had already ended!