Chapter 24: Fulfilling Wishes

Chapter 24: Fulfilling Wishes

After putting away The Fool card, Klein took Creeping Hunger out of the void, placed it on his left hand, and activated Teleportation.

After returning to the shrunken municipal library, he immediately said to Arianna, Servant of Concealment,

“I threw it into the abandoned palace on the main peak of the Hornacis mountain range.”

That was one of the entrances to the foggy town.

As for how 0-02 would be dealt with afterward, that was the Church of Evernight’s problem.

“All right.” Arianna nodded and said nothing more. She directly entered a state of Concealment and vanished from where She stood, like a sketch erased by an eraser.

She did not thank him, nor did She mention compensation, just as She had never made any request whenever She had helped Klein in the past.

Does Madam Arianna know I’ve already obtained The Fool card? Klein looked around thoughtfully and slowly sighed into the gradually deepening night.

Although this supernatural incident had been resolved in less than two hours, there were still many people who had lost their lives under those harsh “rules.”

The citizens of Belltaine might have made some mistakes, more or less, but the punishments they suffered had far exceeded the crimes they committed. The most innocent were the travelers who had come to or passed through Belltaine. Merely because they were outsiders, they had been forced to face a nightmare.

Klein had worked hard to do some things and had protected quite a few outsiders, including Roy and the others. But he had also been restricted, and there had been only so many things he could do, only so many loopholes he could exploit. He could not make everything as though it had never happened.

Next is mainly providing treatment for the survivors… Klein withdrew his gaze, preparing to first teleport to Byers’s home and handle certain hidden dangers.

At that moment, Reinette Tinekerr, wearing a gloomy, complicated dress and carrying four blond, red-eyed heads, stepped out of the void with a black goat horn held in one mouth.

“He…” “escaped…” “the spirit world…” the remaining three heads of this messenger lady said in sequence.

“As expected of a former Patriarch.” Klein, who had sensed something long ago, sighed without the slightest surprise.

Then he pointed at the black goat horn.

“Did Larrion leave that behind?”

After Klein received the item, the head Reinette Tinekerr had been unable to use for speaking earlier opened its mouth.

“Yes.”

He endured a transformation curse and still forced his way out of the encirclement, escaping the spirit world. That really is impressive… Is this a Sequence 2 angel from the pathway best at direct frontal combat? With a flick of his wrist, Klein shattered the black goat horn in his hand into countless tiny points of light, releasing a fair amount of remnant spirit.

The limbs left behind by a Beyonder after being “transformed” contained part of the corresponding Beyonder characteristics. They could not return.

When those points of light reassembled into one portion each of Sequence 9, Sequence 8, Sequence 7, and Sequence 4 Beyonder characteristics, Klein selected the Sequence 8 Pugilist portion and, with a smile, returned the rest to Miss Messenger.

“These are your spoils of war. I’ll only take the intelligence fee.”

Reinette Tinekerr was not polite. One of Her blond, red-eyed heads lifted, opened its mouth, and sucked away the Sequence 9, Sequence 7, and Sequence 4 Beyonder characteristics of the Warrior pathway.

After watching Miss Messenger leave Belltaine, Klein teleported back to Byers’s home and smiled at Roy and the others.

“The problem has been resolved. You are no longer hated outsiders.”

Just as the four Beyonders revealed sincere smiles of relief and were about to respond, they saw the miraculous Mr. Magician invite a stranger out of the air.

It was an elderly man wearing a dark-red bow tie, shirt, waistcoat, formal suit, and blue-striped trousers. His hair was completely white but still thick, and his bearing was gentle and refined.

This was Hvin Rambis, the marionette Klein had once possessed. He intended to use this Manipulator to seal the memory of Byers’s contact with 0-02.

Not being contaminated by the sefirah earlier did not mean Byers would avoid that terrifying outcome if he recalled the matter afterward!

Since Byers’s relevant memory was only that specific portion, and because he had no substantial understanding of the truth of the matter, the operation Klein needed to perform was fairly simple. Therefore, he did not seek Miss Justice’s help and instead planned to complete it using the historical void image of his own marionette.

“You did not tell them about what you did in the municipal library earlier, did you?” Klein had Hvin Rambis walk to his side while he looked at Byers.

Byers hurriedly shook his head.

“I remembered your warning.”

“Very good. Next, I will give you some psychological treatment to help you forget those things. Otherwise, you will be targeted by 0-02 and never know peace until the day you die. Trust me, a Sealed Artifact of that level can absolutely do such things, even if it has already been taken away.” Klein spoke frankly of his purpose.

Byers’s lips moved several times before he said,

“All right.”

He chose obedience and trust.

After asking Roy, Pasha, and Phil to leave the rented room, Klein controlled Hvin Rambis and carried out a series of operations in the domain of the mind, successfully making Byers forget the brass book he had seen and the contents written on it.

Once this was done, Klein cautiously took out the Magic Mirror, looked at it, and said,

“Arrodes, are there any other hidden dangers left in this matter?”

On the surface of the ancient silver mirror, watery light floated quietly, reflecting line after line of silver words:

“Great Master, there are no hidden dangers left in Belltaine. As for other places in Loen and Feysac, because this involves 0-02 itself, I cannot see clearly.

“Perhaps you can confirm it yourself?”

“Mm.” Klein nodded lightly, took out a gold coin, and quietly recited the corresponding divination statement.

With a clang, the gold coin sprang upward, spinning as it flew into the air.

During this process, scenes naturally surfaced in Klein’s mind. They showed chimneys, streets, and cities, all extremely general and lacking any specific direction.

His brows furrowed faintly. He gathered his thoughts and reached out to catch the falling gold coin.

Then he had Pasha and the others return to Byers’s home, and smiled at Roy.

“Didn’t you wish to obtain your next potion? You can make that wish now.”

Surprise appeared in Roy’s eyes. Somewhat uneasy, he asked,

“Can I still make another wish?”

“This is a complimentary gift,” Klein answered with a smile.

Roy’s heart stirred. He asked no further questions and seized this opportunity, making a wish to obtain his next potion.

Klein then threw the Warrior pathway’s Sequence 8 Pugilist Beyonder characteristic to him.

“This is, in essence, already a potion. But for safety’s sake, I suggest you search for the corresponding formula and gather the correct supplementary ingredients.”

“Praise your wonders,” Roy thanked him, rather excited.

His first potion had been, in a sense, the “raw swallowing” of the Warrior Beyonder characteristic. Because the apocalypse was approaching, because the level was low, and because his luck was good, he had not lost control on the spot, nor had he developed severe psychological problems.

Afterward, he had gradually come into contact with other Beyonders and true mysticism, learning just how dangerous his previous action had been. From then on, he never dared make a second similar attempt.

Facing Roy’s praise, Klein looked around and smiled.

“Next, you will follow me out of Belltaine. This does not mean there is still danger here. Rather, I must seize the time to fulfill your wishes.”

One was Roy’s wish for Klein to help them leave Belltaine. The other was Pasha’s wish that Klein protect them and let them leave Belltaine alive.

Although, under the current circumstances, those two matters no longer had any meaning, for Klein, even meaningless things had to be done, because they concerned the fulfillment of wishes.

I’m just a merciless wish-granting machine… Klein lampooned himself and smiled at Byers and the others.

Pasha and the others exchanged glances. None of them dared raise an objection. As before, they held one another’s hands.

Then Klein brought them through Teleportation to the outskirts of Belltaine.

“The wish magic performance is complete. It is time to say goodbye.” Klein immediately removed his hat and bowed, trying his best to appear like a true wandering magician.

This was his acting habit.

Seeing this, Pasha blurted out,

“May we know your name?”

Klein smiled.

“I have far too many names. Different people address me in different ways. You may call me Miracle Magician Merlin Hermes.”

“Mr. Hermes, are you a believer of the Evernight Goddess?” Roy asked after a moment’s hesitation.

…For a moment, Klein truly did not know how to answer, because he very much wanted to say that he once was, but no longer was.

After thinking briefly, he decided to act as an Attendant of Mysteries ahead of time.

He immediately withdrew the smile from his face and spoke solemnly and gravely.

“The one I serve is The Fool, Lord of the Mysteries, the Great Ruler Above the Spirit World.

“If you wish to believe in this great existence, or if you wish to learn more, you may go to the Rorsted Archipelago in the Sonia Sea. The Lord’s missionary, Danitz, is preaching there.”

Besides, the City of Silver definitely has every potion formula of the Warrior pathway before Sequence 2… Klein silently added this sentence in his heart, but did not say it aloud.

Roy nodded slightly.

“This is my first time learning that such a great existence exists in this world. Your wonders have displayed His radiance.”

He did not directly respond to Mr. Merlin Hermes, because he remained very hesitant.

Pasha, Byers, Phil, and the others were the same.

Klein said nothing more. He turned and left the four Beyonders, circling back to Belltaine from another direction.

He had not forgotten the purpose behind getting off the train in this small city, and he planned to immediately find a room and go above the gray fog to study The Fool card.

…

In another city in Midseashire, inside a library.

A young legal scholar took a book from a shelf, walked to the table by the floor-to-ceiling window, and sat down.

As he carefully flipped through the book, he discovered a yellow-brown sheet of paper tucked inside.

“What is this?” the young legal scholar murmured in confusion, reaching out to pull out the paper.

After identifying it, he confirmed that what was written on the paper was Ancient Feysac, and the contents were rather unusual:

“…In the Fourth Epoch, there was a book called the Trunsoest Brass Book…”