Chapter 176: Letter

Chapter One Hundred Seventy-Six
Letter

To the current Klein, simple ritual magic had already become as familiar as eating and drinking. It did not take him long to prepare the materials and light the candle that symbolized himself.

Looking at the wavering, dim-yellow flame on the desk, Klein suddenly had an inexplicably amusing thought.

Does this count as lighting a candle for myself?

What the hell am I thinking!

…

He reined in his thoughts, picked up black rot flower powder belonging to the domain of Death, and gently sprinkled it into the candle flame. The smell that rose was rather like formalin from his previous life.

Immediately after, he dripped in full moon essential oil, a material favored by the night.

Amid a series of sizzling sounds, the surroundings suddenly became silent. An invisible, subtle sensation surged.

Klein stepped back once and chanted in a low voice in ancient Hermes:

“I!”

Then he switched to Hermes:

“I summon in my name;

“The spirit wandering within the void, an Upper-Realm creature driven by others, the messenger belonging solely to Daly Simone.”

Woo!

The rushing wind stirred into a sound like weeping. The dim-yellow candle flame was instantly dyed an eerie blue.

Under that glow, nearly transparent ripples spread across the wall behind the desk, and a strange face emerged—one with no eyebrows, no eyes, no nose, and only a mouth.

It opened its lips wide and spat out a long, vivid red tongue. Embedded along that tongue were irregular sharp teeth, one after another. At the very tip of the tongue, five thin fingers grew from it. They constantly opened and pinched closed again, as though waiting for something to be delivered.

This is Daly’s “messenger”? Compared with Mr. Azik’s, it is like a child… No. That does not accurately describe the difference between them. Mm, one is an adult giant, and the other is a human infant… I wonder whether that is due to that mystical item, or because Mr. Azik himself is very powerful… I need to adjust my understanding of him. Perhaps he is a high-Sequence powerhouse…

Ah, I forgot. I should have asked Madam Daly in the letter what the Sequence 4 and Sequence 3 names of the Corpse Collector pathway are. There is an extremely high chance that Mr. Azik belongs to this Sequence. Of course, he may not have advanced through potions. Mm, perhaps he relied on hereditary chromosomes… I will ask next time. The messenger is waiting…

Klein stared at it carefully for a few moments, then placed the paper he had folded earlier into the messenger’s “hand,” watching it grip firmly.

Whoosh!

The messenger retracted its tongue and swallowed the letter. Its transparent, eerie, writhing face then shrank back into the wall and vanished.

I have to say, magical methods really are rather cool and convenient. The only issue is that they cannot be popularized…

Klein looked at the candle flame, which had returned to normal, shook his head, and ended the ritual.

…

Monday morning. Backlund, Queen’s Borough.

In a hidden corner of a municipal garden donated by Duke Negan, the blond, messy-haired Xio Derecha and the languid Fors Wall stared foolishly at the contact before them. For a moment, neither knew what words they should use as greeting.

Xio, short and delicate at just over 1.5 meters, stared at the golden retriever wagging its tail and lolling its tongue. She adjusted her trainee knight uniform and chose her words.

“You are the messenger Miss Audrey sent?”

“Oh, my Goddess. Why am I asking a dog so seriously…”

Fors held a thin cigarette between her fingers and chuckled.

“Maybe it is a mystical creature?”

“I have never seen a mystical creature that looked so much like a dog…” Xio replied with complete seriousness.

Susie immediately sat properly, closed her mouth, and pointed with one paw toward her belly.

Hidden within her long, thick golden fur was a small leather pouch.

Xio looked left and right, confirmed no one was paying attention, quickly stepped closer, bent down, and untied the little pouch.

Fors glanced curiously at it, and her expression suddenly turned strange.

“Crocodile leather. And it has the style of the fashion designer Mr. Sedes… She is actually using this kind of bag for a transaction…”

“…In other words, it is very expensive?”

Xio lifted the little leather pouch slightly.

Fors pressed her lips together and nodded very seriously.

Xio’s movements instantly slowed to an exaggerated degree. She carefully pulled open the zipper and removed the letter inside, as though the thing in her hands were an antique vase.

After reading it, she casually handed the letter to Fors.

Fors read it carefully, lit the paper with her cigarette, and watched as it turned into black ash that fell into the soil.

“There is no additional intelligence to provide.”

Xio unconsciously pouted. Then she took a folded stack of papers from the pocket of her trainee knight uniform.

With a dignified gaze, she looked at Susie and subconsciously instructed her, “This is the investigation report from the past few days. You must deliver it directly to Miss Audrey Hall.”

Susie shivered, hurriedly sat even more properly, and wagged her tail so fast it almost blurred.

Xio nodded in satisfaction, placed the folded stack of papers into the leather pouch, and tied the pouch back onto Susie’s body.

Susie gave a soft awooo, then vanished in a streak of motion.

…

Inside the Halls’ luxurious villa.

Audrey was seated on the sofa in her personal sitting room, holding a letter opener and attempting to open the letter before her.

It had been sent by her second elder brother from the colonial region of the Balam Empire on the Southern Continent. Along with the letter had come a parcel.

Just then, she saw Susie push open the door that had been left ajar and trot inside.

Susie sat properly on the carpet before Audrey and tapped the leather pouch with a paw.

“You are truly an outstanding messenger!”

Audrey was not stingy with praise.

Susie turned back to look at the door, vibrated the air, and said quietly, “Your friend is very serious. When I saw her, I remembered the old days, when there were special hunters to train us.”

She had been the extra gift when Earl Hall purchased hunting hounds.

Susie, your Loen is becoming more and more fluent… It is just that the logic of your speech still has some issues…

Audrey watched the golden retriever untie the leather pouch by herself and skillfully pull open the zipper.

She cast Susie a look. The golden retriever immediately understood, abruptly stood, darted to the entrance, and locked the door.

“…No result yet, but vagrant disappearances have been discovered in the Backlund Bridge area. Mm, this cannot be confirmed either. Perhaps that vagrant simply changed his usual range of activity…”

After finishing the investigation report, Audrey seriously thought about how she should reply to Xio and Fors.

Tell Xio that as long as she can discover Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilangos’s whereabouts, I will directly purchase the Sheriff potion formula and give it to her… No, that is not friendly enough. It would make her feel inferior. Mm, I should say: Xio, I have already prepared your reward. As long as you complete the commission, the four hundred and fifty pounds in cash will be yours… Sigh, for the main ingredients of the Telepathist potion, I have found only the spinal fluid of a Farsman rabbit. I still lack the pituitary gland of an adult Seven-Colored Lizard Dragon… Glaint, Xio, and Fors have not discovered anything for the time being either…

Audrey, cheer up! At least you have already completely digested the Spectator potion!

Once you gather the materials, you can become a Sequence 8 Beyonder!

…

Audrey restrained her thoughts, picked up a pen and paper, swiftly wrote a reply, placed it back into the leather pouch, and entrusted Susie with another trip.

Watching the golden retriever’s figure vanish through the door, she opened the letter her elder brother had sent. With a smile on her lips, she began to read.

“My dear sister:

“I believe you should come to the Southern Continent as well—to the colonial region of the Balam Empire. There is abundant sunlight here, refreshing air, clean surroundings, seafood freshly pulled from the water, all kinds of unique customs, obedient and docile native Balam people extremely suited to being servants, and the taste of freedom.

“Backlund, by contrast, is cold and damp. The air is terrible. Gray fog appears often. One can frequently go without seeing the sun. And there are so many people—so many that every kind of problem has arisen. Mm, and there are endless balls, banquets, and salons… Those social occasions are rigid and stiff. I cannot stand staying in them for even a moment. My dear sister, I imagine you feel the same.

“I am not trying to flee the family. I am merely pursuing my own life. But our elder brother certainly will not see it that way. He has always been a selfish person. Of course, he has never been stingy with you, because the wealth you can inherit amounts to only so little, while I am his greatest rival in inheriting the title. After all, our father is an earl with long vision, and he would never be bound by primogeniture.

“As long as he believes it necessary, he can do anything—just like how he ignored fierce opposition back then and sold half of our fields and pastures to enter the banking industry.

“I still occasionally miss Backlund, but mainly I miss Father, Mother, and you. I miss your smile from those years, the smile that made my mood better. You must already have become Backlund’s most dazzling gem. Regrettably, I may need two more years before I can return. A career is a man’s dignity, and the Loen Kingdom’s outstanding young people take the world as their stage.”

…

“You may tell our dear aunt that the coastal region of the Balam Empire is very suitable for vacations, especially suitable for the joints that ache and swell whenever winter arrives. I sincerely invite her to visit. If you could come with her, that would be even better.”

…

“I have not sent you many gifts, mainly things with a strong Balam style, such as distinctive yellow silk and ornaments filled with the color of Death worship.

“I remember that you have always liked things related to mysticism. I will keep an eye out for you. The folk customs here contain far too much mystery.”

…

After reading the letter, Audrey picked up a writing board, pen, and paper. Leaning back against the sofa, she pursed her lips and wrote seriously:

“My dearest Alfred:

“Although less than a year has passed, the little girl in your memories has already grown up and no longer likes things related to mysticism. You do not need to collect similar objects.”

Because it is very dangerous…

Audrey puffed out her cheeks and added that sentence inwardly.

During this period, at Beyonder gatherings and through Xio and Fors’s stories, she had heard far too many tragedies caused by mystical objects.

She thought for a moment, then shifted direction and announced excitedly:

“My current interest is in the field of biology. Recently, I have become especially fascinated by sub-dragons such as Seven-Colored Lizard Dragons. Could you help me ask around and see where similar creatures, or their well-preserved corpses, might be found?”