Chapter 49: Dream

Chapter Forty-Nine
Dream

Inside the cold, shadowed hall, Klein abruptly shivered. He withdrew his gaze and said to Miss Bodyguard, “Let us go back.”

Judging from Azik’s copper whistle just now, that innermost room most likely contained some terrifying evil spirit. Its danger was very likely above Rosago, the Marionettist, and Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilangos… It has lingered there for hundreds, perhaps even a thousand years. It may already be equivalent to a high-Sequence powerhouse. If its power had not found it difficult to seep out of the room, I would already be dead… Even if Miss Bodyguard is among the stronger Sequence 5s, the two of us together have almost no hope of turning the situation around… A person must know his own limits. He cannot be tempted by the “treasure” of suspected Beyonder characteristics and mystical items… Greed often leads to death…

Klein silently found reason after reason, convincing himself.

Miss Bodyguard tilted her head and glanced at him. Without emotion in her eyes, she asked, “And afterward?”

Afterward?

Klein quietly bared his teeth. Weighing his words, he said, “Have Miller Carter report it to the police. Who knows when that evil spirit will break free? The sooner it is dealt with, the better. No, that will not work. Mr. Carter knows too little. If he reports it that way, the police department will not take it seriously enough. The first group sent to explore and investigate will suffer heavy casualties. They might even indirectly help the evil spirit break its restraints. Also, after seeing statues like that, I, the detective, might be silenced… Uh… did you see the bones and spiritual lights inside the room?”

Miss Bodyguard looked once more toward the dark passage behind the half-open stone door and gave an extremely slight nod.

Klein’s thoughts spun rapidly.

“I suspect those are the corpses of previous explorers. They were killed by the evil spirit inside that room. The Beyonders among them left behind mystical items. This may be connected to the viscount’s family that originally lived in the house above. I intend to ask clearly what their surname was, search for information in libraries, and visit their descendants to see whether I can obtain useful clues.

“After I make a preliminary determination of the situation, I will choose based on the severity. Perhaps I will get some explosives and destroy the door, preventing anyone else from entering. Or perhaps I will send an anonymous letter to the police department, describing the evil spirit’s existence in detail. However, before doing that, I must first think of a way to avoid the risks.

“None of this is especially urgent. It can be done slowly.”

Miss Bodyguard listened quietly to the end. Looking straight ahead, she spoke in her drifting voice.

“You do not intend to organize people to purify that evil spirit?

“Even if no mystical items were left behind, what remains after an evil spirit disperses is valuable enough.”

This may be the first time I have heard you say so much… probably…

Without the slightest hesitation, Klein answered, “The risk is too high. I believe my life and health are more important.”

He organized his words and added, “The strongest powerhouse I know is you. And from your reaction just now, it seems you are not that evil spirit’s opponent either. I cannot imagine any other way to resolve it apart from notifying the authorities.”

Miss Bodyguard turned. Her pale face appeared slightly transparent.

“You still possess reason,” she calmly and indifferently commented. Then she drifted toward the exit of the ancient hall.

Apart from being suspected of having been influenced by the True Creator, how do I look like a madman?

Klein silently lampooned. Carrying the hurricane lamp and his cane, he followed closely behind Miss Bodyguard. Throughout the entire process, he always felt as though he was being watched by a cold gaze from within the dark passage.

Only after he walked out through that stone door saturated with an ancient air did the feeling abruptly vanish.

Klein turned, shut the door, and sealed inside it the upside-down candlesticks, the slash-like brands, and the eerie statues of the six gods, letting them continue to “slumber” in darkness and silence unchanged for a thousand years.

Patting dust from his clothes, he switched the hurricane lamp to his other hand and quickly returned to Miller Carter’s basement, while Miss Bodyguard had already vanished into the air as was her habit.

Miller Carter was pacing in the basement. Seeing Klein emerge, he hurriedly asked, “How is it? What is the situation inside?”

Klein had already prepared his explanation. Revealing an expression of lingering fear, he said, “Very bad. There are many snakes. Quite a few places have also collapsed. I plan to gather information, find enough people, and make proper preparations before conducting a second exploration. During this time, you had best not send anyone inside. Trust me, there are more venomous snakes than you can imagine.”

The old gentleman Miller sucked in a light breath and asked with obvious fright, “Will they swim over?

“Do you know any specialists who deal with snakes?”

Klein immediately nodded. “I will find people to cooperate and handle the matter as well as possible. It is already cold autumn. Snakes are unwilling to move. As long as you do not send people in to disturb them, nothing should happen.”

“Good. Please be quick. During this time, I will shut this door properly and not let anyone go in.”

Hearing that, Miller relaxed a little.

Seeing that his true yet incomplete words had fooled his employer, Klein hastily set down the hurricane lamp, pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, and said, “Next, I will collect some information and first make a preliminary understanding of that underground structure’s layout before exploring further.

“For that, I need you to tell me who the former owner of this house was—which viscount.”

Miller had bought the building precisely because it carried the name of a former noble estate. He answered immediately, “Viscount Pound.”

“What do you know about him and his family?” Klein pursued in a professional manner.

Miller thought for a moment and said, “I do not know much. I only know that they obtained their title during the Oathbreaker War. They once had a period of glory, but several decades ago, for reasons unknown, they suddenly declined. Their heirs died one after another, and they could only find collateral relatives to preserve the title. As for the new Viscount Pound, he is, heh. In any case, he squandered most of the family estate and was demoted by the King to baronet. He should still be in Backlund at present, but may go bankrupt at any time.”

The Oathbreaker War?

The history department graduate who had successfully completed his studies reacted instinctively, immediately recalling the corresponding knowledge.

That war, which had begun in the year 738 of the Fifth Epoch, had been a religious war more than six hundred years ago. The southern Feynapotter Kingdom had originally believed simultaneously in the Earth Mother and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom. But under the influence of certain factors, severe opposition arose between the two Churches, and clashes among believers became frequent.

Its two northern neighbors, the Loen Kingdom and the Intis Kingdom of that time, seized this chance and began war under the excuse of protecting freedom of belief. Later, the Feysac Empire joined, attempting to ruin Loen and Intis’s schemes, but still failed to reverse the situation and suffered defeat.

As a result of the war, Lenburg, Masin, Segar, and other countries located respectively at the borders between Loen and Feynapotter, and Intis and Feynapotter, became independent. They primarily believed in the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, while only the Church of the Earth Mother remained inside the Feynapotter Kingdom.

Because both sides accused the other of betraying the Sacred Oath made at the end of the Fourth Epoch, that five-year conflict came to be called the Oathbreaker War.

Afterward, the Northern Continent enjoyed more than three hundred years of peace. That did not mean there were no conflicts among nations, but no war on such a vast scale erupted again. All of that lasted until Roselle invented the steam engine and improved sailing ships and cannons.

That is what was recorded in history textbooks… Thinking about it now, since it involved faith, Beyonders of the Churches must have been drawn in, and a fierce supernatural war definitely erupted in secret… However, that era was supposedly already a time when the supernatural was scarce, and there were not many Beyonders… Squad-type battles? The Pound family suddenly declined several decades ago and lost heirs one after another. Could that have something to do with discovering the ancient building underground?

Thoughtfully, Klein asked, “Then do you know where Baronet Pound currently lives?”

“My apologies. I do not,” Miller said with a slight shake of his head.

Klein asked a few more questions. Seeing that he could not obtain more information, he took his leave and returned to 15 Minsk Street.

At that point, it was nearing five-thirty. The sky was dark and gloomy, already like night. Klein thought that the various public libraries should already be closed, so he temporarily set aside the matter of the underground structure and began preparing dinner for himself.

Originally, he had wanted to follow a recipe from the newspapers and learn to make Feynapotter noodles. In the end, what he produced was noodles mixed with meat, sauce, and vegetables. Unexpectedly, the taste was quite good.

After eating and drinking his fill, Klein casually tossed a coin and divined whether he should currently report the matter to the police. The answer he obtained was that he should not.

…

Backlund at night was as peaceful as any other city. At least, Cherwood Borough was like this.

Klein was sleeping soundly, vaguely wandering through different dreams, when suddenly he became startled awake—deeply aware that he was dreaming.

Someone has invaded my dream?

Klein restrained the impulse to frown and pretended to be muddled while examining his surroundings.

He discovered that he stood in a scorching yellow desert.

From the sky came a sudden roar. An enormous monster, black tinged with gold, soared toward him.

The monster had a thick lizard-like body and a pair of broad, leathery wings on its back. It flew lower and lower, blocking the sun in the sky.

A dragon! A powerful dragon!

Klein saw scales the size of plates, saw a massive mouth emitting pure light, saw two dark-gold vertical pupils.

Roar!

The dragon spat light—light without border or end, as though it would cover everything. Large stretches of desert were annihilated at once.

Amid the radiance, a figure leapt into the air.

He was three or four meters tall, yet did not have the distinctive vertical single eye of a giant. He had a handsome young face and wore a black full-body suit of armor as though splashed with fresh blood.

This giant-like knight swung his broadsword upward from below. Countless pale-blue flames tinged with purple gathered into long spears, densely shooting toward the dragon. It was as though he had an entire legion of illusory Beyonders fighting alongside him.

Inside the meteor-like rain of fire, the giant knight leapt above the dragon’s head and made a downward chopping motion.

The afterimages he had dragged behind him instantly overlapped, and the sword light transformed into interweaving lightning.

Snap!

The ground shook madly. The dragon fell, its blood dark gold.

At that moment, the scene suddenly changed, revealing a bloody door—the very crimson door Klein had seen that afternoon in the innermost part of that ancient building.

With a creak, the blood-drenched door opened a crack, letting one vaguely glimpse a black high-backed chair.

On that high-backed chair sat a man of normal size. His head was lowered. He was quiet and deathly still.

The perspective drew closer and closer. Klein saw the man’s clothing clearly. It seemed to be the knight who had just killed the dragon. He was still wearing that bloodstained black armor.

The only difference was that he was no longer three or four meters tall.

Just then, the man suddenly lifted his head. On his young and handsome face were terrifying patches of rot that exposed bone. His eyes were cold and merciless.

Klein was startled. He abruptly woke from the dream and opened his eyes to see the crimson moonlight penetrating the curtains.