Chapter 27: Request

Chapter 27: Request

“Dimodo?

“They are still inside the restaurant.”

Urdi Branch answered almost instinctively.

Immediately afterward, he pointed to the place where the moldy head had been purified and asked urgently, “What was that just now?”

Maintaining the persona of Gehrman Sparrow, Klein gave no answer. He glanced at Danitz, then walked straight past Donna’s family and arrived before the tightly shut doors of Lime Restaurant.

Blazing Danitz carried the lantern. Having finally accomplished one objective, he felt much more relaxed. He straightened his back, looked at Urdi and the others, and gave a chuckle.

“You do not need to concern yourselves with what that was. Just remember that it is a monster capable of harming you.”

If Gehrman Sparrow had not been standing only a few meters away, he would even have wanted to declare: only I, the great Blazing Danitz, can protect you!

Cleeves, Cecile, and Teague exchanged glances. They stepped forward of their own accord and comforted their employer.

“Ask after we return to the White Agate.”

To be honest, all three bodyguards had spent varying lengths of time as adventurers, but their understanding of monsters had remained on the level of folk tales and the drunken boasts of fellow adventurers. At this moment, it was inevitable that they felt a hazy sense of unreality, as though they were dreaming.

But to them, since they had already seen a creature like a murloc, other things were no longer too hard to accept. At most, they were uglier, stranger, and more special than murlocs.

Thinking in that direction, their hearts steadied considerably, and the firearms in their hands seemed to recover their strength.

Even so, that pure light descending from the sky remained far beyond their comprehension. They only felt that the worldview, outlook on life, and sense of values they had formed over many years had all been shaken. For now, they could only avoid thinking about it and press every emotion down into their hearts.

Klein stopped at the entrance of Lime Restaurant, raised his right hand, bent his fingers, and knocked.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

After three rhythmic knocks, no one inside answered. It was utterly quiet.

If not for the bright candlelight still shining out through the windows and the cracks around the door, Klein might have thought this was an abandoned house long left empty.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

He knocked three more times.

Within the restaurant, silence remained. Everyone seemed to be obeying the custom of not responding to knocks in foggy weather.

Klein withdrew his right hand and patted the hem of his double-breasted long frock coat.

Suddenly, his body leaned backward, his knee lifted, and his right foot kicked forward with force.

With a clang, the restaurant’s doors were flung open. All the nails fixing the copper lock were forced out.

Fox, the owner in a tailcoat, with plump cheeks and an almost round face, still stood where he had been. The ladies and gentlemen who had chosen to stay the night opened their doors one after another and stood silently on the threshold, wordlessly watching this side.

“What do you want to do?” Fox did not get angry. His tone remained exactly as before, but a revolver had already appeared in his hand.

With Spirit Vision activated, Klein turned his head and swept his gaze around. He found no traces of evil on the humans present.

His gaze finally landed on the restaurant owner. His eyes grew heavy and still as he looked into the other man’s eyes.

“Where is the Dimodo family?”

Fox met the dark-brown eyes that seemed to be suppressing emotion and brewing a storm for two seconds. Then, unnaturally, he turned his head aside.

“There is one more table of outsiders upstairs.”

“Have them come down,” Klein ordered coldly.

Fox remained silent for several seconds, until the other party swiftly drew his gun and aimed it at his head.

He inhaled, then sent a waiter to the second floor. Soon, the waiter brought the Dimodo family down the stairs with heavy, thudding steps.

“What happened?” Dimodo was a man not yet thirty, currently on vacation with his newly wedded wife.

Klein lowered the muzzle of his gun and said evenly, “Something has happened in Bansy Harbor.

“Will you return to the ship with me, or stay here for the night?”

“Something happened?” Dimodo chewed over the words and at the same time saw Urdi Branch outside nodding heavily to him.

He knew that the other man was a very wealthy import-export merchant who had three bodyguards with him. He believed that if something truly had happened, staying with the other party would certainly be safer. The answer was therefore self-evident.

As for Bansy Harbor’s unique customs, those were only customs! Taking his newly wedded wife by the hand and walking toward the door, he smiled politely.

“All our belongings are on the ship. Of course we will go with you.”

“Thank you.” He and his wife thanked Klein at the same time, passing him and joining the Branch family outside.

Klein put away his revolver and, very politely, bowed slightly to the owner, Fox.

“Sorry for the disturbance.”

With that, he turned around and walked through the light spilling out from the restaurant toward Cleeves and the others.

With a clang, Lime Restaurant’s doors closed once more, shaking slightly in the wind.

Klein had, in truth, sensed something abnormal earlier—some subtle atmosphere. But since Spirit Vision had yielded nothing, he did not intend to investigate too deeply, lest he detonate the immense danger hidden within Bansy Harbor.

Returning to Danitz’s side, he used the lantern light to sweep over the group and count their numbers.

Donna’s family of four, the three bodyguards, the Dimodo couple, and several servants. Everyone is here… Klein switched the positions of his revolver and cane, then raised his right hand holding the gun and slipped it into his double-breasted long frock coat, lightly touching the Sun Brooch.

A dark-golden light flashed. Invisible power swiftly expanded outward, washing over everyone present like a wave.

In that instant, Donna and the others seemed to have arrived in the south, bathing in warm sunlight that drove away the chill inside their bodies.

They were no longer so tense and worried. They seemed to rediscover their courage, while the small amount of blackness and the faint, almost imperceptible sense of evil that remained from eating Damir Harbor’s special cured meat rapidly melted away.

Sun Halo—able to increase the courage of companions within twenty meters, and purify evil powers within their bodies!

When this quasi-spell ability was cast through the brooch, it was controlled by Klein’s spirituality and mind. He could make the Sun’s power avoid targets he did not wish to help.

“To the telegraph office first,” Klein repeated. Holding the cane in his left hand and the gun in his right, he identified the direction and strode forward.

Danitz, following his signal, walked at a diagonal flank, while Cleeves, Cecile, and Teague very professionally took over the other two sides of the perimeter.

A group of more than fifteen people. Once attacked, it will be very easy to lose sight of one side while helping the other. And here, only Blazing can truly be called a helper… What should I do? Klein recalled the traits of the monsters they had encountered earlier and suddenly stuffed his revolver back into the holster beneath his arm, shifting his cane to his right hand.

His left hand reached into his pocket, removed the wall of spirituality around the iron cigarette case, and took out Azik’s copper whistle, holding it in his palm and tossing it up from time to time.

He believed that those undead monsters with only their heads left would surely forget everyone else. In their “eyes,” there would only be this ancient brass-colored whistle!

This way, I do not need to worry about being too late to rescue people. This is the function of a tank! Klein sighed inwardly and quickened his pace slightly.

It was at this moment that three shriveled heads covered in mold spots flew out from the thin fog ahead. Like arrows, they charged at Klein from different directions, completely ignoring all other delicious flesh.

Three! Danitz’s pupils shrank. He felt somewhat worried that Gehrman Sparrow might be thrown into confusion, yet also had some anticipation that the other man would reveal his true strength.

Three… Klein calmly shook his left palm and tossed Azik’s copper whistle into the air.

The flying heads, each trailing an esophagus, immediately traced arcs through the air and rushed toward the most important target.

Klein retreated one step. Expressionless, he raised his hand and pinched the Sun Brooch.

All of a sudden, around the place where the copper whistle hovered, dense clusters of golden flames appeared out of thin air, a sacred aura spreading majestically.

Fire of Light!

The three heads, like skin stretched over bone, let out shrill screams at the same time and turned into clusters of powder within the golden flames.

Klein took two steps forward and reached out, catching Azik’s copper whistle.

…It can be done that way? Another mystical item? Danitz was stunned for two seconds, feeling that the matter had been resolved too easily.

At this moment, Dimodo and his wife also clearly saw what the things that had attacked them looked like. One turned pale with fright, while the other asked in panic, “What—what are those?”

Donna immediately turned around and nodded seriously.

“Ask after we return to the White Agate.”

After speaking, she raised a finger to her lips, imitating Uncle Sparrow and giving the signal for silence.

Dimodo, thinking of the sacred aura displayed by the young man ahead, swallowed with difficulty. He pulled at his wife’s hand and fell into wary silence. Seeing this, the servants could only obey.

The group continued walking along the streets lit only by thin moonlight. The lamps in the houses on both sides had all been extinguished, and behind the protruding bay windows was darkness that could not be seen through.

Donna kept feeling that pairs of eyes inside were moving along with them, but because of certain factors, no one showed themselves.

They must all be afraid of Uncle Sparrow! She tightened her grip on her younger brother’s hand, walking within the protective circle formed by her parents.

Suddenly, a figure appeared at the side street ahead. He wore a black cloak and leaned forward, revealing a neck still spurting fresh blood. Above the neck, there was nothing at all—only the cloak’s inner lining reflecting the moonlight.

Hah!

From the headless figure’s throat came a beast-like growl. It charged toward Klein, its pounding steps causing the street beneath them to tremble faintly.

The position it passed through happened to bring it directly into Danitz’s path. The famous pirate cursed inwardly and swung his arm, throwing out a repeatedly compressed orange fireball from his palm.

Boom!

The fireball exploded, blasting the headless man back several steps.

His clothes were torn, his skin swiftly charred, and his cloak began to burn.

But to a monster that had long lost its life, this was not any especially severe injury.

At that instant, with a crisp snap, the scarlet flames on the black cloak suddenly surged upward as though blooming.

Wearing his coat, Klein leaped out from within the firelight. Borrowing the inertia of his fall and his own strength, he drove the cane gripped in both hands straight into the headless man’s neck.

Pfft!

The cane plunged into the headless man’s body and emerged from its crotch.

Bang! The muscles of Klein’s back bulged, and he forcefully pinned the headless monster to the ground!

Seizing the chance, he stood behind it, kept his grip on the cane, and poured spirituality into the Sun Brooch.

He had already used Spirit Vision earlier to judge that Summon Holy Light, Cleansing Slash, and Fire of Light could not resolve this monster, whose black-green color was so dense, within a short time. He had to use another method.

Five seconds. Four seconds. Three seconds. The headless man struggled with all its might, yet like a snake it was half-kneeling, firmly nailed to the ground by the cane.

Two seconds. One second!

Klein spoke in a low voice, uttering a word in ancient Hermes:

“Sun!”

Tiny specks of radiance appeared, turning into droplets that scattered downward, raining onto the headless man.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle! Black-green gas rose up. Klein released the cane and sidestepped twice.

Within the sparse “rain,” the headless man convulsed continuously before finally growing still, melting into a puddle of blood.

No Beyonder characteristic… That means it is not a true enemy. At most, it is a manufactured “servant”… Klein drew back his cane and turned toward the group.

“So cool!” Denton belatedly exclaimed.

Donna’s eyes shone brightly as well.

Still relying on the power of a mystical item… However, that flame-based flash did reveal his true strength. He truly is difficult to deal with… Blazing Danitz withdrew his gaze and felt that his earlier decision not to blindly flee had been truly wise.

Seven or eight minutes later, after clearing away two more waves of monsters, the group arrived at Bansy Harbor’s telegraph office.

Cleeves stepped forward of his own accord and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” A calm female voice came from inside.

“We want to find Mr. Elland, the captain of the White Agate,” Cleeves answered through the door.

In the quiet night, the female voice spoke slowly and steadily.

“He and his first mate went to the church next door.”

The people here speak a bit strangely. Or is it only on nights like this? Klein tossed a gold coin and confirmed that the woman was not lying.

Just as they were preparing to leave, the woman inside the telegraph office hesitated before saying, “Could you perhaps help me keep an eye out for someone?

“He is my colleague. He went out before the wind rose tonight and has not returned.

“His name is Pavo Court.”