Chapter 160: Interaction

Chapter 160: Interaction

After returning to the real world, Klein immediately took out paper and pen and wrote a brief letter:

“Investigate the nameless island that caused the deaths of Green, William, and Polly. You may begin with Edwards, Benjamin Abraham, and the descendants of the three deceased.”

This letter was for the Queen of Mysteries, Bernadette, so Klein did not include the reason. He trusted that she would understand what it meant.

After folding the paper, Klein casually found a stub of candle and began the summoning ritual.

Once he had completed the simple preliminary steps, he placed the letter on the altar, stepped back twice, and recited softly in ancient Hermes:

“I!

“I summon in my own name:

“Invisible creature that roams the higher world, strange spirit friendly to humanity, messenger belonging solely to Bernadette Gustav.”

The moment his voice fell, Klein’s spirituality was suddenly stirred. By instinct, he activated Spirit Vision through sheer will.

Yet he saw nothing.

Then he discovered that the letter placed upon the altar had disappeared.

The Queen of Mysteries’s messenger really is special… Next time, I’ll use my Spirit Body Threads vision instead… Klein froze for a second, then sighed inwardly.

…

Toward evening, beneath the glow of gas streetlamps lighting up one after another, a carriage arrived at the border between the Backlund Bridge area and East Borough, pulling to a stop by the roadside.

Forsi, dressed in a woolen dress and draped in a dark cloak, paid the fare that had risen to three soli, got off the rented carriage, and slowly walked along the shadows of the street. She planned to take a wide detour and shake off any imagined pursuers.

After the last Tarot Gathering ended, she had quickly defeated her laziness, packed up, and gone out to visit former teachers, classmates, and colleagues one after another.

As for excuses, she did not need to invent any. Showing concern for friends and acquaintances who had experienced the air raid was the most natural thing in the world.

The reason she had not done this last week was that, in the eyes of ordinary civilians, Backlund’s situation had still been especially tense then. Another wave of attacks might arrive at any moment, so naturally, everyone avoided going out as much as possible.

Forsi had originally prepared a full set of conversational tactics to guide the topic toward hospital ghost stories during her visits. To her surprise, she had not needed them at all. Her teachers, classmates, and former colleagues often brought up the subject themselves after only a few lines of casual conversation. Without exception, they gave her the impression that similar events had occurred in every hospital.

No. Forsi knew that was not an illusion. For that very reason, an inexplicable terror rose within her. She suspected she would have nightmares that night.

I don’t even need to change much. As long as I alter the miraculous recovery ending so that, while the patient’s physical wounds are healed, their mind collapses completely, this becomes an excellent horror story. And it takes place in a familiar city, in hospitals people often come into contact with but which already carry a frightening atmosphere. The sense of immersion is simply perfect. I can practically foresee another bestselling novel about to be born. I just don’t know whether I can handle this subject…

Uh, the only problem is that the story lacks enough emotion… A certain female patient affectionately kisses that face covered in mushrooms and weeds? This—wouldn’t that be too bizarre…? Forsi walked while thinking, unknowingly entering a creative state.

Just then, her vision blurred, and she saw a figure walk out from the shadows ahead, where the gas lamps did not reach.

The figure wore a black windbreaker and a half top hat. He had a sharply chiseled face and cold, stern features. Aside from the absence of gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose, he was identical to the crazy adventurer who roamed the Five Seas—Gehrman Sparrow.

Although Forsi knew Mr. World would not hunt her down and had only come to fulfill their agreement, her spirit still tensed involuntarily, as if she had gone back to her school days and faced the strictest teacher.

“Uh… good evening.” Her footsteps slowed slightly, but she still continued walking forward and greeted him.

Klein nodded and said nothing. He turned directly and entered a quiet side alley, where the gas streetlamp had already been damaged and emitted no light at all.

Looking at that dark environment, Forsi also said nothing. She lowered her head slightly and followed Gehrman Sparrow at a steady pace.

After reaching the depths of the alley, Klein glanced around and said in a low voice, “Ask your teacher for me whether he knows someone named Benjamin Abraham. If he does, I want all information on him, as well as every written or drawn work he left behind.”

“Uh… all right, all right.” Forsi had been rather nervously waiting for Mr. World to “Teleport” her elsewhere, and she had not expected him to suddenly bring up another matter for no apparent reason. She nearly failed to react.

She did not ask why. She quickly nodded in agreement, as though this were something she had been eagerly waiting to do.

Then she drew a deep breath and continued waiting for Gehrman Sparrow to approach, grab her shoulder, and begin the Teleportation.

But after several seconds, nothing happened.

Forsi looked up in astonishment and saw that Mr. World still stood ahead, staring at her.

She then heard him say in a low voice, “Write it now.”

Write it now… Forsi still did not ask why. Subconsciously, she said, “I didn’t bring paper, pen, envelopes, or stamps.”

Before she finished speaking, all four items had already been thrown over.

“…” Forsi caught them, walked a few steps outward, and, under the gaslight barely spilling to the alley entrance, began rapidly writing the letter to her teacher, Dorian Gray Abraham, using the hard wall as a writing surface.

Klein slid both hands into his trouser pockets and waited patiently, showing no impatience at all.

In truth, he had been hiding near Miss Magician for quite some time before appearing.

According to the address Forsi had provided, he had begun secret monitoring from the moment she went out in the afternoon. The way he monitored her was to have a marionette pray periodically to the Sea God, Kalvetua, while his main body went above the gray fog and used the prayer light spot to observe the area around Miss Magician.

With the help of true vision, Klein could now confirm that Zaratul had not targeted Miss Magician and that contact was safe.

After learning that Miss Magician had once encountered Zaratul’s marionette, how could Klein possibly meet her confidently and take her “traveling” without first verifying the situation?

Now, he was certain that Zaratul had been drawn there by the Abraham family’s sealed artifact or by the Saint of Secrets Botis, while Magician, a mere Sequence 6, had not attracted any notice and therefore had not been exposed.

A few minutes later, Forsi finished writing. She used a sticky herbal powder she carried with her as paste, sealed the letter, and stuck on the stamp.

“Should I put it into the mailbox now?” Forsi glanced at the address and her teacher’s real name on the envelope, hesitating slightly as she asked.

She believed this was something she had to do herself and could not hand over to The World. Otherwise, it might bring danger to her teacher.

Of course, if Gehrman Sparrow insisted, Forsi felt there was nothing she could do. Even if she tore up the letter and swallowed it, there was still the possibility of being hypnotized or having her spirit channeled.

Klein gave an almost imperceptible nod.

“Come back here after you send it.”

Whew… Forsi let out a long breath, turned around, and jogged toward the street, where she found a mailbox.

After finishing everything and returning to the dark alley, she did not wait for Gehrman Sparrow to speak. She directly handed back the fountain pen and the remaining two stamps, saying rather quickly, “One stamp was enough.”

Klein looked at Miss Magician, took back the stamps and fountain pen, and said in a flat tone, “That indicates your teacher lives no more than a hundred kilometers from Backlund.”

“…” Forsi’s expression froze at once.

What’s the big deal? I even know your teacher lives in Pritz Harbor, and there’s a high chance he hasn’t moved away… As for why I gave you three stamps, of course it was deliberate… Klein muttered inwardly and walked a few steps closer to Miss Magician.

Then he extended his left hand, which wore a transparent glove, and seized the lady’s shoulder.

The Magician Forsi involuntarily lowered her head again.

The surrounding colors instantly became vivid and layered, stacked upon one another, while countless figures impossible to describe in specific form flashed past at high speed.

When the things and colors before her eyes returned to normal, Forsi instinctively raised her head, about to say “thank you.”

But Gehrman Sparrow’s figure was already gone.

Forsi looked around in slight confusion and discovered that she was standing in an empty corner. Ahead was a door. Beyond the door came waves of clamor and the fragrance of alcohol.

Forsi tugged at her cloak and, carrying the faint unease of a stranger in a foreign land, walked through the door. She saw many men dressed like pirates.

They wore short blades at their waists and pistols tucked at their sides. They drank strong liquor and, with great interest, discussed whose fleet was stronger—Feysac’s or Loen’s. Quite a few brightly dressed women moved among them like butterflies dancing through the air.

Wearing a Backlund-style woolen dress and a dark cloak, her long brown hair slightly curled, carrying a mature air yet looking timid in expression, Forsi seemed at that moment like a lamb that had wandered into a pack of wolves. She was so out of place, so eye-catching, that she quickly attracted one gaze after another.

The words they spoke to her felt vaguely familiar. It seemed to be a branch of some language she had studied, but for the moment, she could not understand it.

Where am I? What am I doing? Who are these people…? While Forsi was still bewildered, a broad-shouldered man pushed through the crowd and came over, saying in rather stiff Loenese, “Ten soli. One night!”

…Forsi had moved through multiple Beyonder circles before. Although she did not know what this place was, she understood perfectly well what she had encountered. Strange light gathered in her eyes, flashing again and again before finally settling into one point.

An indescribable authority spread outward from her, causing the surrounding people to subconsciously avoid her gaze.

This was the Authority belonging to a Judge, a qualitative transformation of an Arbiter’s power in that domain.

…

Berserk Sea, Celos Island.

Danitz hid in the shadows, earnestly and intently monitoring the information broker Buzz.