Chapter 66: A Day in September

Chapter 66: A Day in September

“Dear Mr. Azik:

“Since September began, Backlund’s temperature has been falling day by day. Recently, elderly people wearing gloves outdoors can already be seen.

“As with last year, fog has begun to envelop this city. Every week, there are one or two days—sometimes even more—like this. Clearly, treating atmospheric pollution is absolutely not something that can be thoroughly accomplished in one or two years. At minimum, it should be measured in cycles of five years. Fortunately, the pungent smell that pervades the air has decreased greatly. My Sanguine friend is very pleased with this weather.

“Another pleasing change is that more and more students, postmen, and skilled workers have bought bicycles. The number of carriages on the streets has decreased by quite a bit. This means horse dung and the odor it spreads have withdrawn from the ranks of Backlund’s dominant contributors to air quality. Of course, they still occupy a fairly important position. You know how those ladies and gentlemen who believe themselves to possess status will not casually lower their style. However, according to my observation, the young ones in their households are gradually becoming interested in bicycles.

“During this period, I have been living the life of a normal person. Several times a week, I go to Saint Samuel Cathedral and to the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation to take part in their activities. I continue donating cash. Occasionally, I watch horse races, attend theater performances, enjoy symphonies, go to the club to play cards and golf, and hold or attend banquets, balls, and salons on weekends.

“I forgot to tell you: I have already purchased a manor. It originally belonged to the Duke Negan family and is called Rose Song. It possesses its own high-quality vineyard and winery, along with a large stretch of woods and fields that can be used for farming and hunting. Its main building is a four-story quadrangle missing one long side, with a great number of rooms. I casually wandered around inside for a while and, without even leaving the entrance hall, walked more than ten thousand steps. At the same time, it contains numerous sculptures, oil paintings, decorations, and exquisite tableware. It is as grand as a palace.

“Perhaps my description is somewhat exaggerated. After all, I have never seen a true palace, and this is the first manor I have owned. I still remember when I was in Tingen, living with my older brother and younger sister in a rented apartment with only two rooms, falling asleep every day with the smell of coal in the air.

“This was introduced by Major General Qonas Kilgor. It cost me a total of twenty thousand pounds. You need not worry about my finances. I earned a large sum in the Southern Continent and sold off some mystical items. At present, I still have more than seventeen thousand pounds in cash, fifteen thousand pounds’ worth of gold bars, as well as many gold coins, soli, and pennies.

“I am fairly satisfied with Rose Song Manor. I have sent my former personal valet, Richardson, to serve as the manor’s steward. It is now autumn. I will soon invite guests there for a pleasant weekend. I hope Richardson can make the proper preparations.

“For the time being, Backlund’s mysterious world has not changed. May it remain that way forever.

“The Magic Mirror I mentioned before has already recovered its state, but it seems to have been left with post-traumatic stress disorder toward Amon. As long as a question mentions the corresponding matter, it automatically changes the color of its font, gives incorrect answers, and repeatedly asks me for praise.

“It also seems to have developed a different view regarding leaving the Church of Steam. It appears to have decided to stay there a while longer, believing that would be safer. It even wants to display harmful traits and become a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact. I must say, its way of thinking always surprises me.

“Thanks to some of its answers, I found a way to create pure darkness. That is, to use a Night-domain charm containing a dream to produce it. This belongs to a response from the Evernight Goddess and can be categorized as pure. In addition, after repeated experiments, today I finally mastered meditative engraving of divine symbols and created the item I wanted.”

Upon writing this, Klein, who was seated on the sofa and using his thigh as a desk, could not help stopping his fountain pen and raising a hand to rub the corner of his forehead.

Repeated failures meant the loss of one Worm of Spirit after another. And every time he separated a Worm of Spirit, to him, it was damage like his spirit body being torn apart. A fairly long period of time was needed to recover.

Therefore, in order to leave a margin for unexpected incidents, Klein never allowed himself to reach his limit. Each time he separated three or four Worms of Spirit, he would choose to rest for several days before beginning inscription attempts. He tried and stopped, stopped and tried, until now, when he finally fully mastered the method and created a finished product.

Glancing at the rectangular “diamond” placed beside him, he saw within its continuously refracting light complex symbols layered one upon another, extending into the void. His head became slightly dizzy, as though he were witnessing a segment of history.

I’ll call it the Yesterday Once More charm… Klein withdrew his gaze and continued writing:

“Storms have once again made landfall in coastal areas. Both houses of the kingdom’s Parliament have entered the traditional period of discussing important bills. The steps of the new year grow closer and louder. This makes one inexplicably worried.

“May you recover as soon as possible and awaken early.

“Your eternal student,
“Klein Moretti”

Putting away the fountain pen and folding the letter paper, Klein blew the Azik copper whistle and summoned the nearly four-meter-tall skeletal messenger.

Unlike before, this messenger only revealed one head and one arm, while the rest remained below the floor, on the second story.

This made it look much shorter than Klein.

After all, I now barely count as a favored one of Death too… Klein handed the letter to the messenger and watched as it collapsed into a waterfall of bones, drilling into the floor.

After finishing this, he picked up the Yesterday Once More charm from the sofa armrest.

This was his first successful product. He intended to use it himself first. In any case, now that he had the experience, making more afterward would be easier.

As for whether borrowing strength from a past version of himself was dangerous, Klein had already divined above the gray fog in advance. His thought was that, if it involved the true Fool or the owner of the Door of Light, at least the gray fog and the mysterious space might be able to block it somewhat.

And the result of the divination was: extremely safe.

After staring at the elongated diamond-like charm for several seconds, Klein hesitated no longer. He opened his mouth and uttered a word in ancient Hermes:

“History!”

The reason he attempted this in the real world rather than above the gray fog was because he worried that the mysterious space would block any tracing back into the past.

Amid the difficult, awkward sound, Klein infused spirituality into the Yesterday Once More charm.

The light spreading outward like fine strands of hair lit up, illuminating the surroundings until everything was clear and pure.

Faintly, one scene after another flashed before Klein’s eyes.

It was he, beside Ince Zangwill’s corpse, leading Daly Simone in a melodious dance.

It was Dwayne Dantès, with graying temples and an outstanding bearing.

It was Gehrman Sparrow, pressing down on his top hat and descending with the favor of the wind onto the Black Tulip.

It was Sherlock Moriarty, struggling with all his might as a meteorite fell from the sky.

It was Klein Moretti inside Blackthorn Security Company, hearing an infant’s cries and summoning “sunlight.”

It was a pale-faced university graduate raising a revolver and aiming at his own temple.

Going further back, all images vanished, leaving only a patch of grayish-white fog.

Until the charm’s power was exhausted, Klein still failed to discover the end of that fog.

As expected. My transmigration is connected to that gray fog, that mysterious space, and that strange Door of Light… This basically confirms that, in the past, I was indeed asleep inside a cocoon, hanging from the Door of Light, continuing that way for who knows how long… Compared to his state when he first saw that Door of Light, Klein was rather calm after completing this confirmation, as though he had expected it long ago.

Whew. Next, I can make two Yesterday Once More charms for Will. This charm is of no particular use to me… I will not visit his house this week. Going every week to feed him ice cream always makes people suspicious. Even the maids in his household have begun looking at me strangely… Also, since I have mastered the meditative engraving method for divine symbols, making extraordinary bullets using the Worms of Time can now be placed on the agenda. Mm, Leonard said he will go to Tingen in the next few days and try to steal the power of the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem… Klein raised a hand to rub his forehead, then rose and left the sofa.

At a previous Tarot Gathering, Leonard had already passed on to him the four kinds of divine symbols and magical markings given by Pallez Zoroast. They all belonged to the Marauder domain. Supposedly, one could mislead enemies and cause errors in their judgment. One could steal the three Beyonder powers the target had used previously, tracing backward in order from the most recent use. One, if it could reliably affect the enemy, would cause them to lose a large amount of life and enter an aged state. One could create Worms of Time with short survival cycles and silently “parasitize” them inside a target, controlled by the charm user.

Of Klein’s remaining seven Worms of Time, three had already been made into Luck Stealer charms. He had given one to Miss Justice and kept two for himself. In other words, he still had four Worms of Time—just enough to attempt all four effects. Of course, his intuition told him that not all attempts would necessarily succeed.

As for Leonard’s two Worms of Time, one had been turned into a Luck Stealer charm. Leonard had prayed to Mr. Fool according to The World Gehrman Sparrow’s guidance and received a response. The other, relying on Pallez Zoroast’s help, had been made into a Parasite charm.

After a stretch of work, by evening, Klein succeeded five times and failed once. He obtained two Yesterday Once More charms, one Parasitic Bullet, one Deception Bullet, and one Deprivation Bullet.

His only failure was the Aging Bullet. The reason seemed to be that the level of power from the mysterious space above the gray fog that he could currently mobilize was still insufficient.

Looking at the three strange bullets of similar appearance, interwoven between transparent and translucent, Klein let out a breath. He took out the Death Knell revolver and loaded them one by one.

Inside were also the three Spirit-Control Bullets he had previously made.

After putting away the altar, he walked out of the room, went down to the second floor, entered the dining room, and said to the butler Walter, who was standing nearby:

“We may send invitations according to the list already drafted, inviting the guests for this weekend’s suburban hunt.”

“Yes, sir.” Walter had long since made preparations for this. He was as solemn and proper as ever.

…

Tingen City, 36 Zouteland Street.

Leonard stepped down from a carriage and looked at the reconstructed building with a complicated expression. For a moment, he even forgot to go inside.