Chapter 175: The Power of Mysticism

Chapter 175: The Power of Mysticism

Most of the houses in Gurain were built along roads that spiraled upward. Occasionally, where the ground became flatter and broader, there would be a plaza or market.

Carrying his luggage, Klein relied on a Seer’s spiritual intuition and casually chose a direction, searching along the way for the more lively sort of bar.

There were not many carriages on the roads, and rented ones were even rarer, appearing only after long intervals. The most popular means of transportation in East Balam was the “coffin.” This came from customs rooted in Death worship, from the belief that coffins could bring tranquility and peace. As a result, Klein constantly saw several people carrying a black coffin past him. Its lid was much lighter and thinner than normal, as if it could be opened as casually as a carriage door.

Two people carrying one, four people carrying one, eight people carrying one; horses or horned sheep pulling one… This kind of folk custom is a little frightening at night. Mm, it is not much better during the day either. The whole city seems gloomy and eerie…

While admiring the “scenery” along the road, Klein stepped into a plaza. On the left was a church of the Lord of Storms, while to the right stood a row of restaurants, bars, and similar shops.

When he stopped, a coffin carried by four people had just been set down at the roadside.

As the lid opened, the passenger lying inside the coffin stood up and stepped out. He was a Northern Continent-style gentleman wearing a white shirt and black vest.

The gentleman’s formal coat had remained draped over his arm the whole time. Only after leaving the coffin did he put it over his shoulders.

Then, Klein watched this gentleman head straight for the Church of Storms and walk inside.

That really does give off a strange sense of incongruity… Hasn’t the Church of Storms always liked changing colonial customs and forcefully promoting Loen’s ways? Why are they not doing so in East Balam? Because the Death pathway and the Evernight pathway belong to similar types, so the Church of Storms wishes to preserve certain folk customs of Death’s domain in order to restrain the Evernight Church’s spread?

Klein nodded thoughtfully and turned toward the row of buildings on the right, preparing to enter one of the bars.

Only after this firsthand experience did he vaguely understand why many history books described ancient Balam Empire clothing styles the way they did.

They liked wearing trousers, preferred lightweight styles, and considered pleats beautiful… Wasn’t that because it was convenient to go out and lie in coffins?

Klein shook his head with a smile, pushed open the bar’s heavy wooden door, squeezed through one drunkard after another, and walked toward the bar counter.

At that moment, the two military “trackers,” afraid of exposing themselves, had deliberately put some distance between themselves and Dawn Dantes. They had only just reached the door.

Seizing that brief opening, Klein suddenly changed direction. Like a fish slipping through water, he passed through the crowd and ran toward the area near the back door.

—Although he did not understand Dutanese, he could read drawn symbols and knew which area was the washroom and which area was off-limits to customers.

After circling to a region invisible from the main entrance, Klein shook one shoulder and swiftly removed his coat, draping it over his arm.

Immediately afterward, he tucked the gold-inlaid cane under his arm, stretched one palm over his face, slowed his steps, and changed direction again, heading for the bar’s main door.

When he had put nearly ten meters between himself and the place where he had removed his coat, Klein lowered the right hand pressed against his face. His entire image had completely changed.

His graying temples, deep eyes, and elegant bearing had all vanished, replaced by the features of a Loenese man one could find anywhere on the Northern Continent.

Carrying his luggage and holding his cane under his arm, Klein walked steadily toward the two military “trackers.” While they looked left and right, searching for Dawn Dantes, he brushed past them and left the bar.

Whether tracking or counter-tracking, both were specialties of a Faceless!

Back in the plaza, Klein turned into a narrow alley slanting up toward higher ground. He planned to find a hotel somewhere else.

As he walked along the quiet, sparsely populated road, he suddenly heard a woman’s frightened cry.

The sound lasted only a very short time before abruptly stopping.

Although he could not understand what the other party had shouted, Klein could sense the fear, terror, and panic in that voice. His steps shifted, and he entered an even narrower, more deserted lane.

Less than ten seconds later, in a hidden corner, he saw a local man in his thirties with brownish skin and relatively soft features pressing down on a girl who was at most thirteen or fourteen years old, using violence to assault her.

Klein looked over, slowed his steps, and stopped inside the nearby shadows.

At this moment, the young girl’s face was already twisted by extreme fear. No matter how she struggled, she could not break free. Instead, she drew blows upon herself.

Tears and mucus ran down her face. Her mouth had been stuffed with rags from clothing, and she could only make muffled whimpers.

Just then, she was astonished to discover that the villain’s attempt to remove her clothes had slowed.

“…”

There was no time at all to think about what had happened. She instinctively looked toward that villain and saw that his eyes were wide open, the muscles on his face slowly pulling, unable to form a complete expression. His arms and legs twitched, paused, and jerked as he continued what he had been doing, yet now she could easily dodge him.

The girl instinctively shoved him, and to her surprise, it worked extremely well. The weight on her body lifted. She hurriedly stood and was about to flee, but her legs would not stop shaking. After only a few steps, she stumbled over a stone and almost fell to the ground.

At that moment, she heard footsteps behind her. Her heart grew even more panicked, and her movements became even more chaotic.

Then the footsteps stopped.

The girl instinctively turned back and saw the villain standing stiffly two meters away. Every joint in his body seemed rusted as he made all kinds of bizarre movements.

“What happened…”

The girl suddenly felt as though she were dreaming.

After struggling for a while, the brown-skinned local man finally grew quiet. He revealed a smile and said in Dutanese, “If you ever run into someone like me again, remember to run toward the nearest church, or toward wherever there are many people.”

The girl froze. Then she abruptly screamed, turned around, and ran away wildly.

By instinct, she chose the direction of the church in the plaza.

When the secluded corner returned to peace, the brown-skinned local man turned his head toward the nearby shadows and watched as Klein walked out from within them.

“A new marionette… His body is not strong enough, his movements are not agile enough, he has no Beyonder powers, and his appearance is relatively vicious. Aside from knowing Dutanese, he is practically useless.”

Klein made a simple evaluation in his heart.

“If he had not been doing evil, and if I did not lack the local language, I really would have wanted to bury him directly.”

He could not help comparing this with his previous marionette, Blood Admiral Senor.

“Senor was a Wraith. He could use Mirror Blink, hide inside the reflection of a gold coin, and did not have to worry about being seen… He also had Wraith Shriek and possession abilities, making him a perfect match for a Marionettist…

“Most importantly, he also knew Dutanese…

“Compared with him, this marionette is the difference between one pence and forty-two thousand gold pounds.

“I do not even know his name. I can only use my ability to sense surface thoughts, not read deeper memories. Unless he encounters familiar people or objects, causing corresponding changes in his spirit and making him ‘spit out’ more information… I’ll call him Afu—no, Ov.”

Klein rubbed his forehead and sighed. Before the girl could bring clergy over, he took his new marionette, Ov, and left the area.

Not long afterward, with the help of his marionette’s translation, he found a random hotel in the zone where Gurain’s prosperity and backwardness overlapped. Surprisingly, he did not need to provide any identification documents, even though Klein had already changed his appearance on the road into that of a typical local.

“Even more lacking in effective administration than those colonies at sea…”

Klein put down his luggage and tossed most of the cash he carried above the gray fog, leaving only fifty pounds for daily expenses.

At the same time, because he had already crossed the Berserk Sea and no longer needed to worry about triggering anomalies, he brought Azik’s copper whistle and the iron cigarette case down from the mysterious space above the gray fog, so that Mr. Azik could locate him if he came.

Once these matters were done, and since he had already eaten dinner aboard the passenger liner, he suddenly found himself free. He decided to seize the time and search for a second marionette.

As for how to search, Klein, who did not understand enough about Gurain in any aspect, planned to make use of a Seer’s specialty and use mysticism to find one!

Taking Ov with him out of the hotel, Klein broke off a branch from a Donningsman tree and used it as a dowsing rod. Practiced and calm, he meditated and murmured, “The location of my new marionette.”

In the silent environment, pair after pair of indifferent eyes seemed to pierce through the barrier between illusion and reality, all staring at that dowsing rod at once.

The branch tilted, pointing in a certain direction.

After walking for a while and divining again, Klein followed the revelations. After many turns, he arrived at a steep stairway.

The stairway connected several layers of Gurain’s roads. One had to raise one’s head high to see the top. At this very moment, it was empty.

“The divination’s revelation is indeed here… Why is there no one? Because it was not done above the gray fog, the result is inaccurate? But I am still a Sequence 5 Marionettist. My divination abilities absolutely rank among the front beneath the high Sequences…”

Klein frowned slightly and looked around, unable to find any target.

He thought for a moment, walked toward the stairway, and sat down in the shadows at the very edge of the bottom step. With not much confidence and plenty of boredom, he began waiting.

After a few minutes, he stood again and had his marionette Ov sit where he had just sat.

Klein himself then pulled away, hiding in a concealed spot nearly two hundred meters away.

…

Gurain, Lower Lip District.

Leonard Mitchell, Daly Simone, and the others followed Sost, captain of the Red Gloves squad, to the vicinity of a neighborhood.

Under the cover of night, Sost once again emphasized to all members taking part in the operation:

“Our target this time is Ulika, who lives in house number 13. He is a rather important member of the Numinous Episcopate, responsible for contact with different groups in the Backlund region.

“Although all intelligence indicates that he is not a demigod, to prevent accidents, I still applied for a Grade 1 sealed artifact. Her Excellency the Eye of the Goddess is also prepared to provide assistance at any time.

“Also, most residents in this neighborhood are locals. Be on guard against the possibility that they are also Numinous Episcopate personnel.”