Chapter 23: “The Operator”

Chapter 23: “The Operator”

He received a letter? Didn’t he say something had happened at home? Walter’s family lives in Backlund. If something really happened, wouldn’t it be faster to come directly by public carriage or hired carriage than to send a letter? With his income and the land he owns in the countryside, he can certainly afford it…

Klein nodded as if it had only been a casual question and said nothing more.

He slowly walked back to the easy chair, sat down, picked up a newspaper, and began reading it with great seriousness.

Seeing this, Richardson said no more. He quietly retreated from the room and silently closed the wooden door.

Only when the faint click sounded did Klein lift his gaze from the newspaper and look toward the door, thinking to himself:

I’ve discovered another of Richardson’s virtues. He likes observing his surroundings and can notice useful information. Previously, the first person to see Bishop Elektra visiting Councilman Mori Macht’s home was him, from the balcony…

But that’s still different from a Spectator. His focus is on events, not details…

Walter’s matter is slightly abnormal. Could this be the “additional development” Magic Mirror Arrodes mentioned?

Whatever the case, I should divine it first, in case there is danger and I remain unaware of it…

With that thought, Klein immediately entered the washroom, took four steps counterclockwise, and arrived above the gray fog. Whenever he existed in the state of the Fool, the core beneath the gray fog was always Klein Moretti’s appearance. It did not overlap with Sherlock Moriarty, Gehrman Sparrow, Dawn Dantes, or any other identity.

Because he lacked the necessary information, he could only divine matters concerning his own safety. Therefore, he did not use the dream divination method. Instead, he directly removed the pendulum from his wrist and wrote the corresponding divination statement:

“Walter’s abnormality will bring me danger.”

Holding the chain in his left hand, Klein closed his eyes and entered a meditative state, quietly reciting the sentence he had just written.

After a full seven times, he opened his eyes and looked at the silver chain. The citrine pendant was rotating counterclockwise at a perfectly normal amplitude and speed.

In other words, Walter’s abnormality would not bring him danger.

But that only explains this one issue. Perhaps I will encounter trouble because of it—trouble that is not dangerous… Also, there is another possibility. Whether it is dangerous depends on whether I make the normal choice. If I rashly get involved, what was not dangerous may become dangerous…

Drawing on his ample experience, Klein interpreted the result.

He had only just set this matter aside when he suddenly saw the crimson star representing the Hermit bloom with light, swelling and contracting.

Is the payment for the Lucky Balance about to arrive?

Klein’s heart leaped with joy. He immediately extended his spirituality toward it.

After making contact, he was disappointed. Admiral of Stars Cattleya was merely requesting that Mr. Fool relay her words to the Hanged Man. She did not mention when the transaction with the World would be completed at all.

“There are Obninsk sea monsters at the Abyss Whirlpool directly north of Sonia Island? Mr. Hanged Man is rather lucky. At least he won’t have to enter the ruins of the battle of gods like I do… Of course, Obninsk sea monsters are very dangerous. It won’t be simple to use one to complete the ritual. Mr. Hanged Man may even need to request the Sea God’s help…

“Madam Hermit’s request is actually to help find direct descendants of the Abraham family… That shows the Queen of Mysteries knows quite a lot about Mr. Door’s origins… Did the Emperor mention it to her?”

As Klein’s thoughts branched out from Admiral of Stars Cattleya’s message, he threw the corresponding image into the crimson star representing the Hanged Man.

At that moment, Alger Wilson had just finished his debriefing, passed the examination, and boarded the Blue Avenger once more.

After seeing the boundless gray fog and hearing the Hermit’s words, his outward expression did not change. He walked toward the captain’s cabin, keeping his pace and stride exactly as usual.

Entering the room and closing the door, he came before the liquor cabinet, took out a bottle of pirate-favored Golden Langqi, flipped over a beer glass, and directly poured himself half a cup.

Alger immediately picked up the glass, brought it to his mouth, and drank it down in large gulps, as if what it held were not spirits but plain water.

Throughout the process, his eyes were half closed, as if he had sunk into his own world.

After finishing the half glass of Golden Langqi, Alger set it down, wiped his mouth, and gave a low laugh.

“Direct descendants of the Abraham family? For others, that would be extremely difficult, almost without a clue. But I can ask Miss Magician. Her teacher is…

“Heh. Admiral of Stars doesn’t know this yet.”

He quickly restrained his emotions and paced back and forth a few times. In the end, he decided to abandon that earlier idea and respond frankly to the Hermit Cattleya’s request.

Admiral of Stars won’t only ask me for help. At next week’s Tarot Club, she will very likely post this mission to all members. And the others also know that Miss Magician’s teacher is from the Abraham family… There is no need to deceive others about something that can be so easily exposed. I must not damage the possibility of multiple future transactions for the sake of a petty advantage… Sometimes, honesty is the cheapest method…

Alger stopped, respectfully lowered his head, and recited Mr. Fool’s honorific name:

“…Please inform Madam Hermit that regarding clues to direct descendants of the Abraham family, she may directly ask Miss Magician…”

After asking Admiral of Stars to change her request, Alger took the initiative to mention what he had encountered on the night of the blood moon. He asked Mr. Fool whether the item that had resonated with the Ocean Songster Beyonder characteristic was the Book of Calamity, and whether the woman holding the golden wine cup inside the coral palace of his dream was Cohinem.

There was such a thing? Calamity Queen really refuses to die quietly… She was probably the one who divided her own Beyonder characteristic—one portion made into the Book of Calamity, one portion left in that seabed ruin. Mm, perhaps there are a third and fourth portion as well, but I don’t know where…

The moment the Hanged Man finished speaking, Klein determined without any doubt that the elf he had dreamed of was the Calamity Queen Cohinem!

This was not intuition, but a reasoned inference.

He had once obtained the golden wine cup that the elven queen Cohinem favored most, and there had been a similar vessel in the dream.

The elven singer Siatas knew some details of the Calamity Queen’s daily life and had deep feelings for that angel, meaning there was a high probability she had been an elf close to Cohinem. It was entirely understandable that the Beyonder characteristic she had left behind would resonate with the Book of Calamity on the night of a blood moon.

At this thought, Klein suddenly remembered something: he had given the golden wine cup most beloved by Cohinem to Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina, asking her to place the vessel inside Siatas’s grave.

If that Calamity Queen had truly not died completely, would burying the golden wine cup together with the remains of an elf close to her produce some kind of mutation?

Klein hurriedly calculated the time and realized he was not certain whether the Golden Dream had reached Sonia Island.

After a brief moment of thought, he first answered the Hanged Man in a calm and steady tone.

“Yes.”

Then he “delivered” the earlier portion of the other party’s words to the crimson star symbolizing the Hermit Cattleya.

Having done all this, Klein manifested the World, Gehrman Sparrow, and made him pray:

“Great Mr. Fool, please inform Danitz and have him ask Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina Edwards whether anything abnormal has happened regarding the remains of the elven singer Siatas and the golden wine cup.”

Whew… After completing the operation, Klein let out a breath, threw the corresponding image into the specially marked prayer light beside him, and then returned to the real world, stepping out of the washroom.

Coming before the full-length mirror and looking at the figure with frosted temples and deep blue eyes, the corners of his mouth lifted bit by bit. He knew that he had once again returned from Mr. Fool to the mysterious tycoon Dawn Dantes.

…

Bayam, in a primeval forest.

Danitz, who was drinking and eating meat at one of the Resistance’s bases while loudly boasting, suddenly shivered and nearly choked on the liquid in his mouth.

Although this was no longer the first time he had received a response from the great Fool, it still made him tremble in fear and feel inexplicably frightened.

Only after he made out the figure and understood the words did he exhale in relief, realizing that Gehrman Sparrow had asked him to handle something.

“Ask the Captain? That’s simple… The Golden Dream will come pick me up in a few days…

“Heh heh. In front of the great Fool, Gehrman Sparrow isn’t mad at all. He’s even devout and respectful…” Danitz quickly relaxed and thought leisurely.

At the same time, on the Future, Admiral of Stars Cattleya, who had received the reply, muttered soundlessly in slight astonishment:

“Directly ask Miss Magician?

“Right. She seems to be a Beyonder of the Apprentice pathway… She is actually connected to the Abraham family?

“She really isn’t simple!”

Cattleya thought it over and decided not to give the Hanged Man a new mission for now, because she was not certain whether Miss Magician would be willing to reveal clues about the Abraham family.

…

Walter returned to 160 Böklund Street in the afternoon. His expression was normal, and he appeared the same as always. It seemed the matter had been resolved rather easily.

Klein did not ask further. He felt that their relationship had not yet reached the stage where the butler would be candid with him, and the problem had not directly erupted before his eyes in a way that could no longer be concealed.

Time passed swiftly amid study. At dusk the next day, just before the full moon, Klein brought his personal valet Richardson and rode in the rented luxury carriage toward Saint Samuel Cathedral, preparing to attend Moon Mass.

He did not worry about the donation that might come. Miss Justice had already paid the 1,000 pounds, bringing the money on him to 2,186 pounds. Donating several hundred pounds would not put him in difficulty.

It’s merely not difficult… Klein sighed inwardly, glanced through the window at the symmetrical clock towers, left the carriage, crossed the square, and entered Saint Samuel Cathedral.