Chapter 32: Initial Review

Chapter 32: Initial Review

When he heard the illusory, layered voice of prayer, Klein was seated in the four-wheeled carriage, returning from Saint Samuel Cathedral to Böklund Street.

A woman… not especially urgent… With only the roughest judgment available, he could not immediately go above the gray fog to respond.

Sweeping a glance through the window at the gas streetlamps driving away the darkness, Klein withdrew his gaze, lifted the white-glazed porcelain teacup rimmed with gold, and took a small sip.

At his side, Richardson mustered his courage and said, “Sir, I have thought things through. You were right. Everyone grows from having no experience, or very little experience. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to grow.”

After confirming that Godopos and his group had died, he finally stopped worrying and began considering his own career.

For a servant, changing employers repeatedly over a short period was an enormous stain. Once he resigned from Dawn Dantes’s household, Richardson believed it would be very difficult for him to continue working as a personal valet.

To him, that would be a tremendous loss.

It was not only because the annual salary of a personal valet was at least twenty-five pounds, far higher than that of other non-management positions and equal to a lady’s maid. It was also because personal valets and ladies’ maids were the servants with the greatest chance of becoming butlers.

They followed the master or mistress, helped handle trivial affairs, served as their mouthpieces and assistants, and could effectively cultivate their own abilities. Through this, they comprehensively mastered many skills required of a butler and became their employer’s trusted confidants. Once the opportunity arose, they could relatively easily transition into estate stewards, assistant butlers, deputy butlers, and eventually rise step by step to become butlers.

Richardson did indeed long for a peaceful life, but that did not mean he was willing to remain a servant forever. Without question, he hoped to rely on his own efforts to earn more salary and obtain higher status. Becoming butler to a wealthy household was his ultimate goal.

“Understanding now is not too late,” Klein replied with a smile, permitting Richardson to stay.

After returning to 160 Böklund Street, he instructed the housekeeper, Taneja, to have the kitchen prepare him a half-past-eleven supper. Then he went up to the third floor, removed his coat, and entered the bathroom.

By then, the bathtub had already been filled with hot water at the right temperature five minutes in advance by the maid.

Klein did not hurry to bathe. He went above the gray fog and figured out who had prayed to him.

Mr. X… Traveler… Miss Magician is quite efficient… Without noticing it, she has grown too…

Klein muttered to himself for a few moments.

After careful consideration, he manifested the World, Gehrman Sparrow, and had this false figure pray amid the gray fog:

“…Give me the time, location, and more information. Only then can I act.”

Klein’s reasoning was simple. A Traveler’s abilities were extremely useful, but Dawn Dantes could hardly leave Böklund Street for an extended period or remain in his room for too long. If Miss Magician could provide detailed and reliable information, then carrying out one assassination would not affect much. But if she expected the World to slowly gather information from the periphery, that was absolutely impossible. It would interfere with more important matters.

Very soon, the Magician Fors replied:

“…I will gather it as quickly as possible.”

Because Mr. X’s gathering had not yet confirmed when or where it would be held next, she could only wait patiently.

After settling this matter, Klein returned to the real world, undressed, and lay in the bathtub.

Warm water wrapped around him. He narrowed his eyes in comfort, feeling the fatigue of body and mind being washed away bit by bit.

During this period, he had already gone…