Chapter 115: The Fraudster

Chapter One Hundred Fifteen
The Fraudster

“Without my permission, my name must not be spoken.”

…

Even several minutes after the gathering ended, even after Audrey and Alger had returned to their own bedroom and captain’s cabin, the Fool’s words still seemed to echo beside their ears.

In their impression, the mysterious and powerful Mr. Fool was usually relaxed and leisurely, calm and indifferent, or difficult to fathom. Rarely did He display that solemn, lofty attitude.

And precisely because of that, the two of them were especially frightened and sincerely willing to obey.

Words of that style were not unfamiliar to them. They were recorded in The Revelation of Evernight and in The Book of Storms!

…

Tingen City, West Borough, Daffodil Street.

Klein pulled open the curtains, letting golden sunlight spill into his bedroom.

After Justice and the Hanged Man left, he once again examined the “star” from which prayers had come, but this time he gained no information.

Because the crimson “stars” had the ability to preserve prayers, resembling offline messages, Klein believed that during the interval between his two most recent visits above the gray fog, the boy who spoke Giant language had not prayed again.

That made him suspect that the boy’s parents might have become impossible to save, and that the boy had chosen to give up…

With his back to the sunlight, Klein walked to the bed and flopped face-first onto it, utterly unwilling to move.

He knew he ought to hurry to the Divination Club and continue the process of digestion. But he still did not want to move. He only wanted to lie there quietly, enjoying this rare day off.

From Tuesday to Friday, his daily schedule was packed. In the morning, mysticism lessons and their corresponding practice; in the afternoon, shooting training and combat practice. By evening, he was so tired that he had no energy left. On Saturday, his morning remained the same, while in the afternoon he began his rotation guarding Chanis Gate. Food, drink, and everything else happened underground, and he had to persist until early Sunday morning.

Sunday morning belonged to catching up on sleep. Sunday afternoon depended on the situation, deciding whether to go to the Divination Club. On Monday morning, he had just gone to Hoy University; in the afternoon, he had both to summon the Tarot Club members and consider the matter of acting as a Seer. In short, he was busy all week, with almost no chance to rest or relax.

So at this very moment, Klein wanted to be useless just once. Like a salted fish, he wanted to lounge at home doing nothing, thinking nothing, simply staring into space.

“No. As the boss of an ‘evil cult,’ how can I be this dispirited? If Miss Justice and Mr. Hanged Man found out, their worldviews would shatter…”

Klein buried his face in the blanket, cheering himself on.

“I already have the Clown potion formula. All I need is to digest the Seer potion completely… I already have the Clown potion formula. All I need is to digest the Seer potion completely…”

After muttering those words several times, he abruptly rolled over and sat up.

Taking a brass coin from his trouser pocket, Klein swiftly divined whether today was suitable for going to the club and received an affirmative answer.

“Five, four, three, two, one!”

After finishing the countdown, he forced himself to stand straight, walk to the coat rack, and take down his tailcoat and half-top silk hat.

…

Howes Street area, inside the Divination Club meeting room.

Klein sat in a cool, shaded corner, drinking Sibe black tea as he browsed the Tingen Honest Man. There were only six or seven members around him, a sparse scattering.

Just as a grammatical error in a recruitment advertisement amused him, Glacis, wearing a monocle and carrying a silk top hat, entered. Beside him was a lady in her thirties wearing a blue high-collared dress.

The lady had curved eyebrows and large eyes that nevertheless lacked brightness. Her left hand tightly gripped a black velvet Intis hat shaped like a helmet and decorated all over with feathers.

That hat is truly exaggerated. Does it not make her neck sore?

Klein sensed something and looked over, casually pinching his brow twice, as though soothing fatigue.

Within his spirit vision, Glacis and the green-eyed lady were physically healthy, but their emotions were anxious, angry, and panicked.

“Good afternoon, Glacis. That Mr. Lanevus truly was not worthy of trust, was he?”

Klein did not rise. He asked with a faint smile.

The last time Glacis, newly cured of lung disease, had come to him for divination, it had involved an investment in the Lanevus Steel Company, and Klein’s result had been poor and not recommended.

But seeing that the other party had still seemed uncertain afterward, Klein felt that he would most likely still choose to take the risk, at most no longer gambling all his wealth. Now, upon seeing his emotional colors, Klein immediately made the connection and drew a judgment.

Glacis was first startled, then showed a bitter smile.

“I truly regret not listening to your divination advice. Heh. This is the second time I have said this sentence. I hope—no, I firmly believe there will not be a third time.”

He turned his head toward the lady whose eyes already bore faint crow’s feet.

“Madam Christina, you see? We have not even opened our mouths, yet Mr. Moretti already knows our purpose. He is the most miraculous diviner I have ever met. I prefer using the word Seer to describe him.”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Moretti. We did indeed come because of Lanevus,” the lady named Christina said, giving a simple curtsy, her bearing flustered and anxious.

“Shall we go to the Citrine Room?”

Glacis, relatively calm, motioned with his chin toward the meeting room door.

Klein smiled and stood.

“That is the work of a diviner.”

He walked along the aisle to the door and entered the empty Citrine Room.

Glacis locked the wooden door, then walked toward a seat while sighing.

“Lanevus has vanished. Under the excuse of going to Sivellaus County to supervise the mining operation, he left Tingen and never returned. We sent people there by steam locomotive to look for him, only to discover that the large high-quality iron mine he spoke of existed solely on paper. What makes me feel fortunate is that I remembered your divination advice and ultimately invested only one third of my planned amount. Otherwise, I would have lost my family and my life.”

Klein’s eyes appeared deeper than usual as he glanced at the two of them. Slightly curious, he asked, “When making such a major investment decision, should you not have chosen representatives and sent them to the Hornacis mountain range in Sivellaus County to verify the mine in person?”

Christina answered rather quickly, “Our representatives were deceived. They were deceived by personnel Lanevus temporarily hired, by places temporarily rented, and by land temporarily fenced off.”

Klein did not ask further. Maintaining the bearing of a diviner, he said, “What do you hope to divine?”

“I would like to divine whether this matter can still be salvaged,” Christina said after glancing at Glacis.

Klein took paper and fountain pen.

“Then we will use astrological divination. I will ask questions, and you will answer.”

Through one question and answer after another, Klein marked the Thunder constellation in its proper position, along with symbols corresponding to various circumstances, completing an event horoscope.

Compared to ordinary people’s astrological divination, he used more elements, and his interpretive method was closer to the real thing.

“Madam, sir, you are currently standing at a fork in the road. If greed, panic, and lack of restraint drive you, you will fall deeper into the abyss and never be free of it. But if you can endure, wait, persist, and stop being greedy, then a turning point will arrive. You will see sunlight.”

Klein spoke at an unhurried pace.

“I understand.”

Christina nodded slowly. After thinking for a moment, she said, “Mr. Moretti, can you divine Lanevus’s whereabouts?”

“No. I am afraid that cannot be done. The information Lanevus left behind is very likely false. Even his name may not be real. How could I divine under such circumstances? Unless you can obtain extremely detailed and true information about him, or provide personal objects he used closely,” Klein answered truthfully.

Christina fell silent for a while. Then she took out a one-soli note and pushed it toward Klein.

“I heard Glacis mention that you are a true diviner who fears fate and does not crave money. Let the remainder count as a tip for the club.”

“Thank you for giving me confidence.”

She stood, politely said farewell, and hurried away.

Does not crave money… No, I am very vulgar!

Klein felt a little regret over having pretended to be such a mystic charlatan before.

Watching Christina leave, Glacis closed the door and turned back to ask, “Is there truly no way?”

“What I just told you is the way,” Klein said, leaning back with a smile.

“Sigh…”

Glacis released a heavy sigh.

“Lanevus swept away more than ten thousand pounds. There are over a hundred victims. Fortunately, I only lost fifty pounds—only my savings, with no debt. Madam Christina invested one hundred and fifty pounds. For her, that is not an easy amount to bear.”

“Have you reported it to the police?”

Upon hearing the figure of ten thousand pounds, Klein suddenly filled with righteous anger toward Mr. Fraudster.

Such a sum was enough to make one a wealthy man even in Backlund.

If it is merely searching for a missing person, I wonder whether the police will ask the Nighthawks, the Mandated Punishers, or the Machinery Hivemind for help…

His thoughts drifted.

Glacis nodded heavily.

“We have already reported it to the police, and they are taking it seriously. After discussion, we are willing to take out a portion of the recovered money as a reward. Anyone who can provide relevant clues regarding Lanevus’s whereabouts will receive ten pounds once the clue is verified as valid. If someone can provide his exact hiding place and help the police capture Lanevus, they will receive one hundred pounds in cash!”

Ten pounds for a clue? One hundred pounds for catching Lanevus?

Klein nearly felt his eyes brighten and his breathing turn heavy.

At present, he was worrying over where the later detective fees would come from.

This week’s three pounds of extra salary plus what remained of his private savings would be just enough to pay the second installment. But if Detective Henry completed both commissions next week, Klein’s extra weekly salary would not be enough to cover the final balance. He would be short by several soli—assuming, of course, that nothing else during this period required private money.

Perhaps I can obtain some of Lanevus’s personal objects from the police. But if he has truly already left Tingen, then it will be useless…

For a moment, Klein felt both expectation and regret.

Over the next hour and a half, because of Angelica’s recommendation, two more people came to Klein for “consultation.” One wanted divination for a child who had just turned one. Klein directly drew a natal chart, speaking until the other party was both convinced and satisfied.

The other wanted to find an object. Klein used tarot divination combined with dream divination to lock onto an approximate range, leaving the man deeply surprised, because he had never seen a diviner provide such precise information before.

“Perhaps by relying purely on divination, I can save enough to cover the missing portion of the final payment.”

Having paid his tip, Klein put on his hat, took up his cane, and walked toward the club entrance while thinking.

Just then, he saw Madam Christina, who had left earlier, come in again. Beside her was a young woman wearing a lotus-leaf hat.

Seeing Klein, Christina immediately came over. Lowering her voice, she asked, “Mr. Moretti, you said before that if there were an object related to Lanevus, you could attempt to divine his whereabouts?”

“That is correct.”

Klein nodded.

Christina took a breath and asked in a low voice, “Then does his child count as an object related to him?”

Huh?

For a moment, Klein was actually a little bewildered.