Chapter 161: The Inverted Mausoleum

Chapter One Hundred Sixty-One
The Inverted Mausoleum

Most buildings in Morse Town followed styles from a century earlier, and the most eye-catching among them was the black church with its pointed spire.

After settling the carriage, Klein and the others swiftly finished a lunch of bread, toast, bacon, butter, and coffee.

“Under Sealed Artifact 3-0782’s purification, we can still hold out for two hours and thirty-five minutes.”

Standing before the church doors, Kernli took a gold-cased pocket watch from the inner pocket of his tailcoat, snapped it open, and glanced at it.

“I suggest we first deal with those suspected haunting incidents to avoid any possible worsening. Afterward, we return to the church, take turns guarding the artifact, and recover our condition.”

Under ordinary circumstances, Sequence 9, Sequence 8, and Sequence 7 Beyonders who had approached their limits needed to stay away from the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem for two hours before fully recovering. But if they had not reached the limit, or if they only wanted to recover partially, then it depended on the situation. The minimum was one hour.

“All right.”

“I have no objections.”

Klein and Leonard spoke at the same time.

“Which incident should we handle first?” Kernli asked, seeking his teammates’ opinions.

Leonard put away his casual, carefree posture and said, “The case where the old man living alone heard heavy footsteps echoing inside his house.”

“Why?” Kernli instinctively asked for the reason. Klein also waited with interest for a certain fellow to explain.

Is this the so-called poet’s intuition?

He quietly mocked the other man.

Leonard’s gaze moved from the not-tall Kernli’s face to Klein’s, then back again. He laughed softly.

“Because it is closest to the church.”

“How did you know? The file does not say…” Klein blurted.

Leonard chuckled.

“During lunch, did I not go to the bathroom? On the way back, I met a trainee priest and chatted with him casually. He told me Noah’s home is nearby. Mm, Noah is the name of the old man living alone.”

As expected of a Nighthawk with more than three years of experience. He is quite practiced at handling missions…

Klein laughed dryly and turned his head toward Kernli.

“Then let us go to Noah’s house first.”

“All right.”

Kernli had no objection.

And only one minute later, they arrived at Noah’s house…

Noah was an old man with sparse, graying hair. When he was young, he had lost his left hand forever in a war, forcing him to leave the army, take his compensation, and return to his hometown.

At that moment, he opened the door, looked at the three strangers before him, then glanced at Siel, who had hurried over from the church. In a hoarse voice, he said, “Come in. I hope you can solve my problem. I heard you brought holy water, Sacred Emblems, silver daggers, and garlic? That is truly excellent. I feel much more at ease. Please forgive my babbling. You must understand the condition of an old man who has been unable to sleep peacefully for two nights in a row. Oh, Goddess, I have been carrying fear all this time. My mind has become muddled.”

The moment they entered, Leonard suddenly straightened his back, his gaze seeming almost tangible as he examined the surroundings.

Immediately afterward, Klein sensed the cold, gloomy breath wandering inside the house. It was the residue left behind by a ghost that had once been active here.

“There was indeed an unclean creature here,” Kernli said in a lowered voice, the last among them to notice the state of the place.

“Very weak,” Leonard said leisurely, withdrawing his gaze.

Among all Sequence 8s recorded by the Church, Midnight Poet could be counted as one of the “professions” with relatively high inspiration.

“Yes,” Klein said.

He could feel the warmth and purity naturally radiated by Sealed Artifact 3-0782 swiftly melting away that cold aura, while the other party had no ability to resist at all.

Just then, the townspeople who had waited for quite some time gathered outside Noah’s home, watching Klein, Leonard, and Kernli with curious, expectant eyes.

“Cough!”

Leonard cleared his throat and said loudly, “We have the Goddess’s protection. Those unclean creatures will soon disappear and will cause no trouble.”

Having finished speaking, he indicated with his eyes that Klein should perform the “purification ritual” for everyone.

Why me?

Klein asked back with his gaze.

Of course, he had no idea whether Leonard could understand his look.

Clearly, Leonard did understand. In a lowered voice, he said, “You are the professional when it comes to rituals.”

Fine. Who told me to volunteer to help?

Klein straightened his clothes and accepted the holy water, Sacred Emblem, silver dagger, and garlic from Leonard.

He first pinned the Dark Sacred Emblem to his chest. Then he broke apart the garlic and threw the cloves one by one toward the corners.

“Eh, is garlic used like this when driving out ghosts?”

“That is not how the newspapers described it…”

“Can this really work?”

…

The surrounding townspeople instantly burst into discussion, both curious and excited, as though visiting a circus.

It has no use! I am just putting on a show!

Klein suddenly felt as if he had become a “Clown.” He hurriedly half-closed his eyes, used the silver dagger to pick up holy water, and sprinkled it onto the floor.

As he sprinkled, he walked around the house, reciting under his breath:

“Evernight Goddess…

“Mother of Concealment… Lady of Crimson…

“Empress of Misfortune and Fear…

“Mistress of Repose and Silence…”

…

This perfectly standard swindler-priest performance immediately awed the entire audience. The townspeople quieted one after another.

Once people entered a quiet state, it became easy for them to notice things they had previously ignored.

“It feels so warm.”

“Like basking in sunlight…”

“No. I seem to see a clear, pure sky…”

“How miraculous… Is this the effect of holy water?”

“As expected of priests sent by Saint Selena Cathedral!”

“Praise the Goddess!”

…

The townspeople discussed quietly. Their gazes toward Klein, Leonard, and Kernli gradually filled with reverence. Noah, the homeowner, visibly relaxed, no longer doubtful that the matter could be solved.

This is all the effect of Sealed Artifact 3-0782… We actually do not need to do anything at all to drive away a ghost. Standing in place for one minute would be enough… No need for all this tiring trouble…

After the cold aura in every part of the house had been purified, Klein opened his eyes, put away the silver dagger, and solemnly drew a crimson moon on his chest.

“Praise the Goddess!”

“Praise the Goddess!”

The townspeople answered devoutly.

“We still have some follow-up matters to handle, but we require absolute silence,” Leonard said with a smile, glancing around.

Having seen what “professional” meant, the townspeople did not dare insist on staying. At Priest Siel’s call, they withdrew from Noah’s house like the tide. Even the owner of the house himself had no choice but to leave temporarily.

“In truth, I very much want to sleep at once…”

Noah muttered as he walked toward the church.

Leonard stepped forward, reached out, and closed the front door. Then he turned to Klein and said, “Divine the cause of the incident.”

“No problem.”

Klein also wanted to try what could be divined from it.

I know this was Mr. Azik’s doing… but his level does not seem low. Heh, someone who can live for thirteen or fourteen hundred years certainly cannot be low-level… So my divination will inevitably be affected… Under such circumstances, without the mysterious space above the gray fog helping me, even I do not know what revelation I might obtain…

Klein took out the paper and pen he carried with him and wrote the divination statement:

“The cause of the haunting incident in Noah’s home.”

Holding that sheet of paper, he walked to the round table, sat down, closed his eyes, and leaned back against the chair.

Inside the hazy, indistinct world, Klein abruptly saw a black mausoleum.

It resembled a pyramid, yet it was embedded upside down into the earth, almost as though buried.

And inside that ancient mausoleum, thick black fog concealed everything.

Klein suddenly awoke and opened his eyes.

“What did you discover?” Kernli asked with concern.

Klein thought for a moment. Without hiding it, he described in detail the revelation he had obtained in his dream. At the end, he said, “This is definitely not the mausoleum style of the Northern Continent. I mean in the Fifth Epoch. In this field, I can barely count as an expert.”

Leonard nodded as if thinking.

“That is the Southern Continent’s inverted pyramid. It signifies entering the Underworld from the human world. Whether in the former Balam Empire or its offshoots like the Highland Kingdom, only so-called descendants of Death could build such mausoleums for themselves.

“In a certain sense, it is a symbol of Death.

“Mm. Ghosts must have some connection to Death. There is no doubt that this divination result is correct.”

Ignoring Leonard’s teasing, Klein fell into a daze as an interesting thought occurred to him.

Could Mr. Azik be a descendant of Death? Or could his extraordinarily long life have come from some transaction with Death?

According to the corresponding sections of The Revelation of Evernight and the Nighthawks’ internal materials, Death was an evil deity who had once unleashed a calamity at the end of the Fourth Epoch across the Northern Continent. That period was called the Pale Era.

Mm. It was later said that He had fallen under the combined efforts of the seven gods… Lamud Castle’s earliest date can no longer be verified, but it would not be earlier than the Pale Era.

If there truly is some connection, then the reason the mastermind living in the red-chimney house took away the skull of Mr. Azik’s child becomes something worth investigating…

Of course, this might also be an excuse for the Northern Continent nations to colonize the Southern Continent. After all, Death is mainly worshiped over there…

Because there were no other discoveries, the three Nighthawks did not linger long. They soon left Noah’s house and began handling the other two suspected hauntings.

With the same process and the same result, they swiftly freed the town from the disturbance of necromantic auras. However, they still did not find the source of it all.

Along the way, Leonard questioned townspeople about whether strangers had recently arrived in the past few days. The answer was negative.

Mr. Azik never came? He must have secretly arrived and quietly departed without anyone noticing… Very cautious indeed… He said he would return to Tingen City on Wednesday. Does that mean even if we did not handle this, the “ghosts” would disappear by themselves on that day?

Thinking over these matters, Klein followed Leonard and Kernli back to the entrance of Morse Church.

They could still withstand the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem for one hour and forty-five minutes.

“We take turns guarding it, switching every hour.”

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Klein glanced at the sky and said, “Let us try to get back to Tingen City in time for dinner.”

“No problem.”

Leonard glanced at Klein and laughed quietly.

“But for the sake of safety, I suggest two people guard while one rests, then rotate in order.”

…

Klein froze for a moment. Thoughts spun rapidly. He smiled in response.

“That works. But in that case, we must calculate the most reasonable rotation method: who rests first, who comes next, who comes last, how much time each person needs to recover, and how much they recover. Mm, I think we need to construct an equation containing unknown variables to solve for the optimal answer and compare it against single-person guarding… It would be best if we had an efficiency function… First, let us assume the unknown variable is…”

“Wait!”

Leonard’s green eyes were filled with confusion and terror.

“If that is the case, then let us stick to single-person guarding. The person whose turn it is can stay inside the church. Its range is large enough. Of course, Priest Siel and the others should go elsewhere as guests. The remaining two will stand outside the church and prevent anyone from approaching.”

“That is also my opinion,” Kernli said, discovering that merely hearing mathematical problems gave him a headache.

“All right.”

Klein nodded with apparent reluctance.

If he had failed to persuade his two teammates just now, then, as he had done last time, he could only have tried using the idea that everyone was special and everyone had secrets to make a deal with Leonard, giving up some information in exchange for his departure.

And now, the problem had been completely solved!