Chapter 77: Remnants

Chapter Seventy-Seven
Remnants

“All right.”

Hearing Dunn’s proposal, Leonard answered with an easy expression.

After that, he and Klein and the others left the warehouse together and approached the place where the monster Bieber had “self-destructed.” Using it as the center, they began searching outward in circles.

“Captain, what exactly are we looking for?” Klein looked at the scattered rotten flesh, enduring the impulse to vomit, and asked Dunn Smith in confusion.

Dunn did not lift his head. His deep gray eyes continued sweeping over the ground.

“Waking early, losing control, becoming a monster—this means Ray Bieber did not completely absorb the Beyonder power provided by the notebook. It also means that a certain part of his body will be enriched with the supernatural and become a higher-quality material.

“If you encounter something similar in the future, do not miss it. It may be an extremely important item.”

So that is how it works…

Klein nodded slightly in sudden understanding.

In the next instant, another thought occurred to him:

If the part of the monster Bieber that became enriched with Beyonder power is somewhere indescribable, wouldn’t that be terribly awkward… And if it were later used to prepare a potion, wouldn’t that be unimaginably disgusting…

Just as Klein’s thoughts were spreading in strange directions, Borgia, whose eyes were sharp as an eagle’s, suddenly spoke.

“Found it. Cough.”

Dunn, El, and the others immediately turned and gathered around him. Driven by curiosity, Klein also quickened his steps toward Borgia.

Soon, he saw the object before Borgia.

It was a fist-sized lump of gray-white matter. Its surface was covered in furrows, and its overall texture was soft yet substantial, like a brain freshly taken from a living body.

Although Klein could not yet see anything extraordinary about this lump of “gray-white,” the fact that it had remained intact through that violent explosion was enough to convince him that Borgia had not found the wrong thing.

Dunn examined it carefully, then crouched down. While bending and stretching his right arm, he cautiously picked up the gray-white object with his black-gloved left hand.

The moment it was touched, that lump of “gray-white” immediately spread outward, turning into a viscous, unbroken liquid.

At this time, El Hassan took out a tin-colored square box from inside his coat, removed the cigarettes one by one, and put them into his pocket.

Then he passed the square tin box to Dunn and smiled.

“I know you only like pipes.”

Dunn gave a soft “heh,” accepted the square tin box, and poured the gray-white, sticky liquid into it for temporary storage.

After putting away the item, he and Lorotta and the others roughly searched the scene again.

Once they confirmed that nothing major had been overlooked, they left and came outside. There they saw the horses pawing the ground in agitation, almost breaking free of the rope.

“I can drive,” Borgia said, pressing one hand against his mouth and coughing softly.

“I know. You are very good at soothing animals,” El replied with a smiling nod.

They boarded the carriage. Dunn, Lorotta, El Hassan, and Klein, still maintaining the arm-bending exercise, fell into a brief silence.

Only when the horses’ hooves began to sound and the wheels started rolling did Dunn look toward Klein and speak, weighing his words.

“I know you must be very curious about the Antigonus family notebook, and that you want to understand what once happened to you.”

No, not at all…

Klein instinctively denied it in his heart.

That is an ancient item filled with misfortune!

Without giving him time to answer, Dunn continued on his own.

“However, I must first report this matter to the Sanctuary. Only after they determine the notebook’s confidentiality level can we consider whether you may read it.”

“No problem,” Klein answered simply.

Dunn continued bending and stretching his arm. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I once promised you that once we confirmed Ray Bieber was a descendant of the Antigonus family, I would make you an official member of the Nighthawks. Now, not only have we confirmed Ray Bieber’s identity, we have also eliminated the monster and foiled the Secret Order’s plot.

“In the process, you performed outstandingly. You personally killed a member of an evil organization. Therefore, I will keep my promise and submit an application to the Sanctuary immediately, then wait for their approval.

“Oh. I forgot something important. I still have not asked whether you are willing.

“Mr. Klein Moretti, are you willing to formally join the Tingen City Nighthawk team and become one of us? Your salary will immediately double, reaching six pounds per week, and it will increase to a certain degree every year after that.

“Your salary will be split equally between the Church and the Awwa County Police Department. You will also receive the identity of a probationary inspector, which can prove extremely useful at certain times.

“As a support-type Beyonder, you do not need to face enemies all the time, but you must take one day of weekly rotation guarding Chanis Gate…

“Without the team’s approval, you may not leave Tingen for any reason, and you must keep matters as secret as possible from your family…”

…

After Dunn finished explaining the limitations and benefits, Klein thought silently for more than ten seconds and said, “I hope to become an official Nighthawk.”

Only in that way could he come into contact with more secrets, such as information about the Secret Order.

After reading the Roselle diary fragments he had gathered earlier, Klein had modified some of his previous ideas: becoming proficient in mysticism and finding a way home remained his unchanged pursuit. But improving his own strength, so that he could more safely pry at the mysterious space above the gray fog and use it to return to his homeland, had become a newly added goal.

As Emperor Roselle had said, relying purely on external power was extremely dangerous.

Moreover, after becoming a Seer and obtaining Beyonder powers, Klein had sensed that his control over that mysterious space had advanced further. For instance, he could now pull one more member into the gathering.

This inevitably forced him to consider whether, once he became a Sequence 8, Sequence 7, or an even higher-sequence Beyonder, the mysterious space above the gray fog might develop even more favorable changes.

Of course, Klein was very clear that the premise of all this was thoroughly resolving the hidden dangers of the Seer potion. He could not be anxious. He could not be reckless.

“Very good. Once the Sanctuary’s approval comes down, you will be one of us.”

A slight smile appeared in Dunn’s gray eyes.

At that moment, El Hassan, who had been listening from the side, cut in.

“Klein—may I call you Klein? Your performance today was truly outstanding. You actually killed a Beyonder from the Secret Order, and I suspect he had reached Sequence 7. How did you do it? I can hardly believe it.”

As expected, this question finally came…

Klein made a show of organizing his words, something he had prepared for long ago.

He knew that his killing of a Beyonder who could simultaneously contend with Dunn, El, and Lorotta was indeed unbelievable, full of mysteries. As long as El and the others were not blind or stupid, they would eventually ask about what had happened. What surprised him was that they had actually endured until now before speaking.

That makes sense. The Captain and Mr. Hassan were injured earlier, and their conditions could deteriorate at any time. At such a moment, anything that might intensify conflict had to be suppressed first, lest I take desperate action after my “secret” was exposed… Only after I expressed my attitude and said I was willing to formally join the Nighthawks did they set down their worries and ask… They are all old hands. They clearly had no private exchange, yet they tacitly made the same decision…

Thoughtful, Klein spoke.

“It was a very lucky matter. The tailcoat clown made a fatal misjudgment.

“At that time, Sealed Artifact 2-049 was thrown near me by the shockwave of the explosion. It was about five or six meters away from me. From a rough observation, it would be easy to conclude that I was inside the Sealed Artifact’s range of influence.

“And at that time, I was affected by the explosion. My head was dizzy and my movements sluggish. I looked exactly as though I had been controlled.

“The tailcoat clown had, at some unknown time, invisibly arrived near me. He tempted me by saying he could rescue me and give me the Sequence 8 Clown corresponding to the Seer potion, wanting me to help him pick up the Antigonus family notebook. Right—he said the Secret Order possessed the Sequence pathway corresponding to the Seer potion, and that he himself had once been a Seer.”

…

Klein described the situation in detail, even calmly and methodically narrating his internal reasoning. This included his belief that the tailcoat clown had divined that taking the notebook carried enormous danger and therefore changed his strategy.

Of course, every truth he spoke existed to conceal the first lie: to conceal the fact that he had been controlled by Sealed Artifact 2-049.

“Divined that taking the notebook was extremely dangerous? Yes, it truly was extremely dangerous, but the danger was actually with you.”

The black-haired Madam Lorotta covered her mouth and gave a light laugh.

“His divination was not wrong, yet it instead caused him to fall into fatal danger. That is truly interesting.”

Klein froze for a moment, then nodded solemnly.

“Indeed. Divination is never especially clear. And ambiguity means the interpretation may be wrong.”

Mm. I must remember this!

“After that, how did you deal with him?” Dunn asked, leaning back slightly while continuing to bend and stretch his arm.

Klein smiled.

“I pretended to agree, making him come over to wake me. He did not dare enter the Sealed Artifact’s range of influence, so from two or three meters away, he tried to push me with a strange paper strip.

“I seized that chance, grabbed the paper strip, and pulled him toward 2-049’s range of influence. Then I cooperated with continuous gunfire and achieved the desired result. Heh. This is something I feel ashamed of. At that time, I actually had no confidence that I could hit him from only two or three meters away.”

El nodded slightly.

“With his evasion abilities, two or three meters is not absolutely safe. You might have hit him, but not necessarily a vital point. Then things would have become troublesome… There was no mistake at all in your choice. It could even be called outstanding. If it were me, I might not have done better.”

He did not ask what happened afterward, because the outcome of the tailcoat clown once he entered the range of Sealed Artifact 2-049 was already predetermined. He had become a living target.

“The subsequent Sequence after Seer is Clown… How strange…”

Dunn suddenly sighed from the side.