Chapter 164: Leymano’s Magic Book

Chapter 164: Leymano’s Magic Book

Backlund, outside the steam train station.

Fors wore a hat with a fine black veil hanging down from it, decorated with blue flowers. She stood in the entrance hall of the subway station, waiting for her teacher, Dorian Gray, to arrive.

The fine drizzle on the street and the cold wind blowing up from underground left the writer shivering slightly. She felt she had underestimated Backlund’s spring.

“I really don’t know how Xio manages to stay busy outside all year round. Sigh. She said that before her father died, she never wanted to get out of bed at home. Aside from going to the washroom, servants brought her food and drink right to her side. And now she can go out very early every day and only return at night, regardless of heavy rain or thick fog, completing one commission after another and arresting one wanted criminal after another.” Thinking of this, Fors could not help feeling a little admiration for Xio.

By last week, this Miss Sheriff had not only repaid all her debts, but had even saved up two hundred pounds!

I have to say, Sheriff is the Beyonder profession most suited for being a bounty hunter. Of course, that only applies at the lower Sequences… Fors’s thoughts had just begun to drift when her gaze toward the outside suddenly swept over a familiar figure.

It was a gentleman of medium build, wearing the most fashionable black formal suit in Loen and a half top hat of silk. His shoulders were unusually broad, almost to an exaggerated degree.

This was Fors’s teacher, one of the few remaining members of the Abraham family, Dorian Gray Abraham.

Fors felt delighted and immediately opened her umbrella, walking out to meet him.

On the crowded street, before she could truly approach, merely after her gaze met Dorian’s, she saw her teacher raise his right hand, clench it into a fist, and press it against the first button of his black formal suit.

That is… danger! Fors’s expression did not change. She moved her gaze away with a smile, casting it past him toward a young gentleman farther behind. Then, as if nothing had happened, she passed Dorian Gray and continued forward.

An ancient family accumulated knowledge in every field beyond what ordinary people could imagine. Dorian Gray had long ago agreed upon certain emergency signals and gestures with Fors. The meaning of that action just now was very simple: stay away. Do not come close!

The young man behind him froze a little under the gaze of the lazy, mature woman. Then he instinctively adjusted his clothes and pressed down his hat.

By the time he finished those motions, Fors had already passed him and continued walking.

The rain fell in a fine, endless drizzle. Fors took a detour, boarded a rental carriage, and headed straight for the Hat Trick Hotel at 22 Hope Road in Cherwood Borough. It was the residence Dorian Gray had booked in advance.

Having spent many years moving through mysticism circles and having accumulated no small amount of experience, Fors calmly requested a street-facing room. She stood by the window and observed the guests entering the hotel.

Finally, she saw Dorian Gray step down from a carriage and enter the front door.

Fors quickly turned, went to the bend in the staircase, and covertly watched to see which room the attendant led her teacher to.

After waiting a short while, she took off her hat, messed up her hair a little, then walked to the door of room 2016 and rapped on it with bent fingers.

Her plan was simple. If her teacher’s response was normal, she would enter the room and talk. If anything felt wrong, she would pretend she had knocked on the wrong door, or that she was a streetwalker trying to solicit a client.

Creak. The door slowly opened. Dorian glanced at the student before him, then looked at both sides of the corridor.

He raised his right arm, spread his fingers, and pressed them against the second button of his formal suit.

That meant he was not under control and that the anomaly had already passed.

Fors silently breathed a sigh of relief and slipped into the room.

“Teacher, what happened just now?” she asked with worry and concern.

Dorian closed the door and smiled bitterly.

“I saw someone familiar.”

He sighed, then added, “An enemy.”

It was his former student, who had later followed Botis the Traveler in rebellion, nearly wiping out the upper ranks of the Abraham family.

As far as Dorian knew, that student of his should have also joined the Aurora Order, and was very likely one of its twenty-two Oracles.

“What did he do? Is he very powerful?” Fors asked curiously.

Dorian fell silent for a few seconds before revealing a little.

“I, Lawrence, Laubero, and Anlisa all belonged to the same organization. Because of certain people’s betrayal, that organization suffered a severe blow.

“That person just now was one of the traitors.”

He did not mention the family, nor did he mention the conflict between blood relatives and students, to prevent Fors from developing unnecessary emotional involvement.

“How hateful!” Fors immediately thought of Madam Anlisa, who had treated her very well, and the kind and friendly Mr. Lawrence.

“All right. Let’s not speak of such unpleasant matters.” Dorian took a sheet of paper folded several times from the inner pocket of his clothes and handed it to Fors. “The Astrologer potion formula. Your digestion of Trickmaster—and Apprentice—has exceeded my expectations. This is the greatest surprise I’ve received in the past ten years.”

“I specifically joined a circus,” Fors said without hiding anything. She even felt it was something worth boasting about.

As she spoke, she unfolded the paper and prepared to browse the Astrologer potion formula.

Just then, Dorian nodded in relief and said, “I’m sorry. Because of previous losses, I temporarily don’t have the main ingredients for the Astrologer potion. Consider that the final test.

“However, I have prepared a gift for you.”

As he spoke, he took out a palm-sized notebook from the left pocket of his coat. Its cover looked very hard, colored a coppery green, and seemed rather ancient.

The notebook was made of three different kinds of paper. One was scorched yellow and very few in number. Another was yellowish-brown and resembled parchment, about ten sheets in total. The last was simple, ordinary white paper. On the cover, a line of ancient Feysac words was written:

“I came, I saw, I recorded.”

Fors’s gaze moved away from the Astrologer potion formula and landed on the notebook. She recognized it as the relic of old Mr. Lawrence—the very item she had personally delivered to Priz Harbor for her teacher!

Dorian smiled.

“I imagine you aren’t unfamiliar with it.”

After Fors nodded repeatedly, he sighed and said, “This is a rather powerful mystical item. Among the items of this kind that I’ve seen, it can rank in the top five. That is not to say that it is more powerful than the ones behind it, but that its negative effects are very easy to resolve. Taking both sides into account, it becomes extremely valuable.”

“What is it called? And what are its negative effects?” Fors could hardly restrain her excitement.

Dorian stroked the notebook’s cover.

“It is called Leymano’s Travel Notebook. However, we prefer to call it Leymano’s Magic Book.

“This ‘magic book’ allows you, while witnessing a certain Beyonder ability, to record it.

“It will be fixed onto one page of the notebook and preserved for a long time. You can use it at any time when needed. But you must remember that after one use, the corresponding page will become blank again, waiting for you to record once more.”

“…It sounds very powerful.” Fors felt as if she were dreaming.

Any Beyonder ability I see can be recorded and used once?

This—Isn’t this another kind of Shepherd? The Shepherd that Little Sun mentioned… Mm, only for a single battle with preparations made ahead of time.

I wonder whether it can record the Beyonder abilities of demigods. If it can, then for a single prepared battle, it would be even stronger than a Shepherd!

Dorian seemed to have heard her thoughts and explained in detail.

“You could say that. It corresponds to Sequence 6 of our Apprentice pathway, Scribe. For Beyonder abilities above this Sequence, success is not guaranteed. There is a chance of failure, and the higher the level, the greater that possibility. Moreover, the effect will only be half of the original.

“Based on the experience of previous users, there is a decent chance of success when facing Sequence 5 Beyonder abilities. But once you reach Sequence 4, the level of a demigod, it becomes extremely difficult. It may not succeed even once in ten attempts, and I doubt any demigod would demonstrate an ability for you again and again. If they were an enemy, you would already have been killed ten times over.

“Do you see the scorched-yellow paper? It is specifically used to record Beyonder abilities with divine influence. There are three pages in total. In other words, even if you are truly very lucky, you can only record three demigod-level Beyonder abilities and use each once.”

Although it sounded as though there were many limitations, preventing this Travel Notebook from displaying its full power, for two kinds of people, such obstacles did not exist: the first were the lucky, and the second were those backed by a major organization or faction with demigods to help them… For an instant, Fors actually thought of praying to Mr. Fool, asking Him to demonstrate an ability so she could record it. Then she immediately felt that this was far too blasphemous and hurriedly apologized several times in her heart.

After that, she sincerely hoped that Miss Hermit, who seemed to be the strongest member of the Tarot Club, would become a demigod as soon as possible.

Dorian did not notice Fors’s thoughts wandering. He continued, “The paper that resembles parchment can record Beyonder abilities of Sequence 5 and Sequence 6. There are ten pages in total, and the effects are more than half of the original—about seventy to eighty percent.

“The remaining pages can record Beyonder abilities below Sequence 6. There are twenty-five pages in total. The effects are close to the original, though still somewhat weaker.

“Because of certain events before, the magic book only has five pages left that have recorded Beyonder abilities. The rest are blank. You may study them yourself.”

Dorian paused. His expression became serious.

“Before giving it to you, I must solemnly remind you that it has a negative effect. After every use, it will cause you to get lost—lost in a way that will make you encounter all kinds of dangers. You must draw your own blood and smear it evenly over the cover before this influence can be removed.

“Remember. Do not underestimate that kind of getting lost. You must handle it as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Teacher,” Fors replied earnestly.

Dorian then handed Leymano’s Travel Notebook to Fors.

“This is my gift.”

Teacher is so good to me… Fors pressed her lips together, then blurted out, “What is the name of that student who betrayed you? What does he look like?

“If I ever have the opportunity, I want to avenge you and Mr. Lawrence.”

“No. Don’t think about that. You are far too weak compared to him. When he betrayed us, he was already a Scribe. Now he may even have become a Traveler,” Dorian said solemnly. “However, you do need to remember him so that you can avoid him. His name is Louis Wayne. I’ll draw his appearance for you later.”

“Mm.” Fors nodded.

…

Aboard the Future, inside the pirate dining room.

Klein had just entered when he encountered Admiral of Stars Cattleya coming out.

The lady no longer looked pale as she had the previous night. Wearing those thick glasses, she said calmly, “Make your preparations. We will soon arrive at that sea.”

So quickly? Just how far did we fly last night? Klein was momentarily stunned.