Chapter 76: Searching for Anomalies

Chapter 76: Searching for Anomalies

Klein neither answered yes nor no. Stopping on his way toward the bedroom, he said flatly, “That was a question.”

“Yes, yes, a question! A completely baseless, slanderous question! And I gave a negative answer.” Danitz responded in delight, placing heavy emphasis on the fact that he had never admitted anything.

Klein nodded lightly.

“I will clarify it to your captain.”

Clarify… Danitz first froze, then opened his mouth halfway, his expression twisting.

As someone who had seen a great deal, he did not continue defending himself or arguing. Instead, he forced a smile and said, “Is there anything I can do for you?”

Klein quietly inhaled and used his Clown ability to control his facial expression.

“Listen carefully.”

“Yes, of course!” Danitz hurriedly agreed.

Seeing Gehrman Sparrow turn and reach the bedroom door, he could not help blurting out another question.

“You will not really go clarify things with the captain, will you?”

Klein twisted the handle and answered without much expression, “Listen carefully.”

With that, he pushed the door open and entered. Before the corners of his mouth could spread, he shut the door behind him.

…

After breakfast the next day, Klein changed into wide-legged trousers, a coffee-brown thick jacket, and a flat cap, then altered his appearance and left, leaving Danitz alone in the room to watch over the wireless telegraph receiver.

Along the way, Klein changed his face again, making himself look even more like a local native.

He found a specialized store and bought linen gloves, a shroud, and a body bag. Then, based on the surrounding environmental features he had seen while browsing the prayer scenes, he found his way to that bridge hole and found the girl who had died in the corner, in the mud.

Because it was still winter and the weather was not hot, the corpse had not yet shown obvious signs of decay. Even so, the ulcerated skin and foul odor still made Klein instinctively feel nauseated.

He had not immediately come last night to bury this girl, who had wished to live like a human being, because under the influence of recent events, Bayam was under especially strict nighttime control, and the cemetery would only open after dawn.

Taking out a small metal bottle, Klein poured a little Klarg’s Oil onto his hand and rubbed it at the tip of his nose.

A sharp, choking sensation invaded his mind. A minty disinfectant-like smell filled his sense of smell, leaving him as clear-headed as if he had just fallen into an ocean with ice blocks floating on the surface, no longer affected by any other odor.

After putting the metal bottle away, Klein put on the gloves, walked a few steps forward, and crouched beside the female corpse.

He first spread out the shroud and slowly rolled her into it. Then, moving gently, he placed the body inside the body bag.

Carrying the bag on his back, he deliberately passed through several of Bayam’s busiest streets, continuing all the way outside the city. Following a narrow road that carriages could not travel, he climbed halfway up a mountain by the sea.

Here stood a cemetery specially prepared for local natives by the Church of Storms and the Governor-General’s Office.

By contrast, the cemeteries of the Loenese, Intisians, Feynapotterans, and other foreigners who came here to trade, adventure, or settle were on the other side of Bayam, backed by woods, flat and gently sloped.

Klein climbed step by step, entered the unnamed cemetery, and found the gravekeeper dozing off.

“How do you want to bury him?” the gravekeeper said, pointing at the body bag. “If you want it free, you have to wait a few days. We wait until the morgue has collected a certain number of bodies, then burn them together and bury them in the same grave pit. Of course, a priest will soothe the spirits of the dead beforehand.

“Five soli, and he gets his own urn and one compartment. Two pounds, and that gets the urn, a grave, and a stone tablet. If…