Chapter 106: Audrey’s “Adventure”

Chapter One Hundred Six
Audrey’s “Adventure”

Queen’s Borough, inside Earl Hall’s luxurious villa.

This should have been the time for practicing piano, but Audrey was still seated before her dressing table, thinking about how she would flip through and memorize Roselle’s diary that evening.

Suddenly, her surroundings blurred, and endless gray-white fog surged into being.

At the center of that gray fog, the figure of The Fool sat high above everything. He was listening to the request of a man so blurred that he could not be seen clearly at all:

“…I pray for a certain degree of assistance.

“I pray that someone may help me touch the bookmark tucked inside Roselle’s creative manuscript…”

…

How does Mr. Fool know that today, after the museum closes, I will visit the Roselle Memorial Exhibition and have the chance to touch some objects?

Audrey listened in a daze. Although she was surprised, she did not find it strange.

With Mr. Fool’s level and abilities, grasping such a minor matter would surely be very easy.

As for exactly how He had grasped it, an ordinary Sequence Beyonder had no need to understand.

Audrey was just about to respond when she heard The Fool speak in a deep, calm voice.

“You may choose to accept this commission, or refuse it.”

Uh…

Audrey considered for two seconds.

“Honorable Mr. Fool, I can try, but I cannot guarantee success.”

She was actually not particularly interested in the payment whose minimum was five hundred pounds. The reason she accepted this mission was because she was curious about what was so special about the bookmark Emperor Roselle had left behind that Mr. Fool’s blessed one valued it so highly, even to the point of offering a price without an upper limit.

In any case, I was going to flip through Roselle’s diary today anyway. I can do it in passing…

Audrey naturally thought that.

Within the gray fog, The Fool—Klein—nodded lightly and answered with a single word:

“Good.”

After that vision completely vanished, Audrey turned her gaze toward the dressing mirror, seemingly inspecting herself seriously.

She felt nervous and uneasy, yet at the same time eager and excited as she began planning the evening’s operation.

“I cannot let anyone notice anything abnormal.

“If Mr. Fool’s blessed one does something afterward, I cannot become the main target of suspicion.

“Only touching that bookmark definitely will not work. Once it disappears, every gaze will focus on me.

“Mm… Therefore, I must display the same interest and same attitude toward every item. I cannot let others see that my true goal is the bookmark. The whole process must be gentle, not abrupt, and must conform to reason and logic.

“How should I cause tiny damage that will not attract attention?

“It is only a bookmark…”

Audrey’s unfocused gaze swept over the various items arranged on her dressing table. Suddenly, it fixed on the open jewelry box, on a pair of gemstone ear studs decorated with fine needles.

The corners of her mouth lifted bit by bit, her brows and eyes curving faintly as she murmured to herself, “With Susie’s help added in, that should be enough…”

…

At six o’clock in the evening, the current season’s Backlund—where even seeing the sun was already difficult—had become dark and dim. Gas streetlamps lit up one after another.

After sending off the final group of ordinary visitors, the Kingdom Museum welcomed a new visiting party made up of people of noble standing: an earl’s daughter, a duke’s children, young viscounts, and others of similar status.

Because he knew that certain noble children were often troublemaking dandies, the Machinery Hivemind’s West District team captain, Max Livermore, who was responsible for guarding the memorial exhibition, had no choice but to disguise himself as a security guard and follow them constantly from the side to guard against accidents.

His hair was neatly combed back. He wore a monocle and had a refined, scholarly appearance, like a university professor.

That monocle was in fact a Sealed Artifact. Its code was 3-1328, and its nickname was “Crystal Eye.” Through it, Max Livermore could directly see Spirit Bodies, ghosts, and shadows, no longer fearing that Beyonders might drive such normally hard-to-detect entities to cause trouble or commit theft.

Of course, that Sealed Artifact also had significant drawbacks. It easily attracted resentful spirits, shadows, and similar monsters into the vicinity. Wearing it for extended periods would also irreversibly reduce one’s eyesight.

“In Backlund’s gloom, she is like the bright sun itself…”

At that moment, Max was looking in admiration at the blond-haired, blue-eyed young lady to the side.

With great interest, Audrey looked at the toilet inlaid with gold foil and carved with intricate patterns, then asked the guide beside her, “This is the first flush toilet in the modern sense?”

“Yes. Personally, I believe this was one of Roselle’s outstanding contributions to human civilization. Together with the sewer project that accompanied it, it changed Trier’s situation of streets filled with—heh—streets filled with filthy things.”

The guide had originally wanted to say the word excrement, but after looking at the young lady before her, she felt she could not lose an elegant manner.

Audrey considered briefly and asked again, “May I touch it?

“Can it still be used normally?”

Viscount Glaint, standing nearby, laughed and said, “Why are you so curious about this as well? No matter how ancient it is, it is still only a flush toilet.”

The other noble children who were on good terms with them all laughed.

“No, Glaint. You do not understand. This is the light of human civilization,” Audrey replied with a faint smile while making a vomiting expression inwardly.

If not to complete the commission for Mr. Fool’s blessed one, I would not want to do this either…

She sighed helplessly.

The guide agreed, saying, “Miss Hall has said it wonderfully. The light of human civilization is not only reflected in cannons, guns, and other weapons that changed the form of war. It also shines in every detail of our lives.

“Honorable miss, I also do not know whether it still functions normally, because no one would use it.”

As the guide spoke, she glanced at Max Livermore. Only after receiving a confirming nod did she continue, “You may touch it. You may even open the water tank and look at the mechanical structure inside, but please be very careful.”

“Thank you.”

Audrey watched the security guard open the glass wall, hurried two steps forward, extended her right hand in its thin white gauze glove, and carefully touched the flushing button.

Then she slowly stepped back and smiled.

“All right. That is enough. I have satisfied my curiosity. I cannot risk damaging it further.”

She remembered at all times the persona she had chosen for herself this time:

a naive and curious young lady.

After viewing that hall, they entered the exhibition hall containing Roselle’s diary.

Following a half-circle of introductions, Audrey again asked, “May I flip through this notebook? We are all very interested in these strange symbols.”

“Uh… I heard that paper beyond a certain age can be damaged even by contact with air, let alone direct touch. It should not be allowed, right?”

She blinked, making her beautiful, gemlike eyes display sincerity, longing, and a slight disappointment.

The guide glanced at Max Livermore once more. After receiving his response, she smiled and said, “The Church has adopted special preservation methods, allowing the paper to remain as though it were produced only a few years ago. Moreover, even without such methods, we would still do our best to satisfy your request. It would merely require a different environment, different clothing, and a stricter process.

“You may flip through it, but not for too long, and please do not use force.”

Audrey’s eyes immediately lit up, making it difficult for others to look away.

After sincerely thanking her, she, Viscount Glaint, and the other mysticism enthusiasts opened the glass cover together and carefully flipped through the notebook.

Audrey worked hard to memorize the contents, but because the symbols were too complicated, she could remember only a limited amount in that short time.

“All added together, about two pages’ worth, perhaps… I wonder if there is any way to make a rubbing or copy…”

Her thoughts wandered as she gave way to the companions on the periphery.

Like that, she raised requests to carefully appreciate a certain item in every exhibition hall, and most of those requests were satisfied.

Walking and stopping, they finally arrived at the reconstructed study.

Audrey maintained her previous state, occasionally asking a few questions and fully displaying her own curiosity.

When the guide introduced the “creative manuscripts,” Audrey spoke with bright eyes.

“May I flip through them? I want to see what the great inventor Roselle’s manuscripts specifically look like, and what strange and wonderful ideas they contain.”

“No problem, beautiful Miss Hall, honorable Viscount Glaint. All of you may flip through them. Heh. If any among you is a devout believer of the Church, you could even apply for a rubbed copy.”

The guide answered according to Max’s hint.

As a believer of the Goddess, Audrey could only respond with a faint smile. It was not convenient for her to speak.

At the same time, she pretended to brush aside her hair, touched her right ear with her hand, and quietly removed that ear stud.

Immediately afterward, the glass enclosing the desk was opened. Audrey stepped forward, pressed down on the manuscripts, deliberately pulled out the bookmark as though by accident, and casually turned one page.

At that moment, Susie, who had received her signal, suddenly barked from another direction.

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

Everyone’s gaze was instantly drawn over. Audrey, meanwhile, lowered her arm and used the ear stud in her palm to stab at the bookmark she held, while silently reciting the phrase “Pirate King” in her heart—once in Hermes, and once in ancient Hermes.

The sharp, needle-like decoration touched the bookmark’s surface. Just as it was about to go deeper and pierce through to the other side, Audrey suddenly sensed a strong, illusory resistance.

An abnormal resistance!

That resistance flashed and vanished. The “fine needle” made a tiny mark, nearly piercing through it.

“There really was a reaction! It really is strange!”

Audrey’s gaze focused briefly. She did not dare try again. She lifted her hand and placed the bookmark onto the surface of the desk.

Then she looked toward Susie and calmly instructed her maid Annie, “Mm… Take her to the washroom.”

“Yes, Miss.”

Annie hurriedly led Susie away from the exhibition hall.

Clink!

Taking advantage of the moment, Audrey threw the ear stud in her hand onto the floor, then turned her head to look and said, “Pardon me. My ear stud fell.”

Another maid hurried closer, picked up the ear stud, and helped her put it back on.

The little interruption passed in the blink of an eye. Everyone’s attention returned to the manuscripts. Once they had roughly flipped through them, “security guard” Max Livermore quickly tucked the bookmark back inside and closed the glass cover again.

During the next few exhibition halls, Audrey remained as interested as before, showing nothing abnormal.

Only after she left the museum and returned home did she find an opportunity to recite The Fool’s honorific name and report the result.

“…Following Your blessed one’s request, I damaged that bookmark a little.

“It—It had an abnormal reaction.”