Chapter 65: Free?

Chapter Sixty-Five
Free?

After dinner, inside the billiards room of Bravehearts Bar.

Klein wore a simple black coat that fit the style of the place, along with a dark peaked cap. Holding a mug of Southville beer, he casually closed the door and walked to the opposite side of Kaspars, who was bending forward and testing a shot.

Before Klein could squeeze out a smile and greet him, Kaspars had already stopped moving, straightened, and glanced at him.

“Maric is not here.

“There are no extra gatherings of the kind you want.

“Apart from weapons, I have nothing.”

…He really knows the routine well… Good thing my purpose today is different…

Klein tugged at the corner of his mouth and said, “I came precisely to buy weapons.”

Maric is not here again… Looks as if this stronghold was exposed and watched by enemies, so they simply moved elsewhere… Then I have no way to contact Miss Bodyguard… And the helpers I planned to use to fool Miller Carter were Maric’s living corpses—secretive, obedient, unafraid of death. Hm, obedient on the premise that I use spirituality to shield them from Azik’s copper whistle…

As he spoke, a series of thoughts flashed through Klein’s mind.

Kaspars looked a little surprised. With suspicion, he leaned his cue into place, rubbed his rosacea nose, and said, “What weapon do you want? Did you use up the bullets from before? You practice quite frequently.”

No. The bullets I use for practice are all bought separately at Cragg Club…

With a smile, Klein said, “I want to buy explosives. The kind widely used in mines.”

“What do you want to do?” Kaspars blurted. His expression immediately darkened and became serious. “I warn you. Do not attempt any damned major act! I will not allow my customers to provoke Sivellaus Yard! Of course, you may choose not to buy weapons from me.”

To be a black-market arms dealer and live to this age, in a certain sense, he is still quite rule-abiding—at least he will not sell things to madmen…

Klein habitually made that judgment from a Nighthawk’s perspective. Then he smiled.

“You seem to have misunderstood something. I do not intend to blow open a bank vault, nor do I plan to create sensational news. I am only helping someone demolish part of a building so that later renovations can proceed.”

“Then why does he not look for a proper construction company?” Kaspars did not lower his guard.

“Haha. It is a secret chamber. He does not want outsiders to know about it.”

Klein turned to ask, “Do you know a reliable blasting expert? I am not good at this sort of thing. I am afraid I might bring the whole house down.”

Seeing that the other party was still considering preserving the house intact, Kaspars’s doubts scattered considerably.

Just as he was weighing how to answer, an illusory, drifting voice suddenly sounded inside the room.

“No need.”

A familiar sensation surged up. Klein hurriedly turned and discovered that Miss Bodyguard had, at some unknown moment, sat down on the chair in the corner.

She was still wearing her black Gothic court dress and the small soft hat of the same color. Her face remained as pale as ever, while her pale-gold hair and exquisite features set each other off, each highlighting the other’s merits.

“Good evening, madam.”

Klein bent slightly and gave a salute.

“Good evening, Madam Sharron,” Kaspars said, making the same gesture.

So her name is Sharron…

Klein waited thoughtfully for the other party to speak.

Yet Miss Bodyguard, addressed as Sharron, looked instead toward Kaspars.

“Maric will not come here again.”

“If you have something to tell him, leave a message using the third method we agreed on.”

“Yes, Madam Sharron,” Kaspars answered. This old man, who had clearly seen much of the world, seemed to have an instinctive fear toward Miss Bodyguard.

Hearing this, Klein cut in and asked, “If—I mean if—I want to ask Maric for help, how should I contact him?”

“Look for Kaspars,” Sharron answered with extreme simplicity.

“All right.”

Klein spread his hands, then gave an “mm” and said, “What did you mean by ‘no need’ just now?”

Sharron’s blue eyes did not ripple at all.

“I am one.”

You are one? You are a blasting expert? Wait, are you not a Beyonder with special abilities, probably at Sequence 5? Why are you also moonlighting as a blasting expert…

Klein froze briefly, suddenly not knowing how to continue.

In the end, he chose to trust Miss Bodyguard and spoke after weighing his words.

“I visited…”

Before he finished, he swept his gaze toward Kaspars, meaning the topic that followed was not suitable for an ordinary person.

From the essence of his body, a black-market arms dealer could indeed still be counted as an ordinary person…

Klein silently added.

Sharron tilted her head toward Kaspars.

“Prepare explosives.

“Two pounds’ worth.

“He pays.”

“Yes, Madam Sharron.”

Kaspars glanced at Klein, then limped out of the billiards room, not forgetting to shut the door behind him.

Seeing Miss Bodyguard merely watch him silently, Klein felt as though he were being stared at by a female ghost. He quickly organized his words and said, “I learned Baronet Pound’s address. In the middle of the night, I paid him a visit…”

After recounting Rafter Pound’s words exactly as they had been spoken, Klein began displaying his reasoning—the kind that used the result to infer the process.

“I believe he lied in many places. A viscount family could not be secretly controlled so easily.

“Even a child could detect the abnormality. How could the royal family and the Churches fail to notice anything?

“After Rafter Pound fell into depravity, he had many opportunities to meet outsiders and other nobles. As long as he had the slightest courage, he could have solved the problem quite easily.

“Therefore, I believe he must have concealed certain things. And those things very likely have to do with that underground structure.

“Judging from his condition, that fellow suspected to be an evil spirit cannot break free for a long time. So I plan to get some explosives and destroy the entrance, preventing anyone else from having a chance to enter. Uh, I am afraid they might accidentally release the evil spirit.”

“Mm.”

Miss Bodyguard Sharron neither affirmed Klein’s thoughts nor denied them.

At that moment, Klein hesitated and asked, “I do not understand blasting, so I planned to draw a layout map and ask a blasting expert to give the positions and quantities for placing the explosives. If—if I ask you to help again, how much compensation would I need to pay?”

If it is too expensive, I will still look for an ordinary blasting expert. After all, this commission is only fifty pounds, and Miss Bodyguard cost one thousand pounds for three days…

Klein had already prepared a contingency plan.

“Free,” Sharron answered in her usual word-saving style.

Free?

Klein was immediately startled.

In his common sense, free things were the most expensive!

Sharron sat there quietly. After several seconds, she gave a brief explanation.

“After the entrance collapses, I will be the only one who can enter and leave that place.

“This itself is something I wish to do.”

In other words, once you have enough confidence, you plan to eliminate the evil spirit and obtain the items inside? Blowing up the exit is actually helping you remove interference and potential covetous eyes, because Beyonders of other Sequences cannot pass through massive stones and earth like a Spirit Body… Hm, with the exception of the Apprentice pathway, but they do not know of that underground structure…

Klein understood somewhat and nodded.

“Deal!”

After saying that, he hurriedly added, “Mm… Then borrow a few subordinates from Maric as well. Subordinates with mouths strict enough. They will be helpers shown to Miller Carter.”

“All right.”

Sharron did not refuse.

Klein deliberately did not mention paying compensation for that. Revealing a smile, he said, “Then tomorrow morning at ten.

“We must first survey the surrounding terrain and avoid making the damage caused by the blast too obvious.”

Sharron gave a light nod. Her figure gradually faded and vanished.

…

Saturday morning, Xio Derecha once again took a public carriage to the East Borough, periodically checking whether her commission had produced results.

While waiting to transfer, she suddenly had the impulse to buy a newspaper.

She took out a one-penny coin, bought a copy of the Backlund Post from the newsboy beside her, and quickly flipped through it.

Suddenly, her gaze froze on a piece of news on the third page:

“According to this paper, at 7:10 p.m. last night, a serious explosion occurred in the apartment building at 1 Daravi Street in the East Borough. It is suspected to have been caused by a gas leak. In room 6 on the third floor, the tenant died on the spot, without even leaving an intact corpse. As of midnight, the explosion had caused three deaths and sixteen injuries…”

1 Daravi Street… Apartment, third floor, room 6… This—isn’t that where Williams lived? He died? Died from an explosion caused by a gas leak? No, no! Absolutely not! He would never extravagantly use gas, even if the pipes were installed there! He had just accepted my commission. Was it because of that? But Lanevus himself is wanted. If he discovers someone is looking for him, he only needs to change locations. There is no need to kill someone to keep it secret. That would expose the matter instead…

This way of doing things is too strange, too extreme. It is like something done by a madman…

He was clearly only a swindler…

Poor Williams…

I—I will avenge you!

I will definitely uncover the truth!

Xio looked sadly and gravely at the public carriage that had stopped before her. She did not get on.

She knew that going to the East Borough now would be extremely dangerous.

She intended to return immediately and tell Fors to move temporarily to their backup rental apartment. As for herself, she would disguise herself, infiltrate the East Borough, ask acquaintances about it, make a preliminary investigation into the cause of the incident, and grasp whatever traces the killer had left behind.

Sigh. Miss Audrey’s commissions really never fail to be dangerous… I was the one who thought that, as a wanted swindler, so long as we did not block him or prevent him from escaping, he would not retaliate viciously… I was careless. I caused Williams’s death… Hm. It also cannot be ruled out that he was gathering information on something else at the same time and thus drew disaster upon himself…

Xio closed her eyes briefly, crossed the road, and walked toward the waiting stop opposite.

…

At 10:14, Klein and Miss Bodyguard Sharron confirmed the surface conditions corresponding to that Fourth Epoch structure and arrived outside the house at 8 Williams Street.

Sharron had already vanished. What Miller Carter saw was Detective Sherlock Moriarty, wearing a gray-blue worker’s uniform and a peaked cap, along with three silent, broad-shouldered, heavily built assistants.

“This makes exploration more convenient,” Klein explained.

Miller Carter’s gaze swept across the three assistants, who looked very capable of fighting, and he nodded in satisfaction.

“Your preparation work was faster than I expected. Are any of them experts in driving away snakes?”

“Yes. All of them are extremely good at driving away snakes,” Klein answered affirmatively without the slightest hesitation.

How could living corpses possibly be afraid of snake bites?