Part 2 The Faceless Man Chapter 215 The Backstabber
West End, 9 Hope Street, the Prime Minister’s residence.
Agusheid Negan stood behind a wide desk and looked across the room at Earl Hall with a grave expression:
”Your Excellency the Earl, my secretary should have informed you of what has happened, you are the first nobleman I have thought of at this juncture.”
The Tory grandee, the current Cabinet Prime Minister, had aged several years at once, and his tall, thin figure seemed to lean forward slightly as if he could not bear the bad news, so much so that he had to brace his hands on the tabletop.
But his eyes were still sharp and his manner still calm.
Earl Hall, who wore two beautiful moustaches, sighed:
”I’m sorry to hear this news, it makes me very shocked, I was thinking of visiting His Excellency the Duke in the last few days to discuss those few motions that we are all very concerned about, who knows, he has actually suffered an attack ……”
The man whose handsome youthful appearance had been marred by deep lines and a state of blossoming hair first expressed his condolences, grief and empathy, then collected himself and said:
”His Excellency the Duke is dead, and more than weeping and anger, we need to be cautious and calm, only then can we deal with the aftermath and not let the heavy steam train of the Kingdom run off the tracks.”
”This is why I sought you out in the first place, the other nobles would only cry out to the gods, shaking with fear and expressing their unacceptability, demanding that the culprits be punished severely and the masterminds be found at once, in their minds, a duke under heavy protection would be assassinated, let alone them?” Prime Minister Aguschid said in a quiet voice, “This is a normal and natural understandable reaction, but not the one we need.”
Count Hall nodded and turned to ask:
”Who is the murderer? What was the motive?”
”A demon masquerading as a banker for over a decade, a real demon, whose estate, by the way, your Bank of Bavaria has just acquired.” Argushade stated with little change in his tone.
”Patrick Jason?” Count Hall immediately recalled the other party’s name.
It was he who had approved this acquisition involving the bank.
Prime Minister Agurshid did not accuse the other party and said thoughtfully:
”He had Sequence 5, yet he suddenly sold off his industry, discarded the identity that he had been operating for more than ten years, and risked great danger to assassinate my brother, based on this, we can make a strong guess that he was instructed by a certain person or a certain power, but unfortunately, he was killed on the road to escape, and even his spirit body was taken away, and according to the report of the night watchman, it was the chivalrous thief ‘Black Emperor’ did it.”
”An extremely secretive organization is involved, and we can’t find out about this matter in a short time?” Earl Hall asked rhetorically.
”Yes. That so-called chivalrous thief left no traces whatsoever, and we can only start with the people who had contacted Jason in the previous months, which will surely take a lot of time and may not be fruitful.” Argushade gave an affirmative answer.
Earl Hall paced two steps and said:
”What is His Majesty’s attitude?”
”Sad, but no specific thoughts.” Aguschid replied.
Earl Hall frowned in thought and said:
”In that case, the important thing is no longer who the mastermind behind this is, but what we want to achieve with this matter, if we want a war, and want to restart the fight for the colonies, then tell the people that it was the Forsak Empire that instructed Patrick Jason, and make up a detailed process for them, and present some evidence that looks like it’s that way, in the past few hundred or thousand years This neighbor of ours to the north has always acted in a similar role, and I think we should all be too used to it to question that it is very, very, very normal for barbarians to do such things.”
”And the population fears them.” Prime Minister Aguschid tugged at the corner of his mouth without much of a smile, “But we are making a series of changes, and it will be the second half of next year at the earliest before we are stabilized enough to have the ability to wage war.”
Earl Hall murmured:
”Then find an object that everyone can accept, the Rogue Thief ‘Black Emperor’ is too mysterious, and the hidden organization behind him is even more so, if we just announce it, it will surely cause a great panic, people are always afraid of the unknown things they don’t know enough about.
”Well, how about the ‘Aurora Society’? They assassinated that pornographer Intis just a few months ago, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them do anything else.
”They have a bad enough reputation that they’ve been told over and over again in newspapers and magazines a few times, and have even become a horror element and classic villain in many novels, and, well, it’s an effective way of dispelling people’s suspicions about us; there’s always the idea that we commissioned the ‘Aurora Society’ to do the previous assassination.
”Also, take the opportunity of the crackdown on the terrorist illegal organizations to clean up Beckland, there are too many dangerous guys hiding here.”
Argushade gave a “hmmm”:
”The ‘Aurora Council’ is a good target ……
”Target them first, wait until next year, when we are ready, then publish the results of the investigation, and accuse the one who drove the ‘Aurora Society’ is the Forsak Empire, I don’t think anyone cares about the defense of the terrorist organization and the northern barbarians.”
Count Hall froze for a moment and said:
”That goes further than I thought.”
Without further ado, Argushade stood up straight and said:
”I will now go and interview His Majesty the King.”
Saying this, he glanced at Earl Hall:
”You should also take care of your safety, we still haven’t figured out the motives of those guys who assassinated my brother, hmm, the Storm Church has agreed to replace the archbishop of the Bechlend Diocese, Snake is always late at critical moments! Storm’s followers are always that cranky, irritable, stubborn, arrogant, and easily mobilized!”
”Don’t be prejudiced; Lulmi, for example, is very wise.” Earl Hall gave a low chuckle at first, then whirled around and nodded four times on his chest, “Thank you, the Goddess will protect me.”
……
”Dusk Hermit Society …… sounds very pushy ……” Returning to the real world, Klein got up and pressed the mechanical button of the flush toilet.
With the sound of running water, he stepped out of the washroom and thought about the information he had just obtained from the “psychic”.
He suspected that the “Dusk Hermits” was the ancient organization with the second Blasphemy Tablet that Rossel the Great had joined.
For the sake of the so-called historical process, they chose to find someone to assassinate Duke Negan, this sounds a bit ridiculous, but there seems to be some truth to it……. Their goal is to resurrect or awaken the original Creator? This is somewhat close to the philosophy of the Silver City, the little “sun” they never believe that the Lord who created everything has passed away, only to accept the k abandoned the territory, has been trying to get a response …… Klein paced back and forth, dispersing his thoughts.
I don’t know how much time had passed when he suddenly heard a knock on the door.
Outside was not a waiter or maid from the Kraig Club, but a member of the “Mechanical Heart” that Klein had met before, Carlson, who wore heavy glasses.
”How did you get in?” Klein asked offhandedly on purpose.
Seeing that he was indeed in the room, Carlson’s expression obviously relaxed, and seeing that no one was around, he smiled and said:
”As an Extraordinary, there are always various ways.”
He received a message from Deacon Iconser, knowing about the death of the “Apostle of Desire”, and then came to confirm my situation, and my performance was quite successful, the “Great Transformation” wasn’t revealed, and I managed to hide it… …Klein said with a slight heartbeat:
”The look on your face tells me that there is good news?”
”Yes, Patrick Jason Belial has been killed, you are safe from our protection.” Carlson said truthfully.
At such feedback, Klein felt as if the magic potion in his body was digesting faster again.
Surprised and delighted, he asked back:
”Sure?”
”Sure.” Carlson gave an affirmative reply.
”This is great!” Klein said joyfully.
Carlson glanced at him and praised him heartily:
”Your detective intuition and logical thinking gave us the most important help, the deacon said in his letter that he would secretly give you a bounty afterward, about 1000 pounds.”
1000 pounds …… isn’t bad, it’s very generous! However, even if those banknotes under Jason’s suitcase are of the £5, £1 denomination type, and even if his jewelry isn’t too expensive, the total is almost £50,000 …… Mrs. Mary of the Atmospheric Pollution Investigation Committee, counting the value of the shares of the Cowham Company, is also at most this kind of wealth ……
Well, Jason’s accomplice in human skin who was responsible for luring away the “God’s singer” probably took some of the money, and the rest is estimated to be 20,000 to 30,000 pounds, but this is still 1,000 pounds can’t be compared to it, it’s really regrettable ah …… can’t be thought of in this way, maybe Jason’s accomplice took all the money ahead of time. Took all the belongings …… Klein a moment of loss and a moment of joy.
The “mechanical heart” to give the bounty behavior is more proof of the success of his performance this time, let him feel that he is only one step away from completely digesting the “magician” magic potion.
”It’s what I should do, after all, I’m the one being threatened.” Klein piled on a smile.
He wasn’t worried about Jason’s associates retaliating afterward, as this retaliation was also just a front, and more importantly, he would definitely have Sequence 6 by then.
Carlson pushed down his glasses and said with deliberation:
”Sherlock, you are also a believer of God, we hope to establish a good relationship with you, and in the future, if you have encountered anything, or have gathered any intelligence, you can inform us.”
This is to develop me as an informant of the “Mechanical Heart” ah …… I have another channel of reimbursement …… Klein solemnly drew a triangular holy emblem on his chest:
”No problem.”
……
Klein, who was no longer protected by the “Mechanical Heart”, stayed at the Kraig Club until after dinner, and then took a carriage and slowly returned to 15 Minsk Street.
He opened the letterbox out of habit and saw a new letter, without a stamp.
The letter had been left by the great detective Edsinger Stanton after his unsuccessful afternoon visit, and he wrote thus:
”…… I heard of the advice you gave from the Mechanical Mind, and your keenness and rigor are astounding; if you had not already been an Extraordinary, I might even have thought that ‘The Reader’ would be the most suitable avenue for you.
”You are the best young man at reasoning I have ever seen!”
……
Crane stood within the parlor, reading the letter left by Eisinger by the light of the gas wall lamp.
There was nothing new about this performance, it was by-the-book, a repeat of what had gone before, and it didn’t even play much of a role …… But what made it better was the fact that the audience was large enough, and they were all situated close to me, to give me direct feedback …… Klein held the letterhead, and suddenly his heart was in the right place .
He half closed his eyes, only to feel that something in his body is rapidly crumbling and dissipating, only to feel that many illusory stars have appeared around him, only to feel that those radiant have a very weak attraction to each other.
In the last month of 1349, his “Magician” potion was finally digested.