Part 1v the undead chapter i the return
The pattering rain, the vague mists, the rows of gas street-lamps striving to flaunt a misty glow, and the carriages that now and then drove through the streets together constituted the most common night scene in Birkeland.
In addition to all this, Crane, who stood behind the window, had noticed some welcome changes.
Jingle Bells!
In the midst of the reverberation of a clear sound, a strange machine with only two wheels sped along the edge of the road and drove to the other end of the street, its general frame was black, but in parts it showed the grayish white of steel, and in the illumination of the gas street lamps, which pierced through the rain, it glittered with a metallic beauty.
On top of this machinery sat a man in postal worker’s garb, who appeared to be working hard as his legs kept pedaling, while a wooden box painted green was strapped at the spot behind him.
”Well promoted ah ……,” white shirt black vest temperament mature Klein looked at this scene, silent emotion.
Within just a few hours of his reentry into Berkland, he had encountered multiple similarly strange pieces of machinery on his way, the very bicycles he had invested in and promoted!
From the newspapers, Klein had learned that the Bakerland Pedal Bike Company had advertised heavily and had held bicycle races in the Chorwood area, the Bakerland Bridge area, to attract the attention of the people there, and that on top of these methods they had actively promoted them to the government postal service, the police, etc., with reportedly good results.
Their pricing strategy has had the effect of heeding Klein’s original advice to avoid the middle and upper classes who regularly use horse-drawn carriages, and aiming at a target group of skilled workers earning up to £1.10 soules a week or more, students from decent families, and public officials who need to be out on the road a lot, so at £3 to £5 a pedicab is something for this class to be able to afford by biting the bullet and at the same time be able to flaunt it to the much lower-income group.
”The problem now is that it rains a lot in Birkeland and cyclists can’t get umbrellas …… The next step is raincoats.” Klein withdrew his gaze and shook his head, chuckling lowly.
The place he was currently staying was an upscale hotel in the Hillside District, and it cost 10 Soules a night, so expensive that Klein was a little heartbroken, but had to grit his teeth and endure it in order to fit the persona.
According to his thoughts, the identity of Dawn Dantes should explicitly be a mysterious rich man from Dixie Bay who believed in the Goddess of the Night, who sold his original land and mines, and was ready to come to Beckland to seek new opportunities, and was interested in donating to obtain a knighthood to a certain degree, but didn’t have that much financial power, so he could only consider broadening his connections and making a financial investment first.
The advantage of such a status was that it was different from all the roles Klein had played before, there was a clear distinction, and it allowed him to naturally come into contact with some of the upper-middle class characters, especially those in the Officers’ Club and the bishops of the Bakerland Diocese of the Church of the Goddess of the Night, which made it convenient for Klein to continue his investigation into the truth of the Bakerland Haze Incident, while gathering intelligence and formulating a stealing of the notes from the Antigonus family’s Detailed plan.
There are advantages, of course, there are also disadvantages, such a rich man with mysterious origins will certainly be noticed by the “night watchman”, “substitution of punishment”, encountered a certain degree of background checks.
According to Klein’s experience, under the premise of not involving important events, similar investigations might be done by the official extraordinary organization itself, or might be transferred to the police department, but none of them would be too serious, and would be a routine matter.
Therefore, Klein, who was considered an expert in the field of disguise, designed and prepared a second layer of identity for Dawn Dantes to deal with the background investigation.
In the second layer of identity, Dawn Dantes was a guy who had ventured to the southern continent of East and West Byron for some reason, and using an alias, he had spent more than ten years accumulating a fortune in that rather dangerous and full of opportunities place.
Because the origins of that wealth were not so bright, he secretly returned to Dixie Bay, forged a new identity, and prepared to start a whole new life in Bekrand and have that wealth gradually legitimized.
Similar people are not uncommon in Rouen, and their stories are within the realm of the investigator’s imagination and acceptance. For the sake of this identity, Crane has left a few obscure clues in Connaught to indirectly help the “truth” to come out sooner rather than later.
These clues include, but are not limited to, the ticket stubs of the black ship from East Baylon to Connaught, the habit of surviving for a long time in the southern continent, and the wealth of unknown origin.
Klein believed that such preparations would be sufficient to conceal Dawn Dantes from routine background checks, as long as she was not directly involved in more serious and extraordinary events.
However, if he meets a very serious official extraordinary person who wants to investigate all the way, and even willing to ask his colleagues in the southern continent to help, then Dawn Dantes has a third layer of identity, that is, he has mastered a certain amount of anti-divination skills of the fraudster, who disguises himself as a mysterious rich man, spends money and invests money in order to the final scam.
This identity is enough to lead to the arrest of Dawn Dantes, but it won’t be taken too seriously, and gives Klein the opportunity to make a graceful exit and disappear center stage.
”I’ve really grown up a lot compared to the first time I arrived at Bakerland that I was able to do this triple identity design ……” Klein slowly walked back to the center of the room and turned his gaze to the full-length mirror in the corner.
The man in the mirror had a few spots of gray in his black hair, his eyes were deep but penetrated with the vicissitudes of having experienced too many things, a middle-aged man with a mature temperament and flavorful looks.
The identity design of “Dawn Dantes” was not difficult for the current Klein, but stealing the Antigonus family notes from behind the Channis Gate of St. Samuel’s Church was an impossible task for any outside extraordinary, even the King of Angels could not guarantee that he would be able to do it.
Of course, unlike other extraordinary persons, Klein had two advantages in this matter, one was that he had once been a “night watchman”, and knew enough about the internal process to know which areas could be utilized and which areas did not exist, so the earliest way he could rule out was to become a certain “night watchman” and blend in with the other extraordinary persons. Therefore, the earliest method he ruled out was to become one of the “night watchmen”, blend into the interior, and look for an opportunity to pass through the Charnis Gate.
The problem with this approach is that the “night watchmen” can’t enter the Channis Gate at will, even the captains and deacons are the same, there must be an incident to get the appropriate permission, and there are also internal guards behind the Channis Gate, so wandering around and taking things will lead to an attack, and a fight will break out -Klein doesn’t want to be in a position where he can take advantage of the situation. -Klein didn’t want his theft to cause casualties in the Church of the Goddess.
After careful thought, he targeted the internal watchmen.
These old men are retired “night watchmen”, volunteered to enter the Charnis Gate, responsible for guarding the seals, they and the night watchmen belong to two departments, in and out of the church through the underground passageway, do not interfere with the work of the night watchmen, will not be interfered with by the night watchmen.
Perhaps because of the relationship of staying behind the Charnis Gate for a long time, these internal watchmen all have certain idiosyncrasies, their breath is gloomy and cold, they lack expression and have a pale complexion, like monsters in the depths of the darkness between the state of life and death, Klein believed that he would have no difficulty in identifying his target as long as he encountered it.
His initial plan was to rent a place in the North District near St. Samuel’s Church, hire a butler, manservant, maid, gardener, cook, and coachman, hold up the frame of a rich man, and then go to that church often to pray sincerely, participate in the mass, and give money to familiarize himself with the bishop and priests a little bit.
In the process, he would endeavor to find people suspected of being internal caretakers, select two or three targets, observe how they lived, and, when the time was right, imprison one of them, change into his likeness or possess him directly, pass through the Charnis Gate, and wait for an opportunity to go through or take away the notes of the Antigonus family.
This was a very rough scheme, closer to the idea, and depended on Klein’s continuous refinement based on the various intelligence gathered.
In this matter, Klein’s second advantage was that he had the Tarot Society, the Church of the Goddess of the Night and the “night watchmen” who could not be thought of as helpers, and he could also consider developing one of the “night watchmen” or caretakers from the Diocese of Berkland to enter the party and complete the stealing through a mole, just as he had used the “night watchmen” or caretakers in the first place to steal the notes of the Antigonus family, which was a very rough plan. to accomplish the theft, just as Chalatu had done when he had used Rossel the Great to get the notes of the Antigonus family.
”Still have to go to church often, only then, may find the target ……” Klein faced the mirror and nodded his head wordlessly.
I have to say, he was a bit conflicted at the moment, if there was really a “night watchman” or caretaker willing to sell out the church and serve Mr. Fool, his first thought would be to send down divine punishment and get rid of this disgusting traitor!
Exhaling and chuckling to himself, Klein put on his double-breasted tuxedo and hat, and walked out of the room and down the street.
With his umbrella in hand, he circled around to another street and, taking advantage of the distant streetlights and the drizzling rain, suddenly transformed back into Sherlock Moriarty.
Glancing at his trouser legs, which appeared creased, Crane reached out and stopped a carriage, ready to head to Edsinger Stanton’s house in the same Hillsdon district.
A little over half an hour later, the slightly old and obscure building appeared in Klein’s eyes.
He paid the 2-suler fare and walked at a sedate pace around the puddles in the drizzling rain reflecting the dim light to the door of the great detective.
Putting away his umbrella and reaching out to ring the doorbell, Klein waited a moment to see a broad-faced young man open the door.
The man had wheat-colored hair, gray-blue eyes, and high cheekbones, very characteristic of the area around Lemberg and Marseilles.
Mr. Eisinger Stanton’s new assistant? Of the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom? Klein removed his hat and smiled:
”Good evening, is Mr. Eisinger Stanton in?”
”Yes, he is back from a busy day and has just finished enjoying his dinner.” The wheat-haired young man responded politely, “May I ask who you are?”
Klein chuckled:
”Tell the great detective that a friend of his has returned from his vacation.”
The young man was stunned for a moment and asked offhandedly:
”Mr. Sherlock Moriarty?”