Part 1 The Joker Chapter 112 Azk’s Explanation
BECKLAND, Queens.
Audrey Hall sat in a hanging chair in a shady corner, gazing at the clumps of flowers that blossomed in the sunlight, and pondering that matter for which Forsyth Wall had asked for help.
It had been verified by Viscount Graylingt that there really was that young girl named Hugh Dilcha who was being held in a makeshift cell in the North End of Birkeland.
Her charge was that she had severely injured a decent gentleman over a property dispute, leaving the other man still lying in a hospital bed, perhaps never to get up again.
The explanation for this, Forsyth explained, was that the gentleman was not a nice person, he was a gang leader in Birkeland East and made his living as a loan shark.
What happened was that a borrower, after realizing that the interest rate was several times higher than he expected, and that he could not pay it back even if he went bankrupt, approached Hugh Dilchar, a well-known “arbiter” in the neighborhood, in the hope that she could persuade the other party to waive the unreasonable portion of the interest rate, after having no success in negotiating with the gentleman.
The gentleman did not obey Hugh Dilchar’s “ruling”, and even threatened to arrest the borrower’s wife and children that night, so Hugh Dilchar changed his persuasive techniques and used physical means, which accidentally caused serious injuries.
Viscount Grelint investigated the incident, confirmed that Forsyth Wall’s description was true, and also confirmed that the gang leader had lost control of his subordinates and forgave the borrower’s debt after a midnight “visit” from someone, and issued a statement of forgiveness to the prosecutor for Hugh Dilchar, but the case of serious injuries was not a case that the victim did not want to be prosecuted. prosecuted just because the victim doesn’t want to.
”Grelint wanted to solve it in the normal way, and sent to consult a familiar barrister, who said that there was a certainty that it would be just a light sentence, but that the defense of innocence would be very difficult unless the person concerned could get a medical certificate of mental problem or unsound development of the mind ……” Audrey murmured silently to herself, leaning towards her best friend’s opinion.
For her, the most important thing is not to have an explicit relationship with Forsyth Wolff and Hugh Dilcha – after the incident of the “Tarot Club”, Audrey feels that she is no longer a naïve and ignorant girl.
”There is a ball at Earl Wolfe’s tomorrow night; tell Graylingt then to follow the barrister’s advice.” Audrey nodded slightly and made her decision.
In the Kingdom of Ruen, lawyers were divided into barristers and solicitors, the latter were responsible for matters that didn’t need to go to court, such as, collecting evidence, talking to the client, helping people to draw up their wills, supervising the distribution of their property and providing legal counseling services and all sorts of other things, and of course, they could also represent their clients to attend the most rudimentary magistrate courts to defend simple cases.
As for the barristers, they are the lawyers who study the evidence and go to court to defend their clients, according to the law of Ruen Kingdom, they must maintain an objective attitude, so they can’t directly contact their clients, they can only complete the collection of the situation through their assistants, that is, the solicitors of affairs, every one of them is a real legal expert, with outstanding eloquence and a very high level of debating.
Audrey, who had regained her ease, looked at the beautiful flowers outside with the stance of hiding in the darkness and peering into the light, and an oil thought occurred to her:
”Medical certificates for mentally challenged or mentally underdeveloped …… psychiatrists ……”
”If the Psychological Alchemy Society has mastered the ‘Playing Law’, does that mean that it is possible to look for them in the group of psychiatrists?”
Thinking about this, Audrey felt that she was on the right track and her eyes brightened up like sparkling jewels.
Just then she saw Suzie, the big blonde dog, slip behind the clump of flowers with a sneaky gesture, slipping into a place where only a gardener would arrive.
”Susie …… what is it going to do?” Audrey hid in the shadows and watched in awe.
The big, golden-haired dog seemed to be too disoriented by the scent of the flowers to notice its owner behind it as it opened its mouth and let out a droning “ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah” and “ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah”.
Immediately afterward, it made the air around it vibrate, ringing out words that were too raw to be mellow:
”Hello.”
”How are you?”
……
Audrey’s mouth dropped open a little bit, completely forgetting the manners of an elegant lady, and she couldn’t believe the scene she was seeing and the stiff voice she was hearing.
She stood up violently and blurted out:
”Susie, you can talk? Since when can you talk?”
The big, golden-haired dog jumped in fright and turned to face his master.
It wagged its tail in a panicked and quick manner, its mouth opening and closing several times before it shook the air around it and said:
”I ……”
”I don’t know how to explain it, I’m just a dog after all.”
Hearing these words, Audrey was speechless for a moment.
……
On Monday morning, Klein, who was on vacation, reviewed and consolidated his knowledge of the occult as scheduled, and then took a public carriage to Hoy University.
He was going to get more in touch with Mr. Aztec to see what the other man really knew.
In the small three-story gray stone building belonging to the history department, Klein chatted with his mentor, Cohen Quentin, for a while, exchanging things related to the ancient ruins of the main peak of Hornachis.
With no additional gain he took the opportunity of his mentor going on an errand to enter the office diagonally across the hall and walk over to the desk of Instructor Aztec, who had stayed behind.
”Mr. Azik, may I have a word with you?” He looked at the instructor, who had a bronze complexion, soft features, and a small mole below his right ear, and took off his hat in a salute.
Aztec, whose brown eyes hid unspeakable vicissitudes, straightened his books and said:
”No problem, let’s go for a walk along the Hoy River.”
”Okay.” Klein carried his cane and followed the other party out of the small three-story gray stone building.
Along the way, both of them remained silent, neither of them spoke.
When the flowing river came into view, and when there were no longer any teachers or students coming or going around, Azik paused and half-turned his body to face Klein:
”Did you want to see me about something?”
Klein pondered for a long time, thinking of a number of euphemisms, but giving them all up one by one.
So he asked frankly and directly:
”Mr. Aztec, you are a trustworthy and respectable gentleman, and I would like to know exactly what you see in me, or what you know? I mean that last incident, the one where you said there were incongruities in my destiny.”
Azk nodded his cane and sighed and laughed:
”I didn’t expect you to be so direct, leaving me at a loss for words.”
”Frankly, the existence of incongruities in your destiny is the only thing I can see, other than that, I don’t know any more than you do.”
Klein asked hesitantly:
”But why can you see it? I don’t believe it stems from divination.”
Azik looked sideways at the Hoy River, his tone tinted with a touch of sullenness:
”No, Klein, you don’t understand that divination can be done to such an extent, it just depends on who is doing the divination, and of course, my divination is just an excuse to cover it up.”
”…… Some people are always special, born with some strange abilities, and I’m supposed to be one of those people.”
”Supposed?” Klein keenly grasped the problem with the other man’s choice of words.
”Yes, I don’t know if I was born with it, maybe the price of that kind of ability is forgetting yourself, forgetting your past, forgetting your parents.” Azuk’s eyes gazed slightly sadly at the river.
The more Klein listened, the more confused he became:
”Forget the past?”
Azik chuckled without a smile and said:
”Before entering the history department of Beckland University, I lost the vast majority of my memories, just remembering my name and basic knowledge, luckily, luckily I had an ID or I would have had to become a vagabond, and in all these years I’ve searched for my parents based on the ID, but to no avail, even if I could see a glimpse of my destiny.”
”And during those years in college, I gradually realized that I possessed some peculiar abilities, abilities beyond the realm of common sense.”
Klein listened intently and asked offhandedly:
”Mr. Aztec, why did you lose your memory? No, I mean, did you ever find a reason for the memory loss at the scene?”
He suspected that Mr. Aztec was a member of the School of Life with amnesia, or even a member of the Middle Order with a high status – the counterpart of the Monster, which had produced the Prophet, and was a secret organization based on the transmission of the master to the disciple. This is the Monster’s counterpart, the Prophet, a secretive organization based on master and disciple.
Azik shook his head heavily:
”No, it’s as if I slept and forgot the past.”
He took his cane and took a few more steps forward as he walked:
”After I left Berkland, I began to dream of many strange things ……”
Dreams? I’m good at interpreting dreams! Entering the realm of expertise, Klein instantly asked:
”What kind of dreams?”
Azk gave a vague, low chuckle:
”Many, many different dreams, sometimes I dream of the interior of a dark mausoleum, of an ancient coffin with a corpse lying on its back with a white feather growing out of its back, sometimes I dream that I am a knight in full body armor, carrying a three-meter lance and charging at my enemies.”
”Sometimes I dream that I am a lord with a rich estate, a beautiful wife and three children, sometimes I dream that I am a vagabond, soaking in the rain, walking on a muddy road, cold and hungry.”
”Sometimes I dream that I have a daughter, a different daughter from the ones before her, with long, silky black hair, who loves to sit on the swings I made with my own hands and is always asking for sweets, and sometimes I dream that I am standing by the gallows, looking up coldly at the corpses floating above me …… ”
Listening to Azik’s ravings, Klein realized that he couldn’t even decipher the other man’s dreams, because the symbols of different dreams were opposite and contradictory!
Azik withdrew his gaze, his voice no longer drifting as he said:
”The southern kingdom of Feneport believes in the Earth Mother Goddess, and the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess preaches the idea that every living thing is a ‘plant’ that draws on the earth’s sustenance and slowly grows, flourishes, and decays.”
”When it withers, these beings fall into the earth, back into their mother’s arms, and in the coming year, they grow back again, blossoming and falling, year after year, and so it is with life, generation after generation.”
”There are times when I would love to believe that, to believe that I can dream of fragments of the last life, and the last again, because of my own specialness.”
At that, he looked over at Klein and sighed:
”These are things that I have never even told Cohen about, and the only reason I’m telling you is because I ……”
Azuk paused and laughed:
”I’m sorry that my description just now wasn’t accurate enough, the incongruity that exists in your destiny wasn’t the only thing I was able to discern, I also discerned something else.”
”Klein, you’re not normal anymore, you have extraordinary, strange abilities, much like me.”