Part 1 THE JOKER CHAPTER 170 THE BRONZE WHISTLE
Crane turned to the captain’s office and saw the door to the room wide open and Dunn Smith leaning back in his chair, sniffing lightly at his pipe.
With a sweep of gray eyes, Dunn changed his sitting position and said:
”You’re in good shape, nothing like you’ve just taken a magic potion.”
”That may be the benefit of promotion after thorough digestion.” Klein casually closed the door to the room and pulled out a chair to sit down.
Both he and Dunn knew the “play law”, which allowed them to communicate normally without being bound by the oath, but at this time both of them tacitly did not mention this matter, and fell into silence at the same time after asking and answering a question.
Klein thought for a moment and opened his mouth to ask:
”His Excellency Cecima left?”
”Yes, as a senior deacon, he had other things to do.” Dunn mused for a few seconds, “Well, he took with him the pair of red eyes left behind by old Neil.”
Klein asked back, surprised and bewildered:
”Why?”
Dunn picked up his coffee, took a sip, and said after a long moment of silence:
”We can’t fool ourselves that the out-of-control team member has actually turned into a monster, and as I told you, monsters leave behind things rich in transcendent power when they die, and if those things are uncontrollable and have all sorts of problems, then they have to be sealed, well, that’s one of the sources of the seals, and the rule within the Nightwatchman is that items left behind by out-of-control team members are kept offsite to avoid irritating his fellow players.”
”Understandable rule.” Klein nodded his head slightly heavily.
Suddenly, he was keenly aware that the captain had just left out a possibility, and asked suspiciously:
”What if the ‘monster’ dies and leaves behind something rich in transcendent power that is controllable?”
Dunn looked over at him, his gray eyes so dark they seemed like the most serene night.
He sighed and said:
”You don’t want to know the answer to that.”
…… Krynn was stunned for a moment, snapping to a certain possibility:
Normal monsters would leave behind extraordinary materials that were used to make the appropriate magic potions.
What about monsters turned by out-of-control people?
If the things they left behind belonged to the controllable type, wouldn’t they also be treated as extraordinary materials ……
Thinking of this, Klein suddenly surged with intense nausea and couldn’t help but dry-heave sideways a few times, his vision blurring as a result.
This is still really make a person’s body cold speculation ah …… but very likely close to the real close to the answer! For a moment, he had a deeper understanding of such words as “in order to defend against the abyss, they must endure the corrosion of the abyss”, “they are the guardians, but also a group of wretches who are always fighting against danger and madness”.
Could this be one of the reasons why the Church hid the “Play Act”? A certain amount of recycling? But this will make the high level itself also deviate from the Church ah …… Klein’s heart clearly reflected his own changing face.
Seeing his reaction, Dunn suddenly smiled a smile that caused some light to flicker within his gray eyes:
”You can look on the bright side, our companions are with us in a different way.”
”They are always with us.”
At the words, Dunn lowered his head, picked up his coffee, and brought it to his lips.
After another ten seconds or so of silence, he leaned back slightly and lifted his head:
”And you can rest assured that as long as we can still gather extraordinary materials from normal sources, we won’t be doing that thing you’re thinking of.”
”Well, as a rule, you get a day’s rest for your recent promotion, and it’s up to you if you want to go practice fighting in the afternoon, but you must find someone to inform Gawain.”
Klein nodded gently, took a deep breath and straightened his back:
”Captain, I’ve finished my occult course, and I’d like to spend the rest of the morning learning techniques in tracking, surveillance, and the like.”
He paused and added with a serious expression:
”I would like to fulfill my duties as night watchman as soon as possible.”
Dunn gave him a deep look of emotion:
”You are more resilient than I thought, so do as you wish.”
”Aye, Captain!” Krynn rose with a flourish and drew a Crimson Moon on his chest.
……
After leaving Blackthorn Security, Kline didn’t go straight home to rest, but took the opportunity to take a trackless public carriage to Instructor Aztec’s home.
Ding dong, ding dong.
In the sound of a crisp bell, Azik, who wore a white shirt and black vest, opened the front door.
There was a gold watch chain hanging diagonally from the button position of his vest, attached to a pocket watch.
”You don’t have to work?” Azik glanced at the sky and realized that the sun hadn’t climbed to the top yet.
”Was put on rotation due to some special circumstances.” Klein explained slightly.
Azik glanced at him and nodded as if he saw what was going on and moved out of the way.
Entering the foyer, Klein set his cane down, removed his hat, and followed Azik all the way to his sitting room.
The sitting room was furnished with a fireplace, rocking chair, couch, and coffee table, and Klein familiarly took the same seat he always took.
Across the room, Azik smiled and pointed to the cigars on the coffee table:
”Want one?”
”No.” Klein shook his head firmly.
Azik didn’t try to persuade him any further and struck a match to himself, picking up a cigar to preheat it while casually asking:
”Have you taken care of things in Morse Town?”
”It has to be thanks to you.” Klein said sincerely.
At the same time, he silently spat in his mind:
Mr. Aztec, before you lost your memory, you must have left yourself a considerable amount of wealth, otherwise, how could a faculty member who wasn’t even an associate professor enjoy cigars on a regular basis?
Taking advantage of the other man’s preoccupation with fiddling with his cigar, he volunteered:
”Mr. Aztec, there is something I would like to ask you.”
”What is it?” Azik asked without looking up.
Klein slowed for a moment and organized his words:
”A colleague of mine lost control and turned into a monster, and I was wondering if his soul was also tainted?”
He wasn’t sure if Mr. Aztec understood the meaning of losing control, so he prepared the appropriate explanations and descriptions and waited for the other party to ask.
Azik stopped his hand movements, raised his head, looked at Klein, and nodded gravely:
”There is no doubt about it.”
”When you encounter a similar situation, you have to discern it carefully, if the direct factor of his loss of control is the lure of an evil god or demon, then try to avoid psychic powers, which will likely bring you fatal danger.”
”I see.” Klein exhaled with some loss of breath.
When he was at the old Neil’s house, he was not emotionally stable enough to forget about the seance, and Dunn-Smith had not reminded him of it, so that he had missed the moment completely.
Now that he thought about it, the captain hadn’t forgotten, but had deliberately failed to mention it …… Crane was thoughtfully silent for a few seconds.
He didn’t dwell on the matter any further, and turned to the previous encounter:
”Mr. Azik, I was in the town of Morse trying to divine the source of the haunting, and saw a pyramid mausoleum stretching upside down into the ground, which my companion told me was a symbol of death, a glory only available to the descendants of K.”
Azik had just put down the match and picked up his cigar cutter when he suddenly froze in place and didn’t move for several moments.
He sat back and leaned against the back of the couch, his expression unusually pensive.
After a while he spoke in a slightly low voice:
”This gives me a familiar feeling, but it doesn’t remind me of anything more.”
”It’s a shame.” Klein sighed sincerely.
He had expected to be able to awaken Mr. Azik’s memory even further with the revelations gained from that divination.
Azick clipped the cap of his cigar and shook his head with a bitter smile:
”If it were very easy to recollect what had gone before, I think I would have found a way out of my predestination long ago.”
”Of course, I must be grateful for your thoughts and for always remembering about me.”
He added after a moment’s thought:
”By the way, I’ll be leaving Tingen these days.”
”Why?” Klein asked rhetorically, stunned.
Didn’t we agree that we would work together to find out who was behind influencing my fate and stealing your child’s skull?
Azk explained with a sigh as he reached for his cigar:
”The target may have sensed my concern and pursuit, and has not made much movement during this period of time, leaving me clueless, so I intend to temporarily leave Tingen for the time being and head to Bekrand, on the one hand, taking the opportunity to search for the traces I left behind before I lost my memory, and on the other hand, letting the target let down his guard.”
Also, Mr. Aztec’s most recent memory loss was in the vicinity of Bakerland University …… Unfortunately, there is no way for you to line up the Red Chimney Houses …… in my place Klein nodded solemnly:
”I’ll keep a close eye on this, and let you know as soon as the target makes a move and is exposed.”
”Well, Mr. Aztec, how do I notify you in time?”
In Klein’s mind, if Aztec was a descendant of the God of Death, or had some connection with the God of Death, then his power type should be close to the “corpse collector” sequence, and he must have a way to create something similar to the “Daley Messenger”.
In other words, this could prove whether Azuk is related to the Grim Reaper or whether he is a descendant of K.
Azuk took a puff on his cigar, thought for about ten seconds, and unclasped a trinket from his left sleeve.
It was an elaborate, antique brass whistle with a number of peculiar patterns that gave it a mysterious flavor.
”This is an item I carried with me when I woke up in Berkland, and all you have to do is blow it to summon a messenger that is uniquely mine.” Azuk cupped that copper whistle and explained in detail.
After so many years, this copper whistle still works? This belonged to the category of magical items, right? Klein was both surprised by this matter and elated that he had indirectly proved that Mr. Azik was somehow connected to the Grim Reaper.
After glancing at Klein, Azuk brought the copper whistle to his mouth and made a demonstration.
He puffed up both sides of his cheeks and blew hard.
No sound rang out in the room, but Klein instantly felt chilly and cold.
He quickly knocked on his left tooth and saw hazy white bone after hazy white bone being thrown out of the floor next to him in an eerie fountain.
A few seconds later, an illusory monster was added to the living room.
Its body was made up of white bones, with pitch-black flames flickering within its eye sockets, and with a height of nearly four meters, it was looking down at Klein, who was less than one meter seventy-five.
Seeing the other party almost nearly topping the ceiling, Klein blankly flashed a thought:
”Mr. Azuk, would your ‘messenger’ be too much?”
Azik didn’t notice his thoughts at all and smiled:
”After giving the letter to it, blow the brass whistle again so as to end the summoning, and it will soon be able to deliver the letter to me, in a stealthy manner.”
After saying that, Azuk flicked his wrist and threw the ancient copper whistle across the room.
Klein grabbed it with his right hand and felt it was cold but soft to the touch.
Thanks to the “clown” magic potion …… He silently sighed in relief, wiped the whistle clean, and blew hard.
Without a sound, the huge messenger disintegrated into a hazy white bone, drilling into the floor.
……
The Tassock River runs through Bakerland, leaving numerous docks in its wake.
Dressed in the priestly robes of the Church of the Storm, Alger Wilson slowly stepped off the passenger ship.
He saw people coming and going on the docks, countless porters were sweating, the sight was warm and noisy.
”It’s been a long time, Becklander.” Alger muttered wordlessly to himself.