Part 1 The Joker Chapter 19 The Sealed Objects
”We are the Guardians, and a group of wretches who are always fighting danger and madness.”
The corridor outside the window was closed and the stone walls were cold, the lamps inside the room were illuminated and brightly yellowed, and the aftermath of Dunn-Smith’s paraphrase in such an environment hammered at Klein’s heart one by one, making him briefly unable to say anything at all.
Seeing Klein’s silence, Dunn shook his head and laughed:
”Isn’t it disappointing? Extraordinary people are not the same as you think, we have been walking with danger.”
”With acquisition, there is definitely a price.” Klein calmed down from the shock he had just felt and replied in a measured tone.
It was true that he hadn’t realized that there were such hidden dangers outside of the glowing, extraordinary, and different-from-ordinary aspects of the Extraordinary, but perhaps because he had only heard the descriptions and hadn’t yet encountered them in real life, or perhaps because he himself was already caught up in this maelstrom of bizarre events that might land on him at some point, his feelings of fear, apprehension, worry, and trepidation quickly diminished to a manageable level.
Of course, thoughts of withdrawal bubbled up inevitably, nagging and refusing to leave.
”Not bad, very mature and sensible ……,” Dunn added as he finished the rest of his sip of coffee, “And by the way, Extraordinary Ones aren’t as powerful as you think they are, and the lower sequences of Extraordinary Ones, heh, why do you use 1 to for the highest rank and 9 for the lowest? That’s too counter-intuitive and illogical, when we usually say low sequence, we mean low rank, high number, the beginning end of the sequence chain.”
”Okay, where was I? Right, extraordinarys are not as powerful as you think they are, the ‘power’ of low sequence extraordinarys is no match for firearms, let alone artillery, it’s just that in some ways, it’s more marvelous and harder to guard against than firearms, if you have the chance to become an extraordinary in the future, make sure to think over what I’ve said today, and don’t choose recklessly. ”
Klein smiled to himself:
”I still don’t know when I will have the chance?”
If he had this opportunity, he felt that he wouldn’t miss it. Taking the wrong magic potion, or a magic potion that exceeds the level of the magic potion can be avoided to the greatest extent possible, but the main pitfalls lie in the subtle influence of the magic potion itself, and the unknown dangers that can be heard and seen after the inspiration has been raised.
The former has the experience of generations of ancestors for reference, as long as not anxious and fidgety to improve, steady and steady grasp of the power, the probability of losing control should still be relatively low, and their own main purpose is to solve the current potential dangers, to understand the essence of the occult, and to find a way to cross back, only to step out of this step, and did not aim at a high sequence of the “position”, if it is really easy to lose control, the big deal is that we will not do anything. If it is really easy to lose control, the big deal is not to promote, stay in the original sequence, rely on knowledge to plan the “home” thing.
There is no need to mention the hidden dangers of the latter, Klein still remembers the whispers and murmurs that made him go crazy and his head was about to explode when he used the “Transit Ceremony”, which can’t be avoided by not becoming an extraordinary person, so it would be better to have some power that can be used against it.
Thinking about all this, Klein only felt that the pros and cons were so clear that most of the thoughts of retreat in his mind disappeared.
Dunn picked up his pipe again, his gray eyes slightly smiling as he said:
”I can’t answer accurately to this matter, to become extraordinary, one is to get enough credit, maybe you can decipher the key ancient documents tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, or give us a very useful opinion on our case? Two, see if there are any new ideas from above, that’s anyone’s guess.”
”Well, I suppose you know the Extraordinary better and won’t be making impulsive choices in the future, so now I’ll introduce you to the clerical work of our Nightwatchman Squad.”
He stood up and paced to the door, pointing in the opposite direction of the ‘Charnis Gate’:
”We have an accountant, a person who purchases essential items, picks up supplies issued by the church and police department, and doubles as a carter, all of whom are professionals and don’t need to be rotated, and are off on Sundays each week, and the remaining three civilians, Roxanne, Brett, and Sr. Neil, whose jobs include: greeting visitors, cleaning rooms, writing case files and item declaration lists, and guarding weapons, materials, and literature. as well as guarding the weapons, materials and literature stores, keeping a strict register of access and collection and return, each with one day off per week each, except on Sundays, when there are additional rotations of night duty and rest, all negotiated on their own.”
”I do the same thing as Roxanne and the others?” Klein put away his thoughts of the Extraordinary and confirmed his own ‘job duties’.
”No, you don’t, you’re a professional.” Dunn smiled, “There are two things you’re doing at the moment, first, every morning or afternoon, go out for a walk, focusing on the roads from the Welch residence to your house.”
”Huh?” Klein was flabbergasted.
What kind of ‘job’ was this?
Was it professional?
Dunn said as he thrust his hands into the pockets of his black trench coat:
”After confirming that you really did lose your memories, the Welch and Naya case was closed, and likewise, the Antigonus family diary went completely missing, and we suspected that you had taken it with you at the time, and hid it on your way home, which is why we didn’t find any clues in your house, and which should be why you didn’t ‘commit suicide’ at the scene, but at home. ‘committed suicide’ for possible reasons.”
”Although you were affected by the mystery and completely forgot this memory, the human spirit and brain are amazing, maybe there are still some traces left, just because Daley couldn’t access them with her ‘psychic’ means doesn’t mean they are absolutely nonexistent, maybe in a familiar place, in a key place, you’ll have the seemingly seen it before, the A sense of having seemingly done something.”
”That’s what we want to gain.”
”I see.” Klein’s realization dawned on him.
The Night Watchers’ deduction about the whereabouts of that diary did make sense.
Of those who were present at the time, only he was still alive, and only he had the time and “motivation” to take the diary and hide it midway!
”If you can find the diary in this way, you should be able to gain enough credit to become an Extraordinary.” Dunn Smith motivated, indirectly revealing that the diary was still important.
”I hope.” Klein nodded.
Dunn turned the conversation back around:
”Secondly, you’ll rotate one day a week, you can determine for yourself which day for now, and when you’re not out there, you’ll go to the Arms Depot and read the documents and canonicals we’ve preserved, that’s the job of history professionals, and when it’s all done, you’ll have to rotate with the old Neil and the others.”
”Okay, no problem.” Klein breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
It wasn’t anything too difficult. ……
At that moment, Dunn half-turned his body and pointed to the black iron folio door painted and engraved with the seven sacred emblems:
”This is the ‘Charnis’ gate, derived from the name of the founder of the modern Nightwatchman system, Archbishop Charnis, and there’s one in the underground of the central church in every major city.”
”It’s guarded by full members of the Night Watch on a rotating basis, and there are at least two other ‘watchers’ within the church inside, as well as countless traps, so you should never go near it at will or you’ll be tainted with bad luck.”
”Sounds impressive.” Klein commented.
”It’s divided into several areas inside, keeping a certain sequence of magical potion formulas and all sorts of magical materials, and temporarily holding heretics, fae, cultists, and members of hidden organizations, heck, they’ll eventually be sent to the Holy Church.” Dunn casually introduced.
The Holy Church? The Church of Serenity, the headquarters of the Church of the Goddess of Darkness, located in the northern part of the kingdom in Winter County? Klein nodded slightly as if he was thinking.
”In addition, there are various copies of high-classified literature texts inside, so you might have the chance to read them when your privileges are elevated.” Dunn mused for a moment and added, “On the bottom floor behind the ‘Charnis Gate’, there are also some sealing objects.”
”Seals?” Klein chewed on the word.
It sounded like a proper noun.
”Some of the extraordinary items we collect and acquire are so important and magical that they would cause great destruction if obtained by the evil ones, so they must be kept strictly secret and guarded, even by ourselves, only under certain circumstances, and …… “Said here, Dunn Smith paused for a moment before saying, “And there is a part of the existence in here that is very special, and itself has some kind of ‘alive’ characteristics, which will lure the caretaker, will affect the surrounding, will escape on its own, and will cause disastrous consequences, and must be be strictly controlled.”
”Amazing.” Klein exclaimed.
”The Watcher’s headquarters divides these seals into four levels, ‘0’ level means very dangerous, highest importance, highest secrecy level, not to be inquired about, not to be spread out, not to be described, not to be snooped on, and it can only be sealed in the ‘Holy Church ‘ underground.” Dunn elaborated, “‘1’ level is highly dangerous, can be utilized in a limited way, secrecy level is diocesan bishops and night watchman deacons and above, the central churches of the diocesan headquarters such as Bakerland can keep one or two pieces, and the rest must be given to the ‘Holy Church’ ‘.”
”‘2’ level is dangerous, utilized with caution and restraint, confidentiality level is Bishop and Nightwatchman Squad Leader and above, three to five pieces may be kept in the central churches of major cities, the rest must be handed over to the ‘Sanctuary’ or the diocesan headquarters nearest to the city. Level ‘3’ is somewhat dangerous and has to be used with care, must be applied for operations of three or more people, confidentiality level to full members of the Night Watch.”
”In the future, when you see the appropriate literature, you should understand what it stands for by the number, for example, 2-125, is the danger level 125 seal.”
As Dunn spoke, he suddenly turned around, walked back into the room, and rummaged through the bottom of a drawer to pull out a piece of paper:
”Right, take a look at this, three years ago, a new archbishop got out of control, somehow broke through the heavy protection and mysteriously disappeared with a ‘0’ level sealing object, you recognize his picture, if you find anything, don’t be alarmed, don’t be disturbed, come back to report it, or else you are one thousand percent die in the line of duty.”
”What?” Klein took the piece of paper and realized there was no heads up, just a black and white photo and a few lines of text:
”Ince Zangwill, male, forty years old, former archbishop, failed promotion ‘caretaker’, seduced by the devil, corrupted into evil, absconded with the seal ‘0-08’, specific characteristics are ……”
According to the photo, combined with the description, Ince Zangwill wore a double-breasted, pure black clergy robe, a fedora on his head, his hair color was dark blonde, his pupils were blue to the point of being shaped like deep black, his nose was high and straight, his lips were tightly pursed, and his features looked like classical sculptures without the slightest wrinkle, and the most notable sign was the fact that he was blind in one eye.
”A detailed description of the Fallen, and just a code name for the seal ……” Klein expressed his first feelings truthfully.
”So it’s the highest level of secrecy, the search for the ‘0-08’ seal is communicated verbally, not in writing, and there’s only a little about it.” Dunn sighed, “‘0-08’ is in the shape of a common quill pen, but it can write without ink, that’s all.”
Without saying more about that aspect, Dunn followed the gold chain on his black trench coat and removed an ornate pocket watch of the same color, snapped it open, looked at it, and pointed to the door:
”I should have said everything, you go over to the armory to find the old Neil, let him arrange for you to read the specific literature, he is not an ordinary clerical staff, he used to be a full member, just older, and did not get promoted, the health condition is not good, no longer adapted to deal with the case, and is also reluctant to turn to the internal ‘caretaker ‘ or simply recuperate at home, wishing only to be in the company of the documentary canon.”