Part 1 The Joker Chapter 20 Forgetful Dunn
”Okay.” Klein bowed slightly, removing his low bowler hat and putting it back on his head, while imagining more about what the seal “0-08” would look like.
An ordinary looking quill?
It doesn’t need ink to write?
Then what is its real purpose? Is it so secretive that it’s considered “very dangerous”?
It’s not a karma pen that writes whoever dies, is it?
No, that’s too far gone. There’s no need for Ince Zangwill to abscond. ……
Klein had just turned around and was about to leave when Dunn Smith behind him suddenly called out to him:
”Wait, I forgot something.”
”What?” Kline turned back, his eyes full of doubt.
Dunn put away his pocket watch and smiled:
”You wait and remember to see Mrs. Oleanna, the accountant, for a four-week advance on your salary, a total of twelve pounds, and after that, you’ll only receive half of your salary each week until it’s repaid.”
”That’s too much, there’s no need for that, it could be less.” Klein said subconsciously.
He had no objection to the advance, after all, he didn’t even have the public carriage fare to go back on him, but taking a huge sum of 12 pounds at once still scared him a little.
”No, it’s necessary.” Dunn shook his head and laughed, “Think about it, would you want to continue living in your current apartment? Even the washroom has to be shared with several households, and if you don’t think about yourself, you have to think about the lady, and ……”
Seeing Klein nod in agreement, he paused for a moment, smiled and surveyed the other man’s clothing for a few moments, meaningfully:
”And you’re going to need a cane too, and will have to buy formal wear again.”
Klein was stunned for a second, then snapped out of it, and his face burned a little, for the set he wore was cheap.
Normally, a bowler hat would have to be made of silk and worth 5 to 6 soules, a bow tie 3 soules, a silver-encrusted cane 7 to 8 soules, a shirt 3 soules, pants, vest and tuxedo formalwear would have to be around 7 pounds, and leather boots 9 to 10 soules, so a set like this would total more than 8 pounds and 7 soules and of course a decent gentleman would need a watch bracelet, a pocket watch and a wallet.
When the original owner and brother Benson frugal, save a sum of money, go to the cloak store asked, the results even dare not return the price on the gray away, in the iron cross street near the cheap store to make up a set of each person to buy, a total of less than two pounds.
It was because of this incident that the original owner was impressed to the extreme with the price of clothing.
”Okay, okay.” Klein replied with a slight stutter.
He, like the original owner, was a man who wanted a face.
Dunn took out his pocket watch again and pressed it open to look at it and said:
”Or maybe you’ll go to Mrs. Oleanna first? I don’t know how long you’ll be at Old Neil’s, and in a little while, Mrs. Oleanna will be coming home.”
”All right.” Crane, deeply impoverished, expressed no objection.
Dunn walked back to the table and tugged on one of the several cords that hung down:
”I’ll have Roxanne take you.”
As the ropes ran and the gears turned, Roxanne, in the reception hall of Blackthorn Security, heard the bell hanging nearby and stood up, carefully descending the stairs.
It wasn’t long before she appeared in front of Klein.
Dunn-Smith laughed humorously:
”Didn’t disturb your rest, did I? Well, take Moretti to Mrs. Oriana.”
Roxanne quietly bristled and replied “pleasantly”:
”Yes, Captain.”
”That’s it?” At this point, Klein was taken aback.
You don’t need a note from you, Captain, to get an advance on your paycheck from the “treasury”, do you?
”So?” Dunn asked, puzzled.
”I mean, don’t you need to sign for a pay advance from Mrs. Oleanna?” Klein said in as plain words as possible.
”Oh no, it doesn’t, Roxanne can attest to that.” Dunn Smith replied, pointing to the brunette.
Captain, we have little to no “financial management” here …… Klein resisted the urge to spit and followed Roxanne as she turned and walked out of the room.
Just then, he once again heard Dunn call out:
”Wait, there’s one more thing.”
Can we finish our sentence at once? Klein turned back with a grin on his face:
”Go ahead.”
Dunn pressed his temples and said:
”When you go to Old Neil’s place, remember to pick up ten rounds of ‘Demon Hunting Bullets’.”
”Me? Demon hunting bullets?” Klein asked back in surprise.
”Isn’t that revolver of Welch’s with you? There would be no need to turn it in.” Dunn said with one hand in his pocket, “Along with the ‘Demon Hunting Bullet’, you’ll be able to protect yourself if you really encounter any strange and weird dangers, uh, this will at least give you courage.”
No need to add the last half of the sentence …… Klein was worried about this aspect and answered without hesitation:
”Yes, I’ll keep that in mind!”
”That will require me to write a formal instrument, just wait a moment.” Dunn Smith sat down, picked up a dark red absorbent fountain pen, brushed and wrote a “note”, signed and stamped it.
”Thank you Captain.” Klein took it sincerely.
He stepped back slowly and turned around again.
”Wait.”
Dunn called out again and again.
…… Captain, you look like you’re only in your thirties, why do you have the precursor of aging before your time? Klein squeezed out a smile and turned back to ask:
”What else?”
”I forgot just now, you haven’t practiced shooting, holding ‘Demon Hunting Bullets’ isn’t much use, like this, you’ll receive another thirty rounds of normal bullets every day, and while you’re out and about, go to the streets, that is, the underground range at 3 Zotland Street to practice, most of the area there belongs to the police department, but there is a field exclusively belonging to us night watchmen, ah yes, you’ll also need to get a badge from old Neil or you won’t get into the range.” Dunn slapped his forehead and took the ‘slip’ back from Klein, brushing it off to add the rest and make up a stamp.
”Good shooters are fed with bullets, you don’t take that lightly.” Dunn handed the altered ‘note’ back to Klein.
”I understand.” Wincing at the danger, Klein hated to go today.
He took two steps outside, then suddenly and cautiously half-turned his body and spoke with deliberation:
”Captain, there’s nothing else, is there?”
”No more.” Dunn nodded affirmatively.
Relieved, Klein walked all the way to the door, during which time he hated to turn around again and ask, “Is there really nothing else?”
He resisted the urge and finally left the “watch room” “without incident”.
”The captain has always been like this, often forgetting things.” Roxanne walked beside him and whispered in a denigrating voice, “My grandmother has a better memory than he does, of course, he only forgets the little things, well, the little things, Crane, I’ll call you Crane from now on, Mrs. Oriana is a kind person, very nice to be around, her father is a watchmaker, very good at his craft …… ”
Listening to the brown-haired girl’s rambling ramblings, Klein stepped onto the stairs and returned to the upper floor, meeting Mrs. Oleanna in the outermost office on his right.
It was a dark-haired lady in a ruffled gown who looked to be in her mid-thirties, with fashionable curly hair and clear, smiling turquoise pupils, showy and refined.
After listening to Roxanne relay Dunn-Smith’s arrangements, Oleanna took out a note pad and wrote an advance:
”You sign it. Is there a stamp? If you don’t have one, put your handprint on it.”
”Okay.” Klein completed the formalities with familiarity.
Oriana took out the brass key and opened the safe in the room, counting the gold pounds as she smiled:
”You’re lucky to have enough cash today, by the way, Klein, you were invited by the captain because you were involved in an evil incident and have special skills yourself?”
”Yes, ma’am your intuition is spot on.” Klein didn’t mince words of praise.
Oleanna took out four bills with light gray as the background and dark black as the pattern and re-locked the safe, turning around while smiling:
”Because I’m the same way.”
”Is that so?” Klein was suitably surprised.
”You know that serial killer who sensationalized the entire city of Tingen sixteen years ago?” Oleanna handed Klein four gold pounds.
”…… Remember! The ‘Bloody Butcher’ who killed five young girls in a row, some taking their hearts, some taking their stomachs? When I was little, my mother used to scare my sister with this matter.” Klein said with a little thought.
He took the bills and found that they were two five pounders and two one pounders, both with black stripes on a gray background, with intricate designs and special watermark imitations in the corners.
The former was slightly larger, and in the center was the fifth king of the Kingdom of Rouen, the direct ancestor of George III, Henry Augustus I. He wore a white hair cover, his face was round, his eyes were narrow, and his expression was unusually serious, but in Klein’s eyes, there was an indescribable closeness.
It was a five-pound bill!
Equal to Benson’s salary for nearly four weeks!
In the center of the £1 bill was the father of George III, the former King William Augustus VI, the “strong man” with the thick beard and the resolute eyes, who had freed the Kingdom of Rouen from its antiquity and had once again risen to the top of the kingdoms during his reign.
This is all the “good king” …… Klein vaguely smelled the haunting odor of banknote ink.
”Yes, I would have been the sixth victim if the night watchmen hadn’t arrived in time.” There was still a hint of afterthought lurking in Mrs. Oriana’s tone, even though it had been more than a decade since the incident.
”It sounds like the serial killer, no, the butcher, was an Extraordinary One?” Klein carefully folded the bill and slipped it into the inside pocket of his formal suit, then touched it several times in quick succession nearby for confirmation.
”Yes.” Mrs. Oriana nodded heavily, “He’s killed many others before, and the only reason he was caught that time was because he was preparing a demonic ritual.”
”No wonder it takes different internal organs …… Sorry, ma’am, for bringing back bad memories.” Klein said sincerely.
Oleanna laughed softly, “I haven’t been afraid for a long time …… That was when I was in business school for accounting, and then, after that, I came here, well, I won’t keep you any longer, you still have to go to old Neil.”
”Good-bye, ma’am.” Crane took off his hat and curtsied, and exited the office, and before descending the stairs, could not resist feeling his inside pocket again to make sure that the twelve-pound bill was still there.
He turned the corner at the crossroads and proceeded to the right, and it was not long before he saw a half-hidden iron door.
Knock, knock, knock.
There was a knock at the door, and a pale voice within said:
”Come in.”
Klein pushed open the iron door and realized that it was a narrow room that could only fit a table and two chairs.
On that side of the room, there was also a tightly locked iron door, and behind the table, an old man with white hair and wearing a classical black robe was reading a few yellowed pages by the light of a gas lamp.
He raised his head and looked toward the doorway and said:
”You are Klein Moretti? Little Roxanne came by just now and said you were very polite.”
”Miss Roxanne is such a friendly person, good afternoon, Mr. Neil.” Klein took off his hat in greeting.
”Sit down.” Neil gestured to the intricately patterned silver-encrusted tin can on the table, “Would you like a cup of hand-ground coffee?”
The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and around his mouth were deep, and his dark red eyes were slightly cloudy.
”You don’t even seem to drink it?” Klein noted keenly that Neil’s ceramic mug was filled with fresh water.
”Haha, it’s my habit not to drink coffee after 3pm.” Neil explained with a smile.
”Why?” Klein asked casually.
Neil looked into Klein’s eyes with a smile and said:
”I’m afraid I won’t sleep well at night, and then I’ll hear some inexplicable existential whispers.”
…… Klein didn’t know how to answer at once, and turned to ask:
”Mr. Neal, what literature and texts shall I read?”
As he spoke, he held out the “note” written by Dunn Smith.
”Anything to do with history, complicated, bits and pieces that, frankly, I’ve been trying to learn but can only grasp the rudiments of, the rest is too much of a pain in the ass, what with the diaries of the people of the time, the popular books, the epitaphs, and so on and so forth.” Neil grumbled, “The ones I have at hand, for example, require more detailed historical accounts to deduce the specifics.”
”Why?” Klein sounded a little confused.
Neil pointed to a few yellowed pages in front of him:
”This is Rossel Gustav’s diary that was lost before his death, and he used strange symbols of his own invention to keep it all secret.”
Rossel the Great? A former member of the Traveling Man? Klein froze, then whirled around to listen intently.
”Because many believe that he didn’t really die, but became a hidden deity, there have been cultists who worship him performing various rituals to try and gain power, and we’ve occasionally come across these kinds of things and obtained a few original or transcribed notes.” Neil shook his head and said, “To this day, no one has been able to decipher the true symbols of those particular symbols, so the ‘Holy Church’ allows us to keep copies to study, hoping for an unexpected surprise.”
Speaking of this, Neil revealed a smug smile:
”I’ve deciphered a few of the symbols, confirmed that they were numerical expressions, and look what I’ve found, it’s actually a diary! Well, I’m hoping to decipher more of the symbols by comparing historical events from different dates at the time, especially around the Emperor, with the diary’s entries corresponding to that day.”
”Genius thinking, right?” The old gentleman with white hair and deep wrinkles looked at Klein with glowing eyes.
Klein nodded approvingly:
”Yes.”
”Haha, you can take a look at it too, and you’ll have to start helping me with that aspect tomorrow.” Old Mr. Neal pushed the yellowed pages over to Klein.
Klein turned them upright and just glanced at them, and his whole body froze there!
Although those “symbols” were copied and depicted in a very ugly way, some slightly distorted, but he would never recognize them ……
Because this is his most familiar words:
Chinese!
He is still fucking simplified Chinese characters!