Part 1 The Joker Chapter 81: A Long Time Coming
”You have to complete a mission independently to be a full member?” Klein froze for a moment and said, “But we may not even get a mission once a week, and it’s not always easy.”
Doesn’t that mean it’ll be almost a month or two before I can officially become a night watchman and get a promotion and a raise ……
Old Neil sniffed his coffee and glanced at him:
”This is just a ritual among the Night Watchers, after all, we stand at the forefront of the fight against transcendent dangers, and surely we don’t want to be surrounded by teammates who are children who need to be taken care of at all times, and this doesn’t affect your ability to get the salary of a full member, obtain the rights corresponding to it, and fulfill the necessary obligations.”
So it’s a ceremony to gain the approval of the other night watchmen …… But, Mr. Neil, why did you emphasize that it doesn’t affect my ability to get the salary of a full member rank …… Did I show that much obviousness? Klein touched his face, smiled awkwardly, and turned to ask:
”Does it have to be a mission with a transcendent nature?”
”It should have been, but you did perform quite well yesterday, skillfully killing an Extraordinary of at least Sequence 8, I think Fry, Loyal and the others should have already recognized you, so Dunn might have merely assigned an ordinary mission.” Old Neil suddenly sighed, “Double the salary, I will never encounter anything similar in my life.”
Klein laughed twice and took the initiative to mention the matter of his own sequence pathway:
”Mr. Neil, do you think the sequence 8 corresponding to ‘Diviner’ is ‘Joker’ real?”
Actually, looking back at the description on the classified information, it was quite a match:
A “professional” who specializes in skill-based fighting ……
”I can’t give you a guarantee, but I think this is very likely, firstly, it matches the description on the data, characterized by agile movements and skillful fighting, and secondly, there are other sequence paths that are similar, do you know the name of the Sequence 8 that corresponds to the ‘Peeping Tom’? ” Old Neil asked rhetorically with a grin.
”I don’t know, it’s not on the Church’s information.” Klein shook his head frankly.
Old Neil gave a heave-ho and said:
”I’m acquainted with the two old guys from ‘Mechanical Heart’, they mentioned in a joking tone that the name of the Sequence 8 magic potion corresponding to ‘Secret Peeper’ is, Fighting Scholar, did you hear that, Fighting Scholar, goddess, I Don’t like fighting at all, it doesn’t fit the image of ‘Secret Peeper’ at all!”
”It’s understandable …… that ‘secret peepers’ are seeking the secrets behind things, and fighting belongs to one of the things.” Klein thought about it.
”Well don’t waste any time, get on with the occult lessons, you still have a lot of ritual magic to master, and you have to actually learn how to make charms and amulets.” Old Neil fixed the hand ground coffee.
”Good.” Klein sat down and mentally organized his day:
Study the occult in the morning, go through various historical materials and submit a claim for reimbursement, have lunch, go to the shooting club to practice, then head to the Devereux Library in the Golden Sycamore district to see if he can borrow academic monographs and corresponding journals related to the main peak of Hornachis, and after all of that, if there’s any time left, go to the divination club to have a sit-down and ‘play’ ” cannot be relaxed in the slightest.
Once the application has been approved and the fee claimed, stop by on the way home to add a suit of formal wear.
Well, apply for the materials tomorrow morning and try to make amulets for Melissa and Benson to avoid doom and gloom.
……
Inside a dining room draped with chandeliers and elegantly decorated.
Several friends were congratulating Joyce Myer on her escape from doom and return to Tingen.
”We’ve all seen the papers, and the mere description of the words makes one feel afraid.” A man with a short beard under his jowls lamented, “Joyce, it’s hard to believe you’ve been through such a thing, suffered such an ordeal, cheers, the jinx is far away, the sun shines down on us, the steam is on.”
Joyce and his fiancée Anna raised their glasses at the same time, clinking them with their friends before taking a sip of what little champagne was left inside.
”Anna’s been a real worry these past few days, I suspect she’s been crying every night, and she’s always wandering off when I invite her for afternoon tea, luckily you’re finally back or I doubt she’d have died just like that.” A young lady with coiffed brown hair looked over at Anna and said to Joyce, she had a small, cute nose.
”I’d be the same, if not more out of it, if something similar happened to Anna.” Joyce, who had a hawkish nose, looked at his fiancée next to him with tender eyes.
Anna, not quite used to displaying her feelings in front of others, glanced at the other end of the long table and said:
”Bogda, why do you keep your head down, I can feel you’re in a bad mood.”
The young lady with the small nose answered in place of the other:
”Bogda is sick, the internist told him that he has a big problem with his liver, and that with medication he can only reduce the pain, he can’t really cure it, and that a surgical operation is necessary.”
”Lord, when did this happen?” Anna and Joyce asked, surprised and concerned.
Bogda was a young man with very light short hair, his face yellowed and his usually shrewd red eyes tinted with dullness.
”It was last week, and since Joyce hadn’t returned yet, I asked Elaine and the girls not to tell you.” Borgata explained with a bitter smile.
Joyce asked stoically:
”Have you considered when you’re going to have the surgery?”
Bogda’s expression changed a few times as he said:
”No, I haven’t made a decision yet, you guys know, those surgeons are literally butchers, the person doing the surgery is a piece of meat on the chopping board, to be slaughtered by them at will! I’ve read a number of reports that they’ll even take an axe and do amputations for people! Lord, I doubt I’ll die on the operating table.”
”But if it drags on any longer, maybe the surgery won’t even save you.” The man with the short beard under his chin advised.
At that moment, Anna suddenly interjected:
”Bogda, perhaps you might consider going for a divination, and if it shows that all is well, then operate as soon as possible, and if it comes out badly, look for something else and follow the diviner’s cues. I know a real, magical diviner, no, better call him a soothsayer, and I’m sure he can help you.”
”Really?” Bogda asked rhetorically with a distinctly skeptical look, and several of their other friends were in much the same attitude.
”Really.” Anna nodded her head without hesitation, “I sought him out to divine Joyce’s condition, and then he told me to come home, your fiancé is waiting for you at home, and at the time I was just as skeptical as all of you, but when I got home, I really did see Joyce, and he really did come back!”
”I can testify to that.” Joyce concurred.
He didn’t say anything about his door-to-door request for dream interpretation because the police had told him that Tris hadn’t been caught yet, so he had to hide the secret so as not to invite retaliation.
”Lord, this is unbelievable!”
”Is divination really that amazing?”
……
In a loud exclamation, Bogda pondered for a moment and said:
”Perhaps I really should go for a divination, Anna, Joyce, can you tell me the address and name of the soothsayer?”
Anna said with relief:
”You made a wise choice.”
”The soothsayer is at the Divination Club in the Howells neighborhood.”
”His name is, Klein Moretti.”
……
The Golden Sycamore neighborhood, in the Deville Library.
Klein had managed to get a library card using the letter of introduction that his mentor had clipped to his letter.
He asked a few administrators as he flipped through the small card in his hand:
”Do you have ‘A Study of the Ancient Ruins of Honachis Main’ here? Published by Ruiners Press.”
One of the administrators immediately replied:
”Please wait a moment while I look for it.”
He turned his body to face the drawers, pulled open the one that corresponded to the initials “Hornachis”, and then turned out several cards filled with words according to a certain pattern.
After looking them over, he shook his head:
”I’m sorry, sir, we don’t have this book in our collection.”
”That’s a shame.” Klein replied with slight disappointment.
It seemed that he would have to write to the Ruiners Press, or make a trip back to Hoy University ……
In the meantime, he sighed darkly, lamenting the fact that libraries in this world were still run in the old-fashioned way.
You guys need a computer, too bad I can’t car …… Klein laughed to himself and turned to ask:
”So are there journals like New Archaeology and Archaeological Review?”
”There are.” The janitor replied affirmatively, “A gentleman returned it just earlier.”
He re-fished out the corresponding card and showed Klein where the bookshelf was located.
Klein went there, scanned through the issue numbers one by one, and drew out a few of the books mentioned by his mentor.
Then, he casually found a window seat and sat down, flipping through the materials in the quiet library in the brilliant afternoon sunlight.
”…… Ancient ruins exist not only on the main peak of the Honchos Mountains, but also widely in the woodlands, valleys and gentle slopes around the main peak ……”
”…… These ruins consist of towering domes and a single massive stone pillar that can be visually described as ‘grand’ …… ”
”…… One wonders how the aboriginal people here quarried and polished these stones. Let’s assume, first of all, that they mined it in situ, without transporting it up the mountain …… ”
”…… A strange pattern is that the closer you get to the top of the mountain, the grander the ruins become, but surprisingly, there are no ruins at the top of the mountain, which, according to our assumptions, should have contained a palace not unlike a human building used for ceremonial shrines… …”
不不像人类建筑的宫殿……用来祭祀的神殿…… Could it be the one I saw in my dream? In the midst of Klein’s thoughts, he suddenly heard several footsteps approaching from afar.
He looked up and saw a familiar face, the face that often appears in the newspaper.
The square face, the thick eyebrows, the strong nose, the short dark blond hair, the blue eyes, the pursed lips, all belonged to one of the Tingen celebrities, the philanthropist, the entrepreneur, the owner of this library, Sir Devereux.
Beside De Vere was the middle-aged butler whom Klein had seen before.
Klein, separated by a distance of ten or so meters, looked at them passing by, and with curiosity in his heart, he raised his right hand and tapped his brow twice.