Part 1 The Joker Chapter 98 Mr. Azteca
Facing his sister’s question, Klein could only laugh bitterly:
”Sore muscles.”
He originally thought that after taking the Sequence Magic Potion, he would have more or less improved his physical fitness after becoming an extraordinary person, but the cruel fact told him that the skills of a “Diviner” were all based on spirituality, spirituality, intuition and interpretation, and could not allow him to adapt to the combat training very quickly.
And the original master in front of many years of focus on reading and some malnutrition, so that the physical quality has always been in the middle of the lower level, today appeared such “after-effects” can only be said to be quite normal.
”Sore muscles? I remember you came back after dinner yesterday, and did not do anything else …… Could alcohol make people’s muscles sore?” Melissa inquired in a very inquisitive spirit.
Could alcohol make a person’s muscles sore …… Sister ah, you ask this sentence …… asked really let a person unconsciously think of the wrong …… Klein dryly laughed twice and said:
”No, it has nothing to do with alcohol, it’s something that happened yesterday afternoon, I joined the company’s fighting training.”
”Fighting?” Melissa was even more surprised.
Klein organized his words quickly and said:
”It’s like this, I’ve considered, I think, that as a history and artifacts consultant for a security company, I can’t stay in the office and in the dockside warehouse forever, maybe there will be a day in the future when I need to go with them to the countryside, to the ancient castles, to the original locations where the artifacts were acquired, and on the way, I’ll be climbing mountains, crossing rivers, going on many many paths, and subjecting myself to nature’s trials of all kinds, which will necessitate having a healthy enough body.”
”So you joined fight training to improve your physique?” Melissa caught her brother’s meaning.
”Yes.” Klein replied in the affirmative.
Melissa frowned slightly:
”But that wouldn’t be gentlemanly …… Haven’t you always held yourself to the standards of a professor? Professors only need to read the literature, consider difficult questions, and be svelte and genteel.”
”Of course, I’m not saying that’s bad, I like men who can solve problems on their own, whether they use their muscles, or their brains.”
Klein chuckled:
”No, no, no, Melissa, there is a certain misunderstanding in your definition of a professor; a true professor is able to communicate with people in a svelte and gentle manner as well as lifting up his cane and convincing them in a physical way when there is a breakdown in communication.”
”Physical way ……” Melissa didn’t react for a moment, but quickly realized what her brother was trying to express, and for a moment she couldn’t find the words to retort.
Without saying anything more, Klein moved his legs with difficulty and moved to the lavatory.
Melissa stood there, watching for a few seconds, then suddenly shook her head and took two steps to catch up:
”Do you need my help?”
She offered the gesture of an assist.
”No, no need, I was a bit of a showman earlier.” Feeling insulted, Klein jerked his back straight and took a normal step.
As she watched her brother walk at a steady pace into the washroom and close the door, Melissa pursed her lips and muttered in a low voice:
”Klein is really getting pompous …… I thought his muscle soreness was really that bad ……”
Inside the washroom, Klein stood behind the closed door, his face suddenly contorted.
”Pain, pain, pain ……” He held his breath and tensed his body, slowing down for a full seven or eight seconds.
It wasn’t until he had arduously descended the stairs, finished breakfast, and watched Benson and Melissa go out the door that he felt the soreness cease to be so damaging.
After resting for a while, Klein grabbed his cane, put on his bowler hat, and walked slowly out the door toward the stop for the railed public carriage.
……
Summer vacation at Hoy University was peaceful and serene with its lush greenery, flowers and birds.
After walking along the river for a while, Klein turned into the road leading to the history department, found the small three-story gray-stone building of some age, and found his mentor, Cohen Quentin’s office.
He knocked on the door and entered, surprised to see faculty member Azik sitting in his mentor’s place.
”Good morning, Mr. Azik, where is my mentor? We had an appointment in the letter to meet at ten o’clock.” Klein asked suspiciously.
Cohen Quentin’s best friend and oftentimes faculty member Azik, with whom he argued over academic issues, laughed:
”Cohen had an impromptu meeting and went to Tingen University and asked me to meet you here.”
He had bronze-colored skin, a medium build, black hair and brown pupils, soft features, eyes that always had an ineffable sense of vicissitude, and a small mole hidden below his right ear that could not be found without a closer look.
After saying the reason, Azuk suddenly frowned and looked at Klein carefully for a few moments.
”Is there anything rude about me?” Klein blankly surveyed what he was wearing:
Tuxedo, black vest, white shirt, black bow tie, dark pants, unbuttoned leather boots …… It’s normal ……
Azk stretched his eyebrows and laughed:
”No need to care, I just suddenly realized that you are much more spirited than before, more like a gentleman.”
”Thank you for your praise.” Klein accepted it openly and turned to ask, “Mr. Aztec, did the tutor find that book ‘A Study of the Ancient Ruins of the Main Peak of Hornachis’ in the school library?”
”Found it, with my help.” Azik said with a soft smile before pulling open a drawer and pulling out a gray-covered book, “You’re no longer a student at Hoy University, so you can only read it here, you can’t take it with you.”
”Okay.” Klein took the scholarly monograph with hidden trepidation in his delight.
The book’s exterior design was perfectly in line with current trends, with stiff paper making the front and back covers, and the pattern was graphic, piecing together an abstract likeness of the main peak of Hornachis.
Crane glanced at it, found a seat, opened the book, and perused it line by line.
He was engrossed in his reading when he suddenly realized that he had an extra cup of coffee in his hand, the aroma mellow and strong.
”Add your own sugar and milk.” Azik said as he set down the small silver tray and pointed to the milk pitcher and the square sugar carton.
”Thanks.” Klein nodded gratefully.
He casually added three squares of sugar and a spoonful of milk, and continued to read without food.
The book “A Study of the Ancient Ruins of Hornachis Main Peak” was not too thick, and near noon, Klein finished flipping through it, grasping a few points that needed attention:
”One, the biological settlements in Honachis Main and the surrounding area have clearly formed a civilization, and an ancient kingdom exists.”
”Two, judging from the mural paintings, their appearance is no different from that of humans, and they may be tentatively regarded as such.”
”III. They revered and feared the night, and thus personified a deity to believe in, calling this deity the lord of the night and the mother of the heavens.”
”Four, the strangest thing of all is that no burials of this nation have been found in the whole region, giving the strange illusion that their inhabitants need not be buried, and may not even die, and this contradicts what the frescoes react to, in which the people of the land believe that death is not the end, and that their dead relatives will shelter themselves in the darkness of the night, and so they will keep the dead relatives in their homes, in their beds, on their pillows, for three full days.”
”And then after that, the mural stops there, not the burial part.”
Klein took a sip of his coffee and continued to write “After Reading” in his own notebook:
”Mother of the Heavens, Heavenly Mother, very lofty title now, and the Lord of the Night clearly overlaps with the Goddess of the Night …… Is this the source of the contradiction?”
”Within the ancient ruins of the main peak of Honachis and the surrounding area, all the displays and furnishings were well preserved, the murals showed little sign of breakage, and the place did not seem to have been disturbed in the slightest prior to its discovery …… There were dinner plates on the tables, which showed signs of dry rotting …… There were rooms with half bottles of wine that had almost turned to water ……”
”And the people of this kingdom? They seem to have all left their homes in a hurry, packing up nothing, and have not returned since.”
”Associated with the matter of the absence of burials, that is even stranger.”
”The author, Mr. Joseph, also talked about how when he first discovered the remains, he even thought the inhabitants of the place had instantly evaporated.”
Klein stopped his pen and turned his attention to an illustration.
It was a black-and-white photograph taken with a new type of camera on John Joseph’s third trip to the main peak of Hornachis.
In the photo, the palace loomed large, with collapsed walls and overgrown weeds, and the style was predominantly grandiose.
When he flipped to this photo just now, Klein instantly remembered the palace he had seen in his dream:
The styles of the two tended to be the same, except that the one in his dream was located at the peak, was more grandiose, and had a huge seat that didn’t belong to a human-like being located at the very top, with countless transparent maggots hugging it in a ball, slowly wriggling.
It can be confirmed that my dream is related to the ancient ruins of the main peak of Honachis …… That should be the Land of Night mentioned in the notes of the Antigonus family …… Klein nodded his head imperceptibly and closed the book.
At this time, Azk sat down across from him and touched the inconspicuous black mole below his right ear and said:
”Well? Any luck?”
”Quite a bit, you see, I’ve taken many pages of notes.” Klein pointed to the desktop and smiled.
”I don’t understand your sudden interest in this.” Azk casually sighed and turned to say, “Klein, when I was in college at Beckland, I was exposed to some divination stuff, and I’ve done some research in this area, and well, I’ve noticed that there’s an incongruity in your destiny.”
What? Divination? Talking to me about divination? As a “soothsayer”, Klein looked across at the Aztec instructor with amusement:
”What’s so incongruous?”
Azik thought for a moment:
”Have you been meeting coincidental things a lot in the last two months.”
”Coincidences?” Because he had been favored by Mr. Azik, Klein did not resist the other party’s question and subconsciously began to think back:
If you really want to talk about coincidences, one of the most obvious things was that when chasing the kidnappers, it was surprising to find a clue to the notes of the Antigonus family, which had been missing for some days, across the room where they were hiding.
In addition, Riel Bieber did not escape Tingen hastily find a place to digest the power given by the notes, so that the seal “2-049” can easily track his whereabouts, which is also a bit counterintuitive …… Although Mr. Al Hassan explains it well, I always think it is a bit coincidental. But I think it’s a bit of a coincidence. ……
Well, it’s also a bit of a coincidence that Selena, after peeking at Linus Vicente’s secret spell, held off on trying it until the birthday dinner, which happened to be discovered by me …… Otherwise, Linus Vicente wouldn’t have just died abruptly like that ……
Klein thought hard for a few minutes and said:
”There were three, not too many, not too often, and no trace of interference or guidance from anyone else could be found.”
Aztec nodded gently:
”Rossel the Great said that coincidences that simply only happen once can be met by anyone, twice is in the realm of normalcy, three times one must ponder what intrinsic factors are guiding them.”
”Can you see anything?” Klein asked tentatively.
Azuk gave a laugh and shook his head in reply:
”I can only see a slight incongruity, nothing else, and mind you, I’m not really a soothsayer.”
Isn’t that saying the same as not saying it …… Mr. Azik is a bit strange ah …… pretending to be a diviner in front of me …… Klein exhaled, taking the opportunity of the other party to get up, pinched the his own brow and opened his spiritual vision.
At a glance, Aztec’s aura was reflected in his eyes as much as it could be, and it was normal in every way.
It’s a pity that I can only see the depths of someone else’s etheric body and the surface of their astral spirit body from above the gray mist …… Klein tapped his brow and stood up smoothly, thinking leisurely.