Part 1v the undead chapter xvii the power of the moon
Entering the house, the first thing Klein saw was a foyer, which was so spacious, with many chairs and umbrella stands, and so elegantly and tastefully decorated, that if he hadn’t known the structure in advance and hadn’t visited it on the spot, Klein would have thought it was a waiting room.
Passing through the second door, a hall for dozens or hundreds of guests to dance in opened up before him.
The center of this hall was covered with a thick, plush carpet of vibrant colors, surrounded by shiny, clear marble tiles, furnished with pianos, stone sculptures, and other objects, and supported by a single stone pillar with inlaid ornaments that held up the second floor.
It was flanked on the left by a row of floor-to-ceiling windows, with verdant lawns and blooming gardens beyond, and on the right by walls, wooden doors, and corridors leading to such places as lounges, storerooms, lavatories, kitchens, and butler’s rooms.
The hall is two stories high and has crystal chandeliers dropping from the ceiling, giving one an instant visualization of what it will look like when night comes.
Moving forward to the end, there are stairs on each side leading to the second level.
The cloisters here were square, with the empty center section right where the hall was carpeted, and Klein could just grab a glass of wine and stand behind the second floor railing to enjoy the ball below at a leisurely pace.
The second floor had numerous rooms, a parlor, a sitting room, a dining room, a washroom, a billiard room, and a large number of bedrooms where guests stayed if they needed to stay overnight.
Similarly, the second floor had two staircases leading up to the third floor, which was where Dawn Dantes lived, with an exaggerated master bedroom, a semi-open room with a bar where you could get some sun and enjoy the view, a study that could be called a small library, two checkrooms and small bedrooms for the valet and the maid on night duty, respectively, as well as rooms belonging to members of the family, and a lavatory, although Crane was only a single man for the time being.
As for the other servants, they were in the row of cottages at the rear of the building, with the stables in the other direction.
The ground floor portion of the building was equally spacious, with large storerooms and a wine cellar.
Klein, who had taken off his coat, stood with his back straight on the large balcony of the semi-open room on the third floor, gazing out over the surrounding neighborhood, and couldn’t help but sigh inwardly:
”Expensive really does have a meaning, that 315 pounds rent is not too wasteful ……”
He had already paid a year’s rent yesterday afternoon and could only force himself to become more and more amenable to the place.
At the same time, he had paid Walter’s salary of £115 for the year outright, as he would probably have to abscond after he got his hands on the Antigonus family notes, putting Mr. Butler out of a job.
With this philosophy in mind, he also paid Tania, the housekeeper, 42 pounds a year at once this morning, giving the lady a preliminary impression of Mr. Dawn Dantes’ generosity as a man of action.
And under the discussion and busyness of the two housekeepers, the servants had been hired, a male household property keeper at £30 per annum, a valet Richardson at £35 per annum, two footmen who were responsible for receiving guests to wait at the table at £25 per annum each, two first-class maids at £18 per annum each, two second-class maids at £12 per annum each, and two menial servants for menial work also at £12 per annum each.
In addition to these, the cook was paid £30 per annum, the kitchen assistant £15, the kitchen maid £13, the pantry maid £11, the domestic nurse £25, the journeyman £10, the two coachmen £25 each, the two gardeners £20 each, and the two washerwomen £10 each, making a grand total of £413, or almost £8 per week.
Taking into account the annual salaries of the two housekeepers, Crane had to pay £570 a year, or about £11 a week, and that was without counting the expenses of providing food, clothing, and all sorts of daily necessities.
Every week, when he opened his eyes, nothing had been earned yet, and he had to spend ten or twenty pounds …… Klein did a casual mental calculation, and then forced himself to move his eyes to the garden.
After paying the rent of the two carriages and the first week’s salary of the servants at noon, and giving the housekeeper Tania 1000 pounds of cash for daily expenses, he was left with 1286 pounds of banknotes and 18 gold coins, but the payments for Miss Justice and Ms. Hidden will be coming in this week. The money from Ms. Justice and Ms. Hermit will be coming in within the week.
I don’t know how long Tania’s £1,000 will last, but it will take at least a few hundred pounds to stock up on drinks for the ball. …… Mr. Dawn Dantes, the rich man, is deep in thought and can’t stop thinking about it.
In order to calm his emotions, he decided to take advantage of the time when his butler and servants were busy with the affairs of his new home to go for a spin above the Gray Mist and study the grotesque puppet that Emlyn White had sacrificed.
–After the occurrence of the Blood Moon, Klein had to return to that mysterious space, pulling Voorhees in and forcing himself to sleep to listen to the other man ramble on about some of the daily life in Berkland, and when everything calmed down, he was too sleepy to return to the real world after accepting Emlyn’s sacrifice and confirming that there was no abnormality, and fell back to sleep.
Straightening his dark vest with shapely lines, Klein walked to the entrance, pulled open the door to his room, and said to Richardson, the valet who was waiting outside:
”I am accustomed to napping for three quarters of an hour at this time, do not let anyone disturb me.”
”Yes, sir.” Richardson responded humbly.
He was a half-breed illegitimate child of a Ruin father, a steward of an estate, and a mother, an East Byron native, a slave of that estate. After he was born, he was subjected to discrimination and bullying, and developed a cowardly and obedient character, and because his appearance was quite good and suitable for receiving guests, he was selected as a manservant by the master of that manor and brought to Bekrand.
When both houses of the Kingdom of Ruen passed a bill to abolish slavery, he lost his job and had to ask for assistance from the “Metropolitan Association for the Help of Domestic Servants”.
He had served two families before Klein, made some mistakes and gained a lot of experience, and was recognized by the butler, Walter, as Dawn Dantes’ personal manservant.
Looking at Richardson, who had an upright figure and was about the same height as he was now, Klein shook his head slightly unnoticeably and sighed inwardly:
”This kind of guy who can be a star in appearance can only be a servant in this era, and obviously looks so tall, but is timid and cowardly, however, this is also considered an advantage, obedient, silent, obedient, doing whatever the master commands, absolutely not taking matters into his own hands ……
”If I only had a personal manservant and needed him to handle all kinds of affairs, then Richardson would definitely be unqualified, but I still have Butler Walter, and so many servants, the rest of the things, with his experience and ability, is enough to cope with.”
Without further ado, Klein closed and unlocked the door, returned to the easy chair, and, taking four steps against the grain, entered the gray mist above.
He sat down in the “Fool’s” seat and motioned for the blackened moon puppet to fly over and land in front of him.
After repeated scrutiny, Klein could not find anything special about it, so he manifested a pen and paper and wrote down a divination statement:
”Where it came from.”
Putting down the pen, Klein waited a few seconds before picking up the paper and leaning back in his chair.
Well, my psychic intuition didn’t stop me from divining, which means that the dangers lurking in the Moon Puppet are not as great as the extraordinary characteristics of the Rose School. …… Klein muttered and skillfully whispered the divination statement.
In the gray sky, he saw an altar with a circle of torches.
The altar was covered with what looked suspiciously like human skin, gore everywhere, and in the center stood three candles and several slender, stake-like figures.
These small puppets had curved eyes and curved mouths that seemed to correspond to the scarlet crescent moon in the sky.
Therefore, they always wore eerie smiles, while their bodies were inlaid with dead grass and dried flowers.
A priest in dark red robes was circling around the altar with hard footsteps, as if doing a dance invented by an epileptic.
At some point the moonlight converged and shone on the puppets, growing brighter and brighter, and at the end of the day it was as if there were waves of water gently swaying there.
The ceremony soon came to a close as the priest picked up a slender puppet, walked over to the human tied to a nearby rack, and in one swift motion thrust it into the other’s eye socket.
The scene changes rapidly with the sound of screams, and the dead with “moon puppets” in their eye sockets are buried in a regular pattern.
The scene began to jump around, and every time there was a full moon or a blood moon, a glow would fall over the burial site, seeping in like water, and the surrounding area was dark and deep.
Klein opened his eyes, adjusted his sitting position, and roughly understood the origin of the “moon puppets”:
They originated from a ritual of praying to the “primordial moon”, a ritual that lasted for hundreds of years!
During these centuries, they absorbed the power of the red moon and mutated little by little until they were unearthed by some colonists.
They usually do not have any strange places, only the “primitive moon” believers with the right way to open, as for the effect, Klein is not clear.
In a sense, these puppets are the equivalent of the benefactors of the “primordial moon.”…… After I killed one of them last night, the evil god became angry, and there was a blood moon? Klein tapped his fingers on the edge of the mottled table and made a preliminary judgment.
Well, the anger of the “primal moon” directly changes the lunar phenomenon, manifesting itself as a blood moon …… If this guess is correct, then it means that in the field of the red moon, the goddess is not as good as the “primal moon”, and may even just occupy the same position as the “primal moon”, and may not be as good as the “primal moon”. If this speculation is correct, then it means that in the field of the Red Moon, the goddess is inferior to the “original moon”, and may even be just a name, holding a “0” level seal …… Klein nodded his head slightly and tried to divine the weakness of the “moon puppet”.
This time, he saw sunlight and lightning.
In other words, the extraordinary ability of the “Sun” field and the lightning of the “Storm” field are the most suitable to deal with it. …… Klein deciphered the content of the revelation while putting the “Moon Puppet” into the pile of clutter and returned to the real world.
An hour later, the well-dressed Walter knocked on the door wearing white gloves and entered the room, saluting:
”Sir, I will next print some of your business cards and deliver them, along with small gifts, to the surrounding neighbors.
”They will observe you for a few days to ascertain your situation, and if they are willing to receive you, they will return the gift and invite you to be their guest.
”What title do you need to add to your business card?”
Title …… not of this age fool? Klein spat darkly and responded with a smile:
”Trader Dawn Dantes from Dixie will suffice.”
Walter nodded and turned to say:
”In accordance with your intentions, I will immediately arrange etiquette lessons for you, with an emphasis on dancing, and I will have a professional tutor come over.”