Part 2 The Faceless Man Chapter 10 Three Things

　　Klein listened carefully and asked a rhetorical question:

　　”So, you suspect that the Zerrill the detectives saw was someone else in disguise?”

　　Ian, holding his brown yarmulke, replied as if he had been thinking ahead:

　　”It’s a possibility, but I think it’s too high, so high that it requires taking a great risk; the party was at night, and it’s true that the lights weren’t really bright, but most of the people involved were detectives, detectives with keen observation, and it’s hard to hide it from them with just a wig, moustache, and makeup.”

　　Maybe some kind of extraordinary ability can do it …… just like the “writhing hunger” possesses …… Klein’s question just now had a little trap, trying to find out from the content, facial expression and the answer of the big boy Ian. From the content of his answer, the expression on his face and his body language, he wanted to determine whether he had ever been in contact with an extraordinary person and whether he had some knowledge of the mystical realm.

　　The initial answer was no.

　　Seeing Detective Moriarty nodding slightly in agreement with his reasoning, Ian continued:

　　”I believe that what those detectives saw was Mr. Zerrill, except that he wasn’t free and was under the tight control of others, unable to pass on a message of distress, and the reason why he didn’t respond to my contact was to alert me to the fact that I was looking for someone to help rescue him.”

　　”A reasonable explanation.” Klein loosened his interlocked hands and sat back a little, making himself look more relaxed and confident.

　　Ian was silent for a dozen seconds or so before speaking in a slightly solemn voice:

　　”I would like to entrust you with investigating Mr. Zeruel and confirming his current condition, just confirming.”

　　Considering that the other party was a semi-professional who gathered intelligence and information for the detective, Klein had the intention to make a friendship and smiled:

　　”Then how much do you intend to pay? You should know very well that this matter might be very dangerous.”

　　Ian motioned stealthily and glanced down at the pocket of his old overcoat, deliberating:

　　”There are two ways of doing this, one is that I pay you directly enough to satisfy you, and after that, whether the task is easy, or difficult, it will be the same amount, unless you are relatively seriously injured.”

　　”Two, I’ll pay five pounds up front, and when you complete the commission, you’ll pay an additional fee depending on how difficult things are, but that’s prone to disputes, even if there’s a contractual agreement.”

　　Klein pretended to think, and it took close to thirty seconds before he spoke in a low voice:

　　”Perhaps it could be like this? You pay five pounds in advance, and when the mission is over, do three more things for me, don’t worry, it won’t be anything difficult, it’s all within your ability, and it won’t make you feel too difficult, this can be agreed in the contract.”

　　Ian frowned, and then he stood up, leaned forward and extended his right hand:

　　”Okay!”

　　Klein gave him a false handshake, pulled a copy of the standardized contract he’d prepared long ago from the coffee table, picked up a round-bellied fountain pen, added in all the details he’d just negotiated, and pressed his confirming fingerprint.

　　After signing the contract, he gave the older boy, Ian, a wad of white paper and watched as the other man wrote down the information related to Detective Zerrill.

　　After a while, he asked casually as he flipped through the information:

　　”How do I contact you if there’s an emergency, or if I’ve confirmed Zerrill’s condition?”

　　Ian pursed his lips and didn’t say anything for a long time, until Klein looked up and answered slightly stiffly:

　　”There’s no need to contact me, I’ll show up at the right time.”

　　Without further ado, he pulled a thick wad of banknotes from the pocket of his old overcoat; they seemed to be neatly layered in strict order of denomination from largest to smallest.

　　Ian first drew out three bills of one pound denomination from the bottom, then counted six of five sousl, and finally ten bills of one sousl.

　　Seeing that the other party had arranged the banknotes so neatly that even the portraits of a few kings had to be heads up without the slightest mistake, Klein was suddenly a little annoyed.

　　This is the late stage of obsessive compulsive disorder ah …… He exhaled silently and took the payment pushed by the other party.

　　According to his visual inspection, Ian couldn’t have more than three pounds of cash left.

　　It is estimated that he has brought all his savings with him …… If I just asked for more payment, will he end up skipping out on the bill? He doesn’t look like that kind of person, but you can’t judge a person by their appearance …… Klein casually folded up the bills and stuffed them into his coat pocket, not bothering about neatness, so he managed to see Ian’s expression twist slightly.

　　”I’ll try to finish the investigation as soon as possible.” Klein reached out as he stood up, making a gesture of farewell.

　　”Thank you for your help.” Ian thanked him sincerely, as the other party was obviously giving a “discounted price”.

　　Seeing the older boy, who was much more mature than his real age, leave, Klein stroked his chin and murmured silently to himself thoughtfully:

　　”The water in this matter is very deep.”

　　”Ian never mentioned from the beginning to the end what Detective Zerrill has been investigating lately, and has instructed him to collect information in which area ……”

　　”Forget it, charge as much as you can and manage as much as you can, I just need to confirm Zerrill’s current status.”

　　He turned his body around and walked back into the living room, casually pulling out a copper coin with a denomination of 1/4 penny from his pants pocket.

　　When!

　　The copper coin tumbled upwards, and Klein’s eyes turned deeper as he meditated on whether there was a transcendental element to the affair.

　　Then he spread his right hand out in an attempt to catch the falling copper penny.

　　When! The coin sliced through his fingertips and landed on the ground, gurgling and rolling a good distance away.

　　This result meant that the divination had failed.

　　”It seems that Ian is hiding more than I thought …… information is lacking to the point that even vague divination results are not available ……” Klein tightened his lower lip inwards, took a few steps forward and bent down to to pick up the copper coin.

　　……

　　Later that night, in the wee hours of the morning, 138 Rosemary Long Street in the Birkeland Bridge area.

　　Klein had changed into a cheap light blue workman’s outfit, and his mouth, chin and cheeks were stained with black whiskers, which at first glance gave him a rough and savage look.

　　He wore a dark-colored duck-tongued hat with the brim pressed down so low that it almost covered his eyes.

　　This kind of hat originally belonged to the hunters of the Republic of Intis, and was somewhat different from the traditional deer hunting hat of the Kingdom of Ruen, but had recently begun to become popular among the middle and lower classes of Bekrand.

　　Hidden in the shadows of the Indis sycamore trees along the road, Klein, with the help of the elegantly shaped gas street lamps, surveyed the house on the opposite side of the road.

　　It was Zerrill’s home.

　　A native of South Wiltshire, with parents, relatives and friends over there, the detective had gradually made something of a name for himself as he’d made his way through Birkeland on his own.

　　He was still a bachelor, and only employed two temporary maids, the kind that came over every three days to clean the house, without having to take care of food and lodging.

　　At this time, the townhouse he rented did not have the slightest light, a dark.

　　Klein unclasped the silver chain inside the cuff of his left wrist, letting the citrine pendant dangle naturally.

　　”There’s danger inside.”

　　”There is danger inside.”

　　……

　　After seven consecutive times, he opened his eyes and saw the spirit pendulum turning clockwise, but slowly and minimally.

　　”There is danger, not much.” Klein whispered, once again identifying the tarot cards, homemade charms, and Holy Night powder he was carrying.

　　With that done, he looked around and flashed across the street with agility in the dead of night.

　　Zerrill’s home had no outside porch, no garden, no lawn, and directly fronted the street edge next to the road, and Klein circled around to the side, following the water pipe, and easily climbed inside the small balcony on the second floor where the clothes were hung out to dry.

　　Following closely, he pulled out a tarot card and stuffed it into the gap, getting the door leading to the hallway open.

　　Following the layout of the house drawn by Ian, Klein’s footsteps were nearly silent as he arrived outside Zeruel’s bedroom.

　　He tapped his left tooth, opened his Spirit Vision, and looked inside through the wooden door.

　　Spiritual vision was able to penetrate spiritless barriers to see aura colors, but this was closely related to one’s own level, Klein could currently observe through the wooden door, but could not overcome the stone wall, and the sight he saw would not be too clear.

　　Within his line of sight, in the bedroom behind the door, there were three clusters of humanoid auras, hazy in color, in different positions.

　　Always ambush three people …… in order to catch Ian, or something else? The bedroom was not large …… Klein stood in the darkness, calmly thinking about the results of his observations.

　　At this point, he suddenly retreated toward the balcony, his footsteps still light.

　　Returning to the balcony, Klein took out a silver flake from his coat pocket.

　　It was the “Sleeping Charm” he had tried to make this afternoon.

　　Instead of praying to the goddess of the night, he performed a ritual with himself, a “fool who does not belong to this age”, and then responded by entering the gray mist.

　　Because this method is difficult to mobilize the power of the mysterious space above the gray fog, Klein can only use his own spirituality to “respond”, and the final spell is worse than normal, but better than the kind produced by the “I make it in my name” method, which is barely enough.

　　Examining his surroundings once more, Klein covered his mouth and whispered an ancient Hermetic word:

　　”Crimson.”

　　After feeling the rune go cold for a moment, he quickly but silently moved to Zeriel’s bedroom door again, holding the handle while he poured his spirit into the silver thingy.

　　Creak! Klein carefully twisted the handle and quietly pushed the door of the room open a crack.

　　Immediately afterward, he threw the “Sleeping Charm” into his hand.

　　After a slight recovery, Klein closed the door again and started counting silently.

　　”3″

　　”2″

　　”1″

　　He violently pushed open the door and rolled on the ground.

　　Since he didn’t feel any movement from those three people, Klein stood up and started to survey the scene inside the room by the scarlet moonlight shining in through the window.

　　It was a bedroom with a normal layout, with a bed, a row of closets, a desk, a small set of sofas, and a coat rack.

　　On the other side of the bed fell a man in a black jacket, who was huffing and puffing as he slept soundly.

　　Also, next to the small couch, and in front of the closet, there was another man each, and they were both in a deep sleep.

　　After confirming the state of those three people, Klein eased his movements and walked to the bed, bending down to find a few short tawny hairs.

　　And according to what Ian had written, Detective Zerrill was a man with short tawny hair.

　　Should be right …… Klein whispered a sentence, holding those few fallen strands of hair, went to the small sofa position, slowly sat down, sat in the dimness tinted with a bit of scarlet, intending to use the method of dream divination to find Zeruel.

　　Leaning back against the back of the couch, the corners of his mouth turned up in silent self-deprecation:

　　”That’s deduction ……”