Part 2 The Faceless Man Chapter 104 The Roselle Memorial Exhibition
West End, 2 King’s Road, Kingdom Museum.
Although it wasn’t a weekend, there was already a long line at the entrance when Klein arrived.
Based on the descriptions in newspapers and magazines, he knew that the middle class in this world had fewer ways to entertain themselves, and that outside of reading newspapers, reading novels, listening to opera concerts, playing tennis and squash, enjoying all kinds of plays, and holding or attending banquet dances, the only three options left were to go to the parks, see the exhibitions, and go out on vacations, and that due to the influence of Rossel the Great, annual vacations were already a more common phenomenon in this class.
At nine o’clock sharp, Klein, wearing a half-height silk bowler hat, a black cane, and a long double-breasted tweed tuxedo, took his ticket and followed the people in front of him, step by step, into the museum.
There was a diversion here, with different docents each leading a portion of the visitors on a different walkway.
Klein and a dozen or two others followed a good-looking woman, listening to her presentation on Rossel’s life.
It didn’t make any sense to Klein, who was a half-historian, so he was bored and confirmed the location of his wallet.
–Because his wealth had surged to 952 pounds, just one step away from 1000 pounds, his wallet could no longer hold so much cash, and he could only selectively carry some of it, and the rest of those, Klein didn’t feel comfortable with them staying unprotected in his house, so he threw all of them on top of the gray mist.
As they walked, they entered the first gallery, and the female docent said in an excited tone:
”Gentlemen, here are all the items of Rossel the Great’s daily life.”
”Look, there’s the velvet quilt he covered himself with, and that’s the gold-encrusted glassware he used to drink his wine from.”
”That’s the flush toilet he used, the first flush toilet in the modern sense.”
……
Even a used toilet was on display? Klein suddenly sympathized a little with Russell.
Then, he looked at the toilet behind the glass wall, and found that it was glittering with golden light, and the surface seemed to have a layer of gold leaf and engraved with elaborate and pompous artistic patterns.
What a luxury …… Klein no longer sympathized with Russell.
Separated from the flush toilet by only one layer of glass were Rossel’s everyday clothes, including shirts with pleated cuffs and collars.
It was obvious that the female docent was quite appreciative of the clothing culture of Intis.
After the “Exhibition Hall of Daily Use”, there were the original manuscripts of important documents issued by Rossell, including the Civil Code and other valuable historical artifacts.
Just at this time, the female docent pointed to an exhibit case and said:
”This is one of the notebooks left behind by Rossel the Great, which uses his original and mysterious hitherto undeciphered symbols, and many historians and archaeologists believe that these notebooks are supposed to record Rossel the Great’s least known secrets.”
”Being a romantic myself, I have my own suspicions that perhaps these are the symbols that Rosel the Great agreed to with the woman he loved most, that they recorded each other but could never truly be together.”
You’re good at writing novels …… The corner of Klein’s mouth twitched, and with it his eyes turned to the notebook spread out in the display case, with its simplified Chinese characters that were familiar to him to the core:
”March 6th, damn it, the food here is making me constipated!”
”March 17th, are all the ladies of Intis this open? Did I fuck her or did she fuck me? It always feels a little weird.”
”March 22nd, it’s time to pick a faith, the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun on one side, and the Church of the Artisans on the other.”
”There’s no doubt about my choice, praise be to you, God of All Mechanisms!”
”One day, I will make the Church of Artisans change its name to the Church of Mechanical God.”
…… Sure is romantic …… Romantic constipation …… This is supposed to be a diary from the early days of Rossel the Great’s travels, not a single bit of valuable information… …His writing is uglier than mine …… Klein withdrew his gaze and tsked a few times.
Of course, he only saw the two pages that were spread out, what else was in the rest was unknown.
I don’t know how well the security measures are done here, is there any chance to sneak in and flip through the pages …… Klein looked around and realized that the security personnel in plain sight that is quite a lot.
Perhaps there are also the extraordinary people of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery …… He muttered, followed the female lecturer, mixed in a group of people, and entered the next exhibition hall, which is called “Warmth of Russell”.
”This is the first love letter written by Rossel the Great, and this is the first love poem he composed, ‘When you’re old’ ……” said the female lecturer, pointing to the manuscript in the display case with a glowing gaze.
Shameless! Yeats’ coffin board was about to be pressed! Klein couldn’t help but make a couple of mental slurs.
”This is a bracelet he made himself …… This is the original manuscript of a novel he wrote ……” the female docent introduced in an unusually adoring tone.
…… Klein tried hard not to let his expression change in any way.
Of course, he also believed that Rossel the Great, who had “artisan” in his extraordinary occupation, must have had a strong ability to do manual work.
”This is the basic education textbook he improved for his children’s education, with pictures for each word …… This is the little game he invented for his own children, similar to Intis Chess, but for some reason, the method of playing it didn’t spread… …This is a block toy he invented, also for his children ……” said the female narrator with an unconscious touch of warmth.
Isn’t this fucking chess …… And, Lego is going to come after you for royalties! All Klein could do was turn up the corners of his mouth as a way of masking other emotions.
With a quick glance, he noticed a woman over one meter seven in height standing in front of this display case.
This woman had waist-length chestnut hair and a very well-proportioned body that was neither fat nor thin.
She wore a girlish yellow cake dress, but a black, old-fashioned floppy hat, with a fine plaid tulle hanging down to cover her face.
She stood in front of that display case and kept gazing at the objects inside for a long time.
By the time Klein and the others had followed the docent to the next gallery, she had not changed her position.
After a few more exhibit halls, the female docent pointed ahead:
”What you will see next is, the restored study of Rossel the Great.”
”Of course, just a part of it.”
As she spoke, Klein and the others entered the exhibition hall, and their eyes suddenly opened up.
The place had almost turned into a library, surrounded by rows of bookshelves, shelves as high as two stories, with staircases below them and passages between them, creating a three-dimensional paradise of books.
”It is conceivable that the owner of this place used to climb up and down the stairs in search of the one book he wanted to read ……,” said the narrator, describing a vivid picture.
No, surely Rossel would have sent a servant to find it, not personally …… Klein silently retorted.
Located in the center of the rows of bookshelves were desks, chairs, brass lamp stands, and other things, all of which were covered in glass and kept out of contact with the outside world.
At a glance, Klein spotted a stack of manuscripts with yellowed paper coloring.
The stack of manuscripts was not spread out, allowing one to see only the contents of the first page.
It depicted a rectangular object with a detailed description:
”This is a portable and miniaturized application of the telegraph, through which one can connect to people holding the same item, send and receive messages they wish to exchange with each other, or even talk directly.”
”This requires better positioning, and I think we can venture to look to the skies, where there are no obstructions to better signal propagation.”
……
The Great One, you even have a cell phone …… Klein couldn’t help but reach up and cover his face hole.
At that moment, the narrator introduced the stack of manuscripts:
”…… They record the whims of Rossel the Great, the inventions he hadn’t had time to turn into reality, and the glory of our human civilization!”
Klein didn’t bother to listen carefully to the words of boasting, and casually surveyed other things.
Suddenly, he realized that there was a bookmark in a hardcover book on the table.
The exposed part of the bookmark depicted a child’s scribbled image.
Rossel the Great is not good at drawing ah …… Klein just scoffed in his heart, then suddenly remembered something:
Rossel once disguised a “blasphemous card” as a bookmark and put it in a certain book!
Could it be this one? Kraven scrutinized the book for a few seconds, but found no trace of it.
The Great Emperor said that the Blasphemy Card was anti-divination and anti-prophecy, and that under normal circumstances it would be impossible to detect its special features……. If it was that easy to recognize, the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery would have taken it away a long time ago… …Crane looked away and surveyed the other books, noticing that a number of them contained a bookmark, and that these bookmarks were of different shapes.
He mused for a moment, using his Joker ability to control his facial muscles, and asked curiously:
”Are these all the books that Rossel the Great has read?”
”I’m sorry, I mean, are these all the original ones?”
The female narrator nodded affirmatively:
”Yes, these are all items from the original Rossel the Great’s study, including, but not limited to, books, manuscripts, bookmarks, lamp holders, and ink bottles …… however, more have been destroyed in several conflicts.”
Klein nodded softly and examined the bookmarks again.
Rossel mentioned in his diary that he was going to put the “blasphemous card” inside a valuable book, so that no one would realize that the most valuable part of the book was an insignificant bookmark. …… Well, which of these books was the valuable one? Klein recalled the details of the diary as a means of elimination.
The Age of Splendor, unlike ……
The History of the Kingdom of Intis, unlike ……
The Geography of the Northern Continent, this one has some possibilities, but not high ……
Principles of Improvement in Steam Machinery, ditto ……
Klein scanned through them one by one, and his eyes suddenly stopped on the stack of manuscripts he had first seen.
There was a record there of Earth items that Rossel had wanted to invent but wasn’t in a position to do so.
There, likewise, was a bookmark clipped to it, depicting Rossel in the Emperor’s garb.