Part 2 The Faceless Man Chapter 240 – “The Ladder”
Red Rose Manor, outside the luxurious room filled with various antiques.
Klein stood in the doorway, inquiring about the sixth maid he encountered today.
The young maid was dressed in a black and white maid’s dress that was characteristic of the era, her appearance was pretty and youthful, and her brown hair had some natural curls with a little playfulness.
”Who does Mr. Talim contact when he visits here?” Klein repeated the previous question with a numb expression.
The maid answered with barely a pause:
”Mr. Talim usually seeks to see His Royal Highness, either to ride with him or to discuss things, and if His Royal Highness happens to be absent, he will meet with that young lady, they are very good friends, with the permission of Mr. Steward.”
Talim was very good friends with the commoner woman Prince Edzak liked? Meeting privately from time to time? He should be urging the other to leave the place before it affects the prince’s reputation …… Klein nodded thoughtfully:
”What sort of things would they, I mean, Mr. Talim and the young lady talk about?”
When he asked this question, Klein recalled Talim’s behavior of falling in love some time ago, and with his rich “experience” from the Information Age, he inexplicably came up with a doggerel romance story.
The maid did not shy away from the great detective, showing a smile and shaking her head:
”We are all invited out of the room at times like this.”
This …… Klein was more and more unable to restrain himself from unfolding his associations, and even felt that it was time for Prince Edzak s bowler hat and helmet and other items to be coated in a different way.
Without waiting for him to ask again, the maid laughed softly:
”Detective Moriarty, if you want to find out exactly what that young lady and Mr. Tallim talked about, you can just go ask her.”
”The old housekeeper didn’t allow it.” Klein justifiably pushed out the shield against the arrows.
He turned to laugh:
”You seem to know more than the previous servants, and even know how to address me as Detective Moriarty.”
The maid glanced from side to side and kept her smile as she said:
”Because I rotate serving that young lady, she has always wanted to meet you Detective Moriarty, after all, she was close friends with Mr. Tallim and was very concerned about his death.
”Unfortunately, she always misses out with you.”
”Always?” Klein was very sensitive to words like ‘always’, ‘happened to’, and ‘missed’.
The maid nodded seriously:
”The first time His Royal Highness invited you to be his guest, she deliberately lost her temper and wanted to take the opportunity of going downstairs for a walk to meet you, but who knows, you left in a hurry.
”After that, she took the initiative to propose, in place of His Royal Highness the Prince, to lay flowers on Mr. Talim’s grave, but because she was not sure of your looks, she was unable to find you.
”And today, she happened to go to the back golf course to ride a horse for a break, otherwise, even if Mr. Butler didn’t allow it, she would have found a way to meet you.”
What a coincidence. …… Klein had just had an exclamation when he suddenly grasped a key point:
On the day of Talim’s funeral, the one who went to lay flowers in place of the prince was the commoner woman he loved!
And the most important thing for Klein to care about that day was the lady with the black veil and the sapphire ring on her hand. The other party was probably carrying a “0” level seal, or she was a powerful being of the same level!
Suddenly, Klein’s mind flashed back to the scene at that time:
The woman wearing a sapphire tail ring was dressed in a heavy black dress, accompanied by two maids of honor, and gradually disappeared. ……
One of the two ladies-in-waiting had naturally curly brown hair ……
The image of that maid quickly overlapped with the maid in front of Klein’s eyes, matching exceptionally well!
Klein’s body violently tensed, undershirt sweat drops of seeping out, but the expression did not change in the slightest.
Utilizing the ability of the “Joker”, he made a reminiscent appearance and asked with a smile:
”On the day of Talim’s funeral, did you follow that lady?”
The maid responded without a care in the world:
”Yes.”
…… Grass, it’s really her! Klein kept his smile:
”Very well, next question.”
As if nothing had happened, he inquired about something else as usual, and then changed to a different servant to continue.
However, Klein secretly had shortened the process and sped it up.
He wanted to leave the Red Rose Manor before that young lady returned from her ride!
At four in the afternoon, when the sky was still dark, Klein excused himself much earlier than expected and took the carriage dispatched by the old butler to return to the city.
Sitting in the window of the carriage, with his back against the walls of the compartment, which was wrapped in silks, cottons, etc., he was at last relieved to have room to reflect on the whole affair:
The one who had cursed Talim was Prince Edzak’s beloved commoner woman ……
Why would she want to take on a ragtag scion of nobility in retaliation for Talim’s actions in trying to tear her and the prince apart?
However, there was absolutely no need for her to do it herself… find an opportunity to shake this out in bed, and Prince Edesak had all the means to make Talim disappear without a word ……
Talim was completely in a state of passionate love before he died, well …… the earliest sign of it was after he managed to persuade the commoner woman to leave Prince Edesak …… they had an adulterous affair? So the commoner woman who was brought back to the manor again cursed Talim in order to eliminate the hidden danger?
Logically, it makes sense, but the question is, how can a big man who is carrying a “0” level seal or a strong man of the same level be restrained by Prince Edzak? Even if Augustus is an angelic family with enough accumulation, he would still have to use tremendous power and special methods to be confined, which is not something that a prince can do. ……
Moreover, how could such a character look at Talim?
Why does she keep wanting to see me? Have noticed me using the gray mist to spy?
No, if that’s the case, I followed being buried on the day of Talim’s funeral …… Besides, the earliest time she wanted to see me was before I had gotten the flesh, blood, hair, and belongings to do any divination!
Klein wondered, and finally decided to bury the question in the bottom of his heart, not to explore, not to investigate!
I hope that the “mechanical heart” with my previous reminder, can find the royal family in this matter of unusual importance, yes, their importance may not be for the reputation of Prince Edzak, but another reason! I hope that the royal family will continue to, well, restrain that lady from visiting me …… In a few days, when the time is right, I will hand over this task, showing that I can t do anything about it, and then, under the pretext of going to the south for a vacation, I will change my identity and hide for a period of time! Klein’s mood gradually calmed.
……
The twilight in Birkeland is always replaced by dull clouds and pattering rain, and Klein, who was quite tired both physically and mentally, pressed his hand to his half-height silk bowler hat, buried his body slightly, and crossed the sodden streets with rapid footsteps, and returned to No. 15, Minsk-street, illuminated by the gas street-lamps.
After a short rest, he took advantage of the dimness to take four steps backward into the gray fog.
After he was promoted to Serial 6 “Faceless Man”, he had always wanted to check if there were any changes in that mysterious space, but because he was too tired last night, he couldn’t wake up in the middle of the night, and during the day, he was busy outside, so he could only wait until now.
In addition, Klein also had to eliminate distractions and divine one thing.
That is, after this promotion, when the spirituality is not stabilized, he did not hear the “Hornachis …… Fregola …… Hornachis …… Fregola ” this illusory murmur!
He wanted to figure out if this was a natural change in itself after elevating to Sequence 6, or if there was something else going on.
Inside the majestic and grand palace, the long mottled bronze tables and the twenty-two high-backed chairs with different symbols on their backs stood quietly, seemingly unchanged for ages.
The gray mist beneath them, and the unseen emptiness around them, did likewise.
But as soon as Klein entered the place, his spiritual intuition was keenly aware that the mysterious space was slightly different from the past.
He didn’t rush to explore and try it out, calmed himself down, sat down at the top, materialized a pen and paper, and wrote down a divination statement:
”The reason I have not heard ravings since my promotion.”
Holding the paper in his hand and whispering the statement, Klein leaned back in his chair and with the aid of meditation, quickly entered the dream world.
Within the gray sky and earth, an image flashed and finally settled on a scene.
It was Klein when his face and body were still covered in light-colored flesh buds, and an illusory, thin, grayish mist that no one else could detect was surrounding him.
The dream shattered, and Klein opened his eyes, roughly understanding the cause:
”The gray mist intertwined with reality, helping me block out the ravings from nowhere ……
”After advancing to Sequence 6, my connection with this mysterious space above the gray mist has become even stronger, thus bringing about certain changes and allowing me to draw on lesser powers naturally?
”For now, it should be so.
”Well, try exploring the surrounding area and see exactly what has changed.”
Krynn slowly got up and followed his inspiration, traveling in a certain direction beyond the ancient palace, the gray mist spreading out like seawater beneath his feet.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, until he wanted to stop and give up exploring, there was a sudden flash of light at the end ahead.
Klein’s heart rejoiced and he quickened his pace, leaning in.
Seven or eight seconds later, he saw a staircase, a staircase leading to heaven!
The ladder was made of pure light, holy, transparent, clear, and able to shock everyone’s heart.
The ladder stretched upward into the void above, with only four levels, each of which was quite high, like it was meant for creatures even more massive than giants.
Klein looked up in its direction and saw a layer of grayish-white mists that were frozen in mid-air, seemingly holding something up, and the Stairway of Light was still some distance away from there.
Four layers of steps, means I’ve finished Sequence 9, Sequence 8, Sequence 7 and Sequence 6 magic potion? What was above that layer of mist? Cautiously moving forward, Klein came to the Steps of Light and stepped onto them.
There was nothing odd about the steps, solid as if they were made of stone.
Klein followed the steps and climbed upwards to reach the fourth level, then tried to look out above the grayish-white mist, but unfortunately, his sight could not penetrate through it at all.
After thinking about it, he took two steps forward and endeavored to jump upwards.
However, as soon as he left the ladder of light, he lost his upward impulse and his instinct for spiritual flight, and fell straight down, stepping on the gray mist that served as the bottom layer.
It seems that two to three more sequences have to be raised before I can do it, and if Sequence 4 is indeed a qualitative change, then I should be able to do it after I’m half-god and half-human …… Klein looked upwards and made a judgment.