Part 2 the faceless man chapter xiii the terrified hugh
15 Minsk Street, Chorwood District.
A well-fed and well-drunk Klein sat in an easy chair in the sitting room, flanked by a charcoal-burning fireplace.
Warm as early summer, he wore a white shirt, black waistcoat and thin pants as he unfolded the newspaper with both hands and turned to the page with the most small advertisements of all kinds.
”A new mode of transportation, urgent need for investment, negotiable ……” Klein read it twice silently, reaching for a pencil from the small, dark red round table next to him and circling the message.
Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, if no commissions came through his door, he intended to see if there was any investment value in the so-called new mode of transportation.
–Such a thing could not be divined in advance, for lack of sufficient information.
”I hope it’s something like a bicycle ……” Klein had just muttered silently to himself when a cascade of illusory prayers suddenly echoed in his ears.
Who? “Ms. Justice? Mr. “Hangman”? “Mr. Sun? Or one of the clerks at the Birkeland Bank who copied my passwords? With a flash of thought, Klein put down the paper, went back to his bedroom, and unlocked the door.
Taking four steps backward into the gray mist, he saw a clear glow swirling around the edge of the old patinated bronze table, on the side of the Fool’s chair.
Already experienced, Klein sat down steadily, spreading his spirituality and touching toward the ripples of light in a gesture of answered prayer.
The scene in front of him changed drastically, presenting a blurry set of couches with a petite female in trainee knight’s garb curled up on them.
Without copying the code …… in looking at a piece of paper …… Klein suddenly woke up and figured out what was going on:
”She should be one of the two Extraordinary Ones mentioned by Ms. ‘Justice’ as needing my examination ……”
Contemplating for more than ten seconds, Klein didn’t really give a response, intending to carry out this step in the middle of the night, and then quiz the other party on her character and ability from her reactions, attitude and handling techniques.
Of course, he would never force someone to join the Tarot Society.
……
”Fools who do not belong to this age ……” Hugh, who had just finished reciting that ancient Hermetic phrase, froze for a few seconds, and sat bolt upright with a pop in his back.
That seemed probably likely to be the honorific name of some hidden being! She perceived this with horror.
And her general knowledge of the occult and all the rumors she had heard told her so:
Once the complete honorific name of a certain hidden existence was recited, it often meant that the gaze of the other party was attracted!
The consequences of such stares would most likely not be wonderful, and could even be miserable!
Quite a few of those hidden existences were incarnations of evil gods and demons!
And I’m still chanting in the unprotected ancient Hermetic language …… I’m so stupid, why do I have to recognize it by heart and meditate on it carefully …… Hugh looked around the room in fear, terrified of the sudden appearance of monsters in the quiet house that words could not describe.
Sofas, coffee tables, cupboards, dining tables, chairs, oil paintings, and other items came into her eyes one by one without any change.
After a few dozen seconds of vigilance, Hugh relaxed a little and reassured himself:
”Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, I just recited the honorific name, I didn’t pick up the subsequent prayer incantation.”
”This belongs to an incomplete ritual, it shouldn’t attract attention.”
”And there’s a not-so-small chance that that honorific name was translated by the owner of the paper based on the special symbols of Rossel the Great, which may not be correct.”
”But, but I’ve heard that evil demons will respond if they become interested, even if the ritual is incomplete …… I’m so stupid, really ……” Thinking of this, Hugh wept again with a a face, feeling that he had made a serious mistake.
After waiting a few more minutes and seeing no clear response, Hugh puffed out her cheeks and exhaled slowly.
She clipped the paper back inside the book “History of the Nobles of the Kingdom of Ruin”, and with a slightly heavy heart, she entered the washroom and unscrewed the faucet, intending to use the cold water to clear her head.
Clatter!
Nearly transparent water trickled downward, and Hugh crouched low on her back, extended her palms, and cupped a small amount.
She was about to apply the cold water to her face when, out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw an additional head of long, slightly curly brunette hair in the wash mirror.
She herself had shoulder-length, straggly yellow hair.
Hallucinatory, Hugh’s roots bristled with sweat.
She pushed up on her feet, braced her hands, popped back, half-turned her body, and slammed a sharp elbow into it.
Snap!
She leaned into a warm body, slamming into her opponent with a familiar scream and dropping to the ground.
Hugh stopped his follow-through and looked over at his best friend, who was clutching his stomach and rolling over in pain, tears in his eyes.
The corner of her mouth involuntarily twitched as she said:
”Folth, when did you get back?”
Voorhees didn’t answer right away, taking a moment to slow down before bracing himself against the wall and slowly standing up, grumbling:
”I just, just came back, Hugh, are you crazy? Didn’t even look before you did it! You hit me so hard!”
”Where did you come in from?” Hugh asked awkwardly in return.
”Through the lavatory window, why, is there a problem? As an ‘apprentice’ it’s normal behavior not to carry a key.” Forsyth replied with a straight face.
Hugh straightened his back at once and shoved all the blame back:
”Then why didn’t you use the door? You really scared me just now!”
Forsyth winked:
”That would still be too much trouble to go halfway around, and I’m used to walking in a straight line.”
She paused, puzzled, “But, Hugh, you’re reacting too violently, aren’t you?”
Hugh struggled for three seconds between losing face and losing his life, and answered frankly:
”Because, because I made a mistake, a fatal mistake.”
”What mistake?” Forsyth asked, rubbing his stomach, bewildered and concerned.
Hugh hastened to tell the original story of his discovery of a book jacket compartment, finding a stale piece of paper, and accidentally recognizing and meditating on the ancient Hermetic incantation on it that was suspected to be the honorific name of some hidden being.
”You, where’s your brain? It should, it shouldn’t be anything, the ritual isn’t complete, and who knows if it’s true or not ……” Forsyth surveyed her surroundings, and inexplicably felt a little chilled as well.
She followed Hugh back into the parlor, saw the yellowed paper, saw the special Rosser symbols on it and the ancient Hermetic text.
With a quick glance, Forsyth, a professional occult researcher, nodded softly:
”It’s not the evil gods and demons and hidden existences that I know of, there’s not much of a problem.”
”And the fact that nothing has happened so far means it should be fine.”
Seeing Hugh relax, she thought of the pain in her stomach and added “maliciously”:
”Of course, if anything did happen, we wouldn’t be able to save ourselves with our abilities.”
Hugh’s face bristled white and he blurted out:
”Forsyth, we’ll be together to-night, never mind, I’ll sleep by myself ……”
Foerth moved his eyebrows and laughed, “Well, don’t really worry about it, you think, I hear strange ravings every full moon, but there are no signs of madness or loss of control.”
”Well …… let’s study the other three books, if they have the same paper and spells, then that means it’s probably a prank by Viscount Graylingt.”
The two men busied themselves with the Heraldry and other books, examining them critically and finding nothing extra.
Hugh looked at Forsyth, who looked at Hugh, and the atmosphere became sullen again.
”Or, tonight we sneak into the mass hall of St. Samuel’s Church to sleep?” Hugh suggested on a whim.
It was the headquarters of the Church of the Goddess of the Night’s Birkeland parish.
”Why not St. Hiland’s Church? I don’t think the Goddess of the Night would bless me ……,” Voorhees subconsciously returned.
It was the headquarters of the Birkeland Diocese of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, in the St. George district, adjacent to the many large factories to the southeast.
The two ladies of differing faiths lapsed into silence again, and after a while, Voorhees sighed:
”And that would put us in the sights of the Nightwatchman, or the Mechanical Heart, which may be the purpose of that hidden being.”
”Alright, go to sleep, we’ll know the answer in the morning, and if nothing has happened by then, it means there’s really no problem.”
……
It was midnight, the not-quite-full red moon was obscured from view by dark clouds, and there were few bright stars visible in the skies of Birkeland anymore.
Instinctively waking up, Klein lifted the covers out of bed and entered above the gray mist.
Sitting in the high-backed chair that belongs to the Fool, he was ready to respond to Ms. Justice’s companion, and let the matter enter the “examination process”.
It was then that a new idea occurred to him:
It might be possible to try to pull someone into the gray mist in this situation!
The lady should be asleep, and even if my attempt is successful, she’ll probably think it’s just a clearer dream afterward. …… Well, if it works, I’ll cut it off just in time so she can’t see her surroundings clearly… …
Repeating the idea for a while, Klein reached out and tapped the circle of light that kept rippling out to establish a connection.
Suddenly, he could only feel his spirituality surging out in a frenzy, causing the entire mysterious space above the gray mist to tremble slightly.
Just when Klein thought his spirituality would be completely drained, everything calmed down and a blurry, distorted figure emerged from the edge of the long bronze table.
Hugh sleepily opened his eyes and saw a sprawling gray mist, an ancient high-backed chair, and a dark figure looking down at him.
Klein’s heart was gladdened, and he instantly cut off the connection, as he had planned to do.
The hazy, petite figure disappeared, but within the gray mist was a deep red, illusory star.
Klein looked at the scene and confirmed one thing, that is, as long as someone chanted his name, he could pull them above the gray mist, and the crimson star belonged to the manifestation of a solid connection established.
”But there are certain limitations, with my current strength, at most, I can establish another connection …… well …… according to the experience just now, my current level of spirituality can at most pull in an extraordinary person who is one sequence higher than me, and it may not be Can, just a preliminary judgment, and I have no problem with the same sequence or lower …… “Klein thought with satisfaction.
He didn’t need to respond separately, what he had just tried was enough.
……
With a brush, the sleeping Hugh sat up.
She had been worried about the hidden danger of having chanted her honorific name, and she hadn’t fallen asleep for long before she ended up dreaming about a mysterious space and the gray mist figure that was looking down at her from above.
The dream was so clear, so clear that it made Hugh feel afraid.
She glanced at Forsyth, who was sleeping beside her, and thought with a shudder:
”Is it a nightmare caused by fear, or is there an evil spirit haunting me because of the watchful eye of a hidden presence?”
”Well …… there happens to be a gathering of the Circle of Extraordinary People tomorrow night, I have to find someone who specializes in exorcism to purify it in addition to buying the formula.”