Volume 7: The Hanged Man Chapter 31: The Miracle of Mori
Bang!
The highly alert “Red Gloves” captain Eric’s body inexplicably trembled, and saw the wandering magician who called himself Merlin Hermes explode directly behind the astronomical telescope.
However, it didn’t splatter blood and flesh, and the shattered limbs quickly disappeared into the air like soap bubbles.
”……” Eric and the squad members who looked over at the sound were all in a state of dumbfoundedness, not understanding how such a sudden change could have occurred.
A second later, Eric said in a deep voice:
”Evacuate!”
He wanted to lead the squad to escape from the apartment before the danger really spread out.
Just at this time, another figure walked in through the open doorway of Room 403, and it was actually Merlin Hermes, who had just exploded out of thin air.
Wearing a tall bowler hat and black robes, this wandering magician spoke to Eric and his team members as if nothing had happened:
”The source of the problem is indeed that astronomical telescope.”
As he spoke, Klein walked over to the balcony area and tapped the astronomy telescope with his right hand.
With another thud, the astronomical telescope shattered into a single metallic point of light, diffusing some greenish-black gas that emitted a foul odor.
After the gray and white mist appeared and disappeared, the stench subsided, the green and black melted away, and the interior of the room completely returned to normal.
”…… What the hell is going on here?” Eric forced himself to forget about the other party dying and reappearing, and asked with deliberation.
As a fairly experienced “Red Glove” captain, he had some guesses about the truth of the whole thing, and the purpose of his question was mainly to seek confirmation.
Klein smiled and said:
”The simple fact is that this astronomical telescope has somehow undergone a mutation, causing the owner of the room to see things he shouldn’t.
”If you guys want more exhaustive details, you’ll have to gather your own clues, I’m not really sure.”
Eric nodded slightly and turned his gaze to his team, signaling them to continue probing.
After a bit of hustling, Eric said to Merlin Hermes:
”There aren’t many clues left in the room, and we can only determine a few things:
”One, John was a local resident who served in the war and seemed to have some problems with his mental condition as a result; two, he was an astronomy enthusiast from a very early age and joined an academic organization called the ‘Astronomical Training Society’ after the war ended, but we hadn’t previously gathered any information; three, John seems to be seeking ways to see the real starry sky,”
When he said the word “stars”, Eric paused for a moment, as if he had been warned by the upper echelons of the Church of Darkness.
After the end of the war, he joined an organization called the “Astronomical Training Association” …… to find a way to see the real starry sky …… Klein combined with the “experience” he had just had, and had an idea of what was going on. experience” just now, he had a certain degree of certainty about the matter, so he nodded gently and said:
”You should all be clear that ‘starry sky’ means danger, and you can’t even go into it.”
”We will report this case to the Archbishop as soon as possible, defining the ‘Astral Training Society’ as a dangerous organization.” Eric said as if he was communicating with a superior who was not directly in charge of the ‘night watchmen’.
Without responding, Klein sighed as he walked towards the door:
”War does have an irreversible effect on all aspects ……”
After the fall of the “God of War”, the already shaky original barrier lost part of its support, and the “Goddess of the Night” has not yet fully grasped the corresponding “uniqueness”, as for the “old days”, it has become the “old days”. As for becoming the “old days”, there is no telling how long it will take. Under such circumstances, the erosion of this world by the foreign gods has naturally deepened, which is combined with the trauma of the war, which has resulted in the emergence of a large number of ordinary people.
Klein suspected that during the period of reconstruction after the war, many cults pointing to the “stars” and different foreign gods have quietly appeared in various parts of Ruen, and if they are allowed to develop their followers and make all kinds of high-risk attempts, the end of the day will definitely be advanced.
With a sigh, he stepped out of Room 403, his figure blurring and becoming transparent until it disappeared.
Inside a hotel near Praia Street, Klein, who had long since checked in, picked up the coffee placed in front of him and took a slight sip.
Taking advantage of the fact that it was still early in the day, he once again went out and rode a carriage to the outskirts of the riverbank district of Constant City.
There was a cemetery here, with stone monuments towering like a low forest.
Klein walked through the cemetery, relying on his spirituality to “show him the way”, and found a tombstone.
The owner of this tombstone is called:
”Welch McGovern”.
This is Klein’s original college classmate, because of the purchase of the Antigonus family notes, bizarrely died in Tingen, which indirectly led to Zhou Mingrui “cross”.
Welch McGovern’s father was a banker in the city of Constanton, and paid to bring his son’s body back to his hometown and buried it in this cemetery.
Crane gazed at the picture on the headstone for a few seconds, bent his back, and placed the bouquet of clean white flowers he held in his hand on Welch’s grave.
He was about to turn and leave when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, and twenty or thirty seconds later an elderly man with a black cane approached from the other direction.
Klein recognized him and knew that this was Welch’s father, the banker from Mulberry County who had once treated himself and his classmates to a large meal.
However, compared to a few years ago, this gentleman had aged a lot; he had been a very spirited middle-aged gentleman, but now his hair was half-white, and there were more wrinkles around his eyes, mouth, and forehead.
”Who are you?” Welch’s father asked, both puzzled and wary, as he looked over at the stranger at the grave.
Klein sighed:
”Uncle, I’m a friend of Welch’s who just happened to pass through Constant City recently.”
Welch’s father nodded slightly, his voice low:
”He is a man who likes to make friends, and I only know some of them.”
With these words, he was actually explaining the reason why he hadn’t invited the guest in front of him to the funeral in the first place, and apologized for that.
Without saying more, Klein looked around and said:
”Is there anything you need help with, or is there a wish you wish to fulfill? I wish to offer a hand.”
Welch’s father looked around and smiled bitterly:
”Can you get all the dead here back on their feet?”
It’s not that I can’t, it’s just that it’s not quite the same as what you want to get back on your feet …… Klein sighed darkly and shook his head.
”And can you restore Constanton to what it was?” Welch’s father asked again with a bitter smile.
Not waiting for Klein to respond, he sighed and continued:
”There’s no need to offer help, what I can achieve, I can do myself, what I can’t, I can only pray to the gods.”
As he spoke, the banker crossed over to Klein and walked over to his son’s tombstone, bending down to lay down the bouquet of clean white flowers in his hands.
Crane looked at his back and whispered as if to himself:
”I’ll do my best.”
After saying that, he turned his body and left the cemetery.
……
Constanton, inside a bar decorated in a style that leaned towards the last century.
A man wrapped in a thick jacket with a beer in his hand walks over to a wooden board next to the bar and tries to find a part-time job from a piece of paper taped to it.
Suddenly, he sees a strange commissioned task:
”I’m a journalist trying to gather various stories from different people about what happened during the war, preferably from my own personal experience, and I can offer payment for fulfilling your wishes to repair and rebuild your houses free of charge, and I’m resourceful enough in that regard.
”Merlin Hermes.”
The man subconsciously frowned, thinking the commission too peculiar, like the product of a prank.
”Can you read the writing on it?” A skinny man sitting next to the wooden board seized the opportunity and opened his mouth to ask.
Among the customers coming and going in this bar, only a very small number of them were literate, and even if they wanted to look for a job or take the corresponding commission, the vast majority of them couldn’t read what exactly was written on those papers attached to the wooden board, and the bartender could only memorize a few of the ones that paid the most.
Based on this situation, the skinny man relied on the fact that he had gone to a free school and had mastered the vocabulary of the common Ruinese language, and offered the appropriate interpretations to others for a quarter of a penny at a time.
That was how he survived.
The man shook his head to show that he could read Ruenwen, and he pointed to Merlin Hermes’ commission:
”Is that true?”
”It’s true, that Mr. Reporter is sitting in that corner, wearing a very tall bowler hat.” The thin man enthusiastically pointed the way.
The journalist had promised him a quarter of a penny for every person he referred there.
The man with the beer fell silent and hesitated for a full ten seconds before walking towards the corner and finding the reporter called Merlin Hermes.
”Will you, indeed, help me rebuild my house?” He inquired, a little apprehensive and a little worried.
Klein pointed to the papers laid out on the small round table:
”We can sign a contract.”
”…… No, even if you just provide some materials, I’m satisfied.” The man sat down across from Klein and said rather restrainedly, “I don’t have too vivid a story.”
”Just real enough.” Klein nodded slightly in encouragement.
The man’s gaze shifted down to the tabletop:
”I’m a native of Constanton, used to have a reasonably decent job, bought a townhouse on Pale Tide Street, then the war broke out, my house was reduced to rubble in a bombing raid, and my eldest son, the boy who’d just entered junior school, was buried in it ……
”We had to rent another two-bedroom room until the Fossacks took over Constanton and they, they dragged my wife away and she never came back ……
”Some time ago, I was informed to go and identify the body, I couldn’t recognize her, she was so decomposed that she didn’t look the same anymore, but the pockets of her remnants of clothing still contained, still contained our tap water bill ……
”She always missed our home when she was in the rented house and so did my youngest daughter, I don’t have a lot of money at the moment and I’m barely making ends meet but I’m hoping to rebuild that house a little bit.
”Frankly, I am very uncomfortable telling people about my misfortune, I prefer to be silent, but if I can really get help in this rebuilding thing, then I can ……”
Klein, holding a pen and paper and pretending to take notes, nodded softly at his words:
”Your wish will come true, you will wait for me tomorrow in front of the ruins of the house on Pale Tide Street.”
In the meantime, he pushed over the 1 Soule bill:
”This is the money to buy you a drink.”
The man’s eyes flickered for a moment as if he wanted to refuse, but finally he took the bill.
The next day, after dropping his young daughter off at the parochial school, he walked back down the familiar road to the familiar street of Temchao, and then, saw the familiar house.
Its chimney, its windows, its front door, the weeds on its walls, were not a bit altered, and made it so familiar that it seemed as if the next moment a beautiful hostess would open the door of her room and lead her two children out to meet their father.
The man was transfixed, unable to believe it was real.
But even if it was an illusion, he was willing to sink into it.
……
Days passed, and Klein, who had fulfilled one similar wish after another, pushed open the window of the hotel and, in the morning mist, raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
Inside a rather high terrain urban area of Constanton, Welch’s father, who had been waking up early out of habit from dreams of his dead son and loved ones, made his way to the balcony, ready to breathe in the early morning air.
As the dawn’s light shone, he saw with a haunting clarity a forest of forest-like chimneys and blast furnaces, and saw building after building of towering proportions.
The former city of Constanton reappeared in its entirety before his eyes, bathed in the reddish-orange morning sun.