Volume 7 The Inverted Hanged Man Chapter 16 Guilt by Association
”Haha, how is it possible to tell at a glance if one is an outsider? How is that supposed to tell?” Roy steeled himself and pretended he was discussing the contents of the yellow paper with his companions.
He relieved Phil and Pasha with the latent meaning in his words, so that they didn’t need to be nervous and panicked, after all, apart from the local Byers, the remaining three were also Ruen nationals and did not contain southern continent blood, there was no specialization when looking at the contours of their facial features alone.
”But, but, this is a transcendent incident …… ” Pasha responded slightly stuttering.
This could not be judged by common sense!
Roy’s heart stared at the slowly approaching, expressionless citizens, and he was busy shouting in a low voice:
”Run!”
As soon as the words fell, he was already turning his body around and running furiously towards the nearest street entrance, with Pasha and Phil following close behind.
As a local, Byers tacitly dragged himself at the end, letting the surface of his skin be covered with an illusory layer of fish scales.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several citizens raised the double-barreled shotguns they carried themselves and made shots forward.
Roy, Phil and Pasha, all of whom were relatively good at fighting Extraordinaires, managed to dodge the round of attacks by changing direction on the run, and by combining in a lunge and tumbling forward.
Then, guided by Pasha, they traveled through the streets and alleys to get away from the chase and hide in the unoccupied gloom.
”What to do?” Phil, who had broken an arm, asked under his breath, “From the announcement, we probably can’t just leave the city.”
”We need to feel out the patterns and find a way out of them.” Roy forced himself to think calmly even though he was also panicked, lest the whole team have an emotional breakdown.
Pasha glanced at Byers, who was in charge of the guard, and said:
”That bulletin board, was it there before?”
Byers nodded:
”Yes, although I rarely have the opportunity to go to the town square, but when I was drafted into the army before, I was assembled there and had seen that bulletin board.”
”The bulletin board shouldn’t be a problem, perhaps, those two pieces of paper are the key, they can give the written Torah an occult meaning.” Pasha voiced her guess.
Roy immediately expressed his approval:
”Right.
”Moreover, I suspect that those laws and decrees must be announced in order to have an effect, if we can find a chance to tear off those two pieces of paper, the corresponding restrictions might disappear.”
After listening to Roy’s words, Pasha, Phil and Byers simultaneously fell into silence.
After a few seconds, Phil said with his face muscles twitching:
”Give it a try! If we keep being trapped in the city, even if we aren’t caught by those citizens, we might be punished by the law for various reasons.”
Although they were all Extraordinary, none of them were high in the sequence, dealing with a few ordinary people would not be a problem, facing the hostility of the whole city would be extremely dangerous.
Roy, Byers and Pasha were all people who had more or less been in battle and knew that hesitation was the least desirable behavior at this time, so they made a decision one after another and agreed to Phil’s proposal.
A group of four people in the still experienced “hunter” Pasha guide, most of the circle, from another street sneak back to the town square.
By this time, the citizens who were watching the announcement were no longer here, and seemed to be searching for outsiders all over the city.
Glancing at the bulletin board standing quietly in the center of two gas streetlights, Roy and the others approached cautiously, ready to flee at any time.
Upon nearing his target, Roy suddenly thought of a question and busily lowered his voice to ask:
”Is destroying the bulletin considered an offense?”
”Theoretically ……,” Pasha said after a moment of bewilderment.
They then turned their attention to the bulletin board, browsing through the offenses listed in the third law:
”……
”8. Vandalism;
”……”
”There really is.” Byers blurted out.
Phil’s face, already pale from blood loss, paled a little more and thought for a moment:
”What kind of punishment do you encounter for vandalism?”
It was a less serious offense, and the corresponding punishment was likely to be less severe.
If that was the case, Phil intended to take some risk in tearing up the bulletin and putting an end to all this horrible weirdness.
”First offense is caning.” Just as Roy, Pasha and Byers pondered the answer, a voice came from behind them.
The four turned around in shock to see a plain looking young man in a black robe and tall bowler hat.
The man continued:
”Repeat offenses are broken hands.
”What recidivism is, I’m not sure.”
”Why would you know?” Roy asked with a frown while vigilantly gripping his concealed dagger.
The young man laughed and said:
”I tried, that had no effect, and the announcement will soon return.”
”So, you suffered a flogging?” Pasha asked with some realization.
”Uh-huh.” The young man nodded with a relaxed expression, “However, since I was also guilty of fraud at the same time, I suffered the punishment of a broken hand afterward.”
”Fraudulent offense?” Byers asked with some difficulty in understanding.
The young man replied smilingly:
”To put it simply, I didn’t personally go to destroy that announcement, but got a dummy to go there, and the one who was flogged was also that dummy.”
As he spoke, he raised his right arm.
His wrist, like Phil’s, had been very neatly severed, and where the wound was, the skin was pale and reddish, and seemed to be oozing blood.
Suddenly, the severed wound wriggled and crawled outward, one twisted and transparent worm after another, which entangled with each other and overlapped in layers, forming a new palm.
In this process, Roy and others did not feel a little shock, because once they saw those small insects that could not distinguish the details, they were confused, thoughts flashing, it is difficult to control their own emotional fluctuations.
Waiting for the palm to “cover” the skin and become normal, these few extraordinary people only recovered, and took a few steps back in shock, doubt and fear at the same time.
The scene just now had already exceeded their cognizance!
”By the way, I forgot to introduce myself, I’m a wandering magician.” The one who had just committed fraud and vandalism was none other than Klein.
He swept a glance at the four extraordinary people and said with a smile:
”My best magic is to fulfill other people’s wishes. Do you guys have wishes you want to fulfill?”
Hearing this question, Roy’s spirit lifted and asked with greater hope:
”Can you let us leave Beldan?”
”Of course, I will try my best to do this, but not right now.” Klein gave his promise.
Then he looked over at Phil, who had broken one of his hands:
”After his wish, what’s yours?”
”…… to get my hand back.” Phil said tentatively.
”Good.” Klein turned his gaze to Byers, “Remove his hand.”
Byers hesitated or did as this mysterious man instructed, taking out the wooden box and returning the palm inside to Phil.
”Come here.” Klein then smiled at Phil.
Gathering his courage, Phil took the severed hand and walked over.
”Rip off the straps.” Klein continued to instruct, “Place the severed hand in its original position, and as a reminder, don’t reverse it, or you’ll have to cut it off and start over later.”
Seeing the other party so certain, Phil more or less gained some confidence, and was busy with an extremely twisted expression as he pulled off the bandage that had been adhered to the wound, hissing out continuously.
When he had placed his broken hand, Klein took out a piece of white paper and brought it over.
Immediately afterward, he reached out and wiped his hand on the severed hand.
Noiselessly, that white paper cracked into two halves, while Phil felt the pain disappear all of a sudden.
He was busy looking down, only to see that his left wrist break was as good as new, and it was impossible to tell that he had ever been hurt.
Phil subconsciously moved his fingers, and found that the degree of dexterity had not weakened a bit.
”You got your wish.” Klein took two steps back and smiled.
”Thanks ……,” Phil responded, somewhat dully.
Klein looked over at the other two Extraordinary Ones again:
”What about your wishes?”
Seeing that Phil’s wish was truly granted, Byers immediately stepped forward:
”I want to know where my family is now.”
With a flick of his left arm, Klein took out a silver mirror with an ancient pattern and smiled down:
”What was the answer to that question just now?”
On the surface of the mirror, watery light floated, and one silver word after another came to the fore:
”Beldangorin Cemetery ……”
Craning his neck, Byers’ heart sank at the sight, and an intense sadness and loss welled up on his face that was hard to contain.
The next second, new silver words leapt out of the watery light:
”…… the grave-keeping hut.”
…… This means …… Byers turned his grief into joy and spoke sincerely:
”Thanks.”
As soon as the words fell, two questions suddenly occurred to him:
How many people can live in the grave guard hut? How many Gravekeeper people can there be?
There were more than two or three members of his family!
Byers’ expression clouded and cleared, and then fell silent again.
It kept him from seeing the question appear on that silver mirror:
”Great master, have I answered kindly enough?”
”Uh-huh.” Klein nodded imperceptibly and turned his attention to the remaining lady.
Pasha considered for two seconds and said:
”My wish is that you please protect us until we leave Beldan alive.”
She found Roy’s earlier wish problematic, since it wasn’t always the living who left Beldan.
”Clever.” Klein praised with a smile, “Your wish will be granted.”
”And what kind of price will we have to pay? I mean the payment for watching the magic.” Pasha asked again, busily.
”Your wish itself is the price.” Klein returned briefly, then asked thoughtfully, “If certain things, which you clearly know to be false, are subjectively willing to utilize them, then it shouldn’t be considered a fraud, right?”
Roy and the others listened with a puzzled look on their faces, and after thinking seriously for a while, they shook their heads one after another:
”It definitely doesn’t count.”
”This is actually a game between two parties.”
”Voluntary behavior with clear cognizance is certainly not a fraud.”
”Undoubtedly not.”
After hearing each of the four’s answers, Klein revealed a smile:
”Very well, this is the perception of the normal populace.”
As he spoke, he grabbed his right hand forward a few times, dragging out a female figure wearing simple robes and long ebony hair.
That was none other than the historical aperture image of Arianna, the Abbess of the Black Night Abbey.
Klein glanced around and saw that nothing unusual had happened, so he smiled and said to the projection:
”Ma’am, what exactly has happened?”
Arianna’s eyes turned slightly, becoming deep for a moment, making one feel peaceful from the bottom of one’s heart.
k said in a flat tone:
”The Archpriest of the Church of the God of War, Larion, has fled, and I am tracking k.”
Arianna added after a pause:
”After I came to Beldan, I received a new piece of intelligence.
”The intelligence shows that Larion took a seal with him when he fled.
”‘0-02’.”