Volume 7 The Inverted Hanged Man Chapter 62 Offstage Work
The preparations for the creation of the town of secret puppets were quite boring and tedious, at least according to Klein.
Inside the large ancient palace, Klein was sitting on the high-backed chair belonging to the “Fool”, holding a water-absorbing pen and writing the name, age and destiny of each Secret Puppet on ordinary paper, while letting a “Spirit Worm” burrow out of his body and reorganize into one doppelgänger after another next to him. The “Spirit Worms” were allowed to burrow out of their bodies and reorganize themselves into one doppelganger after another.
Some of these Klein’s sat on the floor, some occupied the twenty-one seats outside of the Fool, and some manifested beds and reclined on them. ……
Then, they each recruited different books from the miscellaneous pile and read them carefully.
That one book included, but was not limited to:
How to Make Fine Wine
The Scheduling of Trains
The Complete Book of Dessert Making
The Clergyman’s Self-Cultivation.
A Handbook of Repairing Gas Wall Sconces, Gas Meters, and All Kinds of Household Machinery.
Dixie Gourmet
The Practice of Harbor Management
Fundamentals of Law.
Ladies Aesthetic Magazine ……
These were the specialized knowledge that the different secret puppets needed to have, only then could they play their roles well enough to make him authentic enough in every way that even in-depth conversations and interactions with outsiders wouldn’t be revealing.
It would not be difficult for Klein to simply memorize this knowledge, but he had to actually grasp it and be able to apply it, and, moreover, not confuse the character by having a strapping, robust, lower-income trigger man blurt out how well so-and-so’s skincare moisturizer worked, or what flaws so-and-so’s silk had.
Such a situation might create a quirky appeal if it were to occur in a novel, play, or opera, but put into reality, it’s distinctly distorted and detrimental to the advancement of the ceremony.
In order to avoid similar problems, Klein had to work hard up front to make every character in the secret puppet town real, fleshed out, and appropriate.
Fortunately, there weren’t too many people in a town who really needed in-depth expertise in their counterparts, and most of the inhabitants were semi-literate, or even truly illiterate, relying on their experiences to live a muddled life. For these characters, Klein needed to learn relatively much less, like those workers who went on the assembly line after simple training or without training.
After an unknown amount of time, Klein proper put down his pen, rubbed the corner of his forehead, and let out a long sigh of relief.
He had finally compiled information on the nearly five thousand inhabitants of the secret puppet town, and the corresponding knowledge base was nearly complete.
”This is like directing a mega movie, and the screenwriter is me, the lighting artist is me, the props artist is me, the makeup artist is me, and all of the actors are also me …… This ritual gets going, I’m really teetering on the edge of losing control, and if I’m not careful, I’ll have a split personality and fall into the abyss of madness …… Luckily I have competent psychiatrists ……
”Well, there’s a problem that has to be taken care of in the functioning of a secret puppet town: although I personally am a polite and cultivated gentleman, a town where most of the residents are of the lower class, whether in speech, or behavior, will be on the side of vulgarity …… can’t end up in the role, can’t break through the psychological barrier …… “In a silent sigh, Klein let the surrounding doppelgangers disintegrate into a “spirit worm”, letting a “spirit worm” burrow back into his own The body of the “Spirit Worms”.
Of course, this was not all, there was still a “Kraven” that remained in the same state just now, ready to take its turn at the “Source Castle”.
In the next second, Klein returned to reality, and took out the “Creeping Hunger” from the hole in history and put it on.
He then “teleported” to an island in the Berserk Sea that was clearly off the safe path.
This was the “stage” he had picked out earlier.
–The place was isolated by storms all year round, with no signs of human activity, only large forests and forest-dependent animals.
Klein looked around, picked an open spot, pressed his right hand to his left chest, and prayed devoutly:
”I wish there was a city here suitable for five thousand people.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Klein raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, this open area became extremely flat, and the surrounding forest also “retreated” a lot, providing a large number of trees, stones and soil.
Almost at the same time, a building rose from the ground, they are a mixture of stone and wood, the highest not more than four floors, the style is close to the Rune Kingdom’s Dixie Bay.
In the space of a couple of blinks, houses, libraries, police stations, telegraph offices, city councils, small hospitals, candy factories, waterworks, gas companies, steam train stations, parallel railroad tracks, and out-of-town plantations took shape, and the streets were paved with concrete or stone bricks.
Finally, a church with a steeple rose out of the ground next to the square in the center of town.
This was the church belonging to the “Goddess of the Night”, because it had to fit the background setting of the city.
”I wish this island had a deep water harbor.” Without stopping, Klein made a second wish to himself.
Snap!
He snapped his fingers again, granting his wish.
About three kilometers from this town, a modest harbor took shape quickly, with two wharves, five warehouses, a harbor-front hotel, a modest restaurant, a police substation, a bar, a lighthouse, and a garrison sailor’s barracks ……
”I wish there was easy access to the harbor and town.” Klein made a third wish.
He then raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
A concrete-built highway and a freight railroad instantly appeared between the town and the harbor.
According to Klein’s plan, the harbor portion was for visitors from the sea, and the town portion mainly dealt with outsiders from the north and south continents.
Taking an appreciative look at the empty and deserted city, Klein clicked his bowler hat and “teleported” directly to the town square, stepping into the church he named St. Arianna’s. The doors of the church were wide open.
The doors of the church were open, and it was dark inside.
After an unknown period of time, three figures appeared in the doorway: a gentleman in his thirties wearing formal clothes and a bow tie, a woman with an ordinary appearance and a gentle expression, and a child dressed like a small adult.
The woman took a few slightly arduous steps, moved her neck, then broke into a smile, extended her hands, and took the arm of the gentleman next to her.
The gentleman, with a faint smile, let the lady half lean on him while extending his right hand and holding the little boy.
The little boy walked with a bouncy walk, looking very lively.
Their movements were both a little raw at first, but the more they walked, the more fluid they became, and the years passed through the square.
By the time they were gone, more and more people were coming out of St. Arianna’s, which included policemen, repairmen, gas company employees, restaurant cooks, old men with gray hair, poorly dressed farmers ……
In the hour that followed, a steady stream of people came out of this dark church, either turning down different streets, traveling to different places, entering different houses, or stopping in the square to enjoy the scenery without the white doves.
In the process, the number of people coming out had completely exceeded the limit of what the church could hold, but there still seemed to be people inside, as if it was connected to another city.
After nearly another quarter of an hour, silence finally returned to the doorway of St. Arianna’s Church, but it elsewhere rats, cockroaches, moths, ants, flies, mosquitoes, and other insects lurked out of hiding.
At last a certain stained glass high up in the church opened, and a white dove flew out and landed in the center of the square.
The people who stayed here came completely alive, some teasing the dove, some looking for vendors, some playing the seven-stringed zither, some smiling and talking to friends.
A man in a bowler hat and trench coat, carrying a cane and a revolver, made his way out of the town square and to the other side of town, stopping in front of a wooden sign.
He then took out a tool and wrote the name of the town on the wooden sign:
”Yannan”.
After a moment’s thought, the man “erased” the word “Yannan” and wrote a new name:
”Utopia.
……
Inside the luxurious villa of the Earl of Hall’s family, Birkeland.
”Alfred has boarded the passenger ship back to the Northern Continent?” Audrey did not hide her surprise.
It was already September 1352 at this time.
In the previous half a year or so, Audrey did not spend too much effort to make her father give up the idea of returning to East Chester County in the first half of the year, this was because cities such as Beckland and Constanton were in dire need of reconstruction, the kingdom’s political arena also needed to obtain a new balance, and Earl Hall had too many things he had to deal with, and was not in the mood for a vacation.
So, just by taking the initiative to mention that she was willing to stay in Bakerland when Earl Hall was in a difficult situation and return to East Chester County later in the year, Audrey was able to make things go as expected and get herself praised.
And the Psycho-Alchemy Society didn’t push – after that and up until now, the Psycho-Alchemy Society’s Convocation meetings had been held a total of three times, mainly in exchanging the results of their respective researches and all sorts of intelligence within their jurisdictions. Only Ms. Greed had asked twice about the clues to the psychic dragon.
Frankly speaking, if Mr. Fool hadn’t warned Audrey about the “angry” rabbit and the easily forgotten president, she would have found the council meetings interesting and Mr. Rabbit insightful, but now, she was as wary as ever.
”Yes, the passenger ship has left the harbor.” Earl Hall smiled and nodded, “Once Alfred arrives in Birkeland and completes the necessary socializing, we’ll head back to East Cheshire for the fox hunt.”
Fall was a good time for fox hunting.
Audrey said with a “hmm”:
”Good.”
……
As a Rear Admiral, Alfred did not follow the Navy’s fleet to Dixie Bay, but instead boarded a steam-sail hybrid passenger ship bound for Pritchard Harbor with his adjutant and retinue.
After nearly two days of sailing, they ran into a storm in the Raging Sea.
As the ship rocked violently, the sailors on the lookout saw a small light through their binoculars.
It came from a lighthouse.