Volume 7 The Inverted Man Chapter 14 A Chance Encounter in a Small Town
On a steam train bound for the city of Constanton in the county of Middle Sea.
Klein, who was dressed as a wandering magician, looked across a narrow table where items were arranged, and said to the young man and his parents across the street:
”There are two kinds of my magic, one is to make your wishes come true, the other is to use a mirror to answer your questions, of course, the first kind of magic needs to be paid for, and the second kind has to answer the questions posed by the mirror, which kind of show do you want to see?”
The young man, with dark hair and brown pupils, seemed to be more well educated, he looked at his parents sitting next to him and smiled:
”My wish is too difficult, so I’d rather not trouble you.
”Comparatively speaking, I’m more curious about mirrors that can answer questions.”
Klein sighed and shook his head as he flipped his left hand over, unfolding a silver mirror that could fit into his sleeve, with a black jewel on each side.
”Seems to be an antique.” The young man on the other side commented with interest, then said, “My question is, what is the purpose of my visit to Constant City this time?”
A smile of the sort common to street magicians appeared on Klein’s face as he reached up with his right hand and stroked up the surface of the mirror, whispering rather earnestly:
”Magic mirror magic mirror tell me what the answer to the question is.”
After three times in a row, he let go of his right hand and showed the surface of the mirror to the three passengers across the street.
There were already a few more silver words on there:
”Get married.”
”…… Fantastic.” The young man and his own parents looked at each other with expressions of incredulity.
They had never mentioned wedding-related topics or displayed items that would conjure up images since boarding this train.
This was the first time they had seen this kind of magic that didn’t rely on props or a fake audience.
”Okay, it’s time for the mirror to ask questions.” Klein smiled and covered the surface of the mirror with his right hand.
”Okay.” The young man responded rather curiously.
”Next, let’s see what question the magic mirror will ask.” Klein loosened his right hand slightly pompously as if he was doing a formal magic show.
The silver words on the mirror’s surface had changed and stretched into a full sentence:
”You’d prefer your bride to be a lady over forty, wouldn’t you?”
The young man’s expression froze for a moment, then turned ghastly white, then went completely red.
”How could that be!” He made an instant retort and couldn’t help but glance sideways at his parents, complaining sharply, “What kind of strange question is that!”
”…… Its a joke.” Klein smiled apologetically and hurriedly pressed his right hand to the surface of the mirror, looking as if he had no idea beforehand that such a situation would arise.
Immediately afterward, he once again released his right hand.
Sure enough, the text on the surface of the mirror changed again:
”How old are you?”
”25 years old ……” the young man answered cautiously, as if he was afraid of falling into a trap.
He felt that something had changed in the way his parents and the passengers around him were looking at him.
”Well, this magic show ends here.” Klein smiled and put away the mirror, “You can try another magic trick.”
As soon as he spoke, the steam train let out a whine whistle, a sign that it was about to make a stop.
”Sorry, I should get off.” Klein said as he pulled out his gold-cased pocket watch and pressed it open to look at it.
He whirled around and picked up his own luggage, following the crowd made up of some of the passengers, leaving the steam train and coming to the station platform where the gas street lights were still on.
This was the city of Beldan, in the county of Mesopotamia, a city that had risen and fallen by the coal mines.
The greatest significance of the place to Klein was that it was an important node on the Forsak invasion route in the previous World War.
-Forsak had a total of three invasion routes, one was to attack the Amanda Mountains on the border and try to break through the land defenses there, one was to attack the coastal ports from the island of Sunia and try to land, and one was to start at the inter-ocean and invade along the main railroad towards Bakerland.
Among them, due to the presence of the Storm Church and the power of the ironclad with the high level “Arbiter”, the navies of Fusak and Feneport were never able to achieve the intended results, and they even failed to control the right to control the sea, while in the battlefield of the Amanda Mountains, the headquarters of the Church of the Darkness blocked the wave after wave of attacks, and it did not fall until the end of the war, which made the winter county, East Chester county, and other places fall into a state of war. County, East Chester County and other places did not directly suffer from the baptism of war.
Of the three routes, the only successful one was the Mesopotamian forces, who combined land and water to capture Constanton City, the capital of Mesopotamia County, the second-largest city in Ruennes, and then pushed their way southeast to meet up with the Intis in the Bechlende Region.
Klein plays the role of a wandering magician, on the one hand to accumulate wishes, show miracles, digest magic potions, and improve his strength, on the other hand, he intends to retrace the path of the war, to truly see the trauma of the previous war with his own eyes, his own ears, and his own heart.
Knowing the secrets of the stars and the earth, he could understand the “Goddess of the Night’s” plan and accept it to a certain extent, but that didn’t mean he would be indifferent to those sacrifices.
At the same time, he is also sure of one thing, that is, even if he failed to prevent George III to become the “Black Emperor”, the world war will still break out, but Ruen will have the advantage, “Goddess of the Night” and k’s allies will be positively oppressed! The “God of War” and his allies will press the “Goddess of Darkness” head-on, forcing K to seek the help of the “Mother Goddess of the Earth” step by step.
At that time, the number, intensity and scale of the divine wars will exceed the current one.
For this reason, Klein had wandered along the Forsak invasion route, one stop at a time.
Exiting the station where traces of cannon fodder still lingered, he carried his battered suitcase with a change of clothes and discerned his direction towards what might be an inn.
By nightfall, he would be strolling through the streets of the city, performing wish magic for people.
After a few steps forward, Klein had a touch of inspiration and turned his gaze to the end of the street.
There passed a female figure in a simple linen robe with a bark sash, long black hair, and no shoes or socks.
Arianna!
Arianna, the ascetic head of the Church of Darkness, the earthly angel!
How did k get to Beldan? Shouldn’t k have returned to the Black Night Monastery of the Church of Serenity by this time? Or has he been sent to St. Miron, the capital of Forsak, to receive the Legacy of War? An angel who walks on the earth appeared in such a small city, it is definitely not simple …… Klein was puzzled and frowned slightly.
He hesitated, but finally decided to inquire.
It wasn’t that he wanted to mind his own business, but everyone was in the same city, and no one could escape if something really went wrong.
But at this time, Arianna has already disappeared in the crowd, and as the “hidden servant” of the k, let Klein want to track no way, similarly, in the relationship “hidden” things, “magic mirror” Aroldus also a little bit. Similarly, in matters of “secrets”, “Magic Mirror” Aroldus is also a bit helpless.
Klein took a slow breath, thoughtfully turned around and entered the hotel, opened a room, and put his luggage away.
Then, he kept the costume of a wandering magician, took “Magic Mirror” Aroldus, and followed the spiritual intuition of a “soothsayer”, and walked all the way to the town square of Beldan City.
There was a signboard with a lot of notices posted on it, which was near the city hall.
Seeing that many people were watching, it seemed that there was a new official document, so Klein leaned over and stood on the periphery of the crowd, looking at the log-colored sign.
In the center of the sign, a piece of slightly yellowed white paper covered the rest of the bulletin, and on the surface was written in black ink and Ruunese:
”Ladies and gentlemen, I am your new consul.
”I now promulgate three new laws:
”Number one, no living being may leave this place without my permission.
”Number two, all beings are equal before the law. Even angels can be killed by ordinary people.
”Article three, those who commit the following offenses will suffer heavy penalties, up to the death penalty:
”1. Murder;
”2. Stealing;
”3. Chanting the honorable names of the gods in their entirety;
”4. Sacrificing to evil gods;
”5. Fraud;
”6. Leaking secrets;
”……”
Such a proclamation …… Klein raised an eyebrow as he read it, and it didn’t take spiritual intuition to notice that there was something wrong with those contents.
He instinctively turned his thoughts, trying to let the spirit body back to the “source of the fortress”.
However, an invisible force blocked his “departure”, so that he could only touch the gray mist but could not pass through.
This …… Klein’s eyes narrowed slightly, took a few steps backward, and distanced himself from the crowd.
In his opinion, this level of abnormality had already reached the point of being nearly divine.
He had been unable to return to the “Source Castle” before, but the reason was mainly because it was too late to take four steps in reverse, recite incantations, or be disturbed or blocked by “himself”.
There was only one time when he was truly prevented from leaving the real world by an external force:
That was in the Misty Town – a hidden world and powerful seal created by the “Goddess of the Night” herself.
Except for this time, even “Blasphemer” Amon didn’t do anything similar. Of course, at that time, Amon’s main purpose was to force Kraven to invoke the “Fortress of Source”, and then seize the opportunity to take advantage of the loophole, replacing him to become the “Great Lord above the Spirit World”. The “Angel of Time” could have prevented Klein’s return by stealing his thoughts.
Who is the newly appointed “consul” of Beldan City …… Is this the reason why Ms. Arianna came to Beldan City? In the midst of his thoughts, Klein let the “Magic Mirror” slide down from his wide sleeve to his left hand.
”What happened?” Klein asked in a low voice.
On the surface of the silver mirror, the watery light shifted around and slightly whitened silver words appeared:
”The rules here have been replaced by a few, it is impossible to know exactly who did it, great master, you can try to find the ‘Servant of the Hidden’ Arianna and learn the truth from k.
”Is my answer satisfactory to you?”
The rules are displaced …… “Lawyer”? “Arbiter”? Or, a ‘bug’? Klein raised his head thoughtfully and looked around, noticing that the citizens in the square were a bit puzzled, not quite understanding why the new bulletin mentioned angels, and why they needed to apply for and receive permission to leave.
The war was all but over!