Backlund, North Borough.
The pitch-black night had the crimson moon covered by clouds. There were only street lamps on the two sides of the road that emitted a faint light, illuminating the road ahead and the doors of the nearby houses.
7 Pinster Street’s mailbox was silently hiding in the intersection between light and dark, bathing in a cool breeze that blew from the side as though it was in a slumber.
At this moment, newspapers, bills, and letters from various unknown people suddenly spewed out from its mouth.
These objects seemed to be dragged by an invisible hand as they floated in midair before flying towards the door and entering through a gap.
Inside the house, at the foyer, the newspapers automatically spread open as they rapidly flipped over. Then, they were casually left on the chair, stacking over other newspapers.
The bills and letters continued flying into the living room, with the former quickly stopping. With a few shakes, they floated to the surface of the coffee table and lined up. The latter had their envelopes removed, and the letters without envelopes quickly unfolded themselves, showcasing themselves in midair.
After a while, a portion of these letters flew onto a rack on the first floor’s study. Some rushed for the scissors to help it cut itself apart. Then, they orderly surged into the washroom and were thrown into the toilet.
The mechanical flush of the toilet was automatically depressed, washing away the paper shreds into the sewers.
7 Pinster Street went back to normal, and its silence was identical to an uninhabited house’s.
Southern Continent. East Balam. Kolain City.
Leonard Mitchell, who had just arrived, was resting in a residence arranged by the local Church of Evernight.
Suddenly, that slightly-aged voice sounded in his mind:
“What letter?” While Leonard asked softly, he already had a guess in mind.
To mail an important letter to 7 Pinster Street without caring that it was inhabited, there was only one, no—two people: Klein Moretti and Dwayne Dantès.
As for why the old man named Pallez Zoroast could still clearly read the letters sent to 7th Pinster Street despite the Berserk Sea and half the Northern Continent separating them, Leonard had only a guess or two. This was because he had helped the old man capture a specter before.
With regards to this, his theory was:
At that moment, Pallez Zoroast replied to his question.
“It’s from Klein Moretti. He said that while Dwayne Dantès was heading to the Southern Continent, he discovered traces of Ince Zangwill on Waypoint Island in the Berserk Sea.”
Leonard fell silent immediately as his mouth turned agape. However, he didn’t say a word.
After a long while, he muttered with a slightly hoarse voice, “As expected, he didn’t forget the need for revenge…
“What can I do?”
He paused before chuckling.
Leonard had wanted to retort a few times, but he ultimately didn’t say a word.
“So no finding excuses so as to inform the Church of Ince Zangwill’s location?” Leonard heavily asked, somewhat surprised.
Leonard was taken aback for a second as he asked, “Old Man, you seem to know 0-08 rather well.”
It wasn’t apparent in the past!
Pallez’s slightly-aged voice chuckled.
Leonard came to an actual realization of 0-08’s terror from Old Man’s vague words. This had already exceeded the mysticism he knew!
After some thought, Leonard asked habitually, “Then how should I hint to Klein Moretti without letting 0-08 know? Or that even if he were to know, it will be very superficial knowledge, making me a bystander in the story…”
Just as he said that, Leonard clasped his hands and gritted his teeth. Without waiting for Old Man’s reply, he continued, “An indirect hint? I’ll tell him I’ll temporarily not inform the Church of Ince Zangwill’s location… I believe he should be able to understand that there’s a problem based on the situation. He will understand that we need to be extremely cautious. And even if he fails to interpret that, his secret organization has members who understand the Fourth Epoch well enough to provide him with help.
“Also, just writing the sentence, ‘Once you know it, it will also know you,’ without mentioning 0-08 should be enough for Klein to guess what this is pointing at…”
Leonard exhaled and sat up. He found a pen and paper and penned his thoughts.
Following that, he set up a ritual right on the heels of that and summoned Gehrman Sparrow’s messenger.
…
Berserk Sea, Waypoint Island. On a liner docked at the harbor.
Many tourists weren’t alighting. They were huddled in the lower deck cabins, waiting to arrive at the Southern Continent to begin a life filled with hope.
They had gone through a great deal of effort to save up the fare for a ship ride that spanned a few short days. They were from Loen and were those who had been forced to take such risks.
Klein, who was acting as the tycoon, Dwayne Dantès, wasn’t like them. He lived in a spacious, clean first-class cabin that could even be described as luxurious. Under some candlelight, he opened the letter that had just been delivered by Reinette Tinekerr.
Suddenly, Klein exclaimed, finding the description somewhat familiar!
That would’ve been equally dangerous for Miss Messenger.
From the angle of improving his strength, the acquirement of the corresponding ingredients of Bizarro Bane and Spirit World Plunderer depended on the subsequent request of the City of Silver’s Chief and how long Miss Magician could receive the exact coordinates from her teacher. These were all dependent on external factors that Klein had no means of expediting.
The only thing he could do was to try his best to digest the Marionettist potion as quickly as possible.
And after concluding most of the acting principles, the actual implementation was more important.
Therefore, Klein believed that he needed to obtain two marionettes within a short span of time.
He had previously been delaying it because he didn’t have any good targets. It stemmed from him being in Backlund with servants around him. Unless they were special marionettes, it was very difficult to hide their existences. And now, he was almost at the Southern Continent. He decided that as long as he identified an evil target who deserved the gallows, he would first transform them into his marionette until he had a better replacement!
…
East Balam, Kolain City.
Klein carried his luggage and stepped onto the dock, touching ground on the Southern Continent.
And before that, he had one thing to do. It was to lose the tail of the “followers” that the military had arranged.
The two gentlemen were rather good at being spies, but to Klein, they were as bright as fireflies in the night. This was because, no matter how well disguised they were, Klein could use his Faceless’s ability of observation and his memory of a human’s physical features and looks to recognize them at a glance.
