At ten o'clock tonight... Klein glanced at the Miss Messenger waiting in place, walked to his desk, spread out a piece of white paper, and wrote:
"I'll be on time.
"Also, the situation in Backlund has been tense lately. You must be careful to control the intensity."
After reminding Sharon of this, Klein folded the letter, then pulled out a gold coin and a rectangular "diamond" that continuously refracted light from his pocket.
"This is a 'Retrograde' charm. It allows you to briefly borrow power from your past self." Klein handed all three items to Leonette Tinicol simultaneously.
One of the golden-haired, red-eyed heads being carried by Leonette Tinicol opened its mouth and bit down on all the items at once, while the remaining three heads spoke in succession:
"Why..." "Give..." "Me..."
"Consider it part of an advance payment," Klein said with a smile, his expression unchanged.
The reminder from the "Magic Mirror" Arrodes had made him feel that he needed to make more preparations.
Leonette Tinicol asked no further questions. The four strikingly beautiful heads bobbed up and down in unison as their hair was gripped.
The entity then stepped into the void and vanished from the room.
Klein glanced at the drizzling rain outside the window and the sky that had already turned completely black, took off his coat, and handed it to his personal attendant, Enyune.
…………
9:50 PM, Jowood District, a street near the Tosc River.
In the overcast rain common to Backlund during the autumn and winter seasons, a hired carriage turned onto the street and moved forward at a leisurely pace.
Inside the carriage, Emlyn White, holding his top hat, looked at the pale-faced young man with slightly disheveled hair sitting across from him with his vivid red eyes, the corner of his lips slightly curving as he said:
"This is the place?"
Maric, whose figure carried a somewhat ethereal quality, nodded and pointed at a street-front building with a shop on the ground floor, situated diagonally ahead:
"That's right.
"It's a bookstore. The owner is named Charlie Lake — a pure-blooded Loen. However, when he was young, he visited the Southern Continent once, hoping to make his fortune. While there, he became a member of the Rose School, a follower of the Chained God, and was sent back to Backlund to gather intelligence and provide assistance to other Rose School members carrying out missions. We had our eye on him for a long time, wanting to take action against him — to cut off the Rose School's intelligence network and create a better living environment for ourselves — but in the end, we held back."
Emlyn said with a smile playing on his lips:
"The facts have shown that patience often does indeed lead to better results.
"Heh, to be honest, your performance is quite different from what I imagined a Temperance faction 'vengeful spirit' to be. I thought you'd be very miserly with words."
Maric glanced at the vampire sitting across from him who was supposedly already a baron:
"Different people have different personalities, and Temperance is merely the control of desires that exceed their proper limits.
"In this matter, if I didn't explain it so clearly, I'd worry you wouldn't understand, which would affect the final outcome. In that case, the desire for 'Temperance' itself would exceed its proper limits."
Heh, quite philosophical, but there's no need to use me as an example... Emlyn leaned casually against the carriage wall, watching the other man, and said:
"Let's continue with what we were discussing earlier."
Maric gazed out the window once more:
"In Charlie Lake's household, there is a maid from the Pass River Valley who is also a member of the Rose School of Thought.
"Additionally, in the two houses directly across from Lake's bookstore, there lives a widow and a man who drinks heavily. They are followers of the 'Fettered God' and will pass intelligence to the Rose School of Thought at critical moments.
"What you need to do is quietly monitor these three people while we deal with Charlie Lake. Through tracking the flow of information, we can identify the Rose School of Thought's person in charge in Backlund.
"Of course, we will certainly give Charlie Lake some opportunities to call for help or send signals."
Emlyn nodded slightly and said:
"I understand."
He immediately turned his head to glance at the sky, which was thick with clouds that hid the red moon, and rotated the ring set with a dark blue gemstone on the ring finger of his left hand.
This was the "Pledge of the Rose" ring, which allowed Baron Mistral to share his vision, hearing, and sense of smell.
The ring completed a circuit and, remarkably, returned to Emlyn's hand—though only temporarily.
This way, Baron Mistral had already heard everything Maric had just said and could share it with the other vampire participants.
Emlyn had originally thought that even though he was only responsible for liaison work and couldn't play an important role, he could at least demonstrate some quasi-magical abilities derived from the "Crimson Scholar," delivering messages with considerable dignity in front of the "Specter" Maric. Instead, he didn't have to do anything—just put on the ring and show up at the scene.
This left him deeply frustrated, feeling that he was purely a tool.
Without reaching Demigod status, one wasn't even qualified to directly participate in many things, let alone save the clan... At this moment, a surge of impulse rose within Emlyn. He felt that his level was still unworthy of his hidden identity, that he couldn't yet bear the responsibilities he should bear.
As for the effect of the "Pledge of the Rose" causing the wearers' thoughts to periodically appear in each other's minds, Emlyn wasn't worried. He had beforehand asked Miss "Justice" to hypnotize him, ensuring that tonight he wouldn't think about the things that the vampire higher-ups shouldn't know.
The moment his sighing thoughts settled, a voice belonging to Baron Mistral suddenly echoed in his mind:
"Arrogant, childish, naive..."
This—this was the "Pledge of the Rose" randomly transmitting some of Baron Mistral's thoughts to him... Heh... Emlyn sneered silently and began repeatedly reciting a name in his mind: