Klein had retreated all the way out of the heavy safe. Once he confirmed there was nothing wrong, he finally calmed himself down.
"That bone statue was deeply eerie… It wasn't dangerous, but it made one feel inexplicably uneasy… Could it be, could it be the so-called 'Primordial Witch'? The evil god said to stand alongside the '
Just as he was pondering this, his spirituality stirred abruptly, and an ominous premonition surged forth.
Klein hurriedly flew over to the window with its intricate patterns and gazed out at the road beyond the house. Under the glow of the gas streetlamps, a horse-drawn carriage was approaching the front gate, moving swiftly but steadily.
Mrs. Sharon had returned? His heart lurched as he identified the source of his crisis warning.
Considering that Triss had only become female after advancing to Sequence 8, "Instigator," and likely belonged to Sequence 7, while Mrs. Sharon had been active in
This was because the former had a limited quantity — one used, one fewer — and there was no telling when he could trick out the "
He couldn't exactly tell Dunn that, by sheer coincidence, a powerful expert had happened to walk by and lent him a hand, could he?
As for why he didn't use the "Azik Copper Whistle," it was because Klein wasn't sure whether the "messenger" it summoned possessed any combat ability. What if the creature merely looked imposing but could only deliver letters?
"Based on what I've just discovered, it's more than enough to deploy the Nighthawk squad. Why would I fight Mrs. Sharon one-on-one when I could clearly gang up on her?" Klein emphasized this point to himself, ended the summoning, and shot back above the
He quickly extinguished and stowed the candles, dismissed the Wall of Spirituality, and slipped out of Mrs. Sharon's bedroom. He retraced his steps, but there was no time to restore the bolt on the balcony door.
Sliding down the drainpipe and vaulting over the garden wall on the side opposite the front gate, Klein remained hidden until he reached the neighboring district before hailing an expensive nighttime hired carriage to Zouteland Street.
…………
Mrs. Sharon, looking all the more lovely in her black dress, strolled leisurely back to the second floor, dismissed her maid, and turned the doorknob of her bedroom.
Her pure, glistening eyes suddenly narrowed, reflecting strands upon strands of near-transparent, almost invisible filaments. They carried no sheen of spirituality, resembling the hair of a diseased human. Had one not known beforehand that these things existed, or possessed extraordinarily special eyes, no one could have noticed them.
At this moment, every single one of those filaments was severed, drooping toward the ground.
Mrs. Sharon narrowed her eyes and directed her gaze toward the heavy iron-gray safe.
…………
36 Zouteland Street, Blackthorn Security Company.
Dunn had his legs crossed and was leisurely reading the newspaper when Klein appeared in the doorway of his office. With a somewhat peculiar expression, Dunn looked over and sighed silently:
"Weren't you planning to attempt infiltrating Mrs. Sharon's residence tonight for a preliminary search?"
"…You found something?"
Klein nodded gravely.
"Yes."
"I suspect Lady Sharon is a member of the Witches' cult."
"A member of the Witches' cult?" Dunn set down the newspaper, chewing on the phrase as he asked with gravity, "What did you find?"
Klein didn't sit down. He leaned forward, bracing both hands on the edge of the desk:
"I first came across a photograph of a young man, but he bore a striking resemblance to Lady Sharon."
If he were to swap into women's clothing, apply makeup, beautification, and a bit of photo editing, the result would be roughly equivalent to Lady Sharon's current appearance... Klein couldn't help but mutter this under his breath.
"Similar to Triss the 'Instigator'?" Dunn's gray eyes flickered as understanding dawned.
They had already determined that Triss was very likely a member of the Witches' cult.
"Yes." Klein nodded with a complicated feeling, then continued, "After that, using divination techniques, I discovered in a dream that there was a hidden compartment inside Lady Sharon's safe containing a white bone statue. It depicted a beautiful woman, but her hair grew all the way down to her ankles, each strand as thick as a poisonous serpent, with eyes at the tips — truly unsettling. Captain, is this the image of the 'Primordial Witch'?"
Due to his insufficient security clearance, he had very little information about the Witches' cult.
Dunn recalled for a moment and nodded with a solemn expression:
"That is indeed the image of the 'Primordial Witch.'"
"We must act immediately to restrain Lady Sharon."
Klein promptly agreed: "Mm, if Lady Sharon is a mid-Sequence Beyonder in the Witches' cult, I don't believe she could have failed to notice someone breaking into her bedroom."
At that moment, a question suddenly arose in his mind, and he blurted out:
"Captain, why is it that the seven orthodox gods have no specific images, represented only by symbolic icons, whereas the evil gods I've encountered so far all take on humanoid forms? The 'True Creator' is like that, and the 'Primordial Witch' is like that too. Is this one of the differences between orthodox gods and evil gods?"
Why would such a difference exist? Klein silently appended this question to himself, but wisely chose not to voice it aloud.
"That is indeed one of the differences between orthodox gods and evil gods." Dunn gave an affirmative reply, then stood and walked toward the coat rack. "We can't afford to delay any further. I'm worried Lady Sharon might flee."
He paused briefly:
"Go get Cohen. The three of us will act together. This should qualify us to requisition a sealed artefact — Lady Sharon is very likely above Sequence 7."
Captain, you truly are wise! Klein answered without the slightest hesitation: