Ail Hassen chimed in:
"Indeed, it's hard to imagine that the successor to 'Seer' would be 'Clown'; by normal logic, no one would connect them."
"Is that strange? I remember many Pathways' sequence potions also lack any necessary link between adjacent sequences." The black-haired lady Lorrota covered her mouth and yawned; she was clearly badly wounded — so much so that even the 'Gaze of the Goddess' could no longer keep her vigorous.
"No, Lorrota, it's completely different. Even when other sequence potions lack association, we can find a certain commonality from another angle, but 'Seer' and 'Clown' — I can't make sense of it at all." Ail Hassen shook his head, sighing.
Klein listened to their discussion, laughed lightly, and said:
"No, there is a commonality."
"What is it?" Ail asked curiously; Dunn's arm-flexing motion noticeably slowed too.
Klein replied with a straight face:
"Whether it's 'Seer' or 'Clown,' both can be found at the circus."
"…" Ail, Dunn and Lorrota all froze in place.
"Pfft… nice answer — I like young men like you!" The black-haired lady Lorrota was the first to recover and laughed out loud.
Ail also smiled, shaking his head:
"In this day and age, gentlemen with a sense of self-deprecation are getting rarer; fortunately, we ran into one today."
You think I enjoy self-deprecating?… I just couldn't think of any other commonality… — Klein grumbled internally, his smile turning a bit wry as he answered:
"I only hope that this sequence Pathway's potions don't include names like 'Beast Tamer,' 'Acrobat,' or 'Magician' — that would really form a circus."
And a one-man circus, at that…
"Hahaha." Dunn and the others were immediately amused; the carriage was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
The carriage moved on, eventually reaching Zouteland Street. Klein, who hadn't been wounded badly, was the first to enter the Blackthorn Security Company.
"Goddess! What happened to you? How did you end up like this?" Rozanne glanced over casually and gasped in shock.
Klein looked down at his dirty and torn formal wear, still feeling pained, and replied:
"There are always one mishap after another in missions; thankfully, with the Goddess's blessing, the outcome was a good one."
"Praise the Goddess!" Rozanne piously traced the 'Crimson Moon' on her chest.
Without waiting for Klein to speak, she asked on her own initiative:
"Do we need to go up to the third floor again to hide? Is that Sealed Artifact really that dangerous?"
"Believe me, it's more dangerous than you can imagine." Klein replied, still shaken.
If not for his more mysterious 'Luck Transference Ritual,' he might have been finished by '2-049' today!
"Goddess…" Rozanne's lips moved as if she had many more things to say and many more questions to ask, but, considering the captain was waiting downstairs, she finally suppressed the impulse. She gestured for Mrs. Orianna and the others to go up to the third floor — the spaces left, right, above, and below the Blackthorn Security Company either belonged to the Church or were inhabited by pious clerics who roughly knew the situation.
Once all the administrative staff had been evacuated, Klein didn't rush to the entertainment room to alert the other Nighthawks; he turned back at once and helped the captain and the others escort the Sealed Artifact '2-049,' the remains of the monster Biber, and the notes of the Antigonus family down to the second floor.
Through the partition, Dunn pushed open the door to the entertainment room and said to the two Nighthawks playing Gwent:
"Frye, Lawyao — go immediately to the Tilier Warehouse in the dockyard district to help Leonard handle the aftermath."
"Okay." The black-haired, cold-faced lady Lawyao rose first.
The black-haired, blue-eyed, pale-skinned 'Corpse Collector' Frye stood up too.
They set down the Gwent cards and walked out of the entertainment room; when crossing the partition, both noticeably paused.
"Wait." Dunn called out, not letting anyone down on their expectation.
"Is there anything else?" 'Sleepless' Lawyao asked, turning her head without changing expression.
"Remember to inform the police; have them seal off the road so that, until you've cleared the scene and brought the bodies back, no one approaches." Dunn lightly patted his forehead.
"Alright." Lawyao turned, took two steps forward, and paused again.
She turned her head back, blinked, and asked coolly:
"Captain, anything else?"
"No." Dunn answered decisively.
Lawyao gave an almost imperceptible nod and was the first to head to the front door.
The cold, gloomy 'Corpse Collector' Frye, meanwhile, maintained his unhurried pace.
At that moment, Dunn spoke once more:
"Remember — remember to tell Rozanne and Mrs. Orianna that they can come down."
"No problem." Frye answered with an almost emotionless calm.
Watching the two Nighthawks step out the front door and climb to the third floor, Klein quietly let out a breath of relief, then followed the captain and Ail down into the basement; they walked straight through and arrived at the double-leafed Chanis Gate.
"Go to the armory and bring Old Neil over — we need his ritual-magic healing," Dunn said, signaling to 'Sleepless' Kenley who stayed on duty to open the Chanis Gate while instructing Klein.
As the potion's effects wore off, his spirits gradually slumped.
"Alright." Klein, without waiting for the captain to add anything, said on his own:
"I'll take Old Neil's place watching the armory, and I'll also request at least twenty more Monster-Hunting Bullets, then wait for the Sanctum's approval — and resist my curiosity about the Antigonus family notes."
"…" For a moment, Dunn could find no words to respond.
"Captain, anything else?" Klein, having beaten the captain to the punch, asked with a smile.
Dunn shook his head, still unable to speak.
Taking out his cane, turning around, and walking a stretch, Klein turned off into the armory and roughly told Old Neil — who was drinking water — what had happened.
"Turned into a runaway monster… and you actually killed an Beyonder?" Old Neil quickly tidied the table. "It feels like I'm hearing the script of a play."
He muttered as he went around the table, heading straight for the corridor without waiting for Klein's reply.
Klein, curious, asked:
"Mr. Neil, doesn't the Church have any real healing potions? You actually need ritual magic to help."
"Potions made from ordinary materials cannot lock in ritual-healing effects for long; supernatural materials are extremely rare and mostly unsuitable for that use," Old Neil explained offhandedly. "You should know the 'Gaze of the Goddess' by now — when it's freshly made via ritual, it's a standard, true healing potion; but every minute thereafter the effect evaporates until only a trace is left."
"I see…" Klein nodded with mild disappointment.