Sunlight beamed down brightly through the open air, while one corner of the cemetery lay quiet and shaded. Leonard Mitchell suddenly picked up the iron shovel he had stuck into the ground beside him.
Two mounds of earth slowly grew higher, and the grave was bit by bit uncovered. Occasionally someone passed nearby, yet none of them seemed to notice — as if what was unfolding here were only a hazy dream.
At last Leonard set the shovel aside, bent low, reached out with both hands, and gripped the edge of the coffin lid.
He gave a sudden heave and threw open the heavy wooden cover, only to find that the thick iron nails had fallen out at some unknown moment. The dark interior of the coffin was completely empty.
Nothing was there!
Leonard kept his body half-bent, gazing quietly at the scene, motionless for a long while — as though he had turned into a statue of stone.
…………
In a hazy, dim dream, Klein saw a stone tablet. A stele engraved with an inscription, standing soundlessly among its many fellows, dyed crimson by the moonlight.
The scene shattered in an instant, and Klein abruptly woke, confirming that he was still Dawn Dantès, still in the master bedroom of 160 Birklund Street.
The dream just now seemed to be hinting at something. As a Clown — a 'Seer' of his Pathway — Klein took every dream seriously, and this time was no exception. He gathered his thoughts, cast off the drowsiness, and tried to interpret it:
"That should have been a gravestone…
"It represents a certain dead person, or matters connected to resurrection…
"The crimson moonlight symbolizes the Goddess, corresponding to concepts like the Church of the Evernight Goddess, the Nighthawks, and so on… If the moon itself had been seen directly, it could point to the 'Primordial Moon,' or the vampire progenitor Lilith and the 'Mother Tree of Desire'…
"The gravestone was dyed a color close to fresh blood — this is not a good sign…"
Klein interpreted as he went, threading the pieces together, trying to reach an effective and meaningful conclusion.
After serious thought, he began to believe that the revelation in the dream concerned his old ties to the Church of the Evernight Goddess.
Linking it with what had happened over the past few days, Klein slowly arrived at an answer:
"Because Dawn Dantès has been going to St. Samuel's Cathedral so often, he's certainly been placed on a list of people to investigate. If Leonard hasn't yet left Backlund, this will surely have drawn his attention — he, more than anyone, knows that Dawn Dantès is no simple figure, his origins mysterious…
"As an angel of the Thief pathway, the old gentleman inside Leonard can almost certainly sense that the Grey Fog is closely tied to the Seer pathway, and that the corresponding Sequence 0 is called 'The Fool'…
"From there, they can naturally tie the long-rumored honorific name 'The Fool' to me, and believe I'm a member of that hidden organization that worships 'The Fool.' Extending that line of thought, they can also drag in the Black Emperor — the 'Rogue' who killed Ranlius and likewise used Tarot cards…
"Add to that the Gehrman Sparrow clue I deliberately left behind, and the fact that Leonard was already investigating Sherlock Moriarty… For him to thread all this together, identify a key suspect — that's far from impossible.
"And the early Sherlock Moriarty's disguise wasn't all that good. As long as Leonard digs deep enough, it isn't hard to discover that the great detective looks very much like his former colleague… So — has he gone to Tingen to dig up a grave and confirm it?"
Thinking it through, Klein pulled a cushion over, propped himself up, and felt that he had found the answer to that dream.
He began to carefully analyze what would happen next, considering whether to abandon the Dawn Dantès identity:
"Leonard can't share his guess and the result with the other Nighthawks, because the crucial parts would expose his own secret…
"Based on my experience and what I know of him, he'll guide things through other means — which will be more complicated and troublesome, costing more time. Before that happens, finding him and giving another warning should be enough to make him drop the idea. After all, this time the Church hasn't suffered any real losses, and no one has died.
"Right. For the Dawn Dantès identity, I've been careful with the timeline — I deliberately fabricated activity in the Southern Continent over the past few months, staggered against the dates when Gehrman Sparrow's appearances grew less frequent. And since that involves the Intis colonies, verification is very difficult…
"In other words, at most Leonard can reach the conclusion that Gehrman Sparrow equals Sherlock Moriarty equals Klein Moretti — at most he can think I'm an ally of 'them,' belonging to that hidden organization that worships 'The Fool'…
"Heh. In his eyes, Dawn Dantès should be a mysterious powerhouse capable of directly sensing the old gentleman within him — half-god, half-mortal — and that gives this identity a sharp distinction from the others."
Klein quickly settled on a counter-strategy, then turned his thoughts to what had happened that afternoon at the 'East Balam Veterans' Club':
"How would this kind of arms-smuggling business come straight to me?
"I've only just struck up a friendship with Senator Macht; I haven't yet been through any sort of test. I'm not exactly trustworthy enough yet…
"Perhaps this is itself a test?
"The initial firearms and cannons can't be many in number, and won't involve anything top-tier. Payment must come before the goods, so if I really had a problem, they wouldn't lose anything — they'd only have to deal with the minor aftereffects of a small batch of weapons leaking into territory they control.
"Hmm. For them, a wealthy man with my kind of complex past and deep familiarity with West Balam really is a good candidate. First, I have money. Second, I have nerve. Third, I have resources and connections, and can sell the arms to the right people. Fourth, I have no background among the upper ranks of the kingdom — I can be thrown out as a scapegoat anytime.
"They should have someone watching me from the shadows… As long as this 'deal' goes through smoothly, I'll be a close partner of the military after — useful for investigating the truth behind the Backlund Great Smog Incident…
"The problem now is that I have no real understanding of the West Balam rebels or the various tribes there… And that fellow Anderson — who knows where he's gone, and I don't have a way to reach him…
"Uh, Daniz may have some grasp of the West Balam situation… So might Miss Hermit — and the 'Mysterious Queen' behind her does as well… I'll gather intelligence from those channels first…"
Having reached a decision, Klein felt his thoughts settle and drowsiness welled up again. Bit by bit he slid down, burrowing back under the covers.
…………