In Cherwood Borough, inside a house.
Xio had just opened the door and stepped in when she smelled the aroma of fried food. She couldn't help sniffing, looked toward the kitchen, and said: "Fors?"
"Who else do you think it'd be?" Fors poked her head out of the kitchen and replied with a smile.
Xio put down the newspaper she was holding and responded, half surprised, half grumbling: "Do you remember how long it's been since you last stepped into the kitchen? Eh, making toast in the morning doesn't count."
Fors went back into the kitchen, only her voice drifting out: "I choose to eat out because it's better, and right now there isn't any good fried chicken in the surrounding streets.
"I suddenly got a craving for this; among all the food that came from Intis, this is my favorite!"
Xio walked to the kitchen, leaned against the door frame, watched Fors busy preparing dinner, thought it over, and said: "I took a commission, 100 pounds a day, for 3 to 5 days, but I need one more helper.
"You were short on money before, weren't you? Want to join?"
*My financial situation has actually improved... but a 50-pound-a-day job is still pretty decent, I might as well save up more, there'll be lots of expenses later...* Fors stared at the iron pot filled with oil and asked: "What kind of commission?"
She had already automatically calculated her own cut in her head.
Xio tidied her slightly messy blonde hair and said: "To secretly protect a wealthy man named Dwayne Dantès."
"What happened to him? Is it dangerous?" Fors asked cautiously.
Xio recalled for a moment and said: "Seems like a business dispute, competitors threatened him.
"It's not that dangerous, you know. Powerful Beyonders in
"Maybe it's a madman? Can't rule out that possibility." Fors retorted while naturally thinking of "The World," Gehrman Sparrow—that gentleman was a madman who dared to pull off big things in Backlund!
She paused, scooped up some fried chicken pieces, and said: "Since you've already taken the job and I've got nothing going on recently, I'll join.
"Good thing it's undercover protection; no one will find out I'm working as a bodyguard, otherwise I wouldn't be able to attend those high-society literary salons. Ha, actually, I can tell them I'm experiencing life, gathering material, my next novel will be about a female bodyguard and her male employer!"
Xio had long since gotten used to Fors's tendency to run wild with her imagination. She sniffed again and said: "After dinner, let's head over."
……
160 Birkeland Street. Klein was in the master bedroom's bathroom, setting up a ritual to ascend the
He planned to take care of some miscellaneous matters before the butler
Among these matters, the most important was to check on the situation with "
After sitting in the seat belonging to "The Fool," Klein made that human-skin glove fly over from the pile of odds and ends.
Following a divination check, he discovered that "Creeping Hunger" was quite stubborn this time and its negative effect hadn't changed.
"Has it been infected by
Find another way to intimidate it? No, how could that be called intimidation? Rather, it should be friendly communication while maintaining the initiative... Klein lightly tapped the edge of the mottled long table and muttered to himself: "Anyway, I'll be writing to Mr. Azik later. I can mention in passing that the seal on 'Creeping Hunger' has failed.
"I could also bring some mushrooms. No, that won't work. While it would stop 'Creeping Hunger' from praising the 'True Creator,' it would also make it unusable. Hmm... ask Frank for a few more original mutated mushrooms to see if they have a different effect..."
Having settled on a plan, Klein threw Azik's copper whistle and the adventurer's harmonica into the "Door of Sacrifice and Gifting," then returned to the real world, packed away the items, and erased the traces.
Leaving the bathroom, Klein walked to the desk, took out stationery and a fountain pen, and carefully wrote: "Dear Mr. Azik... It's been too long since I last wrote to you. I don't know how you've been...
"...Due to some circumstances, the seal you placed on 'Creeping Hunger' has become ineffective. Could you give me the corresponding method so I can deal with it again?
"...Have you heard of a creature called the Spirit World Marauder? What level is it? What are its characteristics? In which areas does it frequently appear?
"...I might be going to the Southern Continent soon. If I obtain any new information about Death, I will write to you promptly."
Putting down the fountain pen and reading the letter twice, Klein folded the paper, picked up the copper whistle, brought it to his lips, and blew.
Silently, bones emerged from the floor, gushing up into the air like a fountain, forming a giant skeleton nearly four meters high.
The skeleton looked down at Dwayne Dantès for a second, then actively bent its back, lowered its right arm, and opened its palm.
*This messenger is getting more and more polite...* Klein nodded with satisfaction and handed the just-written letter to it.
The bone messenger did not linger; it instantly disintegrated, cascading down like a waterfall and quickly disappeared.