On a moonlit night, in the garden of 160 Backlund Street.
A gray mouse scurried out of its hole and ran to the base of the master bedroom balcony.
A small, paste-like black blob fell along with it, which the mouse balanced on its head like a circus act.
It quickly turned and ran out of 160 Backlund Street, heading for the entrance to a nearby sewer.
There, the gray mouse raised its front half and extended its claws.
Its claws suddenly elongated strangely, and visibly distinct muscles appeared on its forelegs!
Then, using its mutated forepaws, it forcefully pried open the manhole cover, making almost no sound!
Without pausing, the gray mouse slipped into the sewer and made its way to where the Witch Triss had once hidden.
It dug and dug in a corner, unearthening a piece of mirror shard from the dirt.
After doing all this, the gray mouse flicked the paste-like black thing from its head to a cleaner spot nearby, then retreated to the wall, letting its body, as if pulled by an invisible person, slowly stretch and widen, transforming into a middle-aged man in a dark red coat and an old tricorn hat—the very "Blood Admiral" who had once sailed the seas.
However, this Seniel, clothes and all, was only a thin layer, like a paper cutout.
"This mouse is pretty fat..." The paper-like "Blood Admiral" raised a hand to stroke his chin, nearly blown away by the chilly sewer breeze.
The speaker was, of course, Klein. In the master bedroom, he manipulated the "Spirit Body Threads," turning a mouse into a puppet, and sent it with "ritual materials" into the sewer to try to contact the Witch Triss.
Seniel, whose arms kept twisting with the wind and movement, bent over and picked up the paste-like black thing—what remained after Triss had burned a strand of hair with black flames; it could be used for a contact ritual.
Next, he wiped the mirror shard clean and smeared the material onto it.
After completing this step, Klein had the puppet take the "mirror" and step back two paces, then slap it onto the moss-covered wall like a realistic oil painting.
… …
The East Borough, a room with heavy curtains and almost no light.
Dark, slick "tentacles" coiled around each other in layers, forming a huge ball.
At the tips of these "tentacles," some were studded with black-and-white eyes, others shaped like snake heads with mouths slightly open and tongues flicking—all grotesque and horrifying.
Suddenly, they either raised or retracted, and the ball disintegrated layer by layer.
At the center of the ball was a curled-up girl with an exceptionally sweet face, her brows tightly knitted and expression slightly twisted from pain, eliciting pity.
The slick, disgusting "tentacles" all retracted, rapidly shrinking, and finally reverted to their original form:
Gleaming black hair!
The girl, covered in smooth, long hair, relaxed, rose slowly, walked over to her bed—which had been broken into small pieces—picked up the nightgown that had fallen to the floor, and put it on.
Then she gathered her black hair, went to a full-length mirror, extended her right palm, and wiped the glass surface.
A layer of black flames rose, silently burning the air, then quickly extinguished without a trace, leaving the mirror dark and deep.
Inside the mirror, light and shadows flickered, rapidly revealing the dirty, muddy sewer environment, and a middle-aged man in an old tricorn hat and dark red coat, thinly plastered against the wall, looking down at the girl from an unknown distance, like a living painting.
The girl with a round face and narrow eyes watched quietly for two seconds, then suddenly laughed.
With her smile, the almost lightless room seemed to brighten considerably.
She parted her lips and said in a teasing tone:
"Mr. Gehrman Sparrow, is this the madness and cruelty of the greatest adventurer?
"Or am I actually acquainted with a clown?"
That the Witch Triss had recognized him as Gehrman Sparrow didn't surprise Klein at all, since when they had met, he had used the appearance of the "Blood Admiral" Seniel, and that pirate general had long been Gehrman Sparrow's prey.
At the time, Triss, injured and hiding in the sewer, had been focused on her revenge investigation, unaware of the sea's news, so it was perfectly normal for her not to know the "Blood Admiral's" fate. But after recovering and leaving that place, if she hadn't bothered to find out the latest news about her partner, then she would have completely failed at both the "Assassin" and "Instigator" stages.
Clearly, Triss's past performance proved that, evil as she was, she hadn't lost her wits.
Klein didn't argue; manipulating the paper-like Seniel, he chuckled and simply replied:
"Why can't a clown be mad and cruel?"
Without waiting for Triss to answer, he asked instead:
"How far have you gotten in your investigation of that palace guard captain?"
Triss's expression darkened as she said:
"It'll take at least another month to get results, maybe even two."
"If you need any help, you can ask me," Klein emphasized again.
Triss snorted.
"In Backlund, in this game, strength can't solve everything."