Lord of Mysteries

Chapter 104 Mr. Z

One pocket, two pockets, three pockets… Klein quickly found a bloodstained wallet, a library card from the Deville Library, two brass keys hanging together, an empty pipe, a sheathed dagger, and several neatly folded pieces of paper.

After placing everything except the letter on the ground, he straightened up and glanced at his wallet, confirming that it contained only a dozen or so sols in banknotes and a small amount of copper pennies.

"This wallet is quite well-made, what a pity..." Klein sighed silently, his thoughts wandering.

If he hadn't spent too much of his savings today, buying a wallet would already be on his agenda.

Shaking his head, Klein unfolded the letter and quickly skimmed through it:

"Dear Mr. Z:"

"Please allow me to defend myself. It was neither foolish nor a betrayal for Hainas and me to sell the Antigonus family's notes. While they were in our hands, they behaved in no special way."

"I suspect it is alive, that it is an evil object possessing a certain life and intelligence, a dangerous thing that must be sealed away."

"The content it presents varies at different stages and to different people!"

"I received confirmation of this from the lambs within the police department."

"Although the contents of that notebook are always authentic and supported by a lot of evidence, I believe that it will only reveal its complete form in the hands of the descendants of the Antigonus family."

"When Hainas and I obtained it, we could only see some trivial matters of the Antigonus family, the general situation of the Night Kingdom on the main peak of Hornachis, and the three sequence potion recipes that we submitted to you last time."

"As you know, the Secret Order possesses the 'Diviner' pathway and has extremely strong tracking capabilities. Therefore, both Hainas and I believed that continuing to keep that notebook was a very risky move, and at the time, its value was not enough for us to take that risk."

"Without waiting for your reply, we discussed it and sold the notes to Welch, who lived in the same neighborhood. He liked collecting artifacts and ancient books and could afford a high price. And then, as you know, that's what happened."

"This is the first thing I want to say, and as I write this line, Hainas died from a sudden heart attack in his sleep. This must be God's blessing that saved him from falling into the hands of pagans."

"I had to move to a safe, secluded place and didn't even dare to go out. Fortunately, that lamb told me that Hainas was targeted by the heretics not because of the Antigonus family notes, nor because he exposed his identity, but because he foolishly took on a female apprentice and wanted to slowly develop her into one of us."

"His female apprentice peeked at his secret incantation and, under the watchful eyes of the night watch cultists, attempted divination using the magic mirror. You can probably guess what happened next; I don't need to describe it further."

"Unfortunately, the lamb's status is not high enough to find out the specific details."

"Judging from the feedback, the heretics did not suspect me, and their investigation was interrupted by Hainas' timely death."

"So I went back to the street, intending to go to the Deville Library to borrow a few more journals and look for more clues."

"As a power that also possessed the 'diviner' pathway, the Antigonus family must have foreseen their own demise; they must have left behind a secret treasure for their resurgence!"

"There's every reason to believe that the treasure lies on the main peak of the Hornakis Mountains, somewhere within the ruins of the Night Kingdom!"

Upon seeing this, Klein's pupils contracted sharply, almost causing the letter to fall from his hand.

"Is the sequence controlled by the Antigonus family the 'Diviner' pathway?"

"What a coincidence!"

……

A series of thunderclaps exploded in Klein's mind, throwing him into disarray and giving him a sense of destiny:

"The notebook that caused the original owner's death and indirectly helped me transmigrate came from the Antigonus family, who possessed the 'Diviner' pathway. What ultimately led me to choose the 'Diviner' potion was Emperor Roselle's diary, and Emperor Roselle's inclination towards the 'Diviner' sequence was due to the mysterious Mr. Zarathustra, the leader of the secret order who also possessed the 'Diviner' pathway!"

"...It's like fate has woven a suffocating net."

"But what's hidden behind all of this?"

Klein paced back and forth a few steps, holding the letter, trying to find corroborating evidence from other sources.

"Hmm, the Zarathustra family's secret society is chasing and searching for the remnants of the Antigonus family... If we consider that both sides belong to the same extraordinary path, the reasons and motives are sufficient: perhaps it's to complete the sequence, perhaps it's to obtain rare materials for high-sequence advancement, perhaps it's to covet the experience the other has accumulated in avoiding loss of control..."

"Thinking about it this way, it's quite reasonable that the Antigonus family at least has a partial sequence of the 'diviner' pathway."

"By the way, when I was divining for clues about the 'Clown' potion, almost all the images that appeared were related to the Antigonus family, with the only exception being the clown in a tuxedo from the Secret Order... So, the true meaning of those symbols is that each image represents a possibility of obtaining the 'Clown' potion, and each contains a clue, but I didn't understand the key and regrettably missed it."

With these two pieces of evidence, Klein almost believed what Sirius had mentioned in the letter, and he also understood why the word "Honakis" always appeared when he heard voices he shouldn't have heard.

"The first time something like this happened was right after I took the 'Seer' potion!" he muttered to himself with a serious expression.

At the same time, he speculated that "having contact with the remnants of the Antigonus family and still being alive" and "becoming an extraordinary one on the path of the diviner" were two necessary conditions for hearing whispers related to "Honakis".

Could the ancient ruins of Mount Hornakis truly hold the secret treasure left by the Antigonus family? No, he couldn't think about it! The notebook alone had killed countless people; the complete treasure would only be far more terrifying! Klein instinctively shook his head, turning his gaze to the end of the third and final sheet of paper:

"Dear Mr. Z, I would like to ask for your help. I think you should also be quite interested in that treasure."

"Before that, I will act like a normal person, a normal history enthusiast."

"Finally, when the day of destruction comes, I will offer the whole lamb of Tingen to the Lord."

"The Lord, the Humble Sirius Arepith."

After reading Sirius's letter, Klein suddenly felt like laughing:

"Hey, why do I feel like I've saved Tingen City? What on earth is this guy trying to do? Cultists are just incomprehensible..."

"...Who is that Mr. Z? He seems to be of a very high rank...at least one of the captains."

"Where should Sirius send this letter? He didn't write an address... It seems this is the caution of cultists; they won't leave an address until the very last moment before sending it..."

"By the way, since the Antigonus family has some access to the 'Diviner' pathway, do the three formulas that Sirius submitted, obtained from the Antigonus family's notes, contain the 'Clown' potion?"

"Very likely!"

In that instant, Klein seemed to have found a clue to the "Clown" potion.

Although Sirius did not carry the formula with him, there might be records of it in his home or where he was hiding, and it certainly existed in his mind and in his memory!

Klein turned his gaze to the corpse in front of him, pondering how to make the dead speak.

Almost without thinking, a solution immediately popped into his mind:

"Spiritual communication!"

"Spiritualists" can communicate directly with spirits that have not yet dissipated, while professions such as "diviners" and "secret seekers" can also do so with the help of ritual magic.

When Klein faced the clown in the tuxedo's corpse last time, he was in a hurry to save people, didn't have the necessary materials, and lacked confidence, so he didn't consider "spirit communication" and missed the best opportunity. By the time he returned to Blackthorn Security Company, the spirit had already dissipated by more than half, and even if a psychic came, they could only obtain some superficial information.

Now, Klein has just gathered all the materials and has experience communicating with lingering resentment through "dream divination" techniques.

"I'm afraid that communicating with the spirits of cultists might lead to seeing terrifying beings, just like the captain's dream in Hainas... However, the captain was only weak for two days, and his injuries weren't too serious. Not too serious, hmm, we can give it a try!" After hesitating for only a dozen seconds, Klein made his decision, not wanting to miss this opportunity.

He raised his head, turned around, and looked at the broken glass and the onlookers who were peering in his direction.

Taking out his identification and badge, Klein went back first and, through the jagged, convex window, addressed the onlookers:

"I am a trainee inspector from the Special Operations Unit of the Ahowa County Police Department. I have killed the criminal. Please have someone take this badge to the nearest police station and ask them to send someone over to handle the follow-up."

"The rest of you, help me seal off this area and prevent anyone from getting close and disturbing the evidence."

"Yes, officer!" The administrator who had tricked Klein immediately accepted the badge.

Once the scene was cordoned off and no one else entered the lawn, Klein returned to the spot near the corner and stood to the side of the body.

While relieved that the innocent crowd couldn't see the corpse that looked more like a monster, he put down his cane and revolver, and reached into the inner pocket of his black trench coat to pull out a small metal vial.

He wants to use "spirit communication" rituals and "dream divination" techniques to make the dead speak!

(End of this chapter)