Lord of Mysteries

Chapter 44 Destiny

Leonard's chanting was like a lullaby, ethereal and echoing between the left and right doors, and within the winding wooden staircase.

Klein's mind went blank for a moment, as if he saw the quiet moonlight and the peaceful, gently rippling lake.

His eyelids grew heavy quickly, as if he could fall asleep standing up.

In this state of blurred perception, he felt an invisible, eerie, and indifferent gaze from behind, as if he were wandering in the spirit world.

A strange sense of déjà vu arose, and Klein suddenly regained his senses. Relying on his powerful inspiration and extremely familiar meditation, he barely managed to shake off the influence of the "Midnight Poems".

But he remained calm and composed, finding it difficult to experience any other emotions.

Leonard quickly stopped chanting, turned his head and smiled:

"I'm considering requesting a Fennebot violin; how can singing be without accompaniment?"

"Haha, just kidding, I heard them all asleep."

This black-haired, green-eyed member of the Night Watch team, with a poet's air about him, strode to the door where the kidnappers and hostages were located.

He suddenly swung his shoulder, threw a punch, and slammed it into the door lock.

Click!

The wooden planks around the door lock cracked, making a very faint sound.

"This requires precise control," Leonard said with a laugh as he turned around and reached into the hole to open the door.

Having regained his senses, Klein wasn't as confident as he thought. He reached under his arm, pulled out his pistol, and adjusted the cylinder to ensure it could fire immediately.

As the door receded, he saw a man sleeping on the table with a pistol at his feet, and a man rubbing his eyes, trying to stand up.

pedal!

Leonard slid in and knocked out the robber who was about to wake up.

Klein was about to follow them in when he suddenly seemed to sense something and abruptly turned around to face the stairs.

Tap, tap, tap—the footsteps grew clearer as they went up the stairs. A man in a brown coat, without a hat, carrying a paper bag of bread, rounded the corner of the stairs and headed up to the third floor.

Suddenly, he stopped and saw the metallic muzzle of the gun looking down at him.

His pupils reflected a young man wearing a top silk hat, a black suit, and a matching bow tie; they reflected the man's cane leaning against the railing; and they reflected the dangerous revolver.

"Stop all your movements, raise your hands, three, two..." Klein's tone was low and soothing.

He held the revolver in both hands, trying to use his opponent as a practice target.

In the tense atmosphere, the man in the brown coat dropped the bag of bread and slowly raised his hands.

"Sir, have you misunderstood something?" He stared intently at Klein's finger on the trigger, forcing a slight smile.

Klein couldn't immediately tell if he was an accomplice of the kidnappers or a neighbor, but he showed no sign of anything amiss and said in a deep voice:

"Don't try to struggle; someone will come to determine if it's a misunderstanding."

At this moment, Leonard, having dealt with the kidnappers inside, came out, glanced at the man at the corner of the stairs, and said leisurely:

"So the kidnapper had an accomplice who was responsible for making contact and buying food?"

Upon hearing this, the man in the brown coat narrowed his eyes and suddenly kicked the bag of bread that had fallen in front of him, trying to block Klein's view.

Klein seemed unaffected, calmly pulling the trigger as if it were a practice session.

boom!

A spurt of blood appeared on the man's left shoulder.

He rolled over, trying to escape to the second floor, but Leonard had already grabbed the railing and jumped down.

With a muffled thud, Leonard fell from the sky and landed on the man.

The man had lost consciousness. Leonard brushed off the few drops of blood on his face, looked up at Klein, and chuckled:

"Your marksmanship is pretty good."

I was thinking of hitting his leg... Klein's lips twitched almost imperceptibly, and he smelled a faint scent of blood.

He discovered that after taking the "Diviner's" potion, although his eyesight, hearing, and sense of touch were not improved, he could still "see" things that were blocked and "hear" faint footsteps, thus making judgments in advance.

Is this considered "inspiration"? Klein nodded thoughtfully, watching Leonard pull a sharp dagger from his kidnapper's companion and "drag" him into the room.

Holding a gun in one hand and a cane in the other, Klein entered the house where the kidnappers were. He saw Elliott Vickroll awakened by the gunshot, his body straightening from a curled-up position, and slowly sitting up.

The original three kidnappers were tied up tightly with the same ropes Leonard used to deal with Elliott, strung together, and thrown into a corner—if there wasn't enough, their clothes were torn off to make up the difference.

The man who had been shot in the shoulder was unconscious and receiving bandages, but Leonard, disgusted by the dirt, did not remove the bullet.

"You, who are you?" Elliott stammered, his voice tinged with surprise at the sight before him.

"Yes, you guessed right, very accurately," Leonard replied casually, half-squatting down.

Unexpectedly, this guy actually has a sense of humor… Klein lowered his revolver and looked at Elliott, saying:

"We are mercenaries hired by your father; you can also call us security personnel."

"Phew, really? Am I saved?" Elliott asked, his voice filled with joy yet too afraid to move.

It's clear that in the short few hours since he was kidnapped, he has suffered a lot and has lost the impulsiveness that one would expect at his age.

Leonard stood up and said to Klein:

"Go downstairs and find the patrolling police. Tell them to notify that tobacco merchant. I don't want to go out like a kidnapper with a child and these four guys."

As he pondered how to handle the aftermath, Klein nodded, put away his revolver, picked up his cane, and headed for the stairs.

As he descended the steps, he vaguely felt he had forgotten something, and heard Leonard say to Elliott:

"Don't be nervous, you'll see your father, mother, and old butler Carrie soon. How about we play a game of Gwent?"

……

Klein suppressed a laugh and walked into the street. Following directions from passersby, he found two patrolling policemen.

He did not use the "Special Operations Department" badge and identification, but instead recounted the events as a professional security officer.

As for the issue of possessing weapons, he is not worried at all, because he just received a "full range of weapons use permit" the day before yesterday - applied through internal channels, the approval process will be very fast.

The two policemen exchanged a glance, one of them went to notify the helper and the Vikroll family, while the other followed Klein back to the room where the kidnappers were.

After waiting for more than forty minutes, taking advantage of the police's inattention, Leonard gave Klein a signal, and he followed him out of the room.

"Believe me, going to the police station is a huge waste of time. Let's leave first," the night watchman with the air of a poet explained casually.

Klein, with the mindset that if the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up, didn't argue and followed behind.

Nearly five minutes later, several speeding carriages arrived at the building where the kidnappers were located, and the old butler, Kerry, accompanied his obese master, Vickrol, as they got out.

Even at this point, he was still in a daze, unable to believe that the good news had come so quickly, as quickly as a dream.

Suddenly, he heard a sharp cracking sound and instinctively turned his head to look:

A two-wheeled carriage drove by, its window open, and Leonard, with his black hair and green eyes, snapped his fingers again.

After passing the Vickroll family's carriage, Leonard closed the window, turned around, and looked at Klein.

He smiled and raised his right hand, saying:

"It's a pleasure working with you!"

We don't seem to know each other very well... Klein politely gave the other person a high five.

He hadn't expected the kidnapping case to be resolved so quickly, and could only sigh inwardly that extraordinary beings were indeed extraordinary beings, even he, a half-baked Sequence 9, could do many incredible things.

"This is a gesture nobles use to celebrate after fencing," Leonard explained with a smile.

"I know." Klein had many aristocratic classmates.

He glanced out the window, frowned slightly, and said:

"Shouldn't we check with Mr. Cerry? If he thinks Elliot was rescued by the police, our reward will be halved."

A full 100 pounds!

As for providing information about the kidnappers' whereabouts, there shouldn't be any doubts given the "meeting" just now.

"Don't worry about it. Money isn't that important to our lives," Leonard said with a shrug and a smile.

"...It's very important to me!" Klein forced a polite smile.

"Many poets died young because of poverty."

Leonard chuckled:

"I believe Elliott wouldn't lie about this. I can see he still has some naiveté left. But even if you get the £200 reward, you won't get much of it."

"How much can I get?" Klein asked immediately.

"According to the long-standing, unwritten rule, half of the reward is to be given to Mrs. Orianna as extra funds for the team, and the remainder is to be split equally among the participating members. Unfortunately, since you are not a formal member, you will probably only receive ten percent."

10 pounds? Not bad... Klein pretended not to be bothered and asked instead:

"Aren't you worried that the kidnappers, once they wake up, will realize they've been affected by extraordinary forces?"

"They won't doubt it. They'll just think the weather was too nice, too perfect for sleeping, and that's why they couldn't help but fall asleep. They might even believe that chanting only exists in dreams, something we've verified," Leonard answered confidently. "But your demon-hunting bullet will seem strange. Of course, it's a perfectly reasonable explanation for a weirdo who likes the occult."

"Hmm." Klein put his worries aside, only feeling that he had forgotten, or rather, overlooked something.

…………

Back on Zotland Street, Klein didn't wait for Carrie to arrive. Instead, he took a walk to Welch's residence, changed his route home, and bought beef, cabbage, and other ingredients for dinner.

It was a pleasant dinner as usual, and the three siblings chatted leisurely while studying, except for one visitor knocking on the door.

He was the worker who came to collect all the penny coins from the gas meter.

As night deepened, the three siblings said goodnight to each other and went back to their rooms.

Klein was fast asleep when he was suddenly awakened by a rustling sound outside. He opened the door in confusion and went to the unoccupied bedroom.

Pushing open the worn door, Klein saw a gray table.

On the table sat a notebook with a cover made of cardboard, completely stained black.

A strange sense of déjà vu washed over him, and Klein walked over and opened the notebook.

The open page had a picture of a "fool" dressed in gorgeous clothes and wearing a dazzling headdress!

Below "The Fool" is a line of Hermesian text:

"Everyone will die, including me."

Klein was startled, and suddenly noticed that the corners of "The Fool's" mouth were curled up!

call!

He sat up abruptly and saw the crimson moonlight filtering through the curtains, the bookshelves and desk, and the outline of his own bedroom. He realized he had been having a nightmare.

As a "diviner", he understood that dreams always reveal something, so he carefully reviewed them.

As he recalled the events, Klein froze, realizing what he had overlooked today!

While immersed in Leonard's chanting, I felt an invisible, indifferent gaze from behind.

This kind of gaze is different from the experience of normal meditation and using clairvoyance, giving you a sense of déjà vu!

According to team captain Dunn, once a similar feeling occurs, it often means...

Klein sat bolt upright, confirming his sensations:

Yes, that's it, that notebook! The Antigonus family notebook!

(End of this chapter)