Bab 23: 22. Old Neil
When Angel walked out of the room with the contract and approval slip in hand, Klein Moretti was chatting with Miss Rozanne outside. The girl, amused by their conversation, covered her mouth to stifle her laughter. However, upon seeing the door open, she awkwardly coughed twice, quickly regaining a pretense of seriousness.
Klein noticed that Angel had finished her talk with Captain Dunn, and with a smile, he asked, "All settled?"
Angel smiled and nodded: "Yes, the captain says you can go in now."
"Captain..." Klein paused for a moment, then glanced at the contract under Angel's arm, instantly understanding the implication of the title. He extended his right hand to Angel, "Congratulations, are we colleagues now?"
"Thank you!" Angel graciously shook Klein's hand.
Without further small talk, Klein quickly adjusted his attire and hat, knocked on the door twice, and only after Dunn permitted, did he open the door and enter.
He's quite polite...
Angel's gaze followed Klein until the closed door blocked her view, then turned back to hand the approval slip to Rozanne.
"Miss Rozanne, the captain asked me to collect some materials."
The girl in the light green dress, with her brown hair as if awakening from a dream, responded with several "ohs" and took the slip.
"You... really joined us? I didn't expect that. I thought you were here for some private matter with the captain," she said, eyeing the contents of the slip while slightly nodding.
"Yes, the contract is all signed," Angel lifted the somewhat thin contract.
The girl looked up eagerly again, asking, "Is it a clerical position?"
Realizing her question might seem inappropriate, she quickly added, "I was just thinking, with more people, we could have a lighter schedule." She waved the slip, emphasizing her point.
Seeing Rozanne somewhat excited, Angel couldn't help but laugh. Although Captain Dunn seemed to have assigned her to make some special bullets for now, it's unlikely for such an already Beyonder team member to be relegated to inventory management.
Probably, after Captain Dunn submits the report of this battle next week and my identity is clarified, there will be further arrangements.
Or will my forged identity be discovered, leading to the Church's involvement?
At this thought, Angel's mood dipped, and she forced a smile, "Sorry, I don't think the captain will assign me to clerical work."
"Eh..." The hope on Rozanne's face instantly turned to disappointment, "I didn't expect Mr. Moretti to be clerical, and you are..." She stopped midway, her eyes widening in surprise as she looked at Angel, "Could it be you're already a Beyonder person?"
Angel didn't hide the truth, as they were likely to be colleagues, and it was something that would eventually come to light: "Yes, I've been, well, an unofficial Beyonder person before this."
"Wow, that's amazing, are you a Sleepless or a Corpse Collector?"
The girl's hazel eyes shone with the excitement of a fan meeting their idol, filled with curiosity as she looked at Angel.
"...An assassin."
...
An awkward silence fell between them.
"It's... it's impressive too, ah, right, I need to take you to collect the materials. Come on, the storage is in the basement."
Miss Rozanne awkwardly changed the subject, holding up the slip.
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Angel originally thought the basement was to be entered from the first floor, but to her surprise, Miss Rozanne led her directly to the end of the corridor, entering an office against the wall.
Inside the room, apart from a downward stone staircase, no furniture was placed. The two followed the spiraling staircase down, rounding two corners, after which the sunlight from above completely disappeared, replaced by the glow of exquisite gas lamps on both sides of the walls, casting a circle of shadows at their feet.
After seemingly countless circles and leaving the staircase for a long corridor, Angel estimated that she had come at least ten meters underground.
The corridor was paved with smooth stone slabs, and both sides were also luxuriously equipped with a large number of gas lamps. Angel also noticed the holy emblem of the Church of the Evernight Goddess embedded in the wall, and the Crimson Moon, though only known for a few days, already gave her a tranquility that reached deep into her heart.
Passing through this corridor, they arrived at a crossroads. Rozanne, leading the way, introduced: "Ahead is the 'Charnis Gate,' guarded today by Mr. Frye; to the left leads to the 'Church of Saint Selena,' and to the right is the material warehouse we are heading to, where Mr. Neil is."
"The Charnis Gate," was it the place Mr. Leonard prepared to take refuge during Mrs. Sheron's attack? It seems to store some important Beyonder items, requiring constant guard by Beyonder individuals. And surprisingly, the Church of Saint Selena directly connects to the residence of those who guard the night, truly befitting the armed force directly under the church.
As Angel recalled the church's location, she followed Rozanne to the right past the crossroads.
"By the way, you haven't met Mr. Neil yet, have you?"
Angel recalled the members of the night watchers introduced by Leonard Mitchell like spilling beans yesterday, shaking her head: "Mr. Mitchell mentioned him, but I haven't met him. Was he also a combat member of the team?"
"Yes, he is also a Beyonder, a 'Peeker' of sequence 9, but now he's old and in poor health, no longer suitable for fieldwork, so he has turned to clerical work." Rozanne nodded as she walked and explained.
Angel secretly noted the name "Mystery Pryer," a potion name that should be distinct from the "Sleepless" of the others, belonging to a completely new path.
The two arrived in front of a half-open iron door and knocked.
An elderly voice came from behind the door: "Please come in."
Rozanne pushed the door open and entered first, with Angel following.
In the narrow room, there was a set of tables and chairs, where an old man in a black robe was sitting at the table, carefully studying several yellowed pages in his hands, occasionally jotting something down on a notebook beside him, with another tightly closed iron door behind him.
"Mr. Neil, hello, this is the new hire... um..." Rozanne politely greeted the old man but stumbled when introducing Angel—she had forgotten the new colleague's name.
Angel stepped forward and briefly introduced herself, rescuing the embarrassed girl, who, however, still blushed and hastily handed the note to the old man before leaving.
Holding the note signed and stamped by the captain, Old Neil shifted his gaze from the pages on the table, squinted at Angel for a while, grinned, and said, "So you're the newcomer who caused a stir upstairs last night, even taking down a Sequence 7?"
Uncertain of the rumors he had heard, Angel could only explain: "I merely assisted from the sidelines, the main credit goes to Miss Daly and..."
"I know, and that kid Leonard, he told me all about it this morning, even mentioned you used a special type of ammunition different from 'Demon Hunter Bullets,'" Old Neil said, pulling a brass cartridge case from his robe pocket. Angel saw, by the flickering gaslight, that it was the "Storm Convergence" she had used yesterday.
"Quite a unique pattern, similar to the Demon Hunter Bullets, but different in detail."
He stood the cartridge case up on the table, stuffed a piece of paper into his pocket, and took paper and pencil from the side: "So, the captain sent you to collect materials to continue making this ammunition?"
Angel nodded: "Yes, I need to deliver 80 such bullets to him next week, so I need quite a lot of materials. Considering the failure rate, at least 120 pistol bullets, .45 caliber would be best, along with 300 grams of Screaming Grass, 100 grams of glowing lizard scales, 250 milliliters of alcohol, at least 500 milliliters of etching solution—well, I can mix that myself—and finally, 50 grams of star crystal."
She had already calculated the necessary items on her way there, factoring in the success rate and material loss, she inflated her needs slightly. Auxiliary materials were still in stock in her home's basement, but she planned to directly receive the expensive main materials, after all, she was working for the public good and couldn't spend too much of her own money.
Old Neil dipped his pen in ink, Angel named an item, and he wrote it down, but he stopped when he heard "star crystal."
"There are as many bullets as you need, and the alchemy room has the other items, but star crystal... It's a main ingredient in some potions, I'll have to make a trip to 'Chanis Gate,' hoping there's still some left."
With that, Old Neil stood up, took the keys from a drawer, opened the iron door behind him and walked in, followed by the sound of rusting hinges creaking and drawer friction.
When the door closed behind him, Old Neil came back holding several boxes of ammunition, using his foot to close the iron door. Angel stepped forward to help, taking the boxes one by one and placing them on the table. Four of them were cardboard boxes, and two were smaller tin boxes.
"Here are 120 pistol bullets," Old Neil pointed to the cardboard boxes, "20 Demon Hunter Bullets," he gestured towards the tin boxes, "all .45 inches. I'll go get the rest from the alchemy room, just wait here for a bit."
Angel nodded, opened the boxes to check. The cardboard ones contained yellowish brass bullets, identical to the ones she had used before, but clearly more finely crafted and well-maintained, even smelling faintly of grease. The two tin boxes each held 10 silver-white bullets with intricate patterns, looking like silver ammunition, or possibly some kind of alloy.
After inspecting the ammunition, her gaze drifted to some yellowed papers to the side, which Old Neil had been reading when she arrived.
Thinking they were personal letters, she didn't intend to look closely, but a glance made her freeze.
Although the characters were separated and resembled a child's clumsy copying, she recognized these square symbols as the writing from an Asian country, perhaps Chinese or Japanese. But at least, she was sure, these were not the symbols commonly used in the current world!
~~~
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Status Power Mingguan
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Power 
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