Bab 402: Chapter 403: Klein's Busy Week
Lynn has been missing for a week.
Klein sighed at the thought. He had just left Quelaag Club and was on his way back to the Sherlock Detective Agency.
He first noticed Lynn's disappearance on the second night after it happened.
Although Klein and Lynn were quite familiar with each other, often visiting each other's homes, they each had their own lives. He usually had various commissions to handle, while Lynn was often out of sight, attending to his own matters. It wasn't unusual for them to go a whole day without seeing each other, which is why he didn't realize his friend was missing right away.
It wasn't until the second night when he planned to visit Mr. Door in a dream for a lesson that he noticed the dream space was not accessible. This naturally made him think of the events that occurred after the Tarot Club meeting. Concerned that the Angel of Secrets might be in trouble, he decided to find Lynn to ask about the situation, only to discover that Lynn was also missing.
But there were no signs of a struggle inside the house at 16 Minsk Street, and he confirmed through Beyonder means that no strangers had entered. This indicated that Lynn hadn't been kidnapped. Considering the last time he saw Lynn and the issues with the Angel of Secrets, he quickly concluded that Lynn's disappearance might be related to the unexpected event above the Sefirah Castle.
Although Lynn had said he was fine at the time, the current situation suggested otherwise.
Naturally, Klein was worried. Unfortunately, neither divination nor other Beyonder means could locate Lynn. He even consulted Mr. Door, who also had no idea where Lynn had gone.
The only certainty was that Lynn was still alive—this was Mr. Door's conclusion. Apparently, he had something left by Lynn, which allowed him to confirm Lynn's safety, but he couldn't pinpoint his location.
With no other choice, he could only suppress his worry, keeping an eye on the situation at 16 Minsk Street while covering up Lynn and the Angel of Secrets' disappearance—like informing Miss Justice that the Pope was temporarily caught up in an unexpected situation, so their previous deal would be delayed, or reassuring the people of Silver City by telling them the Angel of Secrets was just dealing with something important and that they should be patient.
Apart from this, his week was rather eventful—he followed Reporter Mike to the East Borough again and got involved in a case of missing girls. He traced the source and uncovered the culprit behind multiple missing girls in the East Borough: a human trafficker named Capim, who seemed to have connections with the Augustus Royal family and might have been acting under their orders.
Naturally, he couldn't just let this go. Although he couldn't do anything about the Augustus Royal family for now, he used the Card of Blasphemy belonging to the Red Priest and his divine gear to kill Capim and the Beyonders protecting him, rescuing dozens of kidnapped girls. This earned him the nickname "Red Knight."
Thanks to this incident, Klein's progress in digesting the Magician potion advanced significantly, putting him on the verge of complete digestion.
Following the Capim case, he noticed that his friend Dr. Aaron from the Quelaag Club seemed to have unusually bad luck lately, which appeared to be connected to a boy named Will.
Klein: … Will? Which Will? Could it be the Angel of Mercury from "The Fool's bible"?
Unlike in the original story, where he didn't have much information, now that he had been thoroughly briefed by the Angel of Secrets, he knew that he would have an ally named Will, the Angel of Mercury, in the future. Without hesitation, Klein accepted Dr. Aaron's commission and followed him to investigate Will, discovering that the boy, who was theoretically alive just a month or two ago, was now just a skeleton.
The trail seemed to end there, but the next day, Dr. Aaron came to him again, telling him about a nightmare he had involving Will and the Snake of Mercury.
Klein took this seriously, but instead of acting recklessly, he first contacted Mr. Door from the Sefirah Castle, asking him about Will. After confirming that Will likely bore him no ill will, he explored Dr. Aaron's dream and successfully met the future Angel of Mercury.
Unlike in the original story, where Will only hinted at him and then left, this time, perhaps because of some clues he had received from Lynn, Will chose to meet and converse with Klein directly in the dream.
With both sides holding goodwill towards each other, the conversation was naturally pleasant. Although they didn't delve into deep topics, Klein and the Angel of Mercury established a preliminary friendship—by the way, a large part of their bonding came from complaining about the Angel of Secrets.
It wasn't about badmouthing someone behind their back, but both were victims of the Angel of Secrets, giving them a lot of common ground.
However, Klein kept his guard up and didn't mention Lynn's disappearance, only saying that Lynn had left Backlund temporarily.
After all, both from Lynn's diary and what he learned from Mr. Door, Will, the Snake of Mercury, didn't seem particularly friendly with Lynn.
Will was slightly disappointed that he didn't get to meet Lynn's human side, as he had apparently been observing for some time and noticed that Lynn seemed to have split into two entities, though he didn't fully understand the details.
Will also openly expressed his desire to invest in Klein, saying that Klein's fate was extraordinary, clearly someone with great fortune. Since the Angel of Secrets was investing in him, Will felt he needed to get in on the action quickly before Lynn's companion, that dumb snake, took the opportunity.
Klein didn't agree right away, as he wasn't lacking in high-sequence investors at the moment. Although the Angel of Secrets' prophecy indicated that Will was his destined ally, Klein felt it was necessary to observe him further, at least to confirm what kind of person Will truly was.
Will wasn't offended by this; in fact, he was very understanding, suggesting that they could collaborate on a small scale first before discussing a deeper partnership.
Klein agreed to this.
Aside from these two major events, the Tarot Club also held a regular meeting during the week of Lynn's disappearance. But with Mr. Fool covering for him, the other members simply thought that the Pope was busy with something and had taken a leave of absence.
(End of Chapter)
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Power 
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