Bekeland, Queens.
Audrey Hall sat in a hanging chair in the shady corner, gazing at the blooming flowers in the sunlight and thinking about the matter that Fors Walrath had asked for help with.
According to the verification of Viscount Glaringt, there was indeed a girl named Hugh Dealcha imprisoned in the temporary prison in the northern district of Bekeland.
Her crime was seriously injuring a respectable gentleman due to a property dispute, leaving him in the hospital bed and perhaps unable to walk again.
Fors' explanation was that the gentleman was not a good person. He was the head of a gang in the eastern district of Bekeland and made a living by lending money at high interest rates.
The incident began when a borrower found that the interest was several times higher than expected and could not be repaid even if they went bankrupt. After failing to reach an agreement with the gentleman, they sought out the well-known "arbitrator" Hugh Dealcha nearby, hoping she could persuade him to waive the unreasonable part.
The gentleman did not follow Hugh Dealcha's "verdict" and even threatened to take the borrower's wife and children that night. So Hugh Dealcha changed her persuasion method and used physical force, accidentally causing serious injury.
Viscount Glaringt investigated the incident and confirmed that Fors Walrath's description was true. He also confirmed that the gang leader had lost control of his subordinates and, after a "visit" in the middle of the night, waived the borrower's debt and issued a statement of forgiveness to the prosecutor. However, a case of serious injury would not be dropped just because the victim did not want to pursue it.
"Glaringt wants to solve it through normal means and sent someone to consult a familiar senior lawyer. The lawyer said he was confident of a lenient sentence, but a defense of innocence was very difficult, unless the party could obtain a medical certificate of mental problems or mental retardation..." Audrey muttered to herself, tending to agree with her friend's opinion.
For her, the most important thing was not to have an obvious connection with Fors Walrath and Hugh Dealcha - after the "Tarot Club" incident, Audrey felt she was no longer an innocent and naive girl.
"There will be a ball at Earl Wolf's house tomorrow night. I'll tell Glaringt then to follow the senior lawyer's advice," Audrey nodded slightly and made a decision.
In the Kingdom of Roen, lawyers were divided into senior lawyers and solicitors. The latter handled matters that did not require court appearances, such as collecting evidence, talking to clients, helping people draft wills, supervising property distribution, and providing legal consultation services, etc. Of course, they could also represent clients in the lowest-level magistrates' courts and defend simple cases.
Senior lawyers, on the other hand, were those who studied evidence and defended clients in court. According to the laws of the Kingdom of Roen, they had to maintain an objective attitude and could not directly contact the clients. They could only gather information through assistants, that is, solicitors. Each of them was a true legal expert with outstanding eloquence and extremely high debating skills.
Audrey, who had regained her ease, watched the colorful flowers outside with a hidden-in-the-dark, peeping-at-the-light attitude and suddenly thought of something:
"A medical certificate of mental problems or mental retardation... a psychologist..."
"If the Psychological Alchemy Society has mastered the 'Acting Method', does that mean we can look for them among the group of psychologists?"
Thinking of this, Audrey felt that her idea was exactly right, and her eyes shone like brilliant gems.
Just then, she saw the golden retriever, Suzy, sneak behind the clusters of flowers in a furtive manner, reaching a place only gardeners would go.
"Suzy... What is it going to do?" Audrey, hidden in the shade, watched in astonishment. The golden retriever seemed to be disoriented by the fragrance of the flowers and didn't notice its owner behind it. It opened its mouth and made a hoarse sound like "ah ah ah" and "ya ya ya".
Then, it made the surrounding air vibrate and uttered some awkward and not very smooth words:
"Hello."
"How are you?" ...
Audrey's mouth opened little by little, completely forgetting the etiquette a lady should have. She couldn't believe what she saw and heard at all.
She jumped up abruptly and blurted out, "Susie, you can talk? When did you learn to talk?"
The golden retriever was so scared that it jumped up and turned to face its owner.
It wagged its tail frantically and quickly. After opening and closing its mouth several times, it finally shook the air around it and said, "I... I don't know how to explain. After all, I'm just a dog."
Hearing this, Audrey was speechless for a moment. ......
On Monday morning, Klein, who was on leave, reviewed and consolidated his knowledge of the occult as planned, and then took a public carriage to Hoy University.
He wanted to get to know Mr. Azik better and see what the man knew.
In the three-story gray stone building belonging to the history department, Klein chatted with his mentor, Cohen Quentin, for a while, exchanging information about the ancient ruins on the main peak of Horachis.
With no additional gains, he took advantage of his mentor's absence to enter the office diagonally opposite and approach the desk of the remaining teacher, Mr. Azik.
"Mr. Azik, can I have a chat with you?" he asked, looking at the teacher with a bronze complexion, soft features, and a small mole below his right ear, and removed his hat to bow.
Mr. Azik, whose brown eyes held an indescribable sense of weariness, tidied up his books and said, "Sure, let's take a walk by the Hoy River."
"Alright." Klein held his cane and followed the teacher out of the three-story gray stone building.
Along the way, both of them remained silent, neither speaking a word.
When the flowing river came into view and there were no more teachers or students around, Mr. Azik stopped and turned half his body towards Klein, asking, "What do you want to talk to me about?"
Klein thought for a long time, considering many tactful ways to ask, but gave them all up.
So, he asked directly and frankly, "Mr. Azik, you are a trustworthy and respected gentleman. I want to know what you saw in me, or what you know? I mean the last time, when you said there was something inconsistent about my fate."
Mr. Azik tapped his cane and sighed with a smile, "I didn't expect you to be so direct. It leaves me not knowing how to answer."
"To be honest, the only thing I could see was that there was something inconsistent about your fate. Other than that, I don't know more than you do."
Klein hesitated for a moment and asked, "But why could you see it? I don't believe it's because of divination."
Mr. Azik turned his head to look at the Hoy River, his tone tinged with a touch of desolation, "No, Klein, you don't understand. Divination can reach this level, but it depends on who is doing the divination. Of course, my divination was just a cover-up excuse." "... Some people are always special, born with some strange abilities, and I should be one of them.
"Should?" Klein keenly picked up on the word choice of the other person.
"Yes, I don't know if I was born with it. Maybe the price of such abilities is to forget oneself, to forget the past, to forget one's parents." Azik's gaze was slightly sad as he looked at the river surface.
Klein became more and more confused as he listened:
"Forget the past?"
Azik smiled without any joy and said:
"Before entering the History Department of the University of Backlund, I lost most of my memories, only remembering my name and basic knowledge. Fortunately, fortunately, I had identification, otherwise I would have become a homeless person. Over the years, I have tried to find my parents based on my identification, but to no avail, even though I can see a corner of fate."
"And during my years at the university, I gradually discovered that I had some peculiar abilities, abilities beyond the realm of common sense."
Klein listened very attentively and blurted out:
"Mr. Azik, why did you lose your memory? No, I mean, did you find the cause of your amnesia at the scene?"
He suspected that Mr. Azik was a member of the Life School, or even a mid-ranking member of the Life School - this was the "monster" corresponding to the "prophet", a secretive organization that mainly passed down knowledge through apprenticeship.
Azik shook his head heavily:
"No, it was as if I had a good sleep and then forgot the past."
He held his cane and walked a few more steps, saying as he walked:
"After leaving Backlund, I began to have dreams, dreaming of many strange things..."
Dreams? I'm good at interpreting dreams! Klein, who had entered his professional field, immediately asked:
"What kind of dreams?"
Azik chuckled vaguely:
"Many, many different dreams. Sometimes, I dream of the interior of a dark mausoleum, dreaming of ancient coffins, with the corpses inside lying down, and white feathers growing out of their backs. Sometimes, I dream that I am a knight in full armor, holding a three-meter-long spear and charging towards the enemy."
"Sometimes, I dream that I am a lord, with a fertile estate, a beautiful wife and three children. Sometimes, I dream that I am a homeless person, walking on a muddy road in the rain, cold and hungry."
"Sometimes, I dream that I have a daughter, a daughter different from the previous children. She has smooth black hair and likes to sit on the swing I made by hand, always asking me for candy. Sometimes, I dream that I am standing beside a gallows, coldly looking up at the swinging corpse..."
Listening to Azik's rambling, Klein found that he couldn't interpret the other person's dreams because the symbols in different dreams were opposite and contradictory!
Azik withdrew his gaze and his voice was no longer drifting as he said:
"The Kingdom of Feneport in the south worships the Earth Mother Goddess, and the church of the Earth Mother Goddess preaches an idea. They believe that every life is a 'plant', absorbing the nutrients of the earth, slowly growing, flourishing and withering."
"When it withers, these lives will fall into the earth and return to the embrace of their mother. And the following year, they will grow again, flowers blooming and falling, year after year. Life is the same, generation after generation."
"Sometimes, I am willing to believe this statement, believing that because of my own uniqueness, I can dream of the previous life, the life before that."
At this point, he looked at Klein and sighed:
"I haven't even told this to Cohen. The reason I'm telling you is because I..."
Azik paused and smiled:
"I'm sorry, my description just now wasn't accurate enough. The fact that your fate has inconsistencies is not the only thing I can see. I also saw another thing."
"Klein, you are no longer a normal person. You have extraordinary, strange abilities, just like me."