Klein rolled around in his bed like a teenage girl with a crush as he kept squealing into his pillow like a creep. He was, once again, glad that neither Benson nor Melissa were at home.
Okay calm down Klein, he told himself as he finally broke out of his swooning and sat back on his bed. Yes, he was glad that Amon was now his tarot club member, Mr. Lovers, but there were more important things at hand right now- including the person behind these coincidences. This also related to Amon's safety as Amon was someone directly related to him and the perpetrator could target Amon to target Klein so he had to be extra careful with this.
Klein sighed as he flipped through the report he had gotten from detective henry about the houses with the red chimney he had asked for a while back.
"In Tingen City's North Borough, South Borough, East Borough, West Borough, Golden Indus, Harbor Borough, and University Borough, there are a total of 1179 buildings that have a dark red chimney… Along the outskirts of Tingen City, there are a total of 546 buildings with the red chimney the requester described. This doesn't include buildings in towns or villages that are relatively further away despite them falling under the jurisdiction of Tingen."
"Below are the addresses and tenant records of each of those buildings. As per the request, the activities within the last three months are recorded in more detail."
…
More than a thousand houses and more than 500 that met Klein's criteria...
Klein suddenly felt very bad for the poor detective he had handed this job to...
After going through the reports and finding the 25 houses that had recently changed their tenants, Klein went off to investigate the houses on his own rather than visit Amon no matter how much he wanted to.
This was for Amon's protection he told himself with a reluctant sigh.
The next day Klein arrived at the Blackthorn Security Company and greeted Rozanne like usual who informed Klein that the new clerk had arrived. After that, he was immediately summoned to Leonard's office by Leonard.
"What happened? Why so grim?" Klein asked as he patted down his coat and hat which he had been unable to do so before Leonard wheeled him away.
"It's about Old Neil,"
"Old Neil?"
"Yes, yesterday you were on your break right, so you wouldn't know." Leonard said as he leaned back on the chair and gave Klein a stack of reports. "Remember the unusual changes we had seen in Old Neil and I had pointed it out? Turns out he was trying to attempt some kind of taboo ritual."
"A taboo ritual?!" Klein jerked up in surprise and horror, "Is he-"
"Yes, he's alright and recovering right now."
Klein heaved a sigh of relief before bringing back up his formal and work-serious face, "What happened?"
"Old Neil brought you to his home once right? And he may have also mentioned that he once had a fiance..." Leonard said.
Klein nodded, he remembered Old Neil's words clearly because of the cryptic words that followed, to take care and protect Klein's own fiance with all he had and to not regret being too weak...
Klein had a sinking feeling of what might have occurred.
"Did he try to...?"
"Yes, he tried to bring his wife back to life."
"But how-"
"As you may or may not know- the mystery Pryer Pathway has a hidden strong existence known as the Hidden Sage, "He" is known to whisper into the ears of the mystery pryer pathway beyonders with forbidden information which leads to losing control and stuff. Apparently, the Hidden sage was using Old Neil and made him attempt the ritual to revive his wife.
"Thankfully, I noticed it soon enough to have prevented it." Leonard coughed awkwardly. "We were able to stop his ritual and have sent him to the main cathedral to heal up and get proper treatment as well as to explain his case of attempting things which had been banned by the church."
Klein nodded solemnly as he stared at his shoes with an unreadable expression on his face.
Old Neil did all that to save his fiance who died many years ago...
Could someone really be in love that much that they attempt something so stupid, ludicrous, and suicidal?
Klein suddenly imagined himself in Old Neil's shoes. What if whatever this case that was happening to him with these coincidences were to string up Amon in them and lead to Amon's death...? Would he also...
No,
No need to think of what ifs...
After reading the report Leonard had handed to him, Leonard notified him that his mysticism lessons meanwhile would be entirely self-study from some notes saved by Old Neil, it wouldn't be much problem since there was only 2 or 3 days' stuff left over anyway.
"Thank you, Leonard..." Klein said just before leaving the office. "Old Neil is a wonderful person and also my teacher... I'm glad you noticed the abnormalities and reported them with decent investigations to have prevented this from worsening... at worst he may have even lost his life..."
Leonard scratched his cheek nervously, "Yes, but it couldn't have been without your inputs as well..." and Amon's inputs as well... Amon's inputs mainly...
Klein gave Leonard a smile before shutting the door behind him.
"..."
[Pfft-!]
"Stop." Leonard groaned as he slumped on his desk.
Suddenly, beside him the figure of a monocle-wearing person appeared. Leonard, who was now already too used to Amon appearing out of nowhere around him no longer got scared and merely glanced sideways at him with his head still on his desk.
"So, did you check what you wanted to check?" Leonard asked casually.
"Not yet... there are still a few days..." Amon murmured, almost as if talking to himself, then he turned to Leonard and nudged his monocle with a smile, "Thank you for your great detective work Captain Leonard~"
Leonard groaned even louder.
The Blackthorn Security Company accepted an extra mission in the morning. The task involved escorting a rich merchant to the harbor for a deal. Leonard and Klein completed it easily, earning themselves some extra pay, much to the happiness of Klein.
After that Klein continued his training classes with Leonard, who had completely changed the curriculum and had actually started sparring with Klein for combat training after finding out that Klein was already a sequence 8 which was adept at fighting.
Klein may or may not have completely gotten his ass kicked every single time... we don't talk about that.
After that Klein went ahead and continued his search for the houses with the red chimney, after an entire day wasted running around he was crestfallen to realize that the house he wanted from his divination wasn't one of the few he had been able to set aside which had a recent change of tenants.
That meant he had to go back to his 500+ list of houses and find the correct one...
Why did it seem like everyone in the world wanted him and Amon to not spend some time together?!
Don't be discouraged, don't give up. I'll continue the investigation whenever I have free time. I'll try to complete it within three months, not—two months! Who knows, the target might be found in tomorrow's investigation!
And, I'll organize the material when I get back and plan a route according to the distance of the sectors!
Klein motivated himself, banishing his feelings of depression.
Now that he had made a decision, he planned to instruct the driver to turn toward Daffodil Street. However, he suddenly realized that he was somewhere close to where Mr. Azik stayed.
Klein realized that he had the skull thing and the portrait he had found to discuss with Mr. Azik and it was about time he came back from his vacation...
With his mindset, Klein headed to Mr. Azik's house.
"Klein? I was just about to write to you," Azik greeted enthusiastically. "I just arrived home last night."
Klein stared at the small mole near Azik's right ear. The exact same as the one in the portrait...
"Mr. Azik, I found a clue to your past."
"Really?" Azik instantly became excited. The sadness he had in his eyes dulled.
"Let's talk inside." Klein looked around.
After Klein explained the situation of what he had encountered to Mr. Azik, they finally decided on visiting the place themselves to spur on Mr. Azik's memories. It would take a while and maybe the entire night as well so Klein had to first visit his home to tell Melissa that he'd be out the night and after some thought even went to Amon's place- not because he needed to or anything, but because it had been a while since he had last physically seen Amon. No, stalking him through the occasional visits to the grey fog and through the ring didn't count nor did the interactions between him and Mr. Fool.
"Klein~! Welcome back!" Amon greeted cheerfully as he pecked Klein's cheek.
Klein blushed at such a casual show of affection, especially in front of Mr. Azik but held his complaints and wooing back.
"And this is?" Amon asked as he looked at Mr. Azik as if just realizing he was there.
"This is my professor I told you about at my old university Mr. Azik, I owe him a favor and have to help him research something which might take till dawn." Klein introduced with a smile. He wished that Mr. Azik would get to know Amon well enough so even if something happened to Klein, as a probably mid or high-sequence beyonder Mr. Azik would be able to at least keep Amon safe and out of trouble. That was the good thing about connections with strong people.
After hearing no verbal response or greeting from Mr. Azik. Klein turned around in puzzlement and met with Mr. Azik's wide eyes.
"Mr. Azik?" Klein called out with slight worry. "Are you alright?"
Mr. Azik suddenly broke out of his daze and held his forehead with his right hand while frowning, "Yes, I'm alright... just... a sudden headache..." Mr. Azik mumbled apologetically.
"Okay..." Klein was still a bit confused over what had happened but kept his mouth shut. He had ideas on what was happening but he did not dare speak of those things with Amon present.
"Your teacher looks a bit sick, do you need something to help it? I have a soothing tea mix specifically for headaches." Amon offered with a smile.
"No, there's no need, thank you for the generous and kind offer." Mr. Azik smiled lightly, then he turned to Klein, let's get going now, it's getting late already."
"Yes," Klein nodded then turned back to Amon, "I'll be back by dawn I think, don't wait for me."
"Okay," Amon waved.
Klein smiled and waved back.
When they were at the carriage to the house Klein had found traces of Mr. Azik's past in, he finally turned to Mr. Azik.
"Did your memories resurface again after seeing Amon?"
Mr. Azik didn't say anything for a while before sighing, "Yes... but they weren't the same good feeling and happy-natured as my other memories... more like fear and apprehension..."
Klein thought for a while, "Amon is supposed to be from an angel family from the fourth epoch, considering and going along with our theory of your past and origins and how your abilities and amnesia work with different lives, it might not be that far fetched to think that you may have once encountered someone from the Amon family before who looked a lot like my fiance and that encounter may not have been a friendly one... Amon had once told me that he looked a lot like the previous Amon family heads..."
"Yeah... that may be so..." Mr. Azik nodded solemnly.
"Does that mean the key to figuring out your situation may also reside with Amon and his family?" Klein hummed. "That might be the case, but I don't think Amon directly could help. Although I know that he is an extraordinary person and from the Marauder pathway, I do not know his sequence and he seems pretty much like a lone wolf and not someone heavily connected to his family right now...
"Whatever might be the case, it would be better to first just go to that manor." Klein ended with a nod.
"Yes,"