No! No! Please, Mr. World, I am so sorry! I didn't hear anything! I saw and heard nothing, I swear! Fors's mind screamed, and her thoughts soon echoed once again throughout the Hall of Truth.
She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for her imminent demise.
Suddenly, a gentle, soothing thought turned into an audible sentence that reached out to her, like a warm blanket. "He's not being serious, Miss Magician. He's just embarrassed. I think..."
It was Audrey, trying her best not to sound embarrassed, even when she wanted to disappear to the ends of the earth at this moment.
Klein let out a mental sigh, realizing his inner joke had gone way too far. He cleared his throat, fixed his gaze on Fors, and said, "Miss Magician, if any word of this gets out, you'll find that being a marionette is a kinder fate than what I have planned."
Fors froze, her face drained of all color.
He's going to kill me! He's really going to kill me! Her thoughts shrieked across the hall.
It was then that Audrey stepped in to defuse the situation.
"Mr. World, I believe Miss Magician understands the need for absolute discretion. There is no need for violence."
"..."
Klein remained silent. Truthfully, his harsh threat hadn't been a calculated warning, but a clumsy, panicked attempt to cover his own embarrassment.
Threats aside, he already completed his goal—apologizing to Audrey—and had no need to stay here any longer. The longer he remained here, the riskier it would become, since any stray thoughts could leak out.
The problem Klein faced was that Fors paid him a great sum of money to be here. It would be heartless to make her leave just as soon as they entered the Hall of Truth.
"Let's leave, I've already got what I wanted," Klein heartlessly announced.
Huh? B—But I'm still not done with the murals! Fors thought.
"It is a waste of time to linger," Klein said, his voice leaving no room for argument. He turned to the terrified author and sighed. "I've memorized every single mural here. Every single detail is perfectly stored in my mind. You can pray to Mr. Fool and he'll send you all of the information I have," he simply stated. "We are done here."
Fors found herself dumbfounded.
Then what the hell did I come here for?! This thought rightfully earned her another cold glare from the terrifying pirate hunter—after all, it was her idea to tag along without being invited in the first place. Eeek! I'm sorry, Mr. World! Fors screamed inwardly as she ran away to the entrance of the Hall of Truth.
Once she made it outside and confirmed that nobody could hear her own mind, she finally took a breather and gathered her thoughts.
The exchange between Miss Justice and Mr. World repeated in her mind...
...So Mr. World's name is Klein? That's quite... a normal name for the most famous bounty hunter... though it's kind of cute in a way... she thought, but that wasn't the only name that stood out. A hunch she'd had for a while—one she was ninety-nine percent sure of—had now become a certainty.
The World Klein... and Miss Justice Audrey?
...
Back in the real world, a day later—Tuesday.
Klein had just finished answering Fors's prayer with all of the information regarding the Hall of Truth's murals. He now found himself wondering what to do.
He had become a Sequence 2 Angel not so long ago, and he assumed a new persona—Merlin Hermes. He'd been wandering from place to place, fulfilling Wishes to digest his potion and accumulate enough Wishes for himself.
It is kinda lonely though...
It had only been a day since he had seen Audrey, and he still missed her. He could summon her to the gray fog to have another one-on-one talk, but he decided against it today. Why? Because Merlin Hermes was heading to Backlund.
Hmm... Yeah, that sounds like a good idea... Two birds with one stone! Klein thought as he teleported away from the small inn where he was staying and landed on a pirate-infested island in the Sonia Sea.
A few minutes later, he teleported once again, and the city of Backlund filled his view.
It was the same old city where he and Audrey had their first date. The air was thick with the familiar scent of coal smoke and damp earth, a smell Klein was very familiar with thanks to his days here as Sherlock Moriarty. As evening approached, gas lamps began to flicker to life, casting a hazy, golden glow on the wet streets and revealing the deep shadows that clung to every alley and archway.
Time to get started... Klein turned to the pirate marionette he had obtained a few minutes ago and smiled. "It's your lucky day. Mr. Merlin Hermes!" he said as he transferred a Worm of Spirit to the marionette, giving it part of his Beyonder powers.
The marionette's skin then squirmed and boiled. Translucent tendrils could be seen being rearranged around its body. Klein's body also started the same transformation process.
After a few more seconds of this grotesque scene, the marionette stood up straight.
It now wore the face of Merlin Hermes!
Klein, likewise, had changed his appearance as well. He had assumed the look of Klein Moretti once again.
As a Sequence 2 Miracle Invoker, he could control his marionettes from a tremendously far distance away—enough to cover a city. His senses could also be perfectly split between his main body and his marionettes, allowing him to feel, sense, smell, and hear everything that his marionettes found.
With this ability, he could "split" himself into two people. The Merlin Hermes persona would go around the city of Backlund fulfilling wishes as discreetly as possible to not get caught by the Beyonder teams here. Meanwhile, the Klein Moretti persona would get to spend time with Audrey Hall.
I'm a genius! he thought, a proud smirk forming on his face.
With a mental command, the Merlin Hermes marionette adjusted its collar and strode off into the bustling streets. The mysterious wandering magician was ready to listen to the city's whispers and wishes.
Klein, meanwhile, took a deep breath. The world around him warped, and in the next instant, he stood silently on the familiar balcony of the Hall family's mansion.
...
Audrey and her dog were leisurely strolling down the halls of her family's mansion.
"Audrey, you've been smelling... funny, recently," said Audrey's dog, Susie. "A few days ago you returned home out of nowhere. I didn't even see you enter through the front entrance. And worst of all, your room smelled... fishy. Yuck!"
Audrey, seemingly embarrassed, cleared her throat and said, "Susie, don't worry about that. I'm sure it was just the seafood the maids brought in for my lunch."
"Hmph. If you say so," Susie grumbled, giving her a final skeptical sniff. The maids haven't brought any food to your room in days, though... You also had the smell of a man on you...
Click, Swoosh.
As Audrey and Susie walked to Audrey's room, they both heard the sound of the balcony's glass door sliding.
Susie's ears perked up, a low growl rumbling in her chest as she looked toward the sound. Audrey turned to look at her bedroom door. She quietly approached the door and swung it wide open.
Her eyes widened.
Standing on her balcony, illuminated by the soft glow of the gaslights below, was Klein Moretti.
"Klein?" she asked, completely caught by his sudden appearance.
"Woof?" Susie looked at them both in confusion, as if asking, "You two know each other?"
"Good evening, Audrey," he said calmly. "Uh, I was hoping to be a bit more subtle."
A happy smile was already forming on Audrey's face. "You could have at least knocked."
Susie, however, was not smiling. The golden retriever made her way past Audrey and stopped directly in front of Klein. She lowered her head and began sniffing his pants and shoes with the focus of a seasoned detective.
A moment later, she looked back at Audrey and let out a single, triumphant bark. She then stuck out her tongue like an ordinary, innocent dog. Her expression told Audrey everything: So this man is the reason why you smell fishy~