Chewing on a biscuit, Silas walked out of his room and headed to the mailbox.
Since he only collected his newspapers every three to five days, the mailbox was now stuffed with quite a bit of material.
Silas took out all the newspapers and piled them on the living room table.
He also heated some water for himself, because chewing dry biscuits left his mouth parched and made swallowing difficult.
While waiting for the kettle to boil, he picked up the latest issue of the Backlund Post.
"'The Pritz Arrives in Port'"
"This newspaper reports that to celebrate the New Year, the Royal Navy will soon arrive in Backlund.
The latest ironclad warship, the 'Pritz,' will also enter the city via the Tussock River and dock at the Third Naval Harbor..."
An ironclad warship?
Seems like it's the first time one's coming to Backlund.
They say it's to celebrate the New Year, but it's really to show off to Feysac and intimidate them, right?
Silas continued reading.
The article roughly introduced the Pritz's tonnage, size, and speed, as well as information about the caliber of the cannons installed on it and the types of weapons.
The fact that these specifications were so openly published only confirmed his suspicions.
Six rapid-fire cannons, twelve 6-pound guns, eighteen machine guns, four torpedo launchers, and 457-millimeter main armor.
An iron hedgehog that can take hits and dish them out. Can Beyonders even match this thing?
Silas thought about it.
Low-sequence Beyonders encountering an ironclad would basically be helpless.
At mid-sequence, pure offensive capability definitely couldn't penetrate 457-millimeter armor, and even the strongest defensive abilities couldn't withstand a direct bombardier from the cannons.
Unless they used some special abilities to incapacitate the crew operating the ironclad.
For instance, Silas could spread "plague," stir up "desire," or use "suggestion," "hypnosis," and so on. Of course, all while dodging incoming fire.
As for high sequences... Silas didn't know.
He only knew that a divine body definitely couldn't be destroyed by a single ironclad warship, and angels could certainly easily eliminate everyone on the ship.
After letting his thoughts wander for a moment, Silas found it uninteresting and put the newspaper down, picking up a new one.
The headline immediately caught his attention.
"Extra! Duke Negan Assassinated, Terrorist Organization Aurora Order Claims Responsibility!"
"Huh?"
Silas nearly spat out the biscuit crumbs in his mouth.
Aurora Order?
Didn't I already kill off all the Aurora Order members in Backlund?
"Whoo... gurgle gurgle..."
The water in the kitchen behind him came to a boil.
He got up to pour himself some, carried a cup of hot water back, and sat down properly. Then he picked up the newspaper again to continue reading:
"This newspaper reports that yesterday, during a routine meeting held in the House of Lords, an assassin carrying explosives suddenly burst into the chamber, killing and injuring multiple members of parliament, including Duke Negan, causing an extremely adverse impact..."
---
At the same time, Jowood District, 15 Minsk Street.
"...Afterward, the terrorist organization 'Aurora Order,' wanted by multiple nations across the Northern Continent, announced that the bombing was their doing."
Klein read the newspaper and couldn't help but shake his head.
If he didn't know the details, he'd almost believe it.
However, since the Aurora Order members in Backlund were all dead and had no objections, he naturally wouldn't say anything either.
"Currently, the Sivellaus Yard and MI9 have issued a joint statement promising to hold the Aurora Order, which committed unforgivable crimes, strongly accountable...
Regarding this, we can't help but ask: why could an outlaw carrying powerful explosives infiltrate what should theoretically be the most heavily guarded building at the center of the nation's highest power?"
"Is this a failure of the system, or a weakness of human nature?"
Klein felt speechless for a moment and tossed the newspaper aside.
The journalist who wrote this had probably studied in Intis and mastered the journalistic flair inherited from Roselle over there, escalating a simple assassination incident to infinity.
Breakfast time was over.
Klein tilted his head back to drain the coffee at the bottom of his cup, stood up, cleared the dishes, and carried them into the kitchen to wash.
After finishing this, he went to the mirror to fix his appearance.
In the mirror, Klein's current appearance was reflected: a full beard and gold-rimmed glasses.
He lowered his head to straighten his clothes.
When he raised his head again, the beard on his face had vanished, his cheeks had quickly filled out, his overall features had completely changed, and his black hair had transformed into short, curly brown hair.
Aside from the gold-rimmed glasses still perched on his nose and his unchanged clothes, he looked like a completely different person!
The Faceless One's primary ability: "Shapeshifting"!
That's right.
After obtaining one of the main ingredients, "Human-skinned Shadow characteristics," provided by Silas, Klein had also acquired the other half of the main ingredients, "Thousand-Faced Hunter's pituitary gland," along with the corresponding supplementary materials from the vampire Emlyn White.
Last night, he'd mixed and consumed the potion, successfully advancing to Sequence 6 of the Seer pathway: Faceless!
Besides an increase in spirituality and enhancement of low-sequence abilities, the most important ability Klein gained was "shapeshifting."
This ability allowed him to imitate others' appearances almost perfectly. Unless someone was particularly familiar with the person, it was difficult to tell the difference.
However, one drawback was that he couldn't conjure flesh and blood out of thin air or reduce his height with body transformations.
The person Klein was currently imitating was a friend he'd met at the Cragg Club: a horse-riding instructor for nobles, Talim Dumont. This friend had died right in front of everyone due to a bizarre curse.
"Talim, do you know how you died?"
Klein asked the "Talim" in the mirror.
"Talim" ignored him and quickly changed his appearance. His face became rounder, his eyes narrowed and elongated, radiating youthful energy and a smile.
If anyone else were present at this moment, they would definitely be startled by this face, because it was none other than the current Third Prince of the Loen royal family, Edessak Augustus!
This prince, who looked much like Henry Augustus I on the 5-pound note, opened his mouth with a smile:
"Detective Sherlock, please accept my commission and find the murderer who killed Talim for me."
That's right.
Because of Talim's accidental death, Klein had been invited by this prince to his estate and given an investigative assignment.
The prince was also Talim's friend, and since his own actions would be constrained, he'd asked Klein to step in.
The prince's face in the mirror quickly transformed, returning to the appearance of "Sherlock Moriarty."
"I didn't want to get dragged into royal power struggles..."
Sherlock said with a sigh.
But that was a prince's request. He simply couldn't refuse.
So these past few days, he'd been constantly going out, searching for the underlying reasons behind Talim's death.
Unfortunately, so far he'd found nothing.
Klein looked at the mirror as his face changed once more, becoming black-haired and blue-eyed, handsome yet crazed.
He had transformed into Silas.
"Huh? Cut the crap. I'll just kill you all."
"Silas" said coldly and irritably, then suddenly smiled.
"If it were him, he could definitely refuse so straightforwardly."
Unfortunately, Klein wasn't him, so he could only go out on this cold morning to continue completing his task.