Lord of the Mysteries

In the dark night, and within the green vine forest, Klein closed his eyes as he listened to that musical movement that was emitted from the sky.

He felt calm in both body and mind, but he felt a faint sense of depression and sadness grow, emanate, and resonate.

After an unknown period of time, the soothing melody finally disappeared as the hanging pea vines gently swayed in the night wind.

Klein sighed silently as he opened his eyes and looked up. He saw that Queen Mystic Bernadette had handed over the orifice-filled human skull back to the “servant” that was half-man, half-wind.

“It’s done.” Bernadette’s gentle and calm voice sounded.

“Thank you for your help.” Klein bowed once again as he controlled Wraith Senor to return to his side.

At this moment, the pea vines retracted upwards and slowly turned faint. Soon, the green forest vanished.

Klein and Senor simultaneously landed at the entrance to the bridge. There was no one around this silent area, apart from a platoon of soldiers whose backs were facing him. There was nothing different from before.

The fairytale-like scene from before was like an illusion.

Only then did Klein have the time to observe his marionette. He discovered that his marionette appeared more like a dead man than before. His face was pale and his aura cold. He gave off an obvious sense of gloom.

This is likely the result of a single high-dosage of contamination... If it’s just guarding Chanis Gate for one to two times a week, with each duty happening during the day, it wouldn’t be this serious. It’s impossible that two months is the limit... If that’s the case, even if it’s the church of an orthodox deity, it won’t be able to afford such losses... I expect a normal Keeper to live for several years, or even more than ten years. However, it’s easy to mutate midway and lose control... Sigh, they likely already know of the outcome when they chose to become Keepers... Klein felt poignant as he made Senor project himself onto the gold coin inside the iron cigar case.

Following that, he used Traveling to head out to sea. After selecting food for Creeping Hunger, he returned to his master bedroom’s bathroom in 160 Böklund Street.

...

5th June. Sunday. Inside the Hall family castle.

Audrey was sitting in front of a study desk as she admired the sight of the mystical item she had just acquired.

Its outer appearance was that of a black fishnet glove that reached the elbow. It appeared to be a product of the royal family that came with a sense of magnificence and elegance.

This was the item the Artisan had made after some time, using the Mentor of Confusion Beyonder characteristic she had obtained from The World Gehrman Sparrow.

Audrey had previously asked her father, Earl Hall, and obtained the answer: “You can buy it and use it for yourself. Having such filial thoughts is already good enough.” Hence, she specially instructed Mr. Hanged Man to get the Artisan to make it into an item that could be carried around by a lady.

This also made her suspect if her father had better mystical items, or if the Church of the Goddess provided him rather high-level protection.

Based on The Hanged Man’s description, this fishnet glove gave the wearer several Beyonder powers.

One of them was the enhancement of one’s dignity and body, making surrounding beings lower their own standing to submit themselves without realizing it.

Another was Distort, the ability to distort a target’s words, actions, and intent. It allowed one to formulate a certain order that provided them with an advantage.

The third was Bribe, which bribed them via a symbolic gesture. It allowed the target to feel a great sense of fondness, making it difficult to have any thoughts of animosity or even wish to fight the wearer. If the conditions were suitable, the person who received the “Bribe” had an extremely small chance of attacking their companions. Audrey heard from Mr. World that this was one type of “Bribe” Beyonder powers that was known as Bribe—Charm.”

The last was to produce a “Chaos” effect on a target or surrounding area, making it difficult for attacks to land on the wearer, and making the enemy easily “choose” to make the wrong judgment.

Audrey was very satisfied with these effects. However, what vexed her was that the Artisan’s level was lacking. The Sequence 5 mystical item he created had relatively serious negative side effects.

First, it would make the wearer’s psyche slowly grow dark, making them often wish to take shortcuts, use schemes, or dishonorable methods to complete matters. Second, the wearer would enter a state of Chaos after wearing it for more than three minutes. Audrey had tried it previously, and she had made a mistake without realizing it when she was bathing.

The normal procedure was to let her maidservant fill the bathtub with water and adjust the temperature before she took off her clothes, enter the bathtub, and then finish washing up. However, Audrey had first entered the bathtub, filled it with cold water, and waited until her clothes were wet before she remembered to take them off.

The only thing she was thankful about was that she had eventually controlled herself and hadn’t called her lady’s maid in to witness such an embarrassing matter.

This makes me feel like a curly-haired baboon! Audrey thought in embarrassment and anger.

She found the first negative effect acceptable because she was a Psychiatrist. She could often check on herself and eliminate her dark thoughts. Furthermore, she had Susie to provide her with help as an onlooker. However, the second negative effect was completely unacceptable.

The second negative effect is just too problematic. All I can do is bring it with me. I’ll wear it at critical moments. Ah, right, I still have Lie. It will amplify my emotions, so combined with the glove, it will only worsen the darkness in my heart. The current me might not be able to withstand it... Audrey’s green eyes darted around as she tried thinking of a solution.

At this moment, she heard knocking at the door.

Her maidservant, Annie, said from the outside, “Miss Audrey, the Lord wishes to talk to you about something.”

Audrey left the black fishnet glove on the door as she stood up and came to the door to open it.

Earl Hall, who didn’t wear a coat at home except for a shirt and matching vest, touched his beautiful beard and said with a chuckle, “Are you not ready? We’ll be returning to Backlund in a while.

“Tomorrow night will be your 18th birthday party.”

As he spoke, Earl Hall looked at Annie and company, indicating that they should retreat.

“Sigh, it’s the annual socializing season again.” Audrey nodded, feigning her maturity.

Earl Hall glanced at his daughter and asked with a laugh, “Have you thought of how you can make use of that item yet?”

Audrey pursed her lips into a smile.

“Of course.

“I plan on folding it up and putting it into a bag. Susie will carry it.”

This way, as she didn’t wear it or use it, Susie wouldn’t find herself in any situations of chaos and confusion, and its dark psychological problems could be treated by Audrey with Placate. More importantly, without Lie’s amplification, Susie, who was also a Psychiatrist, could also check on herself inwardly and regulate her mental state from time to time.

Earl Hall was taken aback as he praised with a surprised smile, “That’s a smart solution.”

Audrey felt smug, but she said in a reserved manner, “I plan on calling it the Hand of Horror.”

“Dear Earl, thank you for the birthday present~”

In a few more days, I can concoct the potion and attempt an advancement! Audrey added inwardly in joy.

...

Sunday night. 160 Böklund Street.

Klein stood on his balcony as he peeped at the street through the gap in the curtains. He couldn’t help but feel somewhat nervous.

If nothing unexpected happened, he planned on beginning his plan of stealing the Antigonus family’s notebook in a while.

With Queen Mystic Bernadette’s help, he had made his marionette enter a contaminated state. From his frequent visits to the cathedral for praying, bible studies, and donations, he had figured out the Keepers’ duty roster. There was only one thing left that was necessary for the preparations of Klein’s theft.

That was to secretly replace his target without anyone noticing it!

Based on Klein’s understanding of the situation, the Keepers would head underground at daybreak. And it was during such times when the cathedral remained close. To directly infiltrate inside ran the risk of being discovered by a demigod like the diocese’s archbishop. It could be said that there was no chance of success.

Therefore, Klein’s plan was to infiltrate the cathedral one day earlier and patiently wait for an opportunity.

This undoubtedly needed a sufficient disguise, but this didn’t stump a Faceless.

After a observing for some time, Klein discovered that the Church held a major Mass on Sunday night. This was because Sunday and the night were symbols for the Goddess.

And after the Mass ended, the servants would be busy clearing the trash and throwing them outside.

Klein’s plan was to seize this opportunity to knock a servant unconscious and enter the cathedral while disguised as the servant before sleeping in the servants’ quarters.

For this, he had even purchased a dosage that was able to let a person fall into a deep sleep for ten hours without causing any physical harm. He bought it from Emlyn for five pounds.

Phew... After a few minutes, Klein slowly exhaled as he drew the curtains. He walked back to his bedroom, took four steps counterclockwise, and went above the gray fog.

Sitting in The Fool’s chair, he thought in silence for a minute before conjuring a pen and paper. He wrote the divination statement: “This theft of the Antigonus family’s notebook will be dangerous.”

After putting down the dark red fountain pen, Klein removed the spirit pendulum from his left wrist. Using his left hand to hold the chain, he let the topaz hang down over the paper in close proximity with it.

He entered Cogitation, closed his eyes, and silently chanted the divination statement. After repeating it seven times, he slowly opened his eyes and saw the spirit pendulum spinning clockwise with an ordinary amplitude and frequency.

There’s danger, but it’s within an acceptable range... Klein quickly made an interpretation.

In fact, he was a little worried if his divination was being interfered with, just like how the Mother Tree of Desire had done so. However, he had no way of verifying it, much less falsify the possibility.

Therefore, when the divination outcome, plans, and preparations satisfied the required conditions, Klein had made up his mind.

He looked at the hanging topaz that slowly came to a halt. In Chinese, he said in a heavy voice, “A strung bow is poised to strike.”

Before he finished his sentence, Klein let his spirituality envelop himself as he simulated the feeling of falling, and he returned to the real world.

This time, he planned on only bringing three items with him—Creeping Hunger, Senor’s gold coin, and Azik’s copper whistle. The characteristic they had in common was that they could be stored inside an iron cigar case. He could use Paper Angel and a wall of spirituality to provide a double layer of screening.

As for the other items, there was a high chance that they couldn’t pass through Chanis Gate, as they could easily trigger an anomaly at the core seal. Therefore, Klein had left the rest of his items, as well as his money, above the gray fog, prepared to immediately flee if anything went wrong.

It’s just that the 3% Coim Company shares worth 12,800 pounds is tied to Dwayne Dantès’s identity... Klein quickly reined in his thoughts, picked up a mirror, and placed it on the pillow.

Following that, he drew the mysterious symbol used for summoning Arrodes.