Rein was alone in the cabin, with nothing left to worry about. He efficiently stowed the two corpses into his folding space.
Then he cleaned up the bloodstains and destroyed the crime scene.
Without Ymir's formidable protection, he thought it over and decided to take out the Mechanical Arm first.
Given the current situation, if anyone recognized him as the "walking hundred-million bounty," a life-or-death battle could break out at any moment. Only with the Mechanical Arm did he feel even slightly safer.
However, the Mechanical Arm was too exquisitely made. Its alloy metal skeleton gleamed coldly, and one look was enough to tell it was valuable.
Remembering that wealth should not be flaunted, Rein used some potion to weather it before concealing the entire arm beneath his white coat.
Uh... It looked a little out of place, but as long as it could save his life when it mattered, that was enough.
Then he dyed his beautiful blond hair flaxen, put in a few simple curlers, and gave himself a slight perm.
The fashion in this world was an eclectic dark-punk style. Even indoors, plenty of people wore masks. In addition to the full-face, beaked crow gas mask he usually wore, Rein got himself a similarly shaped black leather half-mask.
That completed the job.
Looking at himself in the small mirror again, Rein was unlikely to be recognized at a glance now.
Knock, knock, knock.
Having finished his "disguise," Rein was about to leave the cabin and find a chance to blend into the crowded, noisy ordinary carriages farther back.
But at that moment, someone suddenly knocked on the door.
Thinking it was fallout from killing those two gangster thugs last night, he calmly opened it.
To Rein's surprise, there was no vicious-looking enemy outside, but a tall, beautiful woman in a train uniform.
When the door opened, she gave Rein a sweet professional smile. "Hello, sir. I am Athena, the VIP attendant of Carriage Three. I apologize for disturbing your rest."
Rein glanced at her without underestimating her in the slightest just because she was a woman. The Mechanical Arm hidden behind the door was already charged. If anything went wrong, he could snap her neck at once.
"What is it?" he asked.
The attendant said respectfully, "This is the situation: a distinguished count has reserved a business-class seat for you in one of the front carriages. I am here to assist you with the transfer procedures."
After a pause, she continued, "That gentleman also asked me to pass along a message. He said you may rest easy aboard the train. No one will trouble you again."
"Changing carriages?"
Rein's first thought was that Ymir had arranged it for him before leaving.
So she was an imperial countess? Her rank was rather high.
The counts of the Oma Empire almost all possessed independent territories of their own. They had already entered the domain of high nobility.
Although Rein himself was not particularly demanding about accommodations, the noble carriages at the front would indeed bring far less trouble. At the very least, there were partitions and train security officers there. Gang members would no longer suddenly barge in to inspect the rooms.
"Fine. Let me pack my luggage."
Rein agreed immediately. There was not much to pack anyway; he simply stuffed his sleeping bag and the like into his backpack.
The train attendant naturally took the luggage from him and carried it with effortless ease.
So this seemingly delicate train attendant was actually a Transcendent as well?
Rein was somewhat surprised.
Before long, Rein had moved into the third carriage at the front, one of the most luxurious VIP business-class carriages on the entire train.
The room was nearly ten times larger than the one in the middle carriage, and it even had a private bathroom with hot water.
What Rein found even more unbelievable was that Athena, the attractive and well-proportioned train attendant, was actually the exclusive attendant for his VIP cabin.
After carrying his luggage into the room, she did not leave. Instead, she entered the walk-in closet, changed into a maid outfit with a black apron, and came back out.
That maid outfit... uh, felt a little risqué.
Rein had never taken a train in this world before, never enjoyed noble service, and certainly had not expected trains to have such arrangements.
He looked at the attendant before him, dressed in a low-cut lace maid outfit, his eyes filled with confusion.
Clearly, the professionally trained Athena explained why she was there. In a gentle voice, she said, "Sir, I am your exclusive attendant. You may tell me anything you need, and Athena will provide you with the most satisfactory service."
She placed slightly heavier emphasis on the word "anything," subtly implying something.
After saying that, she obediently bowed. The deep cleavage at her chest was fully exposed, and her expression was one of submissive willingness to be plucked. "Sir, would you like me to make your bed now?"
That made everything immediately clear.
Rein's eyelid twitched as a shocked curse escaped his mind. Do nobles in this world really know how to have this much fun? They can enjoy themselves like this just by taking a train?
In the civilian carriages farther back, having a place to put one's backside was already decent enough. Yet the front carriages even offered dedicated bed-warming service?
"No. I prefer to be alone."
Without a second thought, Rein refused directly.
Though he wanted to criticize how extravagantly luxurious this damned noble lifestyle was, he had quite a few secrets on him and was also a wanted criminal. He did not want anyone sharing a room with him.
"Very well, sir."
Athena showed no unusual reaction upon hearing that. She added, "If you need anything, you may pull the bell rope by the bed. I will serve you at any time."
"Mm."
Rein nodded.
Athena withdrew and left the room.
There were still nearly more than half a month left before this train reached its final destination, Andohar Province.
Rein lived peacefully and comfortably in Carriage Three.
The privacy of passengers in these VIP cabins was well protected. Once he made it clear that he did not want anyone entering his room, Athena never came in again. Whenever she delivered meals, she would leave the delicious food outside the door, knock, and then leave.
Rein was also quite satisfied that no one disturbed him.
At night, as usual, he read tomes on potions and medicine in his dreams.
During the day, he took out the two thug corpses and practiced his dissections. With the bathroom vent opened, cold wind blew in all night, making it nearly as cold as a freezer. The corpses were less likely to rot or stink.
His sense of crisis made him more focused on studying than ever before, and his progress advanced by leaps and bounds.
Six or seven peaceful days passed like that before the calm surface finally rippled.
It was because an auction invitation appeared on his meal tray.
The Thornbird Merchant Guild, which operated this train, was holding a small auction. Passengers in the front carriages had all received invitations.
Originally, Rein had no interest in an event that required showing his face. But when he looked through the item catalog on the invitation, an overwhelming urge to investigate was immediately stirred within him.
Because among the auction items were several things that interested him greatly!
One of the finale items was several ancient beast-hide scrolls covered in old writing.
The item description read: These are ancient scrolls discovered in a newly explored large ancient ruin. They appear to record several lost Tier 1 Spells.
The reason Rein was interested was that the writing on those beast-hide scrolls was precisely the Monkel Ancient Language he had been searching everywhere to decipher!
The catalog also noted that information related to that newly discovered large ancient ruin would be auctioned during this event.
A brand-new large ancient ruin meant it might contain even more ancient writing that had yet to see the light of day.
As long as he could obtain more textual material, Rein felt that he might be able to decipher the mysterious scroll within Morin's Relics!
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