Old Verne's Restaurant In the only private room, it's half past six in the evening.
All members of Blackthorn Security Company, except "Corpse Collector" Frye who need to be on duty at Chanis Gate, the remaining seven Beyonder and five civilian personnel have arrived.
One of the protagonists of the dinner, Klein Moretti, visited a retired knight in the afternoon and conducted rigorous fighting training.
At this time, he looked tired, looking at the long table covered with white tablecloth with distracted eyes. He massaged his leg muscles with his hands. From time to time, slight movements would irritate the injuries on his body, and he would suck in air with a grin on his face.
Another protagonist, Angel Granger, took off the shirt, trousers and windbreaker she was used to wearing, and put on a summer skirt. She was not used to this outfit and was trying hard to curl up in the armchair to make herself less conspicuous.
Miss Rozanne leaned beside her and whispered something. Due to the height difference, Angel could only bend down and tilt his head, listening to the other person's whisper with a smile on his face.
Dunn Smith, the captain of Tingen City Nighthawks, has locked himself in the office all day today, thinking about how to become a real "Nightmare". Now he seems to have gained something, his eyes are sharp, and he passes by the team members at the table one by one.
"Midnight Poet" Seeka Tron, who has white hair and black eyes and likes to write novels in his spare time, is chatting in a low voice with Royale Reideen, who is also a female Nighthawks, and his eyes glance over Angel and Klein from time to time; Leonard Mitchell, a poet with a somewhat bohemian temperament, is He sipped his pre-dinner wine, squinting his eyes and not knowing what to think; Kenley·White, who was a little short but with strong and well-proportioned muscles, had just finished his shift at Chanis Gate yesterday, and had worked overtime to patrol several cemeteries in North Borough today. Even though he was "Sleepless", he looked tired at this time and yawned from time to time.
Mrs. Orianna, who usually seems to have endless things to do every day, was arguing in a low voice with Old Neil, who was dressed in black robes, maybe about the issue of reimbursement of additional expenses; Bredt, who had a thick beard, was reading the headlines of today's "Tingen Daily": Tingen City's former boss Dennis resigned due to the recent deterioration of Tingen City's public security situation. Caesar Francis on the side evaluated the authenticity of the news with a mysterious smile. He believed that Mayor Dennis was forced to resign because a certain Tingen upper-level socialite was arrested and involved in many major cases.
As the waiters in the restaurant brought plates of steaming food to the table, cut and portioned them and sent them to each guest, the "Blackthorn Security Company Newcomer Welcome Party" finally began.
Captain Dunn first stood up holding a wine glass. The champagne in the glass was a beautiful amber color, and strings of bubbles hung on the wall as the glass swayed.
"Let us all raise a toast together to welcome the new members, Mr. Angel Granger Miss, Klein Moretti!"
"Cheers!"
Everyone raised their glasses and stood up, bent over and put the glasses in the middle of the table, clinked glasses together, and then drank the champagne in one gulp.
After drinking the alcohol, the atmosphere at the table became lively. Except for Klein, who had experienced cruel training, looking at the food in front of him with a troubled face, everyone else had already selected their favorite dishes and started to feast.
"I heard that you killed another Sequence 6 in Enmat Harbor?"
Leonard quickly wiped out the steak and mashed potato salad in front of him, took a sip of champagne, and approached Angel and asked.
He seemed to have planned ahead and occupied the seat next to Angel in advance.
"You are really well-informed... But I didn't kill him. Mr. C ran away in the end. The wanted order should have been sent to Tingen, right?"
Angel swallowed the bacon in his mouth and stressed helplessly, cursing in his heart the "Rose Bishop" who had fled to who knows where.
"That's okay. In combat, severely injuring the opponent and taking him out of the battle is actually equivalent to killing him."
Since the restaurant waiter was present, they did not mention Beyonder Ability and occult terms, but only communicated vaguely.
After all, their external identity is that of a security company, and it is normal for them to talk about fighting and killing during dinner parties.
Rozanne was very concerned about their conversation at first, and listened to a few words with open ears, but soon lost interest in the boring battle experience, and turned to look at Klein on the other side. The steak in front of him remained motionless, and he was taking small bites of the beef pudding he ordered from the waiter. It seemed that his taste and appetite had not yet recovered from the excessive exercise in the afternoon.
"What's wrong, Klein, are you going to follow my diet and lose weight?"
"Believe me, Miss Rozanne, I really want to destroy this steak in front of me, but my stomach has other ideas..."
Klein dipped a pudding spoon into a little steak sauce and took a tentative bite, but quickly gave up on this heavy oil and salt staple food and continued to slowly destroy the beef pudding in front of him.
"After strenuous exercise, you need to eat a lot to replenish the lost salt and energy. You are just not used to this kind of training. When you calm down, you will eat this steak as if you have been hungry for three days and ask the waiter for another one."
Even though there were two ladies in the middle, Leonard still used his flirtatious tone to educate newcomer Nighthawks. Because the volume was too loud, it attracted the attention of other chatting team members.
"Oh, it must be Sir Gawain. I have always said that he may have secretly made a secret agreement with 'Mandated Punishers' and used extreme training methods to persuade Nighthawks's newcomers."
Old Neil commented on Klein's fighting instructor, and took a spoonful of custard into his mouth, enjoying the food. Especially when there is a companion with no appetite at the table to compare with himself, the food is often more tempting.
Seeka Tron saw the bitter look on Klein's face and pushed the ice cream in front of her. "You can try sweets. Ice sweets may help you regain your appetite."
"Thank you, I'll try."
Klein took the ice cream flavored with blueberry juice, scooped a mouthful and put it into his mouth, his expression changing continuously.
"It seems that the effect is really good, well, maybe I can write this idea into a novel..." Seeka looked at Klein who quickly waved his spoon and quickly destroyed the blueberry ice cream, Seeka thought thoughtfully.
"Author Miss, you say this every time, but when will I see your masterpiece in a magazine?"
"Just tomorrow, just tomorrow!"
Amidst the banter of several people, Klein, who gradually accelerated his eating speed, had already wiped out the pudding and steak in front of him. He seemed to be thinking about whether to have another one, his eyes moved back and forth between the empty plate and the waiter in the corner. Finally, he put down the knife and fork, picked up the wine glass, and drank the remaining half glass of champagne that had run out of sparkle.
"Look, I'll just say it."
Leonard whispered to Angel.
Klein Moretti, who was sore all over, refused his brother Benson's help. He gritted his teeth and walked up the stairs step by step with trembling feet and returned to his bedroom.
As soon as the door closed, his pretended nonchalant expression could no longer hold up.
"It hurts, it hurts so much!"
It was almost like the day after I was dragged by my college classmates to climb a mountain in my previous life. When going down the stairs, I could only hold on to the wall and move down one section at a time...
Falling on the bed gracelessly, he massaged his legs that seemed to no longer belong to him, recalling the tragic experience of "muscle soreness" in the past.
How about just sleeping like this... Anyway, I already took a shower in the afternoon, so forget it at night...
There seemed to be a Devil in his mind tempting him: Lie down, you are already tired, no matter what happens, wait until tomorrow.
No, I still have things to do today, so I can't sleep yet!
Klein forced himself to stand up from the bed, walked to the desk with trembling legs, and found the notebook where various analyzes were written yesterday from the drawer.
"Today she declined the invitation on Monday afternoon. Was it because she had to participate in the fixed-time "Tarot Club", or because she really had other commitments?"
Another piece of information was added to the page that previously analyzed the connection between Angel and "Empress", Klein frowned and thought.
Stroking the citrine pendant tied to his left wrist, he finally made up his mind.
Originally, "Seer" Klein had been avoiding directly using divination to confirm his speculation. First, because of the lack of information, the divination was likely to fail. Second, because he was not sure about his attitude after the divination was successful, and how to face Angel's attitude.
Therefore, he has been unwilling to use divination to explore the truth close at hand.
But when he thought of Angel who was wandering downstairs of the company today, his eyes showing fear and vulnerability, Klein felt his heart tighten for no reason.
No matter what method he uses, he wants to know more about this colleague, this companion.
"Wow--"
The silver chain fell, and Klein, who was already familiar with it, let the citrine drop to a height of less than one centimeter from the table. The tip of the crystal was facing "Angel Granger" on the notebook.
"Angel Granger is the 'Empress' Miss of Tarot Club?"
He half-closed his eyes, outlined the ball of light, entered a meditative state, and silently recited the sentence that required divination seven times.
Then he opened his eyes hesitantly and looked at the swinging crystal pendant.
A small clockwise rotation... and then counterclockwise...
Looking at the pendant that was constantly shaking, expressing two opposite answers, Klein sighed with regret or happiness, not knowing whether it was regret.
"The divination failed because of insufficient information... No, this is the same as when facing Tuxedo Clown from Secret Order. My divination was interfered with?"
Is it the characteristic of "Assassin" Sequence?
I remember that the same situation happened when Old Neil divined the fugitive assassin... It seems that we still have to continue to collect information, or...
He looked at the back of his right hand, where there were four black spots hidden under the skin, black spots that could only be revealed when performing certain rituals.
"Yes, we should have done this a long time ago. We have reached this point, why should we hesitate?"
After making up his mind, Klein closed his notebook with a snap, moved his sore legs, and walked four steps counterclockwise in the bedroom.
A moment later, in Grey Fog Space, in the magnificent temple, the looming figure of "Fool" appeared at the top of the long bronze table.
"Angel Granger is 'Empress' Miss."
Glancing at the high-backed chair on the left hand side, Klein closed his eyes, leaned on the back of the chair, silently recited the divination content, and entered the dreamland with the help of meditation.
In the gray illusory world, "Empress" Miss, who was wearing a hood and with a strand of long pale golden hair hanging down from his face, stopped meditating, blew out the candles on the table, took the plates of cold food out of the basement, and poured them into the trash can.
This was the day when the three members completed "Ritual Magic" and prayed for Fool.
The last thing in the hands of "Empress" was a plate of Feneboote Noodles. She seemed to be hesitating whether to throw the food away. After hesitating for a moment, her desire overcame her reason. She took a fork from the kitchen, sat at the dining table, and enjoyed the food that was supposed to be sacrificed to "Fool".
Under the hood that was lifted for the convenience of eating, it was the face of Klein that he thought about day and night.