"Dear officer, I'm a veterinarian... Well, you might not know how well this profession pays in Backlund. In any case, it's more sought-after than most doctors, because the pets kept by noble families are worth at least several hundred gold pounds. And you should understand that the entire savings of many so-called respectable gentlemen and ladies don't even reach that figure."
"So?" As he listened to Sno introduce his profession, Dunn nodded lightly and followed up on his words.
"So? It's perfectly normal for a young, wealthy man with such good looks to be popular with women, right?" Sno waved his arms theatrically, his flamboyant air immediately overflowing.
Dunn was, after all, an experienced Nightmare who had seen many people's dreams, so he was fairly familiar with this sort of situation. But before he could react, Sno suddenly seemed to lose all color and sank into dejection. In the tone of a drunken man, he said:
"But who could have guessed that woman was the mistress of the Waltz Faction Leader! If I'd known she had that kind of background, I wouldn't have provoked her even if it killed me! I even suspect this was a trap they set for me! Let me tell you, the gangs of Backlund and the street punks of Tingen aren't even in the same league. Those people really kill without batting an eye!"
Seeing Sno's emotions become increasingly hysterical, Dunn immediately soothed him.
"Since you're so afraid, come to the Police Station with me. Once we confirm that there's nothing wrong with you, we'll protect you."
"The Police Station? Fine. Do your prisons have private cells? It'd be best if you locked me up somewhere nobody could visit! Oh, of course, the food has to be decent. Fish and chips are already the bare minimum. You can't force a Middle Class person earning over fifty pounds a month to eat that pig slop..." Dunn's mouth twitched slightly as he listened to Sno. He knew that people's thoughts could easily go astray in dreams, but this was the first time he had heard such unrestrained demands.
However, he did not relax his guard because of it. Instead, he continued maintaining the dream's progression and led Sno toward the Police Station.
About fifteen minutes later, when Klein saw the captain and Leonard appear at the inn's entrance again, the tension in his heart finally eased. Only after the two returned to the carriage did he finally ask:
"How was it?"
"His behavior in the dream was normal as well. There were no obvious contradictions in what he said. I gave him many opportunities to escape, but he remained compliant throughout. He even hid directly behind me when danger arose on the road, as if being beside me was the safest place possible. Hmm, that matches the expectations an ordinary person with some assets would have of the police."
"Right, only people with something on their minds would seize the chance to run, just like me..." Dunn's words undoubtedly reminded Klein of his previous dream, and he inwardly grumbled before turning to Leonard.
Sensing Klein's gaze, Leonard spread his hands.
"There were no Extraordinary Items in his room, and there were no signs of climbing around the window. There was perfume in his suitcase, but it was only ordinary Men's Perfume, not the essential oils or Pure Dew needed for Ritual Magic. The only thing remotely connected to mysticism was a Silver Antique Knife, but it only had three or four hundred years of history. It wasn't any kind of Extraordinary Item. If I had to say there was anything abnormal about him, it'd be that he's too handsome! He's only the tiniest bit less handsome than me... Mm, fine, I admit it. He's just a tiny bit more handsome than me."
His characteristically frivolous words eased the previously solemn atmosphere. As the carriage started moving again, their conversation gradually shifted to the initiation mission Klein was about to undertake...
Watching the carriage depart, Sno, who had already withdrawn from the dream, gently stroked the little kitten licking its paws. Although he knew he had probably passed the test, he still did not let down his guard. He merely lay casually on the bed, staring blankly in lazy idleness.
"Heinsohn Vincent is dead, and I intercepted the notebook too. I've already removed the two triggers that would have worsened Dunn's mental burden. Now it depends on how that lousy screenwriter plans to rewrite the script..."
As Sno pondered, the image of a gallant horse formed from white clouds suddenly appeared in his mind. As the horse ran through his thoughts, murmurs began echoing in his ears—
"'Lord of the Mysteries' is only a novel. Many readers have read it, yet none of them were corrupted or noticed by high-level existences. Therefore, I won't be corrupted or noticed because of the knowledge I gained from the story of Lord of the Mysteries..."
The voice overlapped layer upon layer, repeating itself over and over as it continuously stimulated Sno's nerves. As this happened, his spirituality drained away as rapidly as a River Dam Break. Yet strangely, nearly every second, an amount equal to one quarter of his current total spirituality was drawn away, while his spirituality remained fixed at three quarters.
The murmurs continued for a full minute before finally stopping. Only then did Sno let out a breath of relief and emerge from his half-meditative state.
"It has to be that damned pen again! It's going to kill me! Can The Writer really be this overpowered?"
Rubbing his throbbing brow, Sno slowly adjusted his mental state. The Mystery World was just that treacherous. Without a sufficiently powerful Golden Finger, even the most overpowered transmigrator would have to kneel.
Yes, Sno really was a transmigrator, and the most miserable kind at that. In other worlds, if transmigrators knew the plot, they could practically take all the world's resources at will. But in the Mystery World... Forget plot advantages—the knowledge itself was poisonous!
Transmigrating into the world of Lord of the Mysteries would have been bad enough. The worst part was that when he woke up, a Crazy Beauty was sitting right in front of him, pushing a cup of Green Fizzy Viscous Liquid toward him that looked like it had been ladled out of Gul'dan's Pot. The only thing missing was a line like, "Drink. This is your destiny."
Fortunately, his Golden Finger was powerful enough. Otherwise, he would have become a member of the Crazy Beauty troupe by now.
As for his Golden Finger, it had quite an extraordinary origin. First, there was an Origin Quality called White Horse is Not a Horse. Second, there was the corresponding Sequence's Uniqueness—A Foot of Rod.
This Origin Quality and Uniqueness did not belong to any of the twenty-two pathways of the original work, nor were they a Foreign Sequence originating from the Great Old Ones in the Starry Sky that had been mentioned in the original work.
If he had to assign it a position, Sno felt that it was more like the method by which those extraordinary species mentioned in the original work advanced before the Blasphemy Slate appeared—
The so-called "Cross-Pathway Medication."
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