Visit Azik

Mr. Azik's home was located within the city, a detached house with a lawn in front and a garden behind. Its overall grounds were even larger than Old Neil's home. Such a fine house, and within Tingen City at that—an ordinary university lecturer's salary probably could not afford it.

Old Neil's house was worth 900 pounds. This one was probably worth three or five thousand pounds...

Luther surveyed the house and thought to himself as he stepped forward and pulled the rope beside the gate.

"Ding! Ding!"

The doorbell rang in response.

Footsteps sounded shortly afterward, and before long, the gate opened. Mr. Azik, dressed in casual home clothes, appeared behind it.

"Welcome."

He smiled faintly. "I've been waiting for you for quite some time. Please, come in."

Before coming to Mr. Azik's home, Luther had already contacted him through Klein, obtained Azik's address, and arranged a time to meet. This was to avoid the awkward situation of arriving only to find Azik absent.

"Good afternoon."

Luther nodded to him. "Mr. Azik, sorry to disturb you."

Azik took the initiative to step aside, welcomed him into the house, closed the door, and led him to the living room on the first floor.

"Please, have a seat... Would you like something to drink? Coffee or black tea?"

Azik asked.

Sitting on the soft, luxurious sofa, Luther thought for a moment. "Black tea will be fine."

After saying that, he suddenly grew curious. Azik's home was so fine, yet there were no servants attending him. That was quite unlike the lifestyle of Loen's middle and upper classes.

If that was the case, who would make the tea? Did he enjoy doing it himself?

"Snap!"

Mr. Azik, with bronze skin and gentle features, raised a hand and snapped his fingers.

From the empty kitchen behind the living room came the sudden clatter of cups and saucers. Before long, a tray floated over through the air. Teacups and a teapot rested steadily atop it.

Luther's gaze sharpened. Ordinary people could only see the floating tray, but with his eyes, he saw a phantom figure carrying it—apparently a low-level undead creature recorded in the files, a Wraith.

Yet he had never seen an ordinary Wraith capable of such things. Not only could it affect physical matter, it was even intelligent enough to brew black tea!

"Clang."

The tray was placed on the coffee table, and the porcelain struck it with a crisp sound. The invisible Wraith respectfully bowed to Azik, then drifted back into the kitchen and did not reappear.

"Give it a try. She's very good at making tea."

Azik said with a smile to the dumbfounded Luther.

"...All right."

Luther picked up the teacup. The tea was a clear, rich red, while the thin porcelain cup was translucent milky white and decorated with delicate, intricate patterns.

It seemed to be expensive bone china. With a cautious attitude, he brought the cup to his lips and took a small sip.

"How is it?"

"...To be honest, I don't know much about this."

Between pretending to be refined and telling the truth, Luther frankly chose the latter. "It just smells rather nice."

Mr. Azik could not help but laugh.

"Heh heh, you really are honest... To be honest, I don't know much about black tea either."

Rather than drink tea, he picked up a cigar from the coffee table and offered it to Luther. "Would you like one?"

"Thank you, but I don't smoke."

Luther shook his head in refusal. In his previous life, he had never liked tobacco or alcohol.

After coming to this world, the danger of losing control made him even less willing to touch such things. More importantly, his younger sister Cecilia had disliked the smell of cigarettes since childhood and would cough whenever she smelled them.

Seeing Luther refuse it, Azik turned and lit it for himself. The strong smell of cigar smoke began spreading through the living room.

When I leave later, I should spend some time in the wind so the smell doesn't linger on my clothes.

Luther thought to himself.

He took several more sips of black tea before finally taking the initiative to speak.

"Mr. Azik, you said you wanted my help. What exactly do you need me to do?"

Azik took a deep puff of his cigar and spoke faintly through the blue-gray smoke he exhaled. "I want you to help me recover my memories of the past."

"Memories of the past?"

Luther asked curiously.

Azik then began explaining his experiences to Luther. It turned out that Mr. Azik's memories were incomplete. He only remembered the years after entering university, while he had no recollection whatsoever of his earlier life. He did not know where he came from, nor did he know who his parents were.

During that time, he gradually discovered that he possessed unusual abilities, and he would occasionally recall fragments of his past. Pursuing that past had become an obsession that drove him forward.

"Mr. Azik, do you mean that the aura around me nearly made you remember something, so you hope I can let you sense that aura again?" Luther understood Azik's intentions. "But I don't even know what aura you mean, much less how to release it."

Although he said that, Luther had more or less formed a guess. The aura that gave Azik a sense of familiarity was very likely the influence of the True Creator upon him.

But who exactly had Azik been in the past, to have a connection with such a dangerous evil god without being affected and falling into corruption?

"There is no need to worry. I naturally have a way; I only need your cooperation," Azik said. "I will summon a special undead creature and use it to draw out the hidden aura within you. Its appearance may be a little frightening, so I hope you will not mind... Of course, as I said before, regardless of the result, I will give you the reward you deserve."

Luther had come here for the reward, so naturally he did not refuse. He nodded. "All right. Please begin as soon as possible."

If it ended earlier, he could still go to the shooting range and practice with his revolver.

Seeing this, Azik said nothing further. He took out a segment of gleaming white Bone Flute from his pocket, cut his index finger with the nail of his thumb, and let a drop of blood fall upon it. The bright red blood quickly seeped into the Bone Flute.

"Wooo—"

Though no one blew into it, the Bone Flute began making a sound on its own. Accompanied by that hollow, low tone, the surrounding environment became hazy. Great swathes of vivid colors piled and overlapped...

It was like a chaotic world painted by the bold oils of the most frenzied artist.

Luther saw a bronze door appear behind Azik—just as he had once seen in a dream. The surface of the door was rusted and damaged, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was not rust at all, but twisted faces.

"Creak—"

The great door slowly opened. Black vines stretched out from within, wrapped around Azik, then knotted and gathered before him into a sphere.

A crack opened in the center of the sphere, and from it emerged a transparent monster, like a fusion of an octopus and a jellyfish. It extended slimy tentacles toward Luther.

Luther looked at the monster with some wariness.

Before coming here, he had taken some precautions. He had mailed out a letter he had written, addressed to himself at Blackthorn Security Company. If he could leave today, he would naturally retrieve the letter; if he could not return, the others at the company would receive it and immediately take notice of Azik.

But it seemed he had worried too much. That tentacle merely rested slimily against his forehead and caused him no harm.

Before long, vague illusions began forming before his eyes.

Within those illusions were endlessly soaring Feathered Serpents, as well as even more strange beings.