What a Pain to Figure Out!

"Leonard, it wasn't Klein. I can vouch for that. I was studying in my room the whole time. You know how terrible my memory is. I have to put in a lot more effort if I want to get into Tingen University and learn all that occult knowledge.

"So I must have been putting in a hundred thousand percent of my effort, but I was still controlled in that environment. That can only mean the other person was much stronger than me. Klein is only a Sequence 9; he couldn't have done it.

"Besides, I trust Klein's character. He isn't that kind of person. Ever since he joined the Nighthawks, he's never done anything bad."

Lynch earnestly defended Klein.

He'd thought about throwing the Antigonus Notebook somewhere that would make Klein sick, just to get a little revenge on him. He hadn't actually meant to make Klein look suspicious.

"I'm only voicing my suspicions."

Leonard glanced at Lynch and gave a helpless smile.

He should have known what Lynch was like. If he said anything bad about Lynch's friend, it was a wonder Lynch hadn't started a fight with him.

But Leonard hadn't necessarily wanted Lynch to believe that Klein was suspicious. After all, he had no evidence. He just wanted Lynch to be cautious.

If Lynch was controlled again, he might start suspecting Klein.

Leonard took a step back and apologized to Klein.

If Leonard's guess was right, Klein was at least a Seer Sequence 5 Marionettist. There was no advantage to the Nighthawks provoking a Sequence 5 Beyonder who was about to become a demigod.

Hopefully, the other person would stop once he'd had his fun.

All in all, the other person probably meant no harm. Even after controlling Lynch, he hadn't killed him. That was a good thing.

"Don't suspect your teammates without good reason," Dunn said quietly.

He'd also suspected Klein earlier. After all, based on Lynch's behavior, he wasn't a liar or a bad person, and he had no reason to do this.

Klein, on the other hand, really was suspicious.

But there had to be evidence. Suspecting a teammate without good reason wasn't a good habit.

"Sorry. I may have been overthinking it."

Leonard raised both hands to show he was sorry.

Klein quickly shook his head to show he didn't mind, but he still felt there was more to the matter than met the eye.

He wondered whether he could go to Sefirah Castle and divine about it. Had all this really been a coincidence?

Dunn stopped looking at Klein and turned to Old Neil.

"I'll leave the rest to you. I need to know what the person who appeared here looked like."

Old Neil nodded. He took several small bottles from his pocket and sprinkled the liquid inside them around the room.

Then he took out some powder and sprinkled it over himself. An invisible force enveloped him.

Lynch could hear Old Neil murmuring, "I pray for the Goddess's power. I await the favor of Evernight..."

A breeze blew in through the window, bringing with it an invisible terror.

Lynch felt countless energies circling around him. Then the energy split, much of it winding around Old Neil, while only a few small streams lingered around him, Dunn, and Leonard.

Perhaps this was the Goddess's favor toward Beyonders of her Pathway.

He tried to get the Stone of Myriad Phenomena to absorb the energy, but it refused.

The Stone of Myriad Phenomena said it couldn't absorb it for now.

Perhaps it could someday, but for now, it could only absorb the energy on Beyonder items.

Lynch gave up on making the Stone of Myriad Phenomena do anything. He pretended not to notice the energy winding around him and watched Old Neil.

Old Neil was holding a pen. He quickly sketched Lynch, then drew a man with deep-set eyes, a high nose, and naturally curly hair.

Old Neil let out a breath.

"This man has blue eyes, a false tooth, and black hair."

Old Neil's body twitched, then returned to normal.

He gathered up the things on the floor and turned to Lynch with a grin. "You little rascal, you really did come here. I saw you standing downstairs like an idiot, wearing a shirt and staring into space. Then you threw the notebook up here. Your aim was pretty good—you landed it right on the corpse."

Lynch breathed a small sigh of relief.

Sure enough, the act he'd put on when he arrived had been necessary. In a world like this, any action could be noticed.

"What happened after that? What did I do next?"

Lynch asked, pretending to be curious.

He didn't know how much Old Neil could see.

"I could only see you standing downstairs like a fool, letting the cold wind blow on you. It seemed to go on for a while. I suggest you go home and drink some ginger soup, or you might get sick."

Lynch breathed another sigh of relief.

He'd stood downstairs for five minutes. It seemed Old Neil could only see what had happened within those five minutes.

"Okay, I'll have some when I get home. After that, I'll get back to the company for lessons as soon as I can. The entrance exam for Tingen University is coming up, so I need to work harder."

Lynch rubbed his temples. He felt a little sleepy.

He'd only slept for a little while last night. Even a Sleepless couldn't really go without sleep, could he?

"There's no need to hurry back. The daytime lessons are canceled, so you can rest this morning. Go practice your marksmanship this afternoon. Oh, and stop by the company to see Mrs. Orianna and get ten pounds. Buy yourself a cane."

Dunn thought for a moment.

Lynch nodded eagerly.

Getting reimbursed for a cane? That was fantastic!

"Buy a decent one. Don't embarrass yourself by taking a shoddy one out. Ladies care about the quality of canes, too. And so you don't skimp on it, remember to get a receipt. Bring back whatever money you don't spend."

Dunn seemed afraid Lynch would be stingy and buy a poor-quality cane, so he reminded him again and even insisted he get a receipt.

Lynch sighed. Well, there went his chance to pocket a little money.

Only after seeing Lynch nod did Dunn turn to Frye.

"Go find a nearby police officer and tell—"

Lynch quickly raised his hand.

"Captain, I'll go find Officer Mountbatten. He's more useful than an ordinary officer, and he handled the kidnapping case here during the day. He'll be unhappy if we go to someone else."

Dunn considered it for a moment, then nodded.

"Then go find him. Be quick. Once he gets here, you can go home and rest."

Dunn gave the order.

Lynch nodded quickly, then hurried out.

After he left, Leonard sauntered over to Klein and asked in a low voice:

"I don't understand. Why did the person who did all this have to involve Lynch? If he wanted to warn us, he could've thrown the Antigonus Notebook in himself.

"He used Lynch, but didn't hurt him. So who do you think it was? What a pain to figure out!"