Catching Klein Offline

Black hair, black eyes, and those features...

They really looked alike.

Although Klein had guessed that Morien might be a half-blooded elf, seeing such features up close still made him sigh involuntarily.

"What kind of expression is that?" Morien's voice interrupted Klein's musings. "Let me make this clear first, I'm not gay."

Morien crossed his arms and swept his gaze over Klein from head to toe. He frowned, tilted his head back slightly, and made a strange expression of disgust.

"So don't look at me like, 'Ah, this is my lost youth.'"

Klein's eyelid twitched.

Reading novels every day was incredibly convenient, available anytime.

How was this anything like the "high-ranking Mid-Sequence powerhouse" he had imagined?

Still, he answered honestly:

"Neither am I."

Morien's expression did not change. He still looked disgusted.

"Really?"

"I don't believe you."

Klein felt his eyelid twitch even harder, so he put on an awkward yet polite smile.

Could the person before him be from the Hunter pathway?

Klein pondered silently.

The internal Nighthawk files described Hunters as:

Excellent trackers, outstanding trap experts, skilled hunters. Sequence 8 was called Provoker, while Sequence 7 was Arsonist.

Perhaps the person before him was a Mid-Sequence Hunter?

Klein guessed inwardly but did not say it aloud.

Yet for some reason, a strange feeling lingered in Klein's heart, giving him an inexplicable sense of familiarity toward Morien.

It was a strange feeling. They had clearly met for the first time, and Klein had been wary of him just moments ago, yet he suddenly relaxed, as though they had once been very close friends...

Klein even lost the thought of trying to shake off the feeling, allowing that familiarity to envelop him.

"Haha, just kidding."

Morien lowered his crossed arms, smiled as he stepped forward, and held out his hand.

"Come to think of it, we're both members of the Divination Club, yet we've never actually talked."

"My name is Morien."

He did not seem malicious.

Klein secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

So Klein reached out as well and shook Morien's hand.

"I'm Klein Moretti." Klein shook Morien's hand.

"Klein Moretti?" Morien sighed for some inexplicable reason. "Ah, so that's the name."

Then he shook his head.

"Not good, not good."

"What's so bad about it?" Klein asked instinctively, yet he did not feel offended. It felt as though he were simply joking normally with a friend.

"Hmph, anyway, it's just no good." Morien smiled and shook his head. "I trusted you so much that I told you I was Morien, yet you answered with 'Klein Moretti.'"

Klein was even more confused.

A temperamental Mid-Sequence powerhouse...

A little crazy. His mental state might not be stable.

Klein made his judgment.

After a light shake, they quickly released each other's hands.

"Let's talk." Morien pointed to a room behind Klein. It was Klein's favorite room, Citrine. "Perhaps we'll have quite a few topics to discuss."

After saying that, he patted Klein's shoulder, gave it another squeeze, and then headed straight for the room.

Klein hesitated and struggled for several seconds before ultimately choosing to follow.

He pushed open the door and entered the room.

It was a room that looked very much in the style of a Seer. A table stood in the middle, covered with all kinds of divination tools, with more stored in its drawers.

Morien pulled out a chair and sat down, gesturing toward the seat across the table.

"Please sit, Mr. Klein." Morien smiled. "May I call you that?"

"No problem." Klein pulled out a chair and sat down as well. "Then I should call you..."

As he spoke, Klein, who had intended to make small talk, suddenly realized that he could not tell whether the name Morien had given at the beginning was a first name or a surname.

"Uh..."

"High elves do not have surnames." Morien took out a deck of tarot cards. "Just like the Queen of the Elves, 'Calamity' Hosinham. Her name is simply Hosinham; she does not need a separate surname."

So he really was an elf.

Klein nodded to himself.

But Morien suddenly changed the subject and gave a soft laugh.

"Hmm, perhaps I should put it this way."

"Perhaps?"

Klein's curiosity was piqued.

"That's right." Morien shrugged as he shuffled the cards. "With my appearance, pretending to be a high elf, or even elven nobility, would be effortless."

"Pretending?" Klein repeated.

"That's right, pretending." Morien smiled faintly and spread the tarot cards across the table. "Draw three."

Klein suspiciously drew three cards.

Since when did I say I wanted a reading?

Klein wondered.

He felt as though someone were leading him by the nose, but in Morien's presence, that sense of affinity was impossible to shake off, leaving him utterly unable to stay on guard.

The first card.

Klein turned it over.

It showed a traveler carrying a bundle, with a little dog at his side. The number on the tarot card was 0.

"Oh, this is an upright Fool card," Morien explained.

"Mm." Klein nodded and turned over the second card.

It was a burning, collapsing tower, with the number 16 above it.

"A reversed The Tower card." Morien shook his head. "It seems the meaning isn't very good."

"Mm..." Klein frowned.

He pinched the third card and gently turned it over.

Then his brow immediately furrowed even deeper.

Klein had never seen this card before. He could not tell whether it was upright or reversed. Two Xs were written in the two corners where numbers should have been.

A sphere was drawn in the middle of the card. It looked somewhat familiar.

"This is a Homeland Card." Morien raised both hands, his tone full of surprise.

"There isn't a card like that in tarot!"

Morien lowered his hands and said as though it were only natural:

"I secretly slipped it in."

"Is that not allowed?"

Klein took a deep breath, feeling his eyelid twitch again.

"You really are..."

He looked at the card, and his voice suddenly caught.

The blue sphere, the familiar distribution...

This Homeland Card...

His eyes abruptly widened, his pupils contracting sharply.

"This... this is..." he murmured.

Thinking of what Morien had said earlier, a bold guess suddenly formed in his mind. He jerked his head up and met Morien's gaze.

Morien smiled and reached out. Before Klein, he opened his mouth for the first time.

A familiar language reached Klein's ears, and his eyes suddenly grew moist.

"Allow me to introduce myself again."

Morien spoke in a light tone.

"My surname is Mo, and my given name is Morien. It means an auspicious blessing in the home, a gift from heaven."

"Mr. Klein..."

"May I ask your surname?"

Add Bookmark

Return to Contents

Report Chapter Error

Share with Friends: