At dusk, Klein returned by carriage to the house he rented at 15 Minsk Street after a day of protection duty.
As he recalled what he had seen and heard while accompanying Reporter Mike on his interviews, his heart felt heavy.
The death of the old woman ruined by the Grain Act, and the children forced to steal under the control of gangs whom Old Kohler had shown them, had both left a deep impression on him.
Even clockmakers and laundresses who were relatively better off lived on the brink of ruin. The slightest setback could put them in the same position as the old woman who had died before him and Reporter Mike.
That place is closer to a jungle than a human society... No wonder the Emperor wrote in his diary, "The Industrial Revolution I began with my own hands, the Steam and Machinery Era I forged, will become a breeding ground for the descent of evil gods"... If this keeps up, the True Creator or the Primordial Demoness really might descend... With a heavy sigh, Klein took out his key and opened the door.
He had just hung his hat and coat on the rack when an ethereal, drifting voice sounded beside his ear:
"I brought the item I mentioned before."
Klein jumped. He raised Confession on reflex, then relaxed when he saw who was sitting on his sofa. Lowering the gun, he shook his head and smiled.
"Miss Sharron, you always make quite an entrance..."
Sharron sat quietly on Klein's sofa in a Gothic court dress and a small black bonnet, looking like an oversized doll.
"Next time, I'll knock on the window first," Sharron said with an impassive nod.
A ghost knocking on the window? That would be even scarier! Klein dropped the subject and