"Knock, knock, knock."
Klein raised his hand and knocked lightly on the door before him.
"Klein, you're here."
The man who opened the door was a middle-aged man with Balam features, dressed in a white shirt and black waistcoat. He was the lecturer Klein knew, Mr. Azik.
"Mr. Azik." Klein chose his words carefully. He had told Mr. Azik two days earlier that he would be visiting:
"I've uncovered some information about the matter you entrusted to me. Besides that, I've also come to say goodbye today."
Azik's eyes flickered. He led Klein into his house and into a sitting room furnished with a fireplace and a rocking chair.
"Would you like one?"
Azik first politely asked whether Klein would care for a cigar. Only after Klein declined did he speak with barely contained eagerness:
"You mean something related to 'my past'? Really?"
There was unmistakable excitement in Azik's voice, though he did his utmost to restrain himself. While Klein was considering how to begin, Azik suddenly spoke first, sounding puzzled:
"Klein, the discordance in your fate seems to have disappeared."
"Yes..." Klein said with a wistful sigh, arranging what he would say next in his mind:
"Mr. Azik, that's because we dealt with the mastermind behind it. That's why the discordance vanished. And your origins... are closely connected to this matter, too."
Azik's gaze grew more focused:
"Go on."
A week earlier, after becoming a Clown, Klein had not forgotten Azik, who had helped him before. While handling the handover of his duties, he had noticed a report from Lamud Town. After ascending into the Gray Mist under his control and performing a divination, he had confirmed that it contained a clue to Azik's origins.
After discussing it with Nimrod, Klein had concluded that the headless skeleton in Lamud