"Next, I still need to visit the Bravehearts Bar."
A wraith spirit lurked in the house where the Abraham descendant had lost control. In theory, spirituality magic should work on wraith spirits as well. But to be safe, he still planned to get a revolver and some purification bullets.
Edward took out his last flask of Polyjuice Potion, added Emlyn's hair, and soon assumed his appearance. He then spent another soli hiring an errand runner to lead him to the Bravehearts Bar.
"This is the place, sir." The errand runner was a young boy in shabby clothes, probably from the Poor District.
After readily paying him, Edward asked on a whim, "Do you know Ian?"
Ian was a young boy in the original story who worked for a detective who was a double agent. He was the instigator of the famous "5-Pound Ambassador" mission.
The boy's eyes flickered, and he shook his head innocently. "No."
"All right."
Edward didn't press him. He straightened his clothes and pushed open the Bravehearts Bar's heavy black wooden door. A burly man nearly two meters tall stood at the entrance with his arms folded. He glanced at Edward, then immediately looked away.
Since it was morning, there were few customers. Behind the counter, the bartender polished glasses while yawning, clearly having slept poorly the night before.
Edward approached the counter, and the bartender forced himself to greet him warmly. "Hello, sir. What would you like?"
He placed a one-soli note on the counter and got straight to the point like a regular customer. "Give me your best beer. Also... I'd like to buy a revolver and some bullets."
The bartender's movements faltered slightly. He set down his glass. "Sir, I'm not quite sure what you mean. This is a bar."
"If I've come here to ask, naturally I've already done my homework. Don't worry. You can keep an eye on me the whole time."
The bartender stared at him for a while, then served him a glass of golden beer. "Follow me."
Edward picked up the glass and took a sip. A refreshing coolness immediately spread through him. He smacked his lips and reached a verdict. Not as good as Butterbeer.
He set down the glass and followed the bartender to Billiards Room Three. The door was open. An old man of about fifty with a large nose and a linen shirt was dozing against the wall, holding a pool cue in both hands.
The bartender hurried inside and whispered a few words in the old man's ear. The old man opened his cloudy eyes, glanced at Edward in the doorway, and nodded.
"Come in."
"You want a revolver and bullets?" The old man stood, making the enormous scar on his face look even more sinister. "Don't you know that privately selling firearms and ammunition is illegal?"
"Of course I do. That's why I came to you, isn't it?"
"Hahahaha!" The old man laughed loudly. "Five pounds for a Custom High-Powered Revolver and thirty rounds."
"No problem."
Edward answered readily. "But I also need some special bullets."
"Oh? Special how?"
"Well, the kind that can purify wraith spirits."
The old man's expression froze. He stared hard at Edward, scrutinizing him from head to toe, before saying, "Where did you hear about those? That's outside my line of business."
He limped back and forth for a while, wrestling with the decision, then said, "I can ask for you, but I'll need some extra pounds."
"Thank you."
The old man limped out of the billiards room, presumably to find Mr. Zombie and Miss Wraith.
A little over ten minutes later, he returned with a box. "There are twelve purification bullets here. Including my fee, that'll be a hundred and fifty pounds."
"Deal."
Looks like the amount's too small to meet those two.
That made sense. In the original story, Miss Wraith, Sharron, had accepted the job of protecting Klein because she urgently needed money at the time. Otherwise, with her Sequence 5 strength, she normally wouldn't have bothered with so few pounds.
Still, Edward said, "Please thank your friends for me. By the way, if I have other commissions, can I approach them too?"
"I wouldn't know about that, but I hope someone as easy to deal with as you comes back often to buy from me." The old man seemed to be in a good mood. He winked and smiled. "I recently got some mummy powder. They say it's very helpful in that department. I imagine you could use some."
"...No, thanks. Goodbye!"
Everything was ready. All that remained was to wait until nightfall.
Midnight.
32 Wilde Street, South Bridge District.
Two figures abruptly appeared in the shadows of the house. They were Edward and Audrey, both wearing wizard robes.
"Why did we have to change into wizard robes?" Edward asked in puzzlement.
This was Audrey's first real involvement in a Beyonder incident outside the Tarot Club. She did her best to suppress her excitement, but still couldn't stop her heart from dancing. "It's called a sense of ceremony! We're the only two Hogwarts wizards in this world. When we act together, of course we need a ritual of our own."
A ritual?
All right, that was an "old tradition" of the Tarot Club.
"The house in front of us is tonight's target. There's a wraith spirit hiding inside. It seems capable of making people strangle themselves."
Audrey waved her dragon bone wand, brimming with confidence. "My wand's Beyonder ability protects me. It can't control me."
That was precisely why Edward had dared to bring her along to "broaden her horizons."
"Door Opening."
Grasping Audrey's wrist, he passed through the wall with her and entered the house.
Crimson moonlight streamed through the window. The interior was a mess, with signs of rummaging everywhere. It seemed to have been visited by thieves more than once.
"Lumos."
They spoke the incantation together, and a pearly white light drove away the darkness.
Audrey looked around curiously, but one hand carefully clutched Edward's clothes, revealing that she was still a little nervous.
Tap, tap, tap.
Strange footsteps sounded. At the staircase ahead, a dark figure staggered toward them. His head seemed to have lost its support, wobbling on his neck as though it might fall off at any moment. His eyes bulged severely, and terror was etched into the muscles of his face.
Even though Edward had prepared himself mentally, the sudden sight of that thing still turned his stomach.
"Petrificus Totalus! Diffindo!"
Before Edward could act, Audrey swung her wand first and unleashed a deadly two-spell combo.
With a crack, the thing shattered into pieces all over the floor.
First blood!
Edward gave her a thumbs-up.
"Is it over?" She sounded slightly surprised.
"That was just a thief the wraith spirit controlled and killed while he was stealing. He was already dead. What you saw was only the wraith spirit's influence. The real star hasn't appeared yet."
As he spoke, a chill abruptly came from behind him, then turned into a cold gust that rushed toward his neck-the wraith spirit was trying to control him.
He hurriedly grabbed Audrey and flashed several meters away, swinging his wand at the same time.
"Reveal True Form."
This spell originally revealed a target's true state, working against Transfiguration, an animagus, or Polyjuice Potion alike. With spirituality added, it successfully exposed the invisible wraith spirit.
The wraith spirit simply abandoned concealment and lunged at Audrey with a shriek.
Whoosh!
A jet of bright red flame burst from Audrey's mouth. The instant the wraith spirit touched it, it burned like a wad of cotton, leaving not even ashes behind.
Double kill.
Edward lowered his right hand, which held the revolver, feeling rather odd. Wasn't I supposed to be showing her the ropes? How did she end up carrying me instead?
Audrey patted her chest and let out a long breath. "Phew, that scared me to death."
You certainly didn't look scared.
A faint layer of golden dragon scales now covered Audrey's skin, and her emerald eyes had become golden slit pupils. Compared with her usual poise as a well-bred young lady, she now had an otherworldly air.
Audrey grew a little embarrassed under his gaze. The gold in her pupils and the scales on her body quickly faded. "These changes are outward manifestations of my ability when I use it. I can't control them."
"They're pretty cool."
"Hehe."
Although there had only been one wraith spirit in the house in the original story, they still carefully searched every room. Only after confirming it was safe did Edward head to the basement with Audrey, where they found the Brown Notebook on a long table.
Edward picked it up and quickly flipped through it. He found the page containing the formulas, tore it out, and handed the rest to Audrey.
"I didn't expect it to contain secrets from the Fourth Epoch. The Abraham Family, the Antigonus Family, the Zaratul Family... It even mentions that the gods themselves intervened in the War of the Four Emperors," Audrey exclaimed as she read.
"To be precise, the gods were the ones who set the War of the Four Emperors in motion."
"Unfortunately, although he recorded his life from childhood onward, he didn't mention where the Abraham Family actually was."
Edward smiled. "I'm already very happy to have the Sequence 8 and Sequence 7 formulas. Next, I need to gather the ingredients, brew the potions, and advance. I plan to take a two-pronged approach: search for them myself while also commissioning others to help."
He gently rubbed the page containing the formulas. "Besides asking the Hanged Man and Mr. Sun at the Tarot Club, perhaps we could ask Xio and Fors too? They've been involved in Backlund's Beyonder circles for quite some time. They should have other connections."
Audrey nodded in agreement.
"And we can ask them about Mr. Hanged Man's commission to find Qilingus too. Oh, right! Was there any information about Qilingus in the scenes you foresaw?"
"Let me think..."
Edward closed his eyes. "I think... you discovered him in disguise while attending a ball, then reported him to Mr. Fool. One of his angels then stepped in and killed him."
Wait, could I use this information to participate in the hunt for Qilingus? His total bounty was as high as thirty thousand pounds! Even a tenth of it would be a huge sum-he couldn't really live off a woman forever.
The key was that he wouldn't have to risk his life. He only needed to report it.
"Wait, you're saying Mr. Fool has angels serving him?"
As Mr. Fool's foremost fangirl in the Tarot Club, Audrey had never doubted his greatness. Even so, the sudden mention of an angel took her quite by surprise.
"Of course!"
Edward cleared his throat and recited with dramatic inflection.
"Six angels attend Mr. Fool's throne. The Angel of Mercury is the embodiment of fate, the Angel of Death is the executor of the Underworld, the Angel of Redemption conveys divine oracles, the Angel of Life is the crystallization of wisdom, and the Angel of Retribution is the judge of the Divine Kingdom. The most powerful of them is the Angel of Time. He is a king from ancient times and the bell ringer of the Divine Kingdom."
Audrey's eyes practically sparkled with little stars. "Wow! Just what you'd expect of Mr. Fool!"
"Ahem. Back to Qilingus. He came to Backlund to assassinate... Let me think. I believe his name was Duke Negan. So if you receive an invitation to a ball at Duke Negan's home, tell me immediately."
"All right. Does that mean we don't need to commission Xio and Fors?"
Before you continue