"No, we didn't..." Klein's rebuttal was interrupted by Benson with a smile, "Although Elizabeth is indeed a bit young, and although her family situation is much better than ours, I think you two are quite suitable. It's just that you may have to wait a few years. She is attending public school, and her goal is to get into university. Marriage is at least six or seven years away. Of course, you can get engaged first."
"... Don't think so far ahead, okay..." Klein took a breath and said.
"I don't like Elizabeth. Well, to be precise, I don't like girls much younger than me. I prefer someone more mature."
Actually, I can accept anything within reasonable limits, but not now... He added helplessly to himself.
"You prefer someone more mature?" Melissa frowned slightly. "Then you need to resolve your marriage issue as soon as possible."
Huh? Klein couldn't understand his sister's leap of thought and asked in bewilderment:
"Why?"
Melissa explained very seriously, "By the time you've saved enough money for your future marriage, you'll be around twenty-five or twenty-six. Girls who are a bit more mature than you at that age are either already married or engaged. Do you really want to pursue a widow?"
"What is all this nonsense..." Klein thought to himself, completely bewildered.
Benson then laughed and refuted his sister:
" Melissa, you don't understand. In today's middle class, it's not uncommon to see women in their thirties who are neither married nor engaged. They are mostly devotees of the ideal woman, and most of them have the ability to make a good living. They would rather be single than accept an unsatisfactory marriage. Um, I read that in 'Family' magazine."
"Really?" Melissa was only a sixteen-year-old girl and didn't know much about such things.
Seeing that his brother and sister were getting more and more engrossed in their conversation, Klein coughed and said:
"When I say mature, I mean mental state, not necessarily someone older than me. Besides, Benson should be the one more worried about marital issues."
"I'm sorry, brother, I had no choice..." he silently apologized in his heart.
"..." Melissa paused for a moment, then nodded emphatically, "Yes!"
Originally intending to discuss the marriage issues of the middle class in more detail, Benson suddenly shivered and looked at his sister, who was staring at him, and said:
"I'm at a turning point in my life, and I must devote all my energy to studying. Only when I have a satisfactory job and some savings will I have the confidence to pursue the woman I like and give her a wonderful life."
Klein and Melissa were taken aback at first, then blurted out simultaneously:
Do you have a lady in mind?
Benson, who had only given a perfunctory answer, was startled and hurriedly shook his head:
"No!"
"I'm just giving an example!"
Inside a somewhat gloomy and dimly lit house in Hillston Borough, Backlund.
Before the unlit fireplace, a middle-aged man with graying temples sat comfortably in a rocking chair, holding a dark pipe, gazing intently at the visitors in the sofa area.
He is the owner here, Isengard Stanton, a very famous private Detective in his small circle, but he doesn't run his own agency; he just has an assistant to help him.
Wearing a white shirt and black vest, Isengard brought his pipe to his lips, took a deep, blissful drag, and slowly exhaled, saying:
"A half-hour consultation costs £1. If I were you, I certainly wouldn't waste a single second of your time."
The two ladies in the sofa area were Fors Wall and Xio Derecha. They had collected information on " Admiral Hurricane " Qilangos and planned to ask the great Detective, who was skilled in deductive reasoning, to help them summarize the target's behavioral patterns.
Of course, they omitted Qilangos's name and altered the descriptions of anything involving the supernatural.
Looking at Isengard, whose face was thin, angular, and whose blue eyes were dark, Xio Derecha handed the file bag to Isengard's assistant, a brown-haired young man with gold-rimmed glasses and a capable demeanor.
" Detective, I hope you can find the target's behavioral patterns in Backlund from the data."
Although not tall, when Xio Derecha sat upright and spoke in a deep voice, his imposing presence still commanded respect.
Isengard gave her a deep look, took the file bag from his assistant, untied it, and pulled out the documents inside.
He put down his pipe and began to read intently, page by page, without missing a single one.
A dozen minutes later, the gentleman with graying temples slowly tapped the armrest and said:
"The target has an obsessive love for the wind... so in the ' Capital of Dust ' Backlund, he certainly won't choose to live in a heavily polluted area long-term. That means he'll probably live in Queens Borough, the West Borough, Hillston Borough, Cherwood Borough, or the North Borough suburbs..."
"The target is a mentally ill Serial Killer murders a living person every other day... The logical approach would be to target homeless people; in Backlund, even the police don't know exactly how many homeless people there are..."
"The target's residence is neither too close nor too far from areas with high concentrations of homeless people, such as the East Borough and Backlund Bridge... Frequently searching for victims in the surrounding area is immature and doesn't match your description... And if it takes a long time to find a target to murder, the target might lose control of their desires and commit a crime when they are easily exposed..."
"The target is a seasoned Sailor with exceptional water skills... A reasonable deduction is that he likely lives not too far from the river, which would be his best option for safe escape in case of an accident..."
"In summary, we can outline the target's area of activity. He resides not far from the Backlund Bridge Area, considering both banks of the Tussock River in the West Borough and Cherwood Borough..."
"The information you provided can only lead to these conclusions."
Although they didn't quite understand, it seemed to make a lot of sense... Hugh and Fors exchanged a glance, nodded solemnly, put away their documents, and got up to leave.
Watching his assistant see the two ladies off, the gray-haired Isengard pulled a brass ornament from his vest pocket. It was a miniature, open book with a vertical eye in the center.
Isengard rocked gently in his chair, stroking the ornaments as he murmured to himself:
" Qilangos has infiltrated Backlund?"
In a basement in Pritz Harbor.
Alger, the " The Hanged Man," sat in his chair, coldly watching the writhing and struggling man before him.
The man was dressed as Sailor, his head completely covered by a light blue film of water, his face flushed a deep purple-red.
His hands kept scratching and pulling at his face, but he could only shake out a few drops of liquid.
Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and gave the signal to give in.
Alger's lips curled into a smile, and he casually clapped his hands.
The pale blue film of water immediately disintegrated, turning into raindrops that fell to the ground.
The man dressed as Sailor gasped for breath, coughing violently until his heart seemed to tear and his lungs to shatter.
Once the other person had calmed down, Alger leaned back slightly and, mimicking the Fool's calm and detached tone, said:
Tell me, what is the purpose of Qilangos's trip to Backlund?
"He... he's doing this to complete a commission, but I don't know the specifics." The pirate, having completely lost the will to resist, answered honestly and frankly, "I only know the potential reward. Qilangos once boasted to us that if this goes well, he'll get an item he's dreamed of for a long time, and the ' Four Kings ' of the pirates will become the 'Five Kings'."
An item he had long dreamed of? Alger frowned, lost in thought.
On Monday morning, Klein still couldn't rest and continued to check houses with red chimneys in Tingen City, as planned.
Unfortunately, he still failed to find his target this time.
He returned home around noon, heated up the leftovers from last night, ate a piece of oatmeal bread, and then took a nap for an hour.
At 2:40, Klein put down the book in his hand, sealed the bedroom with his Spirituality, and once again entered the mysterious space above the Gray Fog.
He casually sat down at the head of the long bronze table, ignoring the heartbeat of the " The Sun," and extended his right hand in advance to give a response.
Within the City of Silver.
Derrick Berg was sweating it out on the practice field when he suddenly felt dizzy and saw thick Gray Fog, and deep within the Gray Fog, he saw " The Fool " sitting in a high-backed chair.
He was startled at first, then stopped what he was doing and lowered his head.
Once the "hallucination" disappeared, he silently counted his heartbeats, picked up his silver-white straight sword, and strode towards the resting area.
After a thousand heartbeats, he had locked himself in the private bathroom.
After waiting for another dozen breaths, he saw a deep red light surge from the void, instantly engulfing him.
Above the Gray Fog, Klein leaned back in his chair, tapped his left teeth twice, and quietly activated his Spirit Vision.
He saw that deep within the Ether Body of the " The Sun," the mottled colors had become pure, like the Dawn, and so he smiled and spoke:
Congratulations, Mr. Bard.
At the same time, he also noticed that the dazzling stars behind the other person's high-backed chair were moving rapidly and Reorganization into a symbol representing the Sun.
It changed naturally without my conscious thought, like a conditioned reflex... Hmm, apart from the palace, the long table, and the chairs, none of the other materialized things could be preserved after I left... They are very special... There are quite a few secrets above this Gray Fog... Klein gazed thoughtfully at everything before him.
Derrick lowered his head again, answering with restraint and humility:
"This is all thanks to your help; this is just the beginning."
He wasn't at all surprised that the Fool could tell he had taken the Potion.
At this moment, Klein took out his silver pocket watch, opened it, glanced at it, and chuckled:
"Let's start the party then. Remember, it'll be around this frequency, or rather, the intervals."
As he spoke, he made contact with the crimson star, which symbolized " Justice " and the " The Hanged Man," pulling the two members back into the magnificent palace that resembled the dwelling of Giant.
As soon as Audrey could see the scene before her, she greeted them in a cheerful tone:
"Good afternoon, Mr. The Fool. I have another page of Emperor Roselle's diary here."
Good afternoon, Mr. The Sun. Did you get the ' Mind Reader ' formula?
P. S.: Requesting recommendation votes and monthly tickets on Monday!