Outside the luxurious rooms of the Red Rose Manor, filled with various antiques.
Klein stood at the door and asked the sixth maid he had encountered that day.
The young maid wore a black and white maid's dress characteristic of the era. She was beautiful, in the prime of her youth, and had slightly curly brown hair that gave her a playful air.
"When Mr. Talym visits here, who are the people he meets?" Klein repeated the question with a blank expression.
The maid answered almost without pausing:
"Mr. Talym usually seeks an audience with His Highness the Prince, either to accompany him on horseback rides or to discuss matters. If His Highness happens to be absent, he will meet with that young lady; they are very good friends, and this is with the butler's permission."
Are Talym and the commoner girl Prince Edessak likes good friends? Do they meet privately from time to time? He's probably trying to persuade her to leave, lest she damage the prince's reputation... Klein nodded thoughtfully.
"What, I mean, what do Mr. Talym and that young lady talk about?"
When Klein raised this question, he suddenly recalled Talym's behavior of falling in love a while ago, and with his rich "experience" from the information age, he inexplicably imagined an extremely melodramatic romance story.
The maid, unfazed by the great Detective, smiled and shook her head, saying:
"At times like this, we'll be asked to leave the room."
This... Klein found it increasingly difficult to stop his imagination from running wild, even thinking that Prince Edessak's hat and helmet should have a different coating.
Before he could ask any more questions, the maid chuckled:
" Detective Moriarty, if you want to find out exactly what that lady and Mr. Talym talked about, you can go and ask her directly."
"The old butler won't allow it." Klein asserted confidently, pushing out his shield to deflect the arrows.
He then smiled and said:
"You seem to know more than the previous servants, even knowing to address me Detective Moriarty."
The maid glanced around, maintaining her smile, and said:
"Because I took turns serving that lady, she had been wanting to meet you, Detective Moriarty, since she and Mr. Talym were good friends and she was very concerned about his death."
"Unfortunately, she always misses you."
"Always?" Klein was very sensitive to words like "always," "just right," and "missed."
The maid nodded earnestly and said:
"When His Highness first invited you to visit, she deliberately threw a tantrum, hoping to take advantage of a walk downstairs to meet you. But you left in a hurry."
"Afterwards, she offered to lay flowers at Mr. Talym's grave on behalf of His Highness the Prince, but because she did not know what you looked like, she was unable to find you."
"But today, she happened to go horseback riding at the golf course behind the house to relax; otherwise, even if the butler wouldn't allow it, she would have found a way to see you."
What a coincidence... Klein was just about to sigh when he suddenly grasped a key point:
On the day of Talym's funeral, the commoner woman he loved went to lay flowers in place of the prince!
What Klein was most concerned about that day was the woman with a black veil and a sapphire ring on her hand. She might possess a level 0 Sealed Artifact, or she might be a powerful being of the same level!
Suddenly, the scene from that time flashed through Klein's mind:
The woman with the sapphire pinky ring, dressed in a heavy black gown, gradually disappeared into the distance, accompanied by two maids...
One of the two maids had naturally curly brown hair...
The image of the maid quickly overlapped with the maid in front of Klein, and they matched remarkably well!
Klein's body tensed up suddenly, sweat dripping from his vest, but his expression remained unchanged.
Using the " Clown's" abilities, he feigned reminiscence and asked with a smile:
Were you with that lady at Talym's funeral?
The maid replied nonchalantly:
"Yes."
... Damn, it really is her! Klein maintained his smile:
"Very good, next question."
He acted as if nothing had happened, proceeding to inquire about other matters in a methodical manner, and then had another servant continue.
However, Klein secretly shortened the process and sped up the progress.
He had to leave Red Rose Manor before the young lady returned on horseback!
At four o'clock in the afternoon, before it was even dark, Klein took his leave much earlier than expected and returned to the city in a carriage sent by the old butler.
Sitting inside the carriage, leaning against the walls covered in silk and cotton, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and had the energy to reflect on the whole incident:
The one who cursed Talym was the commoner woman whom Prince Edessak loved...
Why would she target a descendant of a fallen noble family, in retaliation for Talym's attempt to separate her from the prince?
But she didn't need to do it herself. She could just find an opportunity to reveal it in bed; Prince Edessak had plenty of ways to make Talym disappear without a trace...
Talym was deeply in love before his death... well... the earliest signs were after he successfully persuaded the commoner woman to leave Prince Edessak... Did they have an affair? So, to eliminate any potential threat, the commoner woman, who was brought back to the manor, cursed Talym to death?
Logically, it makes sense, but the problem is, how could a powerful figure possessing a level "0" Sealed Artifact or someone of equal strength be restrained by Prince Edessak? Even if Augustus Angel Family with ample resources, it would require immense power and special methods to imprison him; this is not something a prince could accomplish...
Moreover, how could someone like that possibly be interested in Talym?
Why does she keep wanting to see me? Has she realized I'm using the Gray Fog to spy on her?
No, if that were the case, I would have been buried with Talym on the day of his funeral... Besides, when she first wanted to see me, I hadn't received the flesh, hair, or personal belongings, and I hadn't had any Divination done!
Klein pondered this with puzzlement, and ultimately decided to bury the question in his heart, neither exploring nor investigating it!
Hopefully, " Machinery Hivemind," having received my previous warning, will realize the unusual importance the royal family attaches to this matter. Yes, their attention may not be for Prince Edessak's reputation, but for some other reason! Hopefully, the royal family will continue to properly restrain that lady and prevent her from visiting me... In a few days, when the time is right, I will hand over this task, indicating my inability to do anything, and then use a vacation in the south as an excuse to change my identity and hide for a while! Klein's mood gradually calmed down.
The Twilight in Backlund was always replaced by dim clouds and a light drizzle. Exhausted both physically and mentally, Klein pressed his half-high silk hat to his side, slightly burying his face, and hurried across the wet streets, returning to 15 Minsk Street under the glow of the gas lamps.
After a brief rest, taking advantage of the dim environment, he walked four steps in reverse and entered the Gray Fog.
After advancing to Sequence 6 " Faceless," he had been wanting to check if there were any changes in that mysterious space, but he was too tired last night and couldn't wake up in the middle of the night. He had been "busy" outside all day and could only wait until now.
In addition, Klein needs to eliminate distractions and Divination a matter.
That is, after this advancement, when his Spirituality was still unstable, he no longer heard the illusory murmur of " Hornacis... Flegrea... Hornacis... Flegrea!"
He wanted to figure out whether this was a natural change that occurred after being promoted to Sequence 6, or if there was another reason.
Inside the magnificent palace, a weathered bronze table and twenty-two high-backed chairs with different symbols on their backs stand quietly, seemingly unchanged since time immemorial.
The same is true of the Gray Fog beneath them, and the endless emptiness all around them.
But as soon as Klein entered, his Spirituality intuition keenly sensed that the mysterious space was somewhat different from what he had experienced before.
He didn't rush to explore or try. After calming himself down, he sat at the head of the table, conjured up paper and pen, and wrote down a Divination statement:
"The reason I haven't heard any delirium since my promotion."
Holding a piece of paper and reciting aloud, Klein leaned back in his chair and, through Cogitation, quickly drifted into a dream.
Under the gray sky and on the earth, images flickered, eventually settling on one scene.
That was Klein when his face and body were still covered with pale fleshy buds, and a layer of illusory, thin, grayish-white mist, imperceptible to others, surrounded him.
The dream shattered, Klein opened his eyes, roughly understanding the reason:
" The Gray Fog intertwined with reality, helping me block out the ramblings that seemed to come from nowhere..."
"After advancing to Sequence 6, my connection with this mysterious space above the Gray Fog became even stronger, which brought about certain changes, and I was able to naturally draw upon a small amount of power."
"That seems to be the case at present."
"Hmm, try exploring your surroundings and see what changes have occurred."
Klein slowly rose and, following his Spirit Intuition, walked in a certain direction outside the ancient palace, with Gray Fog spreading out like the sea beneath his feet.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, just as he was about to stop and give up exploring, a light suddenly flickered at the end of the road ahead.
Klein was delighted and quickened his pace to get closer.
Seven or eight seconds later, he saw a staircase, a staircase leading to heaven!
The steps were formed from pure light, sacred, transparent, and clear, capable of touching the soul of everyone.
The staircase stretched upwards into the void, with only four levels, each quite high, as if prepared for a creature even larger than Giant.
Klein looked up in the direction it was pointing and saw a layer of grayish-white mist, condensed in mid-air, seemingly supporting something, while the Stairway of Light was still some distance away from it.
Four steps—does that mean I've already drunk the Potion Sequence 9, Sequence 8, Sequence 7, and Sequence 6? What lies above that layer of mist? Klein cautiously proceeded, arriving at the Stairway of Light, and stepped onto the stairs.
The steps were not strange; they were solid, as if made of stone.
Klein climbed the stairs, scrambling and tumbling, until he reached the fourth floor. He then tried to look up at the grayish-white mist above, but unfortunately, his gaze couldn't penetrate it at all.
He thought for a moment, took two steps forward, and tried his best to jump upwards.
However, as soon as he left the Stairway of Light, he lost his upward momentum and the instinct for spiritual flight, and plummeted straight down, landing on the Gray Fog at the bottom.
It seems I need to upgrade two or three more Sequence. If Sequence 4 is indeed a qualitative change, then once I become Demigod, I should be able to do it... Klein looked up and made a judgment.
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