"Melissa, listen to me!"
"I didn't mean to lie to you. It was part of the Church of Evernight's confidentiality agreement, and becoming an official Beyonder of the Church of Evernight really isn't dangerous!"
Melissa sat on the sofa, ignoring Klein. After a while, she finally spoke in a mournful voice. "But I just heard that you almost became a corpse."
Damn it!
Klein wanted to beat Leonard to death.
"That was a joke, a joke between colleagues!" Klein hurriedly explained.
"All we actually encountered was a very weak wraith. But you-I heard from Old Neil that you encountered a powerful evil spirit. What happened?"
"Hmph!" Melissa angrily turned away, refusing to look at Klein. "Big liar, I don't want to talk to you."
"Don't be like that, Melissa. I'm your brother, after all. You have to believe me..."
That was the scene Wilt saw when he entered the lounge again.
"Pfft!" He couldn't help laughing, finding it quite amusing.
Wilt could tell that Melissa wasn't really angry with Klein; she was more concerned about his safety. Klein, on the other hand, was genuinely panicking.
When the two looked at him, Wilt said:
"Mr. Klein, Miss Melissa, I've signed the confidentiality agreement with Mr. Dunn. It's time for me to leave. I came to say goodbye, and I hope we'll meet again someday!"
"You're leaving, Mr. Wilt..." Melissa hurried to her feet, reluctant to see him go.
"I haven't thanked you for saving my life yet. Selena and Elizabeth will surely be disappointed if they don't see you when they wake up."
"It was a small matter, nothing worth mentioning." Wilt chuckled and shook his head.
"If you really want to thank someone, you should thank Old Neil and the others. They were the ones who saved us from the evil spirit."
"Well then, goodbye."
Wilt turned and suddenly saw Leonard leaning against the wall, holding a cup of coffee and looking at him curiously. "You seem rather extraordinary, Mr. Wilt."
"Not just anyone could hold their own against an evil spirit."
"That's because I bought some special bullets on the black market in the Rorsted Archipelago. Perhaps those bullets hurt the evil spirit."
"Hmm... the bullets cost one pound each."
The corners of Leonard's mouth twitched, and he said nothing more.
Klein, standing nearby, was stunned. What kind of unscrupulous merchant charges that much? It almost makes me want to sell Mr. Wilt some enchanted bullets!
Come to think of it, the Nighthawks' enchanted bullets seem to be free. If I sold those bullets and reported them as normal losses, would Captain Dunn hold me accountable?
As Klein's thoughts wandered, Leonard's words suddenly brought him back to his senses:
"Klein, aren't you going to see off the man who saved your sister's life?"
"You're a Nighthawk, after all, which makes you a host here. Seeing a guest off is only proper."
Melissa also gave him a reproachful look. "Klein, you haven't forgotten basic manners too, have you?"
Klein: "..."
Meanwhile, Wilt had just reached the street when a voice suddenly called out behind him. "Mr. Wilt, please wait!"
He turned and saw Klein running toward him. "Is there something else?"
"No, I just came to see you off and thank you for saving my sister's life."
"Oh, right, this is for you." Klein took an amulet out of his pocket.
"I made it myself. I hope it helps you."
Wilt looked at the amulet in silence. He didn't want to take it, because to him, it looked more like a Sefirah Castle locator.
Under Klein's puzzled gaze, Wilt spoke directly. "Mr. Klein, your fate seems a little discordant."
Klein: !!!
His pupils abruptly contracted, and an incredulous expression appeared on his face. Klein had heard those same words from Azik:
"What do you mean, Mr. Wilt?"
"No, how could you tell, Mr. Wilt? Could it be that you're also..."
"Shh!" Wilt put a finger to his lips, signaling for silence.
"For the sake of my having saved Melissa, I hope you'll keep my secret, Mr. Klein."
"Also, your fate being discordant means someone is deliberately manipulating it. You should pay close attention to coincidences."
"Goodbye, Mr. Klein. I hope you can escape this fate."
Wilt left, leaving Klein standing there with a bewildered expression. "Someone's manipulating me... coincidences..."
"Why am I getting more confused the more I hear?!"
After leaving the Church of Evernight's territory, Wilt breathed a sigh of relief. "Nothing happened. It seems the Evernight Goddess isn't particularly hostile toward me."
"Hmm... it might also be that my level is too low to catch Her eye, so She can't be bothered with me."
Wilt returned to the inn. He decided to rest for the day and continue acting as a Monster tomorrow. Just then, a front desk clerk called out to him:
"Mr. Wilt, there's a package here for you!"
Wilt's eyes lit up instantly. "Could the documents forged by Amon's avatar have arrived?"
He hurried back to his room with the package. When he opened it, he found the documents forged by Avatar No. 037, just as he had expected.
"Good, good. The documents are very detailed."
"Not only is there a prospecting certificate for the gold mine, there are even reports on the gold's specifications and quality testing!"
"As for the governor-general's office..."
"Huh? Impressive! Not only the governor-general's office, he even brought the military in on it."
Finally, Wilt looked at the documents on the impoverished noble. "East Chester County, a collateral blood relative of a baron, Wil... Wilt Mirage."
Wilt suddenly froze. He blinked and looked at the contents again.
"Wilt Mirage!"
"Why is it my name?!!!"
Wilt took out a monocle and put it on his right eye. Five seconds later, a voice sounded in his mind. "It's 041. Looks like you've read the documents I sent you."
"Well? Are you pleasantly surprised?"
"What on earth is going on?" Wilt demanded furiously.
"Why did you replace the impoverished noble's name with mine?"
"Don't be angry. This is a gift from us."
"A gift!" Wilt was so angry he almost laughed.
"Do you know how much danger this puts me in? As soon as the scam begins, no matter how it ends, this impoverished noble will become the focus of everyone's attention."
"What you're doing is clearly meant to get me killed!"
"No, no, no." Avatar 037's soft chuckle sounded in Wilt's mind.
"I'm doing this for your own good. Don't you need to digest the Swindler Potion?"
"A true Swindler has to enter the game personally and become the center of everyone's attention, holding their gaze before deceiving them all and making a clean getaway, not hide behind the scenes as in your script."
Wilt fell silent. He really didn't know the Swindler's acting principles.
"Even so, you can't do this! This isn't digesting a Potion; you're sending me to my death!"
Avatar No. 037 continued teasingly, "You're an Amon avatar. You have to dare to take on things ordinary people can't accomplish."
"Besides, you have two Sequence 3 Mentors of Deceit behind you. What are you afraid of?"
"As long as you pull off the deception, not only can you have a large sum of money, you can also gain a noble title in the Loen Kingdom. What a generous reward."
"Besides, this noble identity wasn't created out of thin air."
"Oh?" Wilt suddenly grew curious.
"Is there really a Mirage title?"
"No," Avatar No. 037 replied crisply.
But he continued, "You know we have many avatars. It's perfectly normal for some of them to get hold of noble titles. The title in East Chester County was acquired by one of those avatars while he was alive."
"You happen to need it now, so we brought it out for you to use."
"As for the surname and given name, a little deception is all it takes."
"Good luck, future Baron. I'll be waiting for your gold pounds."
With that, Avatar No. 037 cut off the connection.
Wilt: "..."