Afternoon

"Gone?" Leon's voice rose involuntarily.

"Yes. His Excellency Cecimir said he had urgent business and had to hurry back to Backlund, then he left."

Leon grabbed a thoroughly bewildered Klein and rushed out the first-floor entrance with him, under Klein's somewhat puzzled gaze.

As far as he could see, the street was crowded with traffic. Apart from the vendors by the roadside, there were only workers returning from their lunch break. The senior deacon was nowhere in sight.

Leon suddenly felt like laughing. He folded the note again and understood at once-Cecimir hadn't just left. He had fucking planned his escape.

No wonder the senior deacon had said he would give him the paper whether or not he ultimately agreed.

They had long known how he might react after seeing the note. Whether they were testing him or really knew, it could only mean that the Evernight Goddess knew more than he had expected.

And after seeing the information on it, he really had lost any desire to leave for the time being.

"Leon? What exactly are you looking at?" Klein's voice came from beside him, plainly curious.

Leon looked away and stuffed the note into his pocket.

After a moment's thought, he turned to Klein and saw a face that said, "I'm very curious. Can't you just tell me?" He suddenly smiled.

Perhaps Old Neil's outcome had finally allowed Klein, who had been on edge all this time, to relax for the moment, making him unconsciously forget Leon's way of doing things: if you dared to ask, he dared to drag you down with him.

"Nothing." The corners of Leon's mouth curled up slightly, and his tone once again took on that quality of tempting people into making mistakes. "The senior deacon handed me a little note. There's something incredible written on it. So, do you want to see it?"

Klein's expression abruptly stiffened. He realized at once that he had gotten a little carried away.

Even if Old Neil's situation had been resolved smoothly, and the person pulling strings behind the scenes had caught the attention of the people from the headquarters and would no longer harass him frequently;

Leon himself was still a huge problem, full of suspicious points. How had he gone and walked right into it again...?

Klein reacted quickly. With a smile, he hastily said, "No," then turned and walked back inside.

Leon followed him, in no hurry to do anything, his cane tapping crisply against the stone pavement.

The two entered the Blackthorn Security Company one after the other. As they passed the front desk, Rozanne looked up at them, then lowered her head and went back to her novel.

Back in the underground armory, Dunn told them they were free to do as they pleased that afternoon.

With no need to go to the Seer Club for the time being, Klein sat down behind the desk again and suggested they continue studying. He opened the occult textbook they hadn't finished.

Leon sat down too, leaned his cane against the side of his chair, and took a sip from the cup of coffee on the table, which had gone completely cold.

"Klein," he said suddenly.

Klein looked up warily, like a cat that had just been startled and was still on guard.

"Say someone gave you a note, and what was written on it was something you'd been looking for for a long time. Then that person ran off." Leon gathered his words.

"Do you think that person wanted you to go looking for her, or wanted you to leave her alone?"

Klein froze for a few seconds. He noticed that Leon had said "her," then slowly put down his pen.

If that's the case, there's no harm in hearing him out. Klein thought for a moment and said:

"That depends on how important that thing is to you. It's like a couple in the throes of love: even if one says they don't want to be a bother, if money and time allow it, there seems to be no harm in going to see them."

Leon didn't rush to answer. He just looked at the coffee left in the cup and turned it in his hand.

"It's important," he said. "So important that I want to rush out right now, grab the person who wrote the note by the collar, and ask what they mean."

Klein's fingers tightened slightly. He seemed to be considering whether to continue a conversation that might drag him down at any moment.

In the end, curiosity won out over caution.

"But you didn't go," he said. "That means you still have reservations."

"Because I don't know what that person really wants." Leon put down the cup and leaned back in his chair. "Free things are the most expensive, Klein. A note alone doesn't prove anything, but a note handed to you unprompted by a high-ranking member of a church always feels off."

After saying that, Leon went ahead and poured freshly brewed coffee into Klein's cup, without continuing the subject.

As if sensing Klein's concerns, Leon had not forced him to hear what was written on the note after he showed reluctance.

Even his indirect way of bringing it up had been no more than a casual exchange.

Klein felt a little warmth in his heart. He took a sip of coffee and, following Leon's words, found his thoughts wandering.

He remembered his long table Above the Gray Fog and the strangers who used tarot cards as code names. Unless he had no choice, he didn't want to get involved with any "important figures" either.

He had crossed over to this world less than a month ago, but what he had experienced was more thrilling than the twenty-odd years of his previous life.

"So what are you going to do?" Klein couldn't help asking in the end.

"I'll think it over myself first," Leon said. "If I can't figure it out, I'll have to go ask that person what they mean in person."

With that, he stood up and walked to the window, looking out at the bright afternoon and enjoying a long-missed moment of leisure.

From the beginning, Leon hadn't spoken to Klein in the hope that their discussion would yield anything. He had only wanted someone to talk to for amusement.

In any case, he would be the one solving the problem alone in the end. After all, having lived so many years, he had long since stopped hoping to rely on others.

"All right, I reckon you're not in the mood for lessons either. The captain said we have nothing else scheduled this afternoon and can do as we please. I'll look around, and while I'm at it, see if I can help you find that house with the Red Chimney sooner."

Leon turned and walked toward the bookshelves in the armory, idly scanning the books Old Neil had left behind as he made the suggestion to Klein.

Suddenly, a folder on the shelf that seemed to contain Old Neil's research notes caught his attention.

The label on it read, "Interpretation of symbols in Emperor Roselle's lost notes."

Roselle? Roselle Gustav? That fellow transmigrator? Leon's interest was immediately piqued.

He cleared his throat, casually moved to block Klein's view, and put the folder into his storage bag.

Meanwhile, on hearing Leon's words, Klein nodded to show he had no objection. He also happened to need to buy some materials at the trading market.

Just as he was about to agree aloud, he remembered the man named Ademisaul whom he and Old Neil had once met at the trading market.

Klein remembered sensing that the man had extremely high spirituality, which left him in a constant state of lucid madness. He had also kept muttering about "the scent of death."

Looking back, Klein remembered only thinking at the time that those were the words of a madman. But after all he had been through, the man had come to mind again as if by some unseen prompting, leaving Klein with the feeling that it wasn't so simple.

Perhaps Leon can see something? Klein thought.

After considering it for a moment, he looked at Leon a little sheepishly and asked tentatively, "Um... could you come with me to the trading market?"

"The one behind the Evil Dragon Bar?" Leon, who had been about to slip away, stopped and immediately realized which place Klein meant.

As a private detective who had yearned for the mysterious world, his predecessor had gone there often.

"That's right." Klein nodded.

"Sure." Leon didn't ask why. He wasn't in a hurry anyway.