Chapter 1012: First Day of September

"Dear Mr. Azik,

"Ever since September was ushered in, Backlund's temperature has been

dropping day after day. Recently, the elderly can already be seen

wearing gloves when outdoors.

"Just like last year, the smog has begun to envelop the city. This would

happen one to two days a week, or even more. Clearly, the environmental

measures governing air pollution aren't something that can be resolved

in a year or two. It will take at least five years. Something that

should be worth being happy about is that the pungent smell in the air

has already lessened significantly. My Sanguine friend is very pleased

with such weather.

"Another delightful change is that more and more students, postmen, and

technical workers have bought bikes. The number of carriages on the

streets has decreased, implying that the smell of horse feces and the

stench it brings is no longer the main pollutant in Backlund's air. Of

course, they still occupy a rather important position. As you know,

those ladies and gentlemen who think highly of their standing wouldn't

casually lower their own standards of living. However, based on my

observations, their kids are gradually having a growing interest in

bikes.

"I've been leading a normal life during this period of time. I go to

Saint Samuel Cathedral and the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation a few

times a week, participating in their activities and continuously

donating cash. I occasionally visit the turf club, watch plays and

orchestras, or play cards or golf at the club. During weekends, I either

participate in balls, banquets, or saloons.

"I forgot to mention that I've already bought a manor. It formerly

belonged to Duke Negan and is called 'Maygur.' It has its own excellent

vineyard and brewery, as well as a huge forest and plantation on it. It

can be used for farming and hunting. Its main building has a huge

rectangular shape with four stories. It has a large number of rooms, and

a casual tour of the place without walking out the door would take me

more than ten thousand steps. At the same time, it also has a large

number of sculptures, oil paintings, decorations, and exquisite cutlery.

It's simply palatial.

"Perhaps my description is a little exaggerated. After all, I've never

seen a real palace. This is also the first manor that I own. I still

remember my time in Tingen. I lived in a rental apartment with only two

bedrooms with my brother and sister. Every day, we slept to the smell of

coal.

"This was introduced to me by Brigadier General Qonas Kilgor. It cost me

20,000 pounds. You don't have to worry about my financial situation. I

made a huge sum of money from the Southern Continent, and I also sold

some mystical items. Currently, I still have more than 17,000 pounds in

cash and 15,000 pounds worth of gold bars, including various gold coins,

soli, and pence.

"I'm rather satisfied with Maygur and have sent my former valet,

Richardson, to be the land steward. It's now autumn, and I'm going to

invite guests to enjoy a pleasant weekend there. I hope Richardson can

make adequate preparations.

"The mysterious world in Backlund hasn't changed for now. I hope it will

continue like this.

"The magic mirror I previously mentioned to you has been restored to

normal. However, it seems to still suffer from post-traumatic stress due

to the damage Amon had dealt it. As long as I question it about what

happened, it will automatically change the color of its text and give an

erroneous answer and repeatedly request me to compliment it.

"It also has different views on leaving the Church of Steam. It seems to

have decided to stay a little longer, believing that it would be safer

that way. It has even thought of showcasing its danger and become a

Grade 1 Sealed Artifact. I have to say that I'm always surprised with

the way it thinks.

"Thanks to some of its answers, I've found a way to create pure

darkness. It is to create it with a charm of the Evernight domain that

has dreamworld properties. It's considered a response of the Evemight

Goddess and is categorized under pure darkness. In addition, after

repeated tests, I've finally figured out the way to carve the godhood

symbols through Cogitation and create the item I want."

Upon writing this, Klein, who was sitting on the sofa while using his

thigh as his table, stopped writing and rubbed his temples.

Repeated failures implied the repeated loss of Worms of Spirit, and

every separation was a damaging blow to his Spirit Body. It took him a

long time to recover.

Therefore, in order to have redundancies to prevent any accidents, Klein

never pushed himself to the limit. After separating three or four Worms

of Spirit, he would choose to rest for a few days before beginning the

engraving process. Such breaks took him this long to master the method

and create a finished product.

Glancing at the rectangular "diamond" beside him, he saw layers of

complicated symbols that extended into the void from the constantly

refracting light. His head felt a little dizzy as though he was

witnessing a part of history.

I'll call it the Yesterday Once More charm... Klein retracted his gaze

and continued writing:

"The coastal regions have had another storm brewing. The two Houses of

the kingdom have entered the traditional phase of debating over bills.

With the footsteps of the new year approaching and getting louder, it

makes me worried for some baffling reason.

"May you recover quickly and wake up soon.

Your eternal student, Klein Moretti."

Putting away the pen and folding the letter, Klein blew Azik's copper

whistle and summoned the skeleton messenger that stood nearly four

meters tall.

Unlike before, this messenger had only shown its head and one arm. The

rest were beneath the floorboards on the second floor.

This made it appear significantly shorter than Klein.

After all, I'm now barely considered a Blessed of Death... Klein handed

the letter to the messenger as he watched it crumble into bones, gushing

down into the ground like a waterfall.

After doing this, he picked up the Yesterday Once More charm on the

armrest.

This was his first successful product, and he planned on using it first.

After all, making it again was easy now that he had the experience.

As for whether borrowing strength from his historical self posed any

dangers, Klein had already performed a divination above the gray fog

ahead of time. He believed that if it involved the real Fool or the

owner of the door of light, then he would have the mysterious space

above the gray fog to block it for him.

And the result of the divination was that it was very safe.

After staring at the diamond-like charm for a few seconds, Klein no

longer hesitated. He opened his mouth and said a single word in ancient

Hermes, "History!"

He had attempted it in the real world and not above the gray fog because

he was worried that the mysterious world would sever the connection to

the past.

Amidst the echoing of the jarring word, Klein injected his spirituality

into the Yesterday Once More charm.

Light that appeared like scattered fur lit up, illuminating the

surroundings with bright and pure light.

Vaguely, a scene flashed past Klein's eyes:

It was him dancing leisurely with Daly Simone beside Ince Zangwill's

corpse;

It was the gray-sideburned and exceedingly handsome Dwayne Dantes;

It was Gehrman Sparrow pressing down on his top hat while landing on the

Black Tulip thanks to the blessings of the wind;

It was the Sherlock Moriarty who struggled during the descent of the

meteor;

It was Klein Moretti who summoned sunlight when he heard the baby's cry

in the Blackthorn Security Company;

It was the pale university graduate who raised the revolver and aimed it

at his temple.

Beyond this, all the scenes vanished. All that was left was the

grayish-white fog.

And only when the powers of the charm were exhausted did Klein find

himself at the end of that fog.

Indeed, my transmigration is related to the gray fog, that mysterious

space, and that strange door of light... This basically verifies it. I

was sleeping in a cocoon in the past, hanging above the door of light.

I've no idea how long I was in that state... Compared to his first time

seeing the door of light, Klein, who had made the confirmation, remained

calm as though he had long expected it.

Phew. Next, I'll make two Yesterday Once More charms for Will. This

charm isn't of much use to me... I won't be visiting him this week. It

will incur suspicion if I feed him ice-cream every week. Their maid is

already looking at me in an odd way... Also, since I've mastered the

Cogitation engraving method of the godhood symbol, I can bring forward

the creation of the extraordinary bullets made with the Worms of Time.

Yes, Leonard said that he will be visiting Tingen in the next few days.

Let's see if the power of the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem can be stolen...

Klein rubbed his forehead and left the sofa.

At a previous Tarot Gathering, Leonard had already informed him of the

four types of godhood symbols and magical labels he learned from Pallez

Zoroast. They came from the Marauder domain, and it was said that one of

them was capable of misdirecting the enemy, making them make errors in

judgment. Another was to steal three Beyonder powers that the target had

formerly used, beginning with the most recent power. The third would

cause the enemy to lose plenty of vitality if the enemy could be

affected by it, making them enter an aged state. Finally, one of them

could create Worms of Time that didn't live long. They would secretly

Parasitize the target's body and allow the charm-user to control them.

Among the seven remaining Worms of Time that Klein had, he had already

made three into Fate Siphon charms and had given Miss Justice one and

kept two. This also meant that he still had four Worms of Time, allowing

him to try out each of the four effects. Of course, his intuition told

him that the chances of a successful product weren't guaranteed.

As for Leonard's two Worms of Time, one had been made into a Fate Siphon

charm. He had followed The World Gehrman Sparrow's instructions to pray

to Mr. Fool and had received a reply. The other relied on Pallez

Zoroast's help to create a Parasite charm.

After busying himself with a series of tasks, it was evening. Klein had

five successes and one failure. He obtained two Yesterday Once More

charms, one Parasite bullet, a Deceit bullet, and a Deprivation bullet.

The only failure was the Aging bullet, seemingly due to the inability to

use sufficient powers from the mysterious space above the gray fog.

Looking at the three similar-looking bullets that were a mix of

transparency or translucency, Klein heaved a sigh of relief. He took out

Death Knell and loaded the bullet. In the revolver were three of his

Control Spirit Bullets.

After clearing the altar, he walked out of the room and headed for the

second floor. Upon entering the dining hall, he said to Butler Walter

who was waiting for him, "Invite the guests to a hunting trip over the

weekend in the city outskirts using the name list."

"Yes, sir." Walter was already prepared for this, remaining stern and

serious.

Tingen City, 36 Zouteland Street.

Leonard got off the carriage as he looked at a newly built building with

a mixed expression. He momentarily forgot to enter.