Chapter 561: "Recruitment Fair"

*That's way too fast... Did it already circle the planet several

times... Or maybe it's still there, but it's too fast for my vision to

keep up...* Klein's mouth twitched, deciding to wait a few

seconds to see if the "creature whose speed surpasses imagination" would

appear again.

He wasn't worried that the summoned spirit world creature would harm the

innocent, as one of the descriptions was of a friendly creature.

Besides, as long as he forcefully ended the summoning and stopped the

ritual, the creature would be immediately sent back to the spirit world,

no matter where the "creature whose speed surpasses imagination" went.

A few seconds later, Klein inhaled after failing to see any response

from him waiting. He said with ancient Hermes, "I!

"I end this summoning in my name!"

The chilling air around him instantly vanished as the swirling cold wind

died down and the candle flames returned to their normal color.

Klein stepped forward and extinguished the candle, intending to revise

the last sentence and try again.

As for the two phrases "the spirit that wanders about the unfounded, the

friendly creature that can be subordinated," he had no intention of

changing them. The first sentence was directed at the spirit world, and

it could only be replaced with synonyms, so it didn't matter if he

changed it or not. The second sentence was a prerequisite for Klein to

ensure his own safety; otherwise, it would've been a horror story

instead of a hilarious one.

*Hmm... I don't need to use "surpasses imagination" as an adjective. But

others might not meet my needs. Perhaps... I can change my train of

thought. A messenger doesn't have to run that fast. A normal speed is

fine. There are other ways to ensure safety. I just need to get

malicious beings to ignore it and neglect it... I'll try a spirit world

creature that's easily neglected...* After two or three minutes

of deliberation, Klein held a ritual again.

When he was done with the preparations, he chanted a new incantation,

"I!

"I summon in my name:

"The spirit that wanders about the unfounded, the friendly creature that

can be subordinated, the being who is easily neglected.'"

The interior of the warehouse became abnormally quiet. There was no

wind, nor did it turn cold within the wall of spirituality. Even the

color of the candle remained unchanged.

Klein waited, watching, hoping for a good messenger.

After about ten seconds, he sighed and looked around.

There's nothing. The description was of no effect this time.

He didn't wait any longer and followed the procedure of ending the

summoning and extinguishing the candle.

To his puzzlement, the candle flame even shook a few times in the end.

Did I miss something... Klein frowned, and then he relaxed,

throwing the matter to the back of his mind.

He reconsidered the question of how to modify the description and

continued targeting the third sentence.

*I'll switch to another train of thought. If a messenger is especially

good at enduring scuffles and has great survivability, it's still okay.

No matter what, a messenger that can deliver the letter to the target is

a good messenger...* Klein pondered for a moment, then he held

the summoning ritual for the third time.

Amidst the fragrance of herbs and essential oils, and under the dim

light of the candlelight, the shadows on his face darted about as his

mouth gaped open and closed.

"I!

"I summon in my name:

"The spirit that wanders about the unfounded, the friendly creature that

can be subordinated, an extraordinary creature who has extremely high

survivability."

The flame of the candle flared and stretched, illuminating the bright

red interior of the altar.

In Klein's Spirit Vision, white bones drilled out from the ground,

overlapping to form what looked like a safe.

*I've finally summoned something I can see. Furthermore, it's a creature

with extremely high survivability... It looks very much like a safe.

Just one look is enough to tell that it's good at taking a

beating...* Klein breathed a sigh of relief and spoke in the

ancient Hermes, "Are you willing to be my messenger?"

The skeletal creature that looked like a safe quickly indicated its

willingness.

Then it wriggled the bones beneath it and crawled toward Klein slowly,

very slowly.

It took ten seconds to crawl a centimeter.

...This is way too slow... Klein's smile froze on his face.

Although messengers completed their mission by traveling through the

spirit world, that didn't mean that they didn't need speed.

Within the spirit world, distance and orientation were chaotic. The most

important thing was to find and lock onto a location.

As long as an accurate, clear, immediate coordinates were provided, such

as the summoning ritual just now or a simplified ritual that involved

blowing a whistle, then no matter where the messenger was in the spirit

world, it would immediately appear within the altar.

When the location wasn't that immediate and only had a contractual

connection or a previous anchor point, the messenger needed to spend

time to distinguish the location, roam the spirit world, and search for

the target. This required a certain amount of speed.

*If it were to deliver the letter, the recipient might not even receive

it by the time they die...* Klein helplessly thought as he

looked at the slowly crawling skeletal creature.

He let the smile reappear on his face.

"After some careful consideration, I think it's best I don't trouble

you.

"Thank you for your willingness."

The creature made of illusory white bones stopped. Compared to before,

it appeared as though it hadn't moved at all.

Klein quickly canceled the summoning and rubbed his forehead.

He was a little depressed and had decided to abandon himself to despair.

He decided to use a less troublesome method to find messengers, which

was "public recruitment, an interview selection!"

After taking a deep breath, Klein calmed his mind and began the ritual

seriously.

Looking at the candle flame that was quietly burning, he took a step

back and said, "I!

"I summon in my name:

"The spirit that wanders about the unfounded, the friendly creature that

can be subordinated, a unique being that is willing to be my messenger."

Whoosh!

The wind blew fiercely inside the wall of spirituality, and Klein's half

top hat almost flew off of his head.

The candle flame shook and expanded to the size of a human head. It was

so pale that it seemed to have lost its body temperature.

A translucent head slowly emerged, as if it had just broken through a

thin membrane. Its hair was a light gold color and was smooth. Its eyes

were blood-red, and it had an imposing appearance.

Looks a little familiar... Klein silently muttered.

The head had fully shown itself, but what followed wasn't its neck, but

an illusory hand that held the end of the head's hair.

Behind the palm were complicated patterns, but the color of the cuffs

was dark.

The summoned spirit world creature appeared at an increasingly rapid

speed, and soon, it was before Klein in its entirety.

It was indeed a familiar "person." It was the headless woman that Klein

had met standing at the top of a castle while he was on his way to

Kalvetua's ruins at the bottom of the sea.

She was no longer as large as a castle like she was before. She was now

a tall, "ordinary" woman.

Of course, there were still only cuts on her neck and four identical

heads in her hands.

"Did..." "You..." "Summon..." "Me?" The headless woman in the

complicated black dress stood there quietly. Her four drooping heads

spoke one after the other in ancient Feysac.

*She can directly communicate through words... The level of this spirit

world creature isn't low... I remember you having a castle... You're

already a property owner, so why are you "applying" for the job of a

messenger?* Klein sighed with emotion and lampooned. Then, he

looked down at the candle behind the headless woman. He was disappointed

to find that no other spirit had emerged.

He had originally imagined that many spirit world creatures would be

willing to be his messenger as they swarmed over, having to form a line

to be interviewed. In the end, only one had responded.

*It should be a problem with the summoning ritual itself. It's

considered a relatively simple and basic summoning ceremony, so it's

impossible to summon multiple targets at once...* Klein looked

at the headless lady and solemnly nodded.

"Yes."

Without waiting for the other party to speak, he added another question.

"Can you roam the spirit world at a relatively fast speed? How good is

your survivability?"

The heads which the headless lady lifted answered, "Yes." "Not..."

"Bad."

As she spoke, she floated upwards and then quickly descended, displaying

her speed.

Phew... Klein decided to stop making attempts which led to

unknown results. He asked in a serious manner, "Are you willing to sign

a contract and become my messenger?"

The headless woman's dress fluttered slightly, and her four heads with

blonde hair and red eyes nodded at the same time.

"Yes." "Every time..." "One..." "Gold coin."

*Ah? A gold coin for each letter sent? Mr. Azik didn't mention that

spirit world creatures have such hobbies... Right, he mentioned that

when signing a contract, persuasion and communication are key factors.

Does this mean that this is a form of persuasion and

communication?* Klein was surprised and wanted to cancel the

summoning immediately.

*Wait a minute, I might not need to be the one paying for it... Whoever

summons the messenger pays for it... Heh, maybe when our communication

improves, there would be the option of paying on receipt...*

After some thought, Klein agreed to the other party's request.

"Okay.

"Let's sign the contract."

He picked up a dark red, round fountain pen and yellowish-brown goatskin

parchment that he had prepared earlier, and he quickly wrote down the

contract in the language which could stir the forces of nature, ancient

Hermes.

The format and terms were described in detail in Azik's letter. They

were concise and to the point, and they contained clauses such as the

messenger not being allowed to look at the letter, not discarding the

letter, or endangering the life of the contractor. Of course, if the

contents of the letter were related to the messenger, the messenger had

to be informed in advance.

In addition to these, Klein added a clause to send one gold coin for

each letter, specifying that it could be borne by the contractor or by

the receiver of the letter.

In order to ensure the effectiveness of the contract, the final part

used the honorific name of the deity in charge of this domain.

It was an undead contract, and normally it meant using Death's honorific

name, but Death had long perished with no response from "Him." Hence,

Azik mentioned that it could be replaced by using the description of

someone high in the undead domain or the Underworld itself, but the

binding force wasn't that strong.

Without a doubt, Klein chose the Underworld, which had a close

relationship with the bigshot.

"The home of all death, the hell hidden deep within the spirit world,

the witness of the decay of all living things, one that solely belongs

to the kingdom of Death."

After penning these four sentences, the yellowish-brown goatskin

parchment began to burn with a green flame, illuminating the gloomy

surroundings.

After he was done with the text, Klein took out Azik's copper whistle,

placed it on the goatskin, and wrote his current name: "Gehrman

Sparrow."

This didn't necessarily require a real name, because his aura would

enter the contract. The name was only used for summoning, which was to

say, using "the messenger that belongs to Gehrman Sparrow" worked, but

"the Contracted Creature of Klein Moretti" wouldn't.

When Klein finished signing, the goatskin floated up, carrying Azik's

copper whistle and the dark red fountain pen, and flew to the headless

lady.

The headless lady held the head with golden hair and red eyes, let it

bite down on the fountain pen and wrote her name: "Reinette Tinekerr."

The green flames quickly gathered together, wrapping around Azik's

copper whistle and the yellowish-brown goatskin parchment.

A few seconds later, the goatskin was reduced to ash, and the copper

whistle fell into the palm of Klein's hand.

The headless woman, Reinette, collectively blinked with the eyes of her

four heads, and her body rapidly faded away into the pale candle flame.

After the contract was made, Klein no longer needed to undo the

summoning. He could do it with his own will.

*Phew, I finally have a messenger. "The spirit that wanders about the

unfounded, the friendly creature that can be subordinated, the messenger

that belongs to Gehrman Sparrow"... Well, when there's an opportunity,

I'll get an Artisan to create something like the copper whistle, so that

I don't have to summon my messenger every time via a ritual...*

Klein cleared up the mess in a rather good mood.

Over the next few days, Bayam gradually returned to normal, but Danitz

still hadn't been able to receive any telegrams from Admiral of Blood's

pirate crew.

On Sunday morning, he flipped through the newspaper and suddenly lowered

his voice as he said to Klein, "There's a Beyonder gathering tonight.

Want to attend?"