Chapter 579: Academic Question

As she spoke, Helene's eyes moved up slightly as though she was immersed

in her memories.

"Early on, I transported iron and coal from Midseashire to Feynapotter,

then I shipped back tobacco, coffee, cocoa, and other native specialties

back to Intis. This is a sea route that borders the shore, so it was

rather safe. The competition was intense as well. In order to quickly

get out of my predicament and save up money, I worked hard to raise my

Sequence, hoping that I could trade in the colonies.

"Unfortunately, just as I familiarized myself with the sea route and

made some money, I chanced upon Ailment Maiden Tracy, who wasn't Vice

Admiral Ailment at the time, in one of her raids during my second trip

to West Balam. She only had one ship back then, but she was very

powerful. My partner and I resisted with our lives, but all of that was

in vain.

"She doesn't have the habit of killing mindlessly. All she did was

snatch the goods, as well as myself..."

As expected of an oddity among Demonesses... Klein listened in

silence and used his Clown powers to suppress his embarrassed emotions

to expressionlessly ask, "How far did the relationship between the two

of you go?"

"We didn't!" Helene instinctively denied. "She forced me! I-I didn't

want to die. I-I could o-only choose to accept it. B-besides, she's a

woman!"

*Lady, there's no need to get so worked up. If I had asked if the two of

you had a relationship that went beyond friendship, would you have

jumped out? It's only because I'm kind enough and had considered your

shame which had prevented me from being so direct... Sigh. Under the

facade of the crazy Gehrman Sparrow is a gentlemanly me... That's the

true me...* Klein switched to asking without a change in

expression, "What kind of food do you like? Are there any dishes you

especially like? Do you prefer sweet or salty food, or somewhere in

between?

"What food do you dislike? What food are you allergic to?

"Do you have any dietary restrictions? If you do, what are they?

"..."

These questions made Helene feel like she was in a dream, as though

everything was surreal.

She never imagined that the man would ask her such questions. It was

like a pursuer was asking his crush what hobbies she had.

*No! No pursuer would ask such questions! These are all indirectly

obtained from numerous chats, or are obtained by other means! No woman

would like to be questioned like that! T-this is like a survey which

Emperor Roselle created... W-what does he want? He's asking these

questions without any expression. I'm so afraid...* Helene fell

silent for a few seconds before answering them one after another under

Klein's cold, unmoving gaze.

Klein maintained his seating posture of leaning forward and continued

asking, "How do you usually sit? Do you have any habitual motions..."

The more Helene answered, the more panicked she became. She had the

inexplicable feeling that answering these questions would make her

disappear.

By the time the perplexing and terrifying "survey" was done, she felt

heavy deep down, constantly suspecting that a terrible outcome awaited

her.

*Why don't I risk it and jump off the carriage while he isn't paying

attention?* Helene seriously considered the possibility.

However, the man didn't seem to have any indication of attacking her,

and this made her indecisive. She felt that there was hope to resolve

the matter amicably.

After grasping Helene's personality, habits, and preferences, Klein

turned the topic towards Vice Admiral Ailment.

"What do you know of Tracy?"

Helene fell silent as her mouth quivered a few times. She couldn't bring

herself to speak.

After the carriage continued on for quite a while, it was only then that

she finally smiled ruefully.

"She possesses excellent combat abilities. She's good at infiltration

and curses, with her being capable of turning invisible and becoming

light.

"She grasps the means of swapping bodies with a mirror or magic staff,

as well as black flames and frost. She can make enemies in a certain

range suddenly fall sick, including colds, pneumonia, gastroenteritis,

and other illnesses. The longer the fight lasts with her, the worse the

ailments inflicted. Some Beyonders might even directly die from a heart

attack.

"She c-can also create invisible threads to control her enemy. She knows

human ana-anatomy very well. She can easily give people pleasure through

contact---th-that kind of pleasure.

"She has an active charming ability that would make many pirates give up

putting up a resistance once they're near her.

"S-she's often friendly, but she's cruel to her enemies. She enjoys

destroying the perfection that others would wish to protect, making them

suffer immense pain and torment..."

Helene didn't go into detail on how Tracy destroyed the state of

perfection of others. There were many cruel stories and hilarious

matters. This Ailment Maiden had once made her enemies---a father and

son duo---kill each other, as well as instigate an enemy's wife to

betray him and let him come across the scene.

*As expected of a Demoness. She's a Sequence 5 Demoness who's one

Sequence higher than Demoness of Pleasure...* Klein gained a

basic grasp of Tracy's combat style, and he calmly asked again, "Does

she have any mystical items?"

"...Yes. A bangle that's inlaid with diamonds. As long as she wears it,

it's very difficult for Tracy to be injured." Helene hesitated before

revealing Vice Admiral Ailment's secret.

Klein asked a few other detailed questions as he straightened his body a

little.

"Tracy is helping the Demoness Sect perform human trafficking?"

This was something he took great notice of when he heard Vice Admiral

Iceberg Edwina mention it.

*The Demoness Sect cooperated with Ince Zangwill, and it was related to

the royal family. It involved an underground ruin whose location was

unknown.*

Tracy helped them in the human trafficking.

*Baelen, who was pointed out by The Hanged Man, was someone who

orchestrated numerous disappearance cases of slaves and the

disappearance of primitive tribes in the Southern Continent. With him

appearing at the underground ruins, he would be a member of the upper

echelons.*

*The biggest human trafficker, Capim, had Beyonders who were of the

Arbiter pathway protecting him. And this is a pathway controlled by the

Loen and Feynapotter royal families, as well as their

military...*

All of these matters that Klein was aware of linked together to form a

line, but he wasn't sure what it actually exposed. Vice Admiral Ailment

Tracy was a breakthrough point.

"What Demoness Sect?" Helene asked in puzzlement.

"You don't have to know," Klein calmly replied.

*If you don't know what a Demoness is and end up suspecting that the

extremely charming Vice Admiral Ailment who gives you pleasure is a

dirty and savage man, then I'm afraid that you would've lost control on

the spot... You don't have to thank me. I'm a good person...*

Klein lampooned inwardly.

Helene suppressed her puzzlement and said while recalling, "In recent

years, she's been busy shipping slaves. The other end of the trade is

Crazy Captain Connors Viktor. Rumor has it that he and many human

traffickers and slave merchants in Loen have a deep partnership."

Crazy Captain Connors Viktor... Klein remembered the nickname

and name.

He nodded and no longer spoke in a heavy voice. Instead, he said in a

relatively gentle voice, "Did you involve yourself in such matters? Such

as being a part-time pirate?"

This very polite and amiable tone left Danitz trembling for some

baffling reason. He felt that Gehrman Sparrow being in such a state was

much more terrifying than his cold and expressionless state.

"No." Helene shook her head. "The blood of the Sauron family flows in

me. I will not bring shame to my family. Be-besides, Tracy always said

that she wouldn't let me be tainted by bloodshed and darkness. All of

that would be faced by her."

She must've read too many romance novels... Klein took out a

gold coin and allowed it to weave between his fingers like it was

dancing.

He didn't keep it from Helene as he performed a divination in front of

her to confirm that she wasn't lying.

The result was that she was rather honest.

*This is also because I didn't ask in detail about her emotional

entanglements with Tracy; otherwise, she wouldn't be that

honest...* Klein secretly reflected and put away the gold coin.

At that moment in time, the carriage had circled around the harbor, no

longer heading for the ship that Helene was meant to board.

Klein looked at the scenery outside the window and took out a small

metal bottle. He handed it to Helene and said, "Use the liquid inside to

wipe away your makeup."

"Why?" Helene subconsciously asked.

"This isn't something you should be asking," Klein leaned forward once

again and said without expression.

Despite feeling aggrieved and furious, Helene didn't wish to agitate the

man and get on his bad side at such a critical moment. She could only

remove the bottle cap and took a sniff at it to test if it was

poisonous.

"Can it be used directly?" she asked.

Klein tersely acknowledged in the affirmative.

Helene took out a white handkerchief and dabbed it with the bottle's

liquid. Then, she began wiping her face and quickly cleaned away her

prior disguise.

Her aesthetically-pleasing masculinity vanished and her contours became

softer as Helene's original looks were presented before Klein.

After careful observation, Klein calmly said, "Take off your hat and let

down your hair."

Helene furrowed her brows and had a nagging feeling that what followed

would be unacceptable instructions such as taking off her clothes.

She took a deep breath, removed her hat, and released her coiled red

hair. Immediately, she appeared extremely feminine.

Klein straightened his body and leaned back on the carriage wall before

calmly instructing, "You can put on your disguise again."

*Is he a madman? After all this, he wants me to revert to how I was

before?* Helene didn't dare to voice her displeasure, afraid

that the man would raise unacceptable requests. She hurriedly opened her

suitcase and took out a mirror to look at herself.

The makeup has been removed so cleanly... She was stunned for

a moment before she quickly put on makeup and coiled her hair.

When the carriage came to a stop, she was already looking like a

handsome young man.

Klein nodded indiscernibly and looked out the window before retracting

his gaze.

"One last question."

"What?" Helene asked nervously.

Klein raised his line of sight a little as his facial muscles moved.

"How big are your breasts?"

"..." Helene was first taken aback before her face flushed red.

This wasn't a redness caused by embarrassment, but an anger from wanting

to punch the man in the chin.

Klein didn't move his gaze as he calmly added, "It's an academic

question."

"..." Noticing no sexual intent from his eyes, Helene inhaled and closed

her eyes to answer the question.

Klein secretly heaved a sigh of relief and took out a boat ticket and a

stack of papers.

"New identification, tickets to Tiana Port.

"Once you're there, buy tickets to Pritz Harbor."

Helene glanced at him vigilantly before receiving the tickets and

documents. She carried her suitcase and carefully alighted the carriage

to see the ship she was taking.

Klein followed behind her and watched her leave. From the corner of his

eye, he saw Danitz trying hard to hold back his laughter.