Chapter 632: Finishing Up
After a frozen moment of silence, Amyrius quickly brought his
expressions under control. He said in a domineering and deep tone, "Tell
me the specifics."
Klein didn't hide much of the truth. He began with Aston Rieveldt's
question, before mentioning the warning from the mysterious person in
the dream, and how he was told not to make a choice that resisted the
trend of the times. Following that, he talked about the sudden telegram,
and finally he spoke of Cynthia's mutation. He went into detail about
the situation, the arrogance of the secretary, how he dealt with it, and
the general investigations that followed.
The only information he kept to himself was that the 4th February was
the first day he arrived on Oravi Island, as well as his subsequent
guesses.
Of course, he was also very vague with matters regarding combat. He
believed that Admiral Amyrius was understanding enough. After all, what
a Beyonder was good at or what unique abilities he had were one of their
greatest secrets. If they were exposed or understood by others, it gave
others a chance of setting up a targeted ambush, making it possible for
them to die under the hands of an enemy of a lower Sequence.
Below that of High-Sequence Beyonders, many Beyonders could be very
powerful or very weak!
After Amyrius listened to the recount in silence, his expression didn't
seem to change in the dark room. However, the fact that he hadn't
interrupted Klein's recount implied something.
After a few seconds of silence, he asked in a deep voice, "The
mysterious person who infiltrated your dream emphasized the fate of an
era, as well as the trend of the times?"
"Yes." Klein had already changed back into Gehrman Sparrow's appearance.
He didn't deliberately go into detail that the mysterious person had
never mentioned Aston Rieveldt's exact plan.
Amyrius fell silent again.
"You maintained my appearance in your dream?"
"Yes, this is my secret," Klein answered succinctly.
Amyrius nodded indiscernibly as he paced around in a tiny area before
looking back at Gehrman Sparrow.
"There were no problems with your choices."
Upon hearing this, Klein seemed to receive the ultimate and most
effective feedback. A large portion of the potion in him was digested as
a result.
Amidst the deep, reverberating tone, Amyrius turned his body to the side
and said without any hint of emotion, "I originally had no plans to have
a contract with the stand-in, and instead I wanted to inform Cynthia
that I had the symptoms of losing control, making it impossible for me
to have any physical relationship with her for five days. However, I
later changed my mind due to certain reasons."
*If not for the temporary contract's forceful restriction, even if I'm
able to withstand the temptations during usual times, I might not have
been able to resist the magnified desires last night...*
*Of course, if Cynthia knew of the five-day restriction ahead of time,
she wouldn't be in such a rush to consume the powder ground from the
Proliferation Necklace. It would've prevented her from sensing the
Mother Tree of Desire and end up mutating... But as such, the ball is in
the Naturism Sect's court. They could've made up an excuse to get
Cynthia to consume it...*
*This matter was really targeted at me... What does the Mother Tree of
Desire actually want? Also, what was the reason that caused Admiral
Amyrius to make such an important change...* Klein seemed to
grasp the crux of the matter as he looked at Amyrius's side profile.
"What's the reason?"
Amyrius said with a deadpan expression, "There's no need for you to
know."
"..."
For the first time in his life, Klein hated such a response.
After some thought, he took out the cracked pendant and threw it at
Amyrius.
"This is the Proliferation Necklace that originated from the Mother Tree
of Desire."
Amyrius raised his hand to catch it before looking down.
"You may leave.
"Go to Bilt to receive your reward."
*Aren't you worried that I know of something I'm not supposed to know?
That's right. Aston's ploy has been exposed and is known by his
political enemies. As for Amyrius, he was clearly not involved;
therefore, it doesn't matter if I understand anything...* Klein
imagined that there would be a long-term confidential contract, but to
his surprise, he could leave just like that.
Noticing that Amyrius didn't raise another matter, he pointed at him and
said, "Clothes."
Only then did Admiral Amyrius look up, silently taking off the formal
attire comprised of a shirt and tailcoat.
Klein had originally wished to ask for additional payment due to the
excessive dangers that went beyond the scope of the original agreement.
But after secretly confirming that Cynthia's outcome was because of him,
he abandoned the idea while feeling guilty. He quickly took off the
comfortable sleeping robe, switched into a tailcoat, and under Amyrius's
guidance, leaped out of the window, and secretly left the gardened villa
while the bodyguards' eyes were "confounded."
Amyrius donned a sleeping robe and clenched the Proliferation Necklace
before walking to the window. He stood there silently as he faced the
crimson moon and few stars in the dark night.
He stood there without an expression, not even changing his posture for
a long period of time.
Pa!
He slightly relaxed his clenched fist as the miniaturized rhinoceros
horn fell to the ground in the form of shattered pieces, bit by bit,
fragment by fragment.
The next day at noon, Klein, who had slept soundly the entire night,
left the inn and took a carriage to Sweet Lemon Bar. He went to the
second floor to meet Bilt Brando.
"It's over?" Bilt asked with relief and surprise.
Klein nodded and said, "Admiral Amyrius has returned.
"Where's the rest of the payment?"
Bilt revealed an unconcealable smile. After he dismissed his guards, he
personally went to a safe and took out the remaining 500 pounds and a
blue cufflink.
"This is the mystical item created from the murloc bladder you
provided," Bilt introduced. "It can provide illusory scales hidden
beneath the skin, so you will be as difficult to catch as a fish. It
will also help withstand a certain level of damage for you. With it, you
can dive to at least fifteen meters without any protective gear. You can
freely move about in the water for ten minutes. It doesn't have any
serious negative effects. It will just make you tired easily when in a
hot or arid place."
*That means this cufflink shouldn't be used with the Sun
Brooch...* Klein extended his hand to collect the money and
item.
"Aren't you afraid that there will be problems?" Bilt cracked a joke.
"Your business is here," Klein answered calmly.
His meaning was clear. If there were any problems, he wasn't afraid that
the person-in-charge would go missing.
Bilt's smile froze as he said, "It hasn't been named. You can give it
one."
"Murloc Cufflink." Klein couldn't be bothered to waste his brain cells.
"...Nice name. It leaves quite an impression," Bilt said with a forced
smile.
He paused for a moment before saying, "That Artisan said that he can fix
the summoning ritual of a spirit world creature onto materials with
spirituality. It will be able to last a maximum of one and a half years,
but you will need to provide detailed information.
"Heh heh, according to our agreement, I'll be responsible for it, so
there's nothing to be worried about."
"Alright. Make it a harmonica." Klein took out a pen and paper from his
pocket and scribbled the ritual to summon his messenger.
"Messenger? This is rather rare. It's very hard for Beyonders not from
the Death pathway to find a suitable one." Bilt received the piece of
paper and casually scanned it. "Eh, if the messenger is accidentally
summoned during the production process, a gold coin has to be given to
her... What happens if it's not given? Heh heh. Spirit world creatures
always have something odd about them. I've seen some who love music, as
well as ones who loiter around shit."
*What happens if you don't give one? Perhaps Ma'am Reinette Tinekerr
might bring the heads of you and the Artisan to me. She's a creature
with a castle in the spirit world. She might even be stronger than me.
Well, under situations when I'm not using the Sea God
Scepter...* Klein lampooned as he said in a deep voice, "The
third promised item can be left to the future."
"Alright." Bilt didn't have any objections. Following that, he asked out
of curiosity, "Mr. Gehrman, how did you fool Secretary Luan,
Governor-general Aston, and Miss Cynthia---people who Admiral Amyrius
specifically mentioned?"
"..."
Klein did his best to prevent his facial muscles from twitching.
"Follow the information and think about it carefully."
He didn't provide an exact description before he stood up and bowed with
his hat.
"It's time I bid farewell."
"It was a pleasure working with you," Bilt answered with a smile.
After watching Gehrman Sparrow's figure vanish behind the door, he shook
his head and chuckled, muttering, "This powerful and crazy adventurer is
actually a natural actor?"
After lunch, his subordinate sent him the day's papers.
As Bilt sucked on a cigar, he flipped through it when his expression
suddenly froze.
*Last night, the new governor-general, Ben Conrad, held a banquet... New
governor-general? Aston Rieveldt has been relieved of his position as
governor general?* Bilt picked up the other sets of newspapers
and found the same piece of information.
With his connections in Oravi, he should've long heard of news regarding
a replacement of the governor-general. However, the replacement was
extremely sudden. Most people only learned of the situation when the new
governor-general officially made his appearance.
After a while, a partner who was secretly serving Admiral Amyrius
entered the room.
"Your Excellency wants you to investigate the people around you for
Naturism Sect believers and sink them all into the sea," the partner
passed on Amyrius's instructions.
"Alright." Bilt asked curiously, "What exactly happened? The Naturism
Sect suffered a terrible blow since yesterday."
"His Excellency suffered an assassination attempt from the Naturism Sect
yesterday. Miss Cynthia perished as a result. Secretary Luan was
injured, and the admiral lost many of his bodyguards," the partner
described simply.
"Ah?" Bilt was momentarily stunned.
*A-aren't these the people Admiral Amyrius mentioned to be careful of
when acting in front of them?*
I even specially emphasized it to Gehrman Sparrow...
*Now, Miss Cynthia is dead, Secretary Luan is injured, and Aston
Rieveldt has been relieved of his position as
governor-general...* The corners of Bilt's mouth twitched while
he wore a blank expression.
East Chester County, Stoen City.
Audrey silently listened to a noble lady's words, echoing her from time
to time as she provided an ear to listen to.
Towards the end, the noble lady praised her sincerely, "Audrey, you
really are an angel. I feel a lot more comfortable after chatting with
you."
At this moment, Audrey saw the female priest from the Church of
Evernight enter. Hence, she exchanged pleasantries before walking over
with a smile.
This priest appeared ordinary, as she only provided low-level
preachings, but in fact, she was a secret member of the Psychology
Alchemists.
"Audrey, the potion formula is already in my hands. However, you need to
contribute enough to obtain it," the female priest whispered while no
one was paying attention.
Audrey's eyes darted around slightly as she said, "That wouldn't be an
issue.
"However, Ma'am Smine, can you tell me its name?"
The female priest looked around before saying with a suppressed voice,
"Hypnotist."