Chapter 76: Dealing With The Aftermath

Bang!

The silver bullet traversed the short distance of a few meters and

accurately bore into the suited clown's neck. Large amounts of blood

spewed out, dyeing his skin and bow tie red.

The suited clown was unable to let out a cry as his throat seemed to

produce sounds of him gasping for breath. He wished to raise his arm to

divert the fatal wound, but his joints appeared to be filled with glue.

His motions were slow and jerky.

Bang!

Having entered a half-Cogitation state, Klein was not stunned by the

appearance of blood. He pulled the trigger once again calmly, as though

it was his usual daily practice.

A grisly hole appeared on the suited clown's forehead as crimson red

spewed out. The luster in his eyes dimmed as the intricate revolver's

might was far higher than what Klein had imagined to be.

As his knees buckled and his arms hung down, the suited clown gradually

fell to the ground. His eyes were frozen with a dazed look.

His body convulsed a few times before it slowly relaxed and stopped

moving.

Having delivered a headshot, Klein turned around in a cool manner. He

spun his revolver and allowed the empty shells to fall down.

Then, dressed in his black formal suit and halved top hat, he walked

towards Aiur Harson. He pulled out the final silver demon hunting bullet

in his pocket and inserted it into the revolver's chamber.

The reason why he did not turn back to look at the suited clown's tragic

fate was solely because of his discomfort with his first kill. However,

it was necessary. He did not know what would happen if the suited clown

was under the full control of the puppet.

Furthermore, he did not dare risk entering Sealed Artifact 2-049's

effective range. After all, no one knew if something odd would happen

that prevented his self-rescuing luck enhancement ritual to fail.

As for the items on the suited clown, Klein only cared if there was the

so-called Clown potion formula or the relevant clues. However, this was

not something he was in a hurry to carry out. In a while, he could do it

together with Dunn, Aiur, and company. If the Nighthawks had it, it also

practically meant that he had it. There was no way that they would be

unwilling to share the potion formula of Sequence 8. At most, he would

be required to accumulate his contributions over time. After all, he had

only become a Seer recently; it would still be a long time until he

fully digested it.

As his thoughts churned, Klein quickly walked next to Aiur Harson. The

gentleman in his gray trench coat struggled to sit up but failed at

every try. He was covered in dust and mud from the fall.

"Mr. Harson, what do you need me to do?" he asked, squatting down. He

pointed the revolver in his hand at the ground in case of a misfire.

Aiur gasped for air and sighed.

"The monster was too strong; if not for its weakness..."

Then, he pointed at a sky-blue metal bottle beside him and said in a

self-deprecating laugh, "I was trying to consume some medicine, but my

hand shook..."

The sky-blue bottle was about the size of Klein's finger. It was not

longer than five centimeters long and a cap that hid spiral patterns had

fallen to the side. The liquid had completely spilled.

Klein reached out to pick up the bottle. As he looked at it with

narrowed eyes, he answered helplessly, "Mr. Harson, there are only a few

drops left in the bottle."

"Go to... Borgia and search his body. In his inner pockets." Aiur said

as he gasped for breath.

"Alright." Klein stood up and casually asked, "Is this restorative

medicine?"

An item from mysticism?

"No, it only has certain restorative effects. The main goal is to

stimulate our minds and squeeze out the potential... of our bodies. It

allows to maintain a decent state for a short period of time until we

return, where we can receive treatment." Aiur attempted to sit up only

to fail again. "It's name is the Goddess's Gaze... Remember to let

Borgia drink half a bottle."

Klein did not delay any further as he turned around. He briskly arrived

at Borgia who was groaning in pain. He found the uniform sky-blue metal

bottle from the Nighthawk's pocket.

After removing the cap, he carefully held the bottle to Borgia's mouth.

Having sensed it, Borgia tried hard to open his lips.

The bottle was held up as dark red liquid flowed in Borgia's mouth.

Klein estimated the quantity and stopped just in time. He then screwed

the cap back on.

The medicine was rather effective. It only took Borgia a few seconds

after drinking to regain the spirit in his eyes. Furthermore, he

whispered, "Thank you."

With that said, he pressed down on the ground as he slowly sat up. He

first dealt with his wounds before walking to the unconscious Lorotta

and Dunn. Then, he retrieved the Goddess's Gaze from the latter's inner

pocket.

Klein returned to Aiur's side and fed him the remaining half bottle.

After Aiur panted a few times, his actions suddenly became nimbler. He

stood up as though he had never been injured.

"I'll help Borgia. Help that partner of yours." The gentleman with the

charm of a middle-aged man pointed at Leonard Mitchell.

Klein had no objections to it. He turned around and jogged to the

"poet," Leonard.

"There's no need. I can drink it by myself." Leonard, with his

disheveled hair, smiled as he raised the sky-blue bottle.

Upon seeing Leonard agilely get up by pushing up with one hand, Klein,

who wanted to lampoon, was suddenly stunned.

Leonard's injuries are lighter than I expected...

*He had the ability to consume the medicine from the very

beginning!*

*That also means that he could see me walk counterclockwise as I did the

luck enhancement ritual!*

*No, that's still alright. I had chanted inwardly and the luck

enhancement ritual does not appear odd in any way, or the suited clown

would not have fallen for it...*

*But even so, Leonard, who had long recovered but chose to watch by the

sidelines, had seen quite a lot. Things like me not being affected by

2-049 and my sneak attack on the suited clown...*

Just as Klein's eyes narrowed slightly, Leonard, who was walking in his

direction, stopped beside him and chuckled softly.

"I actually wanted to save you but discovered that you didn't need it.

"Don't mind it. There are many special people in this world that can

always do things others can't, such as you..."

"...and me." Leonard smiled as he went past Klein and walked to the

awakening Dunn and Lorotta.

Narcissist... Klein thought silently as he felt a lot more

relaxed.

From the looks of it, Leonard Mitchell hid quite a bit of secrets... As

he regrouped with the rest while deep in thought, he saw Captain Dunn

wear a glove and pick up the Antigonus family notebook that was covered

in yellowish-brown blood stains.

The notebook's cover was completely made of thick black paper. It

suffused an aura from an ancient and distant time without any signs of

softening or rotting. It was nearly identical to the one he saw in his

dream. He even suspected that flipping it open would only make him see

the Fool wearing splendid headgear.

However, he soon realized that he was overthinking things since Dunn had

flipped open the notebook to make a final confirmation.

Klein was unable to discern the words on it due to his poor angle, but

he was certain that there was no drawing of the Fool with his gorgeous

clothes and splendid headdress.

"Ahem. There's nothing wrong with it." Dunn closed the notebook and held

it securely. Then, he looked at Aiur and company. "Let's store this

notebook and Sealed Artifact 2-049 behind Tingen's Chanis Gate. We can

wait until all of you are recovered or Backlund sends someone over."

Upon hearing that, Klein felt a little disappointed once again, but also

felt happy. He wished to see the Antigonus family's notebook once more

and figure out the reason for the death of the original Klein, Welch,

and Naya. However, he also felt that the ancient item was filled with

misfortune. It often brought catastrophe, so he did not dare touch it.

*Handing it to the Church's headquarters and sealing it is considered

the best choice...* He secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

"Alright." Aiur Harson, Borgia, and Lorotta nodded in unison. They then

turned around and arrived beside Sealed Artifact 2-049.

They woke each other up and stuffed the puppet which had resumed moving

into the black chest with an opening as they monitored it strictly.

"Everything is back to normal." Aiur sounded a little more relaxed.

Inside the dimly lit black chest, the puppet wrapped in oil-stained

cloth flipped over with its body creaking as it aligned its

clown-painted face with the light source.

On the creepy face, under the black pupil-less eyes, two hardly

noticeable crimson cracks appeared.

Meanwhile, Dunn, Leonard, and Klein, who had mustered his courage, began

searching the suited clown's corpse. They found paper flowers,

handkerchiefs, poker cards, glass pieces, and all sorts of strange

items.

However, apart from that, he did not seem to carry anything of worth or

potential clues.

*Hmm, other than the wallet with seventy to eighty pounds and ten plus

soli...* Klein secretly sighed.

With money in mind, he immediately looked down and inspected himself.

His face nearly fell literally.

His formal suit that cost several pounds had torn in five to six spots

which required mending due to his rolling on the ground. Furthermore, it

was covered in dust and dirt stains.

Dunn shot him a glance as the corner of his lips curved up.

"Losses during a mission can be reimbursed."

Reimbursed... Upon hearing the term "invented" by Emperor

Roselle, Klein instantly felt wonderful.

*Yeah. This suit just needs some proper cleaning and mending before it

can be worn again. It will still be presentable...*

*When the reimbursement comes, I can buy another set and I can take

turns wearing them!*

*Hmm, I am not the kind of person that uses a reimbursement for

something other than what it was intended for...*

*However, I should consider getting a set of clothes for combat in the

future, such as a black trench coat like Captain... Clothes with

slightly poorer material would be much cheaper than a tuxedo... Tsk, has

the reason why the bastard, Leonard, doesn't like wearing formal suits

been due to him having such considerations...*

"Let Frye take care of the dead body. We'll see if he can find what the

man originally looked like or find any relevant clues." Dunn touched the

suited clown's face paint with his gloves.

Then, they searched the innermost warehouse and saw that there were a

splotches of bloody flesh that looked like they had been smashed by

boulders. They also saw one white bone after another that had been

strewn everywhere.

"Ray Bieber was absorbing the power in the notebook via an ancient

ritual, just like how we would consume a higher-level Sequence potion. A

ritual like that is full of danger. It must be performed in an

environment isolated from all disturbances, and the ritual would have

required him to enter a deep sleep for a certain amount of time. That

was probably why he had yet to leave Tingen." Dunn guessed at the

possibilities after inspecting the warehouse.

Upon hearing such a description, Lorotta laughed. Her black hair

contrasted sharply with her pale face.

"Such a pity, we awakened him ahead of time. His anger at being woken up

truly left a deep impression on us."

"This is a kind of losing control," Dunn looked towards Klein and told

him, as both an explanation and a lecture.

"Why didn't he just leave Tingen and try to absorb it elsewhere?" asked

a perplexed Klein.

Aiur laughed and pointed to his head.

"People influenced by ancient or sinister powers often are lacking in

this department."

At that moment, Dunn inhaled and said while hiding his pain, "Leonard,

you are still in good condition. Stay here and do not allow ordinary

people to come close... The rest of us will immediately search for items

among Ray Bieber's remains. We will return with them and the Sealed

Artifact, as well as the Antigonus family's notebook. We will then get

Frye, Royale, and the police to come here."