The yellowish sun peaks through the steeples of the church's small spire. Bathing a sea of boundless golden wheats, dancing like waves and ripples in the skirmish of the wind.
Affected by the unseen currents. The hems of Klein's coat whirls gently as he walks. Looking at the town surrounded by orange fields.
"How beautiful..."
The dates representing the Volcanic constellation was coming to an end, and the Bumper Harvest constellation was going to rule everyone's life.
Klein, although hard for him to admit, could picture a silhouette of a familiar lady, smiling at him in the middle of those golden wheats.
But oblivious to this. Leonard opened his mouth, like he's about to recite a sonnet.
In the end, he just spurted out, "Beautiful."
Klein hid his smirk as he continues to take in the surrounding scenery. Holding his top hat and cane tightly.
At that moment, a middle-aged man in a black priest's gown walked over. He drew a crimson moon on his chest and said, "Praise the Lady. Are you the friends that Saint Selena Cathedral sent to help us?"
"Yes, Priest Siur. May the Goddess bless you." Leonard walked over and replied with a smile, "We're here to take care of the recent paranormal incidents."
"Seemingly. Seemingly." The gray-haired, blue-eyed Siur saw many townsfolk approaching as he quickly emphasized.
Morse Town wasn't big. Regardless of which direction one chose to travel in, one would enter the plains within ten minutes. The people who stayed there knew each other, so what happened earlier had spread.
Many townsfolk were waiting for the Church of the Evernight Goddess to send people to resolve the problem. Hence, when they saw that the priest was greeting three strangers, they quickly surrounded them out of concern and curiosity. Some tiptoed and some tried to hear what they were saying.
Leonard chuckled and said, "Priest, don't worry. We're professionals. Look, we brought Holy Water, silver daggers, Dark Sacred Emblems, and also garlic."
He took out the described items from the inner pockets of his clothes as though he was pulling a magic trick.
Garlic? Are you trying to stink the spirits to death? Klein found it ridiculous yet funny as he watched Leonard's performance.
Siur wore a look of confusion, and he even started to suspect that the Saint Selena Cathedral had sent over a bunch of frauds.
The citizens who surrounded them revealed gratified smiles, as though they were finally in safe hands.
Leonard got close to Priest Siur and explained softly into his ear, "They believe in these things..."
Without waiting for the priest's reply, he added, "Let's have lunch at the church first. Then, we shall take care of those matters."
Yes, lunch. After the paranormal cases comes the routine of handling 3-0782. Sigh... I hope everything goes smoothly... Klein nodded in silence and keen goal.
...
Today marks the end of Klein and Selina's mysticism curriculum.
It made Selina feel an accomplished relief. But with her available time, after attempts of failed concoctions, she decided to check on Klein and Leonard.
Thus, she headed from the archive room and to the break room.
On her way, she encountered the two clerks again, passing by them with a short, genial greeting. Selina instantly wondered.
I wonder just when will Ademinsaul be able to leave... Will he accept becoming a clerk?
That thought stayed until she arrived on a sofa. Her body, draped in three-pieced suit, accentuating her femininity, laid comfortably in embrace.
However, she seemed restless. As though something was off.
Selina quickly knew what it was and her ears reddened. Klein's definitely had a toned body... Uuu, why am I thinking this?
Calm down, calm down... but I wish he can lift me aga—NO! Ugh... maybe its because I haven't been pampered after my days as a kid that I became prone to it?
The pillow, always present in sofas, got used as a screaming bag by Selina as she pressed it whole on her face.
...Will he lift me again if I slept on the living room's couch? What a twisted picture did formed in her mind.
Eventually, her mind cluttered that figuring out her reason in the room became the priority.
Right! I have to check on them!
...But the seeds were just turned into charms! Selina placed a palm on her face and she lifted a turquois seed from her pocket.
"I guess I'll just nap the rest of the time..." she muttered in defeat.
...
The townsfolk looking at Klein and Leonard broke into discussion, curious and excited, as if they were watching a circus.
It's useless! I'm just acting! Klein suddenly felt that he had become a clown. He closed his eyes, placed the four cloves of garlic in all corners, and splashed the holy water onto the ground with the silver dagger.
He splashed the water as he walked around the house, reciting an incantation, "The Evernight Goddess...
'The Mother of Secrets... The Lady of Crimson...
"Empress of Disaster and Horror...
"Mistress of Calm and Silence..."
...
These typical acts of a charlatan shocked everyone present as the townsfolk fell silent.
And once people turned silent, it was easy for them to notice something they missed.
"What a warm feeling."
"It feels like I'm sunbathing..."
"No, I feel like I'm looking at a pure sky..."
"How magical... Is this the effect of the Holy Water?"
'They sure live up to their names as priests from Saint Selena Cathedral!"
"Praise the Lady!"
...
The townsfolk discussed in whispers. The looks they gave Klein, Leonard, and Kenley slowly became that of respect. Noah also visibly relaxed, not doubting that the problem had been solved.
Sealed Artifact 3-0782 is doing all the real work here... We don't actually need to do anything to chase the ghosts away, all we need to do is stay here for a minute. It's not tiring or troublesome at all... After Klein purified the sinister aura off every corner of the house, he opened his eyes and put away his silver dagger, drawing the shape of the crimson moon in front of his chest with a serious expression. "Praise the Lady!"
"Praise the Lady!" the townsfolk replied devoutly.
"We still have things to deal with, but we need absolute silence." Leonard smiled as he looked around.
The townsfolk, after witnessing something so professional, didn't stay. They receded from Noah's house like a tide following Priest Siur's lead. Even the master of the house had to leave temporarily.
"I actually wanted to take a nap..." Noah pouted as he walked toward the cathedral.
Leonard took a step forward and closed the door, then turned towards Klein.
"Do a divination on the cause of this incident."
"No problem." Klein also wanted to find out what he could divine.
I know Mr. Azik did this, but he seems to be of a rather superior nature. Heh, a person that can live for 1300 years must be of a superior nature... So my divinations should definitely be affected. Under such circumstances, without the help of the mysterious space above the gray fog, even I'm not sure what revelations I would receive... Klein took out the pen and paper he brought along with him and wrote down a divination statement:
"The cause of the haunting at Noah's house."
He held the piece of paper and walked to a round table. He then took a seat, closed his eyes, and leaned back.
Klein suddenly saw a black mausoleum in his blurred, hazy dream world.
It was similar to a pyramid, but stood inverted and was almost fully buried.
A black fog obscured everything within the ancient mausoleum.
Klein snapped awake and opened his eyes.
"Did you find anything?" Kenley asked in concern.
Klein thought for a moment and described the revelation he received in his dream without hiding anything. He ended it by saying, "The mausoleum was definitely not in the style of the Northern Continent, I mean the Fifth Epoch. I'm somewhat of an expert in this field."
Leonard nodded, seemingly in thought.
"That's an Inverted Pyramid from the Southern Continent. It represents the entering of the nether realm from the living world. It's a mausoleum that only the so-called Descendants of Death can erect for themselves, be it in the Balam Empire of the past, or its satellite states such as the Highlands Kingdom.
"In some sense, it's the symbol of Death.
"Well, the ghosts are definitely related to Death. The results of the divination are undoubtedly correct!"
Ignoring Leonard's mockery, Klein suddenly had an interesting thought.
Could Mr. Azik be the descendant of Death, or could he have made a transaction with Death to obtain such a long life?
According to a chapter from The Revelation of Evernight, as well as the internal records of the Nighthawks, Death was a malevolent god, once causing a catastrophe in the Northern Continent at the end of the Fourth Epoch. Those times were now referred to as the Pale Era.
Hmm, it's said that Death fell to the combined efforts of the Seven Gods... It's impossible to determine when Lamud Castle was built — but it couldn't have been built before the Pale Era.
If there was a connection, then there would be something to investigate regarding the person working behind the scenes, lives in the house with the red-chimney, and stole the skull of Mr. Azik's child...
Of course, this could be an excuse for the Northern Continent to colonize the Southern Continent. After all, most of the inhabitants of the Southern Continent believes in Death...
The three Nighthawks didn't stay for long since they didn't discover anything. They soon left Noah's house and started dealing with the two other haunting incidents.
The same process, the same results. They quickly rid the town of the auras of dead spirits, but didn't manage to find the cause of all the trouble.
Along the way, Leonard asked the townsfolk if any strangers had entered the town in the past few days, but received a negative answer.
Mr. Azik must've came discreetly. When he said that he would be returning to Tingen by Wednesday, did he mean that these spirits would vanish on their own accord today? Without any actions? Klein thought about it as he returned to the entrance of Morse Cathedral with Leonard and Kenley.
They could still last another hour and forty-five minutes with the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem.
"We'll take one hour shifts looking after the Sealed Artifact." Klein suppressed the excitement in his heart. He looked at the color of the sky and said, "Let's try to head back to Tingen City for dinner."
...
In this extremely quiet atmosphere, time flew by quickly. Klein suddenly snapped back to his senses as he took out his silver vine-leaf pocket watch, flipped it open, and took a glance.
Twenty minutes have passed... He muttered to himself. He then set his silk top hat and silver edged black cane by the side. He got up and walked towards a hidden corner near the altar.
At first, he faced the side of the altar, but once he saw the large Dark Sacred Emblem and the holy scenery that resembled a depiction of a night sky, he felt guilty and uncomfortable. Hence, he turned his back to the altar.
Then, Klein took out the Sealed Artifact 3-0782 from the inner pocket of his black tuxedo. He bent down to place the golden unadorned badge on the ground.
Klein took a look at the Sun symbol that was filled with abstract meanings, then he took out a small candle mixed with sandalwood. He put it right at the bottom of Sealed Artifact 3-0782.
That was the dualistic ritual that he learned from the Eternal Blazing Sun. He used an item that was closely related to the deity to represent "Him" while he used the candle to represent himself.
He took a deep breath to ease his tense emotions. Klein then took out the items required for the ritual, seemingly finding how convenient is Mrs. White's seed more than this.
After reflecting a bit, he adeptly used the silver ritual dagger to guide the flow of spirituality. He guided it to flow around the simple altar and created a shapeless sealed wall.
He squatted down, placed the silver dagger down, and extended his right hand. He lit up the candle that represented himself by rubbing his spirituality.
Under the flickering dim light, Klein picked up the Sun essential oil and dripped a drop onto the flame.
With a puff, an illusory fog spread out with the slight scent of sunlight.
After burning the fingered citron and rosemary powder, Klein held the carving knife and golden slices. He stood up, took a step back, and then recited in Hermes, "The blood of the Eternal Blazing Sun.
"You are the Inextinguishable Light, the Embodiment of Order, the God of Deeds, the Guardian of Businesses."
...
Klein had no way to divine if it would be successful ahead of time. He felt that it would result in him directly dealing with the deity again. So, he could only recite the rest of the incantation with a strained heart, "I pray to you,
"I pray for you to give me strength,
"Give me strength to complete the Flaring Sun Charm.
"The blood of the Eternal Blazing Sun, please transfer your strength into my charm...
"Oh fingered citron, a herb that belongs to the Sun, please bestow your powers to my charm..."
...
As the incantation neared completion, Klein suddenly felt something light up before him.
The simple gold badge radiated with an intense light, as though the sun had descended onto the land.
Klein suddenly found himself enveloped in extreme heat. His hair was heating up rapidly and was almost on the brink of igniting.
His feet felt like they were stepping barefoot on yellow sand that had been exposed to the midday sun, and his face and body were greeted with the hot wind blowing from every direction.
In that instance, he felt that he needed to do something to let the burning energies out. Otherwise, he would turn into a human candle.
It required almost zero thought as Klein lifted both his hands. While his thoughts were boiling over like porridge, he relied on the combination of his spirituality and the strong winds, as well as his instincts and ritualistic guidance, to begin etching symbols, corresponding Path Numbers, magical characteristics, and ancient incantations onto both sides of the gold slices with his carving knife.
Outside the church, Leonard was standing in the shadows to hide from coming into contact with direct sunlight.
Suddenly, the sunlight intensified, like the hottest days of a year in early July.
He squinted his eyes and looked towards the sky. He saw that the blue sky had no clouds or dust. It was so pure that it made people gasp with admiration.
"Such strange weather." Beside him, Kenley also noticed the changes in the sunlight.
Leonard responded with a smile when he suddenly turned his head.
He knitted his eyebrows slightly and cast his gaze towards the cathedral.
"Luckily Rozanne isn't here. Otherwise, she would be complaining about the sun tanning her skin," Leonard looked away and said with a smile.
The blazing sunlight remained intense for a few minutes before it returned to normal.
In the cathedral, Klein's carving knife finished the final stroke.