5700 words
Upon arriving back home, Kiyotaka removed his black wig and lenses and hid them in the inner pocket of his coat. Due to him handing Guile over to Freya, he had to resort to the methods of olden days of buying wigs and lenses.
Now that he thought back at it, an entire lifetime of events had occurred in just over three months. He had become extremely busy, fighting for his life almost every day while also growing increasingly paranoid with every day, thinking someone else was pulling the strings of his life.
In a sense, it felt like a decade had passed and he, somewhat, felt tired. Sighing to himself, he entered inside the house and saw Liv and Daisy arranging everything in a neat manner and wiping any dust off of the tables and other objects.
As he entered, both of them greeted him and bowed.
Kiyotaka looked around, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Where's Freya?"
"She is in her room, Sir. I am sorry for her tardy behavior. She has become increasingly insolent lately. I will make sure to discipline her."
"There is no need for that." Kiyotaka waved his hand and moved towards the study room before closing and locking the door. As he did, he pulled the scarf — Rime — out of his inner pocket and threw it at the table while letting out a gasp.
The moment Rime landed on the table, the upper layering of polish let out a hiss as it seemed to wither away. However, he took out a small container and opened it.
Inside it was crimson liquid that lapped here and there.
Submerging the scarf inside it, Kiyotaka closed the lid over it and used what little spirituality he could muster to erect a wall around it. With Rime effectively sealed, he finally let out a relieved sigh and plopped on to the couch.
He had an hour or so more before he could leave for the outskirts. And hence he decided to write something before he could do so.
In two days, the weekly Tarot Club meeting was going to be conducted and it was then when he was going to see if Fors was going to give a clue to Audrey. Of course, it was entirely possible that she had already relayed the information to her, however, he was ready to give her a benefit of doubt on the grounds that Klein would have informed him, if that was the case.
As he picked up a pen and paper, his mind wandered to what he could write. However, soon ideas began to pour into his mind as he tried to avoid writing what had been already plagiarized by Roselle.
The first book was a test. It looked like writing too deep themes were either suppressed or too advanced for the native population. And seeing the pattern with Roselle, works that were proven to move masses in the past, are bound to do the same in the present era as well.
His pen began to move as he wrote a fable.
After about fifteen minutes, he finished his manuscript and re-read it. He did not require any editors and hence the manuscript was ready to publish at a moment's notice.
However, he made sure not to use his previous pen-name "A Reprobate" this time as he was going to use this alias for other purposes and wished to keep the notorious name away from a book of such nature.
As he did, Kiyotaka straightened his back and looked at the roof before bending back on the table and writing a starting line, right under the title.
[There is a great difference between possessing a desire and allowing that desire to possess you.]
As he was ruminating over the story and its potential implications, he felt a few knocks on his door.
After compiling the sheets of paper and sorting them into an envelope, Kiyotaka sealed it and then opened the door.
Standing in front of the door was Freya with her hair curled. A lot of them fell on her face in wavy strands while a big bunch behind her was tied into a brooch. She was wearing long earrings, Guile on her left ring finger — who's appearance she had changed — and had used beeswax on her lips.
Dressed in a heavy burgundy shirt that was tucked inside a cream colored skirt, she had a smile on her face as Kiyotaka opened the door.
"Sir, everything is ready. We can leave whenever you want." She tip-toed, as if extremely excited and then hushed her voice before speaking. "I... I think I digested my potion as well."
Kiyotaka looked down at her and nodded. "Congratulations. I will give you the Potion to advance soon. Go back to your mother and sister and wait for me."
With that said, Freya walked back to them and Kiyotaka changed into his more 'formal' clothes before sending a message to Klein through a prayer.
*****
As all residents of Unit 17 at Sørlund Street finished their preparations, a carriage pulled in front of Kiyotaka's house.
The driver was a middle aged man with tanned skin and a thick beard. He looked more like a warrior than a driver. As he pulled the reins of the horses, Kiyotaka's eyes landed on him while the man gave him a deep bow before looking away.
"Go on, sit inside." Kiyotaka directed the three ladies as they picked up the baskets full of food, water and spare clothes.
Meanwhile, Kiyotaka looked up at the sky and frowned.
There was definitely something abnormal about the smog today. It had never gotten this thick, and even if it had, it never resulted in a burning sensation such as this. Coupled that with the fact that some of his Danger Intuition was alerting him, it meant that there was definitely something strange going on.
Once the ladies had taken their seats, Kiyotaka walked into the carriage as well and sat beside Daisy, in front of Freya as the carriage began to roll forward.
For the first few minutes, no one talked as Liv and Daisy kept looking around, squinting their eyes to look at their surroundings that were draped in a thick layer of smog.
Sometime in the journey, Daisy pointed towards one of the streets and exclaimed: "Mom! Freya! Look! Our old house!"
Liv and Freya turned their heads to look at the dilapidated place as the street vanished from their sight while the horses kept sprinting at a high pace. There was a certain look of nostalgia in Liv's eyes, however, Freya seemed to avert her gaze completely, not wishing to look back at her previous life.
While the horses were galloping at a high speed, Kiyotaka's Danger Intuition was alerted once more.
Without panicking, he turned to look at Freya.
Her long, brown eyes had dulled even more as she looked around. There was a certain panic on her face, however, her tense shoulders relaxed instantly. Her lips pursed and she bit on the inside of her cheek.
Kiyotaka did not ask her what happened and waited for the carriage to arrive at its destination first.
There was certainly something very strange today. The entire ordeal with the thickening smog, the constant threat of someone dangerous closing in on him and so much more. This made Kiyotaka a little uneasy, given how his Briber potion was just on the cusp of digestion. He needed just one more minor Bribe to impart before he could advance.
That said, there was the issue of Main Ingredients. He had already acquired Supplementary Ingredients — which consisted of 60 ml of human-faced baboon blood, 10 drops of gray amber perfume, 60 ml of strong fruit liquor and 10 g of lead powder — by sending Mal to various Beyonder Meetings.
Getting 1 Rotting Corpse Flower was not an issue, however, the nose of a human-faced baboon was something that was going to pose a problem. He had been looking for quite a while now, however, the real conundrum was that the nose of a human-faced baboon required a fresh hunt.
And hunting a creature that corresponded to Sequence 6 level was not something people accomplished every day. Coupled with the fact that almost no one would have such a thing laying around, it had become quite hard to get his hands on the material.
Since the Loen military and MI9 controlled the pathway, it added another layer of difficulty as it was quite possible to get killed at their hands if one became too aggressive at finding the materials.
But at the same time, Kiyotaka could more or less judge the scale of incoming events — or at least, make an optimistic guess about it. And if he wished to stand a chance, even remotely, he desperately needed the qualitative change that Baron of Corruption brought with itself.
All of this left Kiyotaka with two options:
First, to become aggressive in his approach to procure the Main Ingredients and risk MI9 hounding at him.
Second, to use Law of Beyonder Characteristics Convergence to his benefit and hunt down a Sequence 6: Baron of Corruption, using his Beyonder Characteristic as a Main Ingredient.
However, both were easier said than done. A lot of Lawyer Pathway Beyonders are well connected due to the nature of their pathway and the difference between a Baron of Corruption and Briber was quite large, if Mystical Items were subtracted from the equation.
The sound of Liv mumbling something as she pinched Freya's back and forced her to sit with her back straight and chest puffed out brought Kiyotaka out of his thoughts. He slightly shook his head and looked outside the window once more.
The dense fog had begun to recede and the overcast sky seemed to slowly drift past them as tiny beams of warm sunlight began to hit the glass window of the carriage, warming it.
Liv and Daisy looked outside the window with huge smiles and slowly removed the shawls around their shoulders, as if trying to bask into the sunlight more. Freya was not wearing it as her enhanced physique allowed her to bear with the cold weather.
"We're here." Kiyotaka announced as the carriage began to slow down in front of a manor.
Daisy opened the door and bolted out excitedly as Liv followed close-by, reprimanding the little girl before picking up the bags that they had brought with themselves for their day out. While she was doing so, Kiyotaka glanced at Freya from the corner of his eye and began to step out as well.
"Wait in one of the rooms upstairs."
Freya lowered her head and nodded nervously.
The carriage driver began to help the ladies take the bags inside while Kiyotaka adjusted his coat and began to tour the place they were going to stay at tonight, or a few nights more, depending on his mood and urge to get some rest.
It was a converted manor that was not too huge in size, compared to Kiyotaka's rented house. This place had once been the private residence of a minor noble family, but after going bankrupt, Earl Hall seemed to have bought it from the noble and converted it into a countryside retreat for those wealthy enough who wished to escape Backlund for a few days.
The estate had been registered under a small company that, after enough digging, could be traced back to one of Earl Hall's commercial interests. The connection was indirect enough to avoid drawing attention, yet obvious enough for someone familiar with Backlund's aristocratic businesses to understand who ultimately profited from the place.
The reason why this particular property was famous and mostly booked was because of what lay behind the building.
The back doors opened to a huge lawn that sloped away from the manor. Several wrought-iron benches had been placed beneath the bald winter trees, while wooden reclining chairs were scattered across the sunniest parts of the grass.
Small tables were placed beside them, allowing guests to sit with tea, wine, or a book while basking in what little warmth the winter sun provided.
A low stone terrace overlooked the entire lawn with a leathery couch on it.
Kiyotaka removed his coat and pulled his shirt out of his pants before undoing his top button and pulling his sleeves up. The warmth of the sun falling directly on his face made him almost melt as his bones fell into a deep trance of relief.
While the cold did not affect him much, it was still quite a relief to have sunlight fall on his face and body without any interruption.
Letting Daisy and Liv do the manual work, he called Freya by motioning her. As she arrived by his side, Kiyotaka spoke in a suppressed manner.
"What did you observe?"
Freya's expression immediately turned even more serious than she was letting on. She glanced toward Liv and Daisy before taking a small step closer to him. "I... I'm not entirely sure, Sir."
Kiyotaka stayed silent, letting Freya ruminate and convert her visual feedback and thoughts into coherent words.
"When we were still inside the main boroughs of Backlund, I kept feeling like something was wrong. At first it was the same feeling as when that person came to our... Sorry, your house. But then the feeling got worse..." Freya gulped. "At first I thought it was just the smog but then my eyes felt strange whenever I looked through it using my Spirit Vision." She paused, pressing her lips together. "But the real problem arose when I began noticing people."
"What about them?"
"When we were passing through our old house, I was looking at different people. Initially, they looked normal. But when I peered a little harder, I saw something on them... well, not on their bodies... I don't know how to explain it..." Freya hesitated before looking directly at him. "It was like there was something underneath their physical bodies."
"What color did they represent?"
"Grayish." Freya said but then shook her head. "No, not gray exactly. It was a strange color, like... When clean water becomes dirty. Their colors looked like that."
Kiyotaka remained still and listened.
"I saw it in one person, then another and another... Until it was all I saw overlaid over every person." Freya swallowed another dry lump of saliva while her eyes briefly drifted toward the distant horizon. "I thought perhaps it was just my imagination but..."
A rather haunting feeling suddenly gripped her heart. Freya's fingers slowly tightened around her skirt. "Sir..."
"...Yes?"
"I don't think that smog was normal."
Kiyotaka looked down at her and hummed.
"It must be your imagination." He turned to look at Liv and Daisy. "Go and enjoy yourself. We will stay here for two nights. Indulge yourself as much as you want, since you will be working quite a lot with the horse. To tame it." He paused and then cleared his throat. "Send your mother with the carriage driver to retrieve the horse as soon as possible."
Freya's body bristled. She wanted to say something and after a few moments of courage opened her mouth. "Can I go with her?"
"No. I need you here."
Freya bit the inside of her cheek and lowered her head, nodding slightly. "Okay..."
Meanwhile, Kiyotaka, who was about to go and sit in one of the reclining chairs to give his strained back a little rest, suddenly felt his Danger Intuition from Ember act up again.
Sighing, he was about to stand up and look around when suddenly a boundless grey fog appeared in front of his eyes. A lofty figure shrouded in thick grey fog looked down at him with his hands on the ancient, mottled and bronze table.
"Something urgent came up... I can't come there. I need your help. Something really bad is happening in Backlund." Klein's voice was panicked.
"I know. Which is why I am so far away from the immediate radius of danger. This is also why I had contacted you to come here." Kiyotaka replied in form of a prayer.
A moment or so later, another reply came. This was short and had cut midway, as if recorded in haste. However, Kiyotaka did not have time to hear it as he suddenly felt even more alarmed.
Standing up, he made a quick dash towards the inside of the manor and saw Freya placing his bag down. Kiyotaka took it from her grasp and looked at her for a fleeting moment. "Do not let anyone disturb me."
Freya stared at him with a slight, confused frown as she couldn't help but nod.
Once inside, Kiyotaka ripped the bag open and took out his entire arsenal.
Equipping Cyst and Scourge on his hand and around his waist, he wrapped Rime around his neck before stuffing Gloom in his pocket. While having Guile was beneficial, he decided not to take it from Freya.
The moment he touched Gloom, the inherent Danger Premonition alerted him as Kiyotaka looked towards the far wall. As if he could see through it, he quickly opened the window to his room on the other end and jumped through it before running away.
As he left the boundaries of the estate away, the manicured lawn transitioned into the untamed expanse of the forest.
This manor was sitting on an elevated ridge, and its back end was plunged into a steep, heavily forested incline that dipped into a valley-like basin.
Kiyotaka tried to keep his balance on slippery, moss-covered landslide and used Gloom's Danger Premonition to steer clear from the source of danger. However, no matter how much he maneuvered around it, it seemed to be fully locked in on him.
Overhead, the winter trees were looming like bony claws of a monster while their thick, leafless canopies moved together, blocking out whatever little warmth the sun provided.
Halfway down the steep incline, Kiyotaka wore Gloom over his eyes. The moment it did, his heart began to tremble and he suddenly came to a halt. With his boots dug into the soft soil, he looked around and felt that the rustling of dry leaves and the distant howling of the wind had completely ceased.
"Quite perceptive." A vaguely familiar voice said as he stepped out from behind a dense tree.
The man was dressed in a tailored, dark steward's coat with immaculate white gloves, and silver-rimmed spectacles. His posture was perfectly straight while exuding a somewhat majestic aura.
William Sikes adjusted his silver rimmed glasses and chuckled in an old and weary manner. "I apologize for the abrupt intrusion and interrupting your vacation," William Sikes said in a fluid manner. "But I have been tasked with eliminating certain loose ends. But do not worry, you are not under immediate suspicion."
The friendly look over the old butler's face slightly hardened. "How do you know Trissy? What is your relationship with her?"
Kiyotaka rubbed his fingers into his palm that Cyst on and straightened his back. He did not immediately reach out for anything. After all, while he was a Briber now, he was once a Lawyer as well.
However, at the same time, he realized almost instantly that diplomacy was quite redundant since William Sikes had already used Bribe-Charm on him. Due to the enhanced mental resistance and presence of Scourge around his waist which eliminated negative de-buffs from him, he was able to stay lucid.
This gave rise to two problems. First was that his fear of the difference between a Briber and above Sequences was quite steep. If William Sikes was even a Baron of Corruption, in an ideal scenario, Kiyotaka had virtually zero chances of victory against him.
That was an ideal scenario for William Sikes, of course.
Secondly, Kiyotaka began to think about when did William Sikes form a 'Connection' with him? After all, he was not Bribed right now. Which means that William Sikes had Bribed him during their first or second meeting and was using that Connection to Charm him now.
Kiyotaka looked down the slope at Sikes, his expression completely blank. "I do not know what you are talking about."
"Lies." William Sikes waved his hand and narrowed his eyes. "You have been a Lawyer yourself. As someone who was able to disguise himself so effortlessly, you should know this much that lies such as this do not escape a Lawyer. I will ask again, Mr. Holmes. What is your relationship with Trissy, how do you know her and where is she right now?"
"I only know her name. Other than, I do not know anything."
William Sikes shook his head. "Alas. That means you do know something. That is enough grounds..."
A deep sense of Danger Premonition exploded from Gloom as Kiyotaka turned sharply to the right and began to bolt. However, at the same time, William Sikes was moving as well. He raised his hand and spoke in Ancient Hermes: "Imprison!"
Layers upon layers of transparent walls as well as a flowing, extremely viscous, transparent liquid suddenly materialized out of thin air and bound Kiyotaka before contracting, ready to trap him into place.
William Sikes closed his hand into a fist and chanted in Ancient Hermes once more: "Death!"
His old but strong body merged with some strange force as it dragged a blur at a speed that created afterimages.
Kiyotaka's spirituality flowed into Rime, however, there was not enough time. So instead of coating his entire body with augmentation, the skin over his face and his hair suddenly hardened, turning into steel as William Sikes' fist exploded into his temple.
The restraints holding him in place shattered and the steel augmentation over his body seemed to break at the same time as he was thrown like a ragdoll through the trees.
A static white overtook his vision and loud whistles and explosions began to resound in his head.
This was a Death Verdict coupled with Bribe Weaken! It was able to blitz through a zombie's defense like butter.
William Sikes flicked his wrist and Distorted the trajectory of Kiyotaka's airborne body to slam into a tree, causing his back to bend at an unnatural angle before falling down on a huge rock.
Just as William Sikes covered the distance between them with huge leaps, he raised his fist and swung at Kiyotaka's head.
However, his entire body turned black as he suddenly vanished.
Shadow Lurking!
Earlier when Kiyotaka had rubbed his fingers into his palm, he had activated Cyst and marked William Sikes shadow. However, due to the speed that blitzed his perception, he could not lurk into his shadow.
However, after the restrictions that held him into place were gone, he instinctively looked out for the marked shadow and lurked into it.
Appearing right behind William Sikes, Kiyotaka placed his hand on William Sikes' back as flames burst out of his palm. However, the potency of the attack seemed to have been reduced quite a lot as the fireball did nothing more than just burn his clothes.
Spinning around, William Sikes kicked Kiyotaka, however, he caught it and immediately followed up with an elbow towards the old man's knee.
William Sikes rolled into mid air and pulled his leg back before using his back leg to explode forward and jabbed at Kiyotaka's face.
Kiyotaka slightly dodged, letting the punch whoosh past his face. The force of the punch was so much that it caused his entire body to tremble and was forced to take several steps back, just to maintain his balance.
William Sikes grasped on to the opportunity and waved his hand like a whip, declaring in Ancient Hermes: "Flog!"
An invisible, soft whip lashed at Kiyotaka, however, he activated Rime once more. Due to Flog lacking the supernatural speed of Death, he was able to augment his body this time.
Dodging one strike and tanking the other with his Zombie physique, Kiyotaka caught William Sikes' wrist that was being used to direct the flog and locked his arm behind his elbow.
At the same time, his own hand began to melt and fused with William Sikes', however, the old man was not giving many openings as he threw a haymaker towards Kiyotaka's head.
Instead of separating himself, Kiyotaka slammed his forehead into William Sikes' nose bridge. The impact seemed to have rattled him as the silver rimmed glasses broke and the glass shards stuck all around his eyes.
Using this moment to his advantage, Kiyotaka kicked William Sikes' in the nuts... Or well, he tried to. Before his foot could connect, the old man closed his legs and caught his foot in a dead lock.
Kiyotaka spun in the air and kicked William Sikes' calf with his shin, causing the old man's body to wobble sideways as Kiyotaka dropped to the ground and then stood up immediately.
Flicking his wrist, three ravens made out of pure flames suddenly erupted out and flew towards the sky as William Sikes' ripped the glass shards out of his cheeks and once again bolted towards Kiyotaka.
Noticing his gloves, a certain greed enveloped Kiyotaka's heart as he stopped his escape and began to plan to steal William Sikes' gloves. However, he soon realized what was happening.
His desires were being corroded and his intelligence was being lowered as a result. Using Scourge's purifying powers on himself which caused a searing pain throughout his body, he extricated himself from the Corrosion effects that were passively infecting him.
As if realizing something, William Sikes suddenly parted his lips and was about to chant something in Ancient Hermes once more: "Use of Mystical Items is—"
However, before he could finish his sentence, Kiyotaka let go of his reservations and exclaimed in a loud voice that was full of degeneration and filth: "Slow!"
The Language of Foulness settled in quite immediately as Kiyotaka closed the distance between themselves and chanted once more: "Corruption!"
A thick black fog surrounded William Sikes as Kiyotaka suppressed the maddening effects of Gloom and chanted once more: "Slow!"
While all kinds of abnormalities began to appear on William Sikes' old body, Kiyotaka rolled to the side as the Fire Ravens that he had shot towards the sky earlier fell one after one towards him.
However, it seemed like he was still able to influence his abilities as the trajectories of those Fire Ravens were first distorted and then moved towards Kiyotaka with the help of Connection.
Kiyotaka used Ember to regain control of the Fire Ravens and re-directed them towards William Sikes while also chanting in the language of filth: "Slow!"
Right at the heels of that, Kiyotaka began to cough, throwing up a huge clot of congealed blood. Raising his hand, Kiyotaka flicked his wrist that had Cyst on and activated Blood Curse.
He had cursed William Sikes after he used Shadow Lurking to appear behind him and used a Fireball to reveal his skin. Once he came into contact with his flesh, it was quite easy to infect him with a Flesh and Blood curse, as dry skin absorbed liquid curses much faster.
Still reeling from the after effects of using Gloom too much, William Sikes broke free from the effects of 'Slow' however, 'Corruption' had done quite a number on him as pus infused tumors kept propagating all over his body.
He raised his voice: "Use of Mystical Items is prohibited here!"
Right at the heels of that, Kiyotaka felt his connection to Mystical Items weaken to non-existence. And while he was going quite close to losing control, he was still in a better state than William Sikes who was struggling to shrug off 'Corruption' and his own blood which was boiling inside him.
"You are quite formidable. It was good to follow my intuition and not spare you. Once I am done with you, I am going to torture those women and extract every single bit of information from them. Heretics such as you who are a threat to the peace of our kingdom have no right to live." William Sikes exclaimed as his condition slowly began to become much better.
"A threat to peace? Me?" Kiyotaka rose up and coughed, wiping the blood off of his lips.
"Yes. You are guilty."
"Of?"
William Sikes smiled minutely. "In a society where everyone is guilty, the only real crime is getting caught."
Kiyotaka thought over the implications of his words and then couldn't help but nod in affirmation. Of course, the only real crime that Kiyotaka had committed against this current ordeal was merely knowing about Trissy.
Everyone was guilty of something. And hence the distinguishing factor of one guilty person to another was how well one was in getting away and staying concealed.
It was truly a twisted reality of the world, however, a very true one.
"Do you understand now? It's over. You were quite valiant, I will give you that. To stand up to me at your level is quite commendable, no matter being equipped with Mystical Items to the bone. That's quite interesting too, in a way. How did you get your hands on so many of them?" William Sikes shook his head and let out a weathered cough and tapped on his chest. "No matter. This is the end."
"It is." Kiyotaka replied as suddenly William Sikes' body bristled.
However, before he could turn back, a giant piece of wood with a sharp tip tore through his chest. It broke his spine, pierced his heart and then completely shattered his ribs before jutting out of his chest.
Standing behind him, holding this piece of wood, was a woman with shoulder length curly hair. Her dark red eyes were squinted in glee as she twisted the wood and pulled it out before slashing to the side, painting the foliage in William Sikes' blood.
"Halla! I have arrived!" The woman with auburn-red hair and red eyes exclaimed. She gave her hair a casual flick while her eyes looked at Kiyotaka's battered body from top to bottom. A cat-like smile spread across her face. "Look at you... bleeding, exhausted, still standing. God, it's hot."
"Not right now." Kiyotaka waved his hand. "When did you arrive here?"
"Oh, I've been right here since you left the hotel," Astrid hummed, stepping over the fresh pool of blood and circling Kiyotaka like a cat. "I watched the whole thing. The way you take a beating and keep swinging... makes me want to pull you into the bed right now."
She laughed and leaned against a tree, tossing the bloody stake aside. "And before you ask why I didn't jump in earlier, relax. I set up a Conspiracy the moment you two entered the woods. Sealed off the whole space with traps and other things which I won't tell you, hehe. Trade secret you know."
She gestured vaguely into the tree line. "He had a friend out there searching for him. Kept that guy running in circles so you could have your little one-on-one without any uninvited guests."
Astrid kicked William's lifeless boot with her toe — which was visible from her open sandal — and let out another soft and amused chuckle. "I just waited for him to think he won. Men are so easy. The second a guy thinks he's about to finish, he lets his guard drop completely. He spent so much time blabbering nonsense about fault that he never even felt me slipping up behind him."
Astrid took a step closer to Kiyotaka and reached out with one finger to gently wipe a streak of blood from his jaw. Kiyotaka held her wrist, however, instead of pulling back, she just leaned into him and slipped her bloodied finger into her mouth and tasted it with a wicked wink.
"Are we doing this right here?" she gasped in a mocking horror. "You absolute deviant, forcing a delicate maiden like me onto her back over a fresh corpse. Actually... don't stop. That's incredibly hot."
Kiyotaka could feel a deep set anger at it as he almost lashed out at her, but barely contained himself. Each and every word that Astrid said was laced with provocation.
Not giving her any attention, Kiyotaka let go of her wrist and looked down. A black, swollen human nose appeared that emitted a rotten smell. He picked it up with a handkerchief and then stuffed it inside his coat.
"So? Where are we going now?"
"Not you, just me. Burn him." He paused and then thought over something. "Do not go back to the hotel." He took out a £1 note and gave it to her. "Rent a place here and stay low until I reach out to you."
Realizing something serious was going on, Astrid did not follow-up with a dirty joke and instead nodded. "Alright. If you need my help, send a letter or something. But I am in some dire need of money and clothes. I know I basically am forcing myself on you, but can't you just do me a favor? This once? I can repay you with... You know what, heh-heh."
Kiyotaka rolled the Beyonder Characteristic in his pocket and nodded. Then he bent down and removed the white gloves from William Sikes' hands and stuffed them into his pants pockets before leaving.
Once he entered his room through the window, he placed the Beyonder Characteristic down and sacrificed the gloves to the space above the grey fog. Then he prayed to Klein, however, after waiting for a long while, there was no response.
Gritting his teeth, Kiyotaka called Freya into his room.
He was going to ask her to perform a divination regarding the Beyonder Characteristic!
*****
Author's Note: I can't seem to write or think much. It's quite strange and the ending I had planned for Volume 1 seems to be a bit faulty too. Maybe that is the reason why I am not getting motivation to write. Anyways—
Freya's commission is here. Hope it's what y'all imagined. (Yes - that ring is Guile. She changed it's appearance to fit with her shirt and no - her eyes are not golden, they are brown)