January 1st, 1350, New Year's Day. Backlund, Pritz Harbor.
Klein arrived by carriage at the "Pritz Harbor Ticketing Company" located in the White Rose district.
At this moment, he wore a cold, gaunt face.
Gehrman Sparrow.
That was the name Klein had prepared for his new identity. According to his backstory, this Mr. Gehrman was a stern adventurer who had come to sea to hunt pirates for bounty.
That's right, Klein was also planning to temporarily leave Backlund and head out to sea to seek advancement.
He wore a black woolen overcoat and a half-height silk top hat, with a gun holster hidden under his arm and a thin human-skin glove on his left hand.
This glove came from the deceased "Hurricane Lieutenant General" Qilangos.
After Azik Eggers partially sealed it, he had left it for Klein.
Essentially, it was an item made from the Beyonder characteristics of a "Shepherd" and could graze souls within the glove.
"Now I can graze like Silas," Klein thought with some emotion. "I wonder how he's doing now."
Honestly, when he received the report from [Justice] on New Year's Eve, he had been completely stunned.
What?
[Temperance] had stormed the palace alone?
What?
He had commandeered a warship and bombarded the palace?
What?
Surrounded by numerous royal powerhouses, he had actually driven a demigod insane, forced his way to the King's throne, and splattered blood all over him?
This guy Silas, his codename might be [Temperance], but he showed absolutely no intention of restraining himself.
The final message [Justice] had sent back was that Silas's entire body had exploded into a bloody mist and he had seemingly vanished.
This left Klein quite worried, but when he came above the gray fog, he discovered that the crimson star representing [Temperance] was still shining bright, meaning the other party was still alive.
And everything Silas had done seemed to be because he believed the true culprit behind the Great Smog incident was King George III.
"Monday is almost here. I'll ask him for details at the Tarot Club meeting."
That's what Klein thought.
He planned to directly use his [The World] persona to question the other party without any concealment, because this identity had most likely already been exposed.
At the time, in order to warn Silas, he had directly communicated through the gray fog to tell him that "the Witch was attacking his parish."
And Silas only needed a bit of reasoning to potentially deduce his identity from that.
"Fortunately, at most he'll deduce that [The World] is Klein.
He can't guess that [The Fool] is also Klein. If he found out about my final persona, I'd probably die of embarrassment."
With that thought, Klein stepped down from the carriage.
"Extra, extra!"
"Sodlark Palace bombarded, reduced to ruins! The Pritz sunk, palace guards suffer heavy casualties, the King himself directly threatened!"
"The culprit's codename is [Blood Reverend], and he's still at large!
The Loen government is offering a 12,000-pound reward for his head."
Newsboys waved newspapers in the open space outside the ticketing company, shouting.
Many people crowded around them, competing to buy papers with their money. Clearly, they had been shocked by this stunning news.
What happened last night was already in the papers today?
Klein couldn't help but feel curious.
He walked forward and, relying on his Beyonder abilities, successfully grabbed a copy of the Backlund Post from the crowded throng.
Opening it, he saw Silas's actions written in detail as the headline story.
Of course, as a newspaper aimed at ordinary people, it didn't mention the Beyonder world but instead made secularized modifications to the corresponding events.
For instance, Silas's commandeering of the warship was changed to threatening soldiers with explosives, and the reason for the ship sinking became an explosion of those explosives.
But even so, the content was sensational enough.
"Good heavens, so that Blood Reverend was also behind the earlier Capim case!"
"Twelve thousand pounds! That's such a high bounty, 2,000 pounds more than even the 'King of Immortality' Agalito among the Four Pirate Kings!"
A group of travelers dressed as adventurers each took a newspaper and discussed quietly among themselves.
Many adventurers' eyes gleamed with interest.
Indeed, that was 12,000 pounds, a fortune! No wonder these people who risked their lives at sea were tempted!
"..."
Klein silently closed the newspaper, tucked it under his arm, and turned to walk into the ticketing hall.
Silas, you're world-famous now. Every desperado in the world is coming for you.
Please be careful.
***
Backlund, Hillston District.
Fors Wall stared at the newspaper in her hand, lost in thought for a long while, unmoving until the cigarette between her fingers burned down and scorched her hand, jolting her awake.
"Ah!"
The cigarette with its long ash fell, but just before hitting the floor, it suddenly bounced back up and returned to Fors's hand.
Having successfully performed this "trick," she couldn't help but pick up the newspaper again and read it once more.
Could it really have been [Temperance] who did this?
"What's wrong with you, making such a loud noise?"
Just then, her friend Xio Derecha pushed open the door and entered, frowning.
"Nothing... You're back?" Fors casually stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray.
"You rushed out so urgently earlier. Was there something going on?"
"Yes, that gold-masked man from MI9 wanted to see me."
Mentioning work, the petite Xio immediately became serious. "He wants me to investigate that Blood Reverend."
"MI9?"
Fors's interest was piqued immediately.
"I saw the newspaper. Is the Blood Reverend incident real? Did he really attack the palace?"
"Of course it's real. The cannon fire was so loud last night, how could it be fake?
What that Blood Reverend did was even more insane than what the newspapers describe."
Xio answered, "Fors, you've been staying home too long.
If you'd just gone out once, you could have seen the Pritz sunk in the Tasok River and Sodlark Palace with a good portion of it turned to ruins."
When she spoke of these things, her voice trembled slightly.
"You know what? That guy is absolutely insane! He stormed into the palace alone, transformed into a sea of blood, nearly killed his way through the entire place, and at the end almost reached the King himself.
His blood stained the throne red!"
Fors imagined that crazy scene and felt a chill run down her spine.
After all, Xio had only heard about the Blood Reverend from others, but she herself would have to personally encounter him at the Tarot Club meetings.
***
Sonia Sea, capital of the Rorsted Archipelago, the "City of Generosity," Bayam.
"Any news lately?"
Alger Wilson's fleet regularly returned to report to the Church of Storms, and he asked a colleague.
"Big news!"
The latter excitedly handed him a newspaper. The content shocked him greatly.
At the same time, across the Five Seas, throughout Loen territory, in Intis, Feysac, Feynapotter, Lenburg, and the Southern Continent... News of the attack on the Loen royal palace spread like wildfire, and the name of the [Blood Reverend] who had accomplished all this spread across the world with it.