Lord of the Mysteries

Tap! Tap! Tap! The sound of footsteps echoed through the dark, narrow corridor, which was otherwise silent.

Klein kept his back straight as he kept up with the priest’s pace. He did not pose questions or chat idly with him, remaining silent like a windless body of water.

After passing through the heavily guarded passageway, the priest opened a secret door with a key and pointed down a stairwell made of stone. “Turn left at the intersection to reach Chanis Gate.”

“May Goddess bless you.” Klein gestured the sign of the crimson moon on his chest.

Commoners practiced etiquette, while the religious partook in ritual blessings.

“Praise the Lady.” The priest returned with the same gesture.

Klein did not speak further as he walked down the dark stone stairwell with the aid of the refined inlaid gas lamps on both sides of the wall.

Midway, he subconsciously turned back and saw the priest standing at the entrance. He was in the shadows and appeared like an immobile wax statue.

Klein looked away and continued to proceed down. It did not take long before he hit ground laid with ice-cold stone slabs. This led him to the intersection.

He did not turn towards Chanis Gate because Dunn Smith, who had recently finished his shift, was definitely not there.

He turned right and saw the familiar path. Klein went back up another flight of stairs and appeared inside Blackthorn Security Company.

Seeing doors that were tightly shut or half-closed, he did not rush into them. Instead, he went to the reception and saw a brown-haired girl focused on a magazine with a sweet smile.

“Hi, Rozanne.” Klein came to her side and deliberately rapped the table.

Knock! Rozanne stood up suddenly and knocked over a chair and said in a fluster, “Hi, nice weather today. Y-you, Klein, why are you here?”

She patted her chest and heaved a few sighs of relief. She was like a young lady afraid that her father had caught her skiving.

“I need to find Captain,” answered Klein simply.

“…You gave me a fright. I thought Captain came out.” Rozanne glared at Klein. “Don’t you know how to knock!? Hmph, you should be thankful that I’m a tolerant and kind woman. Well, I do prefer the term lady… Is there a reason why you are looking for Captain? He’s in the room opposite Mrs. Orianna.”

Even though he felt uptight, Klein was so amused by Rozanne he smiled. He pondered for a moment before saying, “A secret.”

“…” Rozanne’s eyes widened and while she reeled in her disbelief, Klein did a slight bow before bidding her farewell.

He went through the reception’s partition and knocked on the door of the first office on the right.

“Come in.” Dunn Smith’s deep and gentle voice sounded.

before closing the door behind

help you?” Dunn’s black windbreaker and hat were hanging on a clothes stand to his side. He was dressed

following me.” Klein honestly answered

silently looked at Klein’s eyes. He did not follow up on the topic of being followed and instead, asked, “You came

“Yes.” Klein answered.

or demerits as he switched the subject back. “It might be that Welch’s father doesn’t believe the

was a region with extremely advanced coal and steel industries. It was one of the top three cities of Loen

a result of that notebook. Heh, we happened to be investigating where Welch received the Antigonus family’s notebook. Of course, we can’t eliminate other

do?” Klein asked in a serious

that it was the

his eyes not

Klein returned with

nodded with certainty. “Of course, do not scare them off or violate the

took a deep breath and bade him farewell. He left the room and went back

intersection, and bathed in the light from the gas lamps on the two walls, he arrived silently to the empty, dark,

making him sound more alone

arrived at the stairwell. He went forward and

say a word when they met. The priest turned around in silence

to the prayer hall. The circular holes behind the arched altar were still as pure and bright, while the darkness

moment, Klein slowly left the prayer hall with his cane and newspaper as though nothing had ever

out, he saw the burning sun. He immediately regained the familiar feeling of being observed.

question surfaced

the cathedral? Although I could have still used the dark environment and the priest to conceal my temporary disappearance, would it be hard for him to continue monitoring me by pretending to pray? If he had not done something wrong, there would be no problem walking in with an open and aboveboard manner, right? Unless the person has some dark history, making him afraid of the Church or fear the bishop, knowing

of it being a private investigator is very slim… Klein exhaled and no longer acted as nervous as he was previously. He took

ancient-styled building with mottled walls. The address on the door was ‘3.’

department’s underground shooting range was opened to the

of being watched vanished instantly. He took this opportunity to hand over his Special Operations Department badge to

short verification, he was led underground to a small, confined shooting

revolver from his armpit holster and the box of brass bullets

made his desire to protect himself win over his procrastination. Therefore, he could not wait to come

attendant left, he flicked open the cylinder and removed the silver demon hunting bullets. Following that, he

empty spot to prevent misfiring, nor did he take off his formal attire and halved top hat. He planned on practicing in his usual getup. After all, it was impossible for him to shout “wait a minute, let me change into something more comfortable” after encountering an enemy or

the cylinder and rolled it with

up straight, and aimed at the target more than ten

he was in no hurry to shoot. Instead, he recalled his experience at military training 1 , how to form a line with the iron-sights, and knowledge about a gun’s

and his holding

and sat down on a long, soft bench. He placed the revolver to the side, began massaging his

few minutes recalling his practice before he picked up the revolver with the wooden handle and bronze cylinder. He got into standard firing

body moved back from the recoil. The bullet