Lord of the Mysteries

“Mass hysteria?” Sir Deweyville, who had met many psychiatrists recently, ruminated over the term Klein had said.

Despite their curiosity, his butler, bodyguards, and servants didn’t make a single sound since they had not been given permission by him.

As for Sergeant Gate, he looked towards Klein doubtfully as if he had never heard of that concept.

Klein controlled his habit of tapping the armrest with his fingertips and calmly explained, “Humans can be fooled easily by their sensory organs. Mass hysteria is a kind of psychogenic illness that is a result of tense nerves and other factors amongst a group of individuals as they influence each other.”

The jargon he spewed out confused Sir Deweyville, Sergeant Gate, and the rest, causing them to subconsciously opt to believe him.

“Let me give a simple example of this; this was one of the cases that I previously dealt with, one man held a dinner banquet and invited 35 guests. Midway, he suddenly felt disgusted and puked. After that, he even had severe diarrhea. After a couple times, he began to believe that he had gotten food poisoning. He shared his speculation with the other guests on the way to the hospital.

“In the next two hours, there were more than 30 guests that had diarrhea amongst the 35 guests, with 26 of them experiencing nausea. They flooded the entire emergency room of the hospital.

“The doctors went through a detailed examination and performed cross checks, and they concluded that the very first man didn’t have food poisoning at all. Instead, it was a result of stomach inflammation caused by the change of weather and cold liquor.

“The most surprising fact was that none of the guests who went to the hospital had food poisoning. In fact, not a single one of them was sick.

“That is mass hysteria.”

Deweyville nodded slightly and marveled, “I understand now. Humans do lie to themselves easily. It’s no wonder that Emperor Roselle once said that a lie would become reality once it was repeated a hundred times.

“Officer, how may I address you? You are the most professional psychiatrist I have ever met.”

“Inspector Moretti.” Klein pointed at his epaulet and said, “Sir, your troubles have been resolved temporarily for now. You can try to sleep now while I determine if there are any other problems. If you are able to sleep well, please allow us to bid farewell ahead of time instead of waiting for you to wake up.”

“Alright.” Deweyville massaged his forehead, took his cane, and walked upstairs to his bedroom.

Half an hour later, a police carriage left the fountain at the door of Deweyville’s residence.

When Sergeant Gate got off on the way and returned to his police station, Inspector Tolle looked towards Klein. He complimented in jest, “Even I believed that you were a real psychological expert…”

Before he finished his sentence, he saw the young man in a black-and-white checkered uniform looking expressionless. His eyes were deep and serene as he forced a smirk on his face and said, “I only had some experience with it in the past.”

fell silent until the

able to find sleep again.” He extended his hand and shook Klein’s hand. “Thank Dunn

nodded slightly and said,

stairs and returned to the Blackthorn Security Company. He knocked and entered the

waiting for his

“The root of the problem stemmed from the lead and porcelain factory under Sir Deweyville. From the moment they were established to

bring too big of a problem. That might cause nightmares, at the most.” Dunn had experienced similar cases with his plethora

usually the case. But, unfortunately, Sir Deweyville encountered a female worker who died of lead poisoning on the streets. She collapsed by the side of the street and happened to catch a glimpse of the Deweyville’s family emblem. She also harbored intense indignation, worry,

linen work in damp environments, and are generally diagnosed with bronchitis and joint related ailments. As for factories with serious powder and dust issues, even if the dust isn’t poisonous, it can still accumulate into lung problems… Sigh… We don’t have

I want to return home in the afternoon to get

Dunn chuckled. “Tomorrow night it is. Let’s do it at

cap and stood up

you, Captain. See

hand and said, “Hold on, did you mention that Sir Deweyville gave the female worker’s parents

mentioned it. “You are worried that they will get into trouble because

Dunn sighed.

past. Pass me their address, I’ll ask Kenley to arrange

in a

and entered the break room diagonally opposite. He changed into his original suit and left the police uniform in

carriage back to Daffodil Street in silence. He took off his coat and top hat. He then heated up the leftovers from last night and ate them with the last piece of wheat bread to

floor, hung his clothes, and slumped into

pocket watch showed that it was already ten past two in the afternoon. The sun was hanging high

out the oriel window. He watched the pedestrians in old ragged clothing as they entered or left Iron

let out a breath

Likewise, his Sequence needed to be advanced one level at

down. He started concluding and reorganizing his encounter over the last week, so as to reinforce the important points in his mind to prevent himself

three in the

silent gray fog stood a lofty palace.

table sat a man already engulfed by the thick gray

leaned against the back of the chair and contemplated. He suddenly extended his hand

…

Backlund, Empress Borough.