Lord of the Mysteries

Aaron and Talim left the Quelaag Club after they separately completed the nomination form. It wasn’t a weekend; the former had two more operations in the afternoon, and the latter had to teach Viscount Conrad’s youngest son horse-riding. The teenager needed to ensure that he didn’t embarrass himself during the Backlund social events in the second half of the year.

Klein watched the manservant dressed in a red vest and a maid in a beautiful dress come and go a few times before finally delivering him his own proof of membership and a badge with the symbol of the Frost constellation engraved on it.

“An entry fee of 50 pounds. There are still three and a half months left this year, with an annual fee of 4 pounds a year.” The manservant in the red vest pushed the two objects to Klein.

Klein took out the 57 pounds which Mary Gale had given him and handed him 54 pounds.

The amount beyond the entry fee and annual fee was Mary’s first payment. She was very pleased with how quickly Klein obtained information on Doragu Gale’s mistress, as well as her photo.

50 pounds membership… Madam Mary is such a generous lady! While Klein watched the manservant and the maid verify the money and confirm the exact amount, he recalled Stelyn Sammer’s private introduction.

Mary’s father was a co-founder of the Coim Company and had a 20 percent stake. It was originally just a small company that barely made money, but as Backlund’s pollution worsened and the demand for anthracite and charcoal increased, the company rapidly expanded to become one of the top ten companies in the capital’s industry. As such, Mary’s net worth skyrocketed.

The only problem was that when she was married to Doragu Gale, the company was still quite an unknown company. Her father hadn’t paid much attention to using the shares as her dowry and didn’t proceed with any protection of estate gifting and had instead used the more popular “willing of gifts.”

The former referred to the dowry as an independent and separate estate of the woman and not subjected to her husband’s control. Even the right-of-use depended on the woman, while the latter assigned the dowry’s ownership to the entire family. However, the husband had to immediately make a valid will to promise that if he passed away before his partner, the split of the estate would be two to four times the rights and interests of the dowry received. After which, the rest would proceed according to the normal inheritance laws which could effectively guarantee the livelihood of the widow.

If Mary initiated a divorce before she could get evidence of Doragu’s adultery, the Coim Company shares would be divided equally between both parties.

Klein remembered Stelyn saying enviously, “The current value of those shares is currently close to 20,000 gold pounds. Adding the other property in their name, Mary is a truly wealthy lady. Once she’s divorced, she will definitely become the target of many men in Backlund, including some nobles.”

That’s only enough money for Miss Justice to assassinate Ambassador Bakerland twice… Klein suddenly thought about that when he saw the red-vested manservant and the good-looking maid bow at him.

“Mr. Moriarty, welcome to the Quelaag Club.”

Upon hearing this, Klein picked up the proof of membership and the Frost badge.

The former was made of elastic paper which looked like a card with Klein’s name and his membership start date on it.

After applying an imprint of his index finger, the proof of membership was officially ready for use.

The latter was the Quelaag Club’s distinctive badge, named for its founding in early November, which corresponded to the month of the Frost constellation. The symbol and the number 192 were printed on the front, followed by “Sherlock Moriarty” imprinted on the back.

192 members?”

introduced, “On the first floor, there’s a buffet cafeteria, bar, library, squash room, conference room, and card room. You can use them all for free. The food and wine are free for your sampling as well. There are 16 lounge rooms and two small conference rooms on the second floor. They are also free, and can be used as long as they

good-looking maid pointed to the rear and said, “There are two tennis courts on the lawn, totally free of charge. There are two shooting ranges underground, and

can order ala-carte. We have

entertainment are all provided for… As expected of a high-end club…

around so that I can familiarize myself with the environment. Afterward,

red manservant made an

He discovered it was similar to a hotel room of the

And if I do that, I’ll definitely be kicked out of the club… I have to think

moment, his heart suddenly palpitated

However, there are no scenes in my mind… Klein felt the

this feeling disappeared, as if nothing had

is approaching? But nothing like this happened when I was attacked by Meursault… Puzzled, Klein pulled out a coin and divined if he would be attacked in the

The answer was negative.

Klein drew the curtains and pretended to take an afternoon nap. He took four steps

time before muttering to

…

flicked the coin again and saw the

the portrait of the king

meant a

just now really was an omen that danger is coming… Klein narrowed his eyes and leaned back in

puzzled by

they had never displayed such abilities before. Even if they could predict danger,

relatively higher Sequencer, most likely Bakerland’s assistant… In the end, it actually gave me a premonition? This isn’t scientific, uh—this isn’t

and temporarily stopped thinking about the reason. Instead, he focused his attention on the attack that was

that there would be great danger in the next few days. It couldn’t be shortened to

could only obtain a somewhat vague

Ian dressed in his old coat, standing in

this image, there

this?” Klein thought for a moment. He could only assume that this was

Hillston branch of the Backlund Bank to withdraw the remaining hundred pounds from his account—the sum of 1000 pounds from Justice hasn’t been cleared yet and

rules on anonymous accounts. First, it was to enhance the transmission of similar information in the same city; second, it was to limit a single withdrawal to no more than 500 pounds, and third, if the last withdrawal wasn’t done locally, a telegram was needed to