Lord of the Mysteries

“Dear Mr. Azik,

“Ever since September was ushered in, Backlund’s temperature has been dropping day after day. Recently, the elderly can already be seen wearing gloves when outdoors.

“Just like last year, the smog has begun to envelop the city. This would happen one to two days a week, or even more. Clearly, the environmental measures governing air pollution aren’t something that can be resolved in a year or two. It will take at least five years. Something that should be worth being happy about is that the pungent smell in the air has already lessened significantly. My Sanguine friend is very pleased with such weather.

“Another delightful change is that more and more students, postmen, and technical workers have bought bikes. The number of carriages on the streets has decreased, implying that the smell of horse feces and the stench it brings is no longer the main pollutant in Backlund’s air. Of course, they still occupy a rather important position. As you know, those ladies and gentlemen who think highly of their standing wouldn’t casually lower their own standards of 1泠邮 However, based on my observations, their kids are gradually having a growing interest in bikes.

“I’ve been leading a normal life during this period of time. I go to Saint Samuel Cathedral and the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation a few times a week, participating in their activities and continuously donating cash. I occasionally visit the turf club, watch plays and orchestras, or play cards or golf at the club. During weekends, I either participate in balls, banquets, or saloons.

“I forgot to mention that I’ve already bought a manor. It formerly belonged to Duke Negan and is called ‘Maygur.’ It has its own excellent vineyard and brewery, as well as a huge forest and plantation on it. It can be used for farming and hunting. Its main building has a huge rectangular shape with four stories. It has a large number of rooms, and a casual tour of the place without walking out the door would take me more than ten thousand steps. At the same time, it also has a large number of sculptures, oil paintings, decorations, and exquisite cutlery. It’s simply palatial.

“Perhaps my description is a little exaggerated. After all, I’ve never seen a real palace. This is also the first manor that I own. I still remember my time in Tingen. I lived in a rental apartment with only two bedrooms with my brother and sister. Every day, we slept to the smell of coal.

“This was introduced to me by Brigadier General Qonas Kilgor. It cost me 20,000 pounds. You don’t have to worry about my financial situation. I made a huge sum of money from the Southern Continent, and I also sold some mystical items. Currently, I still have more than 17,000 pounds in cash and 15,000 pounds worth of gold bars, including various gold coins, soli, and pence.

“I’m rather satisfied with Maygur and have sent my former valet, Richardson, to be the land steward. It’s now autumn, and I’m going to invite guests to enjoy a pleasant weekend there. I hope Richardson can make adequate preparations.

“The mysterious world in Backlund hasn’t changed for now. I hope it will continue like this.

“The magic mirror I previously mentioned to you has been restored to normal. However, it seems to still suffer from post-traumatic stress due to the damage Amon had dealt it. As long as I question it about what happened, it will automatically change the color of its text and give an erroneous answer and repeatedly request me to compliment it.

“It also has different views on leaving the Church of Steam. It seems to have decided to stay a little longer, believing that it would be safer that way. It has even thought of showcasing its danger and become a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact. I have to say that I’m always surprised with the way it thinks.

“Thanks to some of its answers, I’ve found a way to create pure darkness. It is to create it with a charm of the Evernight domain that has dreamworld properties. It’s considered a response of the Evemight Goddess and is categorized under pure darkness. In addition, after repeated tests, I’ve finally figured out the way to carve the godhood symbols through Cogitation and create the item I want.”

Upon writing this, Klein, who was sitting on the sofa while using his thigh as his table, stopped writing and rubbed his temples.

Repeated failures implied the repeated loss of Worms of Spirit, and every separation was a damaging blow to his Spirit Body. It took him a long time to recover.

Therefore, in order to have redundancies to prevent any accidents, Klein never pushed himself to the limit. After separating three or four Worms of Spirit, he would choose to rest for a few days before beginning the engraving process. Such breaks took him this long to master the method and create a finished product.

Glancing at the rectangular “diamond” beside him, he saw layers of complicated symbols that extended into the void from the constantly refracting light. His head felt a little dizzy as though he was witnessing a part of history.

I’ll call it the Yesterday Once More charm… Klein retracted his gaze and continued writing:

“The coastal regions have had another storm brewing. The two Houses of the kingdom have entered the traditional phase of debating over bills. With the footsteps of the new year approaching and getting louder, it makes me worried for some baffling reason.

“May you recover quickly and wake up soon.

Your eternal student, Klein Moretti.”

Putting away the pen and folding the letter, Klein blew Azik’s copper whistle and summoned the skeleton messenger that stood nearly four meters tall.

Unlike before, this messenger had only shown its head and one arm. The rest were beneath the floorboards on the second floor.

This made it appear significantly shorter than Klein.

After all, I’m now barely considered a Blessed of Death… Klein handed the letter to the messenger as he watched it crumble into bones, gushing down into the ground like a waterfall.

After doing this, he picked up the Yesterday Once More charm on the armrest.

This was his first successful product, and he planned on using it first. After all, making it again was easy now that he had the experience.

As for whether borrowing strength from his historical self posed any dangers, Klein had already performed a divination above the gray fog ahead of time. He believed that if it involved the real Fool or the owner of the door of light, then he would have the mysterious space above the gray fog to block it for him.

And the result of the divination was that it was very safe.

After staring at the diamond-like charm for a few seconds, Klein no longer hesitated. He opened his mouth and said a single word in ancient Hermes, “History!”

He had attempted it in the real world and not above the gray fog because he was worried that the mysterious world would sever the connection to the past.

Amidst the echoing of the jarring word, Klein injected his spirituality into the Yesterday Once More charm.

Light that appeared like scattered fur lit up, illuminating the surroundings with bright and pure light.

Vaguely, a scene flashed past Klein’s eyes:

It was him dancing leisurely with Daly Simone beside Ince Zangwill’s corpse;

It was the gray-sideburned and exceedingly handsome Dwayne Dantes;

It was Gehrman Sparrow pressing down on his top hat while landing on the Black Tulip thanks to the blessings of the wind;

It was the Sherlock Moriarty who struggled during the descent of the meteor;

It was Klein Moretti who summoned sunlight when he heard the baby’s cry in the Blackthorn Security Company;

It was the pale university graduate who raised the revolver and aimed it at his temple.

Beyond this, all the scenes vanished. All that was left was the grayish-white fog.

And only when the powers of the charm were exhausted did Klein find himself at the end of that fog.

Indeed, my transmigration is related to the gray fog, that mysterious space, and that strange door of light… This basically verifies it. I was sleeping in a cocoon in the past, hanging above the door of light. I’ve no idea how long I was in that state… Compared to his first time seeing the door of light, Klein, who had made the confirmation, remained calm as though he had long expected it.

Phew. Next, I’ll make two Yesterday Once More charms for Will. This charm isn’t of much use to me… I won’t be visiting him this week. It will incur suspicion if I feed him ice-cream every week. Their maid is already looking at me in an odd way… Also, since I’ve mastered the Cogitation engraving method of the godhood symbol, I can bring forward the creation of the extraordinary bullets made with the Worms of Time. Yes, Leonard said that he will be visiting Tingen in the next few days. Let’s see if the power of the Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem can be stolen… Klein rubbed his forehead and left the sofa.

At a previous Tarot Gathering, Leonard had already informed him of the four types of godhood symbols and magical labels he learned from Pallez Zoroast. They came from the Marauder domain, and it was said that one of them was capable of misdirecting the enemy, making them make errors in judgment. Another was to steal three Beyonder powers that the target had formerly used, beginning with the most recent power. The third would cause the enemy to lose plenty of vitality if the enemy could be affected by it, making them enter an aged state. Finally, one of them could create Worms of Time that didn’t live long. They would secretly Parasitize the target’s body and allow the charm-user to control them.

Among the seven remaining Worms of Time that Klein had, he had already made three into Fate Siphon charms and had given Miss Justice one and kept two. This also meant that he still had four Worms of Time, allowing him to try out each of the four effects. Of course, his intuition told him that the chances of a successful product weren’t guaranteed.

As for Leonard’s two Worms of Time, one had been made into a Fate Siphon charm. He had followed The World Gehrman Sparrow’s instructions to pray to Mr. Fool and had received a reply. The other relied on Pallez Zoroast’s help to create a Parasite charm.

After busying himself with a series of tasks, it was evening. Klein had five successes and one failure. He obtained two Yesterday Once More charms, one Parasite bullet, a Deceit bullet, and a Deprivation bullet.

The only failure was the Aging bullet, seemingly due to the inability to use sufficient powers from the mysterious space above the gray fog.

Looking at the three similar-looking bullets that were a mix of transparency or translucency, Klein heaved a sigh of relief. He took out Death Knell and loaded the bullet. In the revolver were three of his Control Spirit Bullets.

After clearing the altar, he walked out of the room and headed for the second floor. Upon entering the dining hall, he said to Butler Walter who was waiting for him, “Invite the guests to a hunting trip over the weekend in the city outskirts using the name list.”

“Yes, sir.” Walter was already prepared for this, remaining stem and serious.

Tingen City, 36 Zouteland Street.

Leonard got off the carriage as he looked at a newly built building with a mixed expression. He momentarily forgot to enter.