788 Hidden Passage (2/2)

After doing all of this, Klein wore Creeping Hunger, and with Azik's copper whistle, Death Knell, and the Senor gold coin in possession, he flew out of the master bedroom and left 160 Böklund Street, drilling into the sewers.

Just as Klein found himself in the moist and dirty environment, he immediately released Wraith Senor and made his marionette open up a distance from him, turning into the hidden fork where Trissy was previously recuperating.

This time, he saw that the clean region in the sewers was already stained with dirt containing signs of rats.

From the looks of it, Trissy has really left… Klein, who was following far behind, heaved a sigh of relief.

As a Spirit Body, he didn't need to breathe, nor did he need to walk on the ground. Therefore, he didn't mind how disgusting the sewers were.

Senor walked out of the area and continued walking ahead and turned on the sixth left turn. Klein constantly maintained a distance of fifty meters, perfectly acting the role of the person behind the scenes.

At the end of the fork was a corroded wall covered in moss. At a glance, there weren't any abnormalities to it. If Trissy hadn't mentioned it, Klein wouldn't have gotten his marionette to observe every inch of the area in detail.

A few minutes later, Senor suddenly straightened his back and walked forward, entering the wall.

Passing through the rather thick obstacle, Klein's eyes opened up. With the marionette's vision, he saw a half-natural, half-artificial cave. It wasn't more than 1.8 meters high and was about 3 meters wide. The ground was littered with tools like shovels which were wrapped in oilskin and large piles of mud and rubble. Right up ahead were two hidden passageways that extended downwards.

The left one was about five to six meters deep, while the one on the right was nearly ten meters deep. However, nothing seemed to have existed in them, as though they were still being excavated.

This was dug up by Hazel? In the day, she's an arrogant lady of high society, and at night, she's an excavator in the sewers? Furthermore, she's moving the dirt and rubble one pail at a time? She was loitering around to find the exact spot, and digging was the subsequent step? That wall must've been a secret door… Klein hid himself at the fork's entrance as he made Senor scrutinize the area.

Following that, he made the Wraith enter the left passage until he reached a completely sealed off area.

Senor's figure slowly turned faint as it turned incorporeal. In this state, he passed through the soil and explored deeper.

But even when reaching the hundred-meter limit, he didn't discover anything of use. All he saw were ordinary insects and worms.

Klein made the marionette switch directions, ”swimming” in the sea of soil without finding anything.

Senor soon returned to the cave from before and entered the right passageway without being affected by any obstacles.

There's still nothing… It's not without reason that Trissy determined that it will only work for a particular pathway or being in possession of a certain item… Hmm… She must've probed the area with the invisible threads of a Demoness of Pleasure… Unfortunately, I've already lost Tinder… I wonder if the gray fog's aura on me would work. It seems to strongly attract Beyonders from the Marauder pathway… Klein silently commented and, using his Spirit Body state, planned on personally visiting the two hidden passageways that Hazel had dug up.

However, he curbed his desire because he was now a Marionettist. Doing it personally in situations that didn't require it was in violation of the acting principles.

It's fine even if I don't use the gray fog's aura. I'll just request to purchase a mystical item from the Marauder pathway during tomorrow afternoon's Tarot Gathering. It doesn't need to be too expensive. It can just correspond to Sequence 8 or 9… Hmm, that badge from Lanevus is only a signal receiver, not an item of this pathway… While not aware of the exact situation of what's hiding inside, rashly using my Spirit Body to explore it might result in me attracting a High-Sequence monster… Being careful and cautious will forever be a condition for myself… Klein slowly heaved a sigh of relief and retrieved Wraith Senor.

He wasn't worried that Hazel would continue coming in the near future. Any person with normal intelligence wouldn't continue coming unless they had the means to deal with the situation from before!

Ignoring how Hazel hasn't had any contact with Beyonder circles, even if she has, getting an item from the Sun domain isn't simple. After all, Backlund is the territory of the Church of Storms… I do have something that I don't use often. Heh heh, can I find an opportunity to sell it to her and then let her use it to harm my marionette? Klein jeered at himself before shaking his head with a laugh.

He ended the summoning and returned above the gray fog, vanishing from the sewers.

…

On Monday morning, the bright sunlight tore through the thin clouds, shining onto every corner of Backlund.

Emlyn White pulled down on his silk top hat. As he left the carriage and walked to the Harvest Church, he squinted his eyes and mumbled, ”What terrible weather…

”Backlund's worst season is coming soon…”

He was just about to step onto the stairs when he saw a paperboy approach him, handing him a copy of the Tussock Times.

”Sir, today's morning papers!”

Emlyn wanted to reject it when he discovered a small slip clasped in the middle of the boy's fingers.

”…”

Emlyn maintained his countenance as he took out a penny and passed it to the boy, receiving the copy of the Tussock Times and the slip.

Before entering the Harvest Church, he quickly spread it open and scanned it.

”There are clues to the people you are looking for. Please come to the Bravehearts Bar.”