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On a night with clear moonlight, in the garden of 160 Böklund Street.

A gray rat crawled out of its hole, running straight for the master bedroom's bed.

As a tiny, black, glue-like blob object floated down, the rat held it over its head like an acrobatic act.

It quickly turned around, ran out of 160 Böklund Street, and headed for the sewer entrance.

At this moment, the gray rat raised its torso up and reached out with two of its paws.

They magically extended as blobs of flesh appeared on its forelimbs!

Then, using its mutated front paws, it moved the manhole cover away without causing a sound!

Without stopping at all, the gray rat headed straight down the sewers, going all the way to the spot where Demoness Trissy previously hid.

It kept digging in a corner until it excavated a mirror fragment from the soil.

Having done that, the gray rat threw the black, sticky object over its head to the side where it was relatively clean. It then retreated to a corner, allowing its body to stretch and turn into a middle-aged man wearing a dark red coat and a triangular hat. He was none other than Admiral of Blood, who had previously been active at sea.

However, this Senor, along with his clothes and body, was just a thin layer, akin to a figurine cut from paper.

”This rat is quite fat…” Admiral of Blood stroked his chin, but his paper figurine-like body nearly flew up as a result of the cold draft in the sewers.

The person who spoke was none other than Klein. He was inside his master bedroom, turning a rat into his marionette by controlling its Spirit Body Threads. He then made it carry the ritual materials and head down the sewers to contact Demoness Trissy.

Senor, whose arms were flailing about due to the draft, bent down and picked up the sticky blob. This was the remains of Trissy's lock of hair after she burned it with black flames. It could be used for a communication ritual.

Right on the heels of that, he wiped the mirror fragment clean and smeared the material onto it.

After this step, Klein made his marionette take two steps back from the ”mirror.” With a smacking sound, Senor was plastered to the mossy wall like an oil painting.

…

East Borough. In a room with thick curtains that left it almost dark.

Raven-black, slimy ”tentacles” coiled together, forming a huge sphere.

And at the end of these ”tentacles,” there were either eyes with clear blacks and whites embedded in them, or there were venomous snake heads attached there. The latter opened their mouths slightly as they shot out their tongues in a rather strange fashion. It was quite a harrowing scene.

Suddenly, they flailed up or retracted as the sphere crumbled, layer after layer.

Enveloped in the middle of a sphere was a curled up girl. She had abnormally sweet looks, but her brows were tightly furrowed. Her expression looked slightly warped due to the pain, a look that stirred up one's sense of pity.

The slimy and disgusting ”tentacles” retracted and shrank, finally turning back into their original form—strands of raven-black hair!

The expression of the girl with soft, long hair soothed as she slowly got up and walked to the side of a tiny bed she had partitioned out. Picking up the sleeping gown that had fallen to the ground, she draped it over her.

Then, she curled her black hair and came in front of the full-body mirror. Reaching out her right hand, she swiped across it.

A black flame burst forth as it burned quietly in the air before being extinguished. It left behind a mirror that had turned dark and profound.

In the mirror, lights drifted and rapidly presented the sewers filled with dirty slush. Thinly plastered to the wall was a middle-aged man with an old triangular hat and dark red coat. He was looking down on the girl across an unknown distance, like a famous painting.

The girl with the round face and thin eyes watched in silence before laughing.

As her smile bloomed, the dark room seemed to instantly brighten.

She then lightly opened her mouth and said in jest, ”Mr. Gehrman Sparrow, is this your craziness and cruelty as the strongest adventurer?

”Or is it the case where I'm only acquainted with a clown?”

Klein wasn't surprised that Trissy had recognized him as Gehrman Sparrow. After all, he had previously met her in the image of Admiral of Blood Senor, and this pirate admiral had long been hunted by Gehrman Sparrow.

Back then, Trissy was hiding in the sewers due to an injury and was focused on revenge, preventing her from being kept abreast of the news at sea. It was rather unsurprising for her to be unaware of Admiral of Blood's demise, but things were different after she finished recuperating and left the area. She would've been a terrible Assassin and Instigator if she hadn't investigated her partner.

Clearly, Trissy's past actions indicated that, despite being evil, it didn't discount her intelligence.

Klein didn't argue as he controlled the paper figurine-like Senor to smile and simply reply, ”Why can't clowns be crazy and cruel?”

Without waiting for Trissy's answer, he said, ”Any progress on your investigations into the captain of the royal guards?”

Trissy's expression turned slightly gloomy as she said, ”It will need another month at the very least for any results. It might even take two.”

”If you need help, you can seek me out,” Klein emphasized again.

Trissy scoffed and said, ”In Backlund, in this game, strength isn't able to resolve every problem.