3034 words
After practicing his Briber powers on innocent people, Kiyotaka stopped at Pembroke Publishing House to check on his book sales.
The sales were not that high, as only fifty copies were sold, bringing his total royalty from those around £3. However, not many days had passed, so Kiyotaka was quite hopeful for the sales in the future.
There was also the fact that Kiyotaka was not expecting only one book to go super viral, and instead planned on using the pen-name of "A Reprobate" to write all kinds of books — philosophical and slop alike — to make a second stream of income.
The core idea behind it was quantity, not quality — well, at least the quality was not exactly the main outcome for all of the books he was going to write.
It was evening time when he arrived at Minsk Street. He had gotten free from his work an hour ago, but at that time, Klein did not seem to be home and hence why he had returned and decided to come an hour later. He had the option to pray to Klein, but decided against it.
He was dressed in a proper black tuxedo. At first he had decided to come pick Klein in a car, however, the machine that produced much less noise than the steam powered one was easy to recognise.
And if anyone saw that machine stop in front of his house, it'd be quite easy for a lot of people to know where he lived. Of course, a lot of influential people already knew about him, given how he had agreed to get involved with the military.
But still, he was against the flaunt and vaunt.
As he walked over to Klein's unit, he saw that the door was already slightly ajar. Finding this a little troubling, he reached out for Ember inside his pocket and inserted his hand just enough that if he felt something was wrong, he could equip it in a heartbeat.
However, instead of finding something wrong, he saw Klein standing inside with a polite smile on his face. Standing in front of him was a woman who suddenly turned to look at him.
She had blonde hair tied in a loose, low-hanging bun and blue eyes. However, unlike Kiyotaka, the blonde of her hair was warmer. She was wearing a cream colored bodice and high-standing collar paired with an ivory blouse.
Her neckline was low enough to make Kiyotaka's gaze travel below, making them land on the exposed cleavage of breasts that were neither too large nor too small, but looked tender and soft.
She had a smug look on her face while she scanned Kiyotaka from head-to-toe as she turned back to Klein. "Do you know this gentleman?"
Klein, who was dressed in a suit himself, didn't look at Kiyotaka and smiled at her. "Yes. He's a friend of mine. Williams Holmes."
There was an amused look on Klein's face, as if suppressing a chortle at his name. Obviously, the surname was decided by Kiyotaka to send a message to Klein.
But every time Klein heard the name, he couldn't help but internally laugh at it. Holding the instinct to laugh in his face, Klein smiled and motioned towards the lady. "This is Miss Stelyn Sammers. She's my landlady."
Kiyotaka removed his hat and pressed it to his chest before extending his hand in a polite manner. "Williams. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
His words were soft and polished, and every word seemed to sway the boisterous looking woman a little, as if deeply touched and impressed by him. It was as if — despite meeting him for the first time — she had an extremely positive view of him and somewhat felt charmed as well.
She kept looking at him with a smile, her small hand still in the handshake. After a few seconds of holding and shaking his hand, she suddenly realised what was happening and awkwardly broke it off.
Kiyotaka donned a friendly look. "Thank you for being kind to my friend. He talks about you in high regard."
It was unlike him to talk as such, however, the current world demanded this kind of behavior. With him being in the limelight and all, he had to act like a true gentleman, despite not being like that at all.
Stelyn Sammers let out a lady-like chuckle by placing her hand on her mouth. "You flatter me, Mr. Williams."
She paused and then squinted her eyes. "Have we met before?"
Klein who was watching all of this with mild-amusement interjected. "Must have been in the newspaper. He is the one who invented the new cars."
A rather baffled look appeared on Stelyn's face as she turned to look at Williams and then back towards Sherlock. "You have such—" She turned her face to Williams again. "Pardon my crudeness. I did not know such—"
"The idea was mine but the invention's credit is shared with many mechanics and engineers who poured their days and nights into it." He spoke humbly.
'Such manners.... Even though he's so rich... Even the base model costs £500 and the company sold quite a lot of them. His yearly payout must be several thousand pounds!'
"You really ought to attend one of the gatherings we hold sometime," she said with a graceful smile. "Though perhaps I should not presume. A gentleman of your standing may find our little gatherings somewhat ordinary."
Her eyes flickered with amusement and some hidden traces of envy as she continued.
"Although, we do have quite a few charming young ladies attending. It would be a shame for someone like you to remain hidden away all the time." She paused, raising a hand lightly to her lips. "Oh my, forgive me. That was rather presumptuous of me. Are you perhaps already married?"
"I am not," Kiyotaka replied calmly. His expression remained unchanged, but his response came without hesitation... Which felt odd, for some reason. "However, if you are present at such a gathering, then I believe it would be inaccurate to describe it as beneath me."
Once again, his words felt really polite and charming, swaying her a little. For a brief moment, Stelyn felt herself being caught slightly off guard, once again as her smile widened.
"My, what a considerate young man you are. You certainly know how to make a lady feel appreciated."
"I simply stated what I observed." Kiyotaka pressed the hat to his chest a little harder, indicating that he wished the conversation to be over soon.
"Of course, of course." She laughed softly, clearly amused by his unusual manner. "Please come if you have the opportunity."
Kiyotaka gave a small nod. "I would be glad to. You can take my address from Sherlock."
Once again, as she was about to leave, Kiyotaka shook her hand gently and placed a polite kiss on the back of her hand.
After she was gone, Klein let out a chuckle. "What was all that about?" He said as he picked his keys and began locking his unit.
"I am trying to make your landlady not disturb you. Given how materialistic she is, she's less likely to bother you due to your connection with me." He paused and then started talking again. "Even though she does sound like a kind lady at the same time."
"She is, she is." Klein locked the door and looked at him. "She's never looked down on me. Anyways, why are you here?"
"To pick you up. I have to leave for a party tomorrow, and I want you to tag along with me."
"Why?"
"There are going to be a lot of rich people. Some of them belong to the parliament and some from the military. I am not so confident in my own ability, so I want you to protect me."
Klein looked at him in an incredulous manner. "You want protection? From me?"
"Of course. You are a higher level Beyonder than me. And you have a lot of other tools at your disposal too. Besides, I'd be much more comfortable if you were the one protecting me."
Klein faked wiping a tear as he rested his hand on his chest. "I am honoured. But what's the compensation?"
"A hundred pounds."
"Deal!" Klein enthusiastically agreed. "But if something serious happens, I want at least £500."
Kiyotaka was not going to disagree. There were a lot of merits that he had obtained from Klein, absolutely for free. And while that was what he was looking for, he did not wish to strain his relationship with Klein.
After all, despite how "close" he had gotten with him, the paranoia of the fact that he could easily kill him by sending some kind of mental attack in the form of a "blessing" from the space above the grey fog was enough to keep his actions in check.
*****
After a few minutes of commuting, the two of them arrived at Unit 17, Sølund Street.
Klein was able to meet Liv, Freya and Daisy again and all of them chatted for a while, telling Klein about how kind Kiyotaka was, how generously he paid them and all of the good deeds that he did for them.
Klein was genuinely impressed and even redid his assessment of Kiyotaka's character. After all, even if one was really exploitative, there was no real merit to helping all of these people.
There was, of course, one reason that Klein could think of. And that was Freya.
She was a Beyonder, as Klein could tell after she tried to look at him with Spirit Vision. However, he did not fully dismiss Kiyotaka's kindness. After all, in his mind, if Kiyotaka only wanted Freya, he could've only taken her under his wing through some other means.
There was no need to give such a lavish lifestyle — comparatively — to the entire family.
After having dinner which was composed of local delicacies and a few too many drinks, Klein excused himself and was led to a room adjacent to Kiyotaka's which was prepared for him beforehand.
Kiyotaka, who had drunk quite a lot of alcohol himself, felt a little wobbly but was mostly ok, thanks to the body that was used to handling huge amounts of alcohol.
Just as Freya — who had stayed silent after Klein looked directly at her while she was using Spirit Vision — was picking up the cutleries from in front of Kiyotaka, both of their heads suddenly snapped towards the main door.
Freya's eyes turned saturated as she looked at the door and Kiyotaka's glazed over eyes suddenly widened.
"Go inside your room."
"But Sir..."
"And wake up our guest. Tell him to come downstairs. Lock yourself, your mother and sister in your respective rooms without making them feel suspicious of anything."
"Sir, I am a Beyonder too! I want to be of help!" Freya insisted.
"You can be of help by going away from here."
Freya's lips fluttered, however, she was unable to say anything. In the end, she left the plates on the table and began to hush her mother upstairs while Daisy was already asleep.
A minute or two later, Klein walked downstairs.
He was not wobbling due to his Clown powers, however, he did look drunk out of his mind.
Kiyotaka shook the headache away as well.
It was unknown why the two men had drunk so much that they could not even think properly, but it was something that was not the focus right now.
The focus was on the powerful figure standing outside the main door, who despite being present there for so long, had not knocked even once.
Klein turned to look at Kiyotaka and flicked a coin into the air, however, it landed on tails, making Klein's brows pinch.
"Anti-Divination... Or maybe the person really does not mean any harm."
Kiyotaka hummed, and then after a second of thought, took a step forward. "Stay on stand-by. Ready whatever Mystical Item you have at hand."
"Alright."
Klein walked to the side and hid behind a door as Kiyotaka walked carefully to the door. The closer he got to the door, the more his heart seemed to sink naturally.
After a second of deliberation, Kiyotaka reached out for the handle. Just as he did, he suddenly felt hushed steps against grass and the source seemed to suddenly sound very distant.
Kiyotaka opened the door suddenly, only to see a faint outline of a woman. Even at this distance, as the woman acrobatically jumped over the fence, he could tell that her hair was luscious and she had a pretty well-endowed body.
"She's running away." Kiyotaka said calmly as he saw her suddenly disappear into the shadows, leaving no trace behind.
Naturally, his eyes looked down, only to find a crumpled ball of paper.
Picking it up, he uncrumpled it and looked inside, which said: "Meet me" written in elegant writing. Kiyotaka turned the paper. 'The ink has not bled into the backside. Which means that whoever sent this has enough money to buy high-quality paper.'
"Any idea who it might be?" Klein asked, followed by a hiccup.
"Maybe." Kiyotaka was not sure, however, he had seen that figure before.
And even though the sight had been fleeting and considerable time had passed since then, the memory of her silhouette remained unnaturally vivid.
It wasn't merely the size of her frame, but the suffocating charm that bled from her. It was also the only time when he had felt aroused, not because of Williams' body, but due to himself being slightly charmed by her beauty and body.
'She really wasn't all that charmful, but rather she is a Beyonder. A Beyonder that focuses on charm and beauty—Assasin Pathway. But what is she doing with Prince Edessak? She's most likely from the Demoness Sect.
Is Prince Edessak not as simple as it seems like? Or is he oblivious to the fact that his mistress is a Demoness? She's also not just a Sequence 7, because I wouldn't have felt this much if she was my peer. She's definitely around Sequence 5, if not a Demigod.
Hmm... She can't be a Demigod. It would be hard to contain her if she was... Unless someone even more powerful was acting as her retainer. This is messy... I have connections with Prince Edessak due to selling the first ever luxury model of Prometheus Motors to him.
And how his mistress who is most likely from Demoness Sect wants to meet me. What could be the reason behind this? Why does she want to meet me? Is the Demoness Sect looking into me as well?
I have not crossed that road... at least not yet. Then why? Is it because of the Aurora Order? It might be possible since both are kind of evil organisations. But Williams Holmes is just an inventor and a businessman.
Is it because I refused to convert when that True Creator zealot came to convert me? But the Demoness Sect shouldn't involve themselves with something so mundane.'
Feeling his brain heating up, Kiyotaka closed the door and locked it.
"I once visited Prince Edessak."
"I did too..." Klein suddenly frowned.
"Did you see a woman who looked overly beautiful and charming?"
"I did not..."
"I think the person who came to visit us was a Demoness who also happens to be Prince Edessak's mistress."
"What? Really?" Klein's heartbeat suddenly increased.
"Yes. When I visited the Prince, it was purely to sell the first model of the car to him. With that said, the female looked like she was being held there against her wishes. I ignored it at the time due to how common it is in royal families." Kiyotaka explained his side of the story. "But there is no mistake about it, this woman is the same as the one who I saw in Rose Manor."
Klein frowned, putting his drunk mind to as much use as he could. "Yeah that's strange... I visited the prince when one of our mutual friends died. The cause of his death was a supernatural disease. I believe the upper Sequences of Assassin Pathway get that... So that connects."
A similar question popped in both of their minds at the same time, however, Klein was the one who verbalised it first.
"Then, who does she wish to see between the two of us?" After a fleeting thought, Klein spoke again. "Maybe it's you, I mean, it's your house."
"That is feasible, but she was able to trigger our spiritual intuition by just being present. I am sure she could gather this much that you are staying over today." Kiyotaka objected. "And there is a high possibility that perhaps she wishes to reach out to both of us. The troubling thing is, what for?"
"Hmm, I don't know, but my personal experiences with Demonesses tell me it can't be anything good."
Kiyotaka locked the door and let out a silent sigh. Then, he slowly turned around and glossed over eyes settled on Klein. "I suppose, then we should get rid of her, as soon as possible. She is already a rogue, and wants to escape from the prince—well, that is a hypothesis."
Klein nodded and sat down on a seat, legs wobbling. "Let's confirm that...first. Uhh, can you give me the paper? I will... divine it."
Kiyotaka, who was suddenly feeling the effects of alcohol, wobbled and shook his head. "Sure."
However, just as Kiyotaka took a step forward, he slipped and the somewhat crumpled ball of paper flew from his hand and landed on one of the candles that was nearing its end as Kiyotaka hit his face—almost.
Just in the nick of time, he was able to react accordingly and break his fall.
As he pushed himself up, he saw that Klein had already flicked his wrist and extinguished the flames of the candle using Flame Controlling of a Magician—or at least tried to.
However, much to his surprise, and to Kiyotaka's, his powers seemed to have been weakened as both men saw the piece of paper burn to ash, until even the ash flew into the air, leaving nothing behind except Klein and Kiyotaka with nothing but bafflement over their faces.
'It's... It's just like Tingen... 0-08... Does that mean, Ince Zangwill is here?'
Cold sweat suddenly erupted all over Klein as he looked at Kiyotaka. Suppressing the effects of alcohol that seem to be breaking through his alcohol-tolerance, Klein lifted his hand and pointed towards the ceiling.
Kiyotaka nodded, feeling his head explode.
The two of them, with great effort, made their way upstairs and entered their own rooms. Just as they did, Klein took four steps counter-clockwise. A few seconds later, Kiyotaka, who was about to drift to a deep sleep, saw Grey Fog gushing out of nothingness and enveloping him, as a stream of red light filled his vision.