Inside a hotel on Halls Street, Tingen City.
Because "digging a grave" was hardly an honorable matter, and secrecy also had to be considered, Elizabeth did not invite her friends to rest at her home. Instead, she chose a relatively high-end hotel to stay in temporarily.
As soon as they had settled in, Elizabeth, being a local, volunteered to go out to purchase suitable "tools" to prepare for what they were going to do at night.
"Teacher Hazel, do you think… Klein, Klein, might he really not be dead?" Melissa asked, as if seeking an answer, yet also as if talking to herself. "But why would he fake his death and refuse to come home?"
"Perhaps… perhaps he has very big troubles on him, and he doesn't want to implicate you and your brother," Hazel replied after a brief moment of thought.
At the same time, she felt a bit of admiration for that detective who had helped her digest the "Swindler." He truly deserved to be a friend acknowledged by Ebner. Back in Tingen, his Sequence had definitely not been high, yet he had managed to do things so perfectly.
Thinking again about her own performance back when she was Sequence 9, it was simply too embarrassing to look at!
Melissa pressed her lips together and continued asking, "Then why did he suddenly give me a Beyonder item under the name Sherlock?"
"Maybe it's because you became a Beyonder?" Hazel was not too certain. "Or perhaps because you became Ebner's neighbor, and he felt you were safe enough?"
Melissa pondered for a moment before saying, "So that means he'll only come home after I have enough ability to protect myself?"
"Probably…" Hazel answered vaguely.
Deep down, she did not think Klein could return to his past state anymore. After all, even setting other things aside, the matter of him dying and coming back to life would be extremely difficult to explain clearly to the churches.
What was more, in her estimation, Klein had very likely come to believe in some great existence, which was why he had such a rapid advancement afterward.
—She still did not know that Gehrman was also Klein, but even judging only by Sherlock's advancement speed, it was much faster than hers… among the people she knew, only Ebner surpassed him.
While the two were talking, Elizabeth came in like a thief, carrying a large bag on her back, opening the door and slipping inside.
Very quickly, she untied the bag, revealing the tools inside, and introduced them as she spoke:
"I'm a 'Seer,' Melissa is a 'Savant,' and Miss Hazel is a 'Cryptologist'… We're all Sequences that aren't good at frontal combat and don't have strength enhancement…
"So besides buying iron shovels, I also bought a few crowbars. Otherwise, the three of us might not even be able to pry open the coffin lid!"
Hearing this, Hazel glanced at her "Metal Arm" covered by long gloves, shook her head, and said, "There's no need to go through all that trouble. When the time comes, just leave it to me."
Seeing the two girls of the same age as her look over with astonished expressions, Hazel kept her face unchanged and directly changed the topic. "It'll be dark soon. We'll act after dinner… but before that, you'd better divine whether things will go smoothly."
"Alright!" Elizabeth nodded solemnly, then loosened the pendulum from her sleeve and began silently reciting the divination incantation.
After seven repetitions, she opened her eyes and saw that the pendulum was rotating clockwise, though with a small amplitude.
"There will be some obstacles, but there shouldn't be too much danger," Elizabeth said after putting away the pendulum.
"The obstacles might come from the Nighthawks," Hazel said thoughtfully, considering what they were planning to do.
Elizabeth and Melissa also agreed with her guess.
After the three ate dinner at the hotel and waited for a while, they changed into clothes suitable for action, put on hooded cloaks, and took advantage of the night to leave the hotel, heading toward Raphael Cemetery.
Because neither Elizabeth nor Melissa had much experience, and Hazel, the only one with a "track record" of going out late at night, was unfamiliar with the roads, they nearly got discovered by patrolling police several times along the way.
Fortunately, with the "Swindler" ability and Melissa's "Nightmare Badge," they ultimately arrived at the cemetery with a few scares but no real danger.
However, when they avoided the official Beyonder guarding the cemetery and arrived in front of Klein's grave, they were stunned to see a man wearing red gloves who had already dug out the coffin and, with a sudden burst of force, flipped open the heavy wooden lid.
And inside the pitch-black coffin, there was nothing at all!
"Leonard… Leonard Mitchell?!" At that moment, Melissa, having recognized who the man was, cried out.
Leonard, who had been dazed because there was nothing inside the coffin, abruptly came back to his senses. He turned around to check the source of the voice, then immediately felt a trace of awkwardness.
After all, he knew all three ladies in front of him: one was Klein's sister, one was the little girl who had cried very sadly for Klein at his funeral, and Miss Hazel had also had contact with Sherlock in the case files.
Digging someone's grave in front of their sister and friends indeed made Leonard feel rather embarrassed. But he soon looked back at the pitch-black coffin at his feet and said in a heavy tone, "You've all seen it… this grave is empty… Klein might very well not be dead!"
However, the reactions of the three ladies opposite him did not show shock, disbelief, joy, or even fear as he had expected. Instead, all of them curved their lips and pulled out strange smiles.
This… As a veteran Nighthawk, Leonard immediately became alert. But before he could probe further, the old man's urgent shout rang out in his ears: "Quick, pray to the Goddess, or to 'The Fool'! Amon has come!"
Amon? Leonard's pupils suddenly constricted, and then he saw in terror that the three ladies opposite him somehow took out monocles and put them on their right eyes at the same time.
Facing such a scalp-tingling scene, Leonard instinctively retreated a few steps. Yet he was the kind of person who became calmer the more dangerous the situation was. Without time to think further, he followed the old man's suggestion and began praying to the Goddess.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth, Melissa, and Hazel had already lowered their right hands after putting on the monocles. Looking at Leonard opposite them, they laughed once and said:
"Luckily I discovered the abnormality of fate…
"Pallez, your understanding of me is still stuck a thousand years ago. You actually dared to leave Backlund with a host… This is already the year 1350 of the Fifth Epoch. Techniques that rely on gathering avatars to raise one's level have long been outdated."
As his voice fell, the surrounding space was completely sealed off and entered a certain kind of "concealed" state.
"For the Evernight Goddess's descent vessel to reach this place, it will take at least ten minutes… Do you think you can hold on for ten minutes?"
Hearing this, and receiving no response from the Goddess, Leonard's heart filled with despair. Just as he was about to grit his teeth and attack the other party, seeking a glorious death, the old man's voice sounded in his ears again:
"Amon's state isn't right! If He really could quickly take you and me down, He definitely wouldn't waste so many words!
"Quick, recite the honorific name of 'The Fool.' That's the only chance!"
Hearing this, Leonard struggled internally for a few seconds, then clenched his teeth and began chanting that honorific name in Ancient Hermes:
"The Fool that does not belong to this era…"
No matter how terrifying that "Fool" might be, it was something to face in the future… If he hesitated now, there would be no future at all!
As his voice fell, drastic changes suddenly occurred on the bodies of Melissa, Elizabeth, and Hazel. A black-and-red "cage" emerged, easily trapping the monocles on the right eyes of the three girls.
"Rhine–Solomon's Raven Lasso?" Pallez's astonished voice rang out simultaneously in Leonard's heart.
(End of Chapter)