Her original words were clearly that her current sexual orientation was male…
This was purely a convenient excuse, easily changed depending on the context.
Gender was never really a matter of concern anyway…
"That's enough, let's leave it at that."
Unwilling to explain further, Alice raised her chin with a slightly arrogant air, silently dispelling the frost from Danitali's body.
"Then, Eve's education is in your hands. Besides, if you need to contact me for anything, you can tell Eve directly, and she will inform me through the appropriate ritual magic."
"Are you leaving?" Danitali's tone was full of reluctance.
"Yes, see you next time."
As she spoke, she stepped onto the windowsill, only turning back with a light smile before gracefully leaping down like a weightless feather, disappearing into the night.
On the silent street, the figure of the witch Alice gradually vanished into the darkness, its outline no longer discernible.
Danitaly stood by the window, withdrawing her gaze from the woman who had been following her. Her expression remained thoughtful, and after a long pause, she sighed regretfully.
"What a pity. I was thinking that we could exchange our past experiences to deepen our understanding of each other… It seems this opportunity will have to wait until next time, or later…"
She seemed to want to say something more, but her words were drowned out by a sudden, loud crash.
Clang—
The tall, well-proportioned, beautiful woman abruptly turned, her gaze instinctively falling on the display shelf in the corner of the bedroom. A crack immediately appeared on her expression.
The little bird named Eve had pushed her favorite ceramic figurine off the shelf, shattering it to pieces, yet it had also rummaged through the wreckage for a cold, ruby-encrusted iron key, grabbing it and flying towards the specially made humidification room next door, chirping merrily.
Damn it!
Unable to resist cursing the damned bird under her breath, Danitalia swiftly grabbed the revolver beside her, changing the live ammunition to rubber bullets as she ran, and rushed towards it.
Her collection… her cigars!
…
At nine o'clock in the bright morning sun, Klein walked away from the light, entered the underground, and arrived at the guard room outside Chanis's door. All the members of the Night Watch team were already gathered there.
"Every Thursday, we have a routine meeting to summarize past missions, discuss future action plans, and so on." After the new Night Watch members were seated in the empty chairs, Dunn nodded and looked at the team member Cohen Lee on his left, "You tell us about the follow-up to yesterday's case."
"The Sleepless" Cohen Lee recalled for a moment and began to narrate.
"Regarding Sirius Arepis, the out-of-control individual killed by Klein yesterday, we discovered a large number of books and items at his hideout. Our preliminary assessment confirms he was a 'Mystic,' a lower-ranking member of the clandestine organization 'Aurora Society.'"
"He and that Antigonus family notebook..."
"Among the valuable items are three recipes for sequence potions..."
After the robust, capable brown-haired Night Watchman finished recounting the events of yesterday, Captain Dunn gave a summary, and another Night Watchman, the white-haired, black-eyed "Midnight Poet" Sigia Teon, then began reporting on the other cases.
"The whereabouts of 'Instigator' Triss remain unclear. I believe he may have already left Tingen." "
The ghost knocking on windows in the Iron Cross Street area of the West District has been solved. The so-called ghosts were just rumors; the actual situation was several children living nearby..." "
A corpse theft occurred the day before yesterday at Raphael Cemetery on the outskirts of the North District. There are currently no suspects, but the possibility of an extraordinary individual committing the crime cannot be ruled out..." "
Since the member of the Witch Cult codenamed 'Mirror Witch' was sealed away,
the secret organization behind her has remained silent, without any reaction... In addition, the whereabouts of the traitorous Archbishop Ince Zangwill are still unknown..." "..."
...Wait! He seemed to have just heard some news he couldn't ignore.
Klein couldn't help but show a slightly surprised expression. Noticing his reaction, Leonard stopped his narration, a slight smile playing on his lips, and said in a relaxed and casual tone,
"What's wrong, Klein? Did I say something unbelievable?"
"...Ah, no, nothing..." Klein felt like he paused for two or three seconds before barely managing to find his voice. "I just... I just heard the codename 'Mirror Witch,' and remembered that it seemed to be on the wanted poster that was issued a while ago... So the Church has already caught her."
--Caught my foot! He had just said good morning to this wanted witch this morning! Was he perhaps greeting an illusion?
No, no, an illusion wouldn't smile like that, teasing him so casually with a sleepy look on his face...
Instinctively, Klein immediately dismissed this assumption.
"It's said that a high-ranking member of the church intervened, using the power behind the Charis Gate to seal the witch away. And the location is right here, in the basement of our St. Selena Church." Leonard pointed with a smile towards the direction leading to the mysterious black iron gate outside the guardhouse.
"Behind the Charis Gate?" I don't think even I've ever been behind the gate, I wonder what it's like inside...
Klein listened, stunned, his thoughts wandering.
Seeing his new teammate's gaze drift towards the guardhouse, "The Corpse Collector" Frye's lips moved slightly, his tone flat and monotone as he said,
"That was a few days ago."
"Frye means that the wanted witch should have already been sent to the church headquarters, you probably won't have a chance to see what she looks like." Cohen added to his aloof teammate.
"No need to feel sorry, Klein. In fact, not only you and me, but even our captain probably hasn't seen that witch." Leonard crossed his right leg, smiling calmly.
"Ahem..." Dunn slightly closed his deep gray eyes, his right hand loosely clenched and he coughed lightly near his mouth. "Perhaps, perhaps I was too busy these past few days, too busy to mention it... Anyway, the warrant has been lifted, and the discussion about the witch ends here. Now, who should give their report?"
...
After finishing his first Night Watchman meeting, Klein got up and left the guard room without any apparent change. He went upstairs to study mysticism with Old Neil, then had lunch, and in the afternoon went to Gawain's residence for training.
In the mechanical and regular aerobic exercise, his thoughts gradually became clearer, and the questions that had been troubling him began to take shape, no longer the jumbled mess they had been before.
—Her.
Alice. She might have really encountered an extraordinary person from the church's higher echelons, and even fought with them...
But the outcome was obviously not as reported in the morning meeting, after all, he had seen her with his own eyes more than once and confirmed that she was still alive and well.
How could a sealed-away witch be so enthusiastic about a new job, voluntarily working overtime until late every night? ...No, wait, what witch would become a factory worker? ...Even Leonard and the captain probably wouldn't believe it if they heard it.
So, the church's announcement was unlikely to be fake, but the facts clearly contradicted it. Klein thought long and hard, and finally came up with an explanation.
Alice found a scapegoat to take the blame!
Yes, that makes sense. She went to that banquet to search for the witch's whereabouts. Considering her versatile and wondrous magical abilities, making a witch appear as her substitute might not be difficult!
But anyway, with the wanted poster removed from Alice, he could finally relax and stop worrying!
Heaven knows he couldn't help but wonder, what if the captain appeared in his dreams one day for a heart-to-heart talk? Should he pretend to be bewitched by a witch to clear his name, or should he simply follow Leonard's example and pretend he never saw the photo on the wanted poster?
But now he didn't have to worry about the charge of harboring a wanted criminal.
Klein felt a heavy burden lifted from his heart, and his body seemed lighter as well. He couldn't help but happily quicken his dumbbell presses.
"Left forearm, wrong form! Your center of gravity is off! These reps don't count!"
The combat coach Gawain's angry roar came from the side, making Klein's head buzz.
"Keep going, don't stop! There are still 157 arm strength exercises left. You can only rest after you finish them!"
...Hiss.
Klein forced a smile and stopped his wandering thoughts, focusing intently on the afternoon's grueling training.
Three hours later, a time that felt neither too long nor too short, he quickly took a shower, changed back into his original clothes, said goodbye to his martial arts instructor, and took a public carriage to Besik Street.
Yesterday afternoon's experience hadn't left him disoriented; on the contrary, Klein felt an almost anxious urgency to find the mastermind behind it all.
Of course, his concerns weren't limited to the house with the dark red chimney. Considering that Miss Justice had become an "audience member" at the Tarot Gathering, he decided to seek out a man he had previously encountered at the underground market who appeared to be a member of the Psychological Alchemy Society, hoping to obtain clues about the "audience member's" subsequent potion formula through him.
These matters weren't suitable for him to delve deeper into as a night watchman, and his time was precious; he didn't have much spare time to waste on searching and investigation.
Walking along the stone-paved road, Klein's gaze fell upon a sign for an agency not far away.
"Henry Private Detective Agency, specializing in finding missing persons, lost items, and investigating infidelity..."
After reading the advertisement in the newspaper, he coughed lightly, pulled his hat down low, adjusted his mask and trench coat collar, and went upstairs to knock on the door of the agency on the second floor.
"Please wait a moment!" a somewhat familiar voice called out, followed by a series of footsteps approaching.
A beautiful young woman with brown-rimmed glasses and her hair loosely tied in a side ponytail opened the door, then looked at the fully armed visitor with a hint of surprise.
Klein was stunned for several seconds before realizing that his current attire was quite different from his usual appearance, and he couldn't help but mutter to himself: Don't recognize me, don't recognize me...
As if his prayers had worked, the light blonde agency employee first smiled apologetically at him, then turned around and called out, "Mr. Henry, could you please come for a moment? We have a new case."
Good! She didn't recognize me!
Just as he was about to feel pleased, the girl in front of him turned back to him, a familiar, mischievous smile appearing on her face, and then softly called his name.
"Klein? What's so shameful that you're having someone investigate you so secretly?"
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