Standing naked in front of the mirror in Klein's bathroom, Kiyotaka examined himself. The curse had lost its effect once the giant man was dead, however, whatever hemorrhage the curse had caused was not healed as he could see occasional drips of blood.
Using the soap and shampoo in modest amounts, he washed himself thoroughly. The burn wound from his fight with Billy and the current wounds from the noxious blood burning away his skin really hurt.
Despite not giving much reaction to it, it still made his entire body tremble every now and then.
Once that was done, he wore the spare clothes that comprised of a tank-top underneath a buttoned white shirt and grey trousers. The shirt was a little long and he did not tuck it inside. He tore his old shirt and wrapped it tightly around his wounds.
As he walked out, he looked around. It was a decent apartment with a bedroom, decent space for a table, a kitchen and a bathroom. While not as spacious as the place he had rented, it was still really good for 2 people.
Just as he was about to sit down, the sound of key being inserted into the lock echoed in the eerily silent space. Klein walked inside hurriedly, carrying a small bag that smelled of herbs and chemicals.
Opening it, he revealed two vials and a giant leaf. There was some kind of mashed paste inside the leaf and a branch. "Show me the wounds."
Kiyotaka removed his shirt, showing his wounds to Klein. The flesh were the blood had landed was totally mangled, like burnt plastic. Taking the rough branch that was brown in color, Klein dipped it in the paste and began applying over it.
"Are you sure about the medicine?"
"The man is an Apothecary. As in a Sequence 9: Apothecary. I am sure he knows what's talking about and doing." Klein replied in a distant manner, applying it all over his wounds. Once that was done, he took a glass of water and added the two vials into it. "This will numb the pain and will remove the traces of hex as well."
Kiyotaka looked at the liquid that had a glittery green color to it.
Klein's brows twitched. "Are you serious? After all this time, now you are doubting me?"
Kiyotaka cleared his throat and painfully shifted in his position. Taking the glass away from his grasp, he took a careful sip out of it. He quietly smacked his lips and felt the sour aftertaste. "I was not doubting you."
Taking the glass away, Klein quickly picked up the steak and other things on his table as he took it to the kitchen. Kiyotaka sat straight on the table, not being able to sink back into the seat without his back feeling like it had hot needles all over it.
"What happened?" Klein asked once he was done sorting things in the kitchen. Due to the severity of the issue, he was not feeling hungry at the moment. His eyes narrowly shifted to the stack of papers and the wad of cash.
"I believe it was someone from Aurora Order who came after me. He was quite strong as well." Kiyotaka talked through half-breaths.
Klein walked outside the kitchen with some beer and placed it beside him. Kiyotaka picked it up and took a heavy glug out of it.
"Why are they after you? Was the gang leader their accomplice?"
Kiyotaka lifted his shoulders. "I am certain that is not the reason. The man asked me why I was looking into Lanevus. I had gotten the commission from a close friend of mine—of this body, about Lanevus, and I tried to search for him using Zmanger Gang, now that I have taken over it, after you issued the commission once again."
"You took over Zmanger Gang?" Klein was surprised.
"I did. After Billy died, I left a message behind. When I went back there, the message was open but the implication from the other side was that they were going to overlook it due to some circumstances.
Of course, I am aware of the repercussions that might come with it."
Kiyotaka explained in great detail. The reason was because even if he didn't tell Klein about it, he was still a detective. One day or the other, he was going to come to know about it. It was better to get his trust rather than let the opportunity slip by right in front of his eyes.
"Right... Well, it is quite natural that the Aurora Order would get themselves involved."
"How is this natural?" Kiyotaka asked while taking a sip out of the light-beer.
"The ultimate goal of Aurora Order is to spread degeneracy and the teachings of the True Creator, and to one day help him descend over the real world. They have already tried it once, back in Tingen and Lanevus was just as much at the core of the mission as was Aurora Order.
That led to the deaths of a lot of people. And its only been possible because an organization as dangerous and cruel as Aurora Order was involved."
Kiyotaka noticed that Klein's fingers were twitching and were curling and uncurling into fists.
'Hm? They failed? The descent should've been a big matter, then why did Aurora Order not give it their all? This is strange.'
"Well, anyways..." Klein looked down and picked up the document. He looked up to stare at Kiyotaka. Klein didn't need confirmation to know what his intentions were. "...you are going to change your identity?"
"It would depend. If the situation is really dire, then I would have to change it. As for the shares in that company, I will leave them to you."
"Consider me flattered." Klein sighed. "Regardless, feel free to stay for the night here. Uhh, I am not conceding the bed."
"You don't have to. The couch is enough for me." Kiyotaka adjusted his wet, messy hair and slicked them back.
"Alright. Well, it is getting late. I will go and get some rest."
Kiyotaka saw Klein leave from the corner of his eye. "You forgot your dinner."
Klein looked at the steak in the kitchen that had gone cold and smiled. "I am not hungry anymore. Are you worried about me? Heh-heh."
"I can get worried sometimes."
"Right," Klein rolled his eyes in a humorous manner. "Good night then."
"Good night."
Bidding Klein farewell, Kiyotaka slipped the bracelet back on. Unless he was using the flames, he did not suffer from any drawbacks. He gently caressed its surface.
'I had no chance of survival without this. Hmm, should I name it? Sherlock did say that Mystical Items and Sealed Artifacts have names and serial numbers. Hmm... Ember? Ember sounds alright.'
Busying his mind in useless things, Kiyotaka distracted himself from the pain that plagued his body. The surface of the couch was not as comfortable as the bed he had, nor were the cushions as plush.
It was quite surprising to Kiyotaka himself as well. He had gotten quite used to the luxury from his past life and in the few weeks that he was inside this new house.
Looking at the ceiling quietly, he felt his eyes grow heavy. His body hurt constantly, but there was a certain sense of calm that washed over him. At the same time, his eyes closed completely.
*****
The sun had begun to rise, however, the sunlight was blocked out completely by the thick smog and dense clouds in the sky.
Kiyotaka woke up quite late. When he did, he found a plate that was covered on the table beside him. The cash and the pile of documents were untouched, laying exactly where they were.
Kiyotaka yawned and looked at his wounds. Most of them were miraculously healed and he no longer suffered from the effects of the hex caused by the corrupted blood of the Rose Bishop.
Standing up, he examined his body and threw a few punches around, testing it. Realizing that he was around 90% healed, Kiyotaka heaved a sigh of relief.
With so much happening in his life, all out of his control, he could not afford not being in peak physical condition.
'That said, the medicine given by that Sequence 9: Apothecary really did some wonders. Hmm, that reminds me, I need to go and visit Glaint. He said he had some important people for me to meet with.
Xio would soon know about the incident. I might be presumed dead. That begs the question, do I really need to change identities? The only real benefit I can gain from it is that the Aurora Order would stop following me, or at least have a hard time.
But then again, things like Divination exists. And a Lawyer does not have any anti-divination methods to hide himself. The mystical item I have are offense oriented.
Hmm... I really need to hunt down a Beyonder to turn into a Mystical Item, which can provide me with anti-divination. But which Beyonder and which Pathway's Sequence can that be? Currently, based on my own strength and Ember, I am confident in fighting in a Sequence 8, or even a Sequence 7, but anything after that would be almost impossible.
Unless I have help.
Well, let's tackle one thing at a time.'
He took out the Beyonder Characteristic and tossed it around in his hand. This was the most disgusting Beyonder Characteristic so far. However, it made sense as well, given how nauseating the abilities of Rose Bishop were.
Picking out his torn shirt and wrapping the mess inside it, Kiyotaka went to the bathroom. Lightening himself, he washed his hands and then took a full bath. He had the slight urge to do something else as well, but he curbed the instinct with no difficulty.
Once he had dealt with that, Kiyotaka removed the cover from the plate and saw a Desi Pie. Since his throat had fully healed now and was trying to gain weight anyways, he did not complain about how oily it was, or how much fat it had.
He bit into it, and after a few bites, he was done with it.
'I should probably replicate it with less grease and more protein later. It would be hard to make it as flaky though.'
Commenting internally, he cleared the plate and then washed it. Making a mental note to buy something for Klein at night, he quickly put on a coat over the house clothes. Picking up the cash, he counted it.
It was quite a lot of money.
For someone as crazy as the members of the Aurora Order, Kiyotaka was surprised at the amount of cash the man was carrying around. But then again, he was shooting fire arrows and killing abominations made out of flesh and no bones.
Nothing was going to surprise him anymore, and certainly not something as unpredictable as human nature.
With this money, his total wealth was boosted to £800. Feeling content with that much money, he grabbed his sword-cane and then left the house. He slipped the key to his lock underneath the door, just enough so he could wriggle his fingers in and grab it.
Not paying much attention to the people around him, Kiyotaka kept walking. He entered North Borough first and bought another suit for himself. The reason for buying suit from here was because if he truly wanted to blend in, he needed to look like them.
He bought pants, a vest, and tuxedo for £10, and then a golden pocket watch for £5. The white shirt had cost him 3 Solis. This left him with a total of £784 and 17 soli.
Once he wore that, he examined himself. He saw that he had been growing a stubble of blonde hair on his cheeks and chin. Kiyotaka shivered upon seeing that and walked to the barber shop.
The shop was massive and the people inside looked professional. As he looked around, he found something a little odd.
'How come the grooming instruments are so backwards? Hmm... Looks like this industry doesn't have an oligarch over it. Making new grooming instruments can be quite profitable, and even making some with cheap materials will help the poor out as well.
I'll see if I can start it myself.'
Taking a mental note of that, Kiyotaka sat down and guided the man to cut his hair. The man looked at Kiyotaka as if he was mad, but as the cut approached the finish line, he realized that the unconventional cut looked quite good.
He had opted for the same haircut as his older years back in Japan, when he was a third-year, but instead of letting the curtains having too much space, he made his hair messy in a way that it covered his massive forehead and hairline that was receding on both corners of his forehead.
(something like this)
"How much do I owe you?"
"£1, sir." The barber replied with respect.
'This...This is daylight robbery...'
Once he paid the money to the man, Kiyotaka quickly left the establishment.
Before long, he arrived in Empress Borough. He was stopped at the entrance, but showing the letter from Viscount Glaint granted him access. The area was quite posh, as expected.
Soon, Kiyotaka arrived somewhere he had been to before as well.
The Hall Estate.
Once again, Kiyotaka showed the letter to the people at the entrance was granted entry. Inside, the giant lawn sprawled in front of him and servants were brushing beautiful horses with shiny furs. In the distance, Kiyotaka could see another animal curiously walking about and stopping by every flower to sniff it.
'That's... a golden retriever... There should be some changes, but why is it exactly a golden retriever? Hmm, my theory holds true. Other than the moon's color, I am quite sure about my hypothesis/theory.'
Kiyotaka walked to the main door where Viscount Glaint was already standing.
"Good morning, Williams. How are you?"
"Quite good, recently."
Glaint patted him on the shoulder and looked at him from head-to-toe, clad in expensive things. "I can tell."
Kiyotaka looked around and cleared his throat. "You called for me, but why here?"
"Ah, yes!" He suddenly looked back and opened the door. "Count Hall is a friend of mine, or well, he is quite older than me so it is his courteousness to allow me to call him as my friend, but regardless, he is planning on acquiring a small bank. The majority of the shares of that bank are held by a single person.
Since that person is planning on selling his shares, and Count Hall talked about it in front of me, I told him that I knew a good Accountant who could audit and evaluate the shares and produce a counter-claim, if necessary.
Well, I do not know you on a personal level, but if Xio placed trust in you, I trust you as well."
Then Glaint looked to the side, and smacked his lips. "Ah, here he is."
Kiyotaka's entire body bristled and goosebumps rippled beneath his skin as though every nerve had been plucked at once.
Cold and unwelcomed sweat bloomed instantly all along his spine as he forced his posture to remain unchanged, however, his legs trembled anyway with a traitorous vibration he could not fully suppress.
While he had control over his body, it did not mean obedience, and currently his instincts and his entire body was protesting against his control.
Walking towards him was a middle-aged man with high-cheekbones, blue eyes with a tint of gray, and neatly combed hair.
The man had a kind smile on his face as he shooed something.
"This is the person who Count Hall is buying shares from. He is Mr. Patrick Jason."
Kiyotaka who had a wave of dread wash over him, stared blankly at the man. His instincts were screaming at him. This was the same man that he saw outside his home when he was sick as well!
"What a pleasant surprise" The man extended his hand. Nice to finally meet the one Mr. Glaint holds in such high esteem."
Hesitatingly, Kiyotaka shook his hand. However, his hands turned cold and clammy the moment something walked behind Patrick.
It was a giant black dog with pale red eyes.
"Oh, and this is Hank. Mr. Patrick's guard dog." Viscount Glaint introduced with a bright smile.
*********************
A/N:
Hello, Repro here. This is the end of the line for drafts. I have one more, but I usually need 2-3 chapters in backlog, because I often go back and edit something in the past to make the chapter I am writing make more sense.
It will take some time to get quite a few chapters into backlog, but I will be back. (trust me broskies and girlies)
Also really thanks for reading and commenting so far, especially you lot on Webnovel. Never saw 90 Power-Stones at once on any story before this, save for the MT x COTE one, but well, I don't like that story of mine, so I won't count that.
The comments are quite encouraging, won't lie, especially ShadowPlayz, I_NULL_I, Psychopathic and Laiber.
Well, that's about it for the author's note on this chapter. I have a discord, if you wish to join. You'll find the link in comment to this paragraph.
Once again, thanks for reading so far. Hopefully, the next time I start updating, it will be until the end of Volume 1, and the Great Smog of Backlund. I have a lot planned out, and too much planning overloads my brain.
So look forward to it. It'll either be peak, or it will be a disaster, we'll see.
Tchüß