Lord of the Mysteries

The strange, twisted, and obscure fluctuation was short-lived. Shortly afterwards, Klein even suspected that he was hallucinating.

If he wasn’t considered rather skilled at spiritual perception, it was very likely that he would’ve written off the abnormality.

Klein frowned as he thought of his sister upstairs. He tightly held onto his cane as he went around the bathroom and hobbled to the Wood household’s staircase.

He quickly went upstairs while following the traces with his spiritual perception before arriving at the living room beside the balcony.

This should be it… Klein mumbled as he raised his hand and tapped twice on his glabella.

Auras penetrated the walls and the large wooden door before entering his vision. Most of the colors were ordinary with a blurry outline.

However, one of them in particular was rippling with a sinister dark green color over its surface that slowly corroded inwards.

Just as I thought, something wasn’t right. Klein wore an usually stern expression as he reached out with his right hand and removed the silver chain which was wrapped around his left wrist.

He held the silver chain in his left hand, allowing the topaz to dangle before him.

When the topaz stopped swinging, he traced the spherical light and chanted inwardly, “The room before me has danger caused by the supernatural.”

Normally, spirit dowsing was only suitable for divining something that was related to him or the specific circumstances in a small region around him. As such, Klein described the chant in very specific manner—the ‘danger’ could affect him and the room was right in front of him.

…

“The room before me has danger caused by the supernatural.”

After repeating the chant seven times, Klein eyes widened as he saw the topaz rotating in a clockwise motion rapidly.

It was an indication that there was indeed danger caused by the supernatural inside the room, and it was of considerable danger!

Selena is a mysticism enthusiast. Did something go extremely wrong when she was dabbling with some sort of ritual? What should I do? Klein massaged his brows and wrapped the chain around his wrist before knocking on the door.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

He knocked on the door three times rhythmically and wore an amiable smile on his face.

The door opened with a creak. Melissa, who was wearing her new dress, appeared in front of Klein.

“Klein, is something wrong?” The girl didn’t expect her brother to be here, so she was momentarily surprised.

Klein responded with a smile, without any sign of distress.

“I was just curious since I heard you gals enjoying yourselves.”

“Sorry for disturbing all of you.” Melissa lowered her head in apology, feeling somewhat embarrassed. “We’re playing with magic mirror divination. Selena knows a lot and it’s very fun.”

Magic mirror divination… Sis, why don’t you gals play Charlie Charlie challenge ¹or Ouija boards ² ? Klein shook his head, feeling both peeved and amused.

He looked behind Melissa and into the living room. He saw Selena with her beaming smile and deep dimples.

However, in his spirit vision, the wine-red haired girl, who was holding a silver-coated mirror, was being encroached by the sinister dark green colors.

As his mind whirled, Klein deliberated over his words and said, “Heh heh, I won’t be interrupting your game. Ah, right. Where’s Elizabeth? I had chatted with her over Feysac grammar. She mentioned that she wanted to ask me some questions.”

“Elizabeth?” Melissa sized her brother up and said in an eccentric tone to emphasize her words. “She’s only 16.”

Hey, don’t let your imagination go wild! Klein immediately explained, “It’s a very normal academic discussion. Elizabeth is very interested in history and ancient languages.”

Melissa took a deep look at her brother before saying, “She’s inside. I’ll inform her.”

“Alright.” Klein took a step back and moved away from the door.

While watching his sister turn around, he heaved a sigh of relief. Although it wasn’t the best of reactions, he was thankful that the person in a danger wasn’t Melissa.

He only waited for about ten seconds before a puzzled Elizabeth walked out. She asked curiously, “Mr. Moretti, what’s the matter? I never said I was interested in history and ancient languages…”

At that moment, her sentence was halted by Klein’s stern and solemn expression. Her nerves tightened as she seemed to sense that something wasn’t right.

Klein took a few steps diagonally as a gesture for Elizabeth to hide partially behind the door.

The girl with the chubby baby fat was influenced by the sudden serious atmosphere so she unknowingly followed.

“As you know, I’m a mysticism enthusiast.” Klein halted and turned around, speaking directly to the point.

Elizabeth nodded and replied, “Yes, I even believe that you’re an expert at mysticism.”

“No, I’m only an enthusiast, but this doesn’t stop me from noticing that your magic mirror divination has turned into a problem,” Klein said with a heavy tone.

“A problem?” Elizabeth nearly raised her voice as she hurriedly raised her hands to cover her mouth.

Klein thought for a moment before saying, “I know words alone will make it difficult for you to believe me. Return to the room and when Selena isn’t paying attention, steal a glance at the front of the mirror which Selena has hidden away from all of you.”

“How do you know that she hid the front of the mirror from us?” Elizabeth blurted out.

According to the information from the Nighthawks, more than ninety percent of the time, magic mirror divination cases which involve evil share such similarities… Klein smiled and said, “General knowledge.”

When the doubtful and frightened Elizabeth returned to the room, his composed smile vanished instantly. His face looked worried.

Even though we’re all in the North Borough, to go from Fania Street to Zouteland Street will take at least 15 minutes of travel by public carriage. By the time Captain arrives after making a round trip, the situation might have deteriorated to a hopeless state… If only Benson and Melissa wasn’t here… But I can’t deal with those hidden and unknown existences… Do I have any means to contain it… Right, Selena is a mysticism enthusiast. Her room definitely has no lack of pure dew, essential oils, herbs, and other items…

Just as Klein was racking his brains for a solution, Elizabeth sat next to Selena by using an excuse of discussing something with her.

A girl opposite her sipped a mouthful of red wine, and under the teasing looks of everyone, despite her blushing, she mustered her courage to ask, “Can you help me divine when I’ll meet a romantic and handsome gentleman?”

Selena lightly coughed twice as she rubbed the mirror’s back and said, “Mirror, mirror, tell me. When will the gentleman in Yonina’s heart appear?”

After repeating it three times, she picked up the mirror and raised it in front of her.

Seizing this opportunity, Elizabeth suddenly turned her body and stretched out her head to take a glance.

According to her expectations, she felt that she would see Selena’s face and half her face.

However, the only thing she saw was Selena.

The tiny mirror only had Selena, and it was Selena’s entire body!

The mirror was completely pitch-black, with Selena standing in the middle with a cold expression!

Elizabeth trembled all over as she lunged backward and leaned against the sofa. She momentarily forgot to breathe.

She involuntarily trembled and without giving an excuse, got up immediately, stumbling to the door. She didn’t even dare to turn back to look at the beaming Selena.

“Yonina’s gentleman will appear on the Sunday of the second week, half a year later…”

Amidst giggles, Elizabeth opened the door and left the room to see Klein who was standing in the shadows of the wall lamps in his tuxedo and half top hat.

“Mr. Moretti, I-I…” she stammered in a daze.

Klein calmly smiled.

“Don’t disturb the girls and ladies inside.”

Infected by his smile, Elizabeth calmed down significantly. She extended her hand and closed the door as she quickly walked over to the wall lamp.

“I saw it. I saw only Selena inside the mirror. A devil-like Selena…” she whispered hoarsely.

Indeed… Klein’s expression turned serious as he asked in a deep voice.

“Do you know which is Selena’s bedroom? Do you know where her mysticism items are?”

“There. The mysticism items are in there as well.” Elizabeth didn’t hesitate to point at a room diagonally across.

Klein held his cane and walked over, opening the unlocked wooden door. Under the streetlights and the crimson moon’s illumination, he turned a valve and lit a gas lamp.

A pale yellow light glowed as he swept the area and found bottles of pure dew, flower essence, boxes of herbal powder, candles and amulets.

These items were placed on tables or neatly arranged inside a rack. Their names were given on sticker labels.

After confirming the items, Klein said to Elizabeth who had followed behind him, “Do you want to save Selena?”

“Yes!” Elizabeth subconsciously nodded before asking in a daze, “Will it be dangerous?”

“A certain amount. After all, I’m only a mysticism enthusiast,” Klein replied frankly.

“A certain amount of danger…” Elizabeth pursed her lips tightly for a few seconds before saying, “Is there anything you need from me?”

Klein smiled warmly as he comforted her, “Don’t be nervous. Now, all you have to do is pretend to return as though nothing had happened. Return to Selena’s side. Five minutes later—remember—five minutes later, tell Selena that you have a pleasant surprise and bring her to me. Knock on the door softly, one long knock and two short ones. Following that, well—leave it to me.”

Elizabeth thought over it silently before nodding seriously.

“Alright.”

Seeing her return to the living room, Klein glanced at his pocket watch. He closed Selena’s bedroom and quickly cleared the desk. Then, he picked the items needed and placed them on a chair.

Immediately following that, he picked up two faint candles with a light aroma. He placed them on the upper left and right corners of the desk.

They were symbols representing the Lady of Crimson and the Empress of Disaster and Horror.

Klein planned on holding a ritual here to borrow the Evernight Goddess’s powers to ward off the mysterious and unknown existence that was affecting Selena!

As he was only a Sequence 9, the ritualistic magic he knew wasn’t strong enough. In order to succeed, he needed Elizabeth to lure Selena into a sealing circle, right in the vicinity of the altar!

Therefore, he needed to consider situations in which Selena might notice and resist!

Due to these reasons, Klein planned on using suspension-style ritualistic magic.