88 Repor (2/2)
When they returned home, Klein yielded the bathroom to Benson for his shower while he went to Melissa's bedroom and knocked twice.
Melissa, who was planning to use the other bathroom, opened the door and looked at her brother suspiciously.
”Melissa, do you have any questions that you'd like to ask? I know you do,” Klein asked straightforwardly.
Don't just observe me in silence...
Melissa lips trembled and creased her eyebrows as she spoke.
”Klein, what did you do to Elizabeth? She seemed a bit off.”
”And, later on, Selena started acting very strange too.”
Klein had prepared his reply.
”Do you know that Elizabeth and Selena are mysticism enthusiasts?”
”...Yeah, but I don't like it. I don't think there's anything that can't be explained in this world,” Melissa answered seriously after being momentarily taken aback. ”Anything that seems unexplainable is due to the fact that the knowledge we have grasped is insufficient.”
”Yeah, I think so too,” Klein echoed her sentiments guiltily.
I once thought so too, until I successfully courted death...
He coughed lightly and continued, ”Mysticism involves Hermes, the language used specifically for ancient worship ceremonies and prayers. Elizabeth knew that I am good at it. Heh, it is within a historian's domain after all. So, she asked me about the pronunciation of corresponding words and their actual meanings.”
Melissa nodded lightly, signifying her acceptance of her brother's explanation. It went according to her understanding of both parties.
”As for why Elizabeth and Selena became weird later on, I have no idea about the actual reasons.” Klein removed himself from the picture first, then he said, ”But, I can make a guess.”
”You managed to guess it?” Melissa blurted out in shock.
Klein lifted his hand and patted his lips.
”I could guess from the contents of what Elizabeth asked. The few Hermes words were related to divination, as well as the worshiping of evil entities. Yes, when Selena did the magic mirror divination, did she recite in Hermes?”
He proactively brought that up in order to remind his sister to keep her guard up against similar situations. It would be even better if she could cut off contact with Selena and Elizabeth.
”Yes...” Melissa replied after a delay. ”I think I understand why Elizabeth and Selena were acting strange...”
Then, Klein asked deliberately, ”As Selena's magic mirror divination involved a wicked, illegal belief, perhaps Elizabeth found an opportunity to criticize and correct Selena's mistake after she clarified with me the actual meaning of the Hermes that Selena had used?”
”I think so,” Melissa didn't doubt this conclusion because she had made the same deduction herself.
Klein let out a breath of relief upon seeing that he had successfully directed the flow of the conversation.
”In the future, it's best if you advised Selena to put her beliefs in the orthodox.”
Then, he tapped four spots on his chest just like a priest.
”Yes, I will!” Melissa replied, sounding determined.
”And, don't tell Elizabeth and Selena about our deduction or about the things that I've said. I actually promised Elizabeth not to tell you,” Klein emphasized.
”Okay.” Melissa nodded lightly.
...
On Monday morning at eight, in the Blackthorn Security Company.
Klein took off his hat and greeted Rozanne and Bredt. After exchanging a few words, he entered Captain Dunn Smith's office.
He pushed the door open and looked around. He suddenly had a shock, because Dunn's face was pretty pale and his gray eyes looked clouded, without their usual darkness.
”What happened? Hanass Vincent?” Klein asked in concern and shock.
Dunn rubbed his forehead, took a sip of coffee, and replied with a bitter smile, ”Hanass Vincent is dead.”
”Who killed him ahead of time?” Klein sat before Dunn with his cane in hand.
Dunn didn't answer immediately but sighed and said, ”Leonard and I went to look for Hanass Vincent last night. As his usual behavior didn't show any unusual signs and there was nothing odd about his house, I decided to enter his dreams to look for clues.”
”In his dream, in his dream...”
His eyes showed fear as Dunn repeated himself twice, that was when he said, ”In his dream, I saw a cross, a huge cross, one that blotted out the sky. On the huge cross there was a naked man nailed to it with black nails. His arms and legs were pinned with his arms extended outwards. He was hung upside down, his head hung low like a chandelier. There was strips of blood stains on his body.”
”Upon seeing such a scene, I lost consciousness. I left Hanass Vincent's dream, and when I woke up, Leonard told me that Hanass had died in his sleep.”
”Huge cross, hung upside down, the man covered in blood stains... It's similar to some of the stories of the True Creator that some of the hidden organizations believe in, but there are considerable differences too...” Klein made a deduction in suspicion.
The few hidden organizations that believed in the True Creator had only appeared in the last two or three centuries, such as the Aurora Order and the Iron and Blood Cross Order. However, similar such depictions had never disappeared over the past thousand plus years.
Dunn rubbed his forehead again. ”We'll follow-up on this. As for you, go ahead and complete your initiation mission first.”