Unsurprisingly, the old man went silent again.
This old geezer definitely has his “playing dead” skill maxed out. He always drops the ball at the most critical moments.
It took quite a while.
“I wasn't sleeping, dammit!”
Old Ed’s voice exploded in his mind, sounding like a stray cat that had its tail stepped on.
“?”
Elias was baffled.
It was like the guy had amnesia. His reaction time was long enough to run two laps around all of Hastings Port.
“Are you okay?” he asked tentatively, with a rare hint of concern.
“Me?” the old man replied righteously, sounding a bit annoyed. “I’m fine.”
“Then why did you hiss and then go silent?” Elias exposed his memory gap without mercy.
“Did I?” The old man was puzzled, seemingly having no memory of the disconnection. “I felt a bit... dazed just now...”
His voice sounded somewhat distant.
“Old man, don’t scare me.” Elias sat up in the tub, warm water sliding down his firm muscles. “Seriously, are you alright?”
“I should be fine,” Old Ed muttered. “I suspect there might have been some violent turbulence in the spirit world, causing our mental channel to become unstable.”
“Is that so?” Elias was highly skeptical.
However, there was no other explanation for now. After all, the spirit world was a place that didn’t follow scientific logic.
Speaking of the spirit world, Elias suddenly remembered something important. He decided to take advantage of the relaxed atmosphere to ask Old Ed about it.
“Do you know...” Elias lowered his voice, as if afraid of disturbing something in the air. “...the name Galahad Midnight?”
“Galahad Midnight?” the old man repeated instinctively.
The moment the last syllable fell—
Snap.
Elias instantly felt the invisible mental channel that linked him and Old Ed being severed by an irresistible force. It was clean and sudden, without any lingering connection.
“What the hell?!” Elias was startled.
He immediately focused his mind and reached out with his spirituality toward the old bracelet on his wrist.
It was empty. The bracelet was terrifyingly quiet, and he could no longer sense the old man’s usual rambling spirituality.
Oh no, oh no, oh no!
It couldn’t be!
Was that name a taboo for a high-level existence? Did he just kill the old man’s soul with a casual question because of some massive karmic backlash?!
But that didn’t make sense!
Elias’s mind raced as he desperately replayed the events. When he had mentioned the name to Guss back at the convent, they had both been fine, and there were no negative effects!
Besides, that armored knight was just a dead memory fragment from the spirit world. It was an antique that had been dead for hundreds or thousands of years. It couldn’t possibly reach across time and space to kill the old man through their connection, right?!
Just as Elias was panicking and about to jump out of the tub to smash the bracelet—
Hum—
A faint spiritual vibration resonated in his mind. Old Ed’s familiar soul fluctuations finally reconnected with his mind.
“What in the world was that?!” As soon as he came back online, the old man started swearing, letting out a string of Velen curses.
“It seems the spirit world is indeed restless today. There’s turbulence everywhere,” the old man complained with lingering fear. “Even the spiritual connection is unstable.”
Hearing the vigorous cursing, the heart that had been stuck in Elias’s throat finally dropped back into his stomach.
“But that name you mentioned...” Old Ed’s tone shifted to one of confusion. “I really don’t know it.”
While Old Ed’s safe return relieved Elias, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed that the old man knew nothing about the black-armored knight. Another lead had gone cold.
But it was normal. That armored knight had been dead for an unknown number of years. Even if the old man had lived a long time, he was still just a drop in the ocean of the supernatural world’s vast history. It was only natural that he didn’t know everything; no one could be an omniscient search engine.
However, Elias’s thoughts began to stir. If he was lucky enough to survive and escape the dream demon curse, should he go look for the “Twelve Earth Veins” the knight had mentioned? After all, those things seemed to have a deep connection with Malcolm as well.
With those thoughts, Elias stood up from the tub and dried himself off. Slipping into the hotel’s soft pajamas, he threw himself onto the luxurious bed. Listening to the rain and thunder outside gradually subsiding, he finally had a quiet night without any further incidents.
...
Early the next morning.
The corridor on the top floor of the Bay Hotel was filled with the quietness unique to the early hours.
Knock, knock, knock.
Elias’s door was knocked with a rhythm that was deliberately suppressed.
He let out a yawn and climbed out of bed. Walking over to the coat rack, he skillfully put on the Spy’s Derby Hat. His facial muscles rippled in a familiar way, and “Bruce” was back online.
He opened the door and looked down to see an unexpected visitor.
A slim sailor was standing outside the door.
“Who are you?” Elias leaned against the doorframe, teasing her knowingly.
“I’m here for my money!” The girl, dressed as a man again, lowered her voice and spoke in a rough, manly tone that she thought sounded fierce. She even puffed out her chest to look more intimidating.
“This gentleman’s pectorals...” Elias glanced at her. “...are a bit exaggerated. And besides...”
“Pay me back first, okay?” he added irritably. “For yesterday’s truffle roast chicken.”
“Huh?!” Ophelia was instantly stunned. Her eyes, which she had deliberately darkened with makeup, were filled with pure disbelief.
What was going on? This wasn't how it was supposed to go!
She had spent so much effort on her disguise this morning! To get information from the Wayland Shipping office today, she had paid a hotel waiter a high price for a well-fitting sailor suit. She had even hardened her heart and used various materials to darken her fair skin by two shades.
Then, she had spent a long time doing her makeup, thickening her eyebrows and deepening the shadows on her face. She thought she looked ten times more manly than her previous look with the fake mustache on the train!
Most importantly, to prevent an embarrassing situation like last night where her charms were exposed, she had bound her chest tighter than ever!
After all that effort and risking suffocation, her perfect disguise was utterly useless before this cold capitalist. She had actually thought he hadn't recognized her when she knocked!
She had no idea that Elias didn’t need to look at her face. As a transcendent, he had already memorized the unique spiritual signature of her soul. He didn’t even need to use 【Moon Vision】; a simple sweep of his spirituality through the door told him exactly who was standing outside.
“Let’s go.” Elias ignored her dazed expression. He turned and took his sophisticated suit jacket from the rack, putting it on slowly.
“Your disguise today is actually quite convincing.” Elias picked up The Roaring Cane and walked over to her, his gaze lingering on the sailor suit for a second.
“However, the sailor suit is quite nice,” he said with a hint of a smile and a meaningful tone. “It really suits you.”
Rate on N.U.
