"Dear Mr. Azik:"
"It has been many days since we last met. I hope you are doing well."
"Regarding the person who desecrated your child's remains, I have obtained some leads. Since he possesses a high-sequence Sealed Artifact of the Spectator pathway, I cannot write his name in this letter."
"A few days ago, I 'died' in a sneak attack. Although I'm not sure why I was resurrected, I should now be out of his 'script,' which might make it easier for me to investigate him."
"Based on some intelligence, I have confirmed that he has already arrived in Backlund, but he doesn't seem to have taken further action."
"Additionally, I have received another piece of information: a pirate admiral named Qilangos has also recently arrived in Backlund. He possesses a mystical item called 'Creeping Hunger,' which can obtain various Beyonder abilities by grazing souls."
"According to the intelligence I've gathered, this item's abilities should belong to a sequence known as 'Shepherd'."
"I'm not sure if the simultaneous appearance of Qilangos and that mastermind in Backlund is connected, but reports indicate that Qilangos's target is an extremely important item,one that seems sufficient to allow him to grow from a Sequence 6 level into a high-sequence powerhouse."
"Aside from that, I would also like to ask for some knowledge regarding 'Sacrificial Rituals'..."
...
Finishing this letter that should have been sent long ago, Klein sighed slightly. He re-checked the message's content, confirming he hadn't accidentally mentioned 0-08 or Ince Zangwill, before carefully folding the stationary and placing it into the envelope.
However, just before blowing the copper whistle, he wavered once more. He put the whistle back into his pocket and took four steps counter-clockwise, arriving above the gray fog. Under conditions that excluded all interference, he conjured the citrine pendulum that had already been incinerated by the Solar Siphon Charm and slowly chanted the divination phrase, "I should send this letter to Mr. Azik now... I should send it now..."
After chanting seven times, he opened his eyes and looked at the citrine pendant rotating clockwise. Finally, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Returning to reality, Klein blew the silent copper whistle. As the surrounding air turned chilly, in his activated Spirit Vision, bones gleaming with a hazy luster gushed out like a fountain before quickly aggregating into a phantom, hulking monster.
Its physique was robust and ferocious, its eyes flickering with flame as if revealing an intent of waiting.
Klein's mouth twitched slightly as he tossed the envelope upward. A giant bone hand swiped through the air, firmly catching the nameless letter.
Klein blew the silent copper whistle once more, and the monster instantly collapsed into individual bones, vanishing without a trace.
Having done all this, Klein dispelled the wall of spirituality and tucked the copper whistle back into his breast pocket, letting out a soft sigh of relief.
'Compared to Mr. Azik's messenger, Mr. Snow's messenger is a lot younger and cuter!'
...
"Xio... you're spacing out again. What exactly did you do this morning?" Fors, leaning back on the sofa, looked at her roommate who was zoning out once more and couldn't help but ask.
"Nothing. I'm just wondering where Qilangos has gone, that's all." Xio hurriedly shifted the blame to Qilangos. Unfortunately, however, this young woman was not a good liar.
"Really?" Although Fors was lazy, it didn't mean she lacked observation skills. Or rather, the fact that she could write brilliant detective subplots in her novels was proof enough of her excellent insight.
"Of course it's true. What else could it be for?" Xio spoke with absolute certainty, then casually flipped through the newspaper in front of her as if to put on a show of searching for Qilangos.
Seeing her suspicious behavior, Fors became increasingly convinced that Xio was hiding something from her. But she knew very well how tight-lipped her friend could be; if Xio didn't want to talk, no amount of questioning would get it out.
However, at that moment, the entire room suddenly became chilly. Xio and Fors almost instinctively assumed a defensive posture. Fors had even prepared to trigger another "stone."
Yet in the next second, the chill completely dissipated, replaced by a letter.
"Just now... what happened?" A trace of alarm remained on Fors's face. As a nearly pure "wild" Beyonder, she had never seen such a high-level concept as a messenger.
She hadn't even had time to activate her Spirit Vision when the cold sensation appeared.
Of course, even if she had, it would have been pointless. As long as Dodo didn't want to stop, Beyonders below the level of a demigod had no hope of capturing its trail.
"It should be... a messenger?" Xio looked at the envelope that had abruptly appeared in her hand, her expression turning slightly strange. Although there was no sender's name marked, she instinctively realized that this should be the commission assigned to her by Mr. Snow.
"A messenger? What's that? A mailman?" Fors looked at the envelope in Xio's hand with curiosity but was wise enough not to ask further. Letters were private matters.
Since Xio hadn't proactively shared it with her, she didn't intend to pry.
"It's about sending letters by contracting spirit world creatures. Mmm, it's a bit like a witch's familiar in stories." Xio looked at the envelope, unsure whether she should open it here. Fors deliberately yawned and said, "That sounds quite convenient... Mmm, I'm a bit sleepy, so I'll go to sleep first."
"Alright, I'll be there in a bit." Xio nodded, feeling warmed by Fors's consideration while simultaneously feeling a growing headache over the "curse" from a high-status existence on her friend.
'There must be another way!' Xio took a deep breath and tore open the envelope, indeed finding the elegant handwriting similar to the one on the calling card:
"Dear Miss Xio:
I am now issuing your first commission:
Please arrive at the Backlund Factory District at 7:00 AM tomorrow morning to protect Mr. Lavis, the leader of the strike movement, and provide assistance to the movement in your capacity as an Arbiter.
Considering that this task has a longer duration, it can be counted as one 'Sequence 8' level commission. Please carefully consider whether to accept.
Note: Please do not be corrupted by the money offensive of the wealthy.
Regards,
[Crown]"
...
"I won't be corrupted!" Xio muttered dissatisfiedly, folded the paper, and tucked it into her pocket. She then found a room to prepare a reply.
Considering her "ten thousand-fold" debt, being able to clear ten installments at once was clearly a great deal. Moreover, the content of this task was of a type she found quite acceptable, which allowed her to relax somewhat.
At the very least, helping poor people strike was better than collecting debts for gangs.
"But how should I explain this to Fors?"
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika Kagura]
---
A/N: "Crown" (王冠) - The code name used by Snow as the leader of "Universal Nature."
A/N: "Sequence 8 Commission" - Refers to the "pricing" mechanism Snow established with Xio, where complex or long-term tasks count as multiple standard "Sequence 9" commissions.
T/N: "Money Offensive" (金钱攻势) - A common term in Chinese novels referring to an attempt to bribe or influence someone through overwhelming wealth.
T/N: "Lavis" (拉维斯) - The strike leader mentioned. In the context of Snow's plans, this involves "Universal Nature" gathering "producers" (workers) as a base.