Once a hidden compartment was confirmed, everything became simpler. Klein wrote a new divination statement and sat in the chair before the vanity, "The hidden compartment or secret room in this house." He closed his eyes and began to chant under his breath.
After seven repetitions, he entered a hazy dream. In a blurred world, he saw the cedar wardrobe. A hand reached out and removed a crossbeam from the inside. Then, the wardrobe slid to the side, revealing a wooden door behind it.
"No wonder only this room was cleaned. Was it to prevent the scratches from the sliding wardrobe from being noticed?"
Klein stared at the wardrobe he had just inspected, feeling a twinge of shame for his lack of professionalism. However, he quickly dismissed the thought.
"What's inside? A mystical item? Hidden treasure? Or maybe a dungeon filled with corpses?"
Klein thought of several possibilities but didn't attempt to enter. Knowing Madam Melas could return at any time, it was too dangerous to open the secret room or even use his spirit body to investigate.
Besides, it was unwise to rush. No matter what secrets she held, she would return to her husband's estate at night. If he came back then, he would have plenty of time to explore.
Having reached this conclusion, Klein quickly erased any traces of his presence and left the villa.
However, he didn't leave the area immediately. He planned to find a café and have an early dinner,it was only two hours until nightfall, and taking the underground twice just to save that time wasn't worth the cost.
But then, Madam Melas actually returned!
"So soon?" Klein watched as she walked back carrying a bag of groceries. He was stunned. Then, he realized something.
"Why was I so sure she would be gone for a while?"
At first glance, his thought seemed reasonable, but upon reflection... 'I only entered the house for ten minutes.' 'She usually returns home in the evening.' 'The house is covered in dust.' 'She only changed clothes before leaving.'
Given these variables, assuming she would be gone for hours was fundamentally illogical.
While one could argue it was a spiritual intuition, Klein suddenly had another thought.
Perhaps the intuition wasn't warning him about her return, but rather... don't enter that room.
The thought sent a chill down his spine. Megose's face flashed through his mind once more.
"There couldn't be a fetal god in there, could there?" Klein tried to force a smile at the thought, but his facial muscles refused to cooperate.
He didn't wait any longer. Turning on his heel, he left Bridge South District. He needed to find a safe place to hold a proper divination as soon as possible!
...
Twenty minutes later, Klein sat in his living room on Minsk Street. After gulping down two glasses of warm water, he finally began to calm down from the harrowing sensation.
It wasn't that he was cowardly, but the feeling of having his fate orchestrated by an unseen hand was truly unbearable.
He performed a purification ritual with a silver dagger, sealing the space with a wall of spirituality. Then, he took four steps counter-clockwise and ascended to the space above the grey fog. Only then, sitting at the head of the ancient bronze table, did his sense of security return.
It felt as though this was the only truly safe place in the world.
'Too bad I can't bring my physical body up here. It would be just like those pocket-dimension tropes from the novels in my old life.' Klein reminisced briefly about his past life before focusing on his divination, "The contents of the hidden room are dangerous."
Klein cautiously avoided using dream divination to see what was inside. Though he suspected he might be overreacting, the phantom pain of being impaled made him choose the safest path.
Chanting the statement seven times, Klein opened his dark eyes. The pendulum remained perfectly still, as if gripped by an invisible hand.
'Insufficient information? Or... was I interfered with?'
He thought for a moment before writing a new statement, "Madam Melas is polluted."
After seven chants, the pendulum remained motionless. Klein knew this was going to be a problem.
The groceries she bought suggested that someone,or something,in that room needed to eat, yet couldn't buy food themselves.
Furthermore, her frequent trips, which had even caught her husband's attention, meant that either she was a functional lunatic who didn't care about exposure, or the 'thing' in the room needed to be fed every single day.
Perhaps it couldn't eat stored food? Or maybe food simply couldn't *be* stored there?
The image of a fetal god faded, replaced by the mental image of a ravenous, maddened beast.
But how was Madam Melas tending to such a beast without being eaten?
Klein couldn't find an answer, but he had already decided to wash his hands of the matter.
As a former official Beyonder, he knew exactly how serious this was. He decided to... report it.
Simulating the sensation of falling, he returned to reality. He changed into a formal suit and walked straight toward St. Wind Cathedral.
He chose St. Wind because it was nearby in Cherwood District, and as a former Nighthawk, he didn't want to drag the Evernight Church into this mess.
...
"Archbishop Snake! We've received an anonymous report!"
In St. Wind Cathedral, Ace Snake,who was rarely not out for a walk,stood up abruptly. He asked urgently:
"Is it the powerhouse who killed Qilangos? Or the scum from the East District? Or the mastermind behind the Duke Negan assassination attempt?"
"None of them... The report says that at 22 Vinsk Street in Bridge South District, someone is keeping a highly dangerous divine animal." The member of the Mandated Punishers held a crumpled piece of paper, his voice wavering as he realized the Archbishop's foul mood.
"Then why haven't you..." Ace Snake had been frustrated by a string of Beyonder incidents lately. He was about to lash out, but he suddenly realized something.
"Did you say... a divine animal?"
"Yes, that's what the note says." The Punisher said awkwardly. Ace Snake suppressed his irritation and asked as calmly as he could, "Did you find out who sent it?"
"A child. Apparently, a man with a large beard paid him a penny to deliver it. We've ordered a divination, but there are no results yet."
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]
T/N: "St. Wind Cathedral" (圣风大教堂) - The headquarters of the Church of Storms in Backlund.
T/N: "Divine Animal" (神性动物) - A term used for creatures with high-level spiritual or god-like traits.