Alaric was woken by the commotion downstairs.
After parting with Roselle, his spirituality was heavily drained, so he didn't do much else. He returned home, studied some occult knowledge as usual, and then went to sleep to replenish his spirituality.
But before he could get a full rest, Alaric was roused by loud noises from downstairs, as if a fight had broken out in the house.
"Who's got nothing better to do than brawl indoors? Can't a guy sleep in peace?" Alaric yawned. Though he often pulled all-nighters for days, he still had normal human sleep needs. Being woken halfway through a nap naturally put him in a foul mood.
Fueled by his irritation, Alaric stormed downstairs. He found cabinets and chairs toppled, cups shattered on the floor, and a corpse lying not far from the coffee table. Klein stood nearby, offering an awkward smile when he saw Alaric's grumpy expression. "Sorry, Jack, did I wake you?"
"What's going on?" Alaric yawned again. Instead of immediately inspecting the body, he shuffled to the kitchen, grabbed a glass, poured himself some ice water, and took a sip to clear his head before returning to the living room.
By then, Klein was already conducting a séance on the body.
Alaric's gaze settled on the corpse... a lean, dark-skinned man with deep-set eye sockets.
Blinking, Alaric racked his brain, digging through his memories of the original story until he pinpointed the identity from some obscure corner of his mind. He took another sip of ice water, then looked up at Klein and said slowly, "Meursault from the Zmanger Gang?"
"Jack, you know him?" Klein was visibly surprised.
"Of course I do. I'm practically a Beckland native. I make it my business to know about troublemakers like him!" Alaric said irritably. He took another sip of water before continuing, "How'd you get mixed up with him? Meursault's just a small fry, but I recall he's got ties to the Intis ambassador... probably a spy planted in Beckland."
"It's a long story." Klein said with a bitter smile, unsurprised by Alaric's words since his séance had already revealed the Intis ambassador as Meursault's backer.
Klein explained, "I took a commission a few days ago. The client's name was Ian…"
"Ian Wright?" Alaric interrupted, feigning ignorance.
"You know him too?" Klein was genuinely shocked this time.
"I thought that guy you were talking to at the door a couple of days ago looked familiar. So it was him!" Alaric put on a look of sudden realization, then gave Klein a pitying glance. "Ian Wright is an orphan taken in by Detective Zereal, and from what I know, Detective Zereal is a spy for the Feysac Empire."
Klein's expression froze. He hadn't expected that a simple missing-person commission would drag him into a mess involving spies from multiple nations.
Alaric looked at him with sympathy. "Sherlock, is your luck really okay? Back in Tingen, you were a magnet for trouble. I thought moving to Beckland might improve things, but you've barely arrived and you're already caught up in a major espionage case. You sure your fate hasn't been tampered with by some weird entity?"
Klein could only swallow his frustration. Reflecting on the past few days, he shook his head and said, "I'm not sure."
He genuinely wasn't. On one hand, his connection to the gray fog and the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Convergence made him a natural trouble magnet. On the other, he was well aware that multiple powerful figures had placed their bets on him, so he couldn't tell if this was mere coincidence or a manipulated "accident."
Alaric piled on, "If you'd asked me earlier, I could've told you about this. I would've advised you to turn down Ian Wright's commission. Too bad you got yourself into trouble so fast…"
Klein didn't know what to say. He hadn't meant to keep it from Jack; he just hadn't expected a random job to spiral into an espionage case. Plus, with Jack either out or napping the past few days, he hadn't had a chance to mention it.
And now, it was clearly too late.
"So, what's your plan now?" Alaric asked, finishing his ice water and setting the glass on the coffee table. "This isn't some small matter if it's got Intis and Feysac spies involved. You're tangled up in it, and you've killed Meursault. This won't end easily. The Intis ambassador isn't exactly forgiving. From what I know, his style is to eliminate any threat, no matter how small. You're definitely on his radar now."
Alaric wasn't exaggerating. Though he didn't know much about the Intis ambassador, the original story showed the man sending Rosago, a Sealed Artifact Master, to silence "Sherlock Moriarty." A peripheral figure, after the incident concluded. That suggested the ambassador was either extremely cautious, petty, or both.
Klein's smile was bitter. He poured himself a glass of ice water, downed half of it, and said, "I'm not used to you suddenly being this reliable with your analysis."
Alaric rolled his eyes irritably. He wasn't worried about breaking character and casually righted a chair to sit on. "I've always been reliable, okay? What kind of naive sweetheart filter have you slapped on me?"
Alaric was deliberately tweaking his "Jack" Persona in others' eyes. Since he'd be roommates with Klein and Medici for a while, playing the naive sweetheart constantly risked slipping up. It was better to adjust his image now.
This wasn't abrupt either. When crafting the Jack persona, Alaric had intentionally made him seem innocent in social interactions but reliable enough in serious matters... at least not foolish. Now, he just needed to emphasize the latter.
Besides, who said a naive sweetheart couldn't be a ruthless schemer?
Klein coughed awkwardly. He wasn't unaware of Jack's reliability in serious matters. Though Jack seemed to always stir up trouble, he'd never messed up anything important.
But Jack's naive sweetheart vibe was so ingrained that Klein could only push past the stereotype. He glanced at the corpse and analyzed, "Meursault's attempt to assassinate me might not be a secret. Even if we dispose of his body, the ambassador might still target me."
***
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