Putting the spoon down, Kiyotaka finished wiping his mouth.
He was currently back in the restaurant where he used to eat beef stew when he first transmigrated. There was an odd attraction to this place that Kiyotaka could not put his finger on.
Perhaps it was because the previous Williams used to eat here quite often, from his teenage days. Or maybe it was something entirely else. There was no way of knowing.
Kiyotaka ate slowly, his eyes surprisingly vacant. He was not observing anything, nor was he thinking about anything in particular. After Klein told him about the hunt, and he agreed to it, Kiyotaka had a quite moment of consideration.
His life had spiraled out of his control and the only person he could use in this new world or era was the only other transmigrator alive. While he viewed a normal person and a transmigrated person through the same lens of skepticism, it still made him a little irritated.
Or perhaps, it was not irritation but excitement boiling to the point of vexation. He had no way of telling.
As he was eating, he looked around and saw the man he used to feed before. His hair was just as oily as before, but his health looked better. Kiyotaka looked down at the last drops of stew in the bowl and then at the man who was just standing underneath a tree.
Standing up, he went to the counter and paid for his food and bought 2 other bowls with some bread and had them packed in a foil. Taking the warm bowl in his hands, he walked out and went straight to the man.
The man looked at him, narrowed his eyes and a smile suddenly appeared on his face. "You are that boy..."
"I thought something had happened to you." Kiyotaka joked, handing the bowl of stew out. "The woman that was sitting beside you often, where is she?"
The look on the man's face darkened. "Well... After you disappeared, there were not many people helping us. Then one day, a kind hearted detective came and gave us food. Unfortunately the woman couldn't make it through...the exhaustion was too much."
Kiyotaka looked down at the two bowls. Holding both of them out, the man took them.
"Did she have a name?"
"Ah, yes, Ada. I am not sure of her last name. She never talked about it."
"And you?"
"I am Kohler."
Kiyotaka's lips almost pursed. "Well, I hope you enjoy the food, Mr. Kohler."
Turning around, he began to leave. Old Kohler was about to call out for him, but hesitated and in the end, refrained from doing anything.
Once Kiyotaka had walked a little deeper into the East Borough, he went to the laundry. Once he was outside the establishment, he stopped and took out a cigarette and ignited it. The strange sensation in the back of his head began to subside as he smoked more of it.
Suddenly, a girl of around 10 to 12 years of age walked up to him. She was thin and looked really malnourished with dull, light-colored hair and eyes that lack the sparkle typical of a child her age.
"Mr. Williams?" The girl recognized him instantly.
Looking down, Kiyotaka saw the girl and threw the cigarette down, curbing it with his heel. "Daisy." He looked at the small bag that was filled to the brim with what looked like books in her thin hands. "Are you coming back from the school?"
"Yes... Are you here to pick up your clothes? You had given us two suits but forgot to pick them up for the last few weeks." Daisy's voice was cheerful, but Kiyotaka could see the toll of poverty on her.
Oftentimes, Kiyotaka would bring his clothes to be washed here. After his clothes were stained with blood from Meursault, and then again with Rafter Pound, this was the laundry where he had stashed his clothes.
The laundry business was run by Liv, a woman with a haggard and weather-worn appearance, looking significantly older than her actual age due to the grueling nature of her work as a laundrywoman. Her hands were always red, swollen, and cracked from constant exposure to cold water and harsh soap.
She had two daughters, Daisy and Freya, both of which helped her in her work, however, Daisy was also sent to Charity School run by Church of Evernight Goddess.
"I was busy." Kiyotaka replied simply.
Hearing the two talk, a teen girl walked outside. She was slender and beautiful but the malnutrition and the constant stress made her look the same age as Kiyotaka.
"Daisy, you are here...hm? Mr. Williams? Your suits are ready." Freya wrapped her arms around Daisy while keeping her eyes fixed on Kiyotaka and pulled her inside.
"Thanks. Is your mother home?"
"Yes." Freya replied curtly and got out of the way, as if letting Kiyotaka inside the house.
He walked in, letting his sword-cane tap ever so slightly on the rough surface of the floor. As he got closer to the main room, the noise of hasty scrubbing increased. Stopping in the door frame, Kiyotaka removed his hat, watching Freya pull Daisy away from him in the corner of his eye.
"Good evening, Liv."
Liv looked up and stood up, wiping her extremely reddened hands dry with a dry cloth. "Good evening... Good evening, Mr. Williams." She looked back and browsed through the hung clothes. When her gaze landed on two specific suits, she quickly withdrew them. "Here you go."
Kiyotaka looked at them and then nodded. Taking them from her hand, he looked around and then cleared his throat. "How much?"
"Well... The stains were exceptionally hard to remove. I had to buy an extra..."
As she was talking, Kiyotaka took out a £1 banknote.
Her eyes lit up as she saw it but tried to suppress it. However, Kiyotaka was a Sequence 9: Lawyer. It was almost impossible for a normal human to hide their greed from him. He placed it gently on the table beside them and pushed it forward slightly.
"Who was the one who washed it?"
"Hm?" Liv who was busy pocketing the banknote looked up in a tired manner. "Oh, it was Daisy."
"Alright, thanks." Kiyotaka put his hat back on and was about to leave when he saw the two sisters in a corner. "Come here." He called out to Daisy.
Freya shot him a glance but refrained from doing or saying anything.
The little girl walked towards him and then stopped. Taking out another £1 note, he handed it to her. "Thanks for wiping my shirt so clean."
Daisy looked up to him in confusion and then at Freya before looking back to him. Her lips pursed and she quietly took it from him. "Thank you, Mr. Williams."
Freya looked quite skeptical, as if scared that the strange man would ask of a strange favor by paying her little sister. Daisy smiled as Kiyotaka turned around. Then, as if remembering something, he turned around. "Don't go outside after evening."
Saying that, Kiyotaka left the establishment.
As he walked away with the suits, Kiyotaka looked up at the sky. "What a strange feeling."
*****
The night had settled in beautifully. It would be only about 2 nights before a full moon would be on horizon.
The Crimson Moon hung in the sky enchantingly as Kiyotaka put on the washed suit. He was going to dispose them off once the mission tonight was handled.
He was going to need all the help he could get if he wanted to thwart the threat of the Devil Dog and Patrick Jason and then the Aurora Order. That was the primary reason why he decided to partake in Klein's revenge plan.
It was simply a matter of favorable ROI. However, spending £2 at the laundry felt a little irrational, now that he thought about it. However, he was not going to lament about it. He had simply accepted that there was some ticks inherited from Williams that were impossible to shed.
And besides, by doing these, he was feeling a rather warm feeling in his stomach. It was not a profitable feeling, but it still felt nice...and comfortable.
He looked at himself in the mirror, wearing a bird-faced mask with a long beak. Other than that, he was wearing an all black suit with a long-black overcoat that he had given to Liv to wash and dry clean.
Klein on the other hand had laced himself with quite a lot of things. He looked like a Magician who was about to perform one of his best performances. From head to toe, he had different things on him, ranging from explosives to the All Black Ear that he had bought after charging a premium on Kiyotaka's mystical item.
Other than the Mystical Items, Klein was wearing the same clown attire he had worn when he came to help Kiyotaka against Billy, after newly advancing to Magician. Due to coming to terms with losing control over the Space Above the Grey Fog once Kiyotaka becomes an apprentice, Klein was able to become just one step away from digesting his Clown Potion.
In a sense, Kiyotaka helped him digest it faster.
Meanwhile, Kiyotaka was wearing only Ember. He had decided not to use the ring. While the physical enhancement aspect of ring was much more potent than Ember, it still gave him a much greater Danger Intuition.
And besides, having two Mystical Items feeding destructive thoughts to him was not an ideal situation. There was a limit to how much Kiyotaka could filter out. He was, a human, after all, in the end.
The Beyonder Characteristic of the Rose Bishop was already submitted by Klein to Maric and Miss. Sharron. He was bound to receive it in a week or two, since he did not wanted to pay a premium. In the meantime, he paid an advance payment of £350 and he had to pay another £350 on delivery.
Since it was a Beyonder Characteristic from a Sequence 6, it was bound to cost a lot.
Seeing as how Klein kept fidgeting, Kiyotaka tapped the tip of his cane on the floor. "Nervous?"
The drawn smile on Klein's face did not twitch. "Kind of. Thinking back at it, I think it was better if we had contacted the Nighthawks. No matter what, he still might have the boon from the Fallen Creator."
Kiyotaka adjusted the mask over his face. "Too late to think about that. Unless you want to call the whole thing off."
"No." Klein replied suddenly. There was an unwavering conviction in his voice. There was no way he was going to let go of the chance he was provided. There was no telling where Lanevus could be taken now that one of their powerhouses was killed.
Klein was not in a mood to entertain any chances.
He was going to kill Lanevus, tonight. With his own hands.
Slipping a pair of black gloves on his hand, Kiyotaka adjusted Ember in a way that it was on the inner side of his glove. Kiyotaka practiced swinging his cane a few times, trying to get used to the feeling of swinging or ramming it in such a heavy suit.
Klein looked at Kiyotaka. The look on his face, the real expressions behind the pastel softened for a moment.
"Hm?" Kiyotaka looked at him from the corner of his eye.
A soft smile graced Klein's lips as he looked ahead, gazing at the Crimson Moon that was just a day or two away from becoming full. "Nothing." Then he took in a deep breath. "Let's give those Aurora Order goons a show they'll never forget."
He said, tipping his hat that jingled due to the ornaments attached to the top.
*****
A/n: I know I said I won't use AI, but I had to use it to generate the image for their appearances. While usually NanoBanana from Gemini is quite good at generating images, ChatGPT quite impressed me. Used them after a long time so it was refreshing lol. Well, I hope you liked it.
The chapter was more of like a build-up for a lot of things in the future, rather than having any immediate value.
Sorry, not sorry? I can't promise action in every chapter. Nor I think anyone wants that in a story like LOTM. Regardless, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and well, yeah, fight scenes in the next chapters. Hoping I can pull it off nicely.