The moment she said it, Vincent saw the word blasphemy surface on Audrey's label.
And, he suspected, every member of the Tarot Club probably had the same label. That was the price of attending a gathering that was, in essence, a two-faced affair.
He said nothing about it, naturally. He produced a photograph and passed it across. "This is a photograph of my friend, along with his personal details. I'll leave this in your hands."
"I'll do my best."
"And as thanks for your help, is there anything I can do for you in return, Miss Audrey?"
Audrey's eyes flicked instinctively to Stephen. "Well..."
Stephen immediately raised an eyebrow. "Why are you looking at me?"
"..."
Audrey pressed her lips together and said quickly, "Nothing right now. But if I need a bodyguard in the future, please do recommend someone again, Lady Natasha."
Vincent said, "I was half-expecting you to ask me to talk Stephen into staying a few more days."
"I would never impose," she said — then sighed and deflated slightly. "Besides... Mr. Stephen's fees have already eaten through about half my allowance."
Stephen: Hmph.And here I thought several thousand pounds in ten days was a score. Turns out it's pocket change for a noblewoman.
Vincent said, "Stephen came to Backlund to help me — honestly, he finds city life rather trying. If you do need a bodyguard in the future, though, I might have a better-suited candidate than him."
Audrey perked up. "Oh? How so?"
Stephen: "Better than me? What gives?"
"For one, she's a woman — which Stephen, try as he might, can't claim. For another, her Pathway allows her to conceal herself completely at will — when you have no need of her, she's completely invisible; the moment you do, she can be at your side instantly."
Stephen stared. "My lady... are you by any chance talking about Kreuch?"
Vincent gave him a sidelong look. "Funny — and here I find out Kreuch is a woman in your eyes. No wonder you're so eager to get back to her."
His mouth fell open. "I — you—"
The person Vincent had in mind was actually Sharon — the "Bodyguard Miss" from the original novel. In the story, she and Marichi had been fleeing pursuit by the Numinous Episcopate, lying low in Backlund and running perpetually short of funds. That desperation had eventually led her to take Klein's three-day bodyguard job for a thousand pounds.
Getting Sharon in touch with Audrey ahead of time might ease their financial strain considerably. It might also mean, however, that she wouldn't be free to take Klein's later offer — though with the Numinous Episcopate's situation having changed as it had, the original chain of events probably wouldn't unfold the same way regardless.
Audrey was delighted. "Perfect. I'll save up first."
Stephen is wonderful in every way — his only flaw is being a man. So inconvenient. A woman would eliminate that problem entirely.
Stephen: This young noblewoman is as fickle as I thought.
With everything settled, Stephen escorted Audrey home. That wrapped up every errand he'd had in Backlund. At last — back to the open sea.
In lighter spirits, he first dropped by Viscount Gralint's house to say goodbye to the old gentleman, only to find he'd taken leave. He made his way back to the family estate.
He circled the estate once over and couldn't find him anywhere. He tracked down a few housemaids working in the garden.
"Do any of you know where the butler has gone?"
All three maids stopped at once. All three turned their heads at once, with an odd, identical look in their eyes. Each wore a monocle over the right eye. And all three answered in perfect unison: "Were you looking for me?"
"!!!"
A cold chill ran straight down Stephen's spine. He immediately moved to slip into the Spirit World — only to stop as the old butler's voice drifted over from a few paces away: "Young master, were you looking for me?"
He turned. The old butler had appeared out of nowhere — just as kindly and avuncular as ever, his face creased with a gentle smile. But his right eye, too, was fitted with a crystal monocle.
Vincent's "Wunderkammer" lodgings.
The moment Stephen left, Vincent stretched out on the sofa with a thoroughly lazy sprawl, and immediately felt a tremor run through his chest.
He glanced down instinctively — and heard Bernadette's voice: "What are you looking at?"
"..."
Vincent was mildly aggrieved. "Your Majesty, you are extremely sensitive. We've shared a bath quite a few times now. It's hardly — you've seen everything already."
Creak.
He thought he heard her teeth grind — but her tone remained perfectly level. "It's different."
He changed the subject hastily. "Come to think of it, don't we need a teleportation-capable Beyonder item? Every time I'm in control of the body, I'm stuck getting around on foot."
Bernadette said, drily, "Which is why I said you should cooperate with me for an experiment."
That was something Bernadette had floated after resolving the situation with Old Neil. The idea was: if, while Vincent was in control, he encountered genuine fear — or deliberately exposed his spirituality to something frightening — it might align the two of them closely enough that Vincent could draw on Bernadette's spirituality.
"But where do I find an audience or a fear-inducer?"
The only sources he could think of for those two Pathways were the Psychology Alchemists on the one hand, and a certain infamous family in Backlund on the other — and he had no idea how to locate either.
"Do you have anyone on your crew from those Pathways?"
"No."
"Do you know anyone who is?"
Bernadette thought about it. "I used to. They're probably dead by now." A pause. "Though we may not actually need someone from those specific Pathways. A Beyonder item with the relevant ability could work even better."
"Ah~"
Vincent shrugged. "In that case — where does one find a Beyonder item? You were in control for the last couple of days. Did it slip your mind?"
She said flatly, "Yes. I forgot."
The audacity.
Vincent reflected that, after discovering the swap had failed, Bernadette had been immediately preoccupied: translating the diary, tracking down Bonova, rushing to advance — she'd had no mental space for anything else. Fair.
"Actually, don't we have that Spectator Pathway revolver? That should be made with a Sequence 6 Hypnotist characteristic, shouldn't it?"
"Yes, but a Sequence 6 is nowhere near sufficient."
"Is that so?"
Vincent produced the grey revolver and pointed it at himself. He hesitated. This feels uncomfortably close to putting a gun to my own head.
He shifted the barrel to point at his other hand and fired a single shot, releasing a hypnotic round — while simultaneously issuing himself a mental suggestion of fear.
The next instant, a wave of inexplicable dread washed up from somewhere deep inside. His mind went blank for roughly two or three seconds, then snapped back to normal.
"Well?"
"You did produce fear, yes," Bernadette said, "but your spirituality didn't respond at all."
"Right."
Vincent holstered the revolver with a slight pout. Guess my spirituality is just weak.
He put the thought aside and said: "Going by what Stephen described, Mr. A apparently had a Baron of Corruption in his flock. Come to think of it — after Mr. A died, where did all the souls and Beyonder characteristics he'd been grazing end up? We didn't see them at the scene."
"They merge with the Shepherd's Beyonder characteristic. The characteristics only separate when the Shepherd actively releases the grazed souls."
"But Mr. A's become a Beyonder characteristic himself — how would he release anything?"
"Have his characteristic fashioned into a Beyonder item. Once it's an item, you can access the Shepherd's grazing ability — and from there, release the souls naturally."
Vincent tapped his chin thoughtfully. "So it all comes down to finding a reliable artisan. Simple enough, right?"
To be continued…
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