Chapter Text
Alger thought about Qilangos's matter again. That guy was tricky, and he knew how to hide. So how could he be found so easily in Backlund of all places, the perfect stage for his ability to change his face to shine. But in the end he was still found out, he died in the end.
He had a sudden thought. Whoever told Qilangos's location to that gentleman should be that hand's owner. And based on how everything else had been about Gehrman sparrow it is safe to say that was also his hand writing the letter. So it's also not wrong to say that the one to divulge the information should be also him.
But, just to get the smallest of clues it took him, who used to be close to Qilangos a lot of time and energy. How can this unrelated person to have this information, and even have the desire to kill him? Just for creeping hunger? That was obviously a very high sequence beyonder, if Gehrman really wanted some artifact he could just simply beg this person, who was very willing to do some menial labor for him, to just get him an artifact at the same caliber. No need to go through the trouble of collecting information
He thought about it more, after all this is the future. Alger can safety speculate that he should be one of the few people with access to this information. And thinking of his own thought process and his secret habit of isolating himself on monday every week at 3pm backlund time, all of a sudden he had a new theory.
After all, he wanted to kill Qilangos to silence him for a while now. And with Qilangos going to Backlund it can be considered a really great opportunity. Then he must have asked Mr.Fool to take action, he might have even used the creeping hunger to tempt him to send his blessed. And if his blessed wasn't available to travel to Backlund for a while, it won't be too out of the norm to ask his teacher to fulfill his god's mission.
So he excitedly wrote down [Mr.Fool's blessed].
And as the answer was revealed, Alger's pupils shook.
Because it glowed white.
[Klein Moretti]
Leonard's hands clenched as he reread his guess again and again. Really, He still couldn't believe this was right.
"Oh Leonard! You guessed it right! Now you can join Klein in the silence corner" the colleagues all gathered around Leonard unaware of his inner turmoil. But even if he wanted to, he can't exactly accuse Klein of anything right now with his mouth shut. He walked and sat down next to Klein, so he could ask Klein secretly as soon as their afflicted muteness is gone. He could be wrong. And he didn't want to publicly fight with Klein without all of the facts in order.
But still he couldn't help but look at Klein with a bit of suspicion in his eyes.
From a little distance away Dunn looked at the two, sighing a bit from how troublesome the two can be. He thought about it more. Out of the three known guessers two of them were part of their group. So, that person should be much closer to them than they expected.
"This person has to be much closer than we expected" Dunn called out to their team again.
"But Dunn, how could any of us know a powerhouse like that? " Old neil retorted.
"It doesn't matter if we know about them currently, all that matters is that we know them in the future. And if both Klein and Leonard managed to figure it out. Then that one of the people we know might become Gehrman Sparrow in the future. " And they all fell into thought. Who could it be?
We can cross out Klein first. The man was an auxiliary and add on to that they just can't imagine the usually polite and kind newbie to kill a powerful pirate in five minutes. Just look at him!
Then thinking of Leonard. They all felt like he would get beaten up as soon as he tries anything rather than become a feared man. Who in the list of people they know can be that terrifying person? With that terrifying high sequence beyonder as their teacher.
Audrey stood elegantly and listened to what her brother was guessing with a few friends of his, until she felt a little tug on her dress. Following what they planned in advance she moved back in the crowd, until she was relatively isolated.
"Woof audrey, I was lucky enough to listen to the guess of one of the correct guessers! His screen turned white afterwards!" Susie wagged her tail and talked with a little difficulty .
"His answer was [Klein Moretti]!" even before Susie could finish her speech Audrey grabbed Susie's paws, raising them in celebration.
"Thank you so much, Susie! I promise you'll get the best treats when we come home! Did you hear anything else from that person?" this caused Susie's tail to stop wagging "Actually. . . Because I was too focused on the name, I did not listen very well . . . " Audrey pet Susie gently.
"It doesn't matter Susie! After all, you got us the answer" Susie shifted a bit, seemingly thinking over what she heard.
"I think I heard him say prota- protaganost- protag" "protagonist?" "Yeah, that word! And also something about fated? I think he said fated person! Sorry Audrey, I wanted to make sure I remembered the answer. And there were many people murmuring between themselves and-" Audrey held her hand up.
"It's fine, but do you remembered what the person who said this looked like?" Audrey asked, a bit curious of someone who thought they were that Gehrman Sparrow's fated person.
"Yes! Yes! It was that person with the green eyes and long black hair." Susie pointed in a direction with her paws, although it was dark, since he was quite close by considering he was also from the evernight church, she could vaguely see him a little way off.
She stared at the two sitting from a distance. They were sitting together side by side, she hummed to herself becoming a little thoughtful. Could that person be Mr.Moretti? Although Gehrman didn't really fit that man's profile, in the beyonder world surely there is an ability change one's appearance.
She took in his appearance from what she could see. That person wore a common suit usual for a Loen gentleman. Wait, wasn't that suit very familiar?
She thought about the second clue, even with his face covered and blurred, the rest of his body remained in full view. Even if the suit wasn't that distinguishing , combined with that statement. it's safe to say that gentleman who guessed first could become Mr.Gehrman in the future.
Her musings were cut off by the familiar screen appearing. The host also made his way on to comment.
"What a great surprise! It seems like we're finally starting to get the game going! 2 contestants have successfully managed to guess" Then the screen split into two, showing two different people. One was obviously from the sea and he had blueish hair, the other looked poetic and casual, he didn't wear his clothes like a proper loenese gentleman would wear, rather having his collar be unbuttoned.
"Okay as the first to write it down, why dont you go first!" Then the screen with the poetic gentleman largened, becoming the only screen visible.
Leonard looked at himself and panicked. What could he talk about. Think, Leonard think. Something that shouldn't harm Klein! After all, the current Klein hasn't harmed anyone!
"Uhh, He's the newest employee at the company I work at!" the entire church looked their way over to him. It was obvious who gave the clue. Really, one of their own was that madman?
All of the wild beyonders turned to look at the very obvious guy who screamed who was in the crowd of nighthawks. Not the civilian groups. Even though the officials did not discriminate, due to many years of working together slowly but surely every nighthawks and red gloves had already created their own congregations. So uhh, a new nighthawk? Wow, didn't think the evernight church would become so dominant over the sea in the future.
The tingen nighthawks looked at Leonard blankly, and then their eyes moved to Klein. And poor Klein wanted to kill this stupid poet of his.
Eventually under the gazes of all of his colleagues he despairingly raises his hands and nodded along to confirm. And raising his head, Klein looked up at them with the blankest of faces he could muster.
And they all stared back with confused faces that just seemed to scream 'Are you sure?'. But looking at the twitching face of the seer below, it confirmed that yes, their little seer would eventually become a guy that could kill a pirate without skipping a beat. And nobody quite knew what to think of that.
Still keeping a face of 'surely not' on their faces everyone wrote down [Klein Moretti] on their screens quietly.
In the middle of a group of mandated punishers, Alger's eyes shook as he saw the other person in the middle of the evernight congregation in the distance. What did Mr.Fool have in mind for his blessed? Infiltration? How scary, that was an official church!
If Mr.Fool is really infiltrating the church, then he shouldn't reveal that little fact unless it directly affects his own secrets. Wait, no even if it does, he should keep it a secret. He cannot reveal that fact at all! If- If one of Mr.Fool's blessed leaves this place with their memories intact, wouldn't he- someone who told will be punished without even knowing why? In fact it's not unknown whether Mr.Fool is watching somewhere in the darkness or not, he could be watching him right now!
When the screen focused on him Alger tremblingly said he had no clue to share. After all, how can a mandated punisher at sea like him know anything about a newly hired nighthawk? Surely it must be by chance. On the screen a rough looking sea man who looked shaken dissapeared just like that.
Audrey looked at the screen. Her attention on the figure in front of her.
Wait, wasn't that Mr.Hanged Man? She could not see his face, but in Mr.Fool's domain it was already like this every time they meet, and although the way his face was blurred was much different, she could still vaguely tell him apart by the blues of his hair and his voice. True, it could just be a coincidence, that it was just another person with a similar hair, similar mannerisms, and similar voice. But as Emperor Roselle said, make bold assumptions and then verify it with careful observations. She decided to put more attention on him, if he were to give out any more clues in the future. Wonder what Mr.Hanged Man guessed?
This time, the dark space was lit up with many white pinpricks of light. Signifying many people had managed to guess correctly. Some of the guesses were a young nightwatchman, others simply wrote Klein Moretti. Under many gazes of disbelief, Klein sweated bullets. Especially Captian Dunn, who looked at him with a gaze that said to talk to me after class, he really felt like he got caught cheating in class, with a stern teacher looking over his shoulder. Klein giving up all pretenses of politeness turned to Leonard and grabbed him by the shoulders
"Why Leonard Why. You idiot" he screamed but under the suppression of the red cross, all that came out was violent mumblings as Klein shook Leonard by the shoulders. Pretty much everybody could tell what Klein was saying.
Dunn sighed and grabbed the two and split them up. Before the suppression of the rule could take him he simply said.
"Klein, I know you have your own secrets. And i do not know what the future has in for us," Dunn held him by his shoulders, "I hope that, In the future you remember that as long as you don't do something unforgivable, you'll always have a home with us, as our trusted companion" Klein looked at Dunn, his eyes watering. 'Thank you, Captain!' he had the urge to scream but unfortunately even this was not allowed for him.
But this somber mood was quickly ruined with the Host coming back.
"Wow! So many people guessed right this time! Now the next round! On to you, my boy!"
Leonard looked at Klein who was looking at him with a glare that said 'Reveal more of my secrets, and I'll Kill you!' so he wisely shut his mouth, and shook his head.
"Oh, how boring. Anyway, now onto our scheduled clue! Come on!"
{
Gehrman sat in a carriage, legs and arms crossed, staring at the opposite seat in a stern cold expression, even in the warm daylight it maintained a frigid expression. Across from him there was a beautiful woman, she looked a bit uncomfortable and panicked. No one could tell what they were discussing, but eventually as they got closer they could finally make out a few things
"How big are your breasts?" All of the tingen nighthawks stared at Klein incredulously who was covering his gaze with his hands. Nobody could actually say anything so Dunn and the women in the group could only look at him disapprovingly.
The woman slowly turned red, her face burning but she did not dare make a move. Still, under her embarrassed gaze Gehrman did not move, as if he was asking something completely normal like what is your name.
"This is an academic question" Gehrman showed no lust, just a straight face unknown whether he even knew something called emotion. Realizing this the woman closed her eyes, and quickly answered the question, this space caring for her privacy didn't actually show her telling her weight, it just cut to Gehrman giving her documents and tickets and her leaving the carriage.
As they left their separate ways, they saw the poor pirate Danitz again. He was struggling to hold his laugh back, but with one glare from Gehrman he stopped in his path, turning pale. Causing a lot of his crewmates to smirk and chuckle under their breath, unwilling to actually laugh aloud and offend their scholarly captain.
"Did you hear the conversation?" Danitz awkwardly backed away, putting his hands up in some measure of defense. Under his gaze, Danitz after a few moments of squirming opened his mouth.
"A little bit. . . " Gehrman smiled at this, a very predatorial and creepy smile that sent a shiver through your spine. Dunn sighed internally looked at the obedient seer behind him and back at Gehrman again, the dissonance between the two images made a . . . very contrasting sight.
"Good, good, remember it well. You will be disguising as Helene to assassinate Vice Admiral Disease"
"Wait! Wait, I can't disguise myself as a woman!" Gehrman raised an eyebrow as if Danitz was the odd one here to express his unwillingness to become a woman. But in his unexpressive face, there was a little show of an 'oh' moment as he countered with
"I'll lend you creeping hunger " It was as if Gehrman thought the problem laid with the fact that Danitz was simply unable to change his appearance enough to pass as a woman.
"No! i'll immediately be discovered by Vice Admiral Disease! I can't act at all!" Gehrman looked at him for a few moments appraising him.
"Indeed, you are rather stupid" Danitz's mouth twitched but he still didn't dare fight against him
"Yes, I'm very stupid" Gehrman smiled that horrifying smile that could scare children to sleep again. But still, even with that horrifying smile, many pirates found a chance to make Danitz the butt of many jokes.
And under Danitz's confused gaze, Gehrman's hair from his temples changed color, it flowing like red wine down to his hip. His face changed contours, becoming softer, his eyes becoming bright green. Soon enough the fearsome Gehrman Sparrow disappeared and the previous woman who had just left appeared again. This gave some kind of understanding to the previous question but still Dunn wanted to educate this usually polite young gentleman not to molest women.
The scene shifted again this time it was a bedroom, they could see the so called Vice admiral Tracy sitting on the bed. Most pirates could basically assume that after Qilangos was killed this alluring woman had filled the power vacuum he left behind. And most could tell that it was a demoness.
Her hand moved to hold the other's, Gehrman's chin , her very movement was seductive and beautiful. But this beautiful image was ruined by the hand that grabbed at the bangle on her wrist. And with that one hand the now red head disarmed her foe in one swift move.
Not letting her recover from her confused state, she- well he continued on making more and more attacks and taking on more and more ground. He did not give her a moment to rest, along side that his two green emerald eyes turned golden, as if a bright light had shone in it. The glove on his hand shimmered in the dim light, illuminating the scales that have suddenly appeared.
This caused the admiral to be put in even more disadvantage as signs of loss of control started to appear over her body. But in a moment as short as a bullet hitting it's target, her body stiffened, her body disappearing as if shattering into illusionary fragments and she appeared near a floor length mirror which promptly broke into a million pieces.
Still this did not give her the leeway she hoped for, continuing to suffer under a barrage of attacks that appeared from behind a bellowing skirt she could only desperately try to counter and block. His glove had already changed color at some unknown point of time, his strikes were even more cruel, even more crushing.
Tracy backed out, attempting to find a chance to cast a curse, or even use any of her other beyonder abilities. Thankfully for her, one of the cold ice she had thrown grazed at the other's thigh causing a hint of blood to be drawn. Smiling, with that very little blood she cast a witch's curse.
Now it was really a stalemate. Even under a curse Gehrman Sparrow still kept the pressure on her, if he was given a sliver of a chance she would die, but it was obvious he was losing time. His mouth turned into a sinister and goading smile.
"She told me everything about her secrets. . . And yours too " it was really weird to hear such a masculine voice from a gentle and beautiful face of the red haired beaty. But it did it's job, anybody could feel the anger radiating from the once calm woman. She attacked without any inhibitions, in this moment Gehrman's eyes turned golden again, and with that her attack became even more violent and frenzied.
He used this chance to fire a bullet at her, realizing her insanity and recovering from the frenzy she used ice and black fire to form a cocoon around her. From inside the cocoon, a shrill voice sounded.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The beautiful face of the red head turned ugly, and realizing that staying here and fighting against whole crew wasn't worth it the woman in a beautiful dress jumped through the window. The broken glass shimmering around her, making people forget that this was actually a man, not just any man, the one that went on one man suicidal mission to kill a vice admiral on her own ship.
}