Chapter 4 An attempt?
Following the fragments of memory in his mind, Angel came to the Silver Crown Restaurant at the other end of Daffodil Street.
Judging from the exterior decoration, this is a mid-range restaurant that specializes in a variety of cuisines. You can order freely, and there are also well-matched set meals for people to choose from. The special after-dinner sweet wine makes this place have many repeat customers.
It was breakfast time, and even though the Silver Crown's prices were higher than those of other restaurants on Daffodil Street, it was still about 80% full. Angel had hoped to find a seat near the wall, but ultimately found himself in the middle of the restaurant.
This inevitably made her the focus of the restaurant. Guests dining and passing waiters would frequently glance at her, lingering briefly before looking away as if afraid of being discovered. Male guests with family members might have been more restrained, but the waiters behind her were practically unbridled.
"Let's just go somewhere else..." Angel felt uneasy. She didn't expect to attract so much attention the moment she stepped out. She began to regret coming to this restaurant. It might be a better option to just buy something on the street and enjoy it at home, but the aroma of food coming from the next table made her hesitate.
While she was debating, she noticed that the guests at a table in the corner had just finished their meal and were getting up to leave. She quickly called over the waiter and expressed her wish to change tables.
With the combined effect of her forced sweet smile and a 5-pence tip, the waiter quickly cleared the table in the corner, allowing her to escape the scorching gaze of the crowd.
Less than 10 minutes after sitting down, a plate of Fenaport pasta with cream of mushroom soup and vegetable salad was served on the table. Although Angel had no geographical information about "Fernaport", the main course looked very much like spaghetti bolognese, and the salty and sour sauce made her feel satisfied.
After quickly finishing a hearty breakfast, Angel declined the offered after-dinner drink and left the Silver Crown Restaurant.
Not counting the extra five pence for changing seats, the meal cost a full two soli. If he ate like this three times a day, the weekly bill would exceed two pounds. Considering that the average worker in Tingen earns only around one pound a week, even with Cole's "inheritance," it wouldn't last long, not to mention that daily expenses extend beyond just food.
Angel, who had just filled his stomach, immediately regretted his extravagant behavior.
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June in Tingen is not the hottest time of the year, but the sun was particularly strong today. Even the ethereal sound of the bells from the cathedral in the distance could not dispel the heat generated by the sunlight.
Angel found a hooded cloak to cover her face, which finally avoided the embarrassment of being constantly stared at by others, but the price was that her temperature rose rapidly under the scorching sun, and she could hardly bear it with her extraordinary physique.
"Forget it, I don't think I'll find anything today. If nothing works out, I'll go out and try again tonight. It's really too difficult to find these shady businesses during the day." Angel wandered around the surrounding streets, searching Cole's memory, and visited several shops that were secretly involved in the shady business, but he couldn't find the fake certificates he needed. Only one middleman offered to try, but he asked for a fifty-pound deposit and a month's wait, which Angel decisively refused.
Angel, who hadn't even had lunch by the afternoon, finally lost her patience. Grabbing the various seasonings, bread, potatoes, and lamb she'd bought along the way, she returned to the alley behind Daffodil Street. The alley was significantly more littered than when she'd left that morning, mostly kitchen waste. If no one cleaned it up, it would fill the entire alley in a matter of days.
Carefully walking around the pile of garbage on the ground, she returned to her residence through the back door. She hung the cloak that concealed her appearance by the door, sorted the seasonings into bottles and jars that had been cleaned again, and marinated some of the mutton to prevent it from spoiling in the hot weather. The rest was thrown into the basement.
Then she walked through every room and checked the doors and windows. She was relieved to find that the note she had placed in the door crack before leaving was not moved.
After finishing everything and taking a shower, Angel lay on the sofa next to the bay window in the living room, savoring the delicious breakfast with an empty stomach.
"I haven't slept all night, and I'm really a little sleepy now. I might as well sleep until dinner time, and then have lunch and dinner together..." Bathed in the sunlight outside the window, Angel felt her eyelids getting heavier and heavier. Just when she was about to lose consciousness and embrace sleep, her spiritual sense suddenly issued a warning that there was danger in the study!
Angel jumped up from the sofa like a spring, grabbed the revolver on the table, pushed open the study door and rushed in.
On the desk, the brass badge was emitting a dangerous signal.
Angel's intuition told her that she should stay away from the badge and leave the study, but there was also an impulse in her heart that reminded her that this badge was different from others.
With one hand gripping the pistol, the muzzle pointed at the brass badge, she raised her other hand and reached for the badge.
The moment his fingertips touched the badge, like the light shed by the red moon last night, the badge burst into deep red waves, flooding the entire study.
At the same time, in a luxurious villa in Queens District of Backlund, on a three-masted sailboat in the stormy Sonia Sea, the same crimson light also illuminated two other people.
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The crimson light vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Angel quickly regained her sight, and at the same moment, her right hand felt lighter, and the revolver she had been clutching vanished. A cold sweat broke out on her back, and she instinctively took a few steps back, observing her unfamiliar surroundings.
Amidst the gray mist, there were three others besides her. A short distance to her right was a tall, long-haired girl, shaking her head to survey her surroundings. Directly across from her, a little further away, was a man of medium build with messy short hair. Angel could sense his gaze fixed on her. Their figures were hazy and their faces blurred within the gray mist; only their outlines and hairstyles could be discerned.
In addition to the two people, there was a mysterious man farther away, his whole body shrouded in thick fog. His figure was obviously different from the other two, and he was like a phantom, floating in the fog.
Quickly ascertaining the current situation on the field, Angel moved closer to the girl's position, forming a relatively compact triangle with the short-haired man. Then, facing the mysterious man, he asked questions politely but vigilantly.
"Excuse me, who are you?"
At the same time, the other two spoke at the same time.
"Sir, where is this?"
"what you up to?"
The mysterious man chuckled and whispered back, "A simple attempt." The ethereal reply came from the gray fog, and the tone was calm and gentle, as if he was talking to a friend.
A simple experiment? Hearing this joking response, Angel felt no urge to laugh at all. Instead, she felt a chill run down her spine. This mysterious man, simply wanting to try something, had, through unknown and unimaginable means, snatched her from Daffodil Street in Tingen City at noon and brought her into this gray fog.
He even did the same thing to two other people at the same time!
The other two victims were obviously shocked by this answer. After a long silence, the girl asked hesitantly, "Sir, is the attempt over? Can we go back now?"
"Of course, if you formally ask, I can let you go back now." Like a professor at the podium answering students' questions, the mysterious man chuckled and answered without any malice in his voice.
Thank you, I want to leave now, please excuse me - Angel only dared to think such words in her heart. Facing this mysterious man whose strength was unknown, she could not say it out loud at all.
And after receiving the promise that she could leave at any time, she became curious about the origin of the gray fog.
The long-haired girl seemed to be a lively person. After receiving the promise of safety, she immediately showed a side that was completely opposite to her previous cautiousness: "This is really a wonderful experience... Well, I have always been looking forward to such a miracle beyond nature... I mean, Your Excellency, how can I become an Extraordinary?"
Beyonders are what this world calls those with special abilities. It seems the girl isn't one yet, but what about that tall, taciturn man? Is he an ordinary person, or a Beyonder like herself?
As Angel pondered this, a gray fog swirled around them. Towering stone pillars appeared, shrouded by a dome. Like a giant's royal palace, the magnificent building instantly surrounded them.
A long bronze table also appeared under the dome. The mysterious man appeared on a high-backed chair at the top. There were ten similar chairs on each side of him extending to the bottom of the long table. Together with the empty seat opposite him, there were a total of twenty-two seats.
Angel's eyes blurred, and she appeared on a high-back chair as if she had teleported. On her right was the mysterious man sitting at the top seat, and the short-haired man opposite her also "sat down". She tilted her head slightly to look to the left, and sure enough, on her left was the curious girl.
The mysterious man was stroking the edge of the long table with his hand. It seemed that all these changes were his own idea. The short-haired man seemed determined to remain silent. He leaned back in his chair with his hands crossed in front of his chest. However, this defensive sitting posture inadvertently revealed his inner uneasiness. The girl was still looking around, observing the other people at the long table.
Angel recalled the fragments of his memories of the potion and carefully chose his words to answer the girl's question:
"The only way to become a Beyonder is through potions. You can join the major Orthodox churches and obtain potions through legal means, or you can purchase the formula from unofficial channels and mix it yourself."
"Yes, judging by your accent, you're from Loen, right?" the short-haired man took over. "You can join the Church of the Evernight Goddess, the Church of the Lord of Storms, or the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery. Beyonders in the Arbitration Tribunal, the Inquisition, and the Punishment Bureau are constantly fighting against the dangers growing in the darkness, and they welcome those who can contribute to their cause."
Thanks to her gradually recovered memory, Angel was no stranger to the churches he mentioned, but she didn't know much about institutions such as the Arbitration Tribunal and the Referee Office.
Perhaps it was a Beyonder combat organization belonging to the Church—like the Knights Templar.
"Sir, I know everything you said, and even more, such as the Nighthawks, the Mandated Punishers, and the Mechanical Heart. However, I don't want to lose my freedom."
The girl's answer was surprising. Perhaps she was not as ignorant as she had appeared before. At least she knew quite a bit about the extraordinary world that interested her.
"How can one become a Beyonder without paying a price? Either join the church and accept its control, or seek help from families with ancient heritage, or, as that lady said, purchase the formula and concoct the potion yourself, at your own risk."
"However, a potion mixed with the wrong recipe is no different from poison."
When the girl heard that the problem could be solved with money, she looked at the other party excitedly, but after hearing the last sentence, she lowered her head in disappointment. After a long silence, she asked, "Is there no other way?"
Angel guessed that the girl might be born in a wealthy family, and solving problems with money did not seem to be a difficult task for her, but she obviously did not want to join the church and be subject to official control, nor was she willing to risk her life to try unreliable potion formulas.
"It's not like there's no other way."
Angel felt it was her turn to speak. The short-haired man had deliberately exaggerated the difficulty of obtaining the potion, clearly laying the groundwork for something. Since Angel had heard it, she didn't mind taking advantage of it. She looked up at the mysterious man in the seat above her. Seeing that he remained silent and didn't try to stop their conversation, she replied calmly:
"I have a Sequence 9 potion recipe on hand..."
"Really? Which one?" the girl asked hurriedly.
Angel was very satisfied with the girl's reaction, and she continued:
"This formula is called 'Assassin'. The user of this potion will possess enhanced eyesight and dark vision like an owl, excelling in combat and dodging. They can briefly become as light as a feather, and can concentrate all their strength into a single strike, easily killing their target—just like its name suggests."
"It sounds like a potion that focuses on combat ability..." the girl murmured, seemingly not very satisfied with the potion's effect.
Seeing this, Angel quickly added, "The Assassin's Potion does primarily enhance physical abilities, but simply strengthening eyesight and darkvision is an effect many potions can't achieve. Enhanced athletic ability isn't just for combat; riding and dancing also require physical coordination."
She paused for a moment, and seeing the girl lost in thought, she continued, "This is your only chance to become a Beyonder. Do you really want to give up?"
This is also what Mrs. Sharon once said to persuade Cole Granger to become an "assassin".
If there were other options, Angel was not willing to hand over the "assassin's" potion formula. Through Cole Granger's experience, she knew very well how many bloody crimes an assassin could commit that would give the police a headache.
But the other party was obviously a girl from a wealthy family. She was naive and yearned for an extraordinary world. She looked very much like the rich second-generations who played extreme sports that she had seen in her previous life. These people basically did not have the courage and motivation to practice "assassin" behavior. This could be seen from her dissatisfaction with the effects of the potion that focused on combat.
That's why Angel focused on the potion's improvement on vision and the improvement on the aristocratic sports of "riding and dancing".
The girl hesitated for a moment, but finally made up her mind: "That sounds good. So, what do I need to exchange with you?"
Angel immediately replied, "A friend of mine needs a legal identity to travel within the Kingdom of Loen. Whether you can get it through money or connections, you need to deliver it to Tingen City within a week, plus an additional one hundred pounds."
This was a reasonable offer. In Cole's memory, Mrs. Sharon once said that the formula of the "Assassin" potion alone could be sold for more than two hundred pounds outside.
Angel was also willing to pay a hundred pounds to obtain a new identity as soon as possible.
"Legal identity..." The girl thought for a moment and understood Angel's request. "I understand. I will find a way to solve it..."
When the two men reached a preliminary agreement on the deal, the short-haired man who had been watching coldly spoke up:
"I also have two Sequence 9 potion recipes here..."
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