Mystery: A Spark

The next second, the top hat was pushed up and fell to the side, and then the audience saw an adorable little white dog sitting on the performer's head on stage, as if it had been there all along.

The theater was silent for a second, then erupted in loud cheers and applause.

Wow, what a magical dog! I never imagined the magician had this skill... Right, she's a master of magic, is she playing a role today...? Klein was amazed by the magician's performance and clapped along with her.

That said, magicians and magicians are actually quite similar; both gain applause from the audience through performance... wait, applause? Klein's clapping suddenly stopped, a thought forming in his mind.

On stage, Fors pulled the little dog off her head, angrily tapped it on the head, and then cheered up again.

She placed the little white dog back on her shoulder, picked up the hat that had fallen to the side and put it on, took the rose from her mouth, bowed to the audience, and signaled the end of her performance.

Backstage, Fors chatted and laughed with the other performers, received his performance fee for the day from the circus manager, and then left the circus.

They traveled in silence, and the man and his dog soon returned to the Joelston district in a horse-drawn carriage.

As soon as she entered, Fors lowered her voice and whispered:

"Little guy, I feel that at this rate, he can probably fully digest the Master Trick Potion after performing it two or three more times."

“Hmm, I feel about the same way,” Arthas nodded.

"Sigh, it's a pity we don't have any clues about the next sequence's formula, or even what it's called." Fors threw himself onto the sofa and sighed with some distress.

“I do know the name,” Arthas said, lying down beside Fors.

"Really? What's the next sequence called?" Fors asked, lifting the little white dog up.

“I’ve heard my master mention that the next order after the magician is called the astrologer,” the puppy replied.

"Astrologers... does that have to do with divination? Are we going to have to buy a crystal ball and go around doing divination for people again? I don't want to run around anymore, I just want to stay at home." Fors's expression suddenly became somewhat distressed.

Arthas's expression was somewhat strange. During this time, it had fully understood the woman's personality; she was a complete slacker, even slacker than it had been before.

But back then, it was because it felt its life was comfortable that it didn't want to get promoted and cause any trouble.

It wasn't until Arthur was injured in Tingen that it came to its senses.

Miss Fors, on the other hand, was different; she would sit rather than stand, and lie down rather than sit.

In Arthur's words, he's a chronic procrastinator, probably beyond saving.

Chapter 157 Sharon Comes to the Door

Arthas thought for a moment and said to Fors:

"To become an astrologer, it's probably not enough to just go around giving readings to others; you'll also need to learn about astrology."

"After all, if you don't have enough knowledge to support divination, you'll just become a fraud, and the performance won't be very effective."

Fors opened her mouth, remained silent for two seconds, and then let out a sigh of utter exhaustion:

Life is really tough.

She shifted slightly on the sofa, reached out to groom Arthas's fur, and said with a troubled expression:

"I used to be an apprentice in a clinic and later became a writer, so I have quite a lot of experience. But I know absolutely nothing about divination; I've never been exposed to anything like it."

"Sigh, if only I could find a teacher who could teach these things."

Arthas twitched his ears and turned to look at Fors, saying:

"If you're talking about teachers, perhaps you could go to members of the Abraham family; I've heard they have access to the extraordinary path of apprenticeship."

"Although it has declined now, even a broken ship still has some nails left, so there should still be a lot of knowledge passed down."

"The Abraham family..."

Fors hesitated for a moment, then said:

"So, the old lady who made me her apprentice must have been a member of the Abraham family, but she's passed away now, and I don't know where to find other members of the Abraham family."

Arthas rolled over, letting Fors scratch his belly, and said contentedly:

"It's probably all down to luck. If you're lucky, you'll meet someone soon. If you're unlucky, you might not get a chance for a year or two. Then you'll have to think of other ways."

Fors poked the puppy's soft belly and said in an annoyed tone:

"You little thing, you're so carefree. You don't know how to worry. Aren't you worried that you'll be stuck at Sequence Eight forever?"

"Don't worry~" the puppy squinted, looking relaxed.

"Why?" Fors asked, somewhat puzzled.

Arthas glanced at her, then narrowed his eyes again and said:

"Are you silly? I have an owner. Let my owner worry about these things. I just need to wait for the recipe and ingredients."

It paused, then gave a strange smile and said:

"After all, I'm just a dog."

……

Nighttime, Jürgen's house in the Jowood district.

Having just finished dinner, Jürgen wiped his mouth and looked at the person opposite him, saying:

"Detective Moriarty, I'd like to ask you for a favor, is that alright?"

"What is it?" Klein asked, continuing to drink water.

He felt like he had been cheated.

When Jürgen invited him in for dinner, Klein thought he would once again enjoy Mrs. Doris's culinary skills, so he came in without hesitation.

However, to his surprise, Mrs. Doris was hospitalized due to illness, and now Jürgen was alone at home.

Oh, and there's also Brody the cat.

Attorney Jürgen did not inherit Mrs. Doris's culinary skills at all; the food he made was simply indescribable. Klein even suspected that the lawyer might have some kind of problem with his sense of taste.

Jürgen, oblivious to Klein's distressed expression, turned to the black cat sitting nearby and said:

“My grandma will be in the hospital recently, and I may not be able to come back sometimes because of the case, so Brody will go hungry.”

"So I would like to ask you to feed Brody, clean his litter box, and play with him for a while while I'm away. He loves it when people scratch his chin."

“Yes, every night at ten o’clock, if my house is still dark and there are no lights on, you can come in and pay two sule each time, until my grandma comes home.”

Klein noticed a hint of tenderness on the usually serious and aloof lawyer Jürgen's face, and a smile played on his lips as he said:

"It's a very simple task with relatively generous compensation, so I have no reason to refuse."

As he spoke, he turned his head to look at the black cat Brody and smiled at it.

Brody the black cat slowly turned his body around, turning his back to him.

Klein's smile froze on his face.

……

After having eaten and drunk his fill, Klein left the Jürgen family home and returned to the dark and quiet No. 15 Minsk Street.

He opened the door and glanced at the mailbox by the door, finding a letter inside.

No stamp... The handwriting looks a bit like Isengard Stanton's... Klein glanced at it in the light of the streetlamp, nodded slightly, went inside, closed the door, turned on the light, and opened the letter.

In the letter, the great detective Isengard wrote:

“Detective Moriarty, you should have already seen the news about the murderer's arrest, which means our work has been a complete success.”

"Also, I have some good news for you. The police believe our work is worth at least half the reward, and it should be issued to me this week. When that happens, I'll invite you and the other friends over to share the reward."

This is indeed good news. This share of the bounty should be able to make up for some of the expenses incurred in commissioning Miss Justice... Klein felt his mood had inexplicably improved a lot.

Just then, he suddenly felt a slight stirring in his spirit. He turned his head in confusion and saw a figure that had appeared on the sofa opposite him at some point.

She was a woman with light blonde hair and blue eyes. She wore an elaborate black court dress and a small soft hat of the same color, and her temperament was quiet and elegant.

Isn't this the bodyguard I hired back then? Why is she here...? Klein was a little puzzled.

He asked:

"Hello, how can I help you?"

The woman opposite spoke up:

"My name is Sharon, and I've come to ask you for a favor."

Help? Klein murmured the word, momentarily at a loss.

When Sharon accepted the commission to protect him for three days, although she was mainly considering the gold pound, it was a rare occurrence for a Sequence 5 powerhouse to accept such a task. It could happen by chance, but it couldn't be forced.

Furthermore, Klein didn't have a suitable way to contact Arthur at that time, so he was in a state of panic, desperately trying to save himself and unwilling to let go of even the smallest straw. Being able to get help from such a powerful and extraordinary person, even if the other party was after money, he was still somewhat grateful.

However, that's all. He wouldn't rashly intervene in dangerous events without understanding the situation or the inside story, just for the sake of the other party, without assessing his own strength and circumstances.

Therefore, Klein thought for a moment and said:

"Miss Sharon, I need to know the specifics of what kind of help you want me to provide before I can consider whether or not to agree."

"I would never, and could never, joke about my own life."

Sharon, wearing a small black soft hat, nodded slightly, acknowledging Klein's words.

She hesitated for a moment, then began to recount her origins:

“I also have Marich, who belonged to a rather old and secretive organization.”

I guessed that… Klein maintained a serious and solemn expression.

"That organization took shape in the early Fifth Period, after the storms of the Raging Sea separated the northern and southern continents, and took shape in the Highlands Kingdom and the Kingdom of Pas on the southern continent."

"However, this only means that the organization has taken shape. Its origins can be traced back to before the Quaternary Period, and even before the Great Cataclysm."

I know that too. The "Rose School" can be traced back to the Alien King... Klein adopted a listening posture.

Sharon paused, then continued:

"This organization worships an evil god and believes that magic is the science and art of changing things through one's own will. This requires the establishment of a religious ritual system, including order and law. Before the invasion of the northern continent kingdoms, they were an orthodox organization on par with the Church of Death in the Pass River Valley and Star Plateau."

"At the same time, they believe that their will mainly comes from various desires, which, combined with extraordinary power, can accomplish all sorts of incredible things."

"Because of these beliefs, they retain ancient and bloody primitive sacrificial traditions, including skinning people, making human pillars, using children's skulls as ritual objects, and allowing a large number of believers to fanatically release all kinds of desires."

“Marich and I could neither accept those cruel things nor believed that they had a big problem with how they handled their desires, so we took the opportunity to escape the organization.”