A real Soul Whisperer… Klein silently repeated the phrase and did not say anything. He followed Dunn Smith and got off the horse carriage.
Welch’s home in Tengon was a bungalow house with a garden. Outside the vertical iron bars gate was a road wide enough for four wagons to drive through at the same time. There were street lamps every 50 meters on both sides of the road. The gas lamps were very different from what Klein had seen in his previous life. The height of the posts was approximately that of an adult man. It was designed for ignition convenience.
Black metal strips clanged to the glass and enclosed the grids into classical lantern “artworks". The lamps burnt in the dark like a dance of the cold and the warm, mixing both shadows and lights.
Stepping on the dimly-lit road, Klein and Dunn Smith entered via a semi-opened iron gate into Welch's rented residence.
Right behind the gate was a path for two carriages, it was paved with concrete and connected to the two-floor bungalow.
There was a garden on the left, a lawn on the right. The mild scent of floral, mixed with a touch of freshness, produced a pleasing ambiance.
As soon as he stepped in, Klein could suddenly feel something wrong. He glanced around nervously.
He felt that in the garden, in the shadow of the lawn, on the top of the house, behind the swing, in the dim corners, there were many pairs of eyes watching him!
Even though nobody was here, Klein felt as if he was on a bustling street.
This was a strange contrast. The bizarre feeling caused him to tighten his body with a chill running down his spine.
“There’s a problem!” He couldn’t help but remind Dunn.
Dunn walked beside him with an undisturbed expression. He answered calmly.
“Don't worry about it.”
Given that the “Night Watcher" had assured him, Klein endured the uncomfortableness of being tracked, being spied on, but wasn’t able to see the target. He timidly stepped into the main entrance of the bungalow house.
[If this continues, I will get an anxiety attack.] As Dunn reached out and knocked on the door, Klein quickly looked back. The flowers swayed in the wind but there was no one.
“Come in, gentlemen.” A slightly ethereal voice came from inside the house.
Dunn twisted the doorknob, pushed opened the door, and asked.
“Daley, what is the result?”
The chandelier in the living room was not lit. A main and two auxiliary leather couches surrounded a marble coffee table.
On the coffee table, a single candle burnt with a bright blue flame. It shaded the semi-open layout of the living room, dining room, and kitchen in a quivering and treacherous hue.
A woman was sitting on the middle couch. She wore a hooded black robe, smeared her face with blue eyeshadows, and had light red paints on her cheeks. She wore a silver bracelet with a silver chain hanging from the wrist.
At the first sight of her, Klein had an inexplicable feeling. She was dressed just like a soul whisperer…
[Pretending to be yourself?]
Daley, the "Soul Whisperer" who was beautiful in an uncanny way, glanced at Klein with twinkling green eyes and then turned her head towards Dunn Smith.
“The original spirits have disappeared, including Welch's and Naya's. The little ones here are not aware of anything.”
[Spirits? Soul Whispering? Those invisible things just now were spirits? There were so many spirits?] Klein took off his hat and put it on his chest. He greeted in a mild voice.
“Good evening, Ma’am.”
Dunn Smith sighed.
“It’s really tricky…”
“Daley, this is Klein Moretti. Please try to see if you can discover anything with his help.”
Daley turned her eyes back to Klein. She pointed to the auxiliary couch.
“Please sit down.”
“Thank you.” Klein nodded, he moved across and sat down honestly. At the moment, he couldn't help but felt a tense emotion.
[Life or death? A smooth ride or a secret exposed? I have to see how it develops!
The sense of powerless is because there isn’t anything that I can rely on. I can only hope for my inherent specialness…
This is really a very bad feeling…] Klein thought bitterly.
As Dunn took a seat on the couch opposite him, the "Soul Whisperer" Daley took out two thumb-sized glass bottles from the pockets around her waist.
Her green eyes smiled and looked at Klein.
“I need a little help. After all, you are not an enemy. I can’t treat you bluntly and violently. It will make you feel uncomfortable, painful, and may even leave severe wounds behind. Therefore, I will give you a little fragrance, a little gentleness, and sufficient lubrication, so that you can relax yourself a bit and immerse in that feeling.”
[It doesn't sound quite right…] Klein was astounded.
Dunn, who was sitting at opposite looked amused.
“Don't be surprised, unlike the fellows from the Church of the Lord of the Storms, ladies here can also verbally make fun of men. In this regard, you should be able to understand. After all, your mother was a devout believer in the goddess. Both you and your brother had also studied at the church's Sunday school."
“I understand, just that I did not expect her to be so …” Klein gestured. For a moment, he could not find a suitable adjective and almost blurted out the direct translation for “veteran driver”(1).
Dunn's mouth curved upwards.
"Rest assured, Daley actually rarely does this. She just wants to calm you and help you relax. In fact, she likes corpses more than men."
“You make me sound like a pervert.” The “Soul Whisperer” Daley smiled and interrupted.
She opened one of the small bottles and sprinkled a few drops onto the brilliant blue candle flame.
"Night vanilla, sleeping flower, and chamomile. These were mixed and distilled into an essence. I called it ‘Amandi’. It means ‘serenity’ in Hellenese. It has a very pleasing scent."
During the conversation, the candlelight flickered a few times, and a few drops of pure liquid evaporated quickly and permeated the room.
A calming and charming scent plunged into Klein’s nose. He no longer felt tense and he quickly found his composure. He felt as if he was gazing into the darkness in the middle of the night.
“This bottle is called the 'Eye of the Spirit'. It used the barks and the leaves of dragongrass trees and poplars, which were dried for seven days and boiled three times. It was soaked in Langi wine. Of course, there would be several incantations during the synthesis …” As Daley described it, she dripped the amber color liquid onto the brilliant blue candle flame.
Klein smelled the scent of wine, it had an ethereal fragrance. He saw the candlelight shaking badly and the blue eyeshadows of Daley flashing with a strange luster. Double images had started appearing in his eyes.
"It is a good helper for soul whispering, and at the same time a charming enough flower essence…”
As Daley continued to relate, Klein could only hear her voice coming from all directions.
As he looked around in bewilderment, Klein noticed that everything in sight was shaking and blurring, as if layers after layers of fogs were building before him. Even his own body appeared to be trembling, becoming blurred, starting to float weightlessly.
The reds were redder, the blues were bluer, and the blacks were darker. The colors were mixed like an impressionist oil painting. They were blurred and dreamy. Soft overlapping whispers rose from the surrounding as if there were numerous people debating.
"This is a similar feeling to the 'luck conversion ceremony,' but without the kind of madness that made your head feel like exploding…" Klein observed and pondered.
At this moment, he was attracted by a pair of sparkling emerald-like eyes. He saw the image of Daley wearing a black robe sitting on a vague “sofa” and her eyes were very strangely focused on his forehead. She smiled gently.
“Formally introducing myself, Daley, the 'Soul Whisperer'.”
[This…I can still think calmly and rationally…just like the 'luck conversion ritual' and the "meeting"…] Klein’s thoughts raced through his head and he deliberately showed a dazed expression. "Hello…"
"The mental worlds of humans are very vast and there are many hidden secrets. Look at the sea before you. We can only observe the islands that are exposed on the surface. However, under the surface, the islands have large hidden areas. In fact, apart from the islands, there is the entire sea and the boundless sky that symbolizes the spiritual world…”
"You are the spirit of the body. You not only know the islands that are exposed on the sea but also know the parts of the islands underneath the surface. You know the entire sea…"
“What exists, will leave a trace. While the memories of the surface of the islands can be erased, the parts under the sea and the entire sea must have retained some corresponding residual projections…”
Daley guided him again and again. The vague winds and shadows around him also changed in her described shapes, as if Klein's mental sea was fully exposed, waiting for him to search and discover.
Klein watched calmly, the waves “crashed” onto the sea from time to time, and he finally replied.
“No… I can’t remember… I've forgotten…”
He demonstrated a little pain at the right time.
Daley tried to induce him one more time, but the clear-headed Klein was not affected.
“Well, let's end it here and go back.”
“Go back.”
“Go back……”
Amidst an ethereal noise, Daley disappeared. The winds and shadows began to subside. The scent of tranquility and subtle scent of wine reappeared.
All the colors returned to normal and the fuzziness feelings eased. Klein’s body trembled and recovered the feeling of gravity.
He opened his eyes and noticed that the lighted blue candle was still in front of him. Dunn Smith was still sitting comfortably on the couch and Daley the "Soul Whisperer" was in the black robe with a hood.
“Why did you use the theory of the Psychic Alchemists? They are a bunch of evil and insane fellows.” Dunn frowned slightly and looked at Daley.
Daley kept the two small bottles and calmly answered.
“I think it’s quite correct, at least they are in line with the things I’ve seen and contacted…”
Not waiting for Dunn to speak again, she spread out her hands.
“It’s tricky, there are no traces left.”
Hearing these words, Klein heaved a long sigh of relief asked presumptuously.
“What happened? What happened just now? I felt like I had fallen asleep…”
[Did I pass the test?
Fortunately, I have rehearsed it with the "luck conversion ritual"!]
“Just take it as such.” Dunn interrupted his words and looked at the ‘Soul Whisperer’ Daley. “Have you checked Welch and Naya’s bodies?”
“The bodies can tell us much more than you think. Unfortunately, Welch and Naya had really committed suicide. Or rather, we can say that the power that affected them was really daunting. It left no traces behind.” Daley stood up and reached to the candle. “I’m going to rest.”
The brilliant blue flame disappeared and the house was instantly filled with a blurred layer of crimson blush.
“Congratulations, you can go home, but you must remember that you can’t disclose this experience to your family and friends. Please guarantee this.” Dunn led Klein all the way to the door.
Klein asked curiously. “Don't you need to check for curses or the marks of evil spirits?”
“Since Daley didn’t mention, it means that there are no such traces,” Dunn answered briefly.
Klein calmed down and recalled his previous worries. He asked again.
“How can I confirm that there are no troubles left behind?”
“Don’t worry too much.” Dunn curved the corner of his mouth as he replied. “According to statistics, 80 percent of the living parties did not encounter any terrible follow-ups. Uh, this statistics is based on my rough impression.”
"There’s 20 percent of unlucky people…” Klein wouldn’t dare to take a gamble.
“You can consider joining us in a civilian position. In this way, even if there are any precursor signs, we can discover it in time.” Dunn said as he approached the carriage, “Or you can directly become an Extraordinary. After all, we are not your nanny, You can’t expect us to watch over you all day and night, even when you are doing things with women."
"Can I?” Klein asked along the way.
Of course, he didn't expect much. After all, how could it be so easy to join the Night Watcher and gain extraordinary power?
That’s extraordinary power!
Dunn paused and took a sideways glance at him.
“…it is not impossible, it depends…”
What? This transition surprised Klein. He stopped beside the carriage.
“Really?”
[Are you kidding? Is it that easy to become an Extraordinary?]
Dunn chuckled and his gray eyes were covered by the shadow of the carriage.
“You don’t believe me? In fact, if you become a Night Watcher, you will lose many things, such as freedom. Apart from this, there are other problems. Firstly, you are not a clergyman who made a contribution nor a staunch believer. You won't have many options and you can’t choose the safest path.”
"Secondly…" Dunn grabbed the handrail and boarded the carriage. "for us, the Tribunal Representatives, the Heart of the Machines, and other similar judicial departments, a quarter of the cases that we handled annually are Extraordinaries who have lost control.”
[A quarter… Extraordinaries who have lost control…] Klein was stunned.
At this moment… Dunn half turned his body. His pupils were dark and gray pupil, and he spoke emotionlessly.
“In this quarter, a large number of them used to be our teammates.”
TN:
Veteran driver(老司机) - Chinese internet meme for someone who is experienced at posting pornographic materials in forums.