“Blackthorn Security Company.”
Seeing the signboard, Kein was stunned for quite a while. He felt that it was unexpected but reasonable at the same time.
[It's really… I don't know how to say…] He shook his head and laughed. Then, he stretched out his right hand and tapped on the half-covered door.
Dun. Dun. Dun.
The slow and rhythmic knocking of the door echoed, but there was no response. He could only the faint sound of “da da da" that came from behind the door.
Dun. Dun. Dun.
Klein repeated it again, but it was the same result.
He changed from knock to push. As the gap widened, he glanced into the room and saw a group of classically designed sofas that were perhaps used for reception. There were a few soft-cushioned chairs and a wooden-color coffee table. There was also a table placed directly opposite the door. Behind the table, he could see a girl's head dropping low as if she was sleeping.
[Although the “security company” is only a disguise, but is this too much? Is this too “unprofessional”? How long has it been without any business? Well, you don’t need any business…] Klein muttered in his mind. He walked into the room and leaned close to the table. Then, he knocked on the table twice, close the girl’s ear.
Dun. Dun.
The brown-haired girl instinctively sat up straight, she grabbed the newspaper in front of her hands and covered her face.
[“Tengon's Honest Paper”… what an interesting brand name…] Klein silently read the newspaper in front of his face.
“The steam train ‘the Flyer’ will be connected to Conston City today… Really, when can it be connected to Desi Bay? I don’t want to go there by boat anymore, it’s so uncomfortable, too uncomfortable… Hey, who are you? “The brown-haired girl pretended to read aloud and made a comment. Then, she lowered the newspaper, revealed a smooth forehead and light brown eyes, and turned to at Klein.
“Hello, I am Klein Moretti, I am here at the invitation of Mr. Dunn Smith.” Klein took off his hat and placed it on his chest.
The brown-haired girl appeared to be in her early 20s. She wore a simple, light green Ruen style long dress. There were beautiful laces at the cuffs, neckline, chest and other places, which paired well with her beautiful face.
“You mean Captain?… Ok, please wait here, I will ask him.” The girl hurriedly got up and entered the room from the side door.
[And you don't even ask if I need a glass of water… The level of service is worrying…] Klein smiled a little. He stood in the same place and waited, with no intention to sit on the sofa and chair.
After two or three minutes, the brown-haired girl pushed the door out and smiled sweetly.
“Mr. Moretti, please follow me, the captain is on duty today at ‘Chanes Gate’ and can’t leave.”
“Okay.” Klein quickly walked behind. In his mind, he pondered.
[Chanes Gate, what is that?]
Walking past the partition, the first thing that came into his eyes was a corridor that was not very long. There were three office doors on each side of the corridor.
Some of these offices were tightly locked, some were open, and people inside could be seen typing furiously and noisily using heavy mechanical typewriters.
Glancing around, Klein noticed a familiar person. He was the young police officer who searched his house that day, the one with dark hair and blue eyes and a poet’s romantic temperament.
He didn’t wear a formal attire. Instead, he had put on a white shirt that wasn’t tucked in his trousers, giving a mischievous impression.
[Maybe he is really a poet…] Klein nodded his head in acknowledgment and the other returned a smile.
The brown-haired girl forcefully twisted the handle of the left office at the end of the corridor. She pushed open the door, pointed to the inside and smiled.
“This leads to a few floors downwards.”
There were no decorations nor furniture in this office. There was only a set of gray-white stone steps extending downwards.
The walls on both sides of the stairs were lined with elegantly designed gas lamps. The steady light dispelled the darkness and brought a sense of peace.
The brown-haired girl led the way in front. She kept staring at her feet as she moved cautiously.
“Although I walked here often, I am still scared. I will always worry about falling and rolling over. You know, Leonard had done such a stupid act in the past. On the first day of becoming a ‘Sleepless', when he had yet to master his own abilities, he tried to sprint down the stairs. And then… he became a wheel! Haha, it's so funny to think of it. Well, I’m talking about the guy who greeted you just now. It's been three years since then… Speaking of which, I have been in the Night Watcher for five years now, back then I was only seventeen years old…”
While the girl was looking down at the road, she started to strike a conversation habitually. Suddenly, she patted her own forehead in a hidden way.
“Oh, I've forgotten to introduce myself, my name is Roseanne. My father was a formal member of the Night Watchers, and he sacrificed in an accident five years ago. We should be colleagues in the future. Well, it is more accurate to use the term ‘colleagues’… since we are not teammates. After all, we are not Extraordinaries.”
“I hope to have this honor, but in the end, it's Mr. Smith's decision.” Klein looked at the enclosed surrounding. He could sense that the two of them had begun to enter the underground. The stone wall was permeated with coldness and wetness, which dispelled the summer heat.
“Reassured, since you are allowed to come here, it shows that Captain has agreed. I have always been afraid of the Captain, although he is very kind, very caring, just like a father. But I do not know why I am afraid.” Roseanne’s voice came softly.
Klein responded humorously.
"Isn't it normal to be afraid of ones' father?”
“That makes sense.” Roseanne reached out and supported herself using the wall at the corner.
During the conversation, the two finished walking the downward spiral staircase and reached the flat stone ground.
This was a long aisle ahead. The gas lamps were surrounded by metal grids and embedded on the walls on both sides. The lights shone down and the dragged the shadows of Klein and Roseanne far into the distance.
Klein keenly observed the surrounding and noticed that there were many “Dark Sacred Emblems”, each at a regular distance on the wall. This was the symbol of the Goddess of the Night, “a deep black background, adorned with half a crimson moon.”
These Sacred Emblems seemed to be nothing special, but walking between them, Klein’s state of mind gradually calmed down. Even Roseanne closed her mouth and stopped chatting like she was just now.
Not long after, a crossroad appeared in front of them and the brown-haired girl briefly introduced.
“Turn left to the Church of St. Serena. Turn right to the library of weapons, materials, and documents. Walk straight to Chanes Gate.”
[Church of St. Serena? Is Zouteland Street at the back of Red Moon Street?] Klein was a little stunned.
The St. Serena Church on Red Moon Street was the headquarter for the Goddess of the Night Church in Tengon. It was the sacred place that all local devotees were yearning to visit. On the other hand, the "Scared Numeric Church" of the God of Steam and Machinery was located in the suburbs, while the "River and Sea Church" of the Lord of the Storms was located in North Tengon. Together, these three churches jointly supported the religious circles of Tengon City as well as the affiliated towns and villages.
Conscious that his current identity was not suitable for probing too much, Klein just listened silently and did not ask any questions.
After crossing the intersection and walking straight, in less than a minute, a black iron gate with seven holy emblems appeared before the two of them.
It stood there, intuitively gave a sense of heaviness, coldness, and majesty. It was like a giant standing guard the darkness.
“Chanes Gate,” Roseanne said. Then, she pointed to a room next to the gate. “The captain is inside, you can enter yourself.”
“Okay, thanks for your trouble.” Klein politely replied.
The room that Roseanne pointed to was just in front of the “Chanes Gate”. It had an opened window and lights could be seen coming out from it. Klein took a deep breath and calmed down.
Dun. Dun. Dun.
“Come in.” Dunn Smith’s low and welcoming voice came out.
Klein gently pushed open the semi-closed door. He saw a table and four chairs in the room. The high-hairline Dunn Smith was wearing the same type of black windbreaker as last night. He was reading a newspaper leisurely, and there was a gold watch chain appearing beside his left chest button.
“Please sit down, have you thought through the decision? Are you sure you want to join us?” Dunn put down the newspaper and asked with a smile.
Klein took off his hat and greeted Dunn. Then, he sat down at the table and nodded slowly.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Then, you can take a look at this contract. Huh, now everyone likes to call it a contract,” Dunn opened the table drawer and took out two copies of a contract.
There were not many of terms on the contract. Most of those were already mentioned by Dunn Smith. It mainly focused on the confidentiality clause. The violators no longer passed through the kingdom court but would be directly put on trial by the arbitral tribunal of the Church of the Goddess of the Night. The procedure was similar to the military, where convicted officers would be put on trial in military courts.
[Five-year contract… 2 pounds and 10 sule’s weekly salary, 10 sule’s confidentiality and risk subsidies…] Klein finished reading the terms one by one, and firmly answer.
“I’m OK.”
“You can sign it.” Dunn pointed to the dark red pen and ink bottle on the table.
Klein first tested the pen with a waste paper, then he took a sigh of relief and signed his own name in the corresponding position of the two contracts, Klein Moretti.
Because he had no stamp, he could only impress his fingerprint.
Dunn took back the contract and retrieved a seal from the drawer, after which he stamped at the end and several key points on the papers.
After doing all this, he stood up and passed back a contract with one hand and extend the other hand towards Klein for a handshake.
“Welcome. From now on, you are one of us. Note that the contract must also be kept confidentially.”
Klein stood up and took the contract. He shook Dunn's hand and smiled.
"So, should I call you Captain?”
“Yes.” Dunn’s gray pupils were unusually deep and profound in the dimly lit environment.
After the handshake, the two sat down again. Klein glanced at the stamp on the contract and noticed that the imprint was ” Night Watcher team, City of Tengon, Awwa County, Ruen Kingdom.”
"I didn’t expect you to use the ‘Blackthorn Security Company’ as a cover.” He laughed and asked casually.
“Actually, we do have another identity.” Dunn took out a piece of paper from the drawer.
It was stamped with the double seal of the municipal government and the police department. The content was two lines of words. "The Seventh Special Operations Team, Police Department, City of Tengon, Awwa County, Ruen Kingdom".
"The first four teams are normal police officers who are responsible for security, such as the VIP protection group and the key installation protection group. From the fifth team onwards, we are responsible for the supernatural events in the various cities in the county. The seventh team covers believers of the Goddess in Tengon. If the believers of multiple religions are involved, the case will be allocated by region. We are mainly in charge of the North, the West, and the Golden Indus area.”
Dunn roughly introduced, “The sixth team is the 'Tribunal Representatives' of the Church of the Lord of the Storm and they are responsible for the dock area, the East, and the South. The fifth team covers the university area and the suburbs. They are the ‘Heart of the Machines’ squad in Tengon.”
“Hmm.” Klein couldn’t find anything to ask in this area. He smiled and changed the topic. “If someone comes to request a task for the Blackthorn Security Company, what should I do?”
“Accept it, why not? As long as it does not affect our daily affairs.” Dunn replied gently and humorously. “If you can earn money from these tasks, you can count it as an additional subsidy. The team members will be happy too. Anyway, the market for trivial matters such as looking for cats and dogs have already been dominated by private detectives.”
“How many people are there in the Night Watcher team?” Klein asked along the same topic.
“There are not many supernatural events, thus there are not many Extraordinaries. We have six formal members in the Night Watcher team in Tengon, including me. Oh, the number of civilian staffs, counting you is also six.” Dunn replied casually.
Klein nodded and finally asked the question that he was most concerned about.
"Captain, what do you mean by Extraordinaries losing control. Why does it happen?”