Sealed Safe

Noticing the guard sleeping, Ethan decided to enter, still making no sounds at all.

He soundlessly walked through the hallway, paying attention to any other servants that would have awakened to the sound before.

Reaching the end of the stairs, Ethan decided to go up first, as in case he found someone, he could either quickly incapacitate them, or jump and leave the building through the second floor balcony.

In the building's second floor, he found another long hallway with various doors, hearing a few murmurs from one of the rooms.

"Those damn animals must be rummaging through the trash again, I thought that after Mr. Blackwood bought those sturdy bins, we wouldn't have to wake in the middle of the night anymore."

The brisk voice of a female could be heard from one of the rooms, it seemed this floor housed the servants' quarters.

Calculating the time it took him to get to this floor and how long it would take until someone suspected the maid's disappearance, Ethan kept climbing up the stairs.

Getting to the third floor, there was only one door, probably the main bedroom of the house.

Trying to open it, Ethan realized that it was unlocked. Using a paper-clip he got on the night before, Ethan used his expertise to directly open the door.

However, the moment the door was opened, what greeted him was a strange sight.

It was a big room with no windows, there was a big and seemingly very sturdy safe in the middle of it. Nothing else could be seen.

'Interesting, why would the owner use such a big room to just store a safe?' Thinking that the owner might be hiding some secret, Ethan decided to try to open the safe.

'I have no more than 3 minutes until one of the servants suspects something happened to the maid and goes investigate.' Possessing incredibly keen instincts of a Criminal, Ethan squats in front of the safe and begins the process of unlocking it.

However, no matter what method Ethan uses to try and pry the safe open, he's unable to do anything to it. The safe was simply too difficult to open.

Realizing his time was about to run out, Ethan decides to try and break the safe using brute force.

*BANG

Punching the safe's front with all the strength he could muster, Ethan's arm bounced back from the impact, his mind obscured by intense pain.

However, looking at the safe - 'HOW…!?'

There was not a single scratch on its front panel, like Ethan never punched it at all.

'Impossible!! There's no way a common safe could be completely unscathed after my full blown punch!' It should be said that, as a Criminal, Ethan's body was incredibly resistant and strong, a direct punch of his could easily crack a concrete wall.

However, the safe was completely unscathed after his full-strength punch, not a small dent could be seen on its surface. Such an outcome could only mean one thing.

'This safe is mystical, or is protected by some kind of magic…' Thinking up to here, and having barely any time until someone started investigating the unconscious maid, Ethan abandoned the idea of opening the safe.

Leaving the room with brisk steps, he climbed down the stairs and, once again, found himself on the first floor.

Quickly passing through the still soundly asleep guard, he sneakily opened the back door, passed through, locked it behind him, and got to the backyard garden.

Once again finding the unconscious maid, he put her key back in her hand, and rapidly left the place.

Just before Ethan left, he saw some servants descending down the stairs, they were going to investigate the missing maid's situation.

Returning to Cherwood Borough, Ethan removed his disguises and found himself at the Rosewood Rest Hotel once more. Getting in, he climbed the stairs and went directly to his room.

Standing in front of the wardrobe's mirror, Ethan couldn't help but recall the sturdy safe.

'That safe… I'm certain it had some strange mystical powers protecting it. No safe could remain still after such a strong attack, it would, at the bare minimum, dent a little.'

'Sigh… Who's to say I'm not lucky, the first damn house I found actually belongs to a Beyonder, or at least a person with Beyonder means.' Ethan lampooned himself with self deprecation and directed himself at the room's entrance.

He would go take another bath, return to his room, and have a nice night's sleep.

However, just as he was about to touch the door's handle.

*Thump Thump

He heard the sound of a heart thumping, "Wha- Ahhhh"

Ethan suddenly fell to the ground with a terrible ache all over his body. His mouth drooling with saliva, and his throat terribly retching.

It looked like he was trying to throw something out of his body through his mouth.

"Blarghhhhh!" After throwing up, Ethan was finally free from the sudden pain.

Looking in front of him, he finally saw what it was that he threw up.

'This…!!' On the ground, right in front of Ethan, he noticed a black eyeball, full of throbbing bloody veins; The same eyeball that allowed him to possess the powers of a Beyonder.

The eyeball was just like before, it had a dark aura surrounding it, nothing seemingly had changed. Suddenly, Ethan punched the floor right below him.

*Bang

The strength of the punch was tremendous, enough to directly kill a man if hit on a vital point. The floor's wood nearly burst into fragments.

'I still have my Beyonder powers!' The attack just now wasn't meant to vent his frustrations, but to test if he had lost his powers.

Ethan's expression became noticeably confused. After all, by definition, the powers a Beyonder possesses comes from their Beyonder characteristic.

The Beyonder characteristic is what connects the Beyonder to the mystical world, allowing him to do a myriad of things.

However, now, Ethan directly expunged his own Beyonder characteristic. Something like this should already have killed him, but not only did he not die, he even kept his Beyonder powers.

'There's something incredibly, impossibly, ridiculously wrong with me!' Ethan was terrified of such an outcome. After all, in possession of Charles Rouqueford's memories, he perfectly understood the basic knowledge of the mysterious world.

Trying to calm himself down, Ethan picked the Criminal Beyonder characteristic. There was nothing different from before, it was like he never even ate it to begin with.

After a few seconds passed, Ethan got up, put the Beyonder characteristic inside his suitcase and left the room.

He went to the bathroom and took a long bath. Returning to room 203, he entered and lay on the bed.

There was nothing he could do about the Beyonder characteristic today, he would leave it in his suitcase and buy a sealed metal container tomorrow.

…

Waking up in the next morning, Ethan found himself reinvigorated after yesterday night. It seemed that expunging the Beyonder characteristic was very beneficial for his body.

Getting up from the bed, he proceeded to the wardrobe's mirror, picked a brush at one of the drawers, and brushed his hair.

After doing so, he put on another one of his sets of clothes. This one was composed of a black tweed suit, a red vest, black tie, brown social shoes, and a black top hat with a red stripe.

Grooming himself to look like a true gentleman, Ethan thereafter directed himself towards the room's entrance, opened the door, and left.

Climbing down the stairs, he once again went towards the cafeteria, and had his breakfast.

After having his food, Ethan left the hotel. He decided to visit an underground Beyonder market today.

However, before that, he would first buy a cane, a pocket watch, and a pair of gloves.

After spending a total of 17 pounds, he immediately proceeded to the underground market.

Standing in front of a four-story building with a blackish-yellow facade, Ethan climbed a few steps to stand in front of the main door on the small balcony.

*Knock, Knock, Knock.

Knocking on the door, he was greeted by a beautiful young lady with flaxen hair, green eyes, and smooth pale skin, a few moments later.

"Hello, sir. What would you wish for here?" She seemed very confused as to what business the old gentleman in front of her could possibly have with the private office of a chemical factory's agent.

"Hello. I'd like to see the crimson finger." Ethan's words should have caused the young lady to feel even more confused.

However, the moment such words escaped his lips, he saw the young lady's complexion change from a cute, confused state, to one of pure, gloomy coldness.

"Follow me." She entered the building once more, but this time, leaving the open door behind.

Ethan passed through the door and closed it behind him, following the young lady's pace into the building.

At a first glance, it seemed like a perfectly normal office, there were people doing their jobs, coming and going here and there.

The young lady kept going forward, until she reached a big staircase going downwards.

Climbing down, they arrived at a big iron door at the end of the staircase.

The young lady then put her palm at the front of the door, uttering the word, "Crimson". After doing that, her palm was directly pierced by an iron stake, painting the door a shade of crimson red.

A few seconds later, the stake completely reversed back to the door's surface, with the door opening in close sequence.

"You have one hour." After saying that, the wound on the lady's palm rapidly disappeared, like it never existed to begin with.

Ethan, seemingly unsurprised by the show of magic he was witnessing, responded, "Very well. You have my gratitude."

The young lady tersely replied and left, climbing the stairs up once more.

Seeing the lady leave, Ethan passed through the door, entering the underground Beyonder market in Charles' memories.