Chapter 198: Newspaper

Hearing Azik's words, even though he was expecting it, Klein couldn't help but pursed his lips.

'It was too good to be true... Although Mr. Azik is the Death Consul he doesn't remember anything and his abilities must still be very weak...'

'Besides, what was I supposed to do if what Mr. Azik did had worked? Go to the Red Gloves and report it? Hey, if that happened I'm sure whoever is behind this would do something extreme to ensure that the plan was completed...' Klein thought as he let out a soundless sigh.

Klein buried his emotions and spoke trying to comfort the man.

"It's no surprise we couldn't find it. It would have been one if we could."

Klein believed with complete certainty that whoever was behind everything that was happening in Tingen would not let their secret plan fail just because their location was discovered.

That they were willing to use a ritual related to an Evil God eliminated any hope Klein had that they would simply give up.

Azik looked at the skeleton in the coffin and after looking at it for a long 20 seconds, he closed the coffin. He let his hand rest on the coffin lid for another 5 seconds before slowly turning to face Klein.

"I will continue to investigate and I hope that I can count on your assistance."

"No problem Mr. Azik. This is what I wanted to do." Klein could barely contain his joy.

Although Mr. Azik was weakened, he was still the Death Consul!

Azik's mouth opened wanting to say something but in the end, he said nothing. He just sighed and walked towards the stairs in silence.

After leaving the cellar and closing the hidden doorway, the two men walked through the weed- and rubble-strewn path.

Neither of them spoke on their way back from the old abandoned castle.

In the dark night, Azik suddenly said.

"Until this matter is resolved, I will quit my job and leave Tingen, in search of my past."

Hearing Azik's sudden words, Klein looked at the man in surprise and anxiety quickly built up in his heart.

How would I quickly contact Mr. Azik if he was out of Tingen?!

With this in mind, Klein immediately expressed his concerns.

"Mr. Azik, how would I contact you if I make any progress in the investigation? By the time the letter reaches you, the person behind this will already have left the city!"

Azik's eyes lit up for a second and the man covered his face with his left hand.

"You're right, Klein. In the time it would take to receive the letter, the one who stole my son's skull would have fled." The man said in a low but deep voice.

Shaking his head and reaching into his vest pocket, Azik spoke with the corner of his lips slightly raised as he showed the object to Klein.

"But we won't have to worry about that"

Klein looked at his teacher's face somewhat surprised and then lowered his eyes to the object that Azik had resting in the palm of his hand.

On it was an old but intricate copper whistle that had carved along its body multiple patterns that gave it a mysterious aura.

Raising an eyebrow, Klein looked at the man waiting for an explanation.

"This is something I had when I woke up in Backlund. When you blow on it, you will summon a messenger that belongs to me." Azik explained and the corners of Klein's lips tremble slightly.

'So the ritual to summon a messenger can be simplified like this... Why didn't I think that Mr. Azik would have a messenger to his name? After all, he is the Death Consul...'

Azik glanced at Klein, he brought the whistle to his lips and blew with all his might.

No sound came from the Copper Whistle.

...

East Borough, Backlund.

It was early Friday morning and as was normal in the East Borough, it already had quite a bit of activity in them.

Wearing a faded jacket and a hat hiding his red hair, Adryan walked the streets of Tarmeco Street while humming a tune. There was a paper bag in his arms.

Tarmeco Street is a street in better condition than the norm in the East Borough, there were multiple stores where the most blessed went to buy nice products and where Adryan also bought a lot of the ingredients he use to cook.

"Humm~ Hum humm~ Hum hum hum hum~" Humming the intro of Gravity Falls, Adryan mentally reviewed what was missing.

'I only need milk, some chicken, and potatoes~'

Today he planned to have mbeju for breakfast with Cocido Negro. For lunch, he would cook some gnocchi with white sauce and for dinner, it would be grilled chicken along with baked potato with his gramma's personal sauce~

Just thinking about his lunch brought a small smile to his face.

'Being able to control the fire brings a lot of help to your kitchen. Hehe, I'm sure Gordon Ramsey would love to have this ability~' Thinking of the Chef with the mouth of a Sailor made him laugh a little.

He couldn't spend his whole life hunting down East Borough gangs so today he would take a little break from tormenting them.

In addition to the fact that the churches are looking for it, it would be a good excuse to rest, and also to confuse them up a bit.

The thought of churches and gangs looking like crazy for any sign of him made Adryan's smile grow.

Leaving that aside, Adryan could have sent his soldier to collect the ingredients and he could have stayed in his hotel room and waited but the redhead preferred to do it himself.

He didn't give himself a lot of time to do other things than train or act so he wanted time for himself.

And it helped that this activity relaxed him a lot.

And that was because it reminded him of when he would accompany his mother to Mercado 4 to buy things for the house and they would spend hours in the market buying things that they had not even thought of and when they got home he would bother his brother and dad to help them with the 7 huge shopping bags.

As soon as he thought of his family, the smile on his face turned sad.

'I can barely remember their voices now...'

He learned the hard way what many people who lost a loved one said.

The first thing you forget about a person is their voice.

Adryan even sometimes entered the City of Calamities to create his family so as not to forget their faces.

"Tomato Princes? Is something wrong?"

Flora's slightly worried voice rang in his ears and Adryan's smile grew again.

"Oh~ Of course I am dear. Why wouldn't I?" Adryan whispered calmly.

"...If you say so" Flora said somewhat suspicious and this made Adryan laugh softly.

"Oh come on Flora, you don't believe me? When did I lie to you?" The redhead said amused.

"... If you don't want to talk about it just say it" Flora said losing interest in the conversation and this made Adryan's smile lessen a little.

'Sorry Flora' the redhead thought to himself.

Shaking his head slightly, he hummed again and continued on his way to the next store.

Grabbing a small bag of garlic along with the juiciest tomatoes he could see, Adryan was already at the counter paying 6 pennies for them.

As he was putting his purchase in the bag, Adryan's eyes flicked to the wall behind the owner.

There were multiple posts with various advertisements or newspapers of different sizes and colors. Most were about new products, investment opportunities that were usually a scam, etc.

But a family newspaper caught his attention.

<NEW ORPHANAGE ON HOPE STREET AT THE HANDS OF DUTCH WILSON- DO NOBLES FINALLY CARE ABOUT LOWER CLASS?>

'Dutch has been pretty busy huh? This is the ninth I've seen... Today' The redhead thought without giving much importance to that.

"What do you think about this?"

His scarlet eyes looked at the owner who just spoke, the older man noted that he had looked at the newspaper on his back.

Looking down at his bag and putting the bag of garlic inside, Adryan responded nonchalantly.

"Considering what happened in June, it's normal for him to want to try to help."

At his words, the owner snorted mockingly and shook his head.

"As if they care about that. For him, this sure is just another way of getting us to say his name."

Saying that, the old man leaned back on the counter and whispered to Adryan.

"You know? Word is that he's trying to rise in the New Party and this may be the publicity he needs."

Sighing slightly, Adryan grab the bag with one hand and looked into the old man's brown eyes.

"You should stop listening to what the little birds say, sir" The redhead said without importance, and turning around, he left the store receiving the ridiculous look of the owner all the time.

Already a few meters from the store, a smile grew on Adryan's face...

Entering the chicken shop and getting the last ingredient he was missing, Adryan started his way to his hotel room.

He could use the Burnt Band that was in his pocket to get there faster but he preferred to walk and stretch his legs.

Already reaching the end of Tarmeco Street, Adryan watched curiously as the Newspaper Boy placed his wooden box, next to him were multiple stacks of freshly printed newspapers.

'You are quite late today little one. I wonder what news it will be this time? I hope it's not another fool who confessed to being James Holmes and was killed for it' Adryan thought flat-faced as he approached the boy.

But the words the boy shouted froze him for a second and made a horrible feeling grow in his stomach.

"BRUTAL MURDER IN WOLF TROATH. FATHER IS MUTILATED AND DAUGHTER IS MISSING"