Chapter 561: A Test from Klein (End)

Chapter 561: A Test from Klein (End)

After dinner, Hastur asked Neil the butler to arrange a room for Klein.

During a brief rest, Sharon came to Hastur's study and found him smiling with great interest while holding a stack of Roselle's diaries. He occasionally shook his head, seemingly skeptical about the contents.

"Sharon, come look at this magic circle," Hastur beckoned. Sharon walked over and saw a six-pointed star magic circle drawn on a piece of paper. She didn't see anything particularly impressive or amusing about it.

Hastur deliberately said mysteriously, "This is a magic circle left by Emperor Roselle that can traverse time and space."

Sharon lowered her head and studied it carefully again, feeling that the magic circle was simple and easy to understand, but the lines were obviously too simple to be a magic circle for traversing time and space. It might not even be a magic circle at all.

A child could draw such a pattern with a tree branch on the ground. It couldn't possibly possess extraordinary power.

"Do you believe it?" Sharon calmly looked at Hastur, as if saying, "Do you really believe such childish nonsense?"

"Hahaha..." Hastur couldn't hold back his laughter and pointed at the six-pointed star magic circle, "I believe it's a magic circle, but I don't believe it can traverse time and space."

"Try it," Sharon suggested Hastur draw a magic circle as a demonstration.

"No need," Hastur shook his head with a light laugh, "It requires special methods and a summoning device to take effect."

"Really?" Sharon still didn't believe it and lowered her head to examine the six-pointed star magic circle again, still not accepting it as a magic circle.

"It's been a long time since I found something so interesting. Dwayne Dantes really knows how to entertain me."

"Oh," Sharon raised an eyebrow slightly, "Have you been finding our time together boring lately?"

Realizing he had misspoken, Hastur quickly apologized and tried to make amends, "It's precisely because the days with you are too interesting that now when I look at anything else, I can't get excited about it."

"Lies," Sharon scoffed lightly, "You just made that up on the spot."

"..." Hastur put down the stack of Roselle's diaries and said with a smile, "Sharon, I have no secrets from you now."

"Another lie."

"..." Hastur cleared his throat, "Then let's speak some truths."

Sharon just looked at him silently, as if trying to read whether Hastur's next words would be true or false.

"Sharon, you're truly beautiful."

"Truth."

"Sharon, you're so adorable."

This time Sharon didn't speak, just looking at Hastur with a hint of tenderness in her gaze.

"Sharon, I want to hold you forever."

"Sharon, I want to do things with you that make you easily embarrassed."

Before Hastur could continue, Sharon turned and left.

...

"Is there really nothing suspicious?" Klein walked alone in the nearby garden under the pretext of taking a stroll.

He had been staying in this castle for two days, but through his daily observations, he couldn't glimpse any unusual aspects of Hastur's life.

Hastur's daily routine was very regular. Previously, he used to sleep in Miss Sharon's room at night, but recently, due to Klein's arrival, he returned to his own bedroom to rest.

He would wake up in the morning, groom himself, go downstairs for breakfast, take the little girl named Aisala out for a walk, then return to his study to read or handle some miscellaneous matters.

At noon, he would usually take a nap for half an hour to an hour.

In the afternoon, he would invite Miss Sharon and some people from the castle to go out for activities like horseback riding, archery, or hunting.

After dinner in the evening, he would basically stay in his study, going to bed around ten o'clock.

This was Hastur's simple and uneventful day.

Seeing no breakthrough progress from Hastur, Klein deliberately chatted with the maids, workers, gardeners, cooks, and others working in the castle, subtly inquiring about Hastur's situation during their conversations.

The only secret worth hearing that he discovered was that Aisala was not Hastur's biological daughter, but had suddenly appeared a few months ago, and Miss Sharon was Hastur's long-time happy partner.

Besides this, he hadn't uncovered any other meaningful information in the castle.

There was no way to confirm that Hastur was a transmigrator like himself based on this.

He also tried to perform divinations above the gray fog, but he didn't get any useful information. Even simple divinations, as long as they involved Hastur, were never successful.

Almost three days had passed, and he had to temporarily postpone his plan to expose Hastur's true identity. After all, he couldn't keep staying here letting Hastur support him, even though the life of waking at sunrise and resting at sunset was quite pleasant.

So, on the morning of the third day, Klein expressed his intention to leave to Hastur.

"Mr. Hastur, I have already wasted too much of your precious time. Although I very much enjoy the living environment here, and everything here fascinates me immensely, I need to go back to manage the business I've neglected. So I think an hour from now would be the best time for me to leave."

"Mr. Dwayne Dantes, this is truly a regrettable decision. You know, this place is remote, and we rarely have visitors from Backlund throughout the year."

"That's because your friends don't know what a beautiful place this is, no, it's a paradise on earth."

"I'm flattered by your praise, it makes me, living in this secluded place, feel somewhat gratified."

"I'm just honestly describing my feelings."

"Honesty is praiseworthy."

Klein and Hastur stood together, reluctant to part, their polite exchange making Aisala, who was listening nearby, feel uncomfortable. She quickly slipped away to play alone in the garden.

Sharon, on the contrary, listened with great interest. From her perspective, this Dwayne Dantes was definitely not a simple character, and he held some important significance for Hastur.

Although on the surface, Hastur seemed to have a deeper friendship and better relationship with Gehrman and the others, she could be certain that in Hastur's heart, this Dwayne Dantes definitely ranked higher than Gehrman and the rest.

Not just anyone could make Hastur treat them so seriously.

So she was very interested in listening to the conversation between the two, watching the smiles on their faces that were so fake they almost seemed real, which made her even more interested in observing.

"I'm truly reluctant to see you leave. Alas, your departure will deprive me of necessary solace in the days to come, which is undoubtedly painful," said Hastur.

"I too feel regret and even sorrow about this, but partings are for better reunions, so let's look forward to the joy of our next meeting."

After Klein finished speaking, he and Hastur exchanged a glance, then both tactfully averted their gazes, feeling goosebumps rise on their arms. The conversation had become too sickeningly sweet for even them to bear.

Before leaving, Hastur personally escorted Klein to the castle's main gate. Just as Klein was about to board the carriage, he suddenly said, "Mr. Hastur, until we meet again."

"..." Hastur instinctively wanted to reply with the same phrase.

Fortunately, he suddenly came to his senses and stopped the words that had already reached the tip of his tongue.

Klein's last sentence was neither in Loen language, nor in ancient Feysac, nor in ancient Hermes, but in pure Mandarin Chinese!

Hearing his native language after so long, Hastur almost blurted it out.

Thankfully, fortunately, he didn't follow up with those four words in Chinese.

Otherwise, his identity as a transmigrator would have been directly exposed to Klein.

Without long-term immersion and practice, it's impossible to speak pure Chinese without a foreign accent upon first hearing it.

Well played, Klein, you bushy-browed, big-eyed fellow. When did that kind heart of yours become so cunning?

"Mr. Dwayne Dantes, what... what language is this? I've never heard it before," Hastur asked in shock, using the pure Loen language with a Backlund noble accent.

"Mr. Hastur, please forgive my rudeness. It's a blessing language I learned from the natives of a remote island during my sea travels," Klein replied with a full smile. "The general meaning of this blessing is: We will eventually meet again in the future, may we each bask in the sanctity of the same sun."

"Mr. Dwayne Dantes is truly knowledgeable and talented," Hastur complimented insincerely, then smiled and said, "This language sounds quite interesting. I wonder if it's difficult to learn?"

"I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you. I didn't systematically learn this language at the time, I only learned this one blessing," Klein lied smoothly. After all, they were both playing the same game; he didn't believe Hastur had always been truthful either.

"Where is this island located?"

"Oh, it's in a turbulent sea area directly west of the Star Highlands in West Balam. If you go a bit further south, pass a small cluster of islands, you can see the location of that island. The trees there are particularly distinctive, regardless of the species, they're all bare, making it easy to identify."

Klein described it convincingly, even drawing a simple route map in the air for Hastur.

Hastur knew Klein was definitely making this up. There was absolutely no such island in that sea area!

Klein also knew Hastur would never take the time to search for it.

Even if Hastur did send someone to look, the sea is vast, and it would be normal to search in the wrong direction or the wrong place, right?

Taking it a step further, even if Hastur didn't believe his words, what did it matter?

Everyone has their own little secrets, and Hastur was no exception.

The two men exchanged smiles, their faces once again covered with expressions of reluctance to part. Klein bid farewell once more in the Loen language before boarding the carriage and leaving.