Chapter 26: Unexpected Encounter

Pausing a few paces away, Klein fixed his hair, which had become disheveled by the run, and rearranged his bronze laurel. Wiping the dust from his waistcoat and shirt, he could only sigh in relief that he had chosen to wear cheap clothes.

'If it was the nine sassem suit that fell into that filth, I was going to cry...' his lips quivered slightly.

With his appearance regained, Klein entered the building. There was a lot of movement; multiple blue collars were removing damaged tiles and replacing them with new ones. Others were repairing damage to walls or baseboards.

'Looks like they're doing a makeover...' Klein looked at the scene curiously for a few moments before putting that aside as a person approached him.

It was a man a little older than him, with his hair slicked back and his eyes sparkling. He wore good clothes and had a bronze bracelet running up his arm. This well-dressed man stood in front of him;

"Good afternoon, sir. I'm Assistant Eleanor. Welcome to Apex Financial Solution. Sorry for the noise; we are going through some remunerations. What can I help you with this afternoon?"

Quickly stepping into his role, Klein gave a simple nod as he placed his hand on his chest;

"Good afternoon, Mr. Eleanor. I'm Sherlock Moriarty, a private detective. I'm sorry to disturb you, but I was chasing a suspect who slipped through one of your windows. I would like your permission to investigate and catch him."

Eleanor's expression was somewhat confused and alarmed. "Excuse me, you say someone has broken into the firm?"

"It's a young boy who's been missing for several weeks. He's not dangerous. He's just scared. He won't hurt anyone. I need your permission to go into your basement to look for him and get him out. Just that, then he won't bother you anymore." Klein said, looking around him.

'I hope there's no other way out down there. It would be extremely embarrassing if they let me check, and it turns out he's not there anymore.... Of course, if they let me, I can always come back at night and sneak in and get him.'

The assistant's face furrowed slightly: "Excuse me, Mr Moriarty, but that's impossible. We keep important documents down there, and I can't let you in just because you asked me to."

Normally, Klein would have been calm with that and walked out of the firm, but now he couldn't give up on so little.

While he had no problem sneaking in at night, he hoped to avoid that as much as possible. With the kind of country Lenburg was, any trouble that would bring him to the attention of the police had to be avoided!

With that in mind, he decided to fight for the assistant's humanity.

Frowning slightly, Klein looked at the man pleadingly. In a stuttering voice, he said:

"Please, Mr. Eleanor. The boy is in serious condition, if you had seen him you would understand what I mean. His ribs are showing, and he is extremely dirty and disturbed. His grandfather, the only family he has left, is extremely worried.

"Since he disappeared two weeks ago, he has not stopped looking for him and has finally been forced to hire a detective to help him, and the police have not been able to find him.

"Please, I beg you, Mr. Eleanor. Don't keep this family apart any longer."

"I-I. It's just..." Stumbling over his words, Eleanor took a stunned step back, a frown and intense mourning in his expression.

After a few moments, the man gritted his teeth and let out a long sigh. "Please wait here. I'll talk to the boss. He's the one who will decide if you can come in or not."

Eleanor folded his hands: "If he says no, I'm asking you to please drop this, Mr. Moriarty."

"Let him try is all I ask." Klein placed a hand on his chest and bowed deeply.

The orderly looked at him briefly before turning and walking briskly towards the stairs.

...

'Mmm?' Squinting, Adryan paused his review of documents and looked up at the door to his office, already hearing someone coming up the stairs.

After getting a little closer, he determined that the footsteps belonged to his assistant, which caught his attention.

He was supposed to be supervising the repairs on the ground floor.

"It looks like something happened downstairs," Adryan murmured as he looked down at his papers and continued working, waiting for Eleanor to arrive.

After a while and a knock on the door, a somewhat nervous assistant entered the office.

"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Wayne, but there seems to be a problem downstairs."

"What is it?" Adryan asked without looking up from what he was doing, paying close attention to the assistant.

'He looks pretty conflicted. Like he's having trouble deciding something... Did the charity happen to ask for donations for the needy, and he's conflicted about whether he should give or not? After all, right now, we're the ones in need.' Joking a little, he let the man speak.

"A detective came into the firm. He claims to have been chasing a missing young boy and that he came into our basement. He is requesting permission to enter to search for him." Eleanor explained what happened downstairs. A little sweat beaded his forehead from running up the stairs so fast.

Feeling his throat suddenly dry, Adryan lowered the red fountain pen he had been using. Closing his eyes, he let out a deep sigh.

It can't be; it's too early.

Opening his eyes, carbon black looked deeply at Eleanor.

"What is the name of this Detective?"

"Sherlock Moriarty, Mr. Wayne."

"..I understand."

Looking down at his desk but not up at it, his gaze traversed several layers of concrete and steel until he reached the ground floor, where he stood.

Badump! Badump!

His heart raced a little, but Adryan quickly reigned over it and calmed it down.

Sighing once more, he rose from his seat and walked over to Eleanor. "Come on. I want to see if this 'Great Detective' is telling the truth or lying."

"Of course, Mr. Wayne." Nodding at his boss's words, both men left the office.

Before reaching the stairs, Adryan looked over the side of the banister to the ground floor.

Between the blue collars, he could see 'him' and could barely hold back a cackle.

'Oh, baby! Hahahahaha!!! You say Leonard looks gay, but have you ever looked in a mirror?! You look like you enjoy chewing on the pillow! Oh shit! You really do look like a black cat with those big eyes!!!' He had always been amused by the comparison between the Poor God and the felines, but he could understand it now face to face.

It was like comparing two water drops; they were the same!

Quickly averting his eyes before catching his attention, the black-haired man and his assistant went downstairs.

Klein, already somewhat anxious for fear that Ademisaul would escape, was barely able to hold back a sigh of relief as Eleanor returned, but his relief was short-lived as he saw the man coming behind him.

His pupils shrank, and the clown found himself speechless. His eyebrows touched his hair, and his mouth hung slightly. The scene he saw was completely surreal.

There, standing behind Eleanor, walked someone he knew quite well. In fact, he had acted in one of his favorite films.

'Is that Christian Bale?' Klein thought in complete disbelief, his brain short-circuiting a little.

Watching the man's reaction, Adryan didn't hold back his mischievous grin at all. 'I thought you'd only see this face in newspapers, and I'd miss your reaction. I'm glad you recognize me. I wonder what your reaction will be like when you hear my name. You don't look like you have.'

Coming face to face, Adryan smiled and extended his hand towards him. "Mr. Sherlock Moriarty, isn't it? I'm the owner of this firm, Harvey Wayne. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Klein's already sparking brain flashed a blue screen. He stared blankly at the man in front of him.

Barely able to contain his maniacal laughter, Adryan chuckles.

Snapping out of his trance, Klein quickly squeezed the outstretched hand.

"I-it's a pleasure... Mr. Wayne." Still not believing what he was saying, the clown found it difficult to say the name.

This was ridiculous!

'So there are cases like this on other worlds too... How bizarre.' Klein held back the urge to swallow saliva and looked at the 'actor' before him.

"I will assume Mr. Eleanor made you aware of my request."

"Ah, yes. He did." Adryan replied simply, nodding, his lips raising slightly.

Waiting a few seconds for him to continue but seeing that he did not, Klein could only suppress the annoyance slightly. "Then you understand the severity of the situation. I hope it's possible the-

"You can go to the basement. I have no problem with that. But I'll have to accompany you. I can't let you wander down there alone." Adryan cut in, now smiling a little.

"O-oh. Thank you, Mr. Wayne." Klein gave a gentle nod, finding the request entirely reasonable.

"Mr. Wayne, I'll go with you." Eleanor inserted himself into the conversation as he eyed the detective suspiciously. He was uncomfortable with leaving his boss with a stranger down there.

"Don't worry, Eleanor, Mr. Moriarty is a good man. He won't do anything to me; you still have your work to complete here. Don't try to run away from it, yea?" The black-haired man joked a little, but the assistant could only nod somewhat reluctantly.

Giving him one last look, Eleanor returned to check that the workers were doing their jobs properly, leaving the two Beyonders alone.

Smiling at Klein, Adryan turned and looked over his shoulder, "This way, Mr. Moriarty."

'This guy's kind of weird...' The clown said nothing and just followed the man past the reception desk and into a hallway, which led them to a door.

Opening it and revealing the dark stairs, Klein watched as the man began to walk down them without turning on the lights. He didn't mention anything but watched the man in amazement as they descended into the dark basement.

'He didn't turn on the lights to not alert my target that someone was coming in? That's some sharp sense. Also, he seems to have no problem with seeing in the dark... Is he a Beyonder too?' Klein thought as he bit his molar twice and activated his spiritual vision.

The man's aura revealed itself to him, and Klein noticed that the only colors were blue and orange.

'Calm and... Mischief?'

Before he could look any further, Harvey Wayne suddenly stopped and pulled something out of his pocket. Despite the dim light, he could see that it was a pocket watch.

"Why are we stopping? Did you see anything?" Klein whispered, looking around but failing to notice anything.

Harvey didn't respond immediately but turned the crown of the pocket watch to the right. Before he could question what he was doing, the man suddenly spoke.

"It's not very polite to look so deeply into people, you know? Especially if it's with your spiritual vision, you can see things you shouldn't~"

Freezing slightly, Klein instinctively tensed. "I don't understand what you're talking about."

"No need to make excuses, Mr. Clown. I mean you no harm. I want to say hello." Wayne laughed in amusement as he turned around, his black eyes glinting slightly.

Because he didn't seem to be in danger, Klein allowed himself to relax a little but kept his guard up. "Excuse me, but I don't believe I know you."

"Oh, of course." Shaking his head slightly, the man laughed. "Just a moment, let me introduce myself again."

Contrary to what he was expected to do, Klein watched in confusion as the man unbuttoned a few buttons of his shirt in the chest area.

Before he could question what he was doing, the man's face twisted unnaturally as if maggots were crawling under his skin.

'What the fuck?' Startled, the clown watched in a daze as the man's appearance changed in seconds, and not only that, but grew taller several centimeters.

While it was still a little hard to see, his eyes had already adjusted a little so he could see how the man's hair went from coal black to a fiery red that seemed to glow.

His musculature grew quite a bit but also became more aesthetically pleasing. His waist shrank, and to his surprise, he saw his chest grow much larger, stretching his shirt almost to the point of tearing it even though he had unbuttoned several buttons.

It took a moment but Klein immediately recognised the man in front of him which made his eyes widen enormously.

'It's you!'

He tied his silky hair, which now reached his lower back, into a high ponytail with some loose sections framing his face and giving him a look both elegant and wild. His eyes were now a brilliant fiery scarlet that glowed in the dark.

Smiling at the man before him, he gave an elegant bow, "Please allow me to introduce myself again. I am Adryan Kenway. It is an honor to meet you."

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Short announcement

The new art of Adryan will drop in late August or early September.

That will be the new cover of this book, hope you like it.

A little spoiler, he looks JUICYYY... Like DAMMMMMA HE THICCKA

Now you can understand why Flora loses her mind when our Princess wants to 'play' with her.

This one will probably be the last piece for a while, maybe until volume 5. I have to consider whether I want more or not.

Also, I plan to upload this story to AO3 as soon as I have the chance and more time. But I think I'll only do it at the end of this volume, so I have time to edit and post an error-free version.

That's all, see you tomorrow.