Chapter 76: Talking about home

"The same to you, Zhou."

The ridiculous smile on the Magician's face trembled as his eyes became a little watery.

He repeated that name to himself so as not to forget why he got up every day.

Hearing that same name, the only thing he had left of his home, coming from someone else's mouth, someone who came from the same place and, on top of that, in his native language... Klein almost lost control of himself.

But being someone experienced in dealing with extreme emotions, he recovered quickly.

Looking away from the man's scarlet eyes, he motioned for him to follow him.

Moving from his living room to his kitchen, Klein invited Adryan to sit down.

"Coffee or tea?"

Seeing where this was going, the redhead smiled amusedly and nodded.

"Coffee, please." With his second favorite drink ordered, he sat at the table.

The Magician nodded slightly, returning to his handiwork; he simply grabbed the requested item from the void. A cream-colored cup with some steam was placed in front of the redhead.

"I hope you like it. It's the way my mother used to make them." Klein said, sitting beside him with a cup of tea.

"These drinks are just an illusion. They have no caloric or energy value," he added.

"The gesture is still appreciated." Taking a gentle sip of the coffee, Adryan smiled softly, "Remind me to invite you to eat one of these days.

"I can cook you a dish from my country, and you can do the same with yours. It will be a good way to remember our home, don't you think?"

While the idea sounded extremely tempting, Klein couldn't help but feel a little reluctant about it.

"Is that a good idea? Won't it attract attention?"

The larger man shook his head as he sipped his coffee.

"I'm not saying it has to be now or soon. We can organize and do it in 2 months, where it won't look so strange. Besides, with how I paint my identity as Harvey Wayne, no one will blink if I invite a detective to lunch."

Going out with his 'guard' every weekend to the theater, always being with her and even living together...

The idea that Harvey Wayne was a bit weird was already being planted.

"… I wouldn't mind. It's been a while since I cooked something from home. It's a good excuse to do so." Klein closed his eyes, and a variety of dishes he could cook flashed through his mind.

Opening them again, he continued.

"You said you were from Paraguay? Isn't that the country that faced off against three other countries at the same time and lost? Brazil, Argentina, and Bolivia, weren't they?"

Having been a qualified 'keyboard warrior,' Klein considered himself to know something about everything. It wasn't difficult for him to remember the name of one of the participants in South America's bloodiest war.

"Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. The War of the Triple Alliance. And although we lost, we survived." Adryan calmly corrected, ''The war against Bolivia happened more than 50 years later. We called it the Chaco War, and we did win that one.''

Finishing saying that, the redhead mischievously winked at the dark-haired man, ''We Paraguayans are hard to kill.''

"Oh..." Nodding slightly, Klein took a sip of his tea.

"While we're talking about wars..." Adryan raised his cup and turned it around with interest, "Why do you keep saying I'm a Demigod?"

"Cough. Cough... Wh-what?" choking on his tea, the detective looked incredulously at the man beside him.

"You're not?!"

"I barely arrived in this world at the beginning of June this year; how am I supposed to achieve that? Even with the support of the Scarlet Monarch, that's impossible." Adryan laughed at the situation.

"Right now, I'm just a harmless Sequence 6 Conspirator. Far from being recognized or even compared to a Saint."

"Wait! You've only been here a month longer than me?!"

Tilting his head slightly to one side, Adryan looked innocently at the detective, "I never told you? Oh, my fault."

This new information was even worse to Klein who put his hand to his forehead, his mind threatening to break under this influx of information.

'How come he knows so much then? I doubt that the Scarlet Monarch, in the state 'He' is, can give lessons every day at 7 o'clock, so he must have got it some other way... But how?!'

Was the way he transmigrated different from the way he did it?

"Youuu!" Grunting a little, the magician sank deeper into his chair, one hand covering his face and the other making sure the cup didn't spill a drop in a great and spectacular display of balance.

Sighing exasperatedly, Klein put the teacup back on his plate. He covered his mouth and rested his elbow on the table.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're extremely annoying?"

Adryan smiled mischievously and looked at his coffee with relish, "Every day."

"...Pff-"

Klein tried to fight it, but in the end, he just laughed a little, looking exaggeratedly tired.

"If I end up losing control one day, it will undoubtedly be your fault."

'Don't give any bad signals, you bastard.' Ignoring the annoyance that had arisen inside him, Adryan only playfully patted Klein on the back.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure that never happens."

Rolling his eyes at that silly line, and inwardly thanking the man for controlling his strength this time, Klein looked deeply into the amber liquid in his tea.

After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke.

"Hey... Joa. Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead, shoot," Adryan said disinterestedly as he looked at his black coffee.

"Have you managed to discover a way to get back home?"

"..." 

Klein understood the message and could only sigh sadly, "I see... Not even you were able to discover anything..."

"It's not that I haven't discovered anything." Adryan began gently, causing Klein to raise his head suddenly.

"It's just that I can't say it. You're still too weak."

Enlightened, Klein swallowed saliva, "You mean that the knowledge of how to get back home is not safe?

"I never said that." Adryan suppressed with a sigh, "What I'm trying to say is that the reasons we're here go far beyond just going home.

"What I've discovered is not something I can just tell a mid-sequence beyonder. This is something only angels can carry and even they are in danger."

"Not even the Angels are safe..." Mumbling softly, the dark-haired man narrowed his eyes.

Not even those who were supposed to be addressed with their Excellency and 'He'/'She.' Not even beings that surpassed the human being were capable of resisting information?

'Every day, this world became much more terrifying and crazy. With all these problems, how did it even stay standing? Shouldn't it have been destroyed a long time ago?'

Before the formulas were discovered and the method for moving forward 'safely' established, the monsters advanced, consuming everything in their path, making them crazy, bloody, and extremely dangerous.

How was it that human beings were able to survive that? Not to mention this planet?

In part, Klein knew the answer to this. Thanks to Joa's request and Sun's information.

'The Creator who Created everything... When 'He' rose, the Ancient Gods fell one by one...'

Without a doubt, that 'Creator' was the light of humanity.

Although Klein was curious to know what happened to such an existence and was sure that the man in front of him had the answer, he would not inquire or ask because he knew that the answer would remain the same.

"You are still weak."

He could ask that only by advancing in the sequences, so he left that aside and asked another question.

"Do you know how you transmigrated?"

The ritual of increasing luck brought him to this world and gave him access to the 'Sefirah Castle.' Maybe if he knew how Joa transmigrated, he could learn more about how to return.

Perhaps he also performed some ritual and said the honorific name of some mysterious entity?

The corners of Adryan's lips trembled slightly, and he closed his eyes with a sigh.

"I read a novel."

"... You're joking, right?" Klein looked stunned.

Feeling a sudden wave of embarrassment, Adryan decided to defend himself the best way he knew how to; throw the towel at someone else.

"Hey. At least it's not as bad as Huang Tao. That idiot transmigrated because he bought a silver plate!"

"Huang Tao?" Klein blinked a little confusedly before his eyes lit up.

"That's Roselle's real name?" It was a relatively simple name for such a notorious man.

"Yep." Adryan exploded his tongue as he sipped his coffee, "What about you? How did you end up in this hole?"

Faced with the sudden scrutiny, Klein looked away as he raised his cup of tea.

"… I did a ritual to increase my luck..."

A loud slap sounded at his side, and Klein turned to see the red-haired man rubbing his face.

"Oh Monarch, give me patience... If I tried to do a ritual of any kind, my mom would kill me and exorcise me right there...

"At least Roselle and mine was bad luck, but yours? Oh fuck! You literally played with fire and got burned!"

Klein's cheeks turned red, and he could only cough uncomfortably.

He had already realized the stupidity he had committed once he had deepened his studies with Old Neil, knowing that the chant in the ritual was the honorific name of a mysterious entity.

But at least that made much more sense than what Joa was saying. How was it possible that he had transmigrated into this world by reading a novel?

Perhaps the content of the book was unique?

With that in mind, his question was quick to follow.

"Joa, what kind of book was it? What was in it? Is there anything in it that caught your attention, or is it perhaps strange?"

"It was a web novel. I read it pirated because I would not pay 500 dollars for pages I can't touch." Saying that the redhead couldn't help but laugh ungracefully.

"Maybe that annoyed some existence? 'You dare to consume my writings without paying the proper sacrifice? Your soul is mine!' How stupid." Grumbling at the end, he looked at the look Klein gave him and could only close his mouth.

Both knew that when taking things from existences, it was necessary to pay a corresponding 'sacrifice'. So, his joke could very well be the truth.

But the redhead doubted it was as simple as that.

So, leaning back in his chair, he sighed and looked at the kitchen ceiling.

"But yes. The content of the book was special.

"It was about a fantasy world, set in the distant past where people obtained powers through potions and rituals, where knowledge was dangerous and much more lethal than many of the Deities that ruled the planet.

"It was clear that the author based it on Lovecraft and Bloodborne. Very good story, by the way."

"That world sounds a lot like this one..." Klein murmured, disturbed.

He had read many cases like these in various novels. People who read books often find themselves trapped in the stories, often without explanation.

If it turned out that they were in a book, the information Joa could possess was much greater than he could imagine. He could have all the secrets in the world!

"Perhaps the book you read was a glimpse into this one? Did you read the future? How did it end?"

"The only thing it had in common was the 'power system' and some similar deities." The redhead shrugged

"And I wouldn't know what to tell you about the ending. It ends like any other story. The protagonist embarks on a new adventure into the unknown. There was supposed to be another book the following year, but as you can see, I couldn't read it."

Sighing, the redhead placed a hand on Klein's shoulder for support.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but even in these situations, there is no manual to tell you what to do and how to proceed."

At his words, Klein could only sigh - something he had been doing a lot recently now that he realized.

"Don't worry Joa. While it would be very useful if there were a 'manual' to tell us what to do, it would certainly be something I couldn't read even if I wanted to."

"You know words." Patting his back one last time, Adryan finally removed his hand.

Grabbing his cup back, he looked at the television in the distance and at the date on it.

"Zhou. You transmigrated from 2018, didn't you?"

"Yes, why?" Klein calmly took his tea, somewhat surprised by the question.

In turn, he couldn't help but worry. He didn't like the way the man was looking at him...

His fears were confirmed the next second.

"Because I transmigrate in 2023."

The man's words were like a knife stabbed into his heart.

Crack!

His cup shattered on the floor, and Klein turned slowly, his expression broken in horror.

"What?"

---

Eight people have registered for the giveaway;

Cellhex, killua32829, RexNight, Sparks, SR_2027, Vitor, Black D. Joako and anwar abdalla.

Remember that to participate, all you have to do is send an email to my email or a dm to my Twitter account.

thewitness0123@gmail.com

@TheWitnessFoD