While Klein prayed for his friend's acquaintance, the protagonist, Lynn, maintained a façade of confusion and sorrow while secretly sending out his divine avatar. The destination was not the Harvest Church but the place described in the original novel where the Master Key was produced—the location of the unfortunate Abraham family member's death.
The divine avatar would wait there for the main persona to arrive, receive the Master Key, and then call Bethel. This approach would better help Lynn perfect his persona, reinforce the illusion of possessing the prophecy ability of the Angel of Secrets, and reduce the risk of exposure.
As Lynn skillfully multitasked, Father Utravsky finally emerged from the residential area with a stranger. The young man, who appeared to be around twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old, had black hair, red eyes, a high nose bridge, and thin lips. Though handsome, he wasn't overly masculine. This was Emlyn White.
As noted by the author of the original novel, Emlyn was quite the looker. Even after witnessing many high-value humans and mythological beings since his transmigration, Lynn had to admit that Emlyn White, despite being a bit naive, was indeed a top-tier handsome guy—just slightly less so than himself.
At this moment, however, Emlyn's expression was quite sour, clearly indicating a foul mood.
"You didn't tell me that this old man would put me under a psychological suggestion..." Emlyn, who could recognize people by the scent of their blood even without seeing them face-to-face, immediately identified the person he had communicated with earlier. He walked up to Lynn and complained discontentedly.
"Father Utravsky likely did it to ensure you wouldn't break your promise. If you had no intention of doing so, this psychological suggestion wouldn't affect you. Or were you planning to break the agreement?" Lynn smiled, seemingly having adjusted his emotions.
"Of course, I wasn't going to break the agreement..." Emlyn retorted without thinking. He frowned and grumbled, "I'm just worried that the old man might implant other suggestions, like converting me to the Earth Mother's faith or something..."
"I wouldn't do that. It goes against the Mother's teachings..." Father Utravsky looked at Emlyn White and, without any ambiguity, shook his head directly.
Father Utravsky then gave a long-winded speech, summarizing that "if you are destined to believe in the Earth Mother, you will naturally be guided and converted by Her, as She does not wish us to forcefully change others' beliefs."
"Hmph, you say that, but who knows what you're actually doing..." Emlyn wasn't willing to listen to Father Utravsky's sermon. Yet, it was clear he felt relieved, indicating that he didn't entirely distrust the priest.
Emlyn then looked at Lynn and asked, "Do you really want to know the origin of the Master Key?"
"Yes, considering we have rescued you. Could you tell us?" Lynn replied with a smile.
"It's not a problem to tell you. After all, you did rescue me. Otherwise, who knows how long I would have been locked up..." Emlyn nodded. Unlike in the original novel, where he tried to deceive Klein, Emlyn, feeling indebted to Lynn and Klein, had no intention of lying. He briefly explained the origin of the Master Key.
This matter dated back a month. At that time, Emlyn, who had spent all his money on buying figurines and was so broke he had to steal blood bottles from hospitals, accidentally encountered a thief. After catching the thief, he found the Master Key on them.
"...The thief got the key from 32 Verdi Street in the Southern Bridge District. As for more detailed information, I'm not sure. You might have to check that address to find out more."
Emlyn shrugged. He truly didn't know more since the Master Key had only passed through his hands briefly.
Hearing this, Lynn exchanged a glance with Klein, who then took out a coin and performed a divination in front of everyone.
"He's not lying." Klein said after finishing the divination and putting away the coin.
"Why would I lie? There's no need for me to deceive you..." Emlyn grumbled, crossing his arms and looking at Lynn and Klein. "You're going to check out that place next, right? I want to go with you."
Previously, Emlyn had no interest in the origin of the Master Key—after all, it was just a low-level sealed artifact, useful as long as it worked. However, having been imprisoned by the key and now needing to volunteer at the church daily and listen to the Earth Mother's teachings, Emlyn felt it necessary to understand the key's origin. Otherwise, he felt he would suffer a loss.
"If you want to come, then come. Once we figure out the key's origin, I can send you back. Although your parents have moved, I'm still waiting for you to pay me the commission fee. As a Sanguine, Mr. Emlyn, you wouldn't default on a detective's commission, would you?" Lynn smiled at Emlyn.
"Commission fee..." Emlyn hesitated, then stiffened. He instinctively searched his pockets but found no money. All his belongings had been confiscated when he was captured.
"I... I won't shortchange you on the commission fee. I'll write to my parents, and the commission won't be less than agreed." Emlyn said, looking away, clearly embarrassed.
Lynn couldn't help but laugh. He found Emlyn White, the sanguine, very interesting. Despite being morally upright to the point of stealing blood bottles from hospitals without remorse, his ethical standards were high.
'Maybe because he didn't consider stealing blood bottles to be theft? After all, it's a matter of survival...' Lynn mused, dismissing further thought. He bid farewell to Father Utravsky and left the Harvest Church with Klein and Emlyn White. They took public places to 32 Verdi Street in the Southern Bridge District.
The carriage soon arrived at their destination. As the group got off and approached the house at 32 Verdi Street, they found the door already open.
(End of Chapter)
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