After confirming his plan, Klein immediately felt he had a mental crutch, and his unease was swept away into a corner of his mind.
Only then did he have the mood to carefully study his memory fragments.
He habitually stood up before turning off the pipe's valve and watched as the wall lamp gradually dimmed until its flame was extinguished before sitting back down. As he fiddled with the revolver's brass cylinder again, he slowly but vividly recalled his memories in the crimson-dyed darkness.
Perhaps as a result of having a bullet pass through his head, Klein's memories were like shattered glass, and not only were the memories not contiguous, but there were many spots that were clearly missing. For example, memories pertaining to how the revolver appeared in his possession, whether he had really committed suicide or was killed, as well as the meaning of the notebook's words 'Everyone will die, including me', or whether he had participated in anything odd two days before the incident.
It was the same even for knowledge he ought to know. In light of the present situation, Klein believed that if he were to return to university, it was unlikely he could graduate, despite him having left campus just days ago.
He needed to participate in Tingen University's History department interview two days later...
The university graduates of Loen Kingdom do not have the tradition of staying at their alma mater... His mentor had given him a recommendation letter for Tingen University and Backlund University.
Through the window, Klein silently observed the red moon setting in the west. The gradual sinking continued until faint light glowed from the east, dyeing the horizon golden.
At that moment, there was a commotion inside the apartment, and the sound of footsteps approached his door.
Melissa is awake... Due to his new memories, seeing Melissa made him feel as though she was really his younger sister.
However, I do not have a younger sister... He immediately contradicted himself.
Melissa was different from Benson and Klein. Her rudimentary education was not completed at the Sunday school classes offered by the Church of Evernight. When she reached schooling age, the Loen Kingdom had enacted the 'Basic Education Law.'—a Primary and Secondary Education Committee was established and was specially provided with funding, increasing the kingdom's investment in education.
In less than three years, under the premise that numerous church schools would be incorporated, many public primary schools were established to strictly maintain the principle of religious neutrality—to prevent education from involving itself in the conflicts between the Lord of Storms, the Evernight Goddess, and the God of Steam and Machinery.
Compared to Sunday school, which only cost a copper penny a week, a public primary school's cost of three pence a week appeared rather expensive. However, the former only provided education every Sunday, whereas the latter provided six days of classes a week.
Melissa was different from most girls. From a young age, she enjoyed things like gears, springs, and bearings, and her ambition was to be a steam mechanic.
Having suffered from a lack of culture, Benson, who knew the importance of education, supported his sister's dreams just like he supported Klein's university education.
In July last year, a fifteen-year-old Melissa passed her entrance examinations and fulfilled her dreams of becoming a student at the Tingen Technical School's Steam and Machinery department. As such, her weekly school fees were raised to nine pence.
Meanwhile, Benson's company was affected by the situation on the Southern Continent. There was a drastic drop both in profit and business transactions, and more than a third of the employees were retrenched. In order to keep his job and maintain their livelihood, Benson could only accept more arduous tasks, working overtime more frequently, or heading to places with harsh environments—that was what he was occupied with the past few days.
It was not that Klein did not think of helping share his brother's burden, but being born a commoner and having been admitted into an average grammar school, he felt a strong sense of inadequacy when he enrolled in university. For example, as the origin of all languages in the Northern Continent, the ancient language of Feysac was something all the children of nobles and of the wealthy class would learn from a young age. In contrast, he only made first contact with it in university.
He faced many similar aspects during his schooling career—Klein nearly gave his all and often stayed up late into the night and woke up early but barely managed to catch up to the others, eventually allowing him to graduate with average results.
Memories regarding his elder brother and younger sister remained active in Klein's mind until he turned the doorknob open and jolted awake, remembering that he held a revolver in his hand.
This was a semi-regulated item!
It will scare the children!
With Melissa arriving at any moment, Klein hurriedly pulled open the desk drawer, throwing the revolver in before slamming it close.
"What happened?" Melissa looked over curiously when she heard the commotion.
She was in the prime of her youth. Even though she didn't have much nutritious food to eat, making her face thin and slightly pale, her skin remained lustrous as it exuded the vibes of a young girl.
When Klein saw his sister's brown eyes, he composed himself before calmly closing the drawer to conceal the existence of the revolver.
He took out a silver vine-leaf pocket watch and pressed the top gently, causing its cover to flip open.
It was a picture of the siblings' father. The watch was the most valuable item the Imperial Army sergeant left behind, but being a second-hand item, it would often malfunction from time to time in recent years, even though he had gotten a watchsmith to fix it. This had embarrassed Benson, who often enjoyed bringing it with him to elevate his status, and in the end it was kept away back at home.
It had to be said that perhaps Melissa did have talent in machinery. After grasping the principles behind the watch, she borrowed the tools from her Technical School to fiddle with the pocket watch, and recently she claimed to have fixed it.
Klein looked at the watch's open cover, seeing that the second hand was not moving, and subconsciously he twisted the top dial to wind the pocket watch.
However, despite winding it a few times, he did not hear the sound of taut springs, and the second hand remained motionless.
"It looks like it's broken again." He looked at his sister while trying to find a topic of conversation.
Melissa shot him a glance and briskly walked over, taking the pocket watch away.
She stood in her spot and pulled up the button sitting atop the pocket watch, and with a few simple turns, the tick-tocking of the second hand sounded.
Isn't pulling the button up usually meant to adjust the time... Klein's expression immediately turned blank.
At that moment, a bell began to chime six times from a faraway cathedral, sounding distant and ethereal.
Melissa tilted her head, listening to it, and pulled the button up once again. Following that, she turned it to synchronize the time.
"It's okay now," she said simply, and then pressed the top button back and handed the pocket watch back to Klein.
Klein returned a smile politely in embarrassment. Melissa gave him a piercing stare before turning to walk to the cupboard, taking her toiletries and towel before opening the door, heading for the public bathroom.
Why did her expression have a look of disparagement and resignation? Is it a look of love and concern for a retarded brother?
Klein closed the pocket watch's cover with a click before opening it again. He repeated this action as his idle thoughts focused on a question.
Klein committed suicide without a silencer. Well, I'll consider it suicide for now. This should have caused quite a commotion; yet, Melissa, who was just a wall away, did not notice it at all.
Was she sleeping too soundly? Or is Klein's suicide shrouded in mystery to begin with?
Click! The pocket watch opened. Clack! The pocket watch closed... Melissa returned from washing up and saw her brother's act of constantly opening and closing the pocket watch.
"Klein, take out all the remaining bread. Remember to buy fresh ones today. There's meat and peas too. Your interview is soon. I'll make you mutton stewed with peas." As she spoke, she moved a stove out from a corner, and with some charcoal, she boiled a pot of hot water.
Before the water boiled, she opened the cupboard's lowest drawer and took out a can of inferior tea leaves. She threw about ten leaves into the pot and pretended that it was genuine tea.
Melissa poured two big cups of tea as she shared two pieces of rye bread with Klein over tea.
There was no excessive gluten mixed in, but it is unappetizing. Klein, still feeling weak and starving, forced himself to swallow the bread with the tea while complaining inwardly.
Melissa finished eating and looked at Klein. "Remember to buy fresh bread. All we need is eight pounds. The weather is hot, so the bread will easily spoil. Also, buy mutton and peas. Remember to buy them!"
Indeed, she was showing concern for her dull brother. She even had to repeat herself to emphasize...
"Alright." Klein nodded.
Melissa, not saying anything more, stood up and tidied the area. After packing away the last bit of bread for lunch, she put on a tattered veil cap that their mother left behind, picked up a self-sewn bag used for carrying her books and stationery, and prepared to leave.
It was not Sunday, so she had an entire day of classes to attend.
Walking from their apartment to the Tingen Technical School took about fifty minutes. There were public horse carriages that cost a penny a kilometer, with a limit of four pence in the city and six pence in the city outskirts. In order to save money, Melissa would leave ahead of time and walk to school.
After she opened the main door, she paused in her footsteps and turned her body halfway. "Klein, don't buy too much mutton or peas. Benson might come back on Sunday. Oh, and remember, we only need eight pounds of bread."
"Alright. Sure thing," Klein answered exasperatedly and repeated the word 'Sunday' a few times in his head.
In the Northern Continent, a year was similarly split into twelve months. Every year, there were 365 or 366 days. A week was similarly split into seven days.
The splitting of months was a result of astronomical observations—and it made Klein suspect whether he was in a parallel world. As for the splitting of days, it was a result of religion. This was because the Northern Continent had seven orthodox gods—the Eternal Blazing Sun, the Lord of Storms, the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, the Evernight Goddess, the Earth Mother, the God of Combat, and the God of Steam and Machinery.
Watching his sister close the door and leave, Klein sighed, and his thoughts focused on the luck enhancement ritual.