Additional Chapter! Thank Xcolibor, vcut, Weeb_Toon_7237, Mister_Tentacle, Slesk, and tiredcabinet for this additional chapter.
Enjoy!
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When you encounter one or two coincidences, you find them curious. When you hit three or four, you start questioning your luck. But when every glance around reveals nothing but coincidences, you just go numb.
That's Klein's life now. Smothered by a barrage of coincidences, he's long past being fazed. He deftly brushed off Leonard's probing, finished his shift, and sought out Jack to share the day's news.
"An Angel? For real?" Evah blinked, unfazed by Klein's intel. He'd already guessed the Evernight Goddess's stance toward him boiled down to observation or tentative goodwill. This news suggested he leaned toward the former.
No surprise there. If the Goddess wasn't sharing intel with the True Creator's crew, observing an unknown entity like him was standard.
Or rather, the "leave Him be" directive carried both observation and a hint of goodwill.
Having sussed out the Goddess's attitude, Evah feigned confusion on the surface. "Don't they say Angels have big wings? I didn't see any on the old guy!"
"You never asked Mr. Lucifer about His Sequence?" Klein asked, puzzled but exasperated.
"I did! He said low-Sequence folks don't need to know too much and shooed me off," Evah said, throwing up his hands as if to say, not my fault.
After all, he wasn't an Angel. Maybe the Goddess's "Him" meant She mistook him for an Outer God.
Klein, recalling Mr. Lucifer's prickly personality, nodded in understanding. After a moment's thought, he asked, "Did your teacher ever mention anything about Leonard?"
"Leonard? Who's that?" Evah looked at him, puzzled.
"My colleague, also a Nighthawk," Klein said, giving a brief description of Leonard's appearance. It wasn't something he needed to hide from Evah, who could easily dig it up if he wanted.
"Oh, that idiot!" Evah's face lit up with recognition.
Now it was Klein's turn to be confused. Sure, he sometimes thought Leonard wasn't the sharpest, but… idiot? Where'd that come from?
Evah grinned and explained, "My teacher did mention someone matching your description. When I asked if our family ancestor was still alive, he said the ancestor was mooching off an idiot. I asked what kind of idiot, and his description pretty much matches the guy you just described."
He paused, as if something clicked, and looked at Klein. "Wait, does that mean the ancestor's currently hitching a ride with your colleague?"
Klein: …
What a bombshell!
And why was it always the Zoroasts? Klein felt like he was drowning in Zoroasts.
For a moment, he was at a loss for words. His mind flashed back to his second meeting with Leonard, when the "idiot"—er, Leonard—had rambled about "the wheels of history" and "two protagonists meeting," all that chuunibyou nonsense. Klein had chalked it up to Leonard being a dork, but apparently, the guy was literally carting around an old grandpa.
Talk about a retro Dragon-Proud-Sky protagonist setup!
"Not just him, though. My own setup's pretty protagonist-tier: transmigrator, gray fog cheat code, probably watched by multiple big shots…" Klein griped internally, then thought of the amnesiac Mr. Azik and glanced at Evah. He couldn't help but sigh aloud, "Tingen's just too full of prodigies!"
Look at this tiny city, bursting with protagonist templates.
Even high-Sequence beings, possibly Angels, were piling up—Klein could almost count them on one hand: Mr. Azik, the mysterious figure who took Azik's son's skull, Mr. Lucifer, and Leonard's grandpa.
Just one more high-Sequence, and they'd hit a full five.
"Aren't high-Sequences supposed to be rare? Why do I feel like they're everywhere?" Klein grumbled inwardly, a sense of urgency creeping in.
A sleepy little city like this, swarming with high-Sequences? By any narrative logic, something big was brewing to justify this lineup.
Klein turned to Evah, asking, "Jack, what do you know about your ancestor?"
"Probably a decent guy?" Evah said, his expression thoughtful. "My teacher once said Pallez—y'know, the Zoroast family ancestor—is a rare conscience in the Marauder pathway. Though, I got the sense my teacher doesn't like him much. Maybe some personal grudge."
Sensing Klein's concern, he added reassuringly, "So your colleague's probably fine. This might even be a big opportunity for him."
Klein's eyelid twitched at the mention of the Marauder pathway, his stereotype of it deepening, but he relaxed a bit.
Though he hadn't known Leonard long, he genuinely didn't want the guy ending up as a high-Sequence's snack or suffering the fate of that Zoroast in the diary.
From the sound of it, Leonard's grandpa might actually be one of the good ones.
...
"Achoo!"
"What's with the sneezing, old man? You catching a cold?" Leonard asked, curious.
Pallez chuckled. "Instead of worrying about my health, you should worry about your colleague."
"Klein?" Leonard blinked, suddenly nervous. "What's wrong with him?"
"He…" Pallez paused, as if recalling something, then said after a beat, "He's fine."
"You think I'm an idiot?" Leonard snapped, but Pallez was clearly done talking. No matter how Leonard pressed, he got nothing.
Frustrated, Leonard gave up and shifted to the day's events. "That Mr. Luciferiel's probably the Lucifer Evah mentioned, right? The descriptions match."
"Possibly," Pallez said, noncommittal.
Leonard didn't mind, continuing, "So Evah wasn't lying. The Chaos Sovereign might really be allied with the Goddess." His expression turned a bit dejected.
If that was true, then everything Evah had said before was likely true too.
"Kid, I told you divine matters aren't that simple. Finally believe me?" Pallez's voice carried a touch of sarcasm, then turned earnest. "Trust in the gods' might, but not Their Benevolence. That's my only advice."
(End of Chapter)