"I don't think I owe anyone an explanation. Klein is my teacher, and I brought friends to visit him. Isn't that perfectly reasonable?" Amon said, far calmer than Antigonus. He adjusted the monocle on his face with a slight smile.
Alaric glanced at him, gave a faint smile, and said, "Let's hope so."
Only then did Alaric turn to the other two in the room. "Do you have anything to say?"
"Uh, Amon and Mr. Antigonus didn't harm me. They just asked some questions about you," Klein said honestly, adding, "Of course, I didn't tell them anything."
"Klein didn't spill any details about you. In fact, he was subtly trying to get information from them. I could tell," Lil' Amon chimed in from the side. His words, however, brought a flush of embarrassment to Klein's face.
After all, trying to gather information was one thing, but being called out on it was another.
Alaric, disguised as Lucifer, glanced at Klein, chuckled, and shook his head. "Fine, as long as you all know your limits."
He then looked at Jack nearby. "Didn't you keep going on about giving Klein a gift? Now that he's here, why so quiet?"
"I was just giving you some space, old man. If I spoke up, how could you keep lecturing them?" Jack shot a strange look at Lucifer, speaking as if it were the most obvious thing.
"Should I praise you for being so considerate and well-behaved, then?" Lucifer's tone made it hard to tell if he was mocking or sincere.
"No need for that. Facts don't need emphasizing," Jack replied without hesitation. He then turned to Klein, eagerly handing over a book titled Top Detective. "Klein, here, it's been a while. This is my gift for you... Fors' latest masterpiece."
"..."
Had this day finally come?
Klein, with a hint of dread, recalled how Jack had once enthusiastically told him about commissioning a novel from Miss Magician. His vision seemed to darken.
He stiffly took the book from Jack, flipped open the title page, and was hit with another blow.
What kind of story is this? 'Does the detective dream of a puppet maiden?'
Klein's mouth twitched. Following the principle that short-term pain was better than prolonged suffering, he flipped further, quickly reaching the table of contents. One glance was enough to sap his courage to continue.
Just from the cover, Klein could already imagine the wild, dramatic detective-mystery-romance story it contained.
To be honest, as a transmigrator, Klein had read plenty of convoluted love stories in his past life. If the protagonist wasn't named Sherlock, or if the story wasn't a fabricated tale based on him and Miss Sharron, he wouldn't have reacted this way.
But… reading a romance fanfiction about himself was just too much!
Especially when Klein thought of Miss Magician's fame and how this book might sell like wildfire in the future, his vision darkened further.
Jack, however, wasn't done. The friend, sweet inside despite his outward demeanor, leaned closer with a grin. "Besides this one, Fors has also finished the opening for The Bounty Hunter and the Pirate Queen."
"As for Clara's love story, it's just an outline for now, but when I last saw her, I gave her some suggestions. Mainly about the love interest's character design... like a romantic green-eyed poet, or an innocent noble lady… ugh!"
Before Jack could finish, Klein, unable to take it anymore, reached out and covered his mouth. Half exasperated, half incredulous, Klein said, "Wait, if it's the female lead's lover, why is there an innocent noble lady?"
Alaric, disguised as Jack, broke free from his grip and answered matter-of-factly, "Because the book has some light yuri elements besides the usual romance. Though, I prefer to call it a deep friendship."
"..."
In that moment, Klein didn't know whether to marvel at his friend's eclectic taste in pairings or at Fors' audacity to write anything and everything.
Klein took a deep breath, unable to calm his roiling emotions. Looking at his friend, he said earnestly, "How about sticking to pure romance? Seriously, don't ship such a chaotic mix."
He really didn't want the market flooded with all sorts of fanfiction love stories about him, especially with different partners.
"But these pairings are all so good! I'm just keeping my options open... it's like a balanced diet. I'm not picky," Alaric said, looking at him innocently. "If it bothers you that much, Klein, you could always ship me with someone. I wouldn't mind."
Ship you? Do you even have a pairing?
Wait, I don't have one either!
Klein stared at his friend, feeling a deep sense of helplessness. He wanted to retaliate, but he couldn't bring himself to pair people up so carelessly or create gender-bent pairings like his friend did.
Klein's principles wouldn't allow it.
"Sigh!" Klein finally let out a long breath and said, "Do whatever you want."
He chose to give up.
As long as he didn't read the fanfiction, he could pretend none of it existed.
"Really?" Alaric's eyes lit up, and he said eagerly, "So you're finally okay with me writing a story where you're gender-bent into a demoness and paired with another demoness?"
"That's the one thing that's off-limits!" Klein snapped, his face darkening.
He had his limits.
"Oh…" Alaric's expression turned to one of disappointment, as if deeply regretful.
While Klein was reeling from the fanfiction debacle, Alaric, still disguised as Lucifer, turned to the wolf and crow nearby. "If you two have nothing else going on, how about coming with me to meet Sasrir? I have some work to assign, especially since it seems you don't really need that three-day break." The last part was clearly directed at Antigonus.
"…Oh," Antigonus replied reluctantly, not daring to protest.
Amon adjusted his monocle and said, "For the matter of establishing the rules?"
"We need to make some preparations in advance," Alaric confirmed with a nod.
As for those preparations, they were simple... convincing an entire city to believe in a certain rule was no easy task. But by using Beyonder means to make the rule exist, at least on the surface, it became much easier to make people believe.
And Antigonus, as the King of Angels of the Fool pathway, was undoubtedly well-suited to play a role in this, such as monitoring the entire city and intervening as the "rule" when needed.
Other pathways might struggle with this, but the Fool pathway was perfectly suited for the task.
***
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