That night, a tired Jacques went to bed early after eating twice as much dinner as usual.

Fat Orange, who was reading a book on the first floor alone, found Marlowe Renault, who usually had a balance between work and family, wearing formal clothes and preparing to go out. Old Renault put on his top hat and said goodnight to Fat Orange, and went out.

Marlowe Reynaud walked through the dark alleys of the docklands, a jagged patch of broken timbered houses inhabited by burglars, fugitives, prostitutes, debt evaders and beggars, whom the decent people avoided. The children of the docklands know that no one is allowed to enter the dark alleys no matter what.

Marlowe walked through the half-hidden doors, ignoring the glint of gray light in the tattered wooden windows, and finally stopped at the doorway of a brick and stone building that didn't fit in with the surrounding wooden houses. He gently pulled the knocker of the oak door, and the crisp sound of brass knocking could be heard far in the silent alley, like sunlight banishing darkness, and several shadows that followed him disappeared into the alley with the knocking sound.

The small window of the oak door opened, and a pair of blue eyes appeared in the window, and after these eyes saw Marlowe Renault, the crow's feet at the corners of their eyes became deeper, and an old voice came from the doorway, "Long time no see, Monsieur Renault." ”

The oak door slowly opened, and Marlowe dodged into the room. Behind the door is an old-fashioned arched cloister, on the wall hung two rows of gas lamps, under each lamp there is a strange shape of the figurine, twelve statues in two rows, an old man in gray stood in front of the door, bowed and said: "Monsieur Reynolds, welcome again, what can I do for you?"

Marlowe took off his top hat and bowed slightly to the old man, who had gray hair and beard, except for two thick eyebrows that were still black, and replied, "Mr. Harrison, I haven't seen you for five years, and you are still healthy, is Mr. Twenty-Three here?"

Seeing Harrison's hesitation, Marlowe continued to ask, "So who's in charge here now? Where has Mr. Twenty-Three gone? If it's inconvenient, then I won't ask." ”

Harrison hurriedly replied: "Ah, Mr. Twenty-Three is still here, but the current person in charge is no longer him, do you want to see the person in charge, or only Mr. Twenty-Three?"

When Marlowe heard the news, he felt a little nervous, but he pretended not to care and said to Harrison, "Is it a big guy from above? Oh, I'm sorry, I have no intention of probing into your secrets." If Mr. Twenty-Three is still in charge of my trading, I'd like to talk to him. ”

When Harrison heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief, his nervous shoulders relaxed, and said: "Okay, Mr. Renault, I will take you to see Mr. Twenty-Three, in fact, the person in charge is not here today, if you are just looking for Mr. Twenty-Three, then I think he should be free, after all, he asked for special treatment for you." ”

Marlowe followed Harrison through the cloister into a massive rotunda, and along the circular staircase at the edge of the hall, the two of them made their way to the second floor. Up the stairs, Marlowe faintly heard the sound of a piano wafting out of a room on the first floor.

The two finally reached the door of the room in the corner of the second floor, and Harrison entered to report. A minute later, he came out to lure Marlowe in, then walked away.

Inside, the floor was covered with a carpet of plush wool that had not been touched to the feet, some strange taxidermy was hung on the wall, and a set of Saxon-Mainz-style Mithril full cover armor was placed in the most prominent position. In the middle of the room was a huge semi-circular sofa, and in the center of the sofa was a sturdy man with red hair, draped in pajamas, lying lazily. The smell of perfume in the air, the scattered sheer gauze on the ground, and the man's blaming eyes showed that Marlowe had indeed come at an inopportune time.

Marlowe, however, was unapologetic, walked to the sofa, found a clean mug on the coffee table, picked up an open bottle of wine on the table, poured himself a glass, sat on the side of the man, and drank silently without speaking.

This man, who looked about the same age as Marlowe, stared at Marlowe with resentful eyes for a long time, and when he saw that Marlowe didn't want to speak, he finally couldn't help it, burst out with a hearty laugh, and said:

"Hahahaha, senior brother, you are bothering me again, you have started from the academy, how many times have you been here? It's been five years, you don't come to me, you just catch up with this kind of time as soon as you come, you say, did you mean it!"

Marlowe squinted at him and replied, "I said twenty-three, that's because you are too frequent, so when you look for you, you are on the woman." When I came in, Harrison said you're not in charge of the branch now, why didn't you notify me?"

The man, known as "Twenty-Three", combed his unkempt red hair with his hands, got up and poured himself a glass of wine, and said:

"The person who came here half a year is an elder-level figure, he usually doesn't come here, and he doesn't interfere in daily affairs, in fact, everything is still up to me, the 'law enforcer'. I think he has a bright identity that can't be revealed, and I haven't seen his face until now. He's here to take charge of the Baptiste family, and I don't think it has anything to do with your family, so I didn't inform you.

Jacques is now in the academy as well, and as long as we wait another six years, our previous efforts will be worth it. Senior brother, you didn't come today specifically to spoil my good deeds, did you? What the hell is going on?"

Marlowe drank all the wine in his glass, and his words were a little lonely: "Hey, maybe our fourteen years of planning are going to fail, today Jacques came back and told me something, I think it can't be hidden, his talent is like a light in the night, you can see it far away." Did you know? The talent that Elena left behind, he learned it after watching it a few times, and then he signed a cat that night. ”

"A cat? Isn't that skill a contract with a beast? This cat is a beast?"

"Well, a beastmaster. ”

"What?"

"Beastmaster. ”

Twenty-three jumped up from the couch, his pajamas fell, and said to Marlowe nervously, "There's a beastmaster in your house? Is the docklands still safe? Can you still stay in Port Mousse? I miss Marilyn from the North a little bit, and I miss those chicks in Saxony, goodbye, brother, I'm leaving." ”

Marlowe waved his hand, and his pajamas were put back on Twenty-three, and he was also pressed back on the sofa: "Sit down, that cat doesn't have the strength of the Beastmaster now, it was summoned by Jacques a year ago, probably the guardian beast of a tribe in the New World, and it lost its strength when it left the place of worship, although it still has some magical abilities, but the combat power is only to catch mice." ”

Twenty-three wondered: "Jacques can summon strange beasts?Oh my God, I don't think it's safe here, do you remember the Tavaré incident? This time it's a cat that catches rats, maybe next time it's a big monster that can destroy the city with one blow." I haven't been to the imperial capital for half a year, and Mrs. Hu Lian has written several letters urging me to go. ”

Marlowe said helplessly: "He can't fully grasp his innate skill yet, and I've warned him that he won't use this skill at will in the future." But there's one more thing, and that's what prompted me to come to you today. Today, his master took him to train in the Transcendent Association, but he didn't expect him to enter the 'Eight Winds Refining Body' state, you know what it means to enter this state. The most important thing is that this situation was seen by the old man Nasrid of the Transcendental Guild, if this old man has anything to do with the 'organization'......"

Twenty-three crossed his legs, leaned on the back of the sofa, and looked at the ceiling with blank eyes: "Oh my God, your son has just woken up and made so many things, I really can't stay here, I miss the passionate girl in the New World." But the good news is that in the case of this old man, I know that he is not a member of the 'organization'. ”