The Grand Tribunal's southern front had been on edge for the entire night because of the central camp incident. Only when the dawn's first light illuminated the river valley did the number of patrolling Iron Law Knights atop the highlands gradually return to normal.
Having been pulled through a high-intensity tug-of-war for the first half of the night and barely managing to rest in the second half, Cheng Shi finally saw his window. He had Sun Miao bring him back to the central army tent once more.
Honestly, judging by how the central camp had responded to the "raid," Cheng Shi couldn't fathom how a force this disciplined, this organized, and this combat-ready could possibly lose to the War legions.
Never mind the battered War legions — even a complete formation, with their Benefactor having just cast His gaze but not yet descended, how were they supposed to beat the Grand Tribunal and the Tower of Logic, who'd ruled this continent for nearly a thousand years?
With these questions in mind, Cheng Shi prepared to have a proper talk with Keinlaur. But...
Best-laid plans — Keinlaur was gone.
"..."
Nobody had expected the army's supre commander to vanish from his command center at a ti like this. Even the personal guard knights surrounding the camp didn't know where he'd gone.
Granted, after surviving the "decapitation attempt," Keinlaur had every reason to hide. But war was imminent. Hiding without telling your subordinates — how were orders supposed to be relayed?
'He didn't seriously leave the entire Grand Tribunal battle line to improvise, did he?'
'Bad sign — is the Pot of Defeat about to be forged?'
Cheng Shi stood dumbfounded. After knocking out the personal guards, war supervisors, couriers, and even a subordinate legion commander — none of whom knew where Keinlaur had gone — he exchanged a look of total bewildernt with Sun Miao in the middle of the central camp.
"Your History School knows history best. Tell
— what's this episode about?"
Sun Miao raised her thumb, then lowered it. She clearly thought it was absurd too. But after a mont's reflection, she offered a remarkably precise analysis.
"Either he fled, or he was taken. I don't see a third option.
However, reviewing the historical records of this battle, Keinlaur already paid for his defeat. He died on the battlefield — at the hands of Commander Rista, the War legion's supre commander. So fleeing seems unlikely.
As for being captured... in this trial, if soone were to abduct Keinlaur to leverage him for so purpose, I'd say the Decay Chosen who hasn't shown himself yet is the only candidate."
Sun Miao paused, then continued typing:
"I've heard that followers of Void have recently been hunting Oblivion's followers under divine decree. As an Oblivion believer — even as a second faith — would Lin Xi retaliate against what amounts to a faith-extinction war?
Even if he wouldn't, the mont he deduced that Chun might recruit you as an ally, wouldn't he hide the NPC you're interested in to split your attention and try to broker a deal — thereby eliminating one potential enemy?
I believe these are all valid reasons for him to act this way.
As for the Beast Tar who has issues with you...
Frankly, he's probably the one who most wants Keinlaur to be safe. The item he's looking for in this battle is like a needle in a haystack. He's entirely dependent on Keinlaur replaying history to find any leads.
So the answer is clear. Lin Xi has interfered with this trial — and he's here for you."
Cheng Shi listened quietly and agreed the analysis was spot-on. Lin Xi was quite possibly targeting him. But without confronting the man directly, he couldn't confirm whether it truly was Oblivion's will driving this.
Regardless — bearing the faith of Oblivion made Lin Xi fundantally incompatible. So after brief deliberation, Cheng Shi decided to... pull back first.
Knowingly walking into a trap wasn't courage. It was stupidity.
Cheng Shi never did the "march right up to the tiger's mountain" thing. What he preferred was to set a trap behind him and wait for the tiger to co down and step in it.
So he decisively abandoned the plan to hunt for Keinlaur and returned to the central army tent, hoping to find so clues inside the Supre Inquisitor's quarters.
And sure enough — he found plenty.
First: a batch of munitions transfer records. These docunts were decades old. Logically, files this ancient had no business being in a current military camp.
Even the most incompetent archivist wouldn't bring decades-old files on a deploynt, right?
The fact that these records were here already said sothing. But the real point was their contents: every item logged was war materiel — weapons and combat consumables.
And the delivery destinations weren't the Grand Tribunal's borders or dostic rebellion zones. They were... the Tower of Logic!
Sun Miao flipped through the docunts rapidly, then typed furiously:
"As I suspected. The History School always had doubts about whether the Tower of Logic's civil war was truly a simple academic dispute. After all, scholars abandoning reason for fists was inherently absurd.
But because records from that period were perpetually missing, everyone eventually took it at face value.
Now it seems the Shared Law Faction played a considerable role in igniting it."
Indeed. These records weren't all personally approved by Keinlaur. A significant portion bore authorization from previous Shared Law Faction leaders — docunted evidence of "supplying the enemy." This proved the Shared Law Faction had been doing real work toward its vision of universal shared law.
No wonder Keinlaur carried these files even on a military campaign. If the Supre Court ever discovered them, the Shared Law Faction would find itself moved from the judge's bench to the defendant's chair by the next day — forced to test every law they'd ever written on themselves.
Perhaps they'd never imagined their vision of universal shared law would, rather than bringing Order to the Land of Hope, instead ignite the fire of War and drag the entire continent into a quagmire.
So... fate indeed.
The tent held not only the Shared Law Faction's "aid-to-enemy" records but also countless invitation letters.
Every addressee was a nad scholar from the Tower of Logic. Clearly, the Shared Law Faction's strategy to undermine Truth wasn't limited to fanning flas — they were also removing the firewood from under the pot. Of course, they'd ended up using that firewood themselves.
Cheng Shi looked at the invitation letters in his hands and thought of the Divinity Germination Experint beneath Montelani's Colosseum. Selius had received exactly such a letter from the Grand Tribunal — saving him from despair and allowing his mad experint to continue.
Judging by the sheer volu, the Shared Law Faction's talent-poaching efforts were nothing short of relentless. Yet the vast majority of letters were crossed out. Very few had received replies.
Still — Selius was one of them.
When Sun Miao dug Selius's reply out of the mountain of correspondence, she typed rapidly:
"Found it. So he really did leave the Tower of Logic."
Cheng Shi glanced at the unrecognizable scribble on the envelope and raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
"Selius. The initiator of the Slice Experint. A Grand Scholar of the Life Extension Departnt.
In the Tower of Logic's records, his experint was incomplete. I'd been tracing the true nature of his work, and across countless experint logs, I'd sensed that he might have long since been replaced by a slice. I just never figured out where the real him went — or whether he was already dead.
Now it's clear. The Shared Law Faction intervened and spirited him away from the Tower of Logic.
Hmm, my next investigation should focus on the Grand Tribunal. Looks like it's ti for a Shared-Law-thed prayer when I get back.
Hopefully I'll find new leads soon."
"..."
'You could just ask .'
Seeing her throw herself into the analysis with such dedication, Cheng Shi thought it over and generously tossed Sun Miao a lead.
You can't expect the horse to run without letting it eat. That was sothing capitalists did — not him. ...Unless the horse volunteered.
"I suggest you focus your investigation on Montelani. The Montelani with the gladiatorial shows. As for why — don't ask. Just do it."
"?"
Sun Miao froze. After a mont, she looked at Cheng Shi with a complicated expression and typed involuntarily:
"Is there anything in this ga that you don't know?"
"Plenty. For instance, where the old inquisitor who used to sit here went — I have no idea."
Cheng Shi spread his hands and grinned.
...
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