Chapter 697 - Incident
The Evernight Goddess is on friendly terms with Mr. Fool? They even share authority? Are you sure that's not "blasphemy"?
Wait a minute... the Evernight Goddess is the "Empress of Calamity and Fear," and Mr. Fool is the "King of Yellow and Black Who Wields Good Fortune"... Although they appear to be opposites, both are symbols of the domain of "Fate." Could it be that they share authority in that aspect?
Also, the "Earth Mother" sent her Blessed to serve under Mr. Fool... Considering Closfia's attitude toward "Doctor Strange," could he be referring to himself?
Just those two short statents left Daly and Dunn deeply shaken, even a bit regretful for having "Doctor Strange" reveal such information to them. These were secrets involving gods—just knowing them made them feel as if they'd been plunged into imnse danger.
Especially Daly. She hadn't expected that such a seemingly simple mystical ritual leveraging a Grade 2 Sealed Artifact could be exchanged for such high-level "insider" knowledge. She'd originally thought it would be good enough if Doctor Strange could vaguely hint at the attitudes of a few deities.
They didn't doubt that "Doctor Strange" was telling the truth. After all, he was both the Blessed of the Earth Mother and a follower of the Fool. He wouldn't speak recklessly about divine matters.
On the other side, Ebner had initially intended to throw in another line like "My Lord is a friend of the Lord of Storms and acts in His stead with the authority of thunder," but after so thought, he decided against it. The Lord of Storms, unlike the Evernight Goddess or Lilith, hadn't shown any obvious goodwill toward transmigrators like himself with the "Pure White Eye." If he ran his mouth too much and a bolt of lightning really ca down from the sky, that'd be a real problem...
The reason he'd revealed the connections between so of the deities and the Fool was to ease Daly and Dunn's concerns. That way, they wouldn't end up making any irreparable mistakes out of fear or wariness toward the Fool.
After so hesitation, Ebner finally refrained from continuing to sing Mr. Fool's praises and only added calmly, "The Fallen Creator is the enemy of my Lord."
That much didn't surprise Dunn and Daly. The Hero Bandit Black Emperor under the Fool had disrupted the Aurora Order's plans, and the Aurora Order was one of the earliest organizations searching for the "Fool who does not belong to this era."
For a mont, neither side spoke again, and the atmosphere grew sowhat heavy. It wasn't until a steam whistle sounded from the nearby docks that the silence in the room was broken.
Dunn rubbed his temple and took the initiative to change the subject, asking sothing that had been weighing on his mind: "What's so special about ... that I could attract the attention of a god?"
That's not sothing I can "know"... no matter how I phrase it, it'll arouse Klein's suspicions...
Revealing that I'm a transmigrator to Klein isn't a big deal, but if he starts thinking I know too much about him—and then begins questioning the very nature of this world—Mr. Fool in his current state probably wouldn't be able to handle that...
In the original story, he couldn't even accept that this was Earth's future, which led to a ntal breakdown...
As these thoughts raced through his mind, Ebner simply shook his head and indicated he had no idea what the gods were thinking. Whether they believed him or not wasn't his concern.
He had already paid the price for that mystical ritual.
Afterward, Ebner and Dunn finally returned to the main topic, trading the "Astrologer" and "Rose Bishop" characteristics in exchange for the "Spirit Warlock" formula.
Once the transaction was complete, Ebner didn't linger. He promptly took his leave. As he stepped out of the house Dunn was renting, he muttered inwardly:
Looks like the Evernight Goddess's tolerance for
isn't any lower than Lilith's... Even after I spun things the way I did just now, there wasn't even a symbolic warning...
...
In Backlund, inside a secret chamber beneath the Church of Steam—
mbers of the Divine Assembly, including Backlund's Archbishop Horamick Hayden, had gathered several Machinery Hivemind deacons and team captains here.
They were originally conducting a postmortem analysis of the "Backlund Great Smog" incident and were using Sealed Artifact 2-111 to investigate what role the great detective Sherlock Moriarty had played in the event.
When they saw the scene of Detective Sherlock leaning against the wall, his fists alternately tightening and relaxing, and then turning around with a flamboyant smile before drawing his gun and charging out—
Ikanser and the Machinery Hivemind mbers nearby couldn't help but feel a strange surge of tragic heroism.
When they saw him holding the revolver and firing at the altar without effect, it made them feel even more uneasy.
Next, the mirror showed Sherlock throwing a brass key, disrupting the ritual, and being pursued relentlessly by the severely injured Mr. A. In the end, Mr. A suddenly turned transparent and vanished, leaving only the scene of Sherlock standing alone, looking around in stunned confusion.
"...A rescue by the Church of the Evernight?" Ikanser frowned slightly and said, "The manner of disappearance is identical to that of the witch and dragon knight in the East Borough..."
"A 'Grade 0' Sealed Artifact?" Archbishop Horamick nodded thoughtfully. Just then, a green bolt of lightning shot from "2-111" and zapped Ikanser—who had been reluctant to answer further—causing every strand of his hair to stand on end, glowing faintly with the color of lightning. The elderly archbishop had intended to question other team mbers to investigate whether there was any connection between Sherlock and the dragon knight.
But at that mont, his ear suddenly opened up, revealing a complex chanical structure inside. A tal antenna extended outward, apparently receiving a signal.
Monts later, the antenna retracted, and Horamick's ear returned to normal. His expression turned slightly grim as he turned to ask Carlsen, who was attending the eting as an observer, "You're handling the murder case at the residence of Military Attaché Mr. Sarrie, correct? Any developnts?"
"Yes, Your Excellency." Carlsen instinctively straightened up, then gathered his thoughts and responded, "The Extraordinary who broke into Mr. Sarrie's ho died from ingesting poison. Even in the remnants of the spirit, there were clear traces of a 'contract.' It appears to be the work of a secret team raised by so noble family to handle 'dirty work.'
"We haven't confird their identities yet, but an informant identified one of them, the 'Cryptology Scholar,' as having t with Johnson Fules, the confidential secretary at the Intis embassy.
"The embassy claid that Mr. Sarrie disappeared after the incident.
"Based on this, I've co to two conclusions.
"First, Johnson may have ordered his n to attack Mr. Sarrie, and the latter, acting in self-defense, killed the attackers and went into hiding.
"Second, Mr. Sarrie was already captured or killed by Johnson, and that team was sent to eliminate Mr. Sarrie's granddaughter.
"Considering the overall strength of that team, the second scenario seems more likely."
Horamick nodded at that and directly issued an order: "Ikanser, take your team to the Intis embassy and arrest Johnson Fules."
"Yes, sir!" Ikanser acknowledged the command, then cautiously asked, "Your Excellency, may I ask what happened?"
After all, arresting a diplomat was no small matter... especially when the diplomat in question was a direct descendant of the Fules family of Intis.
"Archbishop Ramir Sarrie has returned to the Lord's steam paradise in Tosk... and it happened just one day before Curton Sarrie's disappearance." Horamick spoke with a pained expression.
The fall of a Saint was a major event that could provoke the wrath of the Holy Cathedral. Even without evidence, re suspicion warranted an imdiate arrest and interrogation.
However, not long after setting out to apprehend the suspect, Ikanser rushed back to report: "Johnson has already resigned. Early this morning, he was taken back to Intis by Count Maka of the Fules family. They should already be nearing the Siviras County border by now."
"They certainly moved fast... Looks like Ramir's death is indeed tied to them... I'll see if I can intercept them at the border!"
With that, Horamick entered a launch shaft-like device beneath the church. Once the countdown completed, he was ejected from the cathedral. Blue flas shot from the thrusters beneath his feet as he rocketed westward.
The Fules family had the backing of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun. If they made it back to Intis, capturing them would be far more difficult.
...
At the villa at No. 28 Kings Street, Ebner, Xio, Fanny, and Hazel had gathered once again. Only Helene was absent, busy with the affairs of her film company.
At this mont, Fanny had clearly received the telegram from her family in Intis, learning of their support and the fall of Archbishop Ramir Sarrie.
Combined with the clues she had uncovered over the past few days, and the increasingly unfavorable news Ebner had been revealing, a deep unease settled in Fanny's heart.
Just as the group fell into silence, Ebner suddenly spoke:
"I've recently learned a new secret technique... It might be able to help uncover the truth...
"But due to so of my own... unique circumstances, I can't use it myself.
"However, if any of you are willing to try it, I can guide you through it."
(End of Chapter)
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