Chapter 48: Prelude

Chapter 48: Prelude

At 7 Pinstor Street, Leonard, who had specifically returned home to attend the Tarot Gathering, was just about to go out to the underground area of Saint Samuel Cathedral to read files in preparation for soothing spirits that night when his vision suddenly blurred. He saw the messenger wearing a gloomy, complicated long dress and holding four blond-haired, red-eyed heads.

As a Requiemer, he could already directly see spirit-type creatures.

After receiving the letter Klein had sent, Leonard had not even had time to say thank you when Reinette Tinekerr turned around and stepped into the void without stopping in the slightest.

“…Old Man, why does Klein have—have a messenger of this level? Is this a benefit of being a favored one?” Leonard could not help lowering his voice and asking Pallez Zoroast.

At first, he had even fantasized that this was standard equipment for members of the Tarot Club. Later, he discovered that he had been thinking far too much.

Pallez Zoroast’s slightly aged voice immediately gave a heh.

“It should be unique to Klein Moretti. Everyone has some special encounters, don’t they? Even someone like you does, do you not?

“Heh. I thought you would use ‘incomplete angel’ to describe Her, but you changed it to ‘messenger of this level.’ Not bad. You still remember my reminder.”

Leonard curled his lips, unfolded the letter, and began reading its contents.

“As expected, a favored one of Concealment and Fate…” Pallez Zoroast quickly glanced over the beginning through Leonard’s eyes.

Without looking at the floor, Leonard directly stepped back several times and threw himself into the embrace of the sofa. Only then did he say,

“Klein can see through theft and replacement of fate… In that case, we don’t need to rush to search for demigod-level items of the Marauder pathway.”

“Even if you were anxious, would you know where to look?” Pallez immediately sneered.

Even at the gathering of the Hermits of Fate, similar items might appear only once every few years, and the next convening would not be until the end of the year.

For a moment, Leonard actually could not find words to answer. He could only shift his gaze to the next two paragraphs.

After a brief silence, he gave a low laugh.

“I’ve always wondered where Klein got that high-level charm of the Sun domain when facing Megose. I previously thought it was given by the Death Consul, but I never quite understood why an angel of the Death domain would gather high-level charms of the Sun domain. For suicide? Now I finally understand.

“Old Man, I also once possessed 3-0782. Why didn’t you discover the drop of Eternal Blazing Sun’s divine blood hidden inside it? If you had stolen some power from it in advance, then back then, back then…”

Leonard had originally intended to mock the Old Man with this matter, but as he spoke, he fell silent.

Pallez Zoroast sighed inside his mind.

“If that drop of divine blood could be discovered so casually, then that Mutated Sun Sacred Emblem would not have remained in Tingen.”

Leonard fell silent for several seconds, then asked instead,

“Then how should I find an opportunity to obtain that sacred emblem and make Solar Flame charms?”

Although Klein’s letter spoke of the matter very casually, Leonard knew this was not easy, because he was no longer a Nighthawk of Tingen City. Even if he now returned to visit his former colleagues and teammates, he was not qualified to enter that Chanis Gate.

Hearing his question, Pallez Zoroast snapped in irritation,

“Why ask me about such a small matter? Don’t you know how to think for yourself?”

Leonard coughed awkwardly and hurriedly activated his brain cells, seriously searching for a method:

“I’m currently acting alone, but the archbishop gave me the authority to draw local Nighthawks from the affected areas to help.

“Mm, if all the spirits in Backlund are soothed, but I still haven’t fully digested the potion, could I then expand to other dioceses?

“At that point, if Tingen happens to have a haunting incident, then I can reasonably return there, requisition two Nighthawks, and make use of 3-0782…”

After Leonard finished “talking to himself,” Pallez Zoroast chuckled.

“Not bad. You found a line of thought so quickly.

“But have you considered that you are there to soothe, not purify? That conflicts with using 3-0782 and will easily arouse suspicion.”

After receiving affirmation, Leonard immediately laughed.

“Old Man, this is where you don’t understand. When I first joined the Nighthawk team, there was one rule in the education I received: when you possess the ability to purify, soothing can achieve the best results.

“Emperor Roselle also said that solving problems requires a big stick in one hand and a carrot in the other.”

Pallez Zoroast gave a tsk.

“Then do as you say. Of course, the prerequisite is that you can complete the tasks Anthony Stevenson gave you within one or two weeks. If the official operation to clear out Amon’s avatars arrives and you still have not obtained Solar Flame bullets, then there will be no need.”

Leonard recalled the mission list that filled several pages, and his forehead twitched at once.

He immediately forced himself to forget that annoyance and muttered inwardly:

“I wonder when the task of punishing that Sanguine will begin…

“I also wonder whether the Sanguine have any demigod-level Sealed Artifacts of the Marauder pathway…

“A temporary dream world… I can create one myself. I can find a chance to make it into a charm. But can power of this level resist the corrosion of the darkness in the Forsaken Land of the Gods?”

…

In Cherwood Borough, inside a house.

Fors sat on the sofa holding a novel, watching Xio walk toward the entrance hall and put on her outdoor boots.

“There’s no need to be in such a rush. That gentleman won’t issue the investigation commission that quickly,” Fors finally could not suppress her confusion and said.

Xio glanced at her.

“I am a bounty hunter. I have other missions.”

At this point, she paused and hesitantly said,

“Fors, do you feel that Miss Justice resembles Miss Audrey?”

Fors froze for several seconds before coming back to herself. She subconsciously waved a hand and laughed dryly.

“How could that be…”

Before her voice had fully faded, one similarity after another flashed through her mind, and her eyes opened wider and wider.

After a while, she murmured,

“It isn’t impossible.

“The Spectator pathway, the Psychology Alchemists, a noble young lady, blond hair and blue-green eyes… Among the nobles I know, she is the only one who fits those conditions… Of course, there are many more nobles I don’t know. And even among those I do know, they would not let me know whether they are connected to the Psychology Alchemists…”

Xio quietly listened to her friend’s words. After thinking for a moment, she said,

“Fors, do you remember the missions Miss Audrey entrusted to us? I originally thought they came from Earl Hall’s instructions. But thinking about it now, perhaps they came from, mm, the gathering…

“And how did we learn Mr. Fool’s honorific name? Do you remember? From the book we borrowed from Viscount Glaint! An ancient piece of paper was hidden inside its cover!”

Fors nodded in dawning realization.

“If we could discover it, then Miss Audrey, as Viscount Glaint’s friend, could also have discovered it! That would explain why she was able to join the gathering…”

“Mm.” Xio approved of Fors’s guess.

Fors opened her mouth and was about to say something more when she suddenly remembered the Sanguine’s failed monitoring attempt. She hurriedly looked left and right in vigilance.

“Xio, we should discuss matters related to the gathering as little as possible in daily life.

“As for Miss Audrey, uh, we meet her once every week or two. We can observe then.”

Xio immediately became alert and nodded heavily.

“All right!”

She then opened the door and went out, heading all the way to a certain bar in the East Borough and taking a seat at the counter.

After knocking on the tabletop, she said to the bartender who had raised his head,

“Any new missions today?”

The bartender briefly described the general situation. He did not mention anyone wanting to investigate a gentleman named Ernest Boyar.

As expected, it will have to wait until tomorrow or the day after… Xio looked around, withdrew her gaze, and asked in slight puzzlement and concern,

“I haven’t seen Sherman in a long time. Do you know where he went?”

That was a young man who believed he should be a woman, and one of Xio’s informants.

The bartender gave a heh.

“Maybe he ran off with some man. You know, as long as a man likes him, he’s always very willing.”

“That is not something worth discriminating against.” Xio seriously refuted him, feeling inexplicably worried.

She placed her hand against the counter, jumped down from the high stool, and prepared to search the other places Sherman often frequented.

…

In the Backlund Bridge area, on Iron Gate Street, at the Bravehearts Bar.

Emlyn pressed down his top hat, pinched his nose, and passed through the crowd where all kinds of smells mixed together. Inside a card room, he found the red-eyed Ian.

“Mr. White, what is it this time?” Ian smiled and led Emlyn into an empty billiards room.

Emlyn removed his hat and muttered,

“A small matter. Help me issue a commission to the bounty hunters. The content is to follow a person named Ernest Boyar and determine his usual movement patterns. The bounty is one hundred pounds.”

“One hundred pounds?” Ian instinctively repeated.

For a matter like tracking and investigation, one hundred pounds was truly an exaggerated bounty. A bounty hunter who could complete it alone could absolutely rest for an entire year, even if he had a family to support!

Emlyn nodded.

“The target is comparatively dangerous.”

After the previous Tarot Gathering discussion, he had now thought things through very clearly. He believed that tracking Ernest Boyar would absolutely be an easy task, because that Sanguine viscount would definitely pretend not to discover anything and deliberately reveal a fixed movement pattern.

Therefore, the one hundred pounds was actually payment to Miss Judgement for joining the joint operation while risking exposure. Of course, for the sake of misdirection and concealment, several bounty hunters would surely each complete a portion and receive different amounts of remuneration. Emlyn could only guarantee that Miss Judgement would receive the largest share.

“I see.” Ian understood and extended a hand. “Advance payment, exact address, danger level, appearance traits. A portrait would be even better.”

Emlyn immediately gave him thirty pounds in cash and the file containing Ernest Boyar’s portrait.

“Red eyes?” Ian flipped through the papers in his hands and blurted out.

“Yes.” Emlyn nodded lightly. He then glanced left and right, lowering his voice. “There is one more thing. Help me gather clues regarding members of the Rose School of Thought in Backlund.”

“…The Rose School of Thought?” Ian froze briefly and asked in confusion, seeming never to have heard of that name.