Chapter 57: Interlude

Chapter 57: Interlude

After throwing away everything except his clothing, Ernest Boyar froze for a moment and completely woke up.

What am I doing? What have I done? This Sanguine viscount finally remembered what he had deliberately forgotten before. He remembered those green, clear eyes.

Psychological suggestion—no, hypnosis… Ernest Boyar looked left and right, half resentful and half unable to suppress his fear, instinctively reassessing his own situation.

His gaze then fell on that mountain-like figure, and he saw Father Utravsky, whose brows were sparse and pale.

In that instant, all kinds of thoughts turned and collided inside Ernest Boyar’s mind, swiftly bursting into one powerful intention.

He made no attempt to resist. He directly shouted,

“I will come here and do volunteer work for one month!”

Emlyn’s experience had long since spread through Backlund’s Sanguine circles. Ernest Boyar had heard of Father Utravsky for a long time. He knew that even if he resisted, he would not escape the fate of becoming a volunteer worker. In that case, it would be better to be straightforward, surrender on his own initiative, and choose conditions more favorable to himself.

At the very least, I cannot be suggested into converting to the Earth Mother… No sooner had that thought flashed across Ernest’s mind than he noticed that Father Utravsky was holding a lantern. Inside it rested a strange candle wrapped in human skin, with lumps protruding from its surface.

Under the dim and gloomy candlelight, Ernest’s pupils dilated again. Only one thought remained in his mind, echoing endlessly:

Psychological suggestion again…

At that moment, he felt the shadow within his heart had grown so thick.

“All right.” Father Utravsky nodded, agreeing to Ernest Boyar’s request.

Emlyn held back a smile mixed with pride and delight as he looked at the various items he had just caught, like a farmer who had obtained a rich harvest.

…

Saint Hielan Square, on the third floor of a Sivella-style restaurant, inside a private room.

The light suddenly dimmed, and a large patch of shadow appeared.

One tiny bat after another flew out from the darkness and rapidly gathered together.

With a sudden puff, smoke shot upward. Count Mistral, with pale-silver hair and scarlet eyes, appeared where the bats had gathered, and everything around him returned to normal.

His servant, the middle-aged man in dark formalwear, immediately stepped forward. Bowing, he asked,

“Your Excellency Count, shall we dine now?”

He could not tell from the count’s face whether the matter had gone smoothly or with difficulty, whether the final result was success or failure. But he did not dare ask.

Mistral nodded gently.

“Yes.”

With a calm expression, he walked to the dining table. As he sat down, he removed the dark-blue gemstone ring, not losing the slightest bit of bearing, as though he had merely gone out just now to feed some white pigeons.

…

“This flavor is rich and unusual, but not bad…” In the private room next to Count Mistral’s, Klein, wearing an ordinary face, was enjoying and evaluating a dish full of Sivella character—sheep’s stomach haggis.

Although this punishment operation was a cooperative attempt by several members of the Tarot Club and did not require The World, or even Mr. Fool, to intervene, Klein considered that Miss Justice and Moon Emlyn either lacked similar experience or had insufficient experience. Therefore, he had quietly come nearby as a final safeguard.

Earlier, he had made a marionette pray to The Fool beside the dining table, while he himself entered the private room’s bathroom and went above the gray fog. Through the corresponding light dot, he expanded his vision to the entire square and the surrounding region.

At the same time, he had been holding the Sea God Scepter throughout, prepared to bring down lightning the moment he discovered something wrong in order to stop it.

In the end, however, he had done nothing. The entire matter had progressed even more smoothly than he had imagined.

Needless to say, Star Leonard was rich in combat experience. Yet even Miss Justice, who had participated in this kind of matter for the first time, had performed beyond Klein’s expectations. She had shown no nervousness, no panic whatsoever.

That is true. A Sequence 6 of the Spectator pathway would definitely surpass most mid- and low-sequence Beyonders of other pathways in controlling her own emotions. Even if she truly felt uneasy, she could rely on her Beyonder powers to resolve it before acting… Klein nodded almost imperceptibly and continued tasting the other dishes.

Outside the window, in Saint Hielan Square, the sounds of flutes, violins, accordions, and seven-stringed lyres either interwove or overlapped, drifting out melodiously.

…

In Saint Hielan Square, a hired carriage slowly circled along the edge.

Leonard Mitchell, who was preparing to return to the north bank of the Backlund Bridge area, glanced at the white pigeons in the center of the square. Suddenly, he lowered his voice and said,

“Old Man, do you think this operation will succeed in the end?”

After dragging Ernest Boyar into a dream, he had boarded a carriage and left the scene while flipping through Leymano’s Travels and activating Angel’s Embrace. He did not know whether the subsequent development had gone smoothly.

Inside his mind, Pallez Zoroast answered in an irritated tone:

“In the Fourth Epoch, there was a proverb: ‘Believe in the might of gods.’”

Does that mean that since this matter received Mr. Fool’s tacit approval, it will definitely succeed? But the Old Man still doesn’t understand the Tarot Club well enough. Most of the time, Mr. Fool merely witnesses things. There is no so-called tacit approval… Leonard muttered a few words inwardly, then changed the topic.

“Why do I feel that proverb is incomplete?”

He had not told Pallez Zoroast the details of the Tarot Club. He had only roughly mentioned it and relayed the parts Mr. Fool had agreed to.

Pallez gave a heh.

“Indeed. It has a second half: ‘Do not believe in Their mercy.’”

Believe in the might of gods. Do not believe in Their mercy… Leonard silently repeated it several times, then lowered his head and glanced at the hard-covered, bronze-green notebook in his hand.

He then muttered emotionally,

“This truly is comparable to a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact, and the method of resolving its negative effects is very simple.”

Before this operation, considering that the Moon domain also possessed part of the authority over darkness, and that Beyonders of this pathway would possess rather strong resistance against Nightmare-type influences at a certain level, Leonard had originally wanted to directly borrow Creeping Hunger from The World, Klein Moretti. But during the later discussion, Miss Magician had mentioned the traits of this Leymano’s Travels, giving him a better choice.

Thus, as the one already responsible for using Angel’s Embrace, he had borrowed Creeping Hunger from Klein for three hours and recorded several useful Beyonder powers, including Bribe—Weaken.

“That is something from the Abraham family,” Pallez Zoroast said with faint emotion in His voice.

Leonard had known that long ago. He nodded almost imperceptibly, then asked instead,

“Old Man, that mystical item I mentioned before—do you have any way to reduce or control its negative effects?”

“Can that be called a mystical item? That is something that must be sealed!” Pallez first scolded Leonard, then said, “Didn’t you say it has a living characteristic? In that case, it will be relatively easy to handle.”

Leonard relaxed. He once again turned his gaze out the window and admired Saint Hielan Cathedral, which in some ways closely resembled a factory.

…

On Pessfield Street in the North Borough, where Saint Samuel Cathedral was located, outside the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation.

Audrey, who had already changed into a different set of clothes and now looked like an ordinary young girl, stepped down from a carriage.

She had already removed her newsboy disguise in a hotel room prepared in advance. That room had been booked by someone Emlyn had found and had nothing to do with her.

At this moment, several people were coming and going before the entrance of the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation. Yet Audrey walked over without the slightest hesitation.

No one glanced at her, as though she lived in another world.

With light steps, Audrey passed through the hall, went up to the second floor, and walked toward the director’s office that belonged to her. Along the way, everyone she encountered seemed to be cooperating with her in a game, pretending not to see her. None of them wondered what a strange young girl was doing here.

At the door of the office, Audrey was just about to open it and enter when she heard a familiar voice inside say,

“Miss Audrey, this is the total amount of donations you collected this week…”

Audrey could not help slightly lifting the corners of her mouth. She gently pushed open the half-closed door and walked in.

Inside the office, a staff member was holding a stack of documents, showing them to the one behind the desk.

Behind the desk was a large golden retriever with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses hanging from her neck.

She sat in the director’s seat, casually flipped through the documents, and said to the staff member,

“No problem.”

The staff member immediately took back the documents and smiled at the golden retriever.

“Then I will head out, Miss Audrey.”

Audrey, who stood behind her, held back her laughter. She walked to the sofa nearby, sat down, and quietly watched the woman leave without disturbing the golden retriever reading other documents.

Susie was reading the various materials seriously, afraid that there might be problems with her acting and that it would affect Audrey’s matters.

After quite a while, she suddenly looked left and right in slight puzzlement.

“Audrey, are you back?”

“How did you notice?” Audrey rose from the sofa and appeared in Susie’s eyes.

For this operation, she had specifically communicated with Susie once, having her take her place and work at the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation. Then she led this golden retriever and hypnotized the staff members who would interact with her that day one by one, making them regard Susie as Audrey.

As for possible visitors, she had told the staff that she would only receive guests in the afternoon.

And the release signal for this hypnosis was the church bell at two in the afternoon.

After seeing Audrey, Susie jumped down from the chair and said helplessly,

“It is almost two.”

That is true… Audrey inwardly made a face at herself, hurried into the small resting room, changed into her own clothes, and used Lie’s ability to manipulate flames to burn away her previous disguise.

Returning to the office and sitting down in the seat that belonged to her, Audrey finally relaxed completely. She clasped her hands together and lightly pressed them against her lips.

Frankly speaking, she had been nervous all along. But before and after the operation, she had successfully “soothed” herself and had made no major mistakes.

Thinking back on it now, it was actually rather interesting. And we already discussed how to compensate the people affected… Audrey, you did well! On the beautiful blond-haired, blue-eyed girl’s face, a smile bloomed little by little, gradually becoming bright.

Through this matter, she discovered that her Hypnotist potion had digested by quite a lot. She had also confirmed one thing: the Bribe—Charm ability carried by the mystical item Hand of Fear paired perfectly with her Hypnosis!

Mm, I also learned that Mr. Moon is named Emlyn White… He did not intend to hide it either, because he definitely had to tell me. Otherwise, we could not achieve our goal… Mm-hmm, or he could have given the church’s name, but that would have exposed his identity all the same… I was still somewhat tense. During the hypnosis, I was too rigid and actually used such a direct term as “first layer of hypnosis”… Audrey “soothed” her slightly excited emotions and seriously reviewed the entire process of today’s operation, hoping to absorb experience and lessons from it.

Dong! Dong!

Saint Samuel Cathedral’s hourly bell rang, representing the arrival of two o’clock in the afternoon.

Inside 22 Pessfield Street, where the Loen Charity Bursary Foundation was located, several staff members heard the bell and trembled slightly. Then they continued busying themselves as though nothing had happened.

…

Dong! Dong!

Amid the church bell, Klein, who had once again changed back into Dwayne Dantès, walked onto the large balcony of 160 Böklund Street and looked toward the Macht household.

At that moment, a carriage passed before his residence and drove toward the other end of the street.

Abruptly, Klein’s intuitive premonition was touched, and an image surfaced in his mind:

A gray rat was lying on the carriage window, leisurely watching the scenery along the street.