Chapter 70: News from the Numinous Episcopate

Chapter 70: News from the Numinous Episcopate

160 Böklund Street, Dwayne Dantès’s residence.

Klein stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the drizzling rain descend with the wind, strike the ground, fall against the glass, and interweave into a net.

Ever since autumn began, Backlund had once again become rainy. This brought a lingering coldness and dampness that refused to leave.

For a long while, Klein did not move. Against the blurred rainy scenery, he silently gazed into the distance, his eyes unfocused.

Only when his spiritual intuition was touched did he rein in his thoughts, which had been fluttering like fine rain, and turn his head to look beside him.

Reinette Tinekerr, carrying four blond-haired, red-eyed heads, walked out of the void with a letter held between one mouth’s teeth.

“Who sent it this time?” Klein habitually asked Miss Messenger.

The previous letter he had received had come from Sharron. This lady had told him that she had successfully passed the ritual and advanced to Sequence 4 of the Prisoner pathway: Puppet.

Klein had first offered his sincere congratulations, then apologetically informed her that he had already obtained what he wanted and would not be going to the spirit world’s Calderón City in the short term.

Of course, he had also said that the place concealed no small secret and might be connected to himself. After some time, there was a high chance he would still go there. At that time, if Miss Sharron had time and was willing, he hoped to receive her help.

To Klein, on the one hand, the materials he needed for later advancement might still have to be found there. On the other hand, he believed that miraculous city involved the ancient Death, the Phoenix Ancestor Gregrace, and might contain a way to treat Mr. Azik’s “spirit body incompleteness.” Even if it could not give the Death Consul another chance at advancement, Klein still hoped that Mr. Azik would no longer suffer the torment of losing his memories again and again.

Of course, Klein also had a backup plan for this: after he advanced to Sequence 3, Scholar of Yore, he could prepare more Yesterday Once More charms for Mr. Azik, or directly apply the corresponding Beyonder power to help him quickly recover every time he lost his memories.

At that moment, Klein had already taken the letter, and Reinette Tinekerr’s four heads answered in sequence:

“That…” “Undying…” “Fool…”

…Patrick Bryan of the Numinous Episcopate’s artificial Death faction… Klein easily understood who Miss Messenger meant, because Patrick had been the one writing to him most frequently over these two months. Basically, whenever something somewhat important happened, he would report it or ask for instructions.

After several such exchanges, Reinette Tinekerr had even given him a nickname.

Miss Messenger had not shown this preference before. I wonder when it began… Most of the people who write to me often have nicknames now, except Miss Sharron… Klein muttered inwardly as he unfolded the letter paper and rapidly browsed through it.

In the letter, Patrick Bryan said that this time, the command from the Southern Continent was no longer to have him conduct various attempts to awaken “Death.” Instead, it ordered him to prepare a special ritual to help the angel of the Death domain within the mausoleum—the leader of the artificial Death faction, Haiter—recover further, allowing Him to briefly leave “the place of self-sealing.”

On the surface, there did not seem to be any major problem with such an order. It only felt somewhat abrupt. Yet Klein still sensed that something was not right.

The artificial Death faction of the Numinous Episcopate in the Southern Continent had repeatedly told Patrick to continue performing strange and dangerous rituals, trying to awaken “Death,” but I instructed him to fool them with excuses like being unable to gather the materials or the experiments ultimately failing. Now they have finally begun to suspect Patrick has a problem? Klein nodded thoughtfully.

He suspected this was a test aimed at Patrick Bryan—a test through a ritual pointing to an angel!

Angels’ response range to rituals covered the entire world.

Mm. As long as they do not suspect that something has gone wrong with the artificial Death, then it is fine. After all, they inherited a large legacy from the ancient Balam Empire. Who knows whether they have some method to interfere with the Goddess’s progress in mastering the Death pathway’s Uniqueness, leading to a situation where neither side gains any benefit… After analyzing for a while, Klein relaxed slightly.

As for the test from that angel of the Death domain, he did not think there was any major issue. After all, The Fool could likewise mobilize power approaching that level and interfere in the form of Angel’s Embrace. As long as that high priest named Haiter did not directly descend and only applied influence from afar, Klein could skillfully mislead Him.

Having thought this through, Klein flicked his wrist, making Patrick Bryan’s letter ignite with scarlet flames. Then he returned to the desk, took out paper and pen, and wrote swiftly:

“…You may follow your teacher’s instructions, but before you truly hold the ritual, you must report to me and obtain my permission…”

Because the interval between receiving and replying to the letter was short, Patrick Bryan most likely had not yet left his original location. Klein did not summon the other party’s messenger. Instead, he blew the adventurer’s harmonica and handed the folded letter paper to Reinette Tinekerr.

…

Amid sparse, falling rain, Xio wore a simple tree-sap raincoat and hid in a dark corner, watching the side door of Viscount Stratford’s residence.

It was not yet evening, but the gas streetlamps had already been lit one after another, giving off hazy circles of light in the rain.

After another while, a hired carriage came from afar and stopped before the side door, which stood in a remote position.

A male servant of the viscount’s household who had been hiding in a sheltered place immediately sprang out and opened an umbrella.

He escorted the cloaked woman who stepped down from the carriage quickly through the side door, while the hired carriage remained where it was and did not leave, as though it had already received enough payment.

Xio still failed to see the woman’s appearance clearly, but she was not discouraged at all. She waited patiently in the cold rain, as though she had turned into a statue, unmoving.

She planned to wait until the other party came out, then attempt to follow her and confirm her identity.

This was both her chance to obtain the Judge potion formula and something related to her reason for coming to Backlund in the first place: investigating the truth behind her father’s death!

It was precisely because she had such motivation that Xio had persisted in monitoring Viscount Stratford until today. The other MI9 intelligence officers had long since ended the task on their own after several months of nothing happening. Even the golden-masked man who had originally given this commission had not asked about it for many weeks, clearly no longer paying it much attention.

Inside Viscount Stratford’s bedroom, a delicate, beautiful brown-haired girl in a silk sleeping robe sat before the dressing table, playing with the skincare products and cosmetics as though she had discovered treasure.

Viscount Stratford, already middle-aged, wore a man’s sleeping robe and walked behind the beautiful girl with wet hair. Smiling, he said to her reflection in the mirror,

“Shermane, you no longer need them to add any extra radiance to you.”

“This is simply a woman’s instinct.” The young woman named Shermane smiled and lifted her hand, holding in reverse the viscount’s hand that rested on her shoulder.

Viscount Stratford smiled gently.

“When you fiddle with them, you carry a kind of innocent purity. Heh. You make me recover my youth, as though I have returned to when I was seventeen or eighteen.”

Without waiting for Shermane to respond, he continued on his own:

“My wife has been dead for many years. I thought I would live like this until I was called by the Lord. Who would have thought I would meet you? After some time, once Backlund’s accumulated pressure has been released, I will find an opportunity to walk with you into the hall of marriage.”

“Marriage… You want to marry me?” Shermane froze, asking back in disbelief.

Viscount Stratford smiled.

“Meeting you is a gift from the Lord. Although your birth is not noble enough, I have already had one marriage, so I do not need to care too much about this aspect. Of course, I will also think of ways to raise your status. Mm, first I will find a merchant and have him acknowledge you as his illegitimate daughter…”

He rambled about his plan and saw the eyes of Shermane in the mirror gradually become covered in mist.

“The thing about you I find most precious is that when I am good to you, you treat me several times—even dozens of times—better, without the slightest concealment.” Viscount Stratford smiled, lowered his head, and kissed the top of Shermane’s head.

Shermane opened her mouth, as though crying and laughing at the same time.

Only when the fine rain had stopped and night had fallen did Xio finally wait until the woman in the dark-red cloak came out and boarded the carriage.

After memorizing the carriage’s features, Xio followed from afar. Relying on the Beyonder abilities of a Sheriff, and taking advantage of the wet, deserted streets at night, she used walking and running to track her target.

All the way from the Queen Borough to the Backlund Bridge area, just as Xio’s stamina was nearly unable to hold out, that carriage finally stopped.

Xio’s spirits lifted. She shifted the target she had locked onto from the carriage to the woman in the dark-red cloak and continued tracking.

During this process, she was somewhat surprised to discover that the woman possessed strong anti-tracking abilities. At times she circled around, and at times she used obstacles to pause once.

However, this was not enough to trouble Xio. She was an experienced Sheriff. Patiently, she followed from far away and did not approach.

Just as she intuitively believed that the woman was not too far from her final destination, and was about to catch up, she suddenly smelled a sweet, ethereal fragrance.

Within that fragrance, Xio became dazed for a moment, then completely lost track of her target.

The fragrance also vanished, as though it had never appeared.

“…” Xio’s pupils widened slightly. She did not dare investigate the surroundings or search for traces.

Inside a rented room, Trissy, gentle and sweet enough to make one unable to look away, watched Shermane looking at herself in the mirror and said,

“Your mood seems rather good.

“How was it? This final mission was not too difficult to accept, was it?

“Once it is completed, you can leave Backlund and live the life you want.”

Shermane froze. Her expression became extremely complicated, carrying even a trace of loss, as though she had suddenly awakened from a beautiful dream.

She did not turn her head. Her lips moved for a while before she finally said,

“He said he wants to marry me…”

Trissy immediately raised her brows.

“A man’s words at such times cannot be believed. On this point, you and I should both be very clear.

“If he truly wants to marry you, he would not guard against you. He would want to have a child with you. Heh. Did he do that?”

Hearing her question, Shermane’s expression darkened little by little.

Trissy stood. With a faint smile, she said,

“I will not stop you from pursuing your own love. If you want to turn the deadline for this mission into a lifetime, then you should think carefully about what you need to do.”

After speaking lightly, she walked to the door and left the rented room.

As she went downstairs, Trissy suddenly stared at her own shoes and laughed quietly. Her voice seemed both mocking and self-mocking.

“Love…”