Chapter 58: Handling

Chapter 58: Handling

After watching the deck below for a while, Cattleya left the captain’s cabin and walked to the entrance of the lower cabins. There, she waited until Frank Lee came in carrying a barrel of nonalcoholic beer.

“Captain, want a glass?” Frank lifted that large barrel of beer with one hand.

Cattleya shook her head firmly and, as though making casual conversation, asked,

“Is this, too, the will of the Benevolent Mother?”

“No.” Frank spoke very seriously. “I only think that drinking strong alcohol mixed with improved sedatives for long periods of time still isn’t very good for the body. I hope they can accept a drink that tastes like alcohol but actually contains no alcohol. Of course, this is only an initial result and still doesn’t involve spirits. After all, it can’t use distillation to improve its flavor.”

For a moment, Cattleya actually did not know how to reply. She pushed the heavy glasses perched on her nose and remained silent for two seconds before asking,

“Have you ever heard the voice of the Benevolent Mother or received divine revelation?”

“No.” Frank shook his head without caring in the slightest.

Phew… Cattleya secretly breathed out in relief.

At that moment, Frank casually added,

“The will of the Benevolent Mother is in the wheat forming ears, in cows producing milk, in mushrooms growing, and in every corner and every matter of nature. There is no need for divine revelation to sense it.”

Cattleya’s gaze instantly turned to Frank’s eyes. She found not a trace of madness there—only purity.

She said nothing more, nodded slightly, walked forward, passed Frank Lee, and arrived on the deck.

After focusing on the sea view for several minutes, Cattleya returned to the captain’s cabin, spread out stationery, picked up her pen, and wrote:

“I wonder what you think of Frank’s behavior? He claims that he has not received divine revelation and believes the will of the Benevolent Mother is hidden in every corner of nature.”

This was a letter to Gehrman Sparrow. Cattleya believed that with only this question and one supplementary sentence, the other party would understand exactly what she wanted to say.

After folding the letter, she took out a gold coin and began summoning that terrifying messenger.

…

Madam Hermit wrote to me right after the Tarot Gathering ended… It shouldn’t be material related to the Hidden Sage. That wouldn’t be so fast… Klein was currently traveling aboard a steamship on the Tussock River.

Wearing a black robe, he took the letter from Miss Messenger’s mouth, unfolded it, and read all of its contents at a glance.

This… Klein’s brows immediately furrowed slightly.

Perhaps because Frank had always behaved dangerous and “mad” enough in ordinary times, he had previously overlooked the possibility that this Druid had been influenced by the Mother Goddess of Depravity.

Frank was once sent to trial by the Church of Earth Mother because of forbidden experiments, and afterward, he was even placed on a wanted list… If Earth Mother has not been corroded and the Church of Earth Mother’s operations are still relatively normal, then that can indicate they believe Frank has a problem… However, if the evidence had been conclusive, Frank should not have had any chance of surviving after going to trial… Thoughts raced through Klein’s mind as he tried to find clues based on his understanding of Frank.

“There is no problem with the relevant gestures. The posture for prayer and ordinary praise gestures are different. Just like Beyonders of the Church of Evernight would not trace the stars by making four clockwise points on their chests while praying. At most, they would do that as a closing gesture…

“Other than that small problem having no problem, Frank has problems everywhere. He’s practically like a child raised by the Mother Goddess of Depravity…” As thought after thought flashed by, Klein formed two mutually contradictory guesses:

Either Frank’s contamination was very well hidden, such that even the tribunal of the Church of Earth Mother could not confirm it; or he had not been influenced by the Mother Goddess of Depravity at all, and his brain simply had problems of its own, making him look like an evil god’s favored one.

No matter which guess was correct, Klein did not believe the future development would be especially good.

He remembered very clearly that Frank’s mushroom experiments had made breakthrough progress because he had been assigned an assistant who believed in the Primordial Moon, and the Primordial Moon was one of the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s incarnations.

In other words, from that point onward, regardless of whether Frank had problems before, he very likely entered the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s sights.

That was definitely not a good thing.

“Of course, I can’t rule out the possibility that Frank is so crazy that the Mother Goddess of Depravity took the initiative to look away…” Klein muttered, finding bitter amusement in the situation.

That was almost impossible. The horror and power of an Outer Deity were absolutely not something a demigod could understand.

Klein even suspected that, if not for the fact that excessively violent responses would destroy the gods’ anchors, causing Them to madly attack one another and making Beyonder characteristics further converge, thereby awakening the Primordial, the Outer Deities might already have directly destroyed the sun and ruined this world’s ecological balance. Even if They could not do anything to the Primordial’s barrier, could They really not handle a star outside the barrier?

Sometimes, Klein wondered whether the sun observed through astronomy was truly the real sun. Perhaps it was simply the Eternal Blazing Sun hanging Himself there.

“The mushrooms Frank has invented so far shouldn’t have any major problems. I processed all of them above the gray fog… Also, the residents of the City of Silver and Moon City have not shown any abnormalities. Mm, after leaving the Forsaken Land of the Gods, because they lacked monster corpses and had sufficient food, they have already given up planting mushrooms… Increase the level of monitoring!” The more Klein thought, the more lingering fear he felt.

If not for the fact that the Mother Goddess of Depravity could still infiltrate the Primordial’s barrier with only extremely limited power, Klein suspected that the Cards of Blasphemy and the mushrooms might already have caused him to be contaminated, and Sefirah Castle might have unknowingly changed hands.

Both were things left above the gray fog for long periods of time without any special sealing.

Compared to the Mother Tree of Desire, whose style was flamboyant and unrestrained, the Mother Goddess of Depravity, who had always appeared extremely low-key, was more terrifying by far.

Mr. Door and the Emperor had both been silently and imperceptibly corroded by Her.

“As expected of an existence who can stand at the summit of the Outer Deities despite having lost two Beyonder pathways and a sefirot…” Klein sighed silently, then took out paper and a pen, preparing to write a reply to The Hermit Cattleya.

Only then did he discover that Miss Messenger had been waiting beside him the entire time without returning to the spirit world. The eight eyes of her four heads stared unblinkingly at him.

“What do you think of Frank?” Klein hesitated, then asked. “I mean, apart from the nickname.”

The four blond, red-eyed heads of Reinette Tinekerr spoke one after another:

“He only…” “Looks like…” “The foster child…” “Of an Outer Deity…”

In other words, Frank indeed hadn’t been influenced by the Mother Goddess of Depravity before. His brain simply had problems of its own… Klein let out a long breath.

He then asked,

“And now?”

Because every time Frank Lee wrote to Gehrman Sparrow, he would summon Reinette Tinekerr, Klein believed Miss Messenger, who possessed a very high status, had a relatively clear and accurate grasp of the Mushroom King’s condition.

“I…” “Also…” “Do not…” “Know…” Reinette Tinekerr’s four heads replied one after another.

Then She added another sentence:

“His body…” “For now…” “Has not…” “Been contaminated…”

Meaning there’s no way to determine whether his mind has been influenced? That’s true. Aside from his insufficient level, Frank usually behaves even more like the embodiment of an evil god than I do… Klein lampooned inwardly, took out a gold coin, and flicked it up with a clang.

Using that medium, he swiftly entered a state of dream divination.

At the same time, he prepared to activate Sefirah Castle and cut off an Outer Deity’s gaze.

Scene after scene flashed by. Klein saw several different futures.

Mm, the greatest hidden danger at present is that Primordial Moon believer. He must be separated from Frank, or else things will become extremely troublesome and dangerous… If Frank does not come into contact with anything related to the Mother Goddess of Depravity in the future and also does not advance to demigod, then there basically won’t be any problem… If only one of these two conditions is satisfied, the probability of an accident will increase sharply. If both are satisfied at the same time, I cannot see what kind of development there will be at all… Klein woke and interpreted the results of the divination.

Perhaps because Frank’s own level was too low and the influence he had suffered was not deep, Klein’s divination went fairly smoothly and did not encounter danger.

Phew… He silently exhaled and caught the gold coin with a pa.

Then he discovered that Miss Messenger’s eight red eyes were staring intently at the coin in his palm.

Klein moved his brows slightly, expressing his puzzlement.

“It…” “Possesses…” “Sefirah Castle’s…” “Aura…” Reinette Tinekerr’s four blond, red-eyed heads bobbed up and down.

This is one of the five gold coins I often use for divination. Has it become suffused with Sefirah Castle’s aura? In that case, to a certain extent, it can also be considered a mystical item. Its effect will only diminish with the passage of time… Klein carefully examined the gold coin in his hand and, relying on spiritual intuition, made a rough judgment.

This gold coin could increase divination accuracy and strengthen the user’s ability to resist interference.

For Klein, this counted as an unexpected pleasant surprise. He decided that in the future, he would often use the coin’s true body, rather than its historical projection.

Putting the coin away, Klein wrote a reply to Madam Hermit and handed it to her through Reinette Tinekerr.

…

After giving Gehrman Sparrow’s messenger another gold coin, Admiral of Stars Cattleya unfolded the paper and quickly skimmed the letter.

After reading it, she inexplicably felt that something heavy had been added to her shoulders.

Without any delay, Cattleya took out another piece of stationery and began writing:

“Respectful Queen:

“I dreamed that you had already found that primitive island and returned safely…

“The condition of that Emperor’s descendant is getting worse and worse. If he continues staying on the Future, I suspect he may go mad. If you do not mind, I would like to send him to you.

“What must be noted is that although he claims he no longer believes in the Primordial Moon, no one can verify that point.

“…

“My greatest difficulty right now is that I cannot obtain the main ingredient for Prophet… If you have already returned, I hope to find a time to return the Wishing Magic Lamp to you…”