Chapter 146: Creeping Hunger

Chapter One Hundred Forty-Six
Creeping Hunger

“What is special about Qilangos’s mystical item?” Audrey asked, now with a fair bit of confidence.

She had seriously considered the matter just now and discovered that, in Backlund, she actually possessed rather respectable ability when it came to finding someone.

First, her father stood among the very wealthiest nobles. He had an excellent reputation and wide connections. Audrey herself was well liked among the younger generation as well. In the middle and upper circles of society, there were many resources she could mobilize without anyone noticing.

Second, the two Beyonder friends she currently knew each had their own circles. The Apprentice, Fors, had once been a clinic doctor and was now a new writer. In literary circles, in publishing, and among middle-class doctors, she knew quite a number of people.

The Arbiter, Xio Derecha, had long helped ordinary people of the middle and lower classes coordinate and arbitrate disputes. In Backlund’s East Borough, among laborers, and within quite a few gang organizations, she had a small reputation and many hidden channels.

Adding the other Beyonders those two came into contact with, along with the circles extended through those Beyonders, Audrey’s ability to search for a person could not be underestimated.

Faced with Justice’s question, the Hanged Man, Alger, almost did not hesitate. As though no thought were required, he answered directly.

“The true name of that mystical item is unknown. But those who understand a little about it all call it Creeping Hunger. Every other day, Qilangos must satisfy it with the soul and flesh of a living person. Otherwise, it will use its owner as the substitute.”

“That is an important clue for finding Qilangos,” Audrey said, brows furrowing slightly.

Toward an evil object that craved the blood, flesh, and souls of the living, she felt sincere discomfort and intense disgust.

“Yes, but in a metropolis with at least five million people, the disappearance of a few vagrants would not attract attention,” Alger reminded her. Then he turned to another point. “Ever since obtaining Creeping Hunger, Qilangos has become extremely difficult to handle.

“Originally, he was merely a Wind-blessed, a Beyonder with decent abilities in the domains of water, wind, and weather. But later, people discovered that he could drive targets into frenzy, enter the dreams of others, summon light to purify the undead, strengthen himself through song, and change his appearance into that of different people… He is almost omnipotent. We suspect all of this comes from Creeping Hunger.”

Before he could finish, the Sun, Derrick Berg, who had been listening quietly at the side, blurted out in astonishment, “Shepherd!”

Shepherd? Sequence 5 of the Secrets Suppliant and Listener pathway? Mm, there is a newly promoted elder among the City of Silver’s six-member council who is a Shepherd. It is said that she is so powerful she can resist a Sequence 4 powerhouse—or rather, an evil spirit of equivalent rank…

Klein’s facial expression changed slightly, but it was concealed by the gray-white fog. At that moment, the Spectator was not paying attention to him either.

“Shepherd?”

“Shepherd?”

Justice and the Hanged Man spoke almost simultaneously. One was entirely puzzled. The other carried a hint of surprise, as though he had heard the term somewhere and knew a little about it, but did not understand the details.

Seeing everyone’s gazes turn toward him, Derrick immediately became somewhat flustered. No matter how silent and restrained he was, no matter how heavily grief had weighed upon him, he was still only a boy.

He hurriedly stammered in explanation.

“I mean, the traits the Hanged Man listed resemble the Beyonder abilities of the Sequence known as Shepherd. Every Shepherd can devour other people’s souls—including wraiths and evil spirits—into their own body. Then, through a unique method, they herd those souls and use certain abilities corresponding to them, as though shepherding lambs for a god.

“That is why no one knows exactly how many abilities a Shepherd possesses. It depends only on how many extraordinary souls they have devoured. This makes them terrifying, almost equal to high-Sequence powerhouses.

“But some suspect that the number of souls a Shepherd can devour and herd has a limit, though they may be replaced.”

So that is what Shepherd means… The pathway controlled by the Aurora Order is as strange as ever… No wonder the object they believe in is the True Creator—no, the Fallen Creator…

Klein understood at once, but he did not nod. He behaved as though he had known it all along.

At the same time, he sighed inwardly.

Sun, you really are still only a child. That was extremely important information, valuable intelligence you could have traded for something useful. Yet you just said it! You just said it out loud…

Mm. The abilities displayed by the mystical item Creeping Hunger, which needs to be sealed, are very similar to Sequence 5 Shepherd… Could many Sealed Artifacts similarly correspond, or nearly correspond, to a certain Sequence profession in a state of losing control? I wonder which Sequence profession Sealed Artifact 2-049, the Antigonus family’s puppet, resembles…

After listening to the Sun’s explanation, the Hanged Man, Alger, seemed to have solved a certain mystery. He nodded slightly and fell silent for a moment.

Justice, Audrey, became even more curious.

“Which Sequence pathway does Shepherd belong to? Which Sequence number?”

“The Secrets Suppliant pathway. Sequence 5,” Klein seized the opportunity and unobtrusively inserted a sentence, showing that he knew everything.

“Secrets Suppliant… The Aurora Order…”

Audrey immediately thought of Mr. A, suspected Oracle of the Aurora Order. Her mood suddenly grew a little heavy.

She began seriously thinking, considering what price she could use to make Mr. Fool act and easily dispose of that disgusting fellow. But after thinking about it again and again, she could not imagine how to move Mr. Fool.

As expected, great figures close to gods are not so easily moved… They are interested in very few objects and matters to begin with…

Audrey sighed inwardly.

Temporarily abandoning that impulse, she nodded gratefully toward the Sun, thanking him for giving everyone a new guess regarding Creeping Hunger and allowing them to form more reasonable and effective countermeasures.

“Mr. Hanged Man, I am willing to accept this commission, but I cannot guarantee I will find Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilangos,” Audrey said, looking toward the opposite side.

“There could not be a better answer. Whether you succeed or not, so long as you make the attempt, I will later pay you a certain reward—some secret knowledge or intelligence, for example. If you succeed, perhaps I can directly provide you with the main ingredients for Telepathist. Of course, the premise is that we first know what they are,” Alger promised with rare generosity.

“Deal.”

Audrey pressed her lips together and answered with a faint smile.

Next, with Klein’s permission and assistance, Alger manifested a portrait of Qilangos.

This man, one of the seven pirate admirals, had a distinctive broad jaw. His brown hair was tied behind his head in the style of an ancient warrior. His dark-green eyes seemed to hold a smile, yet were exceptionally cold.

After they finished discussing what needed to be discussed and sharing the intelligence that needed to be shared, the Fool, Klein, seated high at the head of the table, smiled and announced the end of today’s gathering. He saw Justice and the Hanged Man rise quickly and bow, and saw the Sun imitate them half a beat late.

He pressed his right hand forward, cutting off the connection, but did not immediately leave himself.

…

The City of Silver, the Berg household.

Derrick looked at the familiar furnishings around him. He looked at the dark sky outside where lightning flashed. For a moment, he felt dazed again.

But he soon recovered. He found parchment-like paper and a quill pen, then swiftly wrote down the Bard formula that he had forced himself to memorize.

He checked it several times before finally confirming there was no mistake.

Derrick did not worry that possessing the Bard formula and becoming an alternative Beyonder would make the upper ranks of the City of Silver suspicious. In every exploration action before this, the members of elite teams would more or less gain formulas, materials, and strange items from monsters or from the abandoned, destroyed cities.

During that process, it was quite normal for someone to privately keep a little. As long as it did not involve matters too important, the captains and higher-ups tacitly avoided pursuing it.

After accumulation over a long time, certain formulas had begun circulating through the City of Silver’s unofficial channels. Others became the foundation for certain families’ long-standing strength. The things of darkness surrounding the City of Silver had relatively fixed traits. Some materials were easy to obtain, while others required one to venture deep into the cursed land before there was any hope of finding them.

After putting away the parchment, Derrick remembered the mysterious Fool’s instruction. Within his crude bedroom, he lowered his head and prayed simply:

“The Fool that does not belong to this era.

“The mysterious ruler above the gray fog.

“The King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck.

“…”

Giant language was an extremely ancient language. In itself, it possessed the mysterious nature of sacrifice, prayer, and spellcasting. Therefore, Derrick did not need to convert it into ancient Hermes.

…

“The Fool that does not belong to this era.

“…”

Seated silently at the head of the ancient bronze long table, Klein heard the prayer lingering by his ears. He saw the crimson star corresponding to the Sun expanding and contracting.

But he did not attempt to touch it. He planned to wait until ten or so minutes before the next gathering before responding, thereby allowing the boy from the City of Silver to prepare to be alone.

Most importantly, this allowed him to avoid converting time and dates, reducing the chance that the Fool’s powerful image might be damaged.

After confirming this matter, Klein wrapped himself in spirituality and dropped sharply downward.

Returning to his room, Klein removed the wall of spirituality and rested for a short while. Then he prepared to go out again.

Now, he no longer needed to act as a diviner, nor did he need to make visiting the Divination Club a fixed part of his schedule. Occasionally going there to earn some extra money and fulfill his Nighthawk supervisory duties was enough.

Originally, Klein had hoped to laze around properly all afternoon. But afterward, he remembered there was one more thing he had not done. He had no choice but to rouse himself again: according to the agreement, he had to find Detective Henry today and obtain the final report on the red chimney investigation.

“Sigh. They say important people are always busy… Later, I also have to find time to go with Benson and Melissa to the Tingen City Association for Helping Family Servants and find a good maid-of-all-work…”

Klein struggled to change his shirt, put on his black tailcoat, took up his half-top silk hat and silver-inlaid cane, and walked out the front door like a gentleman.

On Bessik Street, downstairs from Henry Private Detective Agency, Klein put on his mask, pressed his hat low, swiftly crossed the road, and entered the stairwell.