Chapter 148: A Breakthrough Point

Chapter 148: A Breakthrough Point

In an alley within the Backlund Bridge area, Xio once again met the MI9 officer responsible for contacting her.

“This is the compensation you exchanged with your merit—2,500 pounds in total. Heh, I fought for an extra 500 pounds for you.” The man wearing the golden mask tossed Xio a bulging envelope.

Xio caught it accurately. She did not count it, only pressed it instinctively, then spoke with sincere gratitude.

“Thank you.”

The man in the golden mask waved his hand.

“No need to thank me. This is a good thing for me too. If you kept clinging to the old matter and refused to let go, I’d be very worried that one day I would end up before a military court.

“Will you be staying in Backlund after this?”

“Yes. I’m already used to life in the metropolis. Once the war ends, I’ll bring my family here.” Xio spoke the words she had long since prepared.

“Once the war ends…” The man in the golden mask repeated the middle phrase in a somewhat strange tone, then smiled. “May the Lord bless us so that we both live until the war ends.”

The “Lord” he referred to was the Lord of Storms.

“I believe in the Goddess,” Xio answered very seriously.

“You understand what I mean.” The man in the golden mask waved again. “Then do you still plan to accept MI9 commissions?”

“I won’t refuse opportunities to earn money,” Xio said while scratching her slightly rough hair. Her words were half true and half false.

“Mm.” The man in the golden mask nodded. “During wartime, the main tasks will be dealing with spies from different countries. If there is a commission suitable for you, I will come to you.”

“All right.” After answering, Xio did not linger. Carefully and cautiously, she withdrew from the dim alley.

After watching her figure disappear, the man in the golden mask looked toward the shadow in the corner and said, “She was probably only used by some force. Once she stopped investigating the old matter, she was abandoned.”

A deep voice came from within the corner’s darkness.

“On the surface, that seems to be the case. But there is no need to pursue or worry about the truth anymore. Even if she eventually learns the truth and spreads it, it can no longer affect His Majesty’s matter. Heh. Even the Church of Evernight has already tacitly approved it.”

“That’s for the best…” The man in the golden mask breathed out soundlessly.

After returning to her residence near the edge of East Borough, Xio said to Forsi, who was sitting on the edge of the bed reading a newspaper, “I got 2,500 pounds.”

Forsi put down the newspaper. Her eyes moved slightly as she focused on calculating.

“That’s enough.”

Xio herself had more than 600 pounds in savings. Adding this 2,500 pounds, and deducting necessary living expenses, left her with around 3,100 pounds freely available.

She was buying the Judge potion formula for 2,000 pounds and the Beyonder characteristic for 3,500 pounds, which meant she was still short 2,400 pounds. Forsi would lend that amount to her.

After lending out this money, Forsi’s savings would drop to 780 pounds. However, this did not affect her much. She already had her subsequent potion formula and main ingredient, and would not have any major expenses for a long time. Occasionally, she could still earn some money by renting out Leymano’s Travels.

“Mm.” Xio nodded. “I’ll complete the transaction as quickly as possible and strive to advance to Sequence 6 sooner.”

Seeing that her friend’s matter had been settled, Forsi turned to worrying about herself.

“I don’t know when my Recordkeeper potion will be fully digested. Now that war has broken out, having the ability to Travel would make things much safer.”

“The focus of Recordkeeper must be on ‘recording.’ Once I become a Judge, you’ll have new Beyonder powers to repeatedly record. That should speed up digestion.” Xio pulled over a chair and sat, thinking as she spoke.

Forsi sighed.

“I suspect that besides ‘recording’ Beyonder abilities, I also need to ‘record’ the scenery and customs of different places, so it matches the later Traveler. But now that war has erupted, traveling inland is fine, while going elsewhere will definitely be difficult and dangerous. Sigh. The price of bread has already risen. It’s gone up nearly a quarter penny per pound, even more expensive than before the Grain Act was repealed!”

“Indeed.” Xio thought about it seriously and agreed with Forsi’s conclusion.

The two fell silent. After a dozen seconds or so, Xio suddenly had an idea.

“Actually, there’s a very simple method.”

“What?” Forsi sat a little straighter and blurted the question.

“You could pay that person to take you traveling,” Xio said cautiously, not mentioning any specific codename or name. “Each time, he can throw you into an unfamiliar place for three or four days, or even a week, and then bring you back. It wouldn’t take long for you to record all kinds of customs and local color. And you could also rent certain mystical items from him—from them—to record Beyonder abilities. That would both strengthen you and help you digest your potion.”

“Right!” Forsi’s eyes lit up.

Only now did she realize that her use of the Tarot Gathering had been extremely superficial.

After the surprise faded, Forsi’s brows gradually furrowed. This method meant she would have to frequently deal with The World Gehrman Sparrow—and the moment she thought of that crazy adventurer, she could not help trembling slightly.

Sure enough, nothing comes without a price… To digest the potion, I can only take the risk… In the end, Forsi made up her mind and decided to bring up the request at next week’s Tarot Gathering.

…

In an apartment several streets away from where Xio and Forsi lived, Klein, who had just returned from Serenzo Restaurant, sat at the desk and quickly flipped through the day’s newspapers, summarizing and extracting the more important information.

“The Feysac Empire’s Sonia Sea Fleet has withdrawn from Pritz Harbor, destination unknown…”

“Admiral Amyrius of the Ministry of National Defense has stated that coastal defense will be strengthened, and that the three ironclad fleets need not rush back too quickly, but should make more detours in order to avoid ambushes…”

“Feysac’s Two-Headed Giant Legion has invaded the Amanda Mountains of Winter County and encountered fierce resistance, failing to pass through several major fortresses…”

“Feysac’s Conquest Fleet has attacked heavy industrial cities such as Conston on the eastern coast of the Intersea. A large-scale naval battle erupted with the kingdom’s Intersea Fleet. Both sides sustained losses…”

“Feysac and Loen colonial forces in East Balam have gone to war in multiple locations…”

“The other countries have not yet expressed a clear stance. In the corresponding capitals, ambassadors are rushing about making contact, conducting urgent diplomatic mediation… Electric waves carry all kinds of important messages, crossing back and forth between cities on the Northern and Southern Continents…”

It’s still the early stage of war… Klein did not believe those diplomats would be able to dispel the war. He put down the newspaper and began thinking about how to gather intelligence regarding George III’s Black Emperor ritual.

“According to normal logic, before Blood Emperor Alista went insane, He would still have tended to act reasonably. In other words, He couldn’t possibly have built all nine mausoleums in one secret place. That would make it very easy for someone to wipe them all out at once and cause His resurrection to fail.

“So, around Backlund, and in other parts of the kingdom, there should still be eight similar mausoleums. They have not yet been exposed, and may not be as heavily protected as Ruin No. 1. That means there may be opportunities…

“The Red Angel evil spirit may know something, but I cannot contact Him right now. Leaving aside whether reciting His honorific name would be dangerous, that action alone would expose my intent to stop George III from becoming the Black Emperor. To a terrifying Conspirer, there would be far too many ways to exploit that.

“The Queen of Mysteries may have certain channels and clues, but I can’t rely only on her… As for the Church, they probably don’t know how many secret ruins the Blood Emperor has, nor where they are…

“Start with key figures near the King? For example, royal demigods deeply involved in this matter? They would certainly be vigilant, and the angels of the Augustus family and that ancient secret organization would most likely be watching, one in the open and one in the shadows… Besides, as long as a royal demigod suffers an accident, George III will surely guess that someone is trying to stop His apotheosis…

“Right. White Saint Katarina. Compared with the royal demigods, she’s easier to deal with and less ‘attention-grabbing’…”

“Mm. Theoretically speaking, now that George III has already obtained the tacit approval of the major Churches, He no longer needs to cooperate with the Demoness Sect. There is no need. If not for some reason that has bound both sides together completely, the first thing He should do now would be to cut ties with the Demoness Sect.

“Of course, He most likely won’t directly sell the Demoness Sect out. On one hand, witches are also skilled at conspiracies and would definitely prepare precautions. On the other, if He angered the upper ranks of the Demoness Sect, George III’s Black Emperor ritual might no longer be so secure. This is a secret organization with a true god, Grade 0 sealed artifacts, and angels.

“As long as George III still has reason, the correct approach would be to fulfill the agreement, give them everything they should receive, and send the Demoness Sect’s people away. During this process, He would borrow the power of angels, or even a King of Angels, in the mind domain to erase key memories from the Demoness Sect’s participants.

“In that case, even if White Saint Katarina ‘disappears’ for some time, it won’t alert George III. He may not even know.

“And from the Demoness Sect’s perspective, the matter is over, and the major Churches have tacitly approved it. White Saint Katarina and the others no longer need to hide as completely as they did before. They can move about more freely. To me and the Queen of Mysteries, that means an opportunity.

“Mm, Vice Admiral Ailment is very likely to appear again. Judging by her appearance and White Saint’s attitude back then, she and Katarina should share some blood relation…”

At this thought, Klein exhaled, looked out the window, and muttered soundlessly, “I hope Anderson and Danitz can find that pirate admiral as soon as possible…

“I hope the City of Miracles inside Groselle’s Travels can effectively break the influence of the mind domain…”

For now, what he could do was wait patiently.

…

On the Berserk Sea, Celos Island.

Danitz said to Anderson with a delighted expression, “I found out something. Southwest of here, off the normal sea routes, there’s an island with no real resources but enough secrecy.”