Chapter 77: The Death of Mason Dill

Chapter 77: The Death of Mason Dill

His Majesty the King… Hearing Viscount Stratford’s answer, Xio was momentarily dazed. Her heart filled with confusion.

She found it difficult to understand why Shermane had deliberately approached this captain of the royal guards merely to investigate whom he truly served. It did not seem to be anything particularly important or valuable.

And Viscount Stratford’s answer had been perfectly orthodox, with not the slightest fault to be found.

Shermane gave her life just to obtain this answer? Xio originally wanted to follow up by asking why Shermane had investigated that seemingly minor matter. But in the blink of an eye, she considered that this might touch on comparatively core intelligence too quickly, causing Stratford—who had not yet completely entered the “state”—to resist. Thus, she temporarily restrained the impulse.

After a brief moment of thought, she instead asked,

“Do you know Mason Dill?”

“I do,” Viscount Stratford replied blankly.

Xio Derecha continued asking a comparatively simple, not-too-important question.

“Who is he?”

“He was the former captain of the royal guards.” Viscount Stratford answered only the question itself, without any additional explanation.

At that moment, Fors was not listening to the shallow stage of the Mind Reading. She took out the pure crystal ball and placed it inside Xio’s pocket.

After transferring the item, she bent down once more and cautiously tried to pick up that copper-green cross.

This time, as her fingers trembled slightly, the sensation of burning her soul did not surge through the touch, allowing her to easily pick up the item with several sharp spikes.

As expected, this cross rejects every mystical item other than itself. It cannot tolerate their existence… Uh, I am still carrying the Moon Paper Figurine and the residual spirituality of the ancient wraith, yet it has no reaction… That means it does not reject things that contain no Beyonder characteristics. It does not resist spirituality and power? If that is true, could it likewise reject the Beyonder characteristics inside my body, only with a less obvious manifestation… Is this its other negative effect, something that needs a certain amount of time before appearing? Fors formed a rough judgment regarding this ancient copper-green cross and cautiously placed it into the hidden pouch containing all kinds of ritual materials.

After finishing this, Fors lowered her head and glanced at the silver bracelet around her wrist, confirming that it was now empty and no longer had any ornaments hanging from it.

The five stones that allowed her to “teleport” had all been used up.

However, Fors was not as frightened as before. Although she had already confirmed that as the stones were consumed one after another, the ravings of the full moon would become clearer and more terrifying, she also knew that with Mr. Fool’s help, this was no longer a problem. Over the past nearly one year, if she had not needed to spend a short period of time above the gray fog every full moon or blood moon, she would almost have forgotten that she still endured the torment of the Full Moon Ravings.

I hope one day this curse will disappear completely… After withdrawing her gaze from the gradually dimming silver bracelet, Fors could not help sighing.

Immediately afterward, with utmost sincerity, she inwardly thanked Mr. Fool.

“…Regardless of what His true goal is, at the very least, He has saved me again and again. Not only from the Full Moon Ravings…

“This cross seems to be of quite a high level. I wonder whether Mr. Fool would be interested in it and whether He would be willing to accept my sacrifice… Previously, I had neither good items nor useful intelligence, so I had no way to repay that kindness. Now I finally see a possibility…

“Uh… This is joint loot. I only own half of it. I wonder whether Mr. Fool would accept a sacrifice of only half ownership… No, Xio has also been saved by Mr. Fool…

“Heh-heh. Perhaps this can even please Mr. Fool… If He is satisfied, perhaps He will descend a few Beyonder powers for me to record in Leymano’s Travels. No, Leymano’s Travels definitely cannot record a deity’s abilities. It would be unable to bear Mr. Fool’s power… Mm, the abilities of His angels would also do. No, no, no. I must not be too greedy. Even if I can ask Mr. World to copy down a few abilities, I would already be very satisfied…”

Fors’s thoughts wandered freely, and she indulged in dream-like expectations.

This was a bestselling novelist’s instinct.

As for why she expected nothing else and only hoped to record Beyonder powers, it was because today had given her an exceptionally deep understanding of the importance and terror of demigod-level Beyonder abilities.

If Leymano’s Travels had not recorded that Tornado, she and Xio would have had absolutely no chance of capturing Viscount Stratford tonight. Even escaping might not necessarily have been possible.

Even if one ignored that copper-green cross, Viscount Stratford himself was a very powerful Beyonder. If he had not been injured by Tornado at the very beginning and slammed into dizziness, the ambush carried out by the two of them most likely would not have produced the expected effect. There would have been a great chance of counterattack.

Of course, separating the terrifying “radiant cross” from Viscount Stratford had been the key to victory in that brief battle tonight, and that was likewise Tornado’s contribution.

“Thinking about it carefully, in a less urgent environment, without that copper-green cross and the demigod-level ability recorded in the notebook, if Xio and I joined forces against Viscount Stratford, it would not be impossible to win. We would even have a rather good chance…

“The variety and reasonable combination of Beyonder powers in the travel notebook are truly strong. Combined with Xio’s Psychic Piercing, the effect of the Icy Blade, and her ability to hold the front line in battle, if Viscount Stratford had no special mystical item, losing would be the reasonable conclusion…

“An experienced and still-living Scribe is actually this strong…” The more Fors thought, the more she had a strange feeling.

That was that she seemed, probably, maybe, to have become rather powerful!

During the battle against the ancient wraith, she had originally gained a similar realization. But afterward, she had suffered a strange corruption, leaving only lingering fear toward the whole matter and no longer thinking deeply about it. And when punishing the Sanguine viscount Ernest Boyar, she and Xio had not participated in the actual battle, so naturally they had no chance to evaluate their own strength through it.

This time, however, their enemy Viscount Stratford was the royal guards’ captain of the Loen royal family. He was at least Sequence 6, most likely Sequence 5, and he held a demigod-level item. The level of his strength was quite clear, allowing Fors to use him to position herself within the “strata” of the extraordinary world. Although the reason for their victory lay more in the ambush, being able to successfully ambush someone was itself a manifestation of strength.

I am already a Scribe. After copying and matching the right abilities, together with Leymano’s Travels, I am more or less equivalent to a relatively strong Sequence 5… The only problem is that I still lack experience… As Fors sighed inwardly, she cast her gaze toward Xio and Viscount Stratford, continuing to listen to their questions and answers.

By then, Xio’s questions had already entered a more core area, one more likely to provoke resistance.

“How did Mason Dill die?”

After asking this question, Xio’s emotions suddenly became exceptionally complicated. There was anticipation and unease, excitement and fear.

This was the question she had wanted to ask for eight years. For nearly three thousand days and nights, she had been seeking the answer at every moment, yet she also feared that the answer would not be the one she wanted. She feared that her father truly had participated in that rebellion and had therefore been executed, leaving no honor behind.

Viscount Stratford did not immediately answer Xio’s question. He seemed to struggle briefly before saying,

“He discovered His Majesty the King’s secret and wanted to inform the three Churches, but failed. He was executed on the spot.”

Xio froze for several seconds, finally confirming that she had obtained the answer.

Although that answer frightened her, it also caused her heart to fall back into its original position and settle.

“Secret… His Majesty the King’s secret…” she murmured, then asked with sudden urgency, “What secret?”

Fors beside her was also shocked almost into a daze. She had not expected the matter to develop to this degree.

At that moment, the muscles on Viscount Stratford’s face twisted obviously. With great difficulty, he finally squeezed out a few words.

“That secret is…”

Suddenly, his body trembled violently, and his confused eyes recovered their luster all at once.

Immediately afterward, he disintegrated from the most minute structural level, instantly collapsing into a mass of “fireworks.”

That blood-colored “firework” shot straight into the sky and exploded with a boom, illuminating the night and reflecting itself in Fors’s and Xio’s eyes.

This… Having the previous experience, after Fors’s gaze froze, she did not waste another word. She immediately crouched down and grabbed Shermane’s corpse and Xio’s lower leg respectively.

Their figures quickly turned transparent, vanishing from where they stood, “teleporting” to the South Borough of the Bridge area.

…

Above the gray fog, Klein, holding the Sea God Scepter, likewise saw that “firework” dye the sky red.

Earlier, when Fors had prayed to him, he had happened to be inside this majestic palace observing Qonas Kilgor’s movements. In passing, he had accommodated the Red Priest card, summoned a paper figurine he had cut, mobilized the power of the mysterious space, and given a response.

During this process, he had discovered that the person lying beside Miss Magician and Miss Judgement was actually Viscount Stratford.

This was a target he had paid close attention to. Although he had not personally investigated him, he knew the man had problems and knew that the Demoness Trissy was targeting him. Therefore, during a ball, he had memorized the corresponding appearance and traits.

Klein was not clear on what exactly those two Tarot Club members intended to do, but since Viscount Stratford was involved, he naturally would not overlook the matter’s importance. He directly observed the subsequent encounter of Miss Magician and Miss Judgement through the corresponding crimson star.

After advancing to demigod and gaining more authority over this place, Klein no longer needed Tarot Club members to pray in order to directly inspect a certain area around them through their corresponding crimson stars. This was similar to believers who had been specially marked. However, Klein was extremely restrained in this regard and had never attempted it before.

That was how he heard the conversation between Xio and Viscount Stratford.

And he, who understood the inside story, was very clear on the true meaning and weight behind the question “whom do you serve?”

Combining this with the fact that the former royal guards’ captain Mason Dill had discovered the king’s secret and had tried, unsuccessfully, to inform the three Churches, Klein already had a guess regarding the answer.

He suspected that the greatest culprit behind the Great Smog of Backlund was the king of the Loen Kingdom—George III!