Chapter 16: Call and Response

Chapter 16: Call and Response

Inside the Thunder Church, the dome soared high overhead, with arches linking one into the next. Murals covered the surrounding walls without leaving the slightest blank space. Gold and blue dominated the colors, making anyone walking within instinctively feel the sacred solemnity of the place and unconsciously lower their head.

Alger Wilson often came into contact with hidden existences and had long attended gatherings in a palace like a divine residence. He no longer felt what he once had, no longer so awed by such sights. However, he did not let that show. Like the sailors around him, he kept his head lowered, his eyes on the ground, his footsteps light and gentle, not even daring to breathe too noticeably.

In the quiet atmosphere, they were led by a priest all the way to the clergy quarters behind the church, where each of them was assigned a room.

After closing the door, Alger saw blood-red moonlight shining in through the window, making the surroundings cold and uncanny. It was as if countless shadows and wraiths were staring into the real world through a thin veil.

Whenever a blood moon appeared, spirituality would surge. Powers from the spirit world and hell would be greatly strengthened, and the negative emotions of living beings would erupt. The higher one’s Sequence, the more obvious the sensation.

Faintly, Alger heard weeping, low shouts, and whispers—completely different from the solemn feeling he had just experienced inside the Thunder Church.

Before his eyes, illusory arms seemed to appear one after another, stretching out from the walls, the floor, and the ceiling like a three-dimensional pale forest.

Alger knew the abnormalities that came with a blood moon. Without the slightest panic, he took off his captain’s hat, entered the washroom, and washed his face with tap water.

In the midst of this, he suddenly heard a distant, beautiful song.

The song was indistinct, as if coming from the island’s center, yet it circled endlessly, as though it were right beside Alger. It did not inspire fear. It was like a woman who had left her family, her kin, and her beloved behind, standing at the edge of a cliff and watching the surging tides while softly humming in deep sorrow.

Alger pulled down a towel, wiped his face, then tilted his head and listened for several seconds.

His brows gradually furrowed. From a hidden pocket in his clerical robe, he took out a small iron box and brought it near his ear.

Inside was the Ocean Songster Beyonder characteristic he had purchased from the World. He suspected that the remnant psyche within the item had temporarily strengthened under the influence of the blood moon.

As the iron box drew nearer, part of the singing by Alger’s ear instantly became clear. Emotions such as melancholy, sorrow, longing, and pain seemed almost tangible.

Yet apart from that, an ethereal, ancient song still drifted over, distinct from the clear portion, as if the two were singing in call and response.

“Whose song is that? It sounds like an elf’s… Some item inside the Church that originated from the elves? The Ocean Songster Beyonder characteristic on me came from an elf?”

Alger nodded slightly, making a guess.

Because they shared the Sailor pathway, the Church of Storms had always been collecting relics of the elves. Some had been made into potions, some were kept underground as sealed artifacts, and some, having relatively minor negative effects, were awarded to clergy members. As such, for similar items to trigger one another and produce abnormalities on a blood moon night was not especially strange.

If it is a mystical item, there is no problem. If it is a sealed artifact, then the fact that its song can penetrate isolation means it is definitely not simple…

Alger withdrew his thoughts, brushed his teeth, and lay down in bed.

He quickly fell asleep and entered a dream.

At some unknown time, Alger suddenly grew somewhat lucid. He vaguely knew that he was dreaming, yet he possessed enough awareness to observe his surroundings.

He discovered that above him was rippling, deep-blue seawater, layer upon layer overlapping so completely that no sky could be seen. Before him stood a magnificent palace that seemed to be formed from coral—tall, splendid, dark, and heavy.

Alger subconsciously walked toward the palace and entered its open doors.

Inside, enormous coral pillars rose one after another, supporting an exaggerated dome. The walls and ceiling were painted with murals whose main subject was the terror of storms.

At the far end, more than a hundred meters away, a chair embedded with sapphires, emeralds, and round pearls stood atop nine tiers of steps, drawing the eye with particular force.

Following that pull, Alger looked over and saw a woman seated there, dressed in an elaborate, archaic gown. Her hair was glossy black, coiled into a high bun. Her contours were soft, her features refined, and her beauty would not suffer prejudice no matter the era.

This woman’s expression was cold. Her ears were slightly pointed, and her brown eyes were deep. From her elevated seat, she looked down at Alger.

In her hand, she toyed with a golden wine cup covered in intricate patterns.

Alger was just about to speak when silver light blazed in the woman’s eyes, as if lightning had flashed. It surged out and pierced through the dream!

Hah… Alger flipped over and sat up, instinctively gasping. He felt that the dream just now was both indistinct and clear.

Indistinct were the woman’s appearance, the details of the murals, and the specific form of the coral palace. Clear were those lightning-filled eyes and those slightly pointed ears.

A high-ranking elf? Did an item she left behind resonate with the Ocean Songster Beyonder characteristic on me under the effect of the blood moon, thereby affecting my dream?

As Alger made guesses, he idly wondered which item it might be.

Because his status was not high, he knew only a limited number of sealed artifacts and mystical items. Yet because he understood certain knowledge others did not, he quickly arrived at one target.

“Calamity Cohinem?

“The Book of Calamity that She left behind should already have been delivered to Pasu Island…

“After my report is complete and I leave this place, I’ll ask Mr. Fool whether what just happened will leave behind any harmful influence…”

Alger did not dare recite the Fool’s honorific name at the headquarters of the Church of Storms.

After daybreak, he showed not the slightest abnormality. Led by a servant, he entered a room furnished with a long table and accepted questioning from three Mandated Punisher deacons.

Among these three deacons, only one possessed deep-blue hair. This was because such a change did not necessarily occur after consuming Sailor pathway potions, but the trait was inherited with considerable stubbornness—just like among the elves. In the past, black hair had been more common than blue, but in the present era, the overwhelming majority of half-bloods with elven lineage had blue hair.

Alger sat at the lower end of the long table and answered the deacons’ questions in an orderly manner, explaining one by one what he had done at sea during this period, what he planned to do, what he had succeeded in, and what he had failed at.

These accounts would be compared against the statements of other crew members to prevent anyone from lying.

Near the end of the debriefing, the deacon with deep-blue hair glanced at Alger and asked in a rough, thick voice, “Do you know Admiral of Stars Cattleya?”

More than know her… Alger was nearly frightened. After thinking for a moment, he answered, “I’ve seen her at a pirate conference.”

The deacon did not dwell on that question and said bluntly, “Find a way to get acquainted with her. Investigate Gehrman Sparrow’s situation through her.”

So that’s it… Because Gehrman hunted Admiral of Blood? Alger deliberately asked in puzzlement, “What has Gehrman Sparrow done now?”

The deep-blue-haired deacon said irritably, “He almost destroyed Bayam! Enough. This is not something you should know. In short, remember this: Gehrman Sparrow is an extremely dangerous fellow. Behind him is a secret, evil organization. That organization has a demigod and is hostile to the Rose School of Thought!”

Almost destroyed Bayam? An organization with a demigod? Hostile to the Rose School of Thought?

Alger deliberately did not hide his astonishment.

He had thought Gehrman had drawn doubled attention because he had hunted Admiral of Blood Senor. Who could have known that the matter was far more complicated and exaggerated than he had imagined?

Just what did Gehrman Sparrow do? When I pass through Bayam, I need to find the scene and take a look… Also, isn’t the Tarot Club’s mortal enemy the Aurora Order? Hasn’t Mr. Fool always been targeting the True Creator? How did it become—no, how did we gain another enemy in the Rose School of Thought?

Alger muttered silently to himself.

As for the Tarot Club having a demigod, he was not surprised. He even thought that this was only reasonable. How could an ancient existence not have a demigod among His subordinates?

Moreover, the strange and silent death of Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilangos had already convinced him that Mr. Fool possessed a high-Sequence Blessed!

Fortunately, my meetings with Gehrman were very secretive. Otherwise, things would be troublesome…

Alger listened quietly to the end, asked no further questions, accepted the mission as usual, rose, and left the room.

…

Backlund, North Borough, outside No. 160 Böklund Street.

Servants stood in two rows, welcoming the arrival of their master.

With graying temples and deep blue eyes, Dawn Dantes wore a tailcoat and a silk top hat, holding a gold-inlaid cane. Accompanied by his butler Walter and his valet Richardson, he passed between the servants and arrived at the entrance of the three-story house.

Waiting there was the housekeeper he had selected that morning, Taneja.

She was in her early forties, her hair arranged in a meticulous bun. Her facial features were ordinary, but her air was capable and efficient. She wore gold-rimmed glasses and a black-and-white dress distinct from those worn by maids.

From her documents and their interview, Klein had learned that this lady had been born in the East Borough and believed in the Evernight Goddess. At the age of fifteen, she had chosen to accept training from a Church charity fund, becoming a qualified maid.

Thanks to more than ten years of hard work, as well as free courses at a night school, she had risen in a wealthy merchant’s household from the lowest-ranking maid all the way to head maid. Later, after the merchant’s daughter married, she followed her and became a housekeeper, only leaving when that family fell into financial difficulties. She possessed abundant experience in internal household management.

This lady had only just signed her contract and received the first 1,000 pounds in cash for the month from Dawn Dantes when she began arguing with Butler Walter over whether the carriage should be bought or rented.

In her view, since Mr. Dantes’s goal was to enter high society, move to the West Borough, and perhaps even the Queen Borough, his carriage would certainly need to be specially commissioned so as not to fall short of his status. Before that, renting a high-end carriage for a year and waiting until matters showed promise before commissioning one was the more reasonable choice. It would neither be wasteful nor improper.

She persuaded Walter—and, of course, Klein as well—because renting a high-end carriage with horses for a year cost only eighty-eight pounds, while a two-wheeled one cost forty-two pounds.

As expected, household expenses must be controlled by someone good at comparing and calculating…

Klein sighed inwardly, smiled and nodded at Taneja, then stepped through the door of the three-story house.

This would be the stage upon which the tycoon Dawn Dantes would next perform.