Chapter 208: A Story

Chapter 208: A Story

After leaving the local Nighthawk outpost disguised as a private detective agency, Leonard looked toward Daly Simone, who had taken the initiative to propose grouping with him, and asked,

“Where do we start? Do you have any suggestions?”

Daly, whose attire carried both an eerie beauty and a mature air, pulled up the hood of her Spirit Medium’s black robe and glanced at Leonard Mitchell.

“This is the moment for a gentleman to display his judgment and style.”

Leonard looked down at the red glove on his left hand, considered his words, and said,

“We’ll start according to Captain Soest’s arrangements. We may discover a few clues this way, though they may not be useful. I suspect Her Excellency Eye of the Goddess knows that as well. She’s merely finding something for us to do, to mislead Ince Zangwill.”

“Why do you say that?” Daly did not joke this time. Her expression was rarely so serious.

Leonard looked left and right. His voice unconsciously lowered.

“From what I know, 0-08 has the trait of ‘if you know it, it knows you.’ Although we do not know its true name or abilities, and are only using a code name we invented ourselves, which should have little effect and leave us only at the edge of its attention, we are a Red Gloves team currently investigating the Numinous Episcopate. We have discussed Ince Zangwill many times. I believe our situation may already have been grasped by 0-08. If so, Ince Zangwill can learn that the abnormality of his condition has been exposed and consciously create coincidences to evade us.”

Daly recalled the information related to Ince Zangwill and nodded.

“Soest raised this problem at the very beginning as well, only he did not state it as clearly or explicitly as you did. He was still at the stage of working backward from failure to infer possible factors.

“In other words, Her Excellency Eye of the Goddess has us investigate Hunter pathway Beyonders and materials in the surrounding region, pretending the matter has not yet been confirmed, while secretly preparing to use a corresponding item to set a trap and wait for Ince Zangwill to appear of his own accord when the evil spirit has the upper hand?”

Leonard turned and walked as he spoke.

“Most likely. But I suspect this may very well fail to hide from 0-08…”

Daly followed diagonally behind him and said thoughtfully,

“I still think there is hope of success. Don’t forget, one of the Goddess’s honorific names is the Mother of Concealment.”

“This can counter 0-08? The Church has high-ranking members or Sealed Artifacts that can restrain 0-08? No wonder 0-08 was once obtained by the Church and sealed beneath the Holy Cathedral…” Leonard’s green eyes brightened, and his spirit instantly lifted.

Daly gave a small nod, and her expression softened.

A few seconds later, however, her eyes suddenly narrowed. She blurted out,

“Could our discussion just now be known by 0-08?”

Leonard’s expression froze. He did not dare confirm it, but he did not dare deny it either. He and Daly looked at one another. For a brief while, neither of them said a word.

…

Inside a certain room, a slightly pale hand flipped the notebook on the desk back to an earlier point and began browsing through it page by page.

“…After leaving Bansy Harbor, Sauron Einhorn Medici, having obtained a certain item, no longer possessed only paranoia, nor did he instinctively weave conspiracies at all times. Through repeated tugging back and forth and mutual resistance, Ince Zangwill and he reached a preliminary reconciliation, even deciding on limited cooperation so that each could accomplish his own wish.

“For an evil spirit of the Red Priest pathway, such a promise cannot be guaranteed to be effective. But Ince Zangwill has no other choice.

“In his view, this series of events contained many coincidences, but in essence, it was inevitable. At the very least, Sauron Einhorn Medici’s ability to construct a story is several times greater than his.

“…After…