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 confirming that the destination was East Balam in the Southern Continent, Ince Zangwill took a ship into the Berserk Sea… Each time, he would enter an Intisian colonial island, irrationally provoke the official forces, hunt Beyonders of the Hunter pathway, and before danger arrived, regain his senses in time, cover his tracks, and flee far away.

“This seemed like coincidence. The problem was that every time, it was the same coincidence. Wasn’t that too much of a coincidence?

“From the standpoint of logic and reason, too many coincidences imply the hidden existence of some factor or pattern. The reason Ince could accomplish it was that he had written the passage above, using the power of the Quill of Alzuhod to naturally shift himself between the states of ‘possessed by an evil spirit’ and ‘self-dominant.’ What a sinister fellow. This does not only refer to Ince Zangwill, but also to Sauron Einhorn Medici. They were clearly already living in peace, yet still deliberately acted as though they were in conflict, appearing as if they relied on external force to achieve a certain balance.

“…Ince Zangwill additionally purchased Beyonder materials of the Bard and Warrior pathways. This is very reasonable, because he needed to conceal the traces of the evil spirit using him to collect various Hunter pathway items, preventing others from discovering that all of this happened with his tacit consent and that he made no attempt to resist. In addition, both the Bard and Warrior pathways possess abilities to combat the dead and drive away evil spirits. Any clever person who thought carefully would undoubtedly discover this point, thereby confirming their own judgment that Ince Zangwill had been possessed by an evil spirit.

“…After repeated provocations, Tony Down of the Iron and Blood Cross Order finally locked onto Ince Zangwill and began pursuing him. In the process, this War Bishop, who aspired to become a Conqueror, displayed his abilities without the slightest concealment. This was especially true when a storm just happened to block his pursuit; he made a flamboyant entrance before an entire ship of ordinary people and dragged out the man pretending to be Ince Zangwill.

“This was somewhat coincidental, but not surprising. The philosophy of the Iron and Blood Cross Order is that the extraordinary should appear openly in the world and stand above ordinary people. Tony Down is arrogant and untamed, constantly using his abilities again and again to smash other people’s doubts, possessing overwhelming confidence. Therefore, there was not the slightest problem with such a performance.

“Likewise, he was so confident that he overlooked the possibility that Ince Zangwill was also aboard that ship. This does not quite match his hunter’s intuition, but in this world, anyone can make mistakes.

“When Ince Zangwill disembarked on Midseashire Island, he noticed the gaze from first class, but he did not care. This was precisely the effect he wanted to achieve. That a passenger happened to recognize him was the best possible development. Mm, happened…

“…Not too early and not too late, Ince Zangwill met Palenque Tacibli, the Hand of Paleness of the Numinous Episcopate’s Artificial Death faction, before Soest’s Red Gloves team took action, hoping to obtain their help in exorcising the evil spirit…”

(There were traces of smearing and crossing out.)

“…The development of events is somewhat strange. Daly Simone and Leonard Mitchell of Soest’s Red Gloves team seemed to arrive at a conclusion before they had enough clues to make an inference. This came from a letter delivered by Reinette Tinekerr…

“What exactly went wrong? Ince Zangwill is quite puzzled by this. In his view, unless Palenque Tacibli or some other key member of the Numinous Episcopate were captured directly, no one should have been able to reach a conclusion so quickly.

“This has left his preparations rather hasty, but fortunately, this result is what he wanted.

“…Soest’s Red Gloves team discovered Ince Zangwill’s abnormality through telegrams returned from various locations. Daly Simone used this to propose the hypothesis of evil spirit possession, receiving relatively unanimous agreement.

“She claimed it was reasonable conjecture, but in truth, she had already learned something from Leonard Mitchell, who possesses a Parasite. And Leonard Mitchell’s intelligence came from a letter delivered by Reinette Tinekerr. Who could the sender be?

“At the same time, Leonard Mitchell and Daly Simone are already suspecting that the evil spirit possessing Ince Zangwill belongs to the Hunter pathway…”

“But is this the truth of the matter? Will everything develop as Daly Simone, Leonard Mitchell, and Soest’s Red Gloves team expect?

“…After discussing with the one at the Church of Serenity, the Church of Evernight’s high-ranking deacon Ilya believed Daly’s conjecture and decided to use a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact of the Hunter pathway as bait, letting Ince Zangwill, when possessed by the evil spirit, step into the trap of his own accord.

“To conceal this purpose, she had Soest’s Red Gloves team continue investigating the relevant clues.

“Unfortunately, they have all mistaken one premise. Although Ince Zangwill is indeed possessed by an evil spirit, his actions have not been affected by it! Everything he did before was all acting, all a performance carried out according to Sauron Einhorn Medici’s suggestion. It was meant to deceive the people of the Church of Evernight, to make Ilya strike blindly. And a Red Angel evil spirit willing to help and cooperate is enough to change the tide of battle.

“Ince Zangwill’s true purpose in coming to the Southern Continent is in fact:

“To hunt the Church of Evernight’s high-ranking deacon Ilya, obtain her Beyonder characteristic, and prepare for his own advancement!

“He wants to prove to everyone how foolish the Church of Evernight was to abandon him in the first place.

“Of course, before carrying out this action, Ince Zangwill must first satisfy Sauron Einhorn Medici’s hunger—his hunger for mid- to high-sequence Beyonder characteristics of the Hunter pathway. For the sake of secrecy, he does not intend to hunt locally, but plans to go somewhere more distant.

“When the undead essence of the evil spirit, the status of the Red Angel, and the special nature of a Gatekeeper combine, Ince Zangwill gains the ability of a relatively high sequence of the Death pathway: Spirit World Traversal. This is enough for him to travel far away and return within a short period of time. He had deliberately concealed this ability before.

“After satisfying Sauron Einhorn Medici, Ince Zangwill decides to begin by killing Daly Simone and Leonard Mitchell. He will pretend to have faintly sensed the Church of Evernight’s arrangements and forcefully counterattack, then lose his reason and head for the ‘trap.’

“He does not intend to leave behind any unstable factors. Every avenger who came out of Tingen must die!”

The notebook was turned to a blank page. The pale hand picked up a quill pen and continued by adding a sentence after it:

“Everything will go smoothly today.”

…

West Balam, Northern State, Kukwa City.

“Your investigation still isn’t over?” Anderson asked boredly, walking beside Danitz.

“Almost!” Danitz answered, slightly distracted. “Do you need something?”

At that moment, Anderson took out a map and a stack of documents, then said with a smile,

“I’ve already figured out the approximate location of an ancient tomb. According to the customs of East and West Balam, there must be a great deal of treasure inside. Here, death isn’t the end, only a new beginning, so burial goods are abundant.”

Danitz froze for a moment, then asked in astonishment,

“Don’t you not understand Dutan?”

How did you gather the information?

Anderson chuckled. He raised his left palm, wearing the black glove, and stretched his five fingers.

“I don’t understand it. But I can temporarily steal their language ability until I’m done collecting information.”

“…I knew you wouldn’t be completely without a method!” Danitz said through somewhat clenched teeth. Then he pointed toward the broad street beside the square. “Goodbye!”

Anderson did not stop him. He smiled and watched Danitz stride away to the side.

It was then that the two of them simultaneously noticed a figure walking toward them from another direction.

The figure held a classical quill pen and wore the black robe of a clergyman. His hair was dark blond, his face unwrinkled, and his features were like those of a classical statue. One eye was deep blue, almost black, while the other was covered in fine blood vessels. He approached Anderson and Danitz one step at a time.

Anderson did not know this middle-aged man, yet his body trembled for no reason, as though he had encountered a natural predator.

In his mind, the premonition of danger exploded. His pupils contracted violently.

Suddenly, a gentle voice sounded by his ear.

“Do not be nervous.”

Who… Anderson turned his head in confusion. Beside him, in the place where there had clearly been no one a moment ago, another figure had strangely appeared.

It was as though that figure had been there all along, merely always overlooked.

He wore an extremely simple white robe and had a pale golden beard that covered the lower half of his face. His eyes were clear and innocent like a child’s, and his expression was gentle and restrained.

Looking at the quill pen in Ince Zangwill’s hand across from him, the middle-aged man dressed like an ordinary priest half-closed his eyes, raised his right hand, and tapped four times before his chest.

Hanging there was a silver cross pendant.