Chapter 169: The Chivalrous Bandit

Chapter 169: The Chivalrous Bandit

Cherwood Borough, inside the house rented by Xio and Fors.

Fors had just finalized the opening of her new book and, in excellent spirits, was preparing to reward herself with a cigarette. At that moment, Xio pushed open the study door and entered.

“Smoking is bad for your health,” Xio said, twitching her nose.

Fors noticed the confusion written across her face and did not argue. Instead, she asked, “You seem to have run into something?”

Xio scratched her messy blond hair and dropped into the chair beside her.

“That person contacted me—the one who had someone else sell me the Sheriff formula at the gathering convened by Mr. A.

“He gave me a fairly simple mission. The initial reward is 30 pounds. I don’t know if there’s any hidden danger behind it…”

Fors thought for a moment.

“That person… There should be some organization behind him. But why would they want to recruit you? Aren’t they afraid your intelligence will drag them down and cause the entire organization to collapse? You don’t have much worth scheming over. Your looks are barely passable, but you’re too short. I suppose the only thing of value is your life… Uh, what mission?”

Xio had long since grown used to being mocked by her friend. Ignoring everything before the final question, she answered directly:

“To investigate who has recently been asking about Capim.”

“Capim? That human trafficker who deserves to be hanged—no, burned at the stake?” Fors was not a bounty hunter, but gathering material was an instinct for a writer, so she often had Xio recount what she had seen and heard.

Xio nodded. “That’s him. But he’s already dead. Apparently, he died quite miserably.”

“How did he die? Was he carved up bit by bit with a knife?” Fors asked, rather pleased and curious.

“That person didn’t describe it in detail. Maybe tomorrow’s newspapers will mention it,” Xio said after thinking for two seconds. “He only brought up the peculiar circumstances at the scene. He said Capim’s corpse was covered in tarot cards, and his face was covered with the Judgment card and the Emperor card.”

“The meaning of Judgment should be ‘to judge Capim, with the verdict being death.’ And the Emperor card represents what? The identity of the murderer—no, the hero?” As a best-selling author, Fors instinctively began interpreting the distinctive arrangement at the crime scene.

Then she suddenly froze.

Tarot cards? A corpse covered in tarot cards? Fors abruptly thought of the secret organization she had joined not long ago:

The Tarot Club!

It can’t be one of our members, can it? But there isn’t anyone with the codename Emperor… If it really is, then this is the first time I’ve discovered traces of the Tarot Club in the real world… We aren’t merely a secret organization that exists above the gray fog… Fors’s thoughts churned, bringing both excitement and worry.

…

Led by the attendant, Klein entered the familiar sitting room.

There was still only one candle inside. Its dim yellow light made the surroundings look like the setting of a ghost story, and with the addition of one mysterious figure after another wearing black robes and iron masks, the atmosphere became all the more intense.

The moment he stepped inside, Klein suddenly felt something inexplicable.

He felt as though the wavering candle flame was staring at him.

He felt as though the flame would suddenly burst apart and set his hair and robe on fire.

He felt as though the quietly hanging curtains behind the oriel window would abruptly billow out, wrap around his body, cover his mouth and nose, and forcibly smother him.

What’s going on? Klein was stunned and instantly became highly tense.

This did not count as danger intuition, yet it was still an instinctive feeling that was difficult to ignore.

Klein carefully found a seat and sat down.

The moment his backside touched the surface of the chair, he felt that the chair would suddenly explode, and that thick wooden splinters would shoot out and pierce through his body.

It reminded him of a few videos he had seen back on Earth—cheap pneumatic lift chairs exploding, steel rods and fragments stabbing into their owners’ backsides and burrowing into their abdomens. The entire scene had been a bloody, unbearable mess.

Why do I keep having these terrible associations? Is it a side effect of my spirit body being injured in the previous battle? Klein looked around thoughtfully and noticed that the plump Apothecary still had not come this time.

Did something happen to him? Or has he already left Backlund? Klein muttered silently to himself, then heard the old gentleman, Eye of Wisdom, announce the start of the gathering.

Over the next period of time, Klein would sometimes feel that the chandelier on the ceiling was about to fall at an angle and smash onto his head; at other times, he believed the coffee table in front of the old Eye of Wisdom would suddenly shift sideways and trip him. Occasionally, he even suspected that the members of the gathering around him were filled with malice and might violently attack at any moment.

This left him restless, vigilant, and puzzled. He had no mind at all to pay attention to the various transactions, whether they succeeded or failed.

If danger intuition is like a phone vibrating a few times to remind you that a message has arrived or a call is coming in, then this inexplicable instinct is like an electric drill that never stops. It’s “shaking” so much I can’t relax or pay attention to anything else… Klein tried to rub his temples, only to touch the cold iron mask.

In that instant, he felt that his iron mask would suddenly cave in, press tight against his face, and continue sinking all the way into his brain.

Is this really an illusion caused by the injury to my spirit body? Klein frowned.

He had originally intended to make a request at this gathering to purchase the Thousand-faced Hunter’s mutated pituitary gland and blood, but trapped in his current state, he could only cautiously give up.

Although the gathering organized by the old Eye of Wisdom was not high-level, and most likely would not involve a relatively advanced monster such as the Thousand-faced Hunter, Klein believed that many of the members here also attended other gatherings and might be able to come into contact with corresponding information and clues.

Uneasy and apprehensive, Klein participated in the gathering as a mere observer until it ended.

However, the moment he took off the robe, removed the mask, and left the room, the bizarre instinct that every person and every object wanted to persecute him disappeared all at once—disappeared in the strangest manner!

This… Klein’s pupils contracted. He confirmed that the phenomenon just now had not been caused by the injury to his spirit body. Otherwise, there was no way his condition would differ so sharply inside and outside the room.

He suspected that within the sitting room where the gathering was held, there had been someone or something invisible, undetectable, and terrifyingly abnormal. Its existence had stimulated him, who possessed the inspiration and intuition of a Seer as well as the danger premonition of a Clown. Yet, because of the other party’s suppression or its special nature, that stimulation had manifested only in the form of overly rich associations and had failed to truly alert him.

Who could it be? That’s too terrifying. Its mere existence made me show something similar to early signs of losing control… Klein calmly and quietly moved away from the old Eye of Wisdom’s house, heading toward the nearest street.

All of a sudden, he had a guess.

This is near Bravehearts Bar. Miss Sharron, Maric, and I killed Wraith Steve and the others, and they had been responsible for monitoring the surrounding area…

Their deaths would inevitably enrage that high-sequence expert of the Rose School of Thought and draw his attention here, toward the Beyonders active around Bravehearts Bar…

Was that him just now?

Fortunately, tonight I used items like the Biological Poison Bottle and the Sun Brooch, and to avoid being divined, I left them above the gray fog… Otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable… A Magician who had just completed an impossible performance would have died right here…

The world of Beyonders really is dangerous…

…

Inside Saint Wind Cathedral, Cardinal Ace Snake looked at the Mandated Punisher team captain before him and asked, his silver eyes devoid of emotion:

“Who is Capim?

“And why did his villa have an underground prison?”

The Mandated Punisher team captain immediately answered:

“A wealthy man. A wealthy man rumored to be involved in multiple cases of missing young women. He was suspected of being a human trafficker and of privately engaging in the slave trade.

“The underground prison has proven those rumors.”

“Why would a human trafficker receive the protection of several Beyonders? And their sequences were not low.” Cardinal Snake pressed further.

“Your Excellency, that remains to be investigated. We attempted to use Beyonder methods to find clues, but all of them failed.” The Mandated Punisher team captain answered with some fear and trepidation.

“I tried as well.” Cardinal Snake did not blame him.

The higher-up of the Church of Storms paused, then said, “Continue pursuing this matter. Also, find that Sequence 6 or Sequence 5 ghost.”

After his subordinate left, Cardinal Snake picked up his fountain pen and wrote several key items of concern in his notebook:

“Capim, human trafficking, tarot-card ritual, strange but not particularly high-sequence ghost, hidden scheme.”

…

Queen Borough, in the luxurious villa of Earl Hall’s family.

Audrey was waiting for her maid to cut her food when she suddenly heard her father, Earl Hall, who was in the habit of reading the newspaper at breakfast, chuckle.

“Capim is dead.”

“Who is he?” Audrey widened her eyes and asked.

In truth, she was not the least bit curious about who Capim was. She was simply cooperating with her father, who clearly had a desire to talk.

This was not only a daughter’s specialty, but also the instinct of a Telepathist.

“A wealthy man who might privately have been a human trafficker. He had rather good relations with certain people. Heh…” Earl Hall said with a soft laugh. “He was killed in his home last night. The scene bore clear traces of judgment. All the newspapers are calling the murderer a chivalrous bandit, the chivalrous bandit ‘Black Emperor.’ Hmm, that name comes from the codename of the ruler of the ancient Solomon Empire.”

Chivalrous bandit? The chivalrous bandit “Black Emperor”? “Black Emperor”… Audrey instantly thought of that Card of Blasphemy currently belonging to Mr. Fool. It was the highest-level object she had come into contact with so far.

She suddenly became interested in Capim’s murder case.

“That sounds very interesting. Although it isn’t legal, I still want to say that the chivalrous bandit did a beautiful job. Hmm, Papa, what happened?”

“The police and the corresponding Church departments have not disclosed the specific details, and I haven’t met with them yet. The newspapers describe it this way: the chivalrous bandit wore black armor, a pitch-black crown, and a cloak of the same color. He entered Capim’s villa and not only stole all the wealth from the safe, but also stole the lives of Capim and his evil subordinates, while rescuing the young women imprisoned in the dungeon. He scattered tarot cards over Capim’s body, and the most conspicuous were the two on his face—one was Judgment, and the other was the Emperor,” Earl Hall said, holding the newspaper and smiling as he described it.

Tarot cards… The Judgment card and the Emperor card… Audrey’s eyes suddenly lit up.