The meeting continued.
After the Red Gloves, the Church of Storms' "Punishers" also presented their investigation report.
They mainly investigated the royal family's purpose and the so-called underground ruins.
Unfortunately, their investigation was too crude.
They seemed to have been discovered by interested parties behind the scenes who interfered in advance, so ultimately they didn't obtain much valuable information.
Seeing this, Randall Valentinus, who had replaced the Spellsinger of God as the new archbishop, looked somewhat grim.
"Iconser, share our investigation results."
Horamick, the archbishop of the Church of Steam, promptly directed his deacon.
"Yes."
Iconser quickly responded.
Under everyone's gaze, he spread open a thick report. "Our investigation target was primarily that Blood Reverend..."
When this name was mentioned, the atmosphere in the conference room shifted slightly.
No helping it. What this gentleman had done was truly too shocking. He'd actually stormed straight into the palace and declared war on the Loen royal family single-handedly.
Of course, if he hadn't publicly declared that the culprit behind the Great Smog was King George III, the three major churches wouldn't be so concerned now.
"According to current investigations, the Blood Reverend's earliest recorded appearance was the Capim case."
Iconser said, flipping through the report.
"He entered the mansion of Backlund's most notorious human trafficker and rescued a large number of young women.
At the same time, he also devoured numerous guests in the mansion.
Additionally, Capim's mansion was suspected to have Beyonder protection, but they were all killed by the Blood Reverend."
The Beyonders from the Church of Storms fell silent for a moment, because this case had been their responsibility.
His Excellency the God's Spellsinger had arrived a bit late at the time and hadn't been able to catch the Blood Reverend initially.
"From this, we speculate he's very likely a Beyonder of the Secrets Suppliant pathway... and a series of subsequent events also indicate he's most probably a Sequence 5 Shepherd."
"Shepherd?"
At this point, a Punisher squad captain from the Church of Storms frowned.
"Does he belong to the Aurora Order?"
"No, quite the opposite. The Blood Reverend and the Aurora Order are mortal enemies."
Iconser shook his head.
"The subsequent Lanevus case proves this. This con man's body was nurturing offspring of the True Creator, an important tool for that evil god to descend to the mortal world.
After Lanevus escaped pursuit by the Nighthawks, the Blood Reverend intercepted and killed him... There was suspected to be another person assisting him at the scene, who left tarot cards on the ground..."
Across from him, Leonard slightly raised his head.
He suddenly remembered something.
Shortly after that, the Aurora Order had begun searching for an organization that believed in the Fool, and the Fool happened to be the first card of the Major Arcana...
"A Shepherd who doesn't believe in the True Creator. How peculiar."
An official Beyonder said. "Is that even possible?"
"Theoretically speaking, it is possible."
Saint Anthony said calmly. He didn't explain but looked at Iconser, signaling him to continue.
The latter could only keep reading the report, relaying what the Blood Reverend had done and what was suspected to be the Blood Reverend's work.
"It sounds like this Blood Reverend, though extreme in his actions, still maintains simple concepts of justice."
The Evernight Church bishop, Saint Anthony, commented with a smile. "Usually his enemies are all evil Beyonders like the Aurora Order and Demons."
"Mm, someone not extreme wouldn't do such things."
Horamick said.
He lowered his head in contemplation for a moment, then asked Iconser, "Why would he do this?"
"This... according to feedback from palace survivors at the time, the Blood Reverend was seeking revenge for the dead... He seemed to believe that the culprit behind the Great Smog was, was the one on the throne."
Iconser answered with cautious wording.
"Information none of us have uncovered, why was he so certain? To the point he was willing to attack the palace for the sake of innocent people?"
Horamick said.
"I don't know that."
"Try asking '2-111.'"
Horamick said.
"Ask it whether there's an organization behind the Blood Reverend providing him information, and his true purpose for breaking into the palace."
Huh?
Iconser looked around.
The conference room didn't just contain members of the Church of Steam, but also colleagues from the other two churches.
His heart filled with trepidation, feeling like he was about to embarrass himself publicly.
"Yes..."
But he couldn't disobey the archbishop's orders.
He could only grit his teeth and accept it, picking up the magic mirror Arrodes and going through the increasingly familiar process.
When mist rose on the mirror's surface, he asked:
"Esteemed Arrodes, my question is, does the Blood Reverend have someone providing him information behind the scenes?"
On the silver mirror that seemed to have eyes on both sides, water light rippled and quickly formed an image:
Silas stood on an East Borough street thick with smog, gravely ill and near death.
A stunningly beautiful woman in white robes stood opposite him, with terrifying dark iron-colored mist dispersing around her.
"It's a Sequence 4 Demoness of Despair, the direct culprit behind the Great Smog."
Someone whispered.
They saw this Demoness of Despair's face filled with terror as she looked at some figure behind Silas. She tried to escape but was immediately covered by blood and died.
"To easily kill a Sequence 4 Demoness, the other party must be at least a Sequence 3 powerhouse."
Archbishop Valentine commented.
The image quickly disappeared. Iconser immediately tensed his nerves, waiting for the interrogation to come.
Suddenly, a line of bright red words appeared on the mirror's surface:
"Do you know what it feels like to be ignored by someone you care about?"
This... Arrodes' question isn't sharp at all...
Iconser felt surprised but also relieved. He immediately nodded. "I do know."
"Congratulations, you answered correctly."
Lifeless white words appeared on the mirror's surface.
---
Above the gray fog.
After the trading ended, the real main event, the free exchange segment, was about to begin.
"Mr. Temperance, I want to know more about what's behind the Great Smog incident."
Justice Audrey immediately looked at Silas while saying, "What kind of price would you like me to pay?"
"No need for payment."
Silas laughed wryly. "I just don't know where you'd like to start hearing from?"
"I'm also not sure what the information gap between us is. How about I first describe what I know, then you can supplement it?"
"Sure."
Silas was noncommittal.
Thus the other members present all developed great interest.
The Hanged Man, The Magician... even the newly joined Moon all secretly pricked up their ears. Even Klein wanted to hear the parts of the inside story he didn't know.
"The beginning of the matter is that the Witch Trissy Cheek encountered Prince Edessak..."
"Incorrect."
Justice had just begun her account when Silas interrupted.
"Trissy was specifically arranged for Edessak after communication between the Demoness Sect and the royal family."