Bernadette gave a soft laugh. "Given how you're saying it, isn't the answer obvious?"
She said, "This new member 'the World' — is it Klein?"
"Bingo, pretty much exactly."
Vincent snapped his fingers and went on. "If I'm not mistaken, the 'friend' the World mentioned is probably himself too. Now this is interesting — Klein, as the Night Watchman of the Nighthawks Church, if he accidentally got tangled up in something with the Witch cult, shouldn't he just go straight to the Church for help? Does he think the Church alone isn't reliable enough, so he's adding another layer of insurance?"
"But I don't think that's it, especially at this particular juncture — anything connected to the Witch cult is worth paying extra attention to, no matter what."
"Mm."
Bernadette agreed.
"Anyway, this is all speculation for now. Let's pray to Mr. Fool first and talk to 'the World' privately."
Just as he finished speaking, the air around them suddenly turned cold, and an Unseen Servant flew out from the spirit world, handing a letter to Vincent.
"Huh, a letter from Audrey?"
Vincent opened it and skimmed it quickly, laughing. "She's asking whether we're the ones who've been secretly watching 'the World,' and why we'd be watching him — and the key thing is, she's very curious about the World's real-world identity."
Bernadette said, "I used to be just like her — endlessly curious about everything."
"Used to? I'd say you're still plenty curious about everything even now."
"It's different."
She said flatly, "Before, it was a simple curiosity about the world and the unknown, genuine interest from the heart. Now it's just a habitual pursuit of knowledge, shaped by the Spy pathway."
Vincent shrugged, noncommittal.
He then took out paper and pen, wrote down two words, and drew a smiley face beneath them: "Guess? (^^)"
...
At the Hall family's luxury villa, Audrey clasped her hands together, full of anticipation.
The golden retriever Susie kept turning her head back and forth, following Audrey's gaze. "Audrey, who are you waiting for?"
"Miss Natasha's messenger — or herself!"
"A messenger?"
Susie blinked, curious. "Does she have a dog too?"
Ever since taking the potion that opened her intelligence, Susie had often served as Audrey's messenger, delivering letters or small items for her, and always got a little treat out of it.
"No, it's... a special kind of creature. A spirit-world creature."
"What's that?"
"Well... ugh, I can't really explain it. You'll understand once you see it."
"Oh."
Susie lay back down on the floor.
Just then, the candlelight and gas lamps in the room dimmed slightly. It felt as if the air had been torn open along a seam, and the Unseen Servant pried the gap apart with its small hands, flew out, and tossed Vincent's reply into Audrey's hands.
Susie shot back up at once, staring straight at the Unseen Servant, her fluffy tail wagging hard. She opened her mouth as if to speak, then suddenly remembered Audrey had told her not to talk in front of others, so she just gave a "woof" instead.
"!!!"
The Unseen Servant startled, put its little hands on its hips with an indignant huff, then turned and charged straight at Susie — only to vanish the instant before colliding with her, slipping back into the spirit world.
"It disappeared..."
Susie's eyes went wide. "What a magical animal."
"..."
Audrey's mouth twitched off to the side. A talking dog, marveling at how "magical" someone else is — this scene really is something.
"Hehe!"
She rubbed her hands together and, brimming with anticipation, unfolded the note.
The next moment, the light in her eyes went out, and her cheeks slowly puffed up. "This is so annoying! Miss Natasha!"
Aren't you afraid that if I get mad enough, I'll just go tell Mr. World it was you spying on him?
Audrey pinched the note and fumed for a good while before finally huffing, "Forget it. Mr. World only just joined the Tarot Club anyway, I'm not that interested in him."
Though, for the sake of the Tarot Club, I guess I could put some real effort into that bodyguard request of his.
"Ah!"
She suddenly smacked her forehead lightly. "I forgot — Stephen said last time he was heading back out to sea... hmm, in that case, guess I'll have to introduce Mr. World to that other female Beyonder Miss Natasha mentioned instead."
"Let me ask Stephen first — maybe he's changed his mind."
...
The God-forsaken land, deep within the half-ruined temple.
Derrick opened his eyes, waking from "sleep." He faced a collapsed stone pillar, his back to the team member on watch, pretending he'd just been asleep.
He carefully turned his head to check the others, making sure no one had noticed anything wrong — but the moment his gaze landed on Elder Lovia, sitting nearby with her eyes closed, his heart lurched right back into his throat.
Even though Mr. Lover had already told him what to do, he honestly had no confidence in himself at all.
No time to hesitate!
A moment later, Derrick made up his mind. He crept quietly to his feet and walked over to Elder Lovia. "Elder Lovia."
Lovia opened her pale grey eyes. She said nothing, only watched Derrick.
"I... I think I just heard someone say something to me in my ear, while I was sleeping." He put on a nervous act, though there wasn't actually anything performed about it — after all, hearing voices in a place like this was a genuinely frightening thing on its own.
Lovia's gaze stayed calm. "What did it say?"
"That voice... it told me a few things. It said I should set up a ritual and pray to it... and it said this place is dangerous, that we should leave as soon as possible."
"..."
The elder studied Derrick quietly, as if thinking something over — or as if trying to see through his eyes into his true thoughts.
"I don't know if it was some monster in the dark playing tricks, so I came to report to you the moment I woke up." Derrick glanced nervously toward the darkness in the distance, then asked carefully, "Elder Lovia, should I just ignore it?"
"Tell me exactly what you heard."
"Um, most of it was language I couldn't understand — sometimes it sounded like meaningless mumbling. Aside from telling us to leave, the only part that was clear was the part about praying to it."
Derrick swallowed. "What it said was... master of all creation, ruler behind the veil of shadow, the fallen nature of every living being."
He then added, with a look of astonishment, "Elder, that voice... it called itself the master of all creation?!"
Lovia's expression finally shifted, visibly. She rose quickly and walked forward. "Come with me."
The two of them walked one after the other down the dim path, the oil lamp in her hand only pushing back the darkness within a two- or three-meter radius. Derrick's nerves stayed taut the whole way, following her carefully through the uneven footing.
After a while, Lovia led him down a flight of steps, into an even lower chamber. The instant they entered, Derrick felt his breathing grow difficult, as if the air itself were pressing in on him.
"Elder Lovia, we're... where are we going?"
She walked a few more steps and stopped. "Right here. Pray to that presence, the way you heard it."
"Alright."
Derrick took a deep breath, pulled out the two candles he carried with him, lit them with his spirituality, stepped back, and spoke in the ancient Hermes language: "O Fool who does not belong to this era..."
Hearing this language she'd never heard before, something flickered in Lovia's eyes — but in the end, she did nothing, because she saw the flame of one candle swell rapidly, forming an illusory door that gave off an overwhelming presence.
Except — this feeling seemed slightly different from what she'd sensed before?
Just as the thought crossed her mind, the illusory door vanished with a boom, and a cross bracelet suddenly appeared in Derrick's hands. He turned back, holding it out with both hands. "Elder Lovia, it... it gave me this."
"..."
The instant Lovia felt the presence radiating from the bracelet, she nearly dropped to her knees on the spot. She had no doubt at all — this bracelet truly came from the being she worshiped.
This had nothing to do with faith or piety; it was simply the natural suppression a higher-ranked being exerted over a lower-ranked one of the same pathway.
Still, she quickly composed herself, and raised her oil lamp toward a nearby wall. "I was originally planning to bring you to see this mural tomorrow, but since we're leaving now..."
The dim light lit up the mural on the wall. "Might as well look now."
Derrick tilted his head up to look — and his expression twisted into shock at once:
"This is... the Angel of Time?"
To be continued…
Guys, do support me on Patreon; It helps me a lot!
Advance 100 -- temporarily 125 Chapters are up on my Patreon!
pat reon.com/AlphaSenatus