Lord of the Mysteries

“This is your reward from exchanging your merit points. A total of 2,500 pounds. Heh heh, I helped you get another 500 pounds.” The golden-masked man threw a bulging envelope at Xio.

Xio caught it accurately and didn’t count. She instinctively pressed down and sincerely said, “Thank you.”

The golden-masked man waved his hand and said, “There’s no need to thank me. This is also a good thing for me. If you continue to harp on past matters without letting go, I’m very worried that I’ll go to military court one day.

“Are you still going to stay in Backlund?”

“Yes, I’m already used to living in a big city. When the war stops, I’ll bring my family here,” Xio said, having already made up her mind.

“Wait for the war to stop...” The golden-masked man repeated Xio’s words with a slightly odd tone. He smiled and said, “May the Lord bless us to live until the end of the war.”

Here, the “Lord” referred to the Lord of Storms.

“I believe in the Goddess,” Xio replied seriously.

“You understand what I mean.” The golden-masked man waved his hand and said, “Are you still planning to take on missions from MI9?”

“I won’t reject an opportunity to earn money,” Xio scratched her slightly coarse hair and said half-truths.

“Yes.” The golden-masked man nodded and said, “The main thing to take note of during the war is to deal with spies from all over the world. If there’s a suitable mission for you, I’ll look for you.”

“Alright,” Xio replied without staying any longer. She cautiously and carefully retreated out of the dark alley.

After watching her figure disappear, the golden-masked man looked at the shadow in the corner and said, “She was likely used by some particular faction. She was abandoned after she stopped investigating the matter.”

In the shadows in the corner, a deep voice sounded:

“On the surface, it looks like that, but there’s no need to pursue or worry about the truth. Even if she can figure out the truth and spread it, it will not affect His Majesty’s matters. Heh heh, the Church of Evernight has already tacitly agreed.”

“That’s for the best...” The golden-masked man silently exhaled.

After returning to her residence at the edge of East Borough, Xio said to Fors, who was sitting by the bed and reading the newspapers, “I received 2,500 pounds.”

Fors put down the newspaper, her eyes moving slightly as she focused on making calculations.

“That’s enough.”

Xio had savings of more than 600 pounds, and with the 2,500 pounds, other than her necessary expenses, she had 3100 pounds to spend freely.

And her purchase of the Judge potion formula was 2000 pounds, and the Beyonder characteristic was 3,500 pounds. In other words, she was still short of 2,400 pounds, something that Fors could lend her.

After borrowing this sum of money, Fors’s savings would be reduced to 780 pounds. However, this didn’t affect her at all. She had the subsequent potion formula and main ingredients, so she didn’t have many expenditures for a long period of time into the future. Occasionally, she could even earn a little from renting out Leymano’s Travels.

Yes.” Xio nodded. “I’ll complete the transaction as soon as possible and strive to advance to Sequence 6 as soon as possible.”

Seeing that her friend’s matter was settled, Fors turned to worry about herself.

“I don’t know when my Scribe potion will be completely digested. Now that the war has broken out, it will be much safer with the ability to ‘Travel.’”

“The crux of a Scribe is definitely ‘Recording.’ When I become a Judge, you’ll have new Beyonder powers to repeatedly ‘Record.’ This should be able to speed up the digestion of the potion.” Xio pulled a chair over and sat down.

Fors sighed.

“I suspect that, other than the ‘Recording’ of Beyonder powers, I need to ‘Record’ down the sights and customs of different places. Only then can it be matched with the subsequent Traveler Sequence. But with war having broken out now, it’s fine if I go further inland, but it will be difficult and dangerous if I go somewhere else. Sigh, the price of bread is rising. The price of one pound of bread has risen by a farthing. It’s even more expensive than before the Grain Act was abolished!”

“Indeed.” Xio thought seriously and agreed with Fors’s conclusion.

The two fell silent. After about ten seconds, Xio suddenly had an idea.

“Actually, there’s a very simple solution.”

“What?” Fors sat up slightly and asked.

“You can spend money to hire that person to take you ‘Traveling.’” Xio was very careful not to mention specific code names and actual names. “You can be thrown somewhere unfamiliar each time for three to four days, or even a week.

Then, you wouldn’t take long to ‘Record’ all kinds of customs and traditions. Besides, you can rent some mystical items from him—from them—to ‘Record’ Beyonder powers. This can both improve your strength and help your digestion.”

“That’s right!” Fors’s eyes lit up when she heard that.

Only then did she realize that her usage of the Tarot Gathering was very superficial.

After the pleasant surprise, Fors gradually frowned. This method meant that she had to frequently deal with The World Gehrman Sparrow, and the thought of the crazy adventurer left her trembling.

Indeed, there’s nothing that doesn’t require a price... To digest the potion, I can only take the risk... Finally, Fors made up her mind to make the request next week at the Tarot Gathering.

In an apartment several streets away from where Xio and Fors stayed.

After returning from the Srenzo Restaurant, Klein was sitting in front of a table. He quickly flipped through today’s newspaper and summarized the important information he had received:

The Feysac Empire’s Sonia Sea fleet has retreated from Pritz Harbor, their whereabouts are unknown...

The Ministry of Defense, Admiral Amyrius, has indicated that he will strengthen the coastal defenses and allow the three ironclad warship fleet to not return too hastily, and will take detours to avoid being ambushed...

Feysac’s two-headed giant army invaded the Winter County’s Amantha mountain range and suffered intense resistance. They failed to pass through the few strongholds...

Feysac’s Subjugation Fleet attacked Constant and other large-scale industrial cities along the Midseashire’s eastern coast. There was a large-scale sea battle with the kingdom’s Midseashire Fleet. Both sides suffered losses...

East Balam’s Feysac and the Loen colonial armies are fighting in multiple locations...

The rest of the countries have yet to make their stance clear. In the corresponding capitals, the ambassadors are running around to contact each other to have emergency diplomatic meetings... The electrical transmission waves contain all kinds of important news and are intertwining with each other in the different cities of the Northern and Southern continents...

We are still in the early stages of the war... Klein didn’t believe that the diplomats were able to avert the war. He put down the newspaper and thought about how he could gather information regarding George Ill’s Black Emperor ritual.

According to normal logic, before Blood Emperor Alista went crazy, “He” did things in a reasonable manner. That is to say, “He” couldn’t build all nine mausoleums in the same hidden area; this would’ve been easy for others to wipe them out all at once, causing “His” resurrection to fail.

Therefore, in the surrounding areas of Backlund, in other parts of the kingdom, there should be eight other mausoleums that are similar. They haven’t been exposed yet, so they might not be as heavily guarded as Ruins No. 1. This might give us an opportunity...

Perhaps the Red Angel evil spirit might know something, but I can’t contact “Him” now. Ignoring the question of whether chanting “His” honorific name will be dangerous, just this act alone will expose my intention to prevent George III from becoming the Black Emperor. To a terrifying Conspirer, there are too many points that can be exploited.

Queen Mystic might have some channels and clues, but I can’t just rely on her... At the moment, the Church doesn’t know how many of the Blood Emperor’s secret ruins there are, or where they are...

Attacking a key figure beside the king, such as a demigod from the royal family who is deeply involved in this matter? They must be on their guard. Furthermore, the angel of the Augustus family and that ancient secret organization would most likely be watching everything, one in the open, and one in the dark... In addition, as long as the royal family’s demigod ends up in an accident, George III would definitely guess that someone is trying to stop “Him” from becoming a god...

Yes, Demoness of White Katarina will be easier to deal with than the demigods of the royal family. It would attract much less attention...

Hmm, theoretically speaking, George III, who has been tacitly accepted by the few major Churches, no longer needs to work with the Demoness Sect. Not that there is a need for that. If not for some particular reason, the two sides would’ve been completely tied together in this matter. The first thing “He” needs to do now is to cut off ties with the Demoness Sect.

Of course, “He” would most likely not betray the Demoness Sect directly. On the one hand, the Demonesses are also adept at ploys, so they wouldn’t be unwary. On the other hand, if they anger the upper echelons of the Demoness Sect, George Ill’s Black Emperor ritual might not be that safe. This is a secret organization with a true deity, Grade 0 Sealed Artifacts, and angels.

As long as George III is still rational, the correct method is to follow the agreement and give everything that needs to be given. Then, “He” will send the members of the Demoness Sect away. During this process, “He” will use the help of angels from the mind domain or even a King of Angels to erase the key memories of the Demon Sect participating in the matter.

If that’s the case, even if Demoness of White Katarina goes missing for some time, it wouldn’t alert George III. “He” might not even know.

And from the perspective of the Demoness Sect, the matter has come to an end. The various Churches have also tacitly agreed to it. They no longer need to hide like they did in the past and can move about freely. This gives me and Queen Mystic a chance.

Yes, Vice Admiral Ailment will likely appear again. From her appearance and the attitude of Demoness of White from back then, it can be determined that she and Katarina are related by blood...

With this in mind, Klein heaved a sigh of relief. He cast his gaze out the window and silently muttered, I hope Anderson and Danitz can find that pirate admiral as soon as possible...

I hope that the City of Miracles in Groselle’s Travels can effectively destroy the influence of the mind domain...

And all he could do now was to wait patiently.

Berserk Sea, Theros Island.

Danitz said to Anderson in delight, “I just learned that the southwest region of this place isn’t a normal sea route. There’s an island with no resources but is hidden enough.”