Chapter 371: The Future Scorpio Visited — The Vagrant and Miss Moon |
Scorpio came clean. His reasoning was crystal clear and simple.
While Cheng Shi had vanished to parts unknown and Gao Ya had slipped into the crowd to spread rumors, Scorpio had been wondering whether he could accelerate the trial's progress.
After all, nobody knew if Cheng Shi's plan would succeed, and back then there was still a Scavenger lurking outside, watching them like a tiger eyeing its prey.
So he devised a plan. At the stroke of midnight, the very instant a new day began, he used his deduction ability to travel into Dolgod's future!
His goal was to find someone — someone who knew when the life that should never have been born would arrive.
Scorpio reasoned that since Dolgod harbored a life that should never have been born, regardless of whether that life had actually come into existence, events surrounding it would inevitably have caused enormous upheaval in some version of the future. At the very least, there would be historical traces or people who knew the inside story.
So he decided to search through countless futures for that person, bring them back, and have them guide everyone to find the life that should never have been born — to stand guard over it in advance and thereby alter the future.
It was a straightforward approach, and a common problem-solving method among Another Day Assassins who possessed special Time-based deduction powers. However, under Cheng Shi's earlier leadership, Scorpio hadn't wanted to use it, because doing so would waste his lifesaving opportunity.
But now, the lifesaving opportunity he'd held in reserve might not actually save his life. Better to spend it and clear the trial sooner.
Scorpio had expected this needle-in-a-haystack task to drain every ounce of his mental energy. He'd even steeled himself for failure from the very start. Yet he never imagined he'd be so fortunate — after only six deductions, he found someone in one of Dolgod's futures who claimed to know the whole affair.
The man called himself Aph Ros. He was a homeless vagrant — face covered in scars, back hunched with age. Apart from clothes that were still more or less intact and a body odor that wasn't overpoweringly foul, he had virtually no redeeming qualities.
When Scorpio found him, he was outside a tavern, chatting up a female citizen.
Remarkably, the woman showed no disgust at Aph Ros's unsightly appearance. On the contrary, she seemed to be enjoying their conversation immensely.
Scorpio was absolutely certain he'd only paused out of curiosity — definitely not because the woman was so strikingly beautiful — but that coincidental hesitation allowed him to overhear something from Aph Ros's mouth that sounded suspiciously like what he'd been searching for!
The vagrant leaned against the railing by the tavern's back door, his raspy, whistling voice showering the woman before him with endless compliments, his cloudy eyes making no effort to conceal their covetous appraisal of her beauty and figure.
"I should thank the Church for not driving people like me out of Dolgod. That's the only reason I had the chance to meet you, beautiful miss."
The woman had been drinking. A rosy flush spread across her fair skin. She stood poised, offering a slight nod and a captivating smile that melted Scorpio's — no, that melted Aph Ros's heart.
"I feel as though I'm gazing upon tonight's most beautiful moon," Aph Ros flattered shamelessly, sending the woman into a fit of delighted laughter. "I don't even know your name yet, Miss Moon."
"A tongue that sweet must have found quite a few moons for Dolgod," the woman giggled behind her hand, her tone teasing but without a trace of contempt. "Just call me Moon. I like the name."
Aph Ros straightened up with uncharacteristic composure and adopted a conspiratorial air.
"Beautiful Miss Moon, no matter who else asked me this, I'd never tell them. But you're different. You're so elegant and perceptive — I can see you're nothing like those gossip-mongering noblewomen. I'm sure you'd never breathe a word of my secret. Am I right?"
The woman's smile grew even more enchanting. She studied the vagrant before her once more, glanced left and right to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, then gave a demure nod — but behind those bright eyes, excitement blazed like fire.
Clearly, she was becoming interested in this man.
Aph Ros curled his lips into a grin, stepped forward, and leaned close to Miss Moon's ear to whisper. His voice was already hoarse and deep; lowered further, it became truly inaudible to anyone nearby.
But such tricks were useless against Scorpio. He was an assassin — one with razor-sharp senses — so even standing at a distance, he could hear every word the vagrant said with perfect clarity.
"I'm not really a vagrant. I was once part of the Church myself. You could even say that before the Church Guard was established, I too once upheld order in Dolgod."
Miss Moon gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth. "How is that possible?"
"Why wouldn't it be, beautiful lady? You look quite young — I'd guess you've never heard of a place called the Evil Infant Inquisition. Then again, that institution was probably destroyed in a great fire before you were even born."
"My father told me about that fire! Were you one of the staff there? You're really that... old?"
"Ah... beautiful Miss Moon, age is just a number. It's meaningless. What truly matters is time. Generally speaking, the passage of time makes certain people even more attractive, wouldn't you agree?"
"Are you talking about yourself?" Miss Moon laughed behind her hand.
"Obviously." Aph Ros flicked his hair.
"Fine, I'll admit there's something to that. But I'm more curious about your identity. Did I guess right?"
"Correct. Absolutely correct. You're not only beautiful but astonishingly intelligent."
Aph Ros lavished praise without restraint, making Moon blush to the tips of her ears.
"I was indeed a member of the staff there. Though a fire and internal power struggles within the Church cost me my former position — don't look so shocked, darkness exists everywhere. Nowhere is truly clean, is it?
But my old colleagues were sentimental enough not to banish me from the city. And thanks to them, I had the fortune of meeting such a beautiful and enchanting moon tonight."
"But Father told me the Church is the most sacred place. How could they..."
"Once upon a time, Miss Moon. Your father wasn't wrong — the Church truly was a sacred place, once. But ever since heretics used the Profane Birth method to contaminate Dolgod, the faith here has never been pure again!"
"Ah!" Miss Moon let out a startled cry and clapped her hand over her mouth. She seemed to feel she'd stumbled upon something she shouldn't have heard, yet curiosity drew her ever closer to Aph Ros. "What is the Profane Birth?"
"The Profane Birth is... a blasphemous secret that occurred before you were born."
Seeing that his hook had been taken, the vagrant didn't continue. Instead, he simply smiled, stepped back with gentlemanly composure, smoothed out his more-or-less intact clothes, and slowly extended his hand.
"The rest of the story comprises the most unspeakable secrets lurking beneath Dolgod's pleasant facade. I can't tell it here. Beautiful miss, if you have the courage, come with me to a certain place. Once we're there, you might learn the most terrifying — and fascinating — story that has secretly unfolded in Dolgod over these past centuries...
So, will you come?"
...
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