Chapter 74: Miss Annat |
【You’ve come into contact with ‘Blasphemy.’**
“What?”
Shad had been trying to bypass the grape trellis when a sudden voice rang in his head. 【Blasphemy】 elements were often associated with Evil Gods. As Dr. Schneider had warned, the best course of action upon encountering such elements was to turn and flee.
Shad wanted to do just that, but there was someone standing in front of him. The tearful poet didn’t seem to notice Shad’s presence nearby.
“Is the poet a Ring Warlock?” he asked uneasily as he continued walking forward.
【No.】
Shad breathed a sigh of relief, thinking how useful “the other me” was. His steps became lighter as he walked straight under the grape trellis without looking around.
Once he had completely left the area, he stopped by a flowerbed to catch his breath, leaning against it. He had genuinely been worried that a pair of hands might suddenly drag him into the darkness.
“Is there something hidden under the grape trellis? I really shouldn’t wander aimlessly anymore, or something serious might happen.”
Regaining his composure, he looked around and realized he was in the maze area of the garden. The maze, made from hedges and shrubs, wasn’t confusing enough to make one truly lost, but it would definitely take some time to navigate out without a guide.
Shad checked his pocket watch. It had been about an hour since he’d parted ways with Father August. He wasn’t sure if he could contribute to the upcoming events, but he certainly couldn’t sit idle here all night.
Continuing forward, he turned left at every hedge and tree-lined intersection. Before long, he heard voices and was thrilled, thinking he could follow them to get out. But when he caught wind of their conversation, he stopped in his tracks:
“Nightingale, do you understand what you’re doing? You’re not a goshawk. Those of us hiding in Tobesk City can’t afford not to fear MI6. How dare you make contact with me here? And all for the glory of Carsonrick… Wait, did I hear someone approaching?”
“Spies from the Carsonrick United Kingdom? What kind of crazy night is this? First familiar faces, then disgraced officers, then strange Ring Warlocks, now foreign spies? Have I already used up all my luck playing Rhodes Cards earlier tonight? What’s the deal with that twenty-point roll?”
Deciding not to get involved in this trouble, Shad quickly turned and walked away.
At the next intersection, he turned right and soon heard footsteps again—this time a dense group, clearly more than one or two people. Feeling reassured, Shad sped up and rounded a corner at the end of the hedge to see a team of Ring Warlocks from the Church of Sun and Earth.
Shad had spotted them at the beginning of the banquet; the group of dozens now stood in full force. They seemed equally startled by the sudden appearance of a young man.
The burly man at the front, who looked like the team leader, gave Shad a once-over and suddenly asked:
“Sir, what brings you to the Lakeside Manor banquet?”
Though the question was spoken plainly, Shad felt a strange compulsion to speak his mind.
“Ring Warlock powers! Thankfully, they don’t know I’m not an ordinary person,” Shad thought as he struggled to suppress the compulsion. Yet, he answered truthfully without hesitation, “Of course, to play Rhodes Cards.”
He blurted it out without thinking, but immediately plastered on an exaggerated expression of surprise as if shocked by his own words.
“You… you! What is this power?” Shad exclaimed, feigning a startled retreat while covering his mouth. He thought his acting might actually be quite convincing.
The team leader, a burly middle-aged man with brown eyes, scrutinized Shad briefly before stepping forward and clapping him amiably on the shoulder. His warm eyes locked onto Shad’s.
“Sir, forget you saw us, and go do what you’re supposed to do.”
Shad felt a slight dizziness.
【Feign disorientation.】
The whispered suggestion prompted Shad to squint his eyes and sway comically like a top spinning clockwise.
Though he found his own performance laughable, the Ring Warlocks of the Church of Sun and Earth seemed convinced. They paid him no further attention and hurried past with their team.
Among them was a young woman with long brown hair who glanced at Shad as she passed but didn’t recognize him from their encounter days ago in front of a pet store.
Shad maintained his ridiculous act until he was sure the team’s footsteps had faded.
“Has my luck completely turned sour? Eavesdropping near the stables, running into foreign spies, and now encountering the True God Church’s Ring Warlocks—could all this misfortune be the price for my earlier good luck? But then again, meeting the captain could be considered a stroke of fortune,” he mused.
But the woman’s voice in his mind countered, 【Why can’t these things be part of your good luck?】
“How could they possibly be good?” he asked in confusion, striding briskly along the courtyard path lit by elegant brass gas lamps.
Suddenly, someone patted him on the back. Shad braced for more bad luck, only to turn and see the radiant smile of the golden-haired writer, Miss Dorothy Louisa.
She was dressed in a gorgeous yet conservative gown adorned with white lace trim.
“Oh, this must be good luck!” Shad thought. If they were closer, he might have hugged her.
“Good luck? And what’s that smell on you?” she teased, her green eyes scanning him curiously.
Embarrassed, Shad patted his shirt, recalling the lingering scent from the stables.
“Detective, what are you doing here? Just as well—I just ran into Luvia. She returned from Carsonrick yesterday but didn’t attend our study group. Let me introduce you two.”
Shad thought for a moment.
“Luvia? Oh, you mean Miss Luvia Anat.”
Miss Luvia Anat was the only member of Dr. Schneider’s group Shad hadn’t met yet. A Third-Ring Warlock, she worked for the Prophets’ Association and was a joint student at St. Byrons Comprehensive College.
“Let’s talk about that later. There’s something more urgent right now.”
The two left the well-lit courtyard path for the dimly lit grass. Shad briefly recounted his encounters with various odd figures that night, omitting the Rhodes Cards game, and brought up his conversation with Father August an hour earlier:
“Father August said the Church might make a move tonight to capture Madame Lasso, also known as Jack Deon of Blood of Mercury. He told me to warn you all to leave and not risk the False Philosopher’s Stone.”
Miss Dorothy’s expression turned serious.
“Tonight really isn’t the night to act. Still, your luck is incredible. True God Church Ring Warlocks usually avoid ordinary people during operations, yet you’ve encountered them three times tonight… Detective, whatever you do, stay away from the manor.”
She glanced toward the gas-lit courtyard path when someone softly called her name. A young woman in a blue gown with short, practical brown hair approached, holding two glasses of wine.
Somehow, Shad instinctively knew this was Luvia Anat, the diviner of the Ring Warlock group.
Not overjoyed, he was instead struck with a foreboding thought:
“Wait, is everyone showing up here tonight? What in the world is about to happen?”