"Purple eyes!"
Everything matched up now—over 1.75 meters tall, purple eyes, from Tingen, recently arrived in Backlund, and she attended Mr. A's gathering. The possibility that she was an Beyonder was extremely high.
This Miss Irene was very likely the "Empress" of the Tarot Club!
Ignoring the sound of the maid Annie's footsteps approaching the study, Audrey crouched in front of Susie and whispered, "Can you confirm it? Xio said that Miss Irene has black hair and brown eyes, but you saw purple eyes?"
Susie nodded seriously. She also heard the approaching footsteps, so she didn't speak in human language again.
Could Xio have really lied?
But what would be the point? Everyone at the salon could see her talking with Miss Irene. I could confirm the truth by asking any guest, and I've already advanced to "Mind Reader"—I can tell she wasn't hiding anything.
So assuming both of them... no, one person and one dog, neither lied, and what they saw was both real...
Audrey felt the current situation was somewhat complex and quite mind-bending, but this made her even more excited, as if she had become Lady Sissi from Storm Villa, becoming a detective solving a case.
This excitement immediately brought to mind a method of verification.
Pushing open the door and dodging the startled Annie, Audrey found Viscount Glaint in the hall, who had just seen off several literary masters.
"Glaint, was there a young lady named Irene at your salon today?"
The viscount appeared somewhat puzzled. Seeing Audrey approach so aggressively, he thought there was some important topic, but it turned out to be just this small matter.
"That's right. She was brought to the salon by Mrs. Sevilla—she's that lady's niece."
Sevilla... Sevilla Lanton?
Audrey retrieved information about this baroness from her memory. She had met her several times at the viscount's salon and other private noble gatherings. She was a beauty who could attract everyone's attention, and in the private gossip among the nobles of Queens, there were quite a few romantic tales about her, though no one could confirm them.
"Do you remember Miss Irene's appearance? Hair color, eye color?"
Remembering her purpose, she drove the baroness from her mind and quickly asked.
"Well, my impression isn't very deep," the viscount frowned, recalling with an expression somewhat like Xio's when remembering Irene's appearance earlier. "Her face is rather round, her hair is black, her eyes... I don't remember her eyes."
"Alright, thank you, Glaint."
Audrey bid farewell to the bewildered viscount and returned to the study, crouching in front of Susie again.
"Susie, you should still remember Miss Irene's appearance, right? Can you draw her?"
Both Xio and Glaint saw Irene with black hair, but only Susie saw her with pale gold hair and purple eyes...
This meant Irene possessed some method of changing her image in others' eyes—perhaps her Beyonder ability or some mystical item. This ability could even make people who had seen her unable to recall her specific appearance, just like the two people's rather difficult recollection earlier...
And this effect didn't work on Susie, or rather, on targets that weren't human!
As long as it drew Miss Irene's true appearance, I could easily find this mysterious Empress!
Audrey, you're truly a genius!
Excitedly clenching her fists, she looked at Susie again with anticipation. The latter tilted her head and looked back innocently.
"Audrey," forgetting that the maid was just outside the door, the golden retriever vibrated the surrounding air, making a somewhat puzzled sound. "You've forgotten—I'm just a dog."
Looking at Susie's front paws scratching at the carpet, the great detective Audrey fell silent.
Angel returned to Red Rose Street late at night. Today had been a rare sunny day, but Backlund at night was still shrouded in thick fog. The moonlight scattered through the mist, turning half the sky an eerie red.
Taking off the Ring of Madness, Angel first changed out of that expensive dress, took a cold shower, and then came to the basement.
Although cold water wasn't good for her current body, at least it could calm her down... Spending too much time with the "Pleasure Witch," combined with the ring's negative effects, made her experience some strange reactions beyond normal physiological needs. Fortunately, Sevilla hadn't made her stay long in the West Borough villa...
Moreover, having reached that time of the month, Angel discovered the troublesome aspects of this female body. In Cole's memories, Mrs. Sharon never seemed to have experienced such a period. Did advancing to "Pleasure Witch" cause certain bodily changes to reappear?
Enduring the discomfort, she crafted several "Slumber Charms" in the basement, stuffed the previously made but unsold "Storm Gathering" charms into the speed loader for backup, and checked her dagger, revolver, substitute wand, and magic mirror. Only after everything was in order did she return from the basement to the first floor.
This would be her greatest support in the coming battle.
Before going to Sevilla's house today, Angel had already reported Lanevus to the North Borough police, even directly mentioning the "True Creator" in the letter. Based on the efficiency of Backlund's police, they should forward this report to the nearest official Beyonder organization tomorrow, which would be Sunday. Reports in the North Borough would be handled by the Nighthawks.
Involving the "True Creator" and Lanevus, the fugitive wanted for creating the Tingen disaster, she believed the Nighthawks would take it seriously and handle it as quickly as possible, likely conducting an operation on Sunday night.
And Lanevus, who had somehow obtained the True Creator's divinity, wasn't someone Angel could deal with herself. She could only rely on official Beyonders, rely on the powerful Nighthawks to solve him—to solve this culprit behind the Tingen divine descent disaster.
"If I were Sequence 5, or at least Sequence 6..."
She stood in the unlit living room, looking toward the southwest, where the East Byron Dockyard in the dock district was located. The tall clock tower was faintly visible through the thick fog.
Angel didn't think she could eliminate a Rose Bishop and therefore handle Lanevus with the evil god's divinity. When she used the magic mirror to divine about the former, there was no hindrance, but once divination touched the latter, she would instantly be counterattacked by the True Creator's aura.
This fundamentally explained the power gap between the two. If using that Rose Bishop as a comparison for a typical Sequence 6, then Lanevus with the "True Creator's" divinity was likely similar to Megose carrying the evil god's child—possessing approximately Sequence 4 strength.
Having fought Megose, Angel understood that "divinity" would be the greatest difference between mid-sequences and high-sequences. The latter, relying on divinity, could harm mid-sequence Beyonders with words alone. The child in Megose's womb could make a "Pleasure Witch" lose control on the spot just by crying.
Without a saint's relic also originating from a high-sequence powerhouse, even another team of Nighthawks probably couldn't handle Megose.
But even so, she didn't plan to quietly await the Nighthawks' "good news."
Perhaps with sufficient preparation they could easily solve this trouble, but they might also fail, or even be calculated against by some mastermind hiding in the shadows at the last moment, as in the battle in Tingen, and fall short of success.
"I am the final insurance. If the Nighthawks solve Lanevus, I'll 'see him off' from a distance. If he escapes by chance..."
Angel tightly gripped the silver chain in her hand.
"Then I'll deliver the final strike."
In a certain room beneath St. Samuel's Cathedral in North Borough, Backlund.
This was the "Nighthawks" headquarters in Backlund. Unlike other second-tier cities, it was set directly beneath St. Samuel's Cathedral. Not just one or two Nighthawks took turns guarding the Chanis Gate and the station, but an entire team.
Five or six Nighthawks either sat or reclined, playing Fight the Landlord, flipping through old newspapers that hadn't been updated in who knows how many days, or holding paper and pen, writing and drawing.
"Bang—"
A wooden door was suddenly pushed open. A Nighthawk in a black trench coat walked in carrying several file folders. His gaze quickly swept over the several colleagues looking at him and finally locked onto a Nighthawk holding a newspaper.
"Captain, telegram from Sivellaus Field," he handed over the file folder. The latter took it but didn't open it to look, instead continuing to listen to the report. "The North Borough police station received a report letter saying that Lanevus is hiding near the East Byron Dockyard in the dock district."
[Author's note: If I said I delayed by a few minutes to pretend I don't have saved chapters and rushed to write this, would you believe me?]