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In Backlund's Empress Borough, a brightly lit banquet hall was hosting a New Year's Eve party.
As a New Year's Eve party held by the Royal Family, only the upper echelons of the Loen Kingdom's society were able to attend.
The party was divided into two sections. One was the dance hall, located on the ground floor, paved with magnificent flagstones carved with intricate patterns, and featuring an excellent royal band in the corner.
Up the gilded staircase from the hall was a circular corridor on the second floor, where guests held their wine glasses, standing by the railings and looking down at the dancing below.
From time to time, Gentlemen would approach young ladies or married women to invite them to dance, and if permitted, both would take hands and descend the stairs into the hall.
On the other side of the hallway, away from the main hall, were numerous doors, primarily leading to guest lounges.
However, above the double doors, a vertical sword hung, its hilt a ruby crown, symbolizing the "Judgement Sword" emblem of the Augustus family.
Behind the door was a corridor lined with various plaster statues on either side, depicting every Loen Kingdom, from the founding King William I to the last George III.
At the end of the hallway, one could find the other part of the ball. This was also a grand hall, filled with long tables laden with various delicacies and fine wines, while another royal band played melodious and relaxing music for the guests.
In this hall, nobles gathered in small groups, sitting or standing, discussing various matters. Those who wished to briefly escape the noise entered the balconies attached to the hall, gazing at the garden scenery and the red moon in the sky.
Audrey Hall, elegantly dressed, originally stood in a corner of the hall, staring blankly at the colossal crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. This kind of party was not suitable for Susie, so she had to be left at home.
"Beautiful Miss Hall, may I invite you for a dance?"
A somewhat unfamiliar male voice sounded, and Audrey, whose gaze had been slightly unfocused, instantly snapped back to reality, looking to her side. It was a man whose appearance closely resembled Henry Augustus I, depicted on the 5-pound banknote.
He had a round face and narrow eyes, yet he was not at all serious, instead always wearing a smile, young and vibrant.
Audrey had already recognized the newcomer as Edessak Augustus, titled Earl Lasting.
First, she gracefully curtsied, lifting her skirt in a standard courtly bow. Audrey's face showed an apologetic smile, and she gently placed her hand, adorned with a diamond-studded glove, on her forehead.
"I apologize, Prince Edessak, I am feeling a bit unwell. Thank you for your invitation."
Edessak's smile faltered slightly. Just as he was about to speak again, another voice interrupted:
"Brother, please do not make things difficult for a beautiful lady. I believe this is a principle every Augustus should understand."
From the other side of the hall, a man dressed in royal attire, similar to Edessak, slowly approached. This was Jevington Augustus, George III's eldest son and the most formidable contender for the future crown prince.
Jevington walked to Edessak with a smile, but his eyes glanced at the burly man who had been following closely behind Edessak, head slightly bowed. A hint of apprehension and resentment flashed deep in his eyes.
Watching the two princes contend, Audrey felt a headache. She was not interested in princes and did not wish to become a victim of political marriage, even though she believed her dear Earl Hall would not do such a thing.
Viscount Glaint, who was not far away discussing the recent situation in the Southern Continent with Earl Wolfe's youngest son, also noticed Audrey's predicament. Although he very much wanted to help his good friend out of the situation, as someone who had just inherited the viscounty, he seemed to have little influence in such a setting.
Just as Viscount Glaint was about to seek out Earl Hall, he heard a murmur of whispers from the entrance of the main door and instinctively turned his head.
Aaron, dressed in a sharp military uniform, walked through the statue-lined corridor, carrying an inexplicable aura. Everyone who met his gaze involuntarily lowered their heads.
Jevington retreated to the side, his smile unwavering. Edessak, whose expression was somewhat displeased by the oppressive aura, had the burly man who had been slightly bowing behind him step forward half a pace to shield him.
Aaron, who had just arrived in Backlund by special train from Pritz Harbor, had also heard the previous conversation. Without even glancing at Edessak, he walked directly to Audrey, whose face showed pleasant surprise.
He elegantly took Audrey's right hand and led her away from the hall, leaving Prince Edessak somewhat awkward.
Aaron led Audrey through the long corridor. Suddenly, a nearby lounge opened, and Court Chamberlain Viscount Stafford and MI9 Deputy Director Vice Admiral Qonas Kilgor emerged with smiles on their faces.
Aaron's eyes narrowed slightly, his expression unchanged as he nodded to Qonas Kilgor, his peripheral vision sweeping over the Court Chamberlain, then he actively departed.
The interlude at the ball concluded. Aaron and Audrey chatted as they walked, and Aaron only returned Audrey to Earl Hall's side at the very end of the ball.
-----------------
Backlund, Empress Borough, East Tucker Villa.
Aaron, who had just returned from the royal ball, opened his long-unoccupied bedroom. He looked at the full-length mirror on one side, his eyes flickering.
Entering the partitioned area, he responded to himself, retrieving some spiritually rich blood from above the dark golden mist. After setting up a Wall of Spirituality, he drew a blended symbol representing concealment and prying on the mirror's surface.
This was the symbolic mark obtained from "Orange Light" Hillarion earlier, which could be used to contact the "Magic Mirror" Arrodes. Although it had a directional quality, its responsive range was very small, effective only within the Backlund area.
The last stroke of the symbol had just fallen when the full-length mirror in the bedroom emitted a dim yet pure light, like a dark current quietly surging at the bottom of a lake.
A phantom, ancient, and eerie silver mirror then emerged within the mirror's surface, with faintly glowing black gems like eyes on either side. The image suddenly blurred, then shattered with a crash, disappearing.
His raised hand and the smile on his face froze simultaneously. Aaron looked at the mirror, which had returned to its calm state, and fell into silence.
Expressionlessly, he took out the "Ring of Mysteries," and after infusing it with spirituality, it gradually emitted a certain aura. Aaron then redrew the blended symbol representing concealment and prying on the mirror's surface.
After a long while, the mirror surface began to fluctuate again. As if sensing that escape was impossible, pale white words quickly outlined themselves on the mirror, as if resigned, with a tragic feeling:
"Great Existence who presides over rules, I can guarantee that I did not reveal any information about you when the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery was investigating clues earlier."
"May I ask, what are your commands this time?"
Humming softly in his heart, Aaron watched the pale words with interest, as well as the smiling face that appeared at the end. He hadn't expected this mirror to also sense the Sefirah aura on him. He then lightly tapped the table with his finger and asked with a smile:
"This should be our first formal meeting. I am very curious, why do you fear me so much?"
The pale words quickly distorted, and lines of text appeared:
"No, no, no, I didn't mean that. It is my honor to serve you."
"I possess powerful divination abilities, and I can also obtain various kinds of information through the Spirit World, so I coincidentally learned some things about you in the Spirit World."
Coincidence? Aaron didn't press this eccentric mirror further, looking at the words that reappeared on the mirror:
"Limited by my own rules, after I answer one of your questions, as an exchange, you must also choose to answer one of mine."
"Do you think this is acceptable?"
Aaron, who understood Arrodes's rules well, was not surprised. He also wanted to see what question this fellow intended to ask, and calmly replied:
"Yes, you may ask."
Splendid fireworks appeared on the mirror, and a few faint golden words emerged in the corner:
"Oh, no, no, you have already answered my question. You may continue to ask questions."
Aaron froze for a second, his expression a bit strange, but he didn't hesitate and directly asked:
"I want to know which sea area the King of Immortality Agalito's 'Death Announcer' is currently in?"
The brilliant fireworks dispersed, and the mirror surface rippled with faint light. A massive black sailboat, nearly two hundred meters long, appeared. The hull was shrouded in mist, and a black tombstone was depicted on the sails—it was the "Death Announcer."
Is this the Fog Sea? Aaron's eyebrow twitched slightly. The "Death Announcer" had been luring Beyonders into the Sea of Ruins to search for the so-called "Fountain of Youth." He hadn't expected it to travel thousands of miles from the Sonia Sea to the Fog Sea.
As if sensing Aaron's confusion, the image disappeared, and a passage of text appeared:
"The true form of the 'Death Announcer' is actually a Blatherer who escaped the Abyss. Although it escaped control at the cost of self-mutilation, it also lost part of its imprint and had to merge with that ghost ship to become a living Sealed Artifact."
"But it has always longed to complete itself and break free from the shackles of the ghost ship. The so-called 'Fountain of Youth' serves this purpose."
"And some time ago, the Abyss underwent an anomaly. By relying on the ghost ship's perception of the Spirit World and its connection to the Abyss, the 'Death Announcer' left the Sonia Sea."
"Has my explanation resolved some of your confusion, esteemed Great Existence?"
Having gradually become familiar with this fellow's routine, Aaron lightly coughed. He didn't correct the impropriety in the address and slowly nodded.
Large sections of text dissipated, and the font returned to its pale white color. Even through the mirror, Aaron could feel the deep self-reproach:
"Great Existence who presides over rules, due to the limitations of the summoning, this will be the last question. Do you accept my apology?"
The last question, huh? Aaron frowned slightly, and a mischievous thought suddenly popped into his mind. He said leisurely:
"I think you are quite good. If I were to take you away from the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery later, would you be willing to follow me forever?"
The mirror suddenly froze, and the pale words distorted and reassembled incessantly. After a long while, they re-formed into continuous words:
"Please forgive my offense. I cannot give you an answer now. As compensation, you may ask another question."
Sensing the magic mirror's dilemma, Aaron didn't press it and changed the question with a smile:
"I want to create some advanced talismans of the Seer Pathway and the Marauder Pathway. Do you know the corresponding ritual procedures and specific symbolic signs?"
The mirror shimmered for a while, as if to compensate for its previous rashness, and an image appeared:
A castle seemingly built entirely of emerald. A mature and beautiful lady suddenly turned her head to look at the mirror, and a pair of eyes without pupils appeared. The image then shattered.
The next image was a dim room. Under the candlelight, a notebook with a cover made entirely of dark black cardboard. It exuded an ancient and distant aura, showing no signs of softening or decay.
The bottom of the image was thoughtfully labeled by Arrodes as "Tingen City, Antigonus family's pen...."
The last word had not yet appeared when the image crashed, and even the mirror itself showed some cracks.
The sudden change caught Aaron off guard for a few seconds before he stepped forward, caressing the full-length mirror with its fine cracks. No matter how he called, he received no response.
Recalling the last few words that appeared, Aaron's eyes flickered as he silently looked at the damaged mirror, pondering the existence that could make Arrodes flee without even a greeting.
-----------------
Pritz Harbor, White Oak Street, Pritz Harbor Fishermen's Association.
Dorian Gray stood by the window, his face full of exhaustion, silently gazing at the red moon outside the window.
He was of medium height but possessed exaggerated arms, and his hair was meticulously combed, completely unlike the bird's nest hairstyles of most people in the association.
During the last secret family gathering, the already conflicted Abrahams found it increasingly difficult to reach a consensus due to the more frequent red moons.
Feeling a strange sense of sorrow in his heart, Dorian Gray averted his gaze and tilted his head slightly. Using the light of the red moon, his peripheral vision noticed a figure that had appeared on the sofa at some unknown point.
He was slightly startled. As an Astrologer skilled in spiritual perception, he hadn't detected anything at all, which was enough to indicate the seriousness of the problem.
Without the slightest hesitation, Dorian Gray was about to reach for his chest, but found his body rigid, even his thoughts seemingly frozen.
This was extremely close to the ability of a certain Sequence he knew. He managed to utter broken, intermittent sounds:
"Are you the Marionettist of the Mysticism Society?"
Amidst his despair, there was even a faint sense of relief. Just as he thought he was about to return to the embrace of his ancestors, all the abnormalities suddenly vanished.
Dorian Gray stumbled forward a few steps. After regaining control of his body, his right hand quickly went into his In arms, his gaze cautious yet somewhat puzzled as he looked at the sofa.
It was a man with no distinctive features, but Dorian Gray, who had some understanding of the Seer Pathway, paid no mind to it. After all, for a Faceless, let alone appearance, even gender could be disguised.
"I never thought the Abraham family, which stood at the pinnacle of all surnames in the Fourth Epoch, would fall to such a state."
Dorian Gray's pupils constricted. He even prepared himself for death, shaking his head to deny the mysterious powerhouse's statement, and even showing a bewildered and confused expression:
"I don't understand what you mean. My potions were all obtained through black market transactions. I haven't heard of any Abraham family."
Cavendish Lancer Pinto clicked his tongue, dropping his playful tone. He glanced at Dorian Gray's right hand, which was tucked into his embrace, and continued indifferently:
"All Abrahams are affected by the blathering during the full moon. This is also the fundamental reason for your family's decline."
"Don't be nervous. If I had other intentions, you would already be a marionette just now. I came here to show you, to show the Abrahams, a true path!"
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