Chapter 227 Leonard, You're Not Up to Par
"Oh, right! There's also Miss Audrey's matter!"
Fors slapped her forehead, belatedly remembering the important business.
"I've already hinted at it many times, beating around the bush," Xio sighed, "but that Lorne Disenk really doesn't seem to have much entanglement with the aristocratic circle."
"Fors, you should have asked him just now where he had been all this time and why he wasn't in Backlund."
"Uh—" Fors was a little embarrassed. She had been so engrossed in her daydreams that she forgot all about these important matters.
She tried to muddle through with a playful tone, "Xio, but you're still here, aren't you—"
Hearing this, Xio's forehead creased into a 'well' shape, her face filled with an expression of disappointment, as if she were looking at someone who couldn't live up to expectations:
"You are his pen pal! It would be the most natural way to ask, and it wouldn't arouse suspicion!"
Then, she sighed helplessly:
"It seems that before we get more useful information, we'll have to find a way to keep Miss Audrey in the dark for now."
At Earl Hall's luxurious mansion.
"Susie~ Good Susie~ Don't be angry~ I really didn't dislike you." Audrey squatted on the ground, looking at Susie, who was curled up on the carpet, with an ingratiating expression.
However, Susie just gave her a lazy glance, then continued to lie on the ground without a word, like the most ordinary, dumb dog that understood nothing.
When you finally escape from a terrifying enemy, and you joyfully want to jump into your master's arms for a warm embrace, but your master pushes you away with a look of disgust, even saying you smell bad—do you know how much damage that does?
Can a Spectator also get depressed? Who knows, I'm just a dog!
"Susie."
Audrey looked at the silent golden retriever with a tearful expression.
She puffed out her cheeks slightly and complained in a low voice, "It's all that Lorne Disenk's fault! He must have done something to you!"
"Now that he's back in Backlund, I wonder if Fors and the others have investigated any more useful information."
"I need to go ask them."
Night Church.
Leonard, who had just finished his rare vacation, was preparing to report to the Church.
But as soon as he arrived at the Church's entrance, he saw a group of people in Punishers and Machinery Hivemind uniforms, approaching the Church's gate with unfriendly expressions, as if to demand an explanation.
"What are you doing here?" Leonard asked curiously, stepping forward, his tone still polite.
"What rank are you? How dare you even block us?!"
A Punisher, who looked very young and impulsive, angrily rebuked, his face full of indignation.
Huh? What rank am I?! Leonard stood frozen.
You're asking me what rank I am, right in front of our Night Church?!
What rank are you?!
He immediately got angry and was about to step forward and argue with that Punisher.
But before he could act, a sharp rap suddenly landed on the back of the head of the rude Punisher, making a dull thud, 'dong', which made the young Punisher drop to his knees, almost falling to the ground.
It was the captain of the Punishers squad who made the move. He retracted his arm, his face cold as he swept a glance at the team member who was covering his head and dared not speak again, then turned to Leonard and said stiffly:
"We have some private matters we'd like to discuss with your Bishop."
Then, he walked straight past Leonard, who was still standing there stunned, and entered the Church with the members of the Machinery Hivemind.
"What exactly happened?" Leonard was a little confused.
"How could we possibly hinder your actions!"
"Goddess above! This is absolutely slander!"
"Are you implying that we are slandering you?!"
"Calm down!"
"We are very calm!"
"I understand. We will investigate this matter thoroughly."
Bursts of intense arguments kept coming from the reception room.
After a commotion, the Night Church immediately held an emergency meeting.
In the underground section of the Church.
After the emergency meeting ended, the Soul Assurer, Sost, immediately gathered all the members of his team to discuss the sudden incident that had just occurred.
"Boss, what's wrong?" Leonard asked, looking at his captain's troubled face.
"Gather everyone, immediately!"
After everyone had gathered, Sost spoke in a very solemn tone, "Recently, a group of very suspicious people have appeared in the East Borough."
"Suspicious? How suspicious?"
"They were wearing Church uniforms."
Sost paused, his gaze sweeping across each team member's face, then he emphasized again:
"The most crucial, and most egregious, thing is—they disguised themselves as our Red Gloves and were active outside."
What?! Disguised as Red Gloves?! Are these guys out of their minds?!
As soon as this was said, all the Red Gloves members present, without exception, showed expressions of shock and disbelief.
In all these years, they had never heard of such an outrageous thing!
They had seen plenty of fraudsters disguised as ordinary clergy. But—disguising themselves as tough characters like Red Gloves, this was a first!
"This is blasphemy! This is blasphemy against the Goddess!" A member soon shouted excitedly.
"Do you know who those people are? Which faction do they belong to?" another relatively calm member asked with a frown.
"It's still unclear," Sost shook his head, "but we suspect the Aurora Order is more likely."
"After all, only those Lunatics would be so crazy."
It's those Lunatics from the Aurora Order. That seems a bit more reasonable then. Hearing this speculation, although the anger on all the team members' faces had not subsided, they all subconsciously nodded.
"In short, the Bishop has ordered all of us to go out! We must capture all those damned imposters as quickly as possible!"
"Everyone go back and prepare. We'll act tonight!"
After the operational meeting, Leonard found an empty place alone, intending to ask for his Parasite's advice. "Old man, what do you think about this matter? Is it really the Aurora Order's doing?"
"Not quite," an old voice sounded in his mind, "Even those Lunatics from the Aurora Order don't seem like the type to do something like this. The targeting is so clear; it's more like they're deliberately provoking and creating chaos."
"Then who is it?" Leonard pressed.
"Hard to say. This matter seems to be deliberately creating friction between your Night Church and other Churches."
"Your Goddess also has many enemies. For a while, I really can't be sure."
"I feel this matter is not as simple as it appears on the surface. Perhaps there are deeper reasons."
"What deeper reasons?" Leonard's curiosity was piqued.
"You want to hear?" Pales's voice suddenly carried a hint of teasing.
"Of course."
"What a pity," Pales said slowly, with a hint of mockery, "Your rank isn't high enough yet."
"You—Old man!" Leonard realized he had been tricked.
"Hehe."
The Parasite seemed to suddenly remember something extremely interesting, and couldn't help but chuckle softly again, his tone carrying a playful sense of watching the fire from the other shore:
"All this time, it's always been your Night Church people secretly plotting against others."
"I didn't expect that this time, you would also be plotted against by others. And in such a—hmm—quite 'creative' way."
"Old man, I feel you have a deep misunderstanding of our Church," Leonard couldn't help but defend his Church.
"That's no misunderstanding," Pales's voice carried an indescribable sense of emotion, as if recalling incredibly distant past events.
"Your Goddess is not simple, you know—"