Leonard stepped into the bar and his gaze swept quickly over the room. The reason he'd been crawling through bars and pubs these past two days wasn't for fun — he was looking for traces of the Sanguine.
The Sanguine's existence wasn't a secret to the Church or the authorities, but they weren't the kind of thing you could just walk up and meet. Leonard knew Daly would use her status as a member of the Evernight Church to approach the Sanguine and find a way to heal the Captain. But that wasn't something he could manage.
All he could do was sit and wait.
He desperately wanted to make contact himself — to get some concrete confirmation that the Captain's legs could actually be healed. Based on the leads he'd gathered, a number of the Sanguine frequented various bars and pubs.
But after days of looking, he'd come up empty.
"Boy, what you're doing is just pointless fake effort. Say you found a Sanguine — then what? The Evernight Church will handle this. You don't need to exhaust yourself over it."
Leonard didn't argue, because the old man was right.
"Nothing here either."
He glanced around, bowed his head, and turned to leave. One of the maid-uniformed girls glided over with a smile: "You've come all the way in, sir — why not stay a little while before you go?"
Leonard shook his head. "Sorry, I've got other things to do."
"What a shame."
The moment he stepped out of the bar, a voice came through from the old man — noticeably tense: "Church. Go to the church."
Leonard blinked — first time he'd ever heard the old man sound anything close to scared. "What's the matter?"
"That bar..."
Pallez's voice actually trembled slightly. "It's all Amon."
...
Leonard made a beeline for Saint Samuel Cathedral.
On the way, he got the full picture from the old man: this "Amon" was the one who'd been hunting Pallez relentlessly, reducing His situation to what it was today. The Angel of Time, the Blasphemer — Amon.
Though he'd long suspected the old man wasn't exactly simple, Leonard only now truly understood: Pallez wasn't just not simple — He was a fully legitimate angel.
And an entity like that had been living inside him, guiding him all this time, freely giving mysticism knowledge… What was He after?
Pallez gave a light chuckle: "Heh, now you're starting to doubt me?"
"..."
Leonard went quiet for a moment, then said evenly: "Should I not?"
"You've always fancied yourself the protagonist destiny chose, enjoying every bit of my guidance. Remember?"
He said it, and Leonard's mind immediately jumped to that pathetic attitude he'd carried in Tingen — the one that had him watching helplessly as the evil god's spawn wrecked them, watching Melissa get killed by Ince Zangwill, completely powerless.
What kind of protagonist was that?
Pallez snorted softly: "Use your brain. Look at where we are right now."
"???"
Leonard blinked and looked up — right at the icon of the Evernight Goddess hanging on the wall not far away. He murmured: "The Evernight Church?"
"That's right. I'm letting you come here. I'm actively letting you run under the Evernight Goddess's holy radiance. What does that tell you? If I really intended to use you for something, do you think your Goddess would allow me to strut around right under Her nose?
Or do you think the Evernight Goddess simply can't detect my presence?"
Hearing Pallez casually toss around "the Evernight Goddess" and "the Goddess" like old acquaintances, Leonard's eyelid twitched uncontrollably. He didn't know the old man's past, or whether he knew the Goddess personally, but he himself was just a Sequence 8 small fry — if the old man's casual disrespect somehow brought consequences, it'd be him who suffered.
"Please — stop. I understand now."
Leonard cut him off, shut his eyes, and gathered his thoughts. "Based on what you described of Amon, I'm guessing you've already been detected by Him, right? Which means He's detected me too?"
"Not necessarily."
Pallez's voice took on a heavier edge. "Amon doesn't bother concealing the auras of those He's parasitised — but I've been very careful to keep myself hidden. And the Amon avatars active in Backlund have demigod-level power at most. Unless I actively expose myself, He'll have a hard time finding me."
"But..."
Before Leonard could relax, Pallez added: "Amon's most favourite thing to do is let you think you're safe — and then appear at the moment you're most off guard, to deliver the maximum fear and despair."
"..."
Leonard clicked his tongue. "He's that petty? That bored? He's a Sequence 1 King of Angels — what does He get out of this?"
"Which is why He's also known as the God of Mischief."
"Uh."
While the old pair were chatting, footsteps approached. Leonard looked back and saw two familiar faces: "Ms. Daly? Klein?"
He stood up. "Is the Captain here too?"
"Dunn will be recovering in Tingen a while longer," Daly said. "I was just looking for you and Klein anyway. Come along."
"What's going on?"
"I'll explain on the way."
Klein fell into step beside Leonard and explained: "This afternoon, after you left, Daly came looking for me. Said that from now on, we're both assigned to her squad. Then she gave me a task — investigate a serial murder case in the East Borough and the Docks."
Leonard nodded. "And?"
"The case itself isn't complicated. The killer is a man named Sherman, and he's an Assassin."
"An Assassin?" Leonard immediately thought of Trissy. "The kind that turns into a woman?"
"Exactly."
"Now, what makes this Assassin different is that he's been rather selective about his targets — only goes after people who've done a lot of harm. So the Nighthawks working the case haven't immediately moved to apprehend him."
"Why?"
Leonard frowned, not quite following — then something clicked and he stopped mid-sentence.
Daly said evenly: "You were going to say 'roleplay,' weren't you? It's alright. All three of us figured out the roleplay method early on. No need to dance around it."
Leonard shot Klein a startled look, coughed, and continued: "Right, so — the kind of pathway that needs killing to roleplay. Even if he's managing to hold to his 'principles' now, further down the line he'll eventually start cutting corners, right?"
Daly said: "Catching one Assassin isn't the real point. What matters is finding whoever's behind him. Based on the timeline, Sherman became an Assassin not long ago, and the murders started almost immediately after. Which practically confirms someone told him about the roleplay method from the start. The person behind him is very likely Demoness Sect."
Leonard scratched his head, still not entirely tracking. "So?"
"You should know by now — over the past two weeks, three major Churches in Backlund ran a series of investigations. I don't know the reason, but in the process they turned up traces of both the Demoness Sect and the Aurora Order. It looks like the two organisations are planning something dangerous in Backlund."
Daly's footsteps slowed. She stopped at a door and knocked lightly: "Lord Cesima."
"Come in."
A dim room, bookshelves lining both walls floor to ceiling, a man in his thirties in a black coat and white shirt standing with his back to the door, reading. When the three entered, he set the book down and turned with a mild smile. "Sit down."
"Yes, Lord Cesima."
Cressida Cesima's gaze paused briefly on Klein and Leonard in turn. Then, warmly: "Klein, Leonard — I have a task to give each of you."
Both sat up straight. "Please, go ahead."
"I need you to infiltrate the Demoness Sect and the Aurora Order separately. Find out what they're planning to do in Backlund, and when exactly they'll move."
The two of them went rigid. Klein asked carefully: "You mean… undercover?"
"Correct."
Cressida Cesima continued: "Klein — you'll need to join the Demoness Sect in the role of a witch."
To be continued…
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