Chapter 1031: Possibility
As the sky lit up, the manors along the Tussock River's north bank began
to wake up amidst the morning mist.
The tall and portly Framis Cage came to the guest room where Qonas
Kilgor slept last night. He knocked on the door and prepared to have
breakfast with this MI9 deputy director.
However, there was no response.
Has the Brigadier General headed for the dining room? Framis Cage turned
around in puzzlement and left the first floor.
After breakfast was over, everyone realized that Qonas Kilgor had
vanished. Under Dwayne Dantes's lead, they headed outside the guest room
and watched the land steward, Richardson, open the door with his key.
There was no one inside.
"Does Brigadier General Kilgor have a hobby of taking morning strolls?"
Macht asked curiously as he pinched the two ends of his cheekbones.
Framis Cage shook his head without hesitation.
"No."
"Did you hear anything last night?" the chancellor of the Backlund
University of Technology, Portland Moment, surveyed the area and asked.
Macht recalled for a moment.
"No, it was very quiet, perfect for a vacation."
Beside him, Hazel looked into the room curiously, but she couldn't think
of any possibilities.
At this moment, Framis Cage raised his theory:
"Brigadier General Kilgor is an important member of the military, and he
often needs to handle unexpected matters. Perhaps he had long left the
manor and returned to Backlund."
This steam car tycoon was clearly trying his best to downplay the
matter.
He seems to know something. Or at least, he guessed that Qonas Kilgor
came to Maygur Manor for some private, personal goal... Klein listened
to their conversation as he said to Butler Walter and Land Steward
Richardson with a heavy look, "Ask the servants in the manor if they had
seen Brigadier General Kilgor last night or this morning.
"If they haven't, send someone back to Backlund and visit Brigadier
General Kilgor's family. Inform them of this matter and let them decide
whether we need to immediately make a police report."
After giving his instructions, Klein stroked his white sideburns and
said to Macht and his other guests, "Things aren't clear yet. Perhaps
Brigadier General Kilgor left because of an urgent matter and didn't
want to hold up everyone's vacation. Let's do this. We'll continue with
our hunting plans and return when the police arrive."
As Brigadier General Qonas Kilgor's companion, Framis Cage had raised an
excuse for the crisis, one that was rather convincing, Macht and company
agreed with Dwayne Dantes's suggestion and left the area.
Hazel walked right at the back and glanced at Brigadier General Qonas
Kilgor's guest room and its neighboring room. She had a nagging feeling
that something wasn't right as she subconsciously wanted to use her
powers as a Cryptologist to reconstruct the situation.
However, an intense sense of fear emerged deep in her heart. She had no
idea what she was afraid of, so she eventually gave up on the idea.
She vaguely felt that she had some experience in such matters, and those
experiences told her not to look at things she shouldn't see or listen
to things she shouldn't hear.
After the guests and servants left that floor, a thick carpet that held
the weight of the coffee table inside the room beside Qonas's guest room
began moving.
Bit by bit, it pulled itself up from under the sofa and coffee table
without causing much of a stir.
Following that, the yellowish-brown carpet stood up and revealed its
other side.
It was solidified flesh!
The flesh was squirming and reorganizing itself, and it soon transformed
into a person, a mixed-blood young man. This was Dwayne Dantes's valet,
Enuni.
And the one following Dwayne Dantes was Qonas Kilgor. He wore the same
face and had the same build!
To Klein, there was no need to disguise Enuni in such a manner. He could
get him to transform himself into another person and blend in with the
servants, using an illusion to interfere with their senses, making them
unable to discover the addition of this person. It was a simpler and
more reliable method. However, "acting" remained important to a demigod.
It was key to accelerating the potion's digestion and for resisting the
inclinations of losing control and madness. Therefore, Klein would
deliberately try to be bizarre in his handling of many matters.
Of course, he didn't wish to harm the innocent. Even in creating bizarre
and eerie situations, he would try hard not to let others notice it. It
was to prevent them from being left with a mental scar due to excessive
fright.
The bizarre and eerie atmosphere was mainly for himself, to gain the
approval of the potion inside him. This would undoubtedly accelerate the
digestion rate of his potion, but without the feedback of a spectator,
it meant that the "acting" wasn't complete enough. This made the speed
at which he digested the Bizarro Sorcerer potion not as fast as he
imagined. Despite doing so many things and trying out so many acts,
Klein didn't feel that it was possible for him to reach Sequence 3 by
the end of this year.
Backlund East Borough, inside a two-bedroom rental apartment.
Xio sat on an unstable chair as she stared out of the window in a daze,
her expression a little gloomy.
Fors swallowed her saliva and sat opposite Xio, blocking her line of
sight.
You seem to have lost all your motivation?
"Do you not know what to do after receiving that answer? It's because
you have no access to the king?"
Xio's eyes fluttered as she slowly came to her senses.
"Whether it's to redeem my father's reputation or revenge, the chances
are slim when facing the king. I can't think of a way to complete
something like that..."
"That's because you're too weak. When you reach Sequence 4 and become a
demigod, you'll discover many solutions, the only problem is that it'll
be more dangerous!" Fors tried encouraging her. "In addition, you can
still use others. Just like the person monitoring Shermane. She too
wanted to know who Viscount Stratford was loyal to. She must be
interested in the king's secret."
"Shermane..." Xio repeated the name as her state of mind suddenly
recovered.
Beside them, there was a bronze cross and a ghostly-blue gem that
resembled a vertical eye on the table.
The gem's exterior had thread-like patterns, the Beyonder characteristic
that appeared after Shermane's death. It made the things around it
appear mild, and it accentuated their beauty. However, with the bronze
cross around, its glow was confined to a small area.
"That monitor is one of the culprits behind Shermane's death," Xio said
rather seriously.
They had already found a spot to bury Shermane, and Fors had flipped
through Leymano's Travels to placate the dead Shermane.
Fors immediately nodded.
"Yes, it's why she was instigated to investigate the king's secret and
come into contact with the latent danger.
"Didn't you say that she might be able to monitor where we used to live?
We can find an opportunity to return incognito, throw a letter into the
mailbox, and write that Viscount Stratford is loyal to King George III
and that he has a huge secret. This way, I believe she will be able to
see it."
Xio thought carefully and nodded solemnly.
"Okay."
After discussing what they were about to do next, Fors stood up and
pointed at the bronze cross.
"It's time for us to show our sincerity to Mr. Fool for all the help we
received. I plan on sacrificing it to Mr. Fool now. You don't have any
objections, right?"
"No," Xio replied without hesitation.
Maygur Manor. It was another evening. The news sent back by Qonas
Kilgor's family was to wait since this MI9 deputy director often acted
in such ways, involving himself in matters of national security;
therefore, Macht and company didn't panic. They made use of the animals
they hunted and roasted them over a bonfire at a party on the lawn
behind the manor.
Seeing the gentlemen roll up their sleeves and busy themselves around
the roasting rack, the ladies heading over to help from time to time,
and the children running around eagerly, Klein held a cup of sweet white
wine---a fine product of Maygur Manor---and sat on a white wooden chair,
a smile suffusing his lips.
Beside him was his mixed-blood valet, Enuni, who stood upright while
awaiting instructions.
And inside a particular room in the manor's main building, a pair of
eyes were silently looking down. It belonged to a person who looked
identical to Enuni.
The evening breeze blew past. Just as Klein was about to get up and
showcase what it meant to roast meat from Desi at the roasting rack, he
suddenly saw a figure phase into existence in front of him.
It was Arianna who wore a simple robe and tree bark as a belt.
This servant of Concealment looked at Dwayne Dantes and said, "There was
nothing special in the underground ruins..."
"She" then recounted the main points of what "She" and the three
archbishops saw, as well as the explanation given by Prince of Sonia,
Grove Augustus.
That doesn't make sense... The first thought that appeared in Klein's
mind was suspicion.
As Viscount Stratford had Saintess of White Katarina provide him with
assistance, this clearly meant that the king's faction hadn't completely
severed ties with the Demoness Sect.
Under the premise that the Great Smog of Backlund had already happened,
their continued relationship with the Demoness Sect meant that it wasn't
something that could be explained as hoping to keep the Blood Emperor's
ruins for themselves
With such in-depth cooperation, would the Demoness Sect and Psychology
Alchemists not wish to split the spoils?
In that case, why wouldn't they directly seek the help of the three
Churches?
Klein instinctively believed that the problem with the ruins hadn't
truly been discovered. He suspected that there had been a leak during
the entire process, allowing the king to make preparations.
With Ma'am Arianna around, the possibility of discovering something
amiss via the methods of divination and prophecy can be eliminated...
From my killing of Qonas Kilgor to the three Churches' joint operation,
the number of people who know of it doesn't exceed ten. Furthermore,
they all involve the high-ranking members of each Church. How is it
possible that there was a leak...
Viscount Stratford's problem resulted in the people in the ruins
deploying contingency plans? No, his standing wasn't at that level. Even
Qonas Kilgor didn't know the exact situation, much less him. He was only
in charge of liaising with the Demoness Sect and handling matters at the
periphery. He might not even know of the underground ruins... Klein's
thoughts raced as he sought the reasons.
He first eliminated the possibility of them being prepared due to
Viscount Stratford; after all, the death of the captain of the royal
guards wasn't that important or crucial.
As such, there were very few possibilities that could explain the
situation. One, a person who knew of the secret amidst this sequence of
events had deliberately or unintentionally leaked the matter due to
particular reasons. Two, they had noticed something wrong with Qonas
Kilgor's seemingly ordinary state, but Klein didn't notice anything.
The Psychology Alchemists are in cahoots as well... Could my thoughts be
read and the secret revealed? But I have the gray fog augmenting me. No
matter what, there will be some abnormality. It's just like when I faced
that Spectator demigod with Anderson... The Psychology Alchemists
originated from something Hermes left behind... Hermes is... As he
thought about it, Klein's eyes suddenly widened.
He instinctively stopped himself from thinking deeper about it as he
shot a look at Arianna and relaxed. He asked, "Is this place concealed?"
"Very," Arianna replied calmly.
People behind "Her" came and went, but no one noticed "Her."
Klein exhaled as he formulated his thoughts.
Emperor Roselle once said in his diary that the members of that ancient
secret organization are all important figures... Then, could it be
possible that one of the high-ranking members of the three Churches is a
member of the Twilight Hermit Order?
And could it be that the ruins which Arianna and the archbishops saw
wasn't the real one, but one "imagined" by Adam?