Chapter 424: The Problem of Change

Inside the carriage outside the Quelaag Club.

"The Desire Apostle might not necessarily be Jason Beria? You believe

that we might've been misled?" Ikanser didn't scoff, show contempt, or

think lightly of what Klein had said. Instead, he began to seriously

discuss the problem with him.

*Not a bad deacon... However, it could also be due to him frequently

using the magic mirror name Arrodes. No matter how bad his temper is, it

would eventually be worn out...* Klein praised silently and

nodded sincerely.

"This is my personal opinion, derived from a cautious standpoint.

"It's very easy to prove it again. Ask the magic mirror of the Desire

Apostle's location, and not of Jason Beria's location."

Ikanser pressed down his hat and said, "Makes sense."

His expression turned serious once again, and his gaze landed on the

magic mirror in his palm.

"Deacon Ikanser, if you were to ask for any clues here, the Devil will

definitely be able to detect it," Klein reminded them.

"That's right." Ikanser turned his head to the other two members and

said, "Continue protecting Mr. Moriarty in secret. Even if the Desire

Apostle attacks, the three of you should be able to last for some time.

Besides, there's military personnel nearby."

"Yes, Deacon!" the two Machinery Hivemind members answered without

hesitation.

Ikanser left at once, heading for where the Nighthawks were, which was

around Isengard Stanton.

*With the Spellsinger of God stirred, and the Sealed Artifact of the

Church of Goddess Church out in force... if the Desire Apostle were to

really do anything, it would definitely be this afternoon... Let's hope

that there's enough time and that the magic mirror will give him the

correct answer... But this way, I won't have a chance to get involved,

and I won't be able to personally see the Devil that has harmed all of

us die, and I won't have access to his suitcase full of money, gold

bars, gold coins, and jewelry...* Klein looked at the Ikanser's

departing back and sighed in disappointment.

However, his mood soon recovered.

*That's good too. At the very least I won't have to take any risks and

be able to safely get out of this predicament.*

*Furthermore, the Machinery Hivemind definitely won't treat me unfairly.

If I were to succeed, my opinions and suggestions definitely would've

played an important role. Furthermore, I'm a believer of the God of

Steam and Machinery, so it's likely I'll receive some of the spoils...

Considering the premise of 50,000 pounds, it shouldn't be too

small...*

Klein couldn't help but feel a bit regretful as he thought of this.

But he wouldn't risk himself by getting involved.

A Magician never performs unprepared!

*It happened too quickly and hastily, without giving me any time to plan

at all...* Klein nodded at the two Machinery Hivemind members,

got out of the carriage, and returned to the Quelaag Club, where he had

no trouble getting the attendant to allocate him a break room.

Hillston Borough. In Isengard Stanton's living room.

Leonard Mitchell combed some of his slightly unruly black hair. In

accordance with Captain Soest's instructions and the help of the other

Nighthawks, he barely managed to put on the silver armor, which was

stained with large amounts of blood.

He pulled down his visor and hid his green eyes in the darkness. Then he

extended his left hand, which was covered by a silver metal gauntlet,

and held the magic mirror Ikanser handed him.

Within the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, the code name of

the silver mirror was 2-111.

"It's only a Grade 2 Sealed Artifact?" Soest asked, slightly surprised.

Ikanser nodded.

"Yes, it's not that dangerous."

As he said that, he suddenly sounded like he was gritting his teeth.

"That is to say that it's other aspects have reached the standards of a

Grade 1 Sealed Artifact?" Soest asked in thought.

Ikanser warily glanced at him.

"Only in certain aspects."

He refused to divulge any more information.

At this moment, Leonard used his right hand to gently stroke the surface

of the silver mirror. The living room suddenly became quiet.

After repeating it three times, he said in a deep voice, "Honorable

Arrodes, my question is: 'Where is the current location of the Desire

Apostle who assaulted Isengard Stanton?'"

The entire house turned dark as though a dark cloud had passed by.

The surface of the silver mirror glowed with an aqueous light, and a

blurry image quickly formed---it was a luxurious villa with a large

garden in front of the window.

In the center of the garden, there was a glass greenhouse, with bright

red roses blooming inside.

Above the glass greenhouse, the pale sun could still be seen behind the

thin fog.

"It's in Backlund!" Isengard Stanton immediately derived the location of

the scene based on the angle of the view and the position of the sun in

the sky.

"This is completely different from the answer when we asked about Jason

Beria! We've been tricked!" Ikanser said in a deep voice.

Soul Assurer Soest exhaled and said, "How crafty.

"Then, who's the Jason Beria that Spellsinger of God is chasing?

"Sigh, there's no time for discussion. We need to narrow down the

general location of the presented scene. Then, we'll immediately take

action. I suspect that the Desire Apostle is planning to cause a huge

incident!"

At this point, the silver mirror known as Arrodes had dissipated the

scene, replacing it with words.

It required Leonard Mitchell to answer a question, and if he lied or

refused to answer, he would be severely punished.

For some baffling reason, Leonard felt a little nervous. He put away his

usual frivolous attitude and quietly waited for the question.

A few seconds later, he saw the blood-red words change, taking shape one

by one.

"On your body, is there something attached..."

Halfway through the question, Leonard's pupils rapidly contracted. His

back tensed up, and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

If it wasn't for him being concealed by the blood-stained silver armor,

the others would've already noticed his abnormality.

Right at this moment, his left palm inexplicably trembled.

The silver magic mirror suddenly trembled, and the scarlet words were

strangely tainted with a tint of green. If one didn't keep staring at

the mirror with rapt attention, it would be difficult for others to

discover that the color of the mirror had slightly changed.

The words continued warping, changing the question to: "On your body, is

there a scar which you cannot tell others?"

"Yes, that scar resides in my memory," Leonard answered stably, but his

body inside the blood-stained silver armor felt a sense of exhaustion

from suddenly relaxing a high tension.

*This mirror is too dangerous... It actually noticed it! Thankfully, Old

Man has recovered a bit after such a long time...* he thought;

his lips were dry.

Soest took out his pocket watch, pressed it open to take a look, and

said to Leonard, who was inside the blood-stained silver armor.

"There's still time, you'll be in charge of the rest of the operation!"

"Yes, Captain Soest." Leonard let out a secret sigh.

Dock area, Backlund Shipyard.

Patrick Jason Beria entered a cabin he had reserved in advance.

He looked out of the window and observed the sky filled with fog as he

silently counted the time.

After a while, he quickly took off his hat and clothes. Then, with a tug

of his hand, he pulled off the outer layer of human skin!

Under the human skin was a beautiful woman in her early thirties with a

profound look in her eyes. She wasn't the man with brown hair and brown

eyes whom Klein had seen during the dream divination!

The woman took out some clothes and put them on methodically, quickly

becoming an absolutely charming woman.

Finally, she pulled out a fist-sized stone figurine from the bottom of a

suitcase and wrapped it tightly with the peeled off skin before tying a

dead knot.

Having done all this, the riverboat was already some distance away. She

opened the window and threw Patrick Jason's skin along with the stone

figurine into the river.

Plop!

The human skin that was tied to the heavy object quickly sank.

The woman clapped her hands and closed the window. Carrying the

suitcase, she changed to a different cabin she had prepared.

Then, she sat down at the window of the new cabin, propped up her

elbows, her face in her hands, and looked out leisurely.

After an unknown period of time, she saw a strong gust of wind blowing

in the air, dispersing the thin fog.

The corners of her lips curled up into a brilliant smile.

In a luxurious villa not far from the Holy Wind Cathedral in Cherwood

Borough.

The bloated, blue-eyed Pallas Negan bear hugged his approaching

mistress, a beautiful young girl with a bit of innocence on her face.

There were two people following him. One of them was a middle-aged man

wearing a black tailcoat. He had brown hair and blue eyes, but he didn't

wear an expression. He was a Beyonder guard provided by the Church of

Storms, a Sequence 6 Wind-blessed.

The other person was Duke Negan's secretary.

He was a thin blond young man with delicate features, looking refined

and reserved. His biggest flaw was his receding hairline which didn't

match his age.

As for the other guards, or security personnel, they were spread out

outside the house.

On the second floor, the Wind-blessed entered the bedroom before Duke

Negan for a quick inspection. Meanwhile, Duke Negan's secretary was in

charge of searching the surrounding rooms.

After confirming that there were no problems, they nodded at Duke Negan,

indicating that he could continue.

"My roused up feelings have almost calmed down," Duke Negan said

half-jokingly.

His mistress happily responded, "Then we can have a nice chat. I'd like

to hear about your time at sea."

"I hope you'll eventually have the energy to do so." Duke Negan carried

his mistress into the bedroom and closed the door behind him with his

heel.

His secretary and the Wind-blessed entered the rooms on either side of

him, not relaxing in the slightest.

In the attic of this house.

A man in a dark overcoat sat on an old chair, his eyes half closed. It

was unknown what he was trying to sense, but he would occasionally smile

and shake his head.

His brown hair was slightly curled, and his brown eyes were cold. It was

the same person that Klein had seen in the dream divination! The

difference was that there was one fewer suitcase by his feet.

"How vigorous, and what intense desire... This doesn't match my judgment

of him. It looks like he took some medicine... That just works so well

for me... Heh heh, how could they possibly imagine that Patrick Jason

Beria is actually two people..." The man tilted his face up slightly as

if he was intoxicated.

"It's almost time... Right now!"

His right hand suddenly clenched, as if he was tightly clutching

someone's heart!