Investigation

In a lavishly decorated French mansion somewhere in the Holy City.

A stone statue placed in a study suddenly came to life... Crackling sounds! As small stones fell to the ground, a dark gray stone foot stepped on the ground.

The 'transfer' has just been completed.

The "Secret Stone User" then knelt on one knee.

"My lord, the matter of 'transporting cement' may have been exposed... Two rather special Knight-Errant have obtained information about the cement, and they are very likely to continue their investigation."

At the desk, the Mysterious Person crossed his fingers in front of his chest.

"Special?"

"They possessed similar corrupting properties to mine, instantly killing the 'stone objects' I controlled... Moreover, one of them also had the ability to detect and locate 'stones'."

"Have you memorized the appearances of the Knight-Errant with attributes from outside the city?"

"There's an element of disguise involved, so the physical appearance information isn't very meaningful... I've come to see you, sir, to ask for your approval of my actions."

I intend to eliminate the 'risk' completely, since it will take several more days to fully complete the project.

If they continue their investigation and discover something about the "project," things will get complicated.

"Hmm... Go quickly."

Additionally, if the two Knight-Errant are not very strong, try to capture them alive.

I am very interested in these two Knight-Errant who have connections outside the city.

"Yes."

The "Secret Stone User" has reverted to a normal stone sculpture in the study, and its consciousness has departed.

The Mysterious Person slowly got up and went to the window.

Standing at the current window position, one can see half of the Slums... If the camera zooms out, one will find that the French-style mansion where this person lives is completely shrouded in a camouflage barrier.

Some crows could only perch outside the house, seemingly monitoring the situation.

Any crow that lingers for more than a minute will be shot down by the guard with a musket.

"Due to my intervention, the Knight Order ' investigation has been limited. Combined with the stealth nature of this alien demon... the Knight Order will not be able to find anything for at least two weeks."

It's quite amusing that the two trainees actually detected 'cement'.

It seems necessary to prepare to sacrifice some pieces... After all, this was originally an experimental attempt. Judging from the current attempts, the Holy City's [vulnerability] is exceptionally large.

As long as they don't cause too much of a commotion and interfere with the investigation by abusing their authority, the Knight Order ' investigation will be greatly hindered.

Take it slow. When the Great Expedition arrives and all the important figures leave the city to fight, that will be the time for me to make my move... Besides, the two lads who emerged in this incident are quite interesting.

'They' might be very useful to me.

The only troublesome thing is that crow in the Holy City ... Otherwise, I could go and catch those two lads myself."

Han Dong has already relayed the information about the 'pebbles' that he has found to all members of the team.

Then.

Abel and Cas were paired together.

Mia and Winry are in the same group.

Knight Veno, operating alone, began making contact with a Secret Organization in the Slums, employing various forceful methods to obtain the 'cement delivery location'.

Once enough information has been gathered, everyone will gather in this underground tavern.

While waiting for everyone to gather intelligence.

Han Dong and Demps have different information... Based on the markings on the map, they arrived at the location where cement was recently delivered to the underground tavern.

It is located in a densely populated Residential District for ordinary people.

After Han Dong examined the eyes of the local civilians, no stones were found in their bodies.

A Copper Coin was slipped into the hand of an elderly man who seemed quite clever and had lived there for a long time.

"Sir, someone should have been delivering cement here recently, right?"

The old man who received the Copper Coin naturally cooperated fully.

"Yes, someone delivered several large boxes of cement here yesterday... and workers arrived at the scene shortly afterward. However, their behavior was quite strange."

"How is it strange?"

"They demolished some stone walls that clearly didn't need repair and then filled them back with fresh cement... it looks exactly the same as before."

"Could you take us to the newly repaired stone wall?"

"Of course... If you two wealthy gentlemen could give this old man a little more benefit, that would be even better. My wife is sick, and I'm the only one who makes a living by collecting garbage outside."

A Copper Coin was handed over.

The old man immediately stopped feeling any back pain or leg soreness and led Han Dong and the other man to the area where the stone wall had been under construction the day before.

"This is it."

"Is there any other information that you feel is amiss that you need to report?" Han Dong took out another Copper Coin.

"This..." The old man thought for a long time but couldn't come up with anything. He stared at the Copper Coin with a greedy look on his face.

"If you don't have anything, please leave. You can be considered to have never met us today."

Demps was proficient in all kinds of magic, including the rare illusion magic, and even knew a thing or two about it... It worked easily on such an ordinary person.

After the old man left, Demps turned to look at Han Dong was already carefully examining the stone wall.

"Did you find anything?"

"The stone wall appears to be used to separate the interior and exterior buildings... but in reality, it has no need to exist. Why tear down the original, intact wall and rebuild it?"

The answer lies within this new wall.

Han Dong used his plague-infested short sword to chisel a hole in the stone wall.

It is evident that there are other things mixed inside the cement wall, with countless pebbles embedded inside.

"They added these small stones when mixing the cement... If I'm not mistaken, these small stones are probably the same type as the stones that reside in the human body."

Han Dong used his left arm to forcefully pry off a pebble inside and squeezed it slightly.

Hiss!

Immediately, a round, toothed mouth grew out of the pebble and tried to bite Han Dong.

but.

The stone instantly turned into sand and gravel in the next second, and was scattered by the wind.

"This..." Demps's expression also turned grim. "If the entire Slums were filled with such stone walls... the consequences would be unimaginable."

Han Dong added, "If the filling of these stone walls follows a certain pattern, or if they can continue to multiply, the Holy City may be thrown into chaos as a result."

We need to gather information quickly and confirm the connections between the different cement locations.

Just as Han Dong was trying to contact his teammates using the Clockwork Device to inquire about the progress.

Beep beep beep...

The internal magic array of the clockwork watch has failed.

Suddenly.

On the stone wall that the two were investigating, a large number of empty and desperate faces were suddenly reflected, with pebbles constantly spilling out from between the features of these faces.

Such images can cause significant Visual Pollution to living organisms.

But Han Dong and Demps were unaffected.

"As expected... we are 'the same kind'."

A deep, resonant sound came from behind the two of them.

Thanks to his excellent visual abilities, Han Dong retreated immediately.

Demps, however, was a beat slower because his attention was drawn to the terrifying face on the stone wall.

The body was hit from the side.

Click!

The Magic Shield shattered instantly, and his body was sent flying more than ten meters away, accompanied by the sounds of bones breaking.