"Fallen Noble..."
Helene was silently reciting the name of the sign hanging at the door of the bar in the shadows. It was written in dark red Intisian. I don't know if it was made of some kind of blood, or if it just imitated the color of dried blood.
Iris did not walk into the bar directly, but knocked on the window near the door. After a while, a deep male voice came from inside:
"What to buy?"
Iris, with long dark red hair casually hanging on the back of her head, a thin figure and a somewhat flat chest, asked in a sharp voice:
"How much is your loyalty worth?"
"At least ten thousand Verl D'Or!"
The man replied from behind the window, and the narrow window immediately opened from the inside. Iris looked around, leaned on the window sill and flexibly climbed in, then closed the window casually.
This is a secret code... Iris really had some purpose, deliberately burning the library in a country like Lenburg that values knowledge very much, and deliberately creating charges that would be enough to be "Exile"... This can also explain why she is so familiar with this city. Members of her organization have already sneaked in and provided a lot of information to the outside world.
Helene was thinking as he secretly walked around to the other side of the street, walked out of the shadow created by the "Shadow Cloak" he bought at a high price, and walked leisurely close to the "Fallen Noble" bar, preparing to walk through the main entrance in a grand manner to see what was going on inside.
Of course, before arriving at the door of the bar, she casually touched a handful of the lead-gray dust that had just drifted from the volcanic eruption, and simply disguised her face so as not to be easily recognized by Iris, who had met her once.
But just when she came under the sign that looked like it was written in blood, a sharp gaze was unabashedly cast at her from the second floor. It was not a casual observation of Passerby, but a suspicious and vigilant look.
This feeling of being spied on as prey made Helene more and more anxious. He always felt that his weaknesses were completely exposed to the sight above, and his life was in danger at any time.
Without hesitation, Helene continued to walk, leaving the door of the bar as if he was just passing by, turned into the bakery next door, picked out a few loaves of soft-looking bread, and left.
It wasn't until she turned into another street that Helene felt the line of sight move away from her back.
"It's definitely not Iris. If she could have noticed that I was following her, she would have dumped me long ago... I feel like my 'weakness' has been seen through. There is a high probability that he is also 'Hunter' Pathway is also 'Reaper'...Iris is also Hunter. Their organization is dominated by this Pathway?"
Questions popped up in Helene's mind. He pinched the bread in his hand and decided not to further explore "Fallen Noble" today. Instead, he would go to other areas to collect relevant information and make subsequent preparations before contacting this organization centered on Hunter.
When the whole city was shrouded in dusk, Helene returned to her temporary residence. She held a paper bag with bread in one hand, bacon and a small jar of Feynapotter-flavored hot sauce in the other. She pushed open the ajar door of the hotel suite with her knees and returned to her cozy home.
Just this afternoon, she experienced a rainstorm that came suddenly and dissipated quickly, and two earthquakes that were not strong but made people panic. She was more disgusted with this city than curious. Only lighting a fire and a room with furnishings that were not much different from the outside world could make her feel at ease.
Tia and William have already returned. The former used the cash he brought to buy some daily necessities and a change of clothes, and organized his locker as if he was preparing to live here permanently. The latter walked around the nearby streets and alleys, summarized the corresponding information in his mind, and was drawing a map at the table.
"Dinner is here."
Helene said hello, blew off the volcanic ash stuck on the bread, and placed it on the coffee table. He took off "Shadow Cloak" and hung it beside him. He gathered the two companions together and exchanged various information they had gathered outside today.
This small city located between the mountains is not in Lundborg, but whether you have just arrived here or you are an exile who has lived for more than ten years and survived, you can't say where it is. All you know is that it has day and night and four seasons like other cities. The direct angle of the sun is no different from other cities in Lundborg, as if it is really located in a hidden mountain range.
Apart from this "normal", everything else is abnormal.
The entire city and surrounding areas experience all kinds of extreme weather and Catastrophe all the time. The most common ones are heavy rains and hurricanes, followed by earthquakes of varying intensity. Volcanic eruptions average once a week, and may appear directly in urban areas, causing a large number of casualties.
In addition to "Calamity", "Man-made Disaster" is also an important reason for the abnormal deaths of residents. It may be that they are serious criminals and have no hope of escape. The residents here are extremely aggressive and will look for any opportunity to engage in a "duel" permitted by law, and such conflicts often end with one party being seriously injured or dead.
It is said that dozens of residents die every day due to natural disasters and man-made disasters. However, the population of Morola has not decreased, but has increased from just over 100,000 when it was founded to nearly 200,000 now. Except for a few clergy who work in the church, all residents, including the law enforcement team composed of "experimenters", are exiles, and most of them are not locals in Lundberg, but serious criminals from other countries, who were imported by the Church of Knowledge and specially exiled here.
Since its establishment, this city has been under the loose management of Church of Knowledge. As long as it does not break the law, it is freer than most countries. Therefore, these prisoners "each with their own strengths" soon formed various classes divided by strength.
Those who occupy key positions in Molora and control production facilities such as farms, breeding farms, factories and mining areas outside the city, and sales channels such as warehouses and stores in the city are all Beyonder of Pathway. Those with good physical fitness but without Beyonder Ability are all reduced to their subordinates. Those who are once again first-rate can only choose to work for them in exchange for remuneration to maintain their lives. Those who are in a better situation are considered employees, and more status is no different from slaves.
Of course, there are also some beings outside this "ecosystem". Some of them have the power to survive alone, while others are physically disabled and old, and no one wants to work hard.
This ecological cycle does not work perfectly. It is said that there are many riots every year. Some are to overthrow the rule of the church and completely allow Molora to be autonomous, and some are for Beyonder to attack each other and redistribute interests.
But the strange thing is that no one has ever taken this opportunity to organize and capture the Church of Knowledge church in the center of the city, and not once left the Molora through the underground passage.
"If I were to occupy the top level of the ecology, I would not want to leave here. There are laws in the outside world and churches control the city, but Church of Knowledge of Molora allows Beyonder to form gangs and rob profits. This is simply Beyonder's paradise."
After exchanging information with each other, Helene said half-jokingly, but received heartfelt approval from William and Tia.
They are already Mid Sequence Beyonder, even in the "talented" Molora, they are considered a small group of people at the top. After knowing that the farms and factories here are controlled by Beyonder rather than Rich Merchant or the nobles, deep down they have an urge to stay here and live a good life.
Seeing their interest, Helene stopped smiling, went to the bedroom alone, built Wall of Spirituality, put up a small dressing mirror, chanted "Golden Queen" Honorific Name, and quickly established a relationship with Angel of Sequence 2.
This time, she did not talk to the other party in a prayer-response manner, but was pulled into a dark and deep world in a hazy state, floating between gray tunnels as dense as a spider web, and beyond was a dark and dead void, separated by an invisible barrier.
A figure with long pale golden hair, Deep Purple eyes, and an appearance that makes people think endlessly appeared in front of her. The edges were a little blurry, as if they were shadows in the mirror.
"Miss Angelica."
Helene greeted him respectfully, and immediately told the other party what he learned today about Molora's situation, Iris's suspicion, and Hella Berg's attitude.
Xuying nodded with satisfaction and said:
"You guys should settle in as soon as possible so that you can have proper contact with the local Beyonder and gain a certain status, so as to find the anomalies within Molora... In addition, it is also time to tell you our real goal...
"The mission of the three of you is to find a dangerous and powerful 'Sealed Artifact'. It ranks first in the church numbering system and is closely related to Hunter Pathway. The entire 'City of Exile' was built to seal it. All the anomalies in this city should also be related to it..."
After telling Helene the information about "Salinger’s Blood Banner" other than the contamination of Sefirah, Angel continued:
"Besides us, there should be many forces eyeing this Sealed Artifact, such as 'Hunter' Pathway, 'Iron and Blood Cross Order' who believes in True Creator, and Primordial Demoness's 'Demoness Sect', even Sauron, Einhorn Family, and 'Red Angel' Medici who recently escaped from the seal are all eyeing this Sealed Artifact.
"But only Beyonder below Demigod can safely approach it, so as Sequence 5, you don't have to worry about encountering a stronger Beyonder... and you The advantage is that when necessary, you can accept the 'gift', obtain a part of the power belonging to Demoness, and combine it with your own Beyonder Ability to exceed the current combat power of Sequence..."
After a while, Helene returned to Physical World. The mirror in front of her returned to normal, and she held three Charm that were translucent like ice crystals with purple stripes flashing inside.
Back in the living room, William and Tia were already quarreling over whether they should rely on "duelling" to kill several high-ranking Beyonder and seize their positions, or whether to recruit a few Low Sequence's subordinates first, and there were almost signs of a duel on the spot.
Seeing this, Helene quickly put the Charm he had just received into their hands.
A cold and biting touch ran along the arms of William and Tia and reached their eyebrows. They were startled at first, and then became frightened by their inexplicable quarrel and impulsiveness just now.
After waking up, they could clearly feel that their previous state was affected by some powerful force. This force made them unwilling to leave Molora, succumbed to the "ecology" that had been formed, and even thought about gaining status by killing.
I'm afraid the residents of the entire city are like this!