"Hey, don't be nervous. Is this your first mission?"
A soft female voice came from behind. Angel turned around and saw that it was Ms. Lorotta who was accompanying him.
She continued to do flexion and stretching movements with her right hand, and patted Angel's shoulder with her left hand comfortingly. "I see that your body is stiff, are you okay?"
"It's okay, I was just... well, I was a little scared." Angel didn't want the other party to think that he was unprofessional, so he quickly denied it.
Lorotta took a step forward and walked side by side towards the stairs with her. At the same time, he put down his right hand to rest and continued flexion and extension exercises with his left hand.
"Don't worry, '2-049' is just a Grade 2 Sealed Artifact, and the danger is not great. Although its impact is silent and the consequences are serious, we already have a good response strategy. As long as we act collectively like now, we don't need to be afraid of its harm at all."
As if to protest her evaluation, the iron box carried by Borgia who was walking in front suddenly made a "ding-dong" sound, as if something inside was tapping the wall of the box quickly and violently.
Angel, who was observing the box, was startled and almost wanted to pull out his revolver and fire a few shots at the iron box.
"Well... it does this occasionally, but don't worry, it doesn't make it more dangerous."
Lorotta explained with some embarrassment.
"Even if there is a way to deal with it, this Sealed Artifact is still very dangerous. Why do you need to bring it with you on today's mission?" Angel asked in confusion.
"Ah, I forgot that your captain hasn't told you about this yet." Lorotta looked back at Dunn Smith, who was holding the battle at the end. Seeing that he did not stop the two from talking, he continued, "Today we are going to find a notebook, Antigonus Family's notebook."
"The full name of this Sealed Artifact is called 'Antigonus Puppet'. Its only function is to find any items and people related to the Antigonus Family."
Antigonus?
Angel feels that this name is quite familiar, as if he has heard it not long ago.
By the way, Antigonus Family's notes, isn't that the note that Mr. Fool once mentioned on Tarot Club, the note that "Secret Order" lost?
"Hanged Man" then explained the relationship between the Antigonus Family and Church of the Evernight Goddess. The former was exterminated by Evernight Goddess thousands of years ago and was annihilated in the history of Fourth Epoch. It can be said that he has a bloody hatred for Church of the Evernight Goddess.
How could this puppet with the effect of directional search for the Antigonus Family appear in the church's Sealed Artifact reserve?
Thinking quickly, Angel looked at the iron box in Borgia's hand.
Dong dong dong——
As if in response to her gaze, several more knocks came from the box.
The five people stumbled from the second floor of Blackthorn Security Company to the downstairs. Because they were crowded together to pass the stairs, in just one minute, 2-049 "Antigonus Puppet" activated four negative effects, except for Lorotta and Dunn, the remaining three were all hit, and Borgia, who was carrying the box, was controlled twice. Fortunately, everyone kept their arms flexing and extending. When they were affected by the negative effects, they were immediately noticed by others, and they were relieved of the state of total stiffness by tapping their shoulders.
Leonard Mitchell had already parked his carriage on the street downstairs, a short distance away from the stairs. He saw a few people walking down the stairs. Sitting in the driver's seat, kneading his right arm, he quickly raised his arm and began to flex and extend his elbow joint, Dunn stepped forward quickly, and sure enough, when Borgia approached the carriage, Leonard immediately slowed down his movements, and Dunn pushed him while getting on the carriage.
"I'm driving with him. The four of you get into the car and protect Antigonus Puppet." Dunn looked back at the other four people and quickly gave orders and assigned tasks.
Although the characteristics of 2-049 will only affect the three nearest targets first when multiple people surround it, for the sake of safety, it is better for two people to drive and look after each other.
Borgia nodded and got into the not-so-wide carriage of the carriage first. Angel followed him, but bumped into the former who was in a sluggish state, which also relieved his negative state.
This effect is too frequent, appearing almost every 20 seconds...
Angel frowned and looked at the iron box with the holy symbol of Evernight Goddess. There were still knocking sounds from inside the box, and the "puppet" inside was extremely restless.
The four of them were seated, the two ladies on one side and the gentleman on the other.
Borgia placed the box on the floor of the carriage, in the middle of the four people, so that "2-049" was surrounded by the four people in the carriage. The possibility of negative effects on Dunn and Leonard driving outside the carriage, or on pedestrians passing by, was minimal.
Leonard drove the carriage, the wheels pressed over the stone road, and drove forward quickly.
"Where are we going?"
Angel watched the scenery outside the window changing constantly, tracking the pedestrians left behind by the carriage with his eyes, trying to observe whether they fell into the negative state created by Sealed Artifact. He asked doubtfully after confirming that it would not affect the target outside the carriage.
The taciturn scarred man Borgia still said nothing, just staring at the box in the center of the carriage, his eyes turning away from the other three people from time to time, ready to relieve their negative state at any time.
"Ray Bieber's home, that's where Antigonus Notebook last appeared. Well, your 'Seer' found it."
The black-haired Lorotta replied, pouting at Klein sitting opposite.
"Actually, the divination of Ray Bieber is the work of Mr. Neil. I just happened to touch my spiritual sense and found something wrong."
Klein waved his hand and explained. His hand suddenly slowed down in the middle of waving, his eyes were out of focus, and his whole person stagnated.
Borgia on the side gave him an elbow to relieve the negative state. When Klein breathed a sigh of relief and put down his arms, he said in a low and cold voice, "Humility is a virtue, but excessive modesty is not."
After saying this, Borgia stopped speaking and returned to his previous state of being immersed in the task. Of course, he was quickly favored by Antigonus, fell into stagnation, and was rescued by the "overly modest" Klein.
The carriage drove through the streets of Tingen City and soon came to a three-story building. Leonard pulled the horse and stopped.
"We're here." Klein said briefly.
Borgia nodded, stood up with 2-049 in hand, and walked out of the carriage first.
Angel also walked down and looked at the building in front of him.
The three-story building was similar to the street-side unit buildings she had seen in her previous life. The door along the street was in the middle, and there were suites of the same size on both sides. There were a lot of clothes hanging out of the four windows on the first and second floors. It was obvious that someone had lived there for a long time. The window on the right side of the third floor had an earthy yellow seal from the inside.
It seems that that is today's goal.
Dunn and Leonard also left the carriage, and the six of them reunited, raising their arms left or right, constantly doing flexion and extension movements. Passerby, who walked by from time to time, looked at everyone curiously or warily, and subconsciously avoided this area.
Even Borgia, who was taciturn and didn't seem to care about the looks at all, couldn't bear it. The group of people quickly left the street, went up the stairs of the unit building, and soon reached the third floor.
The door of Ray Bieber's house was also sealed by the police, and it was signed with the name of a certain police officer. Dunn Smith unceremoniously tore it off, took out a key and unlocked Door Opening, signaling Borgia carrying 2-049 "Antigonus Puppet" to enter first.
A putrid smell wafted out of the room, and the moment he entered the door with the iron box, the "dong dong dong" knocking sound appeared again and became more intense.
Looking at the iron box that was knocked from the inside so that it was shaking, Angel quietly took half a step back. She looked at Dunn and Leonard. The two seemed to have expected it and did not show any surprise.
Wait... they are affected by negative effects...
Seeing their swaying arms suddenly slowing down, Angel reacted and ignored her curiosity as to why 2-049 could affect two people at the same time. She hurriedly stretched out her hands and pushed Dunn and Leonard to wake them up.
Borgia also looked back at the crowd and saw that two people were affected by 2-049 at the same time. He nodded and said seriously, "This can confirm that Ray Bieber is indeed a descendant of the Antigonus Family."
Is this confirmed? Could it be that Sealed Artifact began to influence the judgments of two people at the same time?
"As long as it encounters a descendant of the Antigonus Family, or even a little breath, it will become excited and violent, and you can see the consequences." Lorotta explained at the side.
"Is this Sealed Artifact still excited? Does it have its own thoughts?" Klein asked curiously.
"You'll know after a while." Lorotta replied in a mysterious manner.
Several people watched Borgia carry the box and circle around the room, letting 2-049 come into contact with Ray Bieber's breath as much as possible. Then Dunn locked the door, and several people went downstairs and returned to the carriage.
"Dong dong dong -" The iron box was placed in the center of the carriage again, and the banging sound became more intense, as if a monster was about to jump out of the box.
Leonard and Dunn are still sitting in the driver's seat, and the latter is looking over from the small window in the front of the car, waiting for further "actions" from 2-049.
Borgia fumbled to unlock the mechanical switch on the side of the iron box, and at the same time made the Spirituality shackles that originally surrounded the box ineffective. A strange atmosphere enveloped the carriage, and the knocking sound stopped at this moment, causing the previously lively carriage to fall into silence.
The next moment, the lid of the box was pushed open from the inside, the rusty loose leaves made a tooth-breaking crunching sound, and a brown arm stretched out from the box.
With arms less than 5 centimeters long and fingers as thin as each other, it grabbed the opening of the iron box, dragged its entire body out, climbed over the box wall, and dropped to the carriage floor.
A palm-sized puppet appeared in front of everyone.
Its face was painted with bright paint, and its body was wrapped in tan strips of cloth. Its joints were strangely Distortion, as if controlled by invisible threads, it stood up crookedly with mechanical movements. Its pebble-sized head has all the facial features, but it looks weird.
The puppet raised its head and twisted its neck in a circle, looking at the four people in the carriage one by one, and then grinned, with the corners of its mouth raised high, looking like a circus clown under the paint on its face.