Information from Arrodes

In an office deep beneath Saint Hillan Cathedral in the Saint George District.

Before a long, dark table, everyone turned their gaze toward the middle-aged man sitting at the head of the left side.

He had a very distinctive head of short, brown hair that was slightly curly, disheveled, and stubbornly sticking outward, his facial features sharp and rigid, much like someone who spent long periods neglecting his appearance in a laboratory.

At this moment, he was pursing his lips, his expression hesitant yet tinged with a sense of resolve, as if he were making a decision that was both extremely difficult and against his own conscience.

Taking a deep breath to steel himself, he reached under the table and pulled out an ancient silver mirror with strange patterns, its sides decorated with black gemstones shaped like "eyes."

This was the Sealed Artifact he had been in charge of since becoming the captain of the Heart of Mechanics in the Backlund diocese: item number 2-111, the "Magic Mirror" Arrodes.

After he placed the "Magic Mirror" Arrodes on the table, the surface of the mirror rippled with water, quickly weaving together words that dripped with fresh blood:

"What question do you wish to ask?"

Beside him, another captain of the Heart of Mechanics looked curiously at the "Magic Mirror" on the table and muttered in a low voice:

"Arrodes seems to be in a good mood today; it never used to get to the point so directly."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the surface of the "Magic Mirror" rippled again, and new lines of blood-dripping words emerged:

"Ignorant human, what do you want to know from the great Arrodes this time?"

"Do you all prefer this kind of arrogant attitude?"

"Although your tastes are a bit strange, the great Arrodes can satisfy you."

Following Arrodes' reply, the captain who had just spoken shut his mouth sheepishly.

The Heart of Mechanics captain in charge of the "Magic Mirror" touched his stubborn brown hair and sighed inwardly before looking at the "Magic Mirror" and asking directly:

"Great Arrodes, I want to know what happened early this morning at the casino controlled by the Black Wolf Gang on Miluk Street in the Backlund Bridge area?"

The surface of the "Magic Mirror" Arrodes rippled, the original blood-red words vanished, and new text emerged:

"This question requires you to answer two questions of mine in exchange."

The Heart of Mechanics captain asked in astonishment: "Why?"

Arrodes quickly provided an answer: "Your question should be broken down into two parts: the events that occurred, and the people involved."

"Of course, if you don't want to know the information regarding the people involved, we can exchange it for just one question."

"Also, that counts as a question."

He touched his messy, curly, yet resilient hair with a pang of heartache, then sighed:

"No problem, tell me the answer."

The surface of the silver mirror rippled with a somewhat cheerful light, and then a dim scene, as if covered by a Black Curtain, emerged:

Inside the casino building, two figures stained with intense colors appeared completely blurred, flickering in and out—one moment in the washroom, the next in the hallway, then in the stairwell—the footage appearing to suffer from stutters and glitches.

A few seconds later, the image on the "Magic Mirror" froze on the third floor, where the two color-stained figures stood in the hallway, confronting a mass of flowing shadows in the room opposite them.

Then, the image suffered from glitches and stutters again, flashing white or black from time to time, with arcs of electricity and frost flickering in the gaps.

Soon, the two color-stained figures vanished, leaving only the flowing shadows that filled the entire room.

The next second, the scene shifted to the street outside the casino, where a figure covered in colors, details indistinguishable, stood in the center of the road, raising their right hand high, before the screen was engulfed in white light, accompanied by a Loud Noise like thunder.

As the white light and the Loud Noise faded, the surface of the "Magic Mirror" returned to its dark state, and silver-red words quickly emerged:

"Two high-level powers interfered with my vision; even the great Arrodes can only see some blurred, flickering images."

"One of these high-level powers is filled with corruption, filth, shadows, and mutation; it comes from the one worshipped by the Aurora Order."

"As for the origin of the other high-level power, I do not know; the relevant information appears to have been sealed."

Without giving the Heart of Mechanics members a chance to ask, Arrodes immediately said after the brief description:

"Now it is my turn to ask."

The expression on the Heart of Mechanics captain's face stiffened; he felt he had gotten the short end of the stick, as this blurred and incomplete information was hardly worth letting Arrodes ask him three questions.

Moreover, Arrodes' behavior today made him inexplicably uneasy; he had a feeling that the questions from Arrodes would cause him to lose something very important.

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and said: "Ask away."

On the surface of the silver mirror, blood-red palm prints, as if pressed by a baby's hands, suddenly appeared, followed by blood-red words that seemed to be dripping:

"First question: What specific method do you usually use to relieve your carnal desires?"

Feeling the gazes—both overt and covert—around him, the Heart of Mechanics captain had a moment where he wanted to choose the punishment directly, but thinking of the two remaining questions, he gritted his teeth with his eyes closed and answered:

"When I'm in the shower, I close my eyes and fantasize, or I take a magazine, lean against the headboard or the sofa, and then... use... my hand..."

On the surface of the silver mirror, the blood-red words exploded as if cheering:

"Correct answer!"

"Second question, who do you fantasize about when you are in the shower?"

After Arrodes' question appeared, a suspicious flush crept onto the captain's bronze-toned skin, and he lowered his head, whispering in a voice that wasn't very loud:

"I choose the punishment."

"Fine..." A line of somewhat unwilling words drifted across the surface of the silver mirror, and then...

BOOM!

Silvery-white lightning appeared out of thin air, striking the captain of the Heart of Mechanics with pinpoint accuracy, causing his already messy hair to stand on end and turn from brown to charred black.

Whether it was intentional on the part of Arrodes or just a coincidence, he spat out a ring of smoke from his mouth, looking disheveled, and let out a hiccup.

During the brief interval of rest, new words quickly emerged on the surface of the silver mirror:

"Third question: If one day, the 'him' you fantasize about while bathing were to hold your favorite magazine and invite you to relieve your desires together, what would you do?"

He closed his eyes, ignoring the gazes of astonishment, curiosity, or hesitation around him, and said with a firm gaze:

"I would pull the trigger on him; the real him would never do such a thing."

"Alright, the trivia game is over. Have a pleasant life."

The last line of words flashed across the surface of the silver mirror before it quickly went silent, leaving the awkward crowd in the office behind.

"That is the entire process of the Heart of Mechanics seeking answers from me. I did not expose any information about you or your attendant, nor did I give them any hints."

"Noble existence, whether now or in the future, I will never reveal any information about you, nor will I give them any hints. Arrodes harbors absolutely no malice toward you."

Cyril looked at the lines of rather submissive silver words in the floor-length mirror, and the image of a tiny person cowering inside the mirror, cautiously looking up at him, inexplicably flashed through his mind.

If Arrodes had a physical form separate from the mirror, this was probably what it would look like.

Sighing inwardly, he looked at the floor-length mirror in front of him and nodded slightly: "Well done."

"It is my honor, great and noble existence."

Ripples spread across the mirror surface, and after Arrodes' words faded, they continued to echo for a while before new words emerged:

"Noble existence, one of your believers is planning to steal a Sealed Artifact from beneath Saint Hillan Cathedral, but according to my calculations, without the interference of power above the level of an angel, the probability of his success is infinitely close to 0."

"May I ask if this is a task you assigned him? Do you need me to provide him with some necessary assistance? I only need him to bring me out as well."

Cyril blinked, looking at the words appearing on the mirror in a daze.

What the hell? Since when did I have a believer, and when did I tell him to go steal a Sealed Artifact from beneath Saint Hillan Cathedral?

He recognized every single word, so why did they feel so foreign when put together?