Breaking the Deadlock

"What are you doing?"

Gilan grinned.

"Saving you, of course, Duke Plank."

"What are you talking about...?"

Plank watched the purple-eyed young man draw closer and instinctively backed away.

At the same time, he glanced beneath the railing from the corner of his eye and noticed that the servants downstairs remained utterly unaware, their expressions blank and dull, as though they had been affected by some mysterious force.

The old man's heart sank.

Just as he was considering his options, he saw the purple-eyed young man make a gesture and say, as if speaking to himself:

"Get this old bastard under control."

Immediately afterward, in the air where Plank could not see, a sultry little figure flapped her bat wings and raised both hands toward him.

Bzzz—

An invisible, mysterious force enveloped him.

Plank froze.

His expression went blank, his eyes vacant.

Gilan slowly walked up to the old man and casually took out a brass pocket watch.

Click.

He pressed the watch's switch with his thumb, and the cover sprang open, facing Plank.

Then, as though sensing some kind of power, the citrine pendulum hanging from its end began rotating clockwise.

Just as I thought, he'd been hypnotized...

Gilan thought to himself.

This creation of the Pendulum Maker really is a specialized tool against the White Dove Tower. It's incredibly useful... Those 1,500 Caesars weren't wasted.

He smiled and pressed the mechanical knob on the pocket watch again.

Click.

This time, the hour, minute, and second hands began to move.

Yet their motion soon gradually slowed, as if an invisible force were preventing them from converging.

"Hm?" Gilan narrowed his eyes. "The Origin Rank of the person behind this is above Rank 5, beyond the limit of the Drowsy Pointer..."

Fortunately, the three hands ultimately "struggled" into overlapping, pointing