Inside Saint Wind Cathedral, Cardinal Ace Snake looked at McConner, captain of a Mandated Punishers Squad, and asked without emotion in his silver eyes:
"Who was Capim?
"Why did his villa have an underground prison?"
McConner had done his homework and answered at once:
"A wealthy man. He was also a human trafficker who dealt in slaves on the side.
"Rumor has it he was close to quite a few members of parliament and officials."
"Why would a human trafficker have several Beyonders protecting him? And ones of fairly high Sequence, at that." Cardinal Snake pressed him.
"Your Excellency, that remains to be investigated. We tried using Beyonder means to find clues, but every attempt failed." McConner hesitated, then added, "We even tried a Secret Art Stewart recently developed, but for some reason, that yielded nothing either."
"Heh. Even I failed. Stewart's Secret Art may secretly borrow the power of the Church of Steam's '2-111,' but that Sealed Artifact has its limits. It isn't omniscient." Cardinal Snake glanced at McConner, paused, then continued:
"I don't care if you and Stewart get up to little schemes behind my back... but stop provoking Kuhn. His mental state is poor enough already. Someone heard him shouting underground a few days ago... He may be on the verge of losing control."
McConner had been listening in trepidation, but by the time the Spellsinger of God finished, he wore an odd expression, as though struggling not to laugh.
That wasn't a sign of losing control... It was just the Secret Art's backlash—or punishment. McConner had barely finished his silent rebuttal when Snake asked:
"How is the investigation into the clergy who had affairs with a certain woman and were indirectly used by her?"
McConner gathered his thoughts before answering:
"Your Excellency, we've found out where