When Raphael saw Maric in the window, he put down his cigarette case, had his subordinate close the door, and told him that no one was to disturb him that morning.
Only after the door had closed did Raphael gesture for Maric to come in.
Maric seemed to leap out of the glass, appearing before Raphael. "I didn't expect you to stay here."
"How have you survived this long?" he asked, his expression somewhat cold.
Last night, a battle between demigods had taken place nearby, and Raphael had been one of the participants.
Yet today, Raphael had continued acting as the Mafia boss as though he knew nothing about it.
Maric couldn't tell whether he was excessively arrogant or simply brainless.
Raphael picked up the cigarette case again. "Emperor Roselle once said that the most dangerous place is the safest place."
He offered Maric a cigarette and continued, "I thought back over that battle. There were no clues left at the scene that pointed to me.
"And since demigods took part, they must have used the appropriate anti-divination abilities.
"I'm sure even official Beyonders would find anti-divination at that level a headache.
"And the Indulgence Faction lost a demigod. They won't dare investigate this again anytime soon, so I'm relatively safe."
Maric paused before taking the cigarette. "You really are different from those members of the Indulgence Faction. You only seem mad on the surface."
He took a drag. Although his expression remained somewhat cold, his tone had grown considerably friendlier. "I came today to ask whether you'd like to join us."
"You? The Temperance Faction?"
Maric nodded.
Raphael didn't answer immediately. He took a couple of drags before saying, "I'm sorry, but I don't want to join any organization."
That surprised Maric somewhat. "Do you also believe in indulging your desires? Heh, whatever twisted nonsense you've heard from the Indulgence Faction, I can tell you with complete certainty that once you indulge your desires, you'll constantly be teetering on the edge of losing control."
Raphael gave a wild laugh. "The members of the Indulgence Faction are nothing but brainless pigs."
"Then why won't you join the Temperance Faction?"
"As I see it, your faction's guiding philosophy has problems too," Raphael said earnestly. "Ascetic restraint is actually no different from indulgence without limits."
Maric stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray. "But restraint reduces the risk of losing control."
"No, no, no. You haven't understood what I mean," Raphael said. "I think you should exercise restraint when it's needed and indulge a little, within reason, when it's appropriate. That's how you maintain your physical and mental health.
"Otherwise, continually suppressing the madness inside you will also breed new chaos and distortion."
Maric knew that all too well. "Believe me, once you drink the Prisoner potion, even the slightest indulgence will leave you completely unable to control yourself."
But Raphael said, "I've thought of a 'method' I'd like to try."
The "method" he meant was actually the Demon Source Scripture he had just obtained in the Otherworld.
It made him admire the wisdom of that world's Beyonders once again. They had devised so many ways to train their minds and spirits.
Raphael had noticed that in the world he currently inhabited, although everyone knew they had to keep fighting the chaos and distortion produced by Beyonder powers, no one had actually compiled or shared methods for resisting them.
He hadn't even heard of official Beyonders having a systematic approach to combating chaos and distortion. Even they were each fighting their own battles.
The acting method did greatly mitigate the harm caused by Beyonder characteristics, but Raphael felt that wasn't enough.
As one rose to higher levels, even knowing the acting method wasn't enough. A firm will was still needed to resist the characteristics and divinity.
Yet as far as Raphael knew, nothing like the Demon Source Scripture existed anywhere in this world-a systematic means of training one's will and strengthening one's spirit body.
Of course, Raphael wasn't yet sure how effective the Demon Source Scripture would be. He intended to test its effects first.
If it worked well, he wouldn't mind selling the Demon Source Scripture to the Temperance Faction. Even selling it to the Indulgence Faction wasn't out of the question, if they wanted to buy it.
After hearing Raphael's words, Maric didn't press him further. He merely said, "If you change your mind, you can come to me anytime."
Then he leaped back into the window's glass. A dim light flashed, and he disappeared.
Raphael stubbed out his own half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray. He gazed absently at the window glass for a while before turning his thoughts to the Unwinged Angel Beyonder characteristic.
In an alley not far from the Mafia headquarters, Ikanser Bernard, captain of the Backlund Diocese's Machinery Hivemind, was discussing the case with Senior Deacon Zed Thomas.
Five other members of the Machinery Hivemind were gathering clues around them.
This was the very alley where Raphael had fought the Zombie Ackerman. Klein had already disposed of Ackerman's corpse, but there had been no time to deal with the traces of their fight.
"This definitely wasn't the main battlefield," said Ikanser, whose face had hard, angular features. "Judging by the traces at the scene, this should be where the Zombie and Werewolf from the opposing sides fought yesterday."
Zed, who had rather small eyes and looked to be in his forties, nodded in agreement. "Have you found where the demigods from both sides fought?"
"No." Ikanser smoothed his disheveled brown hair. "The Rose School's main pathway is Prisoner, and once Beyonders of that pathway reach Sequence 5, traces of their battles become very difficult to find.
"Demigods of this pathway can even control objects without spirituality, allowing them to conceal the traces of a battle very effectively."
Zed hesitated, but still asked, "Have you tried divination with the Sealed Artifact?"
The Sealed Artifact he meant was, of course, the magic mirror Arrodes, designated 2-111, which was in Ikanser's custody.
Ikanser immediately took out an ancient silver mirror with strange patterns. "I was planning to see what clues we could find before using the magic mirror for divination."
He took a deep breath and called over a member of the Machinery Hivemind to observe. Only then did he wipe the silver mirror and ask, "Your Excellency Arrodes, I would like to know who participated in the Beyonder battle that took place nearby last night."
Ripples seemed to spread across the silver mirror's surface, and several images appeared in succession. The first showed a woman in a long dress whose face was indistinct. Then, to their surprise, an image of churning gray fog appeared in the mirror. Just as everyone thought the divination had failed, a man wearing a black waistcoat and tight trousers appeared. After that, the mirror unexpectedly showed rolling gray fog again.
A second or two later, three more figures appeared on the silver mirror one after another. These three were clearer, and two of them had the physical features of people from the Southern Continent.
Ikanser stared intently at the mirror. After all the images of the figures had appeared, a line of blood-red text emerged on its surface: "Now it's my turn to ask a question: when you engage in that particular activity, do you prefer to be on the bottom or on top?"
Ikanser breathed a sigh of relief. This question wasn't too embarrassing to answer.
Before you continue