Belial still tossed the information in his hand to Grete and said,
"So, what do you make of this clue, Grete?"
Grete looked at the clue Belial had sent him. His brow furrowed slightly before he said,
"This seems to be a chain of clues."
With that, Grete carefully searched the entire villa. He eventually found a peculiar symbol-a logo-in the child's room, then discovered its origin in the father's study.
It came from a battered notebook. The logo had been on its cover, though it looked as though it had been torn off a long time ago.
Grete began leafing through the homeowner's notebook, which detailed how he had made his fortune. He had participated in a previous Divine Emperor Trial and had nearly claimed the title of Disciple of the Divine Emperor that year. Unfortunately, luck had not been on his side. He had been a moment too slow to answer, beaten to it by one of the current Disciples of the Divine Emperor-the Prime Minister, Faceless, Feis-and had ultimately left in disappointment.
That had done nothing to diminish his popularity, however. With Faceless looking out for him as well, his business ventures had gone remarkably smoothly.
At the end of the notebook was a string of numbers.
Grete discovered that the numbers corresponded to the arrangement of books on the man's bookshelf. Following their order, he took out the books one by one.
After he removed the last book, the man's desk automatically sank into the floor, revealing a pitch-black passage.
Grete entered the passage. The layout inside was much as he had expected: an ordinary hiding place for things that could not bear the light of day, such as ledgers and various forms of hard currency.
There was also a photograph. In it, a monster whose