Charlotte did not answer immediately as she looked into the dark blue eyes of the black-haired man before her.
She did not think this was likely to be a coincidence. He had slashed the price of 500 Verl D'Or to less than half in one go, which hardly followed the principles of bargaining. He had also approached her as soon as the free discussion began, clearly intending to sell her the Tudor Dynasty candlestick. If Brown Cloak had not struck up a conversation first, the words "You seem very interested in this" would probably have come from his mouth.
Could this be the divination Henri mentioned? But divination should require powerful spirituality and an appropriate medium. Surely he couldn't tell how much money a stranger had just by looking at them... Or did he simply judge through spiritual intuition? But I'm a Beyonder too. He would need stronger spirituality to do that. Would someone like that waste an entire evening at an underground gathering for ten Gold Louis? Charlotte could not make sense of it. Her gaze swept over his relaxed posture, and she suddenly realized that her tension and wariness were entirely unnecessary.
If this man had accurately determined how much money she carried through Beyonder powers, that meant his sequence was far higher than hers as a newly advanced "Arbiter." Refusing his offer might instead lead to something more dangerous.
At least on the surface, it's only an antique from the Fourth Epoch. After buying it, I can go to the church and have Viève or another of the Purification-ers examine it... Charlotte comforted herself, then nodded and said:
"All right. I could use it as a decoration at home."
She took ten heavy Gold Louis from the purse inside her cloak, cast a reluctant glance at the crowned profiles of Louis VI, and handed them to the black-haired man.
He accepted them, spread them across his palm, and carefully counted them one by one. Once he confirmed the amount, he put them away with satisfaction.
He's actually counting the money. Was I overthinking things? Charlotte took the candlestick wrapped in old cloth and tentatively touched its cold metal frame. She felt neither physical discomfort nor a spiritual warning.
This "antiquity" is either ancient or from last week... she quipped inwardly. Rather than continue chatting with this strange man, she watched him approach the hooded organizer, point in her direction, and hand over several silver coins to pay the transaction fee in full.
Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Charlotte noticed Brown Cloak, who had been peddling the fake "Knight" formula, staring at the black-haired man's back from a corner, his eyes filled with undisguised anger and malice.
For the rest of the free discussion, she sat quietly in a corner, pretending to admire her newly purchased antique while actually keeping watch on her surroundings.
Someone mentioned that this was not the only underground gathering of its kind in Suhit City. Participants moved between different venues, and the organizers did not stop them. Others discussed the serial murders in the Old District in hushed voices. All similar gatherings had been suspended for a time afterward, only resuming once they were certain the Church's attention had gradually shifted elsewhere.
Unfortunately, no one mentioned any information about the "Arbiter" potion or those of higher sequences.
Soon, the hooded organizer took out a stack of slips, placed them on the table, and tapped the tabletop lightly.
"This gathering is over. Come up one at a time to collect the location and time of the next gathering, then leave through the exit."
Charlotte glanced at her slip after collecting it. The venue had changed to an abandoned building in the Lower Korus District, and the time was eight in the evening on Thursday, two weeks later.
Another area overseen by the Church of the God of Artisan... She grew increasingly certain that this trading gathering had remained under the Machinery Hivemind's observation all along. It had only been left alone because its level was low and it brought together civilians interested in mysticism who might easily cause trouble.
Everyone began leaving one by one. The black-haired man headed straight for the exit. Seeing this, Brown Cloak immediately followed him out of the room without even collecting a slip.
Stepping out of the warehouse, he looked both ways and immediately spotted the black-haired man walking away. He hurried after him, then slowed as he drew closer, bending his knees and hunching over for fear of being noticed.
By the light of the Crimson Moon overhead, he followed for two streets. Only when the black-haired man rounded a corner into a dark alley did he speed up and rush in after him, then freeze in place.
The narrow alley held nothing but damp walls, a few broken wooden crates, and a pile of sour-smelling rubbish. High warehouse walls rose on both sides, and a carriage parked sideways completely blocked the far end. The black-haired man alone was nowhere to be seen.
Brown Cloak looked around, ran a few steps forward, and rummaged through the broken crates by the wall. He even kicked aside the rubbish pile, hoping to find a concealed opening or hidden door, but discovered nothing except a few dusty gray rats that scattered in alarm.
Just then, soft footsteps sounded at the mouth of the alley. He spun around and saw a figure wearing a woman's hat appear in the direction he had come from.
He froze at first, then recognized the woman who had rejected his sales pitch at the gathering and bought a useless antique instead. His pent-up anger finally found an outlet.
"Are you following me?"
He lowered his voice and took a step forward.
The next second, an air of supreme authority, looking down upon everything, radiated from the woman, instantly freezing the vicious expression on his face.
"What of it?"
The woman asked softly, each word weighing heavily on Brown Cloak's heart.
"N-nothing... I was just... just asking."
He forced out a disjointed reply, then lowered his head and squeezed past her along the wall. Within a few steps, he fell into a roadside rubbish pile, covering himself in filthy water. He scrambled up on all fours and fled into the night without daring to look back.
Charlotte did not spare him another glance. She merely stared into the alley with no exit, utterly puzzled.
Did he climb over the carriage to the other side? Surely he didn't turn invisible... After thinking for a moment, she looked down at the inverted candlestick in her hand and decided to go to Saint Roch Cathedral that very night to have the Purification-ers deal with it.
After confirming her identity, the clergy on duty at Saint Roch Cathedral led her to the work area upstairs. Before long, Viève came in.
She wore a white outer robe, her blond hair tucked beneath her veil, and her expression remained gentle. She glanced at the antique on the table, her eyebrows moving slightly.
"You bought something there?"
"It's only an antique, and it wasn't expensive," Charlotte answered, feeling a little guilty. "I hadn't planned to spend any money, but the seller approached me himself. I was worried there might be a confrontation, so I didn't refuse the trade."
Viève nodded. Rather than touch the brass candlestick directly, she removed the Sun Holy Emblem from her chest and set it beside the object. She fetched two candles, lit them by rubbing them with her bare hands, and placed them on the table. Then she rose and used a ritual dagger inlaid with gold threads to create a Wall of Spirituality around them. Bowing her head devoutly, she began reciting in the Hermes language Charlotte had only just learned:
"Eternal Blazing Sun, You are the undying light, the embodiment of order.
"Your believer beseeches You to grant me the light of purification, to purify this evil object."
This ritual was called the "binary ritual method," the standard way for believers to appeal directly to a god for assistance. It was also recorded in Viève's booklet, so Charlotte was not alarmed. She simply admired the nun's performance of the ritual, in which every movement seemed to possess a unique beauty.
The Hermes words echoed within the Wall of Spirituality, formed by channeling spirituality through the dagger's tip. Bright light slowly spread from the edges of the holy emblem, settling over the candlestick like a thin layer of dawn light. It passed over the patches of rust and asymmetrical frame without producing black smoke, strange noises, or any obvious reaction.
Both women breathed a sigh of relief.
"There is no obvious corruption, nor any identifiable Beyonder power," Viève said, dismissing the Wall of Spirituality and picking up the inverted candlestick to examine it carefully. "But it does indeed look like an antique from the Fourth Epoch."
"Is it worth 240 Verl D'Or?" Charlotte asked the question that mattered most to her.
Viève glanced at her.
"Antiques are difficult to price. Some are worth only the value of their materials, while others can have historians and collectors fighting over them. What matters is their artistic and archaeological value.
"As for practicality, it certainly falls short of modern candlesticks. Many objects from the Fourth Epoch had very strange aesthetics: asymmetrical houses, inverted candlesticks, clothing pieced together from different colors, and even shoes of unequal lengths. No one understands what sort of environment people lived in back then to develop such a style."
"Symmetry is the most beautiful," Charlotte could not help agreeing with a nod. Then she asked tentatively, "I'm planning to give it to an older acquaintance. He's very interested in history. Since it isn't dangerous, may I take it with me?"
Viève answered readily:
"Of course. The Church does not arbitrarily confiscate harmless objects unless they are involved in certain special rituals. Even if you buy Mystical Items or Beyonder materials in the future, as long as they aren't extremely dangerous, you will only be required to report and register them. They won't be treated as Sealed Artifacts."
Charlotte relaxed a little at that and asked curiously:
"What about the dagger I handed in before?"
"It has provisionally been classified as a Grade 3 Sealed Artifact, though its official number has yet to be assigned," Viève replied as she put away the candles and holy emblem on the table. "Testing showed that its blade is sharper than ordinary weapons and more likely to strike a target's weak points. While holding it, the wielder also becomes more sensitive to other people's hostility."
"The negative effect is that it makes its wielder arrogant. The longer they hold it, the more pronounced that influence becomes."
That certainly fits how Etienne ended up... The Church's Sealed Artifacts all have their own numbers. Grade 0 is the highest and most dangerous, while Grade 3 is the lowest... Recalling what she had just learned, Charlotte lost much of her interest in the dagger.
She was actually more curious about the grade of the Holy Bible that could verify whether words were true or false, and what negative effects it might have. But since it was clearly an important internal Church possession, she ultimately restrained herself from asking.
Yet when she packed away the candlestick and prepared to leave the church, Viève stopped her:
"One more thing.
"We've found a new lead on the Cultists."
In an underground secret chamber, Roselle Gustav stood before a long metal table, watching his "Savant" potion being prepared little by little.
The oil lamp overhead illuminated the small brass pot on the table and the liquid gradually blending into shape within it.
Roselle swallowed instinctively.
He was finally about to step into the other side of this world, hidden in the shadows.