The object of prayer

Along the way, Lumian, with his quick eyes and hands, dodged several Waiter who came out with food or returned used tableware.

Not long after, he approached the kitchen and saw that it was in a complete mess.

Unwashed dishes were piled haphazardly in the sink, layer upon layer, covered in grease, while two Dishwasher stood there, constantly cleaning them.

Several stoves spewed out yellowish Flames, making this small area several degrees hotter than outside. Everyone was sweating profusely, busy at work.

Three Cook, wearing white aprons, prepared different dishes, occasionally pouring them onto plates, dipping their fingers in the sauce or taking a small piece of food to taste it, and then casually wiping it on their aprons before starting to cook the next dish.

With the Cook's permission, the Waiter would carry the corresponding plates out, their thumbs often brushing against the food and soup without them even noticing or caring.

Several Kitchen Assistant were busy around the Cook, chopping vegetables, processing fish, cleaning other Ingredient, emptying trash, and handing out seasonings and other items. They were so busy they couldn't stop, but no matter how hard they tried, the kitchen still looked messy. Vegetable leaves, fish scales, and fruit peels were scattered all over the floor, around the stove, and near the sink, and it was covered in grease.

The air was filled with the shouts and curses of the Cook and their Kitchen Assistant, creating a very noisy atmosphere.

If Lumian closed his eyes and relied solely on his ears, he would probably think this was a chaotic battlefield.

Thanks to this situation, he easily avoided the busy people, arrived at the cabinet where various Ingredient were stored, and then, using the partitions, Handle, and the Gray-White gas and Tap Water pipes, he climbed up to the ceiling and crawled into the Ventilation Duct and Library located there.

The strong smell of cooking oil assaulted Lumian's nose, almost causing his keen Sense of Smell to Past.

Relying on the "Mendicant Friar '" ability to endure various extreme environments, Lumian forced himself to crawl forward along the Ventilation Duct, sometimes upwards.

In just over ten seconds, he poked his head out from above a Washroom on the second floor.

After confirming that no one was around, Lumian nimbly leaped down, quickly walked to the door, and discreetly peered down the corridor.

It was very quiet here, with only two Gang Thug guarding the stairwell exit. Their attention was entirely focused on the way up from the first floor, and they paid no attention to what was happening behind them.

Lumian breathed a sigh of relief, discerned its destination, crouched down, and darted into the room next door.

The door was locked, but that didn't stop Lumian. He fiddled with the half-wire he carried with him for a few moments and then pushed the Wooden Door open.

Just as Jenna described, the Washroom attached to "Hammer" Ait's room did not have an outward-extending windowsill; there was only a decorative protrusion, barely enough for a person to stand sideways.

Even for a "Hunter," jumping from this windowsill onto that protrusion and landing steadily is quite a difficult task.

Fortunately, Lumian is also a "Dancer" with an exaggeratedly human-like flexibility.

After a brief observation, he leaped into the air, his right foot landing precisely on the protrusion, but his left side lost its balance and he fell towards the direction of his fall.

At the critical moment, Lumian's body jerked like a spring, crashing into the Washroom and grabbing the window frame with his right hand.

He steadied himself, crouched down sideways, revealing only half his head, and quietly peered into the room.

The Washroom door was not closed, Thug Gang patrolled past from time to time.

Lumian waited patiently for a while, figured out the pattern, and took advantage of the moment when the area corresponding to the Washroom door was temporarily empty. He used Hedsey's Dagger to pry open the window and climbed inside.

He calmly and confidently turned around and closed the Glass Window, then slipped to the bottom of the bathtub, using the still-unfurled curtain to cover himself.

Having successfully completed the infiltration, Lumian placed the items he would need later in a more easily accessible location and confirmed their respective positions to avoid grabbing the wrong one in the chaos.

Then, he stood there like Statues, listening to the sounds coming from the other room.

"Hammer" Ait would sometimes inquire about the Dance Hall manager's recent profits, sometimes scold his Subordinate, and sometimes flirt with the top dancer, accompanied by seemingly intimate gestures.

After a while, once the Dance Hall manager and the top dancer had left, Ait seemed to stand up and paced slowly there.

He said to Thug Gang in the room, "These next few days, send all your Subordinate out to 'visit' our Territory, house to house, to make sure that That One gets elected as the Market District's Member of Parliament in next week's election!"

"Oh, you Gang interfere in Parliamentary Election?" Lumian was both surprised and not so surprised.

The Trier Gang could not have grown and prospered without the support of others. They either had good relationships with certain high-ranking officials in the police department and Police Headquarters, or were protected by powerful political figures, or were the black Gloves of big businessmen. And big businessmen inevitably had some kind of interest entanglement with government officials, Church leaders, and military generals.

What Lumian didn't expect was that the That One behind the Stinger Gang had ambitions to win a seat in Parliament; he had originally thought that at most he would only reach the level of Police Commissioner in the Market District or a council member in Trier.

Intis is a parliamentary republic where Member of Parliament of parliament are elected from constituencies to form the National Convention. The Parliament appoints the president and prime minister, who in turn appoint ministers, subject to Parliament approval.

Parliament also possesses legislative power, the power to declare war, and the power to determine the government budget; every Member of Parliament is a powerful figure.

Currently, the National Convention has more than 300 members, one-tenth of whom are former Nobles, headed by members of the former royal Sauron Family. The remaining seats are distributed among different provinces and districts, namely the Trier District, according to population and economic status.

Whether in terms of population or economic status, Trier is second to none in the entire Intis and the entire Trier District, and it has been allocated nearly forty Parliament seats.

These roughly forty seats were then divided among twenty districts, with some having four or five Member of Parliament and others only one, and they were all ex-officio Member of Parliament of the city council.

Honest Market District is a small constituency with only one Parliament seat. Whoever is elected there will be the most powerful and influential person in the constituency.

Currently, whether it's the ruling National Party, the most popular Liberal Party, or the Reform Party which wants to change various problems, they are all doing their best for next week's Parliamentary Election.

Whoever wins a simple majority in Parliament will become the new ruling party; otherwise, they will have to compromise and concede, forming a coalition with another party.

Besides the National Party, the Liberal Party, and the Reform Party, Intis also had a wide range of parties dissatisfied with the current system, such as the Emperor Party (who worshipped Roselle's restorationists) and the Carbonari, who sought to overthrow the system by force.

The Gang Thug responded to "Hammer's " Ait one after another, indicating that there would be no mistakes.

However, they never mentioned which party or Candidate they supported, which slightly annoyed Lumian.

Why don't you just say it?

After giving his instructions regarding the election, "Hammer" Ait Subordinate, "You guys go out for a bit, I'll let you in when you come back in."

What are they going to do? Lumian, who was "eavesdropping," was quite surprised.

Soon, the Gang Thug left the room, leaving only "Hammer" Ait alone.

Lumian did not take action because, after careful analysis, he believed that fighting "Hammer" Ait in the Washroom would be more effective than fighting outside, without using "Fallen Mercury".

The outer room became quite quiet, and Lumian strained his ears to hear anything.

That seemed to be "Hammer" Ait talking to himself:

"Protector of evil... Lady Who Gives Birth to Deities..."

Lady Who Gives Birth to Deities? That sounds impressive... Is Ait praying, praying to some Hidden Being? There seem to be four or five sentences in total? This is different from the usual three-part structure... Lumian roughly guessed what "Hammer" Ait was doing.

As for who he was praying to, Lumian had no way of knowing from the half-truth he had barely heard.

This is outside the scope of his current knowledge of Mysticism.

Lumian vaguely sensed that the room outside was filled with malice.

Yes, it was the room itself that became evil.

Lumian held his breath, composed himself, and dared not listen to any more noises outside.

After a while, the feeling dissipated, and everything returned to normal.

Lumian slowly exhaled and flexed his hands.

At this moment, "Hammer" Ait brought his Subordinate back into the room.

Lumian continued to wait.

Time ticked by, and finally, he heard the heaviest footsteps approaching the Washroom.

These were the footsteps of "Hammer" Ait; Lumian had already clearly recognized them.

He immediately pulled out a Metal Vial with a scratch mark on it.

Then, he unscrewed the bottle cap and stuffed a long, thin piece of paper that he had crumpled up beforehand into the bottle opening.

A few seconds later, as footsteps approached the Washroom, Lumian pulled out a wad of paper and screwed the bottle cap back on.

Then, he cut the crumpled paper in two and stuffed it into his nose.

The stench, like fermenting feces, assaulted Lumian's mind, almost bringing tears to his eyes. His right hand instinctively reached out to tear out the thin, crumpled paper.

With sheer willpower and the tolerance of Mendicant Friar for extreme environments, Lumian regained his composure. Standing with a Distortion expression and slightly twitching muscles, he took out another Metal Vial, mostly filled with gas, and unscrewed its cap.

Clang!

"Hammer" Ait closed the Washroom door and walked to the toilet.

The space suddenly became semi-enclosed, with only a little fresh air coming in through the cracks in the door and windows.

Hmm, he's facing a serious Calamity of Blood... As Lumian checked his Fortune, he quietly flicked the open Metal Vial, helping the colorless and odorless gas inside to evaporate and fill the Washroom.

This is a drug created by that perverted Hedsey. It's a drug that can cause an "Assassin" to lose a large part of their strength even if they only smell a faint trace of it at close range!

This is perfect for a cramped, semi-enclosed space like Washroom.

This is the trap that Lumian set for "Hammer" Ait!

Of course, it will take quite some time for those gases to fill the Washroom and have some effect, since this is not a close-up sniffing.

Lumian's next task was to prevent "Hammer" Ait from leaving the Washroom and to prevent anyone outside from opening the door.

He placed the open Metal Vial on the edge of the bathtub, took out Jenna's Revolver, and peered through the curtain at the toilet area.