Purpose

So fast? Lumian hadn't expected that the "Knight of Swords's" investigation would yield results in just one day.

Following his intuition, he turned his body to the side and looked at the Full-Length Mirror.

That One "Knight of Swords" with messy brown hair and a Paleness face had appeared there at some point.

"Just a clue?" Lumian pondered the other person's words and extracted the key point.

The "Knight of Swords" glanced at Lumian with an extremely suppressed and restrained gaze and said, "The day after they arrived at Santa Port, they went to the Balansat Ship Rental Company to inquire about how many Gold Riso it would cost to rent a boat for a fishing Fishing. After that, they never showed up again."

Upon hearing the "Knight of Swords '" reply, a thought subconsciously flashed through Lumian's mind:

How romantic! No wonder they're a combination of one and a half Intis and half Feynapotter, choosing to Fishing at sea as their date!

If Norfie hadn't been the child of the "Sea Maiden," and if this were Santa Port, pursuing romance might have been closer to their true purpose in chartering the boat. Unfortunately, reality doesn't allow for "what ifs." After a moment of reflection, Lumian seriously considered the real reasons why Norfie and Batna had done what they did.

--Santa Port has many fishermen, but not everyone owns their own fishing boat. These lower-class fishermen either accept employment to help on the boat, earning a relatively fixed income consisting of monetary wages and some seafood, or they partner up to buy or rent a fishing boat that can go out to sea. Balansat Ship Rental Company mainly make money from this aspect. As for the income from sightseeing and sea fishing by the middle class and tourists, it is not much. Santa Port is not a city known for tourism.

As Lumian entered a state of deep thought, the "Knight of Swords" continued, "The inquiry was led by a Women named Norfie, but a man Batna was very cooperative throughout, showing no sign of resistance."

Could Batna really think that going out to sea for Fishing is a date? For the Intis, this is indeed something to look forward to, so why would they resist? Renting a boat to go out to sea... what exactly does Norfie want to do? During the Sea-Praying Ritual, will he intercept the specially made ship carrying the incoming "Governor of the Sea" halfway through, or will he load it with gunpowder and ram it directly, ending the lives of the "Governor of the Sea" and the "Sea Maiden"? Or perhaps, will he secretly follow them and take their place at the crucial moment? Lumian's thoughts raced, and he had all sorts of guesses.

Suddenly, he remembered something.

Among the intelligence he gathered from various sources Sea-Praying Ritual, one piece of information was mentioned:

The final and most crucial Sea-Sacrifice Segment Sea-Praying Ritual is the sea sacrifice, which takes place in a special Sea Area outside the port. Those who haven't been there before are neither aware of the details of the Sea Sacrifice nor of the location of that Sea Area.

Thinking of this, Lumian had a flash of inspiration and made a new conjecture:

"Norfie's mother was a ' Sea Maiden ' who fled Santa Port. She must have been to that special Sea Area and may have passed on relevant information to her daughter."

"Was Norfie's purpose in chartering the boat to go to that special Sea Area?"

What's there?

"The core Sea-Sacrifice Segment the sea Sea-Praying Ritual is held there. Does this mean that something, some being, or some power is hidden somewhere in that Sea Area, and that the essence of the Sea-Praying Ritual is to borrow something special from it?"

"Does Norfie want to take that thing away, possess it for himself, and become the permanent ' Governor of the Sea,' or will he destroy it completely, ending the long history of selecting ' Governor of the Sea ' and ' Sea Maiden ' and holding Sea-Praying Ritual in Sanhok Library Port?"

"If it were truly so easy to take that thing and control it, the members of the Fishing Guild would have done so long ago. Most of the time, Humanity is selfish; it's impossible to leave something good to a ' Sea Maiden's' child, unless That One ' Sea Maiden ' has other experiences after leaving Santa Port and learns how to approach, obtain, and avoid danger..."

"Destruction might be simpler than occupation..."

As his thoughts raced, Lumian slightly raised his head.

Could the Core Member the "April Fool's Day" group have orchestrated such a prank also with the intention of Steal that thing or all its uniqueness?

Did they succeed?

This is a very crucial question.

The "Knight of Swords" watched Lumian silently, not interrupting his thoughts, standing there like a Corpse.

After a while, Lumian asked with a hint of curiosity, "How did you manage to find out part of Norfie and Batna's whereabouts in just one day?"

The "Knight of Swords" replied in a deep voice, "Obtain information from the Spirit World, then investigate on-site."

"After they left the Balansat Ship Rental Company, all related information was Concealment or erased and cannot be found anymore."

"Isn't this just the principle behind some forms of Divination... Norfie and Batna didn't do Anti-Divination before going to the boat rental company, but did after they left?"

"This doesn't make sense. Either you don't do it at all, or you do it from start to finish, unless both of you are complete novices who only thought of doing Anti-Divination after asking about the boat rental price..."

"Well, a more reasonable explanation is that boat chartering also falls under the fishing and maritime trade industries, and has close ties with the committee members of the Fishing Guild. The fact that Norfie and Batna, two Outsider, inquired about charter prices attracted attention, their identities were exposed, and they were thus forced to 'disappear'..."

"The note that told me Norfie was the child of the ' Sea Maiden ' came from the owner or a shareholder of the Balansat Ship Rental Company?" Lumian's thoughts gradually became clearer.

He stared at the "Knight of Swords," hesitating about how to persuade him to continue the investigation.

At this point, the "Knight of Swords" volunteered, "I will conduct further investigations with the boat charter company."

"Thank you," Lumian said sincerely.

He then saw the figure of the "Knight of Swords" rapidly become transparent and disappear.

It has transformed into Soul Body- like creature? Wraith? This time, Lumian saw more details.

This made him suspect that the "Knight of Swords" might be from the "Temperance Faction of the " The Fool's "Church, and that his subsequent journey to the Southern Continent was to deal with the " Indulgence Faction of the Rose School.

Without giving it much thought, he took off his clothes, put on a faded cotton shirt, and lay down on the bed.

In the Late Night in Trier, Franca, wearing a thick woolen coat and trousers that fit her legs quite well, walked in the intermittent light of the streetlights.

Although she wasn't wearing Makeup and deliberately used darkness and shadows to conceal her appearance, quite a few drunkards would still approach her or ask about her price just by seeing her back or side, behaving like tiny flying insects hovering under Gas Streetlamp on a summer night.

Snap!

Franca swayed her ponytail and delivered a side kick, sending the persistent drunkard flying.

The drunkard screamed and vomited all over the ground.

Franca curled her lip in disgust, muttering to herself, "' Pleasure ' is such a hassle. It's alright during the day with the Library, just some self-important guys trying to pick me up. But at night, it's full of malice. Even the heroes who rescue damsels in distress are just after-the-fact flirting..."

"However, those bastards all came with imagined joy and anticipation, only to receive a beating and corresponding Pain in return. Hmm, this can be considered a simplified version of Pleasure bringing Pain?"

It was precisely because she wanted to experience this and see if she could find a way to digest the Potion that Franca did not sneak into the shadows and proceed without being seen by anyone.

After walking for a while, Franca entered the shadows and arrived at the empty room where she had met "007" before.

That One companion said he had found information about the Ancient Tomb Chamber next to the "Mad Mushroom Cave" on the Fourth Level of the Catacombs through Church records and municipal archives, but it was inconvenient to discuss it in the Telegram group. After all, even the best relationships need to be guarded against. So, he left the compiled information at this Contact Point for Franca to pick up herself.

Franca searched briefly and found two thin, folded pieces of paper.

She unfolded them immediately and quickly scanned them—as an "Assassin," even the darkest environment couldn't stop her from seeing the text:

"The Ancient Tomb Chamber where you found the ' Mirror World Fragment ' belonged to a Great Noble Families in the Tudor Empire of the Fourth Epoch period."

Their surname is Tamara.

"I haven't found any information yet about which members of the Tamara Family that Tomb Chamber belonged to, but I've discovered something strange:"

"Not only are there multiple Tamara Family Tomb Chamber on the Fourth Level of the Catacombs, but there are also on the Third Layer, such as the ' Thorns and Shield Wall Tomb Chamber ' and the ' Justiciar Tomb Chamber.' Why aren't they placed together...?"

Upon seeing this, Franca's gaze suddenly froze.

Isn't the "Thorns and Shield Wall Tomb Chamber" the same Tomb Chamber where Jenna used the Tear Bottle to complete the mission?

The mission they used as an excuse involved the Tamara Family, and the Tomb Chamber they obtained the "Mirror World Fragment" also belonged to the Tamara Family!

Isn't this too much of a coincidence?

Could this be a manifestation of Mysticism principles?

After calming herself down, Franca began to read the rest of the text:

"... Regarding the Tamara Family, my rank doesn't allow me to access more detailed information. You'll have to figure out a way yourself."

Hmm... Franca nodded slightly, having decided to report the whole matter to the "Judgement" Lady, hoping to obtain some information and hints from the "Tarot Club".

Early morning, Santa Port, Aquinas Street.

In a building diagonally opposite the Solo Hotel, Lumian, now with a different appearance, stood at the window of one of the rooms, holding the new Identity Documents given to him by Valerio, gazing at the Suite where he, Lugano, and Ludwig lived and the street below.

Now, he wants to Acting of an ordinary Bounty Hunter who has accepted a Concealment Commission to spy on the Great Adventurer Louis Berri.

After these past few days of aggressive behavior, well-informed people throughout Santa Port should know that there is such a Great Adventurer wants to investigate the Sea-Praying Ritual, which most likely includes the "Wandering Poet" and other Core Member the "April Fool's Day" group!