Inside a rented room in Bayam, the " City of Generosity," with a gas lamp lit.
Wearing gold-rimmed glasses Verdue Abraham held a thick stack of documents and, in the dim light, diligently read them, occasionally Record down anything he felt might be useful.
He left Loen and came to the Rorsted Archipelago primarily to escape the watchful eyes of Dorian and other family members, so he could focus on studying the occult and finding an effective way to rescue his Bethel Abraham, or rather, reliable knowledge to reduce the difficulty of that ritual.
However, more than half a year has passed, and he still has no clue. It seems that he has no other choice but to hunt down " Bizarro Sorcerer ", " Parasite " and " Secrets Sorcerer ".
This frustrated Verdue, but he was also keenly aware of how dangerous a Level 0 Sealed Artifact was. Even if he was willing to sacrifice himself, he couldn't truly control it and couldn't guarantee what the final outcome would be.
More importantly, he couldn't find the " Bizarro Sorcerer " or the " Parasite," both of whom were Saint known for their Concealment whereabouts and bizarre styles.
Sigh... Verdue put down the stack of documents in his hand and muttered almost silently to himself:
"Are we left with no choice but to place our hopes on that ' The Fool,' like Dorian and the others?"
The thought of " The Fool " made Verdue frown, because there were more and more Half-Giant spreading the " The Fool " faith in Bayam, to the point that even he, who rarely went out, had heard of it.
This made him wonder if he had come to the vicinity of the headquarters of the " The Fool's " Church.
If it weren't for the fact that the amount of occult knowledge circulating in the Rorsted Archipelago far exceeded Verdue's expectations, and that much of it was extremely useful and even the Abraham Family hadn't mastered it, he would have left Bayam and headed to the Southern Continent a month ago.
"I can't stay any longer, I need to book a ship ticket to East Balam as soon as possible..." Verdue had just made his decision when a wavering arose. " Dorian and the ' The Fool's ' Church probably never imagined I was hiding within the area their headquarters could influence. Emperor Roselle once said, 'The most dangerous place is also the safest place...'"
Hesitantly, Verdue put down the documents, turned off the wall lamp, and, using the Moonlight from the window, walked towards the bedroom.
Suddenly, a figure darted out of the darkness from a corner of his balcony and leaped over the railing.
The figure was as light and weightless as a feather, and when it fell to the ground from a height of more than ten meters, it made no sound at all.
Immediately afterwards, the figure crept along the shadowy streets to the vicinity of the Church of the Sea God and climbed the bell tower.
Then, "he" took out paper and pen, quickly wrote down the surveillance footage for the night in a report, and stuffed it into a crack.
About fifteen minutes after the figure left, a whooshing sound of wind suddenly rose from the clock tower.
The report was pulled out from the crack by Invisible Hand, and in the strong winds that swept through the area, it flew away in the distance, like a bat spreading its wings in the Evernight.
Before long, the report plummeted as if bound by a stone, landing on a hand reaching out from the shadows of the garden.
This hand belongs to Cardinal Alger Wilson of the Church of Church of Storms.
He immediately unfolded the report and began reading it carefully in the darkness, completely unaffected by the poor lighting.
Even in the dark depths of the sea, Alger could see clearly what was around him.
" Verdue's intention to leave Bayam is becoming increasingly clear..." Alger nodded almost imperceptibly, summarizing in his mind.
For the past six months, he had been monitoring the member of the Abraham Family as instructed by Mr. The Fool, but he had not found anything particularly unusual about him.
His mission was complete once Verdue left the Rorsted Archipelago.
However, Alger did not want to end it there. He felt that he had not made enough contributions, having only simply monitored a rather unremarkable Sequence 7.
The Hermit has obtained the Sequence 3 Beyonder Characteristic from the Mystery Queen and has collected all the necessary auxiliary materials, and is busy preparing for the ritual. This has put a lot of psychological pressure on Alger. Of course, in addition to monitoring Verdue, he has also done a lot of things according to the intentions of Mr. The Fool, but even he himself feels that there is still a considerable gap between this and the identity, status, and power of the Sea God.
For a moment, Alger considered indirectly pressuring Verdue Abraham through various means to make him reveal his problems, but ultimately abandoned the idea because he couldn't be sure whether Mr. " The Fool " harbored goodwill or malice towards that target.
Previously, when City of Silver and Moon City were selling off Beyonder Characteristic and Potion recipes, Alger purchased some from the Tarot Club to cultivate a team of Beyonder who were independent of the Church of Storms and loyal only to him, hidden in the shadows. The personnel monitoring Verdue came from this group.
Currently, most of the team of fewer than ten members are Sequence 9, with only a few having been promoted to Sequence 8.
As for where Alger got the money to buy Beyonder Characteristic and Potion recipes, the answer is very simple:
As a cardinal who ruled a diocese, Alger could easily "save" some money for himself. Meanwhile, during that period, the mines, plantations, spice estates, and factories on the Rorsted Archipelago were being sold off at prices below their intrinsic value. Anyone with the means to buy them could make a fortune in a short time.
More importantly, the Church of Storms headquarters also showed considerable interest in the Beyonder Characteristic and Potion recipes sold by City of Silver and Moon City, providing a large sum of money for their purchase. The person handling this was undoubtedly Cardinal Alger Wilson of the Rorsted Diocese, and some losses in such a process are unavoidable and understandable.
Pulling himself back to reality, Alger decided to use his Shadow Guards to sell some occult knowledge within certain circles of Beyonder in Bayam, hoping to lure Verdue Abraham into a trap and delay him for as long as possible.
"The main reason is that the missionaries from City of Silver frightened that gentleman..." Alger shook his head and muttered to himself.
He immediately destroyed the report in his hand and went back inside the church.
As dawn broke, a young man stepped out of the hotel, leisurely enjoying the morning scenery of Bayam.
He had just bought a " Teana " drink in a fruit shell from a vendor when he suddenly felt a large shadow appear beside him.
The young man turned his head and looked up little by little, and found Half-Giant who was nearly two and a half meters tall walking towards him.
"Sir, may I have a moment? I'd like to tell you about our beacon and our savior, Mr. ' The Fool '." The Half-Giant bent down, trying to make his smile appear kind.
The young man took a sip of his " Teana," pointed to the side, and nodded with a smile:
Okay, but not here.
He then moved to a spot where he wouldn't block anyone's way, and the seemingly imposing Half-Giant gently followed.
"You can speak now." The young man made no attempt to hide his curiosity.
The tall, strong Half-Giant's expression immediately turned solemn:
"Our Lord calls himself ' The Fool,' and in the past, present, and future, He is the great ruler who governs the Spirit World, the King of Yellow and Black who holds good fortune, and the guiding light for every living being in pursuit of eternity."
"Our Lord dwells above the Spirit World, His mercy is sprinkled throughout heaven and earth, and six Angel stand beside His throne..."
"The ' Mercury Angel ' is the embodiment of Fate, the Angel most beloved by our Lord; the ' Death Angel ' is the one who has followed our Lord the longest, the ruler of the Underworld; the ' Redemption Angel ' is the trumpet of our Lord, the messenger of His divine pronouncements; the ' Life Angel ' is the crystallization of Wisdom, the indelible Spirituality within each person."
Upon hearing this, the young man chuckled:
"Your Lord is truly amazing, to have so many titled Angel serving Him."
"Not only that," the Half-Giant replied gently, "Beside the Lord's throne are the ' Punishment Angel,' who are the Lord's thunder, the Lord's wrath, the Lord's hand, the judge and Judgement of all the Depravity and unclean."
"The counterpart to the ' Punishment Angel ' is the ' Angel of Time,' who was the 'King' of ancient times, but ultimately submitted to our Lord and rang the bells of heaven for Him."
"Impressive, impressive," the young man exclaimed sincerely.
Upon hearing this response, the Half-Giant couldn't help but smile, then described in the most concise way possible the various miracles performed by Mr. " The Fool," concluding with:
"Fifteen minutes have passed, so I won't waste your time. If you're interested, you can learn more at the ' The Fool's Church' at 16 Phillips Street. It's the largest church we have in Bayam, haha, the others are still in the planning stages."
The young man nodded:
"If I have some free time, I'll go take a look."
After watching the Half-Giant turn and walk away, the young man smiled and took out a monocle made of crystal from his pocket, putting it on his right eye.
The Half-Giant made his way back to his family restaurant and changed into his chef's uniform.
" Badr, you've gone preaching again?" the restaurant owner asked with a smile.
When the industry association recommended this Half-Giant to learn cooking, he was quite resistant, always feeling that the other party could kill him with a flick of the arm, and that he didn't seem to have any talent for cooking.
But now, he was very satisfied with Badr. This Half-Giant was not only honest, obedient, and hardworking, but also had a strong deterrent effect, making the thugs on the street dare not mess with the restaurant anymore.
The only problem is that Badr goes out once every morning to preach the " The Fool's " beliefs.
Of course, since it wasn't during working hours, the restaurant owner couldn't say anything and didn't mind.
Badr chuckled good-naturedly, walked into the kitchen, and said to his Moon City friend Bonn, who had come to seek refuge with him:
"Today I can teach you how to grill fish."
Bonn seemed fairly normal, except for his eyes, which were slightly misaligned, a mild deformity. He was the kind of Moon City resident who had the courage to communicate with outsiders. He nodded upon hearing this.
"I need to pray first. Mr. ' The Fool ' sent down a divine decree, instructing all Moon City residents to make a wish to Him at nine o'clock this morning, hoping that there will be no more deformities."