Leonard?
For a moment, Klein thought he was seeing things.
However, the blur caused by the light was not serious, and knowing the other party well, he quickly confirmed his previous judgment.
In the time it takes to breathe, Leonard vanished, the light dissipated, and the valley returned to the stillness of midwinter. The scene Klein had dreamt of shattered.
He opened his eyes and placed the badge he had received from Lanarvus on the surface of the bronze table.
"Is it the real Leonard, or Leonard in disguise by ' Faceless '?" Klein pondered for a moment, then tossed a gold coin.
His spirituality, through this medium, told him that it was Leonard Mitchell, his teammate from the Tingen Market Night Watchers!
"Is he an 'investigator' sent by the Church of the Goddess for that gathering, or an avenger who is risking his life to seek an opportunity behind the Nighthawks' backs?" Klein muttered to himself, unable to make an accurate judgment.
Without any prior information, his Divination cannot provide any insight.
After a few seconds of silence, Klein gave a self-deprecating laugh and drew a Crimson Moon on his chest:
"I wish him good luck, and may the goddess protect him."
Klein stopped dwelling on the issue and decided to learn more about the details of the gathering before deciding whether to participate in it in the future or anonymously remind Leonard Mitchell.
In a secret room in the underground area of Steam Church in Backlund.
Ikanser took off his hat, patted his fluffy but not soft hair, and sat down in the first seat on the left.
Then, he took out the ancient silver mirror of Arrodes from a specially made pocket inside his clothes and placed it in front of him.
To his right, opposite him, and diagonally to him, stood a group of " Machinery Hivemind " deacons and captains, all summoned by Archbishop Horamick Haydn of Backlund, a member of the Holy Synod.
The archbishop, dressed in a white priest's robe, sat peacefully at the head of the table, appearing like an ordinary old man.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, he looked around and said gently:
"Starting with Ikanser, let's recount the findings of the past few days in chronological order."
Ikanser Bernard ran a hand through his hair, flipping through a thick stack of documents as he gave a concise report:
"Your Excellency, we are in charge of Sherlock Moriarty. After a thorough investigation and with the assistance of extraordinary means, we have confirmed that he was passively involved in this matter. Prior to this, there was no evidence that he already knew about Prince Edessak's problem."
"He was a friend of the deceased Talym Dumont and indirectly carried out some commissions given to him by the prince, but there was nothing wrong with that; at most, he overstated some expenses."
At this point, Ikanser suddenly felt a little guilty, because Sherlock Moriarty was also an informant for " Machinery Hivemind," and the expenses he reimbursed here might also be exaggerated to some extent.
Regardless, his informant work has been remarkably effective and outstanding, enough to offset many problems. Moreover, he hasn't been our informant for long, and the largest sum of money involved was in a "profit-sharing" arrangement... Ikanser slowly exhaled and continued his report:
"Our conclusion is that he is innocent and has no hidden motives. He had keenly sensed the danger at the Red Rose Manor, but that was a typical case of Error reasoning leading to a correct conclusion. What he feared was the infighting within the royal family. For this reason, he had been passively resisting and had not conducted any substantial or in-depth investigations. He had reported this to us."
"Unfortunately, he still couldn't avoid this incident, but he was also lucky enough that the descendant of Death he mentioned was monitoring the area near the Red Rose Manor and rescued him from the perilous situation of the meteorite impact. The traces at the scene indicate that this was a very terrifying attack, most likely related to '0-08'."
Klein mentioned Ince Zangwill. As for whether he knew the former archbishop and the "0" level Sealed Artifact, no one cared, because he was with Azik Eggers at the time and could very well have learned about it from him. This was everyone's subconscious assumption.
Regarding the "0" and "1" level Sealed Artifact, the seven major orthodox churches have been exchanging rough information with each other, sharing the same numbering system, and there are no duplicates.
"... However, we don't have all the information. There are still three things we can't confirm. First, '2-111' shows that after Sherlock Moriarty escaped into that forest, he didn't rush away but stayed behind, seemingly praying to someone. Second, there's the question of when he met Azik Eggers. Third, there's the question of how he escaped from that underground ruin. With his strength, he shouldn't have been able to do that, and in the process, he even disrupted the Aurora Order's descent ritual," Ikanser concluded.
"2-111" refers to the Magic Mirror of Arrodes.
Horamick listened quietly, then chuckled to himself:
"Inflated expenses..."
He immediately cleared his throat:
"Regardless, Sherlock Moriarty is a hero of Backlund."
"If he hadn't stopped us in time, if he had been scared at that moment and chosen to run away, most of us wouldn't be alive today."
"Moreover, he also showed faith in God and friendliness towards us. As long as he didn't have any major problems, we could pretend we didn't know about his minor flaws or secrets."
"Your Excellency, that's exactly what we were thinking." Ikanser breathed a sigh of relief. "I suspect that his prayers in the woods, including the whistle-blowing ritual, were methods to contact Azik Eggers, but the effects and speeds were different. In such a critical situation, the only thing he could do was save himself, a conclusion we deduced from the subsequent events."
"Besides self-rescue, you can also write a will," another " Machinery Hivemind " deacon joked, then reported on his assigned task, "... We still haven't found the underground ruins described by Sherlock Moriarty, even with the help of '2-111,' and we currently have no way of knowing the whereabouts of the High-Sequence royal family members that day."
"... It can be confirmed that the Church of Evernight received the intelligence first, through a special channel of the Earl Hall, but the specifics are unknown."
"... We, along with the Nighthawks and Mandated Punishers, have largely wiped out the Aurora Order's forces in Backlund, but I suspect they still have hidden strength..."
"... At the time of the incident, Trissy, whom Sherlock Moriarty mentioned, was on her way to Backlund, but after that, no one saw her again Sherlock Moriarty, she was a key figure and was renamed Trissy Cheek."
"... It's impossible to figure out how the Church of Evernight captured the ' Witch of Despair ' and her butler, Finkel. The Divination tells me they are still alive, but no longer free."
One by one, the deacons and captains reported their investigation results. Horamick had his eyes half-closed, seemingly deep in thought.
After a dozen seconds of silence in the room, he opened his eyes and said in a measured tone:
"Find Trissy Cheek with all your might, if she is still alive."
"Give me a list of questions where Divination fails to provide effective revelation. The Church has Saint who are skilled in this area, though their methods may not be as effective as '2-111'."
"The surveillance and investigation of the High-Sequence members of the royal family can be put on the 'table' and there's no need to worry too much. They've always known we're doing these things, and this also serves as a warning."
"The investigation into the underground ruins continues, and the Church of Evernight and Church of Storms has been informed."
" Ikanser, ask '2-111' how Sherlock Moriarty escaped the ruins and when he met Azik Eggers."
Looking at the archbishop, then at his colleagues, Ikanser gritted his teeth and said:
"Yes, Your Excellency the Archbishop."
He sadly believed that his legend was about to spread from the few " Machinery Hivemind " squads he was in charge of to the entire Church of Steam of the Beyonder Backlund.
After familiarizing himself with the process, he began to speak:
"My question is, Your Excellency Arrodes, when did Sherlock Moriarty meet Azik Eggers?"
On the two silver mirrors, which seemed to have eyes, water suddenly shimmered, quickly forming a picture:
Sherlock Moriarty stood in a room watching a rat with a rotting belly crawl and burrow through a hole in the wall, with Old Kohler and the owner of the cheap hotel behind him.
"He met Azik Eggers while completing a bounty mission, which was issued by Military Intelligence Section 9 and stemmed from a coincidental conflict," Ikanser explained the contents of the image.
Having said that, he chose to respond in kind, then held his breath, waiting for Arrodes to pose a soul-piercing question.
Unsurprisingly, he saw the words in bright red:
Do you know how it feels to try your best to please someone, only to be abandoned by them?
This question isn't sharp enough; it's not like Arrodes' usual style... Ikanser suddenly felt that the blood-stained words on the mirror lacked their usual horror; they weren't gruesome enough, and seemed listless.
Without thinking about why, he immediately answered:
"Know!"
"Congratulations, you got it right." New words appeared on the surface of the silver mirror, turning white.
January 5th, 9:00 AM.
Klein, with a gray scarf wrapped around his neck, arrived at Rose Wharf carrying a suitcase and a cane.
The White Agate was moored there, and was exceptionally large relative to humans, reportedly capable of carrying hundreds of passengers.
It possesses the distinctive characteristics of its era, with smokestacks and sails standing side by side, and 12 cannons and corresponding gun emplacements on each side of the ship—essential for defense against pirates and fellow travelers.
Under Captain Elland Kag's arrangement, the selected strong Sailor and crew lined up at the gangway, some even deliberately displaying their legal revolvers, rifles, and sabers.
This gave the passengers boarding the ship a greater sense of security, and they were no longer afraid of the nine-day journey ahead.
Klein stood below, looked up, and walked up the suspended ladder into the undulating blue sea.
The Travel began... He murmured to himself as he took his first steps.