"Pain... destroyed the mind? I never thought that Viscount Artie would encounter such a thing. I never thought... that he would be a member of the Eight-Pointed Man..."
Looking at the young man with a dull look on his face, Misha said in disbelief, while Ed looked at Misha with a slightly frivolous look and asked her directly.
"It seems that you know the identity of this person?"
"Well... let's just know... He is Viscount Artie, a Despenser marginal royal family living in Tivian. I have met him at a banquet before. Although I don't know much about him, I have some impression of him. I didn't expect that he had any relationship with the Eight Points. And why was he sent to kill Sofko?"
Looking at the vegetative person in front of her, Misha said bluntly. After Dorothy heard her words, she paused slightly and then let Ed say bluntly.
"For this question, we must ask the victim himself."
As he spoke, Ed slowly walked out of the current room, and Misha followed Ed's footsteps. After crossing a corridor, Ed came to another tidy room. In this room, a middle-aged man with gray hair was sitting on the sofa, his body trembling slightly.
"Hello, Professor Sofox..."
Looking at the owner of the mansion who was sitting on the sofa and was obviously in shock, Ed asked him directly. After hearing these words, the man named Sofox raised his head and glanced at Ed and Misha who was still masked, and spoke in a soft voice.
"Ah... yes... it's you. Thank you... thank you for saving me..."
"You're welcome, Professor. Since you promised to share information with us, we won't let you get hurt easily. You don't have to panic now. We are here, you are safe." Looking at the nervous Sofox, Misha said soothingly, and then she changed her tone and spoke.
"Before I ask you for specific information, can I know the details of your attack this time? Why... did Viscount Artie attack you?"
"This... I'm not sure either. Viscount Artie clearly came to visit me not long ago and asked me some questions about the symptoms of mental depression. I received him and answered his questions before he left... Who would have thought that he would come back after a while? He was like a completely different person, cold and murderous...
"The servant who received him was killed, and then he killed everyone he saw and broke into my study. I took the opportunity when my bodyguard tried to stop him and hid in the attic. Until you rescued me..."
Still with a slightly trembling voice, Sofox spoke. After listening to his words, Ed asked again curiously.
"You said that Viscount Artie came here some time ago? When exactly?"
"Probably... well, it was around ten o'clock. I didn't expect him to come at that time. He was completely normal at that time, without any abnormality, just like an ordinary person. After I saw him off, I didn't expect that he would come again and start killing people like a madman... Obviously... Obviously, Despenser has a crazy component in his blood..."
While recalling the frightening scene not long ago, Sofox tried to calm down and spoke. After listening to his speech, Ed asked him directly.
"Despenser... madman blood? What on earth is this? Can you tell me more about it?"
After listening to Ed's speech, Sofox did not respond immediately, but continued to look at Ed and Misha, and then spoke in a low voice with some mystery.
"You... are the so-called... Feng Wangwei, claiming to be secretly saving Pritt and protecting the royal family. Let me tell you... there must be something wrong with Pritt and the upper echelons of Tivian, especially the royal circle! After I saw that things were getting worse and worse at Tivian recently, I knew that one day I would be targeted and silenced, so I wanted to contact you and use the information I had in exchange for your protection. As it turned out, my judgment was correct! I have already attracted a fatal disaster, and you came to save me in time..."
With a tone of relief, Sofox said this, Dorothy knew that the so-called "wind alert" he just mentioned was the name Misha used when she was secretly active in Tivian and contacted the Security Bureau and other Prit nobles in recent times. He was originally planning to meet Misha secretly in this mansion tonight, and the appearance of Ati was obviously an accident.
"Don't be nervous, Professor. Now please start from the beginning and tell me slowly. What happened to this so-called 'madman'? Tell me why you think you will be silenced?"
At this time, Misha held Sofox's hand and continued to comfort him, while Sofox took a short breath and then continued to speak.
“This whole thing has to start from three years ago. Three years ago, I was the chief court physician and had served the Despenser royal family for more than ten years. At that time, I always thought that I would stay in this honorary position for a few more years and then retire gloriously, but I encountered an unexpected situation.
"I remember it was in February three years ago. There were suddenly several cases of unconsciousness and mental disorder among the close relatives of the royal family of Tivian. Earl Luke, Earl Victor, Viscount Vinson... several older nobles with Despenser blood all showed signs of mental abnormality."
Sofox spoke as he recalled, while Misha spoke frankly as if she had remembered something.
"I heard that Count Luke died of illness three years ago, but the cause of illness announced at the time was a cold. Didn't you expect it to be a mental problem?"
"Yes, it is a mental illness. At first, it was just trance and mumbling, but later it gradually turned into confusion and mental disorder. It became more and more aggressive and even crazy. Similar symptoms appeared in many elderly nobles with Despenser bloodline at the same time in a short period of time. I tried all kinds of methods but it was difficult to cure. As time passed, this kind of situation began to spread, and some young nobles began to have problems.
"Since these symptoms have obvious blood ties and are likely to be hereditary diseases, I, the court physician, used my own permission to look through the records of royal cases from various eras by court physicians of all dynasties, but found nothing."
"There are no medical records...so these are not genetic diseases?" Misha asked after listening to Sofox's words, and Sofox continued to answer.
"That should be the case. If this kind of madness is a genetic disease, the court physician should have kept records of it in the past, but I haven't looked it up, so this should be a recent symptom due to some other reason. Perhaps it's some kind of infectious disease that can attack the royal family's congenital defects.
"When I realized that this disease was unusual, I immediately reported it to His Majesty the King. I wanted His Majesty to pay more attention to this disease targeting people of royal blood and allocate more resources to me for prevention, treatment and research." Sofox said slowly, then his face changed and he changed the subject and spoke again.
"Yes, I never expected that after listening to my report, His Majesty the King not only did not give me the resources to prevent and treat this disease, but also directly ordered me not to continue researching this disease. Not only that, he also secretly blocked the news of the existence of this mental illness and confiscated all my previous research materials on this disease. All the nobles who died of this disease had their causes of death secretly rewritten by him. This is why you heard that Earl Luke died of a cold... In fact, he did not die of a cold at all, but of a mental illness! Madness!"
With a hint of excitement, Sofox waved his hand and spoke bluntly, while Ed supplemented his words.
"So... during that period, Charles IV was dedicated to suppressing the news of the existence of madness?"
"Yes, you are right. His Majesty seemed to be afraid that this disease would be known to outsiders, so he tried his best to cover it up. I was even forcibly transferred from the position of court physician. Before leaving the palace, I was summoned by His Majesty alone, and he told me to remember not to mention the existence of this disease to anyone.
“To be honest, I have never seen His Majesty suddenly become like that. At first, I thought His Majesty just thought that the spread of mental illness among the royal family and related nobles had become a scandal, so he concealed it. Although I felt a little unfair after being transferred, I also followed His Majesty’s order and did not dare to say anything more.
"After I was transferred, His Majesty appointed a new court physician. Her name seemed to be Corina. I didn't know her. She had no reputation in the medical circle of Tivian before. She was suddenly promoted to such an important position. I was a little unconvinced at first. I wanted to see how she would deal with those crazy diseases. I knew that these diseases would not disappear because of concealing the news.
"But what surprised me was that after Corina took over, the madness that had started to spread seemed to have really improved. At least from what I could learn from our channels, there was no sign of the disease spreading in the following period of time."
Sofox spoke slowly, then he took another sip of water, and after resting for a while, he continued speaking.
"Things have come to this point. Although I feel a little aggrieved, there is nothing much to say. After all, the disease seems to have been cured. So I began to slowly adapt to the position, but not long after I adapted, something happened again.
“When I was transferred from the position of chief physician of the palace, I was not the only one who left my original position. My assistant and some other palace physicians who were in charge of insanity with me were also transferred to different positions and were also asked to keep it secret.
"It was only recently that these assistants and former colleagues of mine began to disappear one after another! Just in the past few months, they gradually lost contact with me one by one. I looked for them, but found that they had disappeared without a trace! This made me feel more and more scared! I thought they must have met with some accident!
"After I found out that they were missing one by one, I started looking for help. I first reported the case to the police, then directly to the Security Bureau, and even directly applied for an audience with His Majesty, but all of them were useless. Although the police and the Security Bureau agreed to investigate, there was no result at all. After several months, there was no progress at all...
"I requested to see His Majesty, but His Majesty said he was busy with the Expo and hadn't shown up for a long time, so I couldn't see him at all.
"At this time, I found that Pritt's situation was getting worse. In order to prevent me from suddenly encountering an accident like my colleagues and assistants, I tried to contact you, because I really can't trust the official power of the Kingdom Government now..."
Thorfox said this, and Dorothy in the distance listened carefully to every word he said, and then let Ed speak directly.
"So, you think your colleagues and assistants are missing and were killed secretly..."
"Yes! Just like today, if you hadn't arrived in time, I would have been lost soon, right?" With a hint of lingering fear, Sofox spoke bluntly, and Ed changed the subject and continued speaking.
"You think the reason you are being silenced is because you knew about Despenser's madness, and the one who asked you to keep the secret before was... Charles IV, so you think it was Charles IV who sent someone to silence you..." With a solemn look, Ed looked at Sofox and said, Sofox swallowed his saliva, then nodded and spoke.
“I have been with His Majesty for quite some time, and I know His Majesty’s character. Generally speaking, he is not a cruel and inhumane monarch. He is majestic and fair, and is definitely not a tyrannical person.
"But, after the onset of madness three years ago, Your Majesty seemed to have become a different person. Not only did he become more and more reclusive and secretive, but he also suddenly wanted to waste people's money and hold a kingdom exposition at a huge cost...
"I don't think His Majesty would do this to us originally, but His Majesty now... I can't explain it clearly. I always feel that he has been bewitched by something in the past three years..."
With a bold guess, Thorfox spoke frankly to Ed and Misha. After listening to Thorfox's words, Dorothy in the distance couldn't help but murmur softly.
"Charles IV...
"It seems that all the clues now point to His Majesty the King of Pritt... If the Spider Queen knows that there is a source of corruption among the upper echelons of Pritt... is that him?"
Dorothy thought so in her heart, and then fell into deeper thought.
…
It was dark on the east coast of Prithpur, in the suburbs of Tivian.
At the headquarters of the Pritt Security Bureau, in a large brightly lit office in the heavily guarded Gale Fortress, Harold, the prince of the kingdom in military uniform and the head of the Pritt Security Bureau, was sitting at his seat, dealing with a large pile of documents piled up in front of Zhen.
"call……"
Finally, as if due to fatigue, Harold rubbed his temples, then picked up a cup of tea beside him and sipped it slowly, then put the tea on the table. At this moment, a few pieces of different colored light were swaying in the tea.
Just as Harold was about to continue bending over to process documents, the door of his office was suddenly pushed open, and several figures in black priest robes walked in quickly and quickly stood in various places in the large office.
Seeing the figure suddenly rushing in front of him, Harold, who was originally a little tired, couldn't help but frowned slightly, and then spoke bluntly.
"Dear priests of the Priestly Chamber, what brings you here so late at night? Are you facing any difficulties in your investigation within the bureau and need my help?"
"That's about right... Our investigation has hit a bottleneck, and we need your assistance, Your Highness..."
At this time, a crisp voice sounded, and then behind the door, a petite black-haired girl wearing a loose cloak slowly walked in and stepped in front of Harold's desk. When Harold saw the girl's figure, he immediately stood up.
"Ah... So it's His Excellency the Privy Councilor who has come here in person. I apologize for coming so far to greet you...
"Just tell me what investigation you need me to cooperate with. I will fully cooperate with you and find out everything in the Security Bureau that you want to know." Facing Artoli, Harold walked directly from behind his desk to the open space in the office, then knelt on one knee, bent down, bowed deeply, and said. Artoli looked at Harold in front of her silently, then spoke silently.
"There are so many things I want to know... For example, the evil cult Eight Spires is performing blasphemous rituals throughout the Pritt territory, and you clearly received the information but did not respond at all? For example, why is the confidential intelligence of your Security Bureau always openly sold on the secret market? For example, when you carried out large-scale clearing operations last year, why was it almost impossible to really clear out a key base of the Eight Spires? Capture a key figure? For example, one of your captains was killed in a surprise attack at the prison gate some time ago, and you can't find any clues after investigation? For example, we have just started an investigation into you, and we have received a lot of anonymous reports from all walks of life in Tivian?
"Your Highness, I have seen many incompetent secret police, but I have never seen someone as incompetent as you... The results of my subordinates' investigations over the past few days have really opened my eyes..."
Looking at Harold who was saluting in front of her, Artoli spoke coldly and bluntly, with obvious chill in her tone, while Harold responded calmly.
"Sir, what you just said is true. This serious situation has occurred because, first, I failed to manage well. Second, a high-ranking spy has infiltrated the bureau, which has led to various situations happening frequently."
"A high-ranking spy? Oh..." After listening to Harold's words, Artoli nodded slightly with a sneer, and then spoke slowly.
"Then I'm curious, how high must the status of this spy be to make you, a security bureau as big as you, always run around like a headless fly without a clue when it comes to the affairs of the Eight Peaks Nest? Is his status as high as yours?"
Staring at Harold in front of her, Artoli said indifferently, but at this moment Harold, who had originally lowered his head, slowly raised it and looked at Artoli who responded without changing his expression.
"This question has always confused us..."
As Harold whispered, the purple pupils in his eyes began to gradually turn into a dark red color, and finally formed eight spikes with the pupil as the center.
Just as the strange shape formed in Harold's eyes, a hint of dark red also appeared in Artoli's eyes, but it quickly disappeared.
"Heh... In your game, Ms. Pain's influence is really strong..." Looking at the change in Harold's eyes, Artoli sneered and said, after she suffered a similar loss once, it would be impossible for her to suffer a second time.
Seeing that Athole had resisted the erosion, Harold, who was kneeling on the ground, suddenly jumped up, swung his hand at a very close distance and slashed out a huge wind blade at Athole. Athole stretched out two fingers and put them together. After enchanting them with "Shadow", he gently slashed and cut off the oncoming wind blade. The huge wind blade that broke into two halves hit Athole from above and behind, and rushed out of the office and the Gale Fortress amid a burst of shattering glass and roaring bricks and tiles. Half of it affected a watchtower in the distance, cutting it in half.
After defusing Harold's attack with almost no effort, Artoli directly thrust her hand forward and pierced through the shoulder of Harold who was trying to dodge. Artoli directly grabbed Harold's bones indifferently and held him firmly.
Just as Harold cried out in pain and Artoli was about to cripple Harold's ability to move with her own hands, Harold's originally painful expression suddenly cleared up, and then several translucent illusory tentacles stretched out from his head, whipping Artoli and whipping him. Seeing this, Artoli immediately dodged and easily avoided them.
"Is this... an illusory entity from the inner world?"
After temporarily allowing Atolli to take a step back, those illusory tentacles wrapped around Harold. Then Harold himself began to turn translucent and quickly disappeared in a distortion.
Seeing this, Atolli immediately took out a talisman and took a picture of herself. Then Atolli herself turned into an illusory translucent state, and stretched out her hand to grab the illusory tentacle that was about to disappear. Then, Atolli was carried by the tentacles and disappeared directly in the office without leaving any trace.
When Artoli reappeared, she was already in a colorful dream woodland, with colorful grass, tall trees, and endless dark treetops. When Artoli's body entered the fantasy space in an unstable flickering state, she immediately began to look around for traces of Harold, but she saw another scene that surprised her.
In the air above this colorful woodland, between the huge trees, a figure is currently floating.
At that time, there was a "person", a "person" who was naked, had yellow skin, an extremely thin torso, a bald head, and big, lifeless eyes. He looked deformed and weird.
The "person" was covered with hair, pure yellow in color, with eyes staring downwards without any emotion. Behind the "person", a pair of colorful psychedelic moth wings were spreading out, as if one would feel lost and confused just by looking at them.
Countless smooth tentacles extended from the tail of the "person", and on one of the tentacles, a cocoon was wrapped.
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