"That damned liar! That ring was passed down from my grandfather!" The old gentleman angrily banged his cane.
When he saw that the other victims were all girls, he coughed again and blushed.
“He was an imposter? I thought he really was the Pope of Fate.” One of the ladies sobbed, holding a handkerchief. She had given the swindler a piece of amethyst that her father had left her, hoping that he could help her escape the fate of being sent to an arranged marriage by her family. But she never expected that not only would she not escape such a fate, but she would also lose her only hope.
"He's a liar? That guy from yesterday was a liar?" A noisy commotion arose as many people came to the door to inquire, accompanied by a few curses. However, no one knew the liar's real name; they kept mentioning the words "Pope of Fate" and "Phil."
Phil Gray feels his reputation has been damaged!
Bernie frowned, then began to reassure everyone, "Alright, everyone, please register your losses first. I'll report it to our church and then notify the Church of Destiny. Perhaps we can find a way to locate that swindler again."
"Hmph, he jumped into the sea, I curse him to be eaten by sharks!" Caroline said discontentedly.
Phil Gray was about to say something when he caught a glimpse of a white figure flashing by the doorway. He hurriedly pushed through the crowd and chased after the figure, but it had vanished again. A sense of unease crept into his heart. Could this person, appearing time and again, be the white-clad figure the conman had mentioned that day? What was he trying to do?
"What's wrong?" Eli walked over and noticed that Phil Gray looked a little strange, so he asked curiously.
“I saw a white shadow,” Phil Gray said in a deep voice.
"You saw it again? You mean what the scammer warned you about the other day was true? He told you to be careful of people in white clothes."
“Well, I can’t see my own fate, but I do see that Miss Caroline’s fate won’t be good.” Phil Gray looked into the distance, a resolute glint in his eyes. “Perhaps we should take the initiative.”
Waiting for the person who had been secretly observing them to make a move would put them at a disadvantage. He didn't know what this person's purpose was, but he was unwilling to sit idly by and wait for his doom.
Back in the captain's cabin, Bernie had already calmed down the passengers who had been tricked and announced that dinner would be free for all passengers that night. This was his usual tactic—to use such a favor to ease the tension and prevent anyone from having a bad impression of the commercial church's passenger ship.
After everyone else left, Bernie complained to them with a bitter face, "Ugh! This trip was such a loss. So many things happened along the way, and not only did we not make much money, we actually lost a lot."
Eli remained noncommittal, while Phil Gray was somewhat speechless, wondering why this guy didn't mention at all the money he made from Caroline.
However, he was more interested in asking about the man in white. "By the way, do you know who that gentleman who was completely wrapped in white cloth is?"
This person is highly suspicious, since all the other passengers seem like normal people, but he is the only one who is hiding his face and acting suspiciously.
Bernie pondered for a moment, then picked up the passenger list for Gold Coin Three from the table. "Although in principle I shouldn't let outsiders like you see it, but..."
"Alright, alright, stop arguing. Just show them. After all, these are the ones who helped us get off that damned ship," the captain, who was focused on steering the ship, suddenly said.
Phil Gray smiled; it seemed the captain was a decent guy.
“Wait, let me check.” Bernie flipped through the roster. The unique feature of the Gold Coin Three passenger list was that each passenger had a simple portrait below them. Although it wasn’t as clear as a photograph, it was still very recognizable.
Phil Gray even saw portraits of himself and Eli on it, but he clearly did not remember anyone drawing their portraits.
He asked the question aloud and heard Bernie's reply: "We have a crew member who is favored by the god of art. His only ability is to paint very fast. We recruited him to make this passenger list. When you boarded the ship with your tickets, he was the one who collected the tickets and registered your names."
So that's how it is. Phil Gray didn't hear about this god often. His followers were mainly people who loved art, and their skills were mostly related to art.
He knew absolutely nothing about art and had no interest in it.
While thinking, they helped Bernie scan the contents of the list. After flipping through a few pages, they finally saw the portrait of the man in white.
“His name is Terence, an ordinary person from the Kingdom of Puna, nothing else,” Bernie read aloud.
Phil Gray was somewhat disappointed, even though he already thought it was impossible for him to write down the real information.
Bernie continued flipping through the pages, and he found the man who had impersonated the Pope of Fate. "I wonder if the information this guy wrote is true. Victor Gray, and he even shares the same surname as the Pope of Fate? Tsk tsk, to be honest, in all these years, this is the first time I've seen someone so audacious, daring to impersonate the pope of a major church. Isn't he afraid of being hunted down by the Church of Fate? But I didn't expect that some passengers would actually believe him."
“The main reason is that he is indeed a favored one of the gods of destiny. Most of the gods’ favored ones have a sense of awe towards the gods. How could he impersonate the pope of our religion?” Eli also sighed.
Phil Gray's eyes flashed. Yes, could this person impersonating him be an apostate?
Perhaps we can investigate from this angle later.
“Alright, the information on the passenger list is limited, and I don’t know anything about the passenger in the white shirt either. If you have something to say, why don’t you just ask him directly?” Bernie closed the list and put it back in its place.
Phil Gray nodded and looked at Eli. "Going directly to him might indeed be a good idea."
"Huh?" Eli was a little surprised. We're just going to go like this?
“Turn left, the third room, that’s where you’re looking for.” Bernie knew the ship’s guests’ accommodations like the back of his hand. For a businessman, nothing was more important than having sufficient information; sometimes, information meant money.
“Alright, I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I wish you good luck. I’m going to contact the church to report that swindler. Sigh, the church probably doesn’t want to receive any more messages from Gold Coin Number Three,” Bernie continued.
...
Phil Gray and Eli stopped at the man's door, exchanged a glance, and knocked.
No one answered, but the door was unlocked.
“Hello, we have some questions we’d like to ask you,” Phil Gray said in a gentle tone.
There was still no sound from inside, so Eli simply reached out and pushed the door open.
The moment the door opened, a flash of cold light appeared. Fortunately, Phil Gray reacted quickly and pulled Eli away, otherwise he would have been stabbed by that sharp longsword.
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