Chapter 453 I'm Back
Although they hadn't seen each other for only a week, and even had received two oral and written messages from messengers in that time, Angel still pursed his lips excitedly when he saw Klein's thin, angular face again. He blinked his sore eyes and took the initiative to open his arms to greet him.
"I'm back."
She hugged Klein's shoulders and whispered a reply in his ear. The moist air she exhaled misted on the lenses of her gold-rimmed glasses, obscuring her deep brown eyes.
This enthusiasm made Klein feel a little uncomfortable. He struggled and twisted a few times before finally hugging the other person. The two of them stood in the middle of the living room for a long time without separating.
"cough--"
An awkward cough was heard, and Angel woke up as if from a dream. He loosened his hands and felt a little hot on his face.
"Now that I've got Angel back here safely, I should get back to my business."
Mr. Azik adjusted his hat and bowed politely. Even after recalling many of his life experiences, the wit and humor of a Loen gentleman were still evident in him.
"That aura, similar to that of the 'Death God', reminds me of more things. Perhaps I will focus on searching for clues near the Raging Sea. But be careful, the power there is not accessible to Mid-Sequence."
After saying that, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten anything else this time."
The surrounding colors suddenly deepened and then faded, and Azik's figure disappeared in the living room.
Angel finally understood the meaning of his last words. He secretly glanced at Klein and saw him looking over. The two smiled at each other.
But after being interrupted by Mr. Azik, the two of them lost the mood for tenderness. Besides, this was not a reunion after a long separation. Angel quickly composed himself, sat on the single sofa by the balcony, and told Klein everything that happened on Pala Island.
"A high-ranking deacon who failed to be promoted, connected by nightmares, a small town that continues day after day, tourists who mistake copper mines for gold..."
Klein was also somewhat stunned. The other party's experiences over the past week were no less impressive than the many major events he had participated in at Bayam.
What surprised him most was the senior deacon Pierce who was hiding in the mine.
The Church of Night has only twenty-two senior deacons and archbishops. They are almost the top of the church except for the Pope. Even if they are not high-sequence, they are popular candidates for high-sequence.
Of course, Ince Zangwill was once one of them, but their subsequent trajectories were completely different. Zangwill stole the Level 0 Seal and, in order to jump to another path for promotion, created the Tingen Evil God's Advent incident, killing hundreds of civilians and Dunn Smith, the captain of Tingen's Nighthawks.
However, after going crazy, Pierce Turner struggled with his own desires and evil thoughts for half a year. In the end, when Angel cast the "disaster" spell, he even took the initiative to face the power of destruction and fulfilled his oath as a "guardian".
"So, you plan to return the extraordinary characteristics he left behind to the temple?"
After listening to this somewhat convoluted and touching story, Klein sighed and asked.
"Yes, this was his last wish. However, now that Beyonder Characteristics has been combined with a Holy Emblem of Night, it has become a contaminated Sealed Artifact. Since I'm not sure of the negative effects, I've temporarily sacrificed it to Mr. Fool for safekeeping. When Mr. Azik is free, perhaps he can resolve the contamination issue. Then, perhaps I can have a courier deliver it, or even return to the Northern Continent myself to return this Saint's Beyonder Characteristics."
Although strictly speaking, Pierce, who had not successfully advanced to Sequence 4, could not be called a "Saint", Angel still addressed the senior deacon as such as a sign of respect.
"How about you? It seems a lot has happened in Bayam this week, too?"
Angel asked with a smile on his face after recounting his wonderful journey.
"Nothing much. The followers of 'Sea God' Kalvetuwa launched a near-suicidal attack on Bayam. The deity, who once appeared as a giant sea serpent, even created a tsunami in an attempt to submerge the entire island. Danitz and I witnessed a high-level duel on the beach."
Klein's tone was flat, as if he was discussing what he had for breakfast, but he couldn't hide the anticipation in the corners of his eyes.
Until Angel pretended to be indifferent and didn't ask any more questions, he couldn't help but continue:
"I also confirmed my identity with the blue-haired ghost ship captain and worked together briefly. When dealing with the extreme believers of the Sea God, I left a good impression on the military and the Church of Storms. Perhaps I can use these identities in the future."
"Night, Steam, and now the Military and Storm," Angel counted them off on his fingers, "Why don't you add this 'Sea God' Kalvetuwa to the mix, making it a perfect five."
"Including Mr. Fool, there are already five..." Klein muttered softly, then changed the subject. "Furthermore, this Sea God is not even as good as a Saint of the Church of the Storm. The torrential rain and tsunami it unleashed quickly collapsed before 'Sea King' Yan Kottman. The fanatics who had originally planned to take advantage of the chaos to attack the garrison and the Church of the Storm lost their backup and were easily defeated."
Speaking of this Sequence 3 Cardinal of the Church of Storms, Klein's eyes gleamed with excitement. This was due to his envy of the high-ranking Beyonder and his desire for his power to change the terrain and even the weather.
Looking at Klein's expression, Angel quietly put away his worries.
After witnessing the tragic plight of Senior Deacon Pierce Turner, who failed in his promotion, she began to waver in her pursuit of power and goal of becoming a demigod. Even after digesting the Sequence 5 potion and gathering all the ingredients to create Despair, she still had to face the most crucial hurdle: the promotion ceremony.
If you are not careful enough and fail in your challenge to become a demigod during your promotion, dying on the spot would probably be the best outcome.
But thinking of Captain Dunn and the other victims who died in the God's Arrival tragedy in Tingen City, thinking of the over 100,000 people struggling in the Backlund smog, thinking of Ince Zangwill who remains at large, thinking of the smog's dark hand still shrouded in mystery...
...and Klein, who is also determined to seek revenge and is seizing every opportunity to improve his strength.
Angel asked herself honestly, no matter how many difficulties she faced, she could not stop where she was.
"What's wrong?"
A gentle questioning voice came from her ear. She collected her thoughts and raised her eyebrows to look at Klein in front of her, who looked worried.
"I just thought about Pierce's... ending. He had no relatives, no friends worth his trust. After his death, all he left behind were his extraordinary characteristics for the Church and a reminder for future generations. This made me..."
Before Angel could finish her words, Klein hugged her tightly, her arms tied to her sides, close to her body. This gave her a sense of protection and security while she lost her freedom of movement.
"Don't worry, at least we'll remember each other."
Klein said in her ear.
Yes, what am I worried about? I will remember him, and he will remember me too... Angel's lips curled up, and he gently pulled his arms apart and put them around Klein's waist.
"I……"
Bang--
The unlocked door, which was only half-closed, was pushed open. "Flame" Danitz walked in with disguised black hair. He winked and applied the makeup on his face more evenly while speaking loudly:
"Why aren't you ready yet? Didn't we agree yesterday to go to the Red Theater together this evening..."
Only then did he realize that Gehrman Sparrow was not the only one in the living room. There was also Angelica, who had disappeared for a week to attend to important matters on the Mid-Range Island thousands of miles away.
It is said that Angelica Thatch single-handedly took out an entire pirate ship of "Vice-Admiral of Disease" and her bounty has increased to 8,000 pounds!
Feeling the two people's emotionless gazes on him, Danitz tugged at the wig on his head, an awkward smile appeared on his disguised face. He chuckled twice and said as he stepped back:
"Oh, oh, I think I remembered it wrong. The person I was meeting was the one downstairs..."
With a bang, he slammed the door shut, not caring about the £6,000 bounty on his head, and ran downstairs.
The living room suddenly became quiet, as if a cold wind was blowing. Angel looked at Klein expressionlessly, and after a moment, he spoke:
"Red Theater?"
"If I said that Danitz and I were going there to look for clues about the Blood Admiral's first mate, you..."
"I believe it."
Angel interrupted him and replied with a nod.
"But I need to check."
"ah?"
…
Bang, bang...
Hearing the muffled sounds coming from upstairs, Danitz, who had already slipped to the first floor, shrank his neck. He felt as if he had exacerbated the conflict between the man and woman on the third floor by not being able to express himself clearly.
He wanted the two lousy adventurers who teased him with words and actions all day long to compete with each other and decide who was better, but he also didn't want to lose important combat power when dealing with "Blood Admiral" Senior. He stood in front of the door of the "Blue Wind" Hotel with a wig on his head, not moving for a long time.
————
Backlund, a secret office beneath Saint Samuel's Cathedral.
The spacious room was lit by only a few gas lamps, shrouding most of the space in darkness. However, the "Red Gloves" and Night Watchmen who were walking around or sitting at the table reading documents seemed to be unaffected.
This is the distribution center for information reported by the Church of Night from all over the country. After classification, most of them will be assigned to dedicated teams to investigate clues and carry out tasks, and the rest will be archived for review.
"Bayam's telegram: The Church of the Storm's 'Sea King,' Arne Kottman, clashed with the local primitive deity, 'Sea God.' After several days of confrontation, he overpowered the opponent. The local garrison is hunting down Sea God's fanatics..."
"Leave it to the team in Pritz Harbor. They have informants in the Rorsted Archipelago."
"Report from the Tingen Parish: The families of the two fallen Nightwatchmen have been transferred to the Backlund Parish for continued protection. Well, they live in the North District, on Clearwood Street, near the church."
"Team Al Hassan is responsible for protecting key targets in the northern area. Have them keep an eye on it."
"An application from Port Enmat. A fraudster, falsely claiming to be a follower of the Fool, was struck to death instantly by lightning after reciting the Fool's honorable name. Clement is requesting access to files related to the Fool."
"Isn't Lord Soest's team investigating the case of the Fool and the Tarot ritual? Hand it over to them."
…
Information circulated among the Night Watchmen and was quickly distributed to the appropriate people, until another piece of information was picked up, causing a young "Red Glove" in charge of the distribution to frown.
After confirming it twice, he snorted coldly and crumpled the telegram into a ball, but then thought that this was not in accordance with the procedure, so he spread out the wrinkled paper, smoothed it out, and stuffed it into a file bag with "Invalid Information" written on it and threw it aside.
"What is that?"
Another deacon beside him asked. He had finished his work temporarily and was looking for a topic of conversation out of boredom.
"The report from the Rorsted Archipelago, which was then forwarded to Pritz and then to Backlund, said..." The man with the red gloves was halfway through his speech when he saw the senior deacon on duty this month passing by and quickly lowered his voice, "...said a senior deacon died near the mid-range island far from the northern continent. He will return the items left behind at the appropriate time."
"Oh, if it was a different name, perhaps we would have investigated it, but he actually spread rumors about Saint Pierce..."
The senior deacon behind him surveyed the busy scene in the office, nodded with satisfaction, and walked out of the room, ascending the winding staircase that led back to the ground.
Only after all the conversation faded away did the senior deacon, who was not tall, had short dark brown hair and was about forty years old, stop.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
