Chapter 51: Riel Bieber
"Hey, don't be nervous. Is this your first mission?"
A melodious female voice came from behind him. Angel turned around and saw that it was Ms. Lolota who was accompanying him.
She continued to flex and stretch her right hand, and patted Angel's shoulder with her left hand as if to comfort him. "I see that your body is stiff. Are you okay?"
"It's okay. I was just... well, a little scared." Angel didn't want the other party to think he was unprofessional, so he quickly denied it.
Luo Luota took a step forward and walked towards the stairs with her side by side. She put down her right hand to rest and continued the flexion and extension exercise with her left hand.
"Don't worry. '2-049' is only a Level 2 Sealed Artifact. It's not very dangerous. Although its effects are silent and the consequences are severe, we already have a good response strategy. As long as we act collectively like we are now, there's no need to fear its harm."
As if to protest against her evaluation, the iron box carried by Borgia, who was walking in front, suddenly made a "dong dong" sound, as if something inside was hitting the wall of the box quickly and violently.
Angel, who was observing the box, was startled and almost wanted to pull out his revolver and shoot the iron box a few times.
"Well...it does this sometimes, but don't worry, it doesn't make it more dangerous."
Luo Luota explained somewhat embarrassedly.
"Even if there is a way to deal with it, this seal is still very dangerous. Why do we need to bring it on today's mission?" Angel asked puzzledly.
"Ah, I forgot your captain hasn't told you about this yet." Lolota turned around and looked at Dunn Smith, who was holding the rearguard. Seeing that he didn't stop the two from talking, she continued, "Today we are going to look for a notebook, the notebook of the Antigonus family."
"The full name of this sealed object is 'Antigonus Puppet'. Its sole function is to locate any objects or people related to the Antigonus family."
Antigonus?
Angel felt that the name was quite familiar, as if he had heard it not long ago.
By the way, the Antigonus family's notes, isn't that the notebook that Mr. Fool mentioned at the Tarot Club, the one that the Secret Order lost?
The Hanged Man then explained the relationship between the Antigonus family and the Church of the Evernight Goddess. The former had been exterminated by the Evernight Goddess thousands of years ago and was lost in the history of the Fourth Epoch. They had a deep blood feud with the Church of the Evernight Goddess.
How could this puppet, which has the effect of specifically finding the Antigonus family, appear in the church's sealed object reserves?
Angel's mind raced as he looked at the iron box in Borgia's hand.
Boom boom boom——
As if in response to her gaze, there were a few more knocks from inside the box.
The five people stumbled down from the second floor of the Blackthorn Security Company. As they were crowded together on the stairs, in just one minute, 2-049 "Antigonus Puppet" launched four negative effects. Except for Lolota and Dunn, the other three were all hit. Borgia, who was carrying a box, was controlled twice. Fortunately, everyone kept flexing and extending their arms. When they were affected by the negative effects, they were immediately discovered by others and relieved of the stiff state by patting their shoulders.
Leonard Mitchell had already parked his carriage on the street downstairs, a short distance from the stairs. Seeing several people coming down the stairs, he sat in the driver's seat, kneading his right arm, and quickly raised his arm and began to flex and extend his elbow. Dunn quickened his pace and, as expected, Leonard slowed down his movements as Borgia approached the carriage. Dunn pushed him as he got on the carriage.
"I'll drive with him, and the four of you get in the carriage and protect the Antigonus puppet." Dunn looked back at the other four people, quickly gave orders, and assigned tasks.
Although the characteristics of 2-049 will only prioritize affecting the three closest targets when multiple people surround it, to be on the safe side, it is better for two people to drive and take care of each other.
Borgia nodded and took the lead to get into the not-so-wide carriage. Angel followed, but bumped into the former who was in a stagnant state, and incidentally lifted his negative state.
This effect happens too frequently, almost every 20 seconds or so...
Angel frowned as he looked at the iron box engraved with the holy emblem of the Goddess of Night. There were still knocking sounds coming from the box from time to time, and the "puppet" inside was extremely restless.
The four of them sat down, the two ladies on one side and the men on the other.
Borgia placed the box on the floor of the carriage, right in the middle of the four people. This way, "2-049" was surrounded by the four people in the carriage. The possibility of negative effects affecting Dunn and Leonard who were driving outside the carriage, or affecting passers-by was very small.
Leonard started the carriage, and the wheels rolled over the cobblestone road, moving forward quickly.
"Where are we going?"
Angel watched the changing scenery outside the window, his eyes tracking the pedestrians left behind by the carriage, trying to observe whether they fell into the negative state created by the seal. He asked doubtfully only after confirming that it would not affect the targets outside the carriage.
The taciturn scarred man Borgia remained silent, staring intently at the box in the middle of the carriage, his eyes occasionally glancing at the other three, ready to lift their negative status at any time.
"Reil Bibb's home. That's where Antigonus' notes were last seen. Look, your 'diviner' found them."
The black-haired Lolota answered, nodding at Klein who was sitting opposite her.
"Actually, it was Mr. Neil who divined out Riel Bieber. I just happened to have my spiritual sense activated and noticed something was amiss."
Klein waved his hand and explained, but his hand, which was halfway through waving, suddenly slowed down, his eyes lost focus, and his whole body stopped.
Borgia nudged him with his elbow, releasing the negative state. Seeing Klein breathe a sigh of relief and lower his arm, he said in a low, cold voice, "Humility is a virtue, but excessive modesty is not."
After saying this, Borgia stopped talking and returned to his previous state of immersion in his mission. Of course, he was soon favored by Antigonus, and fell into stagnation, only to be rescued by the "overly modest" Klein.
————
The carriage drove through the streets of Tingen City and soon arrived in front of a three-story building. Leonard pulled the horse and stopped.
"We're here," Klein said briefly.
Borgia nodded, stood up with 2-049 in hand, and walked out of the carriage first.
Angel followed him down and looked at the building in front of him.
The three-story building was similar to the street-side apartment buildings she had seen in her previous life. The street-facing door was in the middle, with suites of the same type on both sides. There were a lot of clothes hanging outside the windows of the four households on the first and second floors, obviously someone lived there for a long time. The window on the right side of the third floor was sealed with a khaki strip from the inside.
It seems that is our target for today.
Dunn and Leonard also left the carriage, and the six of them reunited, each one raising their arms left or right, flexing and extending them non-stop. Passersby glanced at the group with either curiosity or caution, their steps subconsciously avoiding this area.
Even Borgia, who was taciturn and seemed not to care about these looks at all, could not stand it. Several people quickly left the street, went up the stairs of the apartment building, and soon reached the third floor.
The door of Reil Bieber's house was also sealed by the police, with a police officer's name signed on it. Dunn Smith tore it off without hesitation, took out a key to unlock the door, and signaled Borgia, who was carrying 2-049 "Antigonus Puppet", to enter first.
A foul smell wafted out of the room, and just as he entered the door carrying the iron box, the "dong dong dong" knocking sound appeared again and became more intense.
Looking at the iron box that was shaking from being hit from the inside, Angel quietly took a half step back. She looked at Dunn and Leonard. The two seemed to have expected it and did not show any surprise.
Wait... they were affected by the negative effects...
Seeing their shaking arms suddenly slow down, Angel reacted. Without caring about why 2-049 could affect two people at the same time, she quickly stretched out her hands and pushed Dunn and Leonard respectively to wake them up.
Borgia turned around and looked at the crowd. Seeing that two people were simultaneously affected by 2-049, he nodded and said seriously, "This confirms that Riel Biber is indeed a descendant of the Antigonus family."
Is this confirmed? Could it be that the seal is influencing both of them at the same time?
"As long as it encounters the descendants of the Antigonus family, or even a little bit of their breath, it will become excited and violent. You have seen the consequences." Lolota explained on the side.
"Can this sealed object become excited? Does it have its own thoughts?" Klein asked curiously.
"You'll know in a moment." Luo Luota answered mysteriously.
The others watched as Borgia carried the box around the room, allowing 2-049 to be exposed to as much of Riel Bieber's scent as possible. Then Dunn locked the door, and the others went back downstairs to the carriage.
"Bang, bang, bang--" The knocking sounds inside the iron box that was placed back in the middle of the carriage became more intense, as if a monster was about to jump out of the box.
Leonard and Dunn were still sitting in the driver's seat, with the latter looking out the small window at the front of the car, waiting for further "actions" from 2-049.
Borgia fumbled to unlock the mechanical switch on one side of the iron box, which at the same time disabled the spiritual shackles that originally surrounded the box. A strange atmosphere enveloped the carriage, and the knocking sounds stopped at this moment, plunging the previously bustling carriage into silence.
The next moment, the lid of the box was pushed open from the inside, the rusty hinges made a teeth-grinding creaking sound, and a brown arm stretched out from the box.
Its arms were less than 5 centimeters long and as thick as its fingers. It grabbed the opening of the iron box, dragged its entire body out, climbed over the wall of the box, and fell onto the floor of the carriage.
A palm-sized puppet appeared in front of everyone.
Its face was painted brightly, its body wrapped in brown cloth, its joints strangely twisted, as if controlled by invisible threads, and it stood up crookedly with mechanical movements. Its pebble-sized head had all the necessary features, but its appearance was strange.
The puppet raised its head and twisted its neck, looking at the four people in the carriage in turn. Then it grinned with the corners of its mouth raised high, looking like a circus clown against the backdrop of the oil paint on its face.
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