Chapter 1116 Dance Skirt and Deer
Irises, Les Eygeans.
A lady wearing a hat and a light green satin dress, carrying her small handbag, was sitting in one of the few holy temples in the city, praying quietly with her eyes closed.
She had a delicate appearance, the kind that was quite endearing. She had long, dark brown curly hair that was almost black, and wore light makeup. She wore no jewelry, giving off a pleasant, "ordinary" air of beauty.
Father Cassius, who was consecrating the icon by wiping it with holy water, looked at her from a distance, a little lost in thought for a moment.
He knew her—at least he knew her name. This was information he had obtained during a holiday gift distribution.
Her name was Clara, a dance teacher at an arts college in Les Eygents. During her days off, she taught ballet to the daughters of wealthy families. She spoke softly, her eyes always twitching as she smiled silently. She came across as a gentle, reserved person, not particularly sociable.
She looks like some noble lady...
This thought came to Father Cassius' mind.
This wasn't surprising. After all, in Iris, nobles could easily be killed in a rebellion. And as the Iris Kingdom developed, even centuries-old families could suddenly fall into decline. And once women from such families lost their family's protection, it was often difficult to find any decent work beyond rituals, dance, and music.
Even... even such a job might not be found. Compared to men, women often have a harder time supporting themselves.
It's not that he can't endure hardship or lacks ability. It's because Hawkeye likes to capture people from these down-and-out noble women.
They all have good looks, figures and temperaments, and with a little training they can become excellent dancers. If they are willing to become assassins, they can have more assassination opportunities than male assassins; and if they are not willing, they can also use various means to provide funds to the organization. From this perspective, Hawkeye actually does not want them to support themselves.
"Father Cassius," an old voice came from behind, "Come here—there seems to be some noise coming from the barrier."
"Oh well."
Cassius, who was slacking off, heard his teacher's voice and responded quickly.
As he left, he subconsciously glanced towards Clara again.
A middle-aged gentleman who was dressed neatly and steadily and looked quite wealthy sat down next to Clara.
He did not communicate with Clara, but closed his eyes and prayed softly with a serious expression.
"Padre Cassius?"
“——Here it comes!”
Cassius looked at Clara reluctantly again, then wiped his hands and hurried over.
As he left, the middle-aged gentleman sneered softly.
"That kid seems to like you, [Dancing Skirt]."
He was still mouthing the prayer, but a completely different sound reached Clara's ears.
"I know."
The same is true for Clara.
She responded softly, her voice seeming even colder than her gentle and peaceful appearance.
"Is he your hook too?"
"No, just the bell."
Clara replied, "It's already been hooked. We can reel it in any time."
Hook and bell are both code words in the Hawkeye organization. The former refers to those who can help others make money or do dirty work, those who are controlled by the organization - such as those who have leverage over the other party or can be bribed with money and beauty.
The meaning of a bell is "something that can be used to attract attention." For example, some assassins would marry civilians who were completely unaware of their identities, using this method to conceal their identities, allowing them to legitimately enter and exit certain places, or have a sufficient reason to go to a certain place.
As long as their actions are reasonable, non-directional astrology is ineffective for them. This is because their motive for assassination will be obscured by the motive of another event, thus being confused. For example, if a person plans to take his children to the zoo and kill someone on the way back, then predicting his movements will only reveal that he planned to go to the zoo.
Avoiding astrological predictions was a must for high-ranking assassins. High-ranking figures—especially the Children of the Moon—often paid large sums of money to employ ritualists and astrologers to prevent curses and assassinations. If divination was unavoidable, the astrologer might even know the assassin's plans before he or she did.
The essence of astrologers' divination is to make limited predictions by testing the intentions of others, not to truly see the future.
For example, who will go where, who has clear hostility and murderous intentions towards whom, and from which direction the people with murderous intentions come - at most, if the paths resonate, you can occasionally see some fragments of the future.
But mature astrologers usually don't believe the future they see, they only take it as a reference... because fragments without a beginning or an end are more likely to mislead themselves.
Therefore, unless their identities were completely exposed, the Hawkeye assassins would not abandon their social identities. Mature assassins would often not go to bases, but would be sent directly by contacts - because any base could be under surveillance, making it unsafe or exposed.
Once you enter a monitored base, your identity may be exposed.
Without the protection of identity... a person with no social connections and a blank identity would be incredibly easy to identify. Even without the use of astrology, simple intelligence gathering and identity verification would lead to their assassination attempts failing due to various unexpected circumstances. A breach of identity could even lead to the exposure or arrest of all personnel in a base.
Clara, a dance teacher, and the wealthy family with three sons couldn't possibly have any legitimate interaction. They both cherished the identities they'd cultivated over the years and clearly didn't intend to jeopardize them with some unreasonable behavior. The most suitable place for them to connect was the church.
Although Iris' relationship with the Theocracy wasn't great, there weren't many devout believers here. But it wasn't surprising that anyone believed in God. Furthermore, the church didn't have any eavesdropping devices or premonition rituals... This place was perfectly safe.
It was enough for them to exchange information during prayer.
"Are you just fishing? Or do you really want to marry him?" the man asked.
"It depends on his performance."
Clara said calmly, "That guy is an honest man with a gentle personality. At least he's good enough to be a bell. He has the talent to become a bishop... Since the teacher has decided to follow the Theocracy, we'd better build good relations with them in advance, Xiaolu."
"Yeah, I know."
Although he is already the father of three children, he has the cute nickname "Little Deer".
The politely dressed entrepreneur was silent for a moment before asking his young-looking senior sister about serious matters: "How's the investigation going?"
"It's basically certain that it's in the basement of this church."
"Dancing Skirt" said softly, word by word.
"It's dark under the lamp..."
Xiaolu lowered his eyes calmly. "Should we report it directly? Or should we investigate further? We can let those young assassins test the waters. It just so happens... they've been quite excited lately."
"...Just report it directly. This level is enough. If you investigate further, I'm afraid something bad will happen."
Wuqun was silent for a while and still did not respond to Xiaolu's words.
She lowered her eyes somewhat sadly.
(End of this chapter)
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