Chapter 478 Stranger and Consultant
When the Stranger finally escaped from the Temple of Silver and Tin, he subconsciously looked back.
The entire palace was ablaze... The billowing flames distorted the surrounding air, and visible heat waves mixed with sulfurous steam rushed towards them. Steaming black smoke almost covered the sky, blending with the dark clouds above.
Like a dark passage, it descended from the sky into the palace of silver and tin... bringing doom and destruction.
Finally, it started to rain.
There was sulfur and fire on the ground, and dark clouds and heavy rain in the sky.
Fortunately, people had already started to evacuate and flee, so there was no crowding and causing a tragic stampede.
The end of the world is nigh.
Stranger couldn't help but be alert.
He had no idea whether his mentor "Bruzwick" had escaped... and he had no idea whether he had the confidence to control the Balrog.
And more importantly——
——Where are my teammates? Why are they gone again?
The mentor from his own world line, the real Mr. Brunswick who now accompanies him into the promotion ceremony as a "consultant"... and his schoolmate, Aurora, codenamed "Grape", where are they now?
The stranger felt confused.
He had just been diligently researching his identity, working hard to fulfill this role. He had originally planned to rest for the night and start looking for his companions the next day... But now, only a few hours later, the situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse, completely falling into uncontrollable and unknown territory.
"What on earth is that, Master Nobel!"
A trembling voice came from under Stranger.
The young man also felt confused and terrified by the terrifying monster: "After the Queen died, everything became so strange... Is this the Crown Master's punishment for us?"
"—Don't stop, run!"
Feeling the knight's slowing pace and repeatedly looking back toward the Temple of Silver and Tin, the Stranger shouted a command to the knight carrying him as he fled: "That's a Balrog! A Balrog can devour souls and continuously split itself apart...
"And most importantly, the Fire Demon will cause a violent explosion when it is defeated! Glass Island is about to be destroyed, we must leave here!"
Stranger is now very pessimistic about the outcome of this promotion ceremony.
The necessary task of this ceremony requires him to safely evacuate Princess "Isabelle du Lac" to the Eternal Theocracy.
And now, he couldn't even find the princess.
He couldn't find his teammates, couldn't find the princess, and had no idea how to get to the Theocracy - he had never been to Avalon, let alone the Theocracy, and had no idea how to get there.
Apart from the fact that the capital of Avalon was called Glass Island, he didn't even know the names of other cities, nor did he know where exactly Glass Island was located in Avalon, let alone the relative position of the Theocracy in Avalon.
I am very confused.
So the stranger decided to at least keep himself alive first—
If Princess Isabel fails to reach the Theocracy safely within four days, the Ascension Ceremony will be a failure. However, failure itself carries no penalty, only death does—so as long as she survives until the end, her goal will be achieved.
If possible, it would be best to find Grape as well. They would both find a place to live together and try to survive.
At this moment, Mo Ke suddenly heard a cry of surprise, which made him shudder.
"Master Nobel! You escaped?!"
Coming towards him was a handsome male bishop wearing a red robe.
The stranger didn't know whether he was familiar with the other party, so he could only pat the knight under him sadly, signaling him to put him down first.
Regardless of whether he was the priest called "Fox" or not... In any case, being able to travel with a bishop was a good thing. At least if I got hurt, he could save my life.
"...Yes, I escaped," Stranger said, trying his best to show a sad expression, "but the other knights and ministers seemed to..."
"What on earth happened in the palace?" the bishop frowned. "Did the Star Antimony people directly attack the royal family?"
...It was obviously one of your own people who assassinated the queen!
Stranger felt a little aggrieved and confused for a moment.
Because he really didn't know why the Star Antimony people dared to do this to Avalon.
——Now in the real world, Xingti is in the war started by the Avalon people.
The Griffin Legion from Avalon has become a nightmare for many civilians on the planet. When the Griffins fly close to the ground, the sharp sound of breaking through the air, the rolling thunder, and the howling hurricane indicate that a building or an area will be destroyed by the thunderstorm.
They had no means of countering this. The Colossi could only fire their weapons symbolically, but they never managed to bring down a single Griffin. They were simply too fast, too fast to be locked onto.
In addition, the rebellious mages in Narcissus Territory also caused huge losses.
The army had to consume lives and exert all its strength to barely stop the advancement of the mage phalanx.
Furthermore, the Theocracy's partiality made the decapitation tactic ineffective, and they were unable to launch a counterattack on Avalon itself.
The result was that Xingti was dragged into the quagmire of war before it was even prepared for it.
"It's all Minister Droste's fault!!"
The Stranger fiercely criticized Minister Droste for daring to assassinate the Queen - his disgust was undoubtedly from the heart.
——Now that Avalon is attacking Star Antimony, it seems that the root cause is the trouble caused by this fat pig named Droste!
...However, Stranger now vaguely realized how different this world line deduced by the Lord of Scales and Feathers was from the world line he was in.
At present, there are three main differences:
The first is that after Meg's death, no new Grand Arbitrator "Ligeia" appeared. Ligeia was suspected by Xingti's intelligence department to be a silver dragon transformed into a human, and was suspected to be the child born to Meg and a dragon when she was young.
More importantly, the Aiwass in this world did not become famous and become the Minister without Portfolio, but became a bishop. Miss Aleister, whose real identity was said to be the "Lady Bayard" of the Imperial period, did not appear either.
Furthermore, Queen Sofia did not die in the winter of 1898, but lived until the autumn of 1899. Queen Isabel, who was more forceful, never succeeded to the throne.
It was these three differences that led the world to another possibility that was extremely unfamiliar and completely different to him.
Xingti actually declared war on Avalon! And it seems there's actually a chance...
The Theocracy hadn't had time to send guards, and Isabel didn't have Aiwass's help. Now that the Temple of Silver and Tin was destroyed, chaos reigned in the rear...
According to Mo Ke's understanding of Xingti, the next step would probably be a surprise attack by the front troops.
After listening to the stranger's detailed, heartfelt criticism, narration, and reasoning, the unnamed bishop frowned. "So that's how it is... Are you sure Her Highness is alright?"
"Anyway, I saw Ms. Shafiya running away with Her Royal Highness the Princess."
Stranger answered simply, "I don't know what happened after that."
He didn't say how he saw it - but he did see it anyway.
But simply saying that Isabel escaped doesn't seem to explain the whole story.
"But where can Her Royal Highness go..."
The bishop fell into deep thought.
"I have an idea, but I'm not sure if it's right," the Bishop said suddenly, "that she may have gone to Moriarty Manor."
Hearing this, Mo Ke's heart moved.
——How do you know that Princess Isabel is related to Aiwass?
"Are you a fox?"
He asked tentatively.
"What?"
The Bishop was puzzled by the incoherent words. He just shook his head and explained, "My name is not Fox. I am Samuel Mathers, and the young Bishop Moriarty is my student.
"He has some acquaintance with Princess Isabel. If there's anywhere the princess would go, I think it would be there."
...They do have "some friendship".
Stranger thought.
He had never heard of the name Samuel Mathers.
But he knew that in another history, this "Queen Isabel" and "Miss Aleister" had been competing fiercely for men, and her methods were quite vicious - she directly drove Lady Bayard out of Avalon and never returned.
"You come with me."
Bishop Mathers grabbed Nobel and turned to the young knight. "You too, come with me—we need to gather the limited forces we have. First, send Her Royal Highness to a safe place."
"Whether the Palace of Silver and Tin is destroyed or the Glass Island falls, as long as the princess is still alive, there's still hope... With such a massive fire, I'm sure Prince John has already perished. With the princess's death, the Du Lac bloodline will be completely extinct.
"What is your name, young man?"
At this point, Bishop Mathers asked the young man, "I haven't seen you in the Round Table... You're not an arbitrator, are you?"
What?
The stranger was shocked.
He thought the other party was an arbitrator of the fourth level, but it turned out that he was not at all?
No wonder he seemed so timid, barely able to run fast even with me, bare-armored, on his back. And he didn't appear in the middle of the Silver and Tin Palaces, dying immediately like those knights. Instead, he was at the edge of the palace like me... That's why he was able to avoid the first wave of attack...
“…Exactly.”
The young man nodded sadly: "My name is Allen Carter. I was invited by my father to attend the engagement party...but my father..."
He clenched his fists tightly as he spoke. "After the incident, I've been hiding nearby. I wanted to escape, but I couldn't find a chance..."
Hearing this, the Stranger understood - it was obvious that his father was one of the knights who were killed.
He had no idea what was going to happen, otherwise he would never have brought his son to this dangerous bloody banquet.
"Alan Carter…I've heard of you, Aaron."
Bishop Mathers patted him on the shoulder and said, "Come with us."
Meanwhile, Sherlock slowly opened his eyes, a flash of deep blue fire in his pupils.
He was now being held in Aiwas's arms, waking up from the shock of the rapid running.
Seeing the flames rising into the sky from afar through the gap between Aiwas's shoulders, he immediately knew what had happened.
Carl exploded.
That jerk Droste...how long has he delayed me...
"Consultant" thought coldly in his heart.
Being injured or tortured was nothing to him. For a seeker on the Twilight Path, pain was merely an illusion. What truly infuriated him was being locked up and unable to be released. He also had to act out the role of Shylock and Minister Droste, which cost him the initiative and wasted a great deal of time.
If he had not been rescued by Aiwass, he would have been burned to death on the spot by the fire demon that appeared after Carl's death.
...I hope that "another self" can deal with the trouble left by Carl.
The reason why the two of them always travel together is because the advisor has a way to deal with the out-of-control Balrog.
But he doesn't have time to take care of things over there now.
Today, the advisor's necessary task is to "help Princess Isabel arrive safely in the Theocracy."
But consultants are not meant to work with other people.
——Because his understanding is deeper than others... He knows the plot style of each pillar god.
This is the ascension ceremony created by the Lord of Scales and Feathers.
The theme of the Lord of Scales and Feathers is adaptation and survival, so as long as you survive, you will have the opportunity to complete the promotion.
In other words, it is not decisive at all who completes the necessary tasks - unlike other rituals, the necessary tasks of the Lord of Scales and Feathers do not even need to be completed!
[When someone completes the necessary tasks, or the ceremony time ends, the ceremony will be settled immediately; the three people with the lowest points at the time of settlement will be eliminated.]
This is the rule described by Akpolis.
...I hope those two idiots can react and not just listen. It would be best if they could realize that this promotion ceremony is different from the past... Otherwise, I'll have to give them an extra 500-line essay and a 300-line confession when I get back.
The consultant thought.
The advisor's goal this time was to help his two students pass the promotion ceremony. Even if he successfully escorted the princess to the Theocracy with the two children, there was a chance that someone would not complete enough tasks and thus receive fewer points than those who did not escort the princess.
On the other hand... those who choose to escort the princess have the advantage of being able to decide when to end the promotion ceremony. However, since they don't know the current points of others, this still carries risks. Furthermore, even if they send the princess away quickly, they will still have insufficient points due to completing too few tasks, and thus will not be able to obtain the excellent path characteristics.
So the consultant planned to take another route.
——Secretly kill Isabel.
As long as Isabel dies, no one is destined to complete the necessary tasks. They can only wait until the ritual ends and force the conclusion... and those who are unaware of Isabel's death will inevitably try to search for her.
This incident took up time and distracted attention, so other people definitely had much less time to complete tasks and score points than the three of them.
If we could eliminate at least three people based on this incident… we could ensure that no one was eliminated and that the three of them would take the top spot. Killing people still had advantages, as at least there would be no points deducted for unintentionally helping others complete the task.
"Are you awake, Sherlock?"
Aiwass's voice rang out.
The consultant paused and asked in a weak voice, "Where am I...Moriarty?"
"On my way to my house."
Aiwass replied helplessly, "Ms. Shafiya's teleportation distance is a bit short...it fell out in the middle."
"Because I didn't have enough time to prepare! He was about to explode, and I couldn't lock onto him accurately..."
Shafiya said angrily behind Aiwas, "It's not far anyway, just a few steps. Let's go back and see if Princess Isabel is safe... I'm a little worried that the man in black will attack Her Royal Highness. After all, he didn't show up when we were fighting just now."
—Is Isabel at the Aiwass's?
The consultant's heart moved.
"Rest first, Sherlock. Stop thinking."
Aiwass whispered, "I'll treat you when we get back."
So the consultant nodded slightly and closed his eyes silently.
Seven thousand five hundred words, updated!
The cat is back!
Oh my god, I only slept for two hours the day before yesterday to catch my flight, and I didn't fall asleep on the plane either. I felt like I was going to die. When I landed at the hotel, I took a shower and passed out on the bed before I even had dinner...
I slept for eleven hours, waking up four times. Finally, I came back to life...
Cat, come back!
(End of this chapter)
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