Chapter 731 Aleister: Beat them all!
"Daily outburst..."
Aleister fell into deep thought: "This sounds quite like the style of the Son of the Moon.
"Rage belongs not only to the realm of 'Crime and Punishment' but also to the realm of blood. I believe it should be based on the path of love or the ability to transcend the path - either a curse or a ritual."
"And here's the problem, Miss Aleister."
Prince Szijjártó’s expression was serious.
He picked up the tea in front of him and placed it on his left. "If this is a curse, then this disorderly rage itself is their goal. But if this is a ritual..."
Then he put three sugar cubes into the empty cup on the right.
He was about to pour the black tea from the left cup into the empty one when he saw Aleister hold out his teacup and pour the black tea he had only taken two sips of into it, letting the sugar cube sink and dissolve. He then turned the empty cup over and placed it on top of this one... leaving him with nothing but two upside-down cups.
Szijjártó frowned slightly and looked down at Aleister.
Aleister continued nonchalantly, "That means this is just a 'means'. The other party wants to use this to achieve other goals... right?"
"……Yes."
Prince Szijjártó nodded and replied, "So I'm not afraid this is a curse, but rather a ritual I can't recognize... Because if it's the latter, then the chaos they want to stir up is even greater than this."
As he spoke, he looked down at the teacup covered by the upside-down teacup, frowning in thought.
What exactly is the purpose behind Miss Aleister's sudden actions...
"You're saying," he said, trying to understand the young Moon Child's suggestion, "that this is some kind of hidden conspiracy? That we can't see its true nature because it's all covered up by another ritual?"
"That's pretty good."
Aleister scoffed and stood up.
She tilted her head slightly and glanced back at Prince Szijjártó and the astrologer with the unlucky name beside him: "What I mean is, don't drink tea here - buckle it up for you, so that your butt won't stick to this chair."
Hearing her words, Fenrir laughed dryly: "Miss Aleister, your words are a bit..."
...too vulgar?
He didn't say the second half of the sentence, but Aleister obviously understood it.
She just sneered: "If you think politeness can solve the problem, you can also ask the young ladies at the ball to dance for His Royal Highness.
"You asked me to kill someone—I hope you realize this. Or…"
Aleister looked at Prince Szijjártó and said, "You don't think that Leipzig's problems can be solved without killing anyone, do you?"
“…Prepare the car.”
After a brief silence, Prince Szijjártó decisively replied, "Let's go back to the White Dove Opera House."
"—Now, Your Highness?"
Fenrir was surprised. "But it's too late now! According to the stars, if we go back now, we will definitely not be able to catch anything..."
"Ha, forget your horoscope!"
Aleister laughed arrogantly, his body slightly tilted as if he was slightly drunk from drinking black tea: "That kind of thing is useless in front of me.
"I said something's wrong over there—it's going to go wrong now."
"Uh... okay."
Fenrir felt somewhat helpless, but he clearly recognized his position as a subordinate. Seeing Prince Szijjártó's resolute attitude, he immediately took action.
Prince Szijjártó turned to Aleister and asked, "Is it the Moon Child's intuition? Or is there any evidence?"
——There is no evidence.
Aleister thought.
Mainly because, as usual, when I approach this kind of special event, I always encounter troubles that come my way...
It's like a famous detective who always encounters cases when he goes out... Although her problems seem to be due to some "heavy cause and effect", at least the manifestation is the same.
Although Aleister couldn't just choose one of the three and then choose the only one with an alibi...but she was at least certain that if Leipzig encountered trouble of this magnitude, she would be unable to escape. It would eventually catch up with her.
She absolutely did not believe that the matter would end just because she was abducted by the prince before she even entered the house to listen to the music - apart from anything else, the honey badger was someone she brought with her, and it would be the same if she encountered trouble.
Although Aleister himself has the incredibly real fake identity of "Aleister Crowley", the identity of the honey badger is completely false.
Although if she were really questioned about her identity, the worst that could happen to her, as a master assassin, is to just use her invincible skills to kill her way out, but that would definitely cause trouble for Hawkeye and further lower the reputation of the Hawkeye organization... After all, the remnants of the fifth-level Dao power are too clear, and Xingti has a large number of astrologers.
——Please don’t find me, otherwise I will have to kill you all to achieve perfect stealth.
"It's the wrong name."
Thinking of this, Aleister sighed: "What a pity."
She shouldn't be called Ezio, she should be called Connor.
"……What?"
Prince Szijjártó wasn't sure if he was being ignored or if this was Aleister's answer. He felt a little lost for a moment.
"You are too logical."
Pulling Selene, who seemed to be resisting due to motion sickness, back into the car, Aleister sighed and reached out to take out the makeup mirror on his chest.
The mirror flashed, and Aleister turned back into Ms. Bayard again.
The childish voice suddenly became hoarse and magnetic: "Is this a common problem among you alchemists? Or is it the fate of the Balancers...
"I have a sister who suffers from the same problem you do—Equalizers are accustomed to analyzing the world rationally, which can easily lead to rigid thinking."
“…rigid?”
Prince Szijjártó murmured.
But he clearly cared deeply about alchemy, so he subconsciously retorted, "If we analyze the world and ultimately arrive at a 'big formula' that explains everything, then there shouldn't be any problems."
"...So you're an alchemist from the 'Grand Ducal' faction. How rare."
Aleister laughed.
The "Great Formula" faction is also known as the "balancers closest to the Path of Wisdom." Their balancing act is also for analysis, and analysis is also for application. However, they seek a "universal solution," an "ultimate answer that can explain all problems." This can often be understood as the "truth" pursued by the Path of Wisdom.
Even if we don't compare it with the Star Antimony Alchemists... compared with other alchemists, this is still a rare faction.
"I also studied Star Antimony Alchemy for a period of time."
Prince Szijjártó retorted, "At least I still believe in the Way of the Star Antimony."
"Really? The Way of the Stars is the Way of Transcendence... If you truly understood the Way of the Stars, you wouldn't be confused right now." Aleister leaned back in the back seat, hugged Selene, and tucked her head into his chest.
"……What?"
Prince Szijjártó in the front seat turned around with a puzzled look on his face.
At this moment, he only felt that Miss Aleister was a pure riddler who did not speak human language at all.
However, what he didn't know was that...from Aleister's point of view, every word she said could actually be understood literally.
"It's very simple," Aleister said casually, "You don't have to worry about whether it's a curse or a ritual, and you don't have to try to break it - they are in the dark, you are in the light; they set the trap, you dismantle the trap, where is the end of this?"
"You mean..."
"——Just go to their house directly."
Aleister replied, "Rituals belong to the Path of Transcendence. Those who transcend Star Antimony are mostly demonologists. Curses belong half to the Path of Transcendence and half to the Path of Love... The former are demonologists and ritual mages, while the latter are witches and moon children."
"…So who should we look for?"
Before he knew it, Prince Szijjártó had fallen into the position of a subordinate.
But there is no way...
Because Miss Aleister's thinking speed is progressing too fast.
While he was still pondering the nature of the current trouble and how it came about, Miss Aleister already looked like she was ready to fight.
—but he didn't even know who Miss Aleister wanted to beat up.
"Is this even necessary? Or do you know the answer but deliberately don't want to say it?"
Aleister smiled happily, "Of course it's the demonologist."
"Why them?"
"Of course, it may not be. Because I'm not sure either."
"...What if it's not them? As you said, there could be other forces as well... right?"
"—Then beat them all up."
Aleister replied simply, "Sort them out in order of highest threat and most suspicious, and beat them up from top to bottom. If you're lucky, it's over in the first round. If you're unlucky, the real criminal is vicious and cunning. What does it have to do with you?"
"But……"
"Think about it carefully, my dear prince."
Aleister narrowed his blood-red eyes in delight, his words as alluring as a succubus's. "Let me give you an example... In Leipzig, a cunning suspect misled the police, leading them to suspect someone else... But ultimately, the police discovered this suspect a little late and successfully arrested or killed him. In this case, even if the person who was mistakenly arrested complained, would the police bear primary responsibility for his earlier recklessness?"
"...Uh, I'm not that familiar with the law. But I should still bear some responsibility..."
Prince Szijjártó was sweating profusely.
"However," Aleister added, "what if the person who did this wasn't an ordinary policeman, but an officer from the police station? Or... I remember that there's a department in the Leipzig police station that's specifically responsible for incidents involving extraordinary people, right? So if this wasn't due to the suspect's cunning, but rather his use of extraordinary abilities—and the person who was misled was a big shot, would people hold him responsible for this?"
"...Well, I'm afraid there will be some outcry at most."
Prince Szijjártó pondered for a moment before answering, "But in the long run, people will be grateful for this great man's decisiveness. Help them end the crisis as quickly as possible. I understand. You mean..."
"—You simply wanted to save Leipzig. Your methods were a bit extreme at best... but your ultimate goal was to resolve this incident as quickly as possible. So who can blame you? Compared to some officials, aren't you, His Royal Highness, more powerful than them?"
Aleister chuckled and murmured, giving off the instigation of a busybody: "If you were a qualified Transcendent, you should have thought of this method from the very beginning.
"All the laws, treaties, morals, and conventions of the material world are merely constraints on the free soul of the Transcendent.
"In order to achieve your goal—no matter what that goal is, you must be prepared to ignore it, sever it, and transcend it.
"Without such awareness, how can one elevate a mortal soul into a Star Antimony? Think about it, those true Star Antimony alchemists... they'll do anything to climb the ladder, willing to make themselves look ugly just to make the next step. Do you truly possess such desire and determination? You, Valentine, probably don't understand this principle. After all, as long as you show a desire to advance, the royal family will naturally allocate the corresponding resources to you..."
Aleister's voice was low and gentle, accompanied by a faint fragrance, which filled the small space in the car.
Like a pink spider web, it deeply captured Prince Szijjártó's heart.
……yes.
He couldn't help but begin to doubt himself.
——He previously believed that he had come this far because of his hard work and determination.
But if his last name wasn't "Valentin"... even with the same dedication and determination, would he have reached the fourth level so easily? Would his mentor still be the president of the Royal Alchemy Association? Would he still have access to an inexhaustible supply of alchemy books?
The answer is obviously no.
He believed he understood Astral Alchemy—but Astral Alchemy was the ultimate knowledge whereby a mortal, step by step, sheds his mortal shell and ascends to godhood. Transcending one's own race, transcending the limits of matter, transcending soul and destiny... it was truly an act of transcendence.
But he merely followed the orders of his father and mentor to learn and master the corresponding techniques. Could this truly be considered an understanding of the Way of Star Antimony?
"...Then what should we do?"
Prince Szijjártó was confused and began to seek Aleister's help.
Aleister chuckled and said, “Let’s go see if anything happened at the opera house first. If something happened… let’s see who the demonologists are that are present.
“If nothing happens… we’ll just go ahead and fight.
"My intuition tells me that there must be someone involved in this conspiracy among the demonologists' gathering place."
"What if there isn't one?"
Prince Szijjártó asked subconsciously, but soon understood: "Then go beat up the next one!"
"Good, you're a fast learner."
Aleister raised the corner of his mouth and nodded with satisfaction.
Update! Also: The previous chapter where Honey Badger believes Aleister is the Pope's alter ego has been revised. The previously brief explanation has been removed, and the storyline has been unified into Honey Badger's initial suspicion of Aleister being the real Bayard. Because brief explanations can easily lead to different levels of information for readers who notice and those who don't, it's better to clearly explain these crucial details. Now that the version is unified, please take note!
(End of this chapter)
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