Lord of the Mysteries

“Yes, a month or so ago.” Aaron nudged his gold-rimmed glasses and gave him a positive answer.

A month or so ago? Isn’t that when you were being troubled by Will Auceptin-related nightmares? Klein was surprised and puzzled, but he didn’t let his emotions show.

In the blink of an eye, he thought of the two divinations he had made.

Will Auceptin was in a dark room with the sound of running water outside.

Was that symbolizing amniotic fluid or blood? Klein’s heart chilled as he suddenly understood something.

When he looked at Dr. Aaron again, he wore a rather complicated look in his eyes.

He suspected that his wife was carrying Will Auceptin, a Snake of Mercury!

In the symbolism of mysticism, the Snake of Fate’s head and tail are connected, with it devouring its own tail. It implies the cycle of destiny in a hidden manner… In order to avoid his enemy, Will Auceptin took the initiative to secretly initiate a new cycle in advance? Klein guessed based on what he knew.

Dr. Aaron didn’t notice the abnormality he was trying hard to hide. He smiled and said, “He’ll definitely be a cute guy. When he’s born, I’ll hold a party to celebrate his arrival. Sherlock, don’t refuse my invitation when the time comes.”

“Perhaps it’s a she,” Klein replied with a smile.

Frankly speaking, he was curious to see what kind of state the newly born Snake of Mercury was in.

However, he was also a little afraid and worried. After all, the Snake of Mercury was a Sequence 1 of the Monster pathway related to fate, and it also involved the fight for the position of being a deity. No one could be sure whether the future would be smooth sailing, with peace and bliss.

For Dr. Aaron, I don’t know if it was fortune or misfortune… Whether Will Auceptin is kind is one matter, but whether or not the other Snake of Mercury would discover him is another matter… And Will Auceptin hasn’t done anything as of now. Informing the Nighthawks now would seem a little cruel. I’ve always understood wild Beyonders… It’s best to just quietly watch from the sidelines and not get involved, or perhaps taking advantage of the situation is the best choice… Maybe I made a mistake in my interpretation and am overthinking things? Perhaps Will Auceptin isn’t a Snake of Mercury at all! Perhaps the child Mrs. Aaron is carrying is very normal! Many thoughts flashed through Klein’s mind.

“She? That’s even better.” Aaron said in anticipation.

After some thought, Klein asked another question, “Have you had any nightmares lately?”

“Occasionally, but they were all normal nightmares. There are no longer any nightmares of Will Auceptin anymore. Sherlock, thank you for your guidance,” Aaron said earnestly.

No, no, no, that makes it abnormal. As a keyboard warrior, my limited general knowledge of psychology tells me that occasionally dreaming of Will Auceptin would be the natural thing to do. It’s a standard response from overstimulation. Since Will had caused you so much trouble and left such a deep impression on you, it would definitely be reflected in your dreams. Therefore, the correct outcome would be to occasionally dream about Will Auceptin, but the dream wouldn’t be too clear, to the point of only knowing that something like that had happened without remembering the details… Klein was pretty sure.

At that moment, he heard a rustling sound.

He subconsciously looked outside the hall, only to see the darkness in the air being dispersed by a strong wind, and the thin light-yellow fog was swept away as a result.

The leafless branches swayed back and forth, and the strong gust of wind left a clear trail towards the southeast.

A few seconds later, everything returned to normal.

“It’s hard to see such strong winds in Backlund during winter. At least, I don’t remember anything like it before.” Aaron sighed as he looked out the window.

That’s not an ordinary wind… What happened? Klein suppressed his curiosity and made an excuse to go to the bathroom to perform a simple divination, but he failed to obtain any effective revelations.

He temporarily put this matter to the back of his mind and prepared to head to the underground shooting range to practice his shooting.

At that moment, a waiter wearing a red vest came through the warm hall and respectfully said, “Mr. Moriarty, your friend is here for you.”

“Who?” Klein asked in surprise.

“Mr. Ikanser Bernard,” the red-vested attendant answered.

The deacon who’s often forced to “perm his hair”… Why is he suddenly looking for me? Have there been any new discoveries? Klein immediately walked to the reception hall of the club.

Ikanser pressed down the hat which had been pushed up by his fluffy hair, walked over, and said with a lowered voice, “The Mandated Punishers have found Jason Patrick Beria.”

“How was he found?” Klein asked, half surprised, half curious.

According to his divination, Jason Beria had always been wearing human skin. His true appearance and aura weren’t what they had assumed they were. It was almost impossible for him to be found so easily!

Ikanser surveyed the area and said, “I’m not sure. I just received the news.”

He pointed to a small white bird standing on the tree outside the door.

The bird was leisurely cleaning its feathers with its beak.

Before Klein could ask further, Ikanser gave a general account of what had happened.

“The Mandated Punishers found clues and confirmed Jason’s location. However, the Devil discovered the danger in advance and managed to kill two Mandated Punishers and fled before they managed to close in on him. This infuriated the higher-ups of the Church of the Lord of Storms. As such, Spellsinger of God, Ace Snake, is currently personally in pursuit. You likely saw a gust of wind just now. It was caused by him. He’s the Archbishop of the Church of the Lord of Storms’s Backlund diocese, and he’s also one of the Cardinals of the Church of the Lord of Storms.

It sounds normal, but it also feels weird… According to my theory with Mr. Isengard, this can be also understood as a way for Jason, the Desire Apostle, to draw away High-Sequence Beyonders… Klein asked after some deliberation, “Are you sure that the person discovered is Jason Beria?”

Ikanser’s expression instantly turned heavy as he replied with an odd tone, “I’ll give it a try,” he replied in a strange tone.

He motioned to Klein to follow him out and into a large carriage parked at the side of the street. There were two members of the Machinery Hivemind inside.

Ikanser took a deep breath and took out the strange-patterned silver mirror from a special pocket in his clothes.

After doing the necessary steps, he gloomily said, “Honorable Arrodes, my question is: ‘Where is Jason Patrick Beria’s current location.’”

The surrounding light suddenly warped, as if they were lights after a rain. A scene rapidly surfaced on the silver mirror.

It was a riverboat with a sail raised. Jason Beria, with his high cheekbones, blue eyes with a gray tint, and neatly combed hair, pressed down his cap, propped up the collar of his coat, and hurried into the cabin.

“He’s really trying to escape Backlund! Spellsinger of God seems to be heading towards the dock area…” a female Machinery Hivemind member said in realization.

That’s way too easy for him to be exposed, right? Klein was filled with doubt.

Ikanser wasn’t concerned with any of this; all his attention was placed on the silver mirror’s surface.

This time, there was only the choice of answering. Answering it wrongly or lying meant suffering a terrifying penalty.

Soon, words in blood-red appeared on the mirror:

“If the man you like is covered with lumps; has his skin shed, reducing him only to flesh and blood; or has become a monster, but it is still able to communicate with him, will you still like him?”

What a shameful question… Wait, a man? Klein almost turned his head to look at Ikanser.

Ikanser slowly breathed out and said, “I will, but I will kill him with my own hands.”

“Very honest.” A new combination of words appeared on the surface of the silver mirror.

… This question and answer game is simply a public hearing… Klein really wanted to cover his face.

He looked at the other two Machinery Hivemind members and saw no abnormalities from them, or perhaps, it should be said that they were pretending to not have any abnormal expressions. He hesitantly said, “I keep feeling that all of this has been too easy. Perhaps that’s not the real Jason Beria?”

“But Jason Beria was directed at him.” Ikanser was planning to put away the silver mirror.

Klein thought for a few seconds and said after organizing his words, “No, what I truly mean is that we have to abandon any ingrained judgments. What we are looking for is that Desire Apostle, not Jason Beria. The two might not necessarily be the same.

“This is a point that I have to mention as a detective.”

…

On King’s Avenue, a luxurious carriage left the kingdom’s parliament.

The carpeted carriage was furnished with a bed, a sofa, a table, and other furniture, like a mobile room.

Duke Pallas Negan, who was dressed in a dark blue admiral’s uniform, was drinking a polished crystal glass of red wine that resembled crimson blood.

As he sampled the wine, he said thoughtfully, “Invite Earl Hall to be my guest tomorrow. I would like to discuss with him about increasing the remuneration of the factory workers and improving their working hours, as well as amending the Poor Law. These are bills he has been pushing hard for recently. He should be very interested. Heh, why would the Church of the Evernight Goddess suddenly be concerned over such matters?

“When sending the invitation, you can first inform Earl Hall about the topics I wish to discuss. The property restrictions for the elections are necessary and cannot be lowered. Otherwise, those who are in control of a large number of workers will take up more seats. Also, suppress the recent attack on the invalid voting districts…”

The secretary at the side quickly scribbled down Duke Negan’s orders.

After he was done, Duke Negan sighed and said, “The reason I’m doing this is also for the sake of the nobles. However, there are more and more useless fellows among us, and there’s even quite a number of them who owe money to the tycoons.”

At that moment, the carriage didn’t turn towards Empress Borough but went straight ahead.

As the greatest property-owning noble apart from the king, Duke Negan had many mistresses, but in the relatively conservative Loen Kingdom, this was something which would leave him vulnerable to his political enemies. Therefore, even as a noble duke, he still had to sneak around when he went to his mistress’s place, but this seemed to only give him more pleasure.

Today, he was planning to go to his most beloved mistress of the past two to three years, a young girl who had just turned twenty.

Duke Negan took out a bottle of medicine made of mummy powder and drank it. He couldn’t help but touch the accessory hanging from his neck. It was a dark blue thumb-sized conch.

It was a mystical item that the Church of the Lord of Storms had specially provided after his last assassination attempt by Qilangos. As long as Duke Negan blew on it, the Holy Wind Cathedral’s Spellsinger of God, Ace Snake would hear it and lock onto his position.

In order to protect himself, Duke Negan even moved the residences of his mistresses to areas near the Holy Wind Cathedral.

The carriage slowly moved until it reached an extremely luxurious building. At a glance, there was a glass greenhouse filled with bright red roses.