While Ebner was letting his thoughts wander, the transaction segment had already ended, and the Tarot Club naturally entered the stage of free communication.
After the scene fell into a brief silence, "Moon" Emlyn straightened his back again, looked straight ahead, and said:
"There is a major figure within my race who will soon arrive in Backlund…"
He paused. Seeing that the other members did not respond, he then looked toward Miss "Magician" across from him, cleared his throat, and said:
"He should be coming to meet the newly advanced angel of the Abraham family and complete the transaction we discussed earlier."
He… another angel… "Star" Leonard sighed inwardly, then immediately noticed a problem—Mr. "Moon" had mentioned the concept of "race", and he had red eyes.
Looks like my guess last time wasn't wrong. He's most likely that vampire Emlyn from the Church of Harvest! Thinking this, "Star" Leonard could not help but look at "Moon" a few more times. The more he looked, the more convinced he became that his guess was correct.
Emlyn undoubtedly noticed "Star"'s scrutiny and thought in surprise:
Did I say something wrong just now? Did this 'Star' guy recognize me? Do I know him? A chain of thoughts flashed through "Moon" Emlyn's mind in an instant. He subconsciously wanted to move his nostrils and sniff the scent of the new member beside him, but the gray fog blocked him, leaving him with little gain.
At the same time, Miss "Magician" Fors, who had suddenly become the focus due to "Moon"'s words, looked rather confused. She had not understood what he was talking about at all. After all, since bringing Ebner to meet her teacher, she had only occasionally exchanged a few letters with her teacher, and naturally would not be involved in such secret matters.
Seeing this, Ebner coughed lightly, turned his head toward "Moon", and said, "Just tell me directly. That transaction was arranged by me."
At his current level, he had long since stopped caring much about whether others knew his identity… What's more, aside from "Moon", the only ones in the Tarot Club who still did not know he was Ebner were "Hermit" Cattleya and "The Hanged Man" Alger.
Even "Sun" had already seen his true appearance.
Although "Moon" Emlyn was lazy by nature, disliked trouble, and appeared somewhat "foolish", he was not actually incapable of thinking. After hearing "Tower"'s words, he froze for a few seconds, then reacted and blurted out:
"So you're that—"
Halfway through, he came to his senses and hurriedly swallowed the rest of the words, so as not to expose "Tower"'s true identity.
However, "Justice", "Magician", "Judgment", "Temperance", "World", and "Star" all silently completed the sentence in their hearts: "the heroic/flirtatious/romantic detective" Ebner Brain.
So "Tower" was Ebner Brain? That really did match up. That detective's strength had also risen to the point over the past year that even I couldn't see through it anymore, and his trajectory aligned with Ebner Brain as well…
Moreover, that detective was said to have a very bad reputation and to be extremely flirtatious… So did he establish a connection with the Abraham family through Miss "Magician"?
"Moon" Emlyn examined "Tower" a few more times before continuing:
"Several marquises in my race are very interested in the samples you provided… However, those lords don't really dare to rashly approach the angel of the Abraham family, so I suspect they invited the Duke to step in."
So that's why their decision-making was so slow—they went to get backing… That makes sense. Being cautious when dealing with the spokesperson of an angel is only natural.
But… several marquises? Then the 'Fountain of Youth' water I have on hand might not be enough! After all, unlike the ordinary people or low- to mid-sequence buyers I've dealt with before, who mostly only needed several decades' worth, these vampire big shots are very likely aiming for the 1,000-year limit of the 'Fountain of Youth' water.
Looks like I'll need to find the 'Saintess of Black' and the other 'Unaging Demonesses' to think of a solution… Mm, that 1.5 million pounds ransom has already been arriving one after another. I can think of a way during the process of releasing the 'Saintess of Yellow' and the 'Saintess of Red'.
After all, if I'm going to "release" two demonesses, there should be several high-ranking demonesses present to confirm that Owen didn't tamper with them, right?
It's just that I don't know whether controlling too many high-ranking demonesses will attract the attention of the 'Primordial Demoness'…
Mm, there's no rush on this. The remaining balance of that ransom will take at least a few more days to arrive, and that vampire duke won't be able to come too quickly either. I have plenty of time to prepare… Also, it's best to go discuss this with Vera. After all, the 'Saintess of Black' is actually under her control.
Although he was thinking all this internally, on the surface, Ebner only said to Emlyn, "Once that major figure arrives, you can come directly to me. I'll arrange the meeting for you."
"Alright!" "Moon" Emlyn nodded. Naturally, he knew where Ebner lived.
The reason Emlyn had mentioned this matter to Miss "Magician" at the Tarot Club was actually that he feared that Ebner might not be reliable and might set a trap for the vampires. But now that he knew Ebner was "Tower", there was naturally no problem.
After this topic ended, "Hermit" Cattleya also shared some news from the seas, including a piece of major information involving a pirate king:
"'The King of Immortality' Agalito and his 'Death Announcer' have gone missing. The three subsidiary fleets he newly formed under his command have either declared independence or been absorbed by other pirate admirals…
"Even so, Agalith himself has not reappeared. He is suspected to have already 'died'."
As she spoke, Cattleya glanced at Ebner in a subtle way. She naturally knew that the pirate king had been taken out by this Mr. "Tower" in an extremely short period of time.
The death of a demigod should have been an event with enormous impact, but aside from "The Hanged Man" and "Hermit", "The Undying King" was relatively distant from everyone else's circles. As a result, beyond sighing that the seas had lost another king, no one had too many thoughts.
That was, until Mr. "Tower" said calmly:
"'Pale Death' has already become one of my collections."
"Justice" Audrey froze for a moment, then reacted—Mr. "Tower" had once again quietly accomplished something major.
How many major events had Mr. "Tower" participated in over the past few weeks? Why did it feel like he was everywhere?!
Audrey was not the only one who felt this way. Even Klein thought the same, completely failing to notice that he himself was also involved in quite a few things.
Only "Judgment", "Magician", and "Star" remained relatively calm. The first two were already used to it, while the last was because he knew that Ebner Brain was actually an ancient monster from the early Fourth Epoch. If he could even scheme Amon's angel-level avatar to death, what was a mere pirate king?
"Hermit" Cattleya did not expect "Tower" to admit it so directly. While slightly surprised, she tactfully skipped over the topic and continued sharing other information:
"'Vice Admiral of Ailment' Tracy has, for some unknown reason, been attacking slave ships over the past few weeks, rescuing many indigenous people from the Southern Continent and various islands. However, her bounty has increased by 5,000 gold pounds because of this."
"Why would her bounty increase for attacking slave traders?" "Justice," Audrey asked. Although she vaguely thought of the answer, she did not quite dare to believe it.
"Naturally, because those slave ships all have deep 'backgrounds'!" "The Hanged Man," Alger snorted.
After being "ordered" to join the fleet of the "Vice Admiral of Ailment", he had also intercepted quite a few slave ships and naturally knew the inside story.
"How could this be!" Audrey pressed her lips together. After a brief thought, she asked again, "Who exactly is behind those slave traders?"
"Mostly the military, or the military's proxies… Occasionally, there are also a few cultists…" Alger answered vaguely.
He had guessed what Miss "Justice" wanted to do, but he did not really want her to directly target those people. He had already vaguely sensed that the waters behind this matter were very deep. If Miss "Justice" were exposed, he himself would also be at risk of exposure.
After all, back when Mr. "Fool" still could not accept "sacrifices", the first transaction between him and "Justice" actually had quite a few loopholes. If someone had paid attention, it would have been easy to trace the clues back to him.
At this moment, "Judgment" Xio spoke up, "Don't worry, Miss 'Justice'. Sooner or later, all of them will be liquidated."
Having risen into the middle and upper ranks of MI9, Xio had already vaguely perceived that the source of much of the darkness within the Kingdom of Loen was actually the royal family—or rather, a portion of the royal family… And her father's enemy was very likely among them.
Although Xio was still unclear about the deeper secrets involved, she believed that Ebner would ultimately help clear her father's name… Therefore, those people would all be dealt with sooner or later.
Audrey looked at Xio in surprise and sensed the "determination" in her words. She also "calmed down" and abandoned the idea of personally presiding over "justice".
A "Spectator" could not be exposed in front of others. Even if something had to be done, it should be done by guiding others from behind the scenes.
At this moment, Ebner also smiled and said, "Actually, there's not much of a problem with striking at those proxies now. They've already become expendable pawns.
"Moreover, the 'Vice Admiral of Ailment' didn't suddenly change her nature. It's because she's now one of mine, and doing this is also her way of atoning for her past actions."
Extra update at nine o'clock
(End of the chapter)