"Although Count Gross was a believer of the Goddess, some of his behavior in private life was not exactly clean—especially his fondness for young boys…
"But since he never used coercion and every time it was a 'transaction', the Church could only subtly 'advise' him, yet with little effect.
"Count Gross was clearly aware that his 'hobby' was not favored by the Church, so every time he went to 'entertain' himself, he would deliberately shake off the 'Nighthawks' that the Church had assigned to his side.
"What the Count didn't know, however, was that the Church's protection of him was both overt and covert. His past actions had always been recorded by the Nighthawk operating in the shadows.
"This is also why he never truly crossed the Church's bottom line even once—otherwise, he would have long since been 'cleaned up' by the official Beyonders themselves.
"And this time, when Count Gross was assassinated, it just so happened to be on a day when he had shaken off the overt Nighthawks. Unfortunately, the covert Nighthawk protecting him had come into contact with a sealed artifact the day before, which led to a poor mental state and signs of losing control. For a moment, he even thought he was still in a dream and failed to keep up with the Count.
"Additionally, among the four Beyonder bodyguards that Count Gross himself had hired, the strongest one—a Sequence 6 'Dawn Paladin'—happened to encounter an enemy at the moment of the assassination and was unable to play any role at all.
"Among the remaining three, two failed to carry the corresponding Beyonder items due to various oversights. As a result, they were completely helpless against the 'Nightmare' that assassinated the Count and could only watch helplessly as he died.
"As for the last Beyonder bodyguard, he was the murderer himself… The killer had replaced him a day earlier without arousing any suspicion, including from the two Nighthawks.
"If it were only a single incident, it could be described as coincidence. But when so many accidents pile up together, it means that someone is definitely manipulating everything behind the scenes!"
After laying out his analysis, Leonard lowered his voice and, as if muttering to himself, asked, "Old man, could it be '0-08'?"
"Doesn't seem like it… And I can confirm that '0-08' is not in this city." A slightly aged voice echoed in his mind.
"Not '0-08'?" Leonard frowned. "But this case gives me the exact same feeling as back in Tingen."
"Your feeling isn't wrong… It was probably done by a high-sequence 'Spectator'… But who exactly, I'm not too sure… After all, the few I know are far more skillful than this—at the very least, you definitely wouldn't be able to see any flaws." Pallez chuckled with his aged voice.
Leonard was just about to ask a few more questions when, at that moment, Red Gloves Captain Soest entered the room, tossed a stack of files onto the table, scanned the room, and said:
"Based on the existing intelligence, we can preliminarily confirm that the killer is a 'Black Blade' from the Church of the God of Combat!"
"Black Blade" was the name of an elite unit of the Church of the God of Combat, similar to the Red Gloves, but with different duties. "Black Blades" were more often tasked with doing "dirty work".
"A 'Black Blade' from the Church of the God of Combat? Daring to act in Backlund… and succeeding? Who provided him—or them—with intelligence and support?" One of the Red Gloves frowned.
"That's still unclear, but you should all be able to imagine how vile this incident is.
"After using 'Nightmare' abilities to kill him, that 'Black Blade' even exposed Count Gross's little 'hobby'!
"On top of that, our Nighthawks really were negligent in their duties at the time…
"If we can't capture the killer as soon as possible, the great nobles who believe in the Goddess may begin to waver." Captain Soest paused here, seemingly receiving some message. Then he scanned the room again and said, "Latest intelligence—someone spotted the killer on a train heading to Constant. We will immediately depart by airship and intercept him!"
"Captain, that 'Black Blade' might get off the train midway…" Bob, a Red Glove with a rather sharp chin, frowned and shook his head.
Soest waved his hand and said, "The Archbishop has already notified Nighthawks across various regions to cooperate with us… And capturing him at any cost is an order just issued by the Cathedral. Even if he escapes back to Feysac, as long as he hasn't entered the 'Hall of the Twilight Giant', we cannot give up!
"Understood?"
"Yes, Captain!" The Red Gloves all felt a chill in their hearts and responded in unison.
"Very good. You have half an hour to prepare… Half an hour later, assemble on time at the western outskirts airship base.
"Oh, right—the materials on the table are about that 'Black Blade'. Each of you take a copy and read it on the way." After saying this, Soest took the lead and walked out.
Seeing this, Leonard picked up a copy of the materials and flipped through them casually.
Beside him, a female teammate with long burgundy hair, Cindy, grabbed her copy as well and muttered unhappily, "Risking our lives to avenge a piece of trash—just thinking about it makes me feel awful!"
"Count Gross was a devout believer of the Goddess, and his previous actions were tacitly permitted, weren't they?" Bob comforted his teammate.
"If he were truly a devout believer of the Goddess, he wouldn't have done such perverted things! I think his piety only showed in how diligently he donated money!" Cindy sneered. Coming from a commoner background, she had always disliked nobles.
Leonard didn't pay attention to his colleagues' complaints. He skimmed through the information on that "Black Blade" and discovered that the man had already appeared in the spy case involving the "Difference Engine Manuscript". It was precisely due to his inaction that the detective under his command, Zeryl, had died.
This person wasn't necessarily very loyal to the God of Combat or to Feysac—so why would he proactively provoke the Church of the Evernight Goddess?
Also, a "seal"-type extraordinary item that had once been recovered by MI9 was stolen again shortly before the assassination… That item seemed to have been created using a "Nighthawk" Beyonder characteristic… Was the reason the killer could use powerful "Nightmare"-type abilities because he relied on this item?
What is the Loen royal family even doing? How could such an important sealed artifact be stolen repeatedly?
Huh? Wait—wasn't the first theft of that "seal"-type sealed artifact done by Ince Zangwill?!
And the case handler was… Xio Derecha… Miss "Judgment"?
Mm, maybe I should ask Mr. 'Fool' about this…
Also, the demoness-type item that Mr. 'Tower' promised would only be finished tonight or tomorrow morning—I won't be able to get it for now… After all, I'll be heading out with the captain in half an hour. Praying to Mr. 'Fool' might still be doable, but there's no way I could secretly set up a ritual to request a bestowed item without my colleagues noticing.
With a sigh, Leonard found an excuse and went to the washroom first. Then, clasping his hands together, he prayed:
"The Fool that does not belong to this era…"
...
160 Buckland Street.
Klein had just finished dinner and returned to the semi-open room with the large balcony. As soon as he sat down in the armchair, he heard the prayer. He frowned, but still immediately arrived above the gray fog.
A sudden assassination… another theft of a Loen official item…
An unknown source of intelligence…
Could this be the Loen royal family deliberately drawing the Church of the Evernight Goddess's attention away in order to do something?
...
Early Tuesday morning, after collecting all of Roselle's diaries, thoroughly satisfied, and bidding farewell to Bernadette, Ebner directly "teleported" to his steam workshop in the North District.
(End of the chapter)