"The Violet Saintess? No, she was merely something similar to the 'virtual personality avatar' that Audrey split off near the end of the original work…
"However, Audrey had been able to accomplish that only by borrowing Hermes's power; even at Sequence 3, she herself could not have achieved such a perfect division.
"So, this 'Violet Saintess' either possessed a '0'-grade Sealed Artifact of the Spectator pathway, or there existed a 'Seer' behind her!
"Either way, it meant that finding this Demoness's true body would not be an easy matter…
"Perhaps some bait would be needed!"
As his thoughts turned, Ebner manipulated Hvin Rambis to sit down directly on the sofa, then crossed his right leg and said casually, "Madam, please sit… May I ask how I should address you?"
The lady in the purple evening gown was just about to speak when she suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. Immediately afterward, she realized that beneath her Mind Island, deep within the subconscious sea, vast swathes of gray mist parted like a tide, revealing a stone staircase that had appeared at some unknown point in time.
Upon the staircase, a figure rapidly ascended upward in a flashing, flickering manner.
That figure had thick hair that was already completely white, wore a standard three-piece suit with blue-gray striped trousers, and a dark red bow tie. His forehead bore deep wrinkles—he was none other than Hvin Rambis!
Compared with the Rambis seated on the sofa, this one exuded a gloomy aura, bore not the slightest smile, and kept his head slightly lowered, as though scrutinizing something.
The woman in the purple evening gown was not surprised by this. After all, standing opposite her was a bona fide "Manipulator." Yet she relied on the fact that her true body controlled an angel-level extraordinary item called the "Mind Dragon Mirror," whose level of existence far surpassed that of Hvin Rambis, so she did not fear being "hypnotized" or "suggested" to.
"You may call me Josena…" the woman in the purple evening gown first answered Ebner's question in a pleasant voice, then continued in a mildly reproachful tone, "'Mr. Pride,' have you seen enough? Could you please temporarily withdraw from the depths of my mind?"
At this point, the Demoness who called herself Josena glanced again at Hvin, who was sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, and said with a giggling smile, "Also, assuming such a sitting posture in front of a lady is truly quite ungentlemanly!
"Or is it that you must sit like this to conceal your body's instinctive reaction?"
As expected of a high-level Demoness! Every word and action carried 'seduction'… Fortunately, I'd seen plenty of Demonesses and had long since gotten used to it; otherwise, I might really have lost my composure.
Ebner muttered inwardly a few complaints. While maintaining his posture and smile, he casually praised, "A fine name," and at the same time pondered inwardly:
Josena? Is she not even daring to give me her true name? Or does this 'virtual personality avatar' of the Violet Saintess also have its own name and identity?
Of course, at the same time, he did not stop his intrusion into Josena's Mind Island, since that better fit Hvin's persona.
However, very quickly, Ebner discovered within Josena's Mind Island a segment of memory—a memory of her reaching an agreement with George III.
His intrusion immediately came to a halt.
On the one hand, he still needed to continue the "act," and on the other hand, the images in those memories were somewhat explosive, causing him to take a few extra looks.
"Josena" had clearly noticed Hvin's pause and chuckled softly. "Now you believe I harbor no ill intent, Mr. Pride?
"I've come seeking cooperation!"
Ebner had Hvin pretend to take a deep breath, his eyes growing profound, and asked knowingly, "What relationship do you have with the 'Violet Saintess' of the Demoness Sect?"
The memory images he had just obtained showed the Violet Saintess forming an "alliance" with George III, which was why he asked this question.
"I work for the 'Saintess'…" "Josena" omitted the word "avatar" and continued, "You don't need to be so guarded against me… To be precise, aside from serving as a liaison, I myself am a 'gift' for you—one of the 'tokens of sincerity' from the Saintess in cooperating with you."
"Heh, I'm already old. I don't have the energy to accept a gift given by a Demoness." Hvin Rambis said with a "kindly" smile.
Please put your leg down before saying something like that! "Josena" rolled her eyes at him in a charming, amorous manner, but did not expose him. Instead, she took out a metal box and placed it on the table.
At this moment, Ebner also acted as though he truly believed her, manipulating Hvin to completely abandon the mental intrusion. Then he glanced at the box, seeming to guess what it was, and asked in mild surprise, "This was brought to me at His Majesty's instruction?"
"To be precise, His Majesty instructed the 'Saintess,' and the Saintess then had me deliver it to you," "Josena" first nodded, then smiled coquettishly. "Your application has been approved by His Majesty. He has agreed to allow Miss Xio Derecha, whom you already control, to advance to demigod… and the Saintess decided to share His Majesty's burdens by voluntarily contributing this 'Imperative Mage' beyonder characteristic.
"As for the ritual, His Majesty believes you certainly have a way to help Miss Derecha complete it, so he won't concern himself with that."
In other words, this beyonder characteristic should also be part of the price the Violet Saintess needed to pay in seeking help? George III was quite adept at 'shearing wool'!
That being the case, perhaps Xio could also become a demigod before next Monday's Tarot Club… This speed was only slightly slower than Klein and me.
Thinking of Judy, who had been born a 'Harvest Priest' and had still remained at the 'Druid' stage even now, even though her mother had already obtained the 'Ancient Alchemist' beyonder characteristic from the Earth Mother by paying the price of personally protecting me for half a year…
As his thoughts turned, Ebner examined the "Imperative Mage" beyonder characteristic. After confirming that there were no issues, he put it away.
Seeing him accept it, "Josena" took the opportunity to sit down on the sofa beside Hvin and said with a radiant smile, "I came this time because there are some matters I wish to hear your opinion on, and if possible, to obtain your help…
"Mm, this is both the Saintess's request and His Majesty's intention."
Her gaze flowed, pink lips parted lightly, fragrance faintly revealed. "Josena" leaned forward, almost pressing her lips to Hvin's ear.
Ebner glanced at her, did not look at the scenery revealed by the distortion of the gown, and asked calmly, "What do you want to do?"
"We want to conduct a sacrificial ritual on the scale of three hundred thousand people. However, in cities that can gather such a population, the Church's strength will not be weak, and the ritual requires many complex and sensitive structures. Constructing them would be very difficult to conceal from the eyes of the Nighthawks, the Machinery Hivemind, and the Mandated Punishers…
"Do you have any good methods for concealing things from the Church during the early stages of preparation?"
Three hundred thousand people? George III, you would even agree to such a sacrifice? And dare to agree to it? That was truly insane! This wasn't even for your own ritual… Could the Augustus family really all agree internally?
Or perhaps you had long since prepared to sell out the 'Violet Saintess' and 'Pride'? Once the ritual was nearly complete, you'd personally find someone to report it, divert the Church's attention, and even pin the blame for the earlier mass disappearances onto 'Pride' and the 'Violet Saintess'?
For a moment, Ebner thought of many things, while "Josena" was in no hurry at all, quietly waiting for his reply.
In terms of "arrangement," she believed that high-level Spectator pathway Beyonders were professionals.
"I have a proposal…" After a long while, Ebner finally manipulated Hvin to speak carefully.
"What is it?" "Josena" asked curiously.
"There is a city whose current population is not too large, so the Church's strength there is not strong… but its development potential is extremely high!
"If we can continuously invest in that city and allow it to rapidly absorb population, I believe it will soon reach a scale of over three hundred thousand!
"Moreover, construction is happening everywhere there. No one will pay attention to the construction of some strange buildings… because there are already many oddly shaped structures there!
"And furthermore, that place's owner has some old grudges with me. After the sacrifice succeeds, we can even dump the responsibility onto his head!" Hvin lifted a bone-china teacup and took a sip, then looked at the increasingly seductive "Josena" and smiled kindly.
"You're talking about Baron Ebner Bryan's territory, Beldan?"
(End of Chapter)