"What's so special about Qilangos's magical item?" Audrey asked.
She realized that she had a decent ability to locate people in Backlund.
Firstly, her father was one of the most wealthy, connected, and reputable nobles, while she was quite popular amongst the younger generation too. Hence, in the upper-middle class of the society, she had quite a few resources to take advantage of.
Secondly, the two Beyonders that she knew had their own circles as well. The Apprentice Fors was originally a clinical doctor and was now an author. She knew quite a number of people in the literary world and publishing industry, as well as among the middle-class doctors. While the Arbiter Xio Derecha had helped many middle-lower-class people to coordinate and mediate disputes over a long period of time. She was also quite famous in East Backlund borough among the working class and mafia. She had a lot of hidden channels.
Plus, considering the Beyonders that they knew and their circles of influence, their ability to look for a person wasn't to be belittled.
Towards Justice's question, Alger answered, "No one knows the real name of the magical item, but the people who have come into contact with it call it the 'Creeping Hunger.' Qilangos uses a living person's soul and flesh to satisfy it every other day. Otherwise, it would consume its owner as a replacement."
"This could be one of the most important clues to seek out Qilangos," Audrey said. She felt discomfort towards any evil item that desired a living human's fresh blood and soul.
"Yes, but in a big city with at least five million people, a few vagrants going missing wouldn't be noticed," Alger reminded her. "Ever since he got his hands on the Creeping Hunger, Qilangos has been very difficult to deal with.
He was originally a Wind-blessed. He possesses great Beyonder power in domains related to water, wind, and the weather. But, later on, people realized that he could drive his targets crazy, enter the dreams of others, summon light to purify a dead soul, sing to strengthen himself, and change his appearance... There's almost nothing that he can't do," Alger described in detail. "We suspect that those are all effects that came from his magical item."
Before he finished sharing, Derrick Berg, who had been listening quietly, blurted, "Shepherd!"
Shepherd? Sequence 5 of the Secrets Suppliant and Listener pathway? Hmm, among the six-member council in the City of Silver, there is a new elder who's a Shepherd. Sun had mentioned that she was strong enough to fight against a Sequence 4 expert, well—an evil spirit of the same grade... Klein thought.
"Shepherd?"
"Shepherd?"
Justice and The Hanged Man asked in unison. One sounded completely confused while the other seemed as though he had heard the title of Shepherd elsewhere before.
Seeing that everyone was staring at him, Derrick hurriedly explained, "What I meant was, the traits that The Hanged Man described were like the Beyonder power of the Sequence job, Shepherd.
Every Shepherd can swallow another's soul into their body, including wraiths and evil spirits. They control these souls to do their bidding with a unique method that allows them to make use of their abilities, just like a god letting his lambs out to graze.
Hence, no one knows how many powers a Shepherd has, as it depends on how many Beyonder souls they have swallowed, and that makes them very scary.
However, there are people who suspect that there's a limit to the number of souls that a Shepherd can consume and that the souls inside them could be replaced as well."
So that's what being a Shepherd means... The Sequence pathway that the Aurora Order has in its control is enigmatic...
The ability demonstrated by the magical item Creeping Hunger is indeed similar to a Sequence 5 Shepherd... I wonder if other Sealed Artifacts have the same powers as Beyonders.
After listening to Sun's explanation, Alger seemed to have sorted out the puzzle in his mind as he nodded in silence.
Audrey asked, "Which Sequence pathway is Shepherd from? Which number is it?"
"The Secrets Suppliant pathway, Sequence 5." Klein answered.
"Secrets Suppliant... Aurora Order..." Audrey suddenly recalled Mr. A, who was a suspected Oracle of the Aurora Order, and she immediately felt heavy-hearted.
"Mr. Hanged Man, I'm willing to accept the mission. But I can't guarantee if I can find Rear Admiral Hurricane, Qilangos." Audrey said.
"There's no better answer than this. Regardless of your success, as long as you try, I will definitely compensate you with things like secret information or intelligence. And if you succeed, I could provide you the Telepathist's main ingredients directly. Of course, the prerequisite is that we have to know what it is," Alger promised.
"Deal," Audrey replied. Then, Alger created Qilangos' portrait with Klein's permission and assistance.
He was one of the seven major pirate admirals. He had a distinctive broad chin, brown hair tied into a bun, and green eyes.
After they finished their discussion and shared their insights, Klein announced the ending of the Gathering and severed the connection but didn't leave immediately.
...
In the Berg household in the City of Silver.
Derrick searched for goatskin and a quill before writing down the Bard formula he memorized. He wasn't worried that possessing the Bard formula and becoming a Beyonder of a different path would gain the suspicion of the upper echelons of the City of Silver.
This was because in past exploratory expeditions, members of those elite troops would often collect some formulas, ingredients, and strange artifacts from the monsters in the abandoned and destroyed cities.
During this process, it was normal that people kept some of the loot privately. As long as it didn't involve anything too important, the captains and higher-ups would tacitly overlook it. Over time, some formulas started going around through non-official channels within the City of Silver. Some became the foundation of strong families from generation to generation.
The Things of the Dark surrounding the City of Silver were relatively fixed. Some ingredients could be obtained easily while some could only be encountered if one went far into the cursed land.
Putting aside the goatskin, Derrick recalled the mysterious Fool's instructions. Hence, in his simple bedroom, he lowered his head and simply prayed.
"The Fool that doesn't belong to this era.
The mysterious ruler above the gray fog.
The King of Yellow and Black, who wields good luck."
Jotun was a very ancient language, and it came equipped with the mystical properties demanded by rituals, prayers, and spellcasting; therefore, Derrick didn't need to change the incantations into ancient Hermes.
...
Klein, who was seated at the long bronze table, heard prayers reverberating in his ears and saw the crimson star that corresponded to Sun blinking.
He planned to reply to him ten minutes before the next gathering so that the City of Silver youth would make preparations to be alone. The most important part was for him to evade the conversion of time and date to decrease the possibility of damaging Fool's mighty image.
After he confirmed that, Klein wrapped himself up with spirituality and stimulated a descent.
Returning to his room, Klein removed the spirituality wall and took a break before he got ready to head out again.
It wasn't necessary for him to play the role of a Seer, and he didn't have to include his trip to the Divination Club in his daily schedule. He would only visit occasionally to make some extra pocket money and fulfill his supervision as a Nighthawk.
Originally, Klein wanted to laze around through the entire afternoon, but he then remembered something that he had yet to do.
According to his appointment, he had to pay Detective Henry a visit that day and accept the final report about the red chimney investigation.