West Borough, No. 9 Hope Street, Prime Minister's Residence.
The current Prime Minister, Aguesid Negan, who seemed to have aged several years overnight, was conversing with Earl Hall.
Although he was a major figure in the Conservative Party, after his brother's assassination, the only person he could think of to discuss countermeasures with was Earl Hall...
After all, only by properly handling the aftermath could they prevent the kingdom—the heavy steam locomotive—from derailing completely!
After listening to Aguesid's account of the entire incident, Earl Hall furrowed his brows and said:
"Patrick Jason? He's been a demon disguised as a banker for decades? I recall that my Bavart Bank had just acquired his assets…
"Furthermore, Baron Larry was involved in the assassination? Why would he go that far?
"As far as I know, Baron Larry has always served in the military and had no major conflicts with Pallas…"
Duke Negan's full name was Pallas Negan.
Aguesid organized his thoughts before responding:
"That demon was a Sequence 5, yet he suddenly liquidated his assets, abandoned an identity he had maintained for over a decade, and took the extreme risk of assassinating my brother…
"From this, we can make a strong assumption that he was acting under someone's orders. Unfortunately, he was killed while fleeing... According to reports from the Nighthawks, the culprit was a high-sequence Beyonder.
"Oh, and before leaving, they also left behind a tarot card—the 'Tower' card."
"Tarot card? Is this related to that organization that opposes the Aurora Order and worships some entity called the 'Fool'? I recall reading a report about them..." Earl Hall asked after a moment of recollection.
"It should be that newly emerging secret organization… They previously sent a so-called Hero Bandit 'Black Emperor' who appeared in Backlund several times…"
"So, we're dealing with an extremely secretive organization, and we won't be able to uncover the truth in the short term?" Earl Hall asked rhetorically.
"There are actually some clues…" Aguesid retrieved a document and handed it to Earl Hall while continuing, "This is the latest intelligence from MI9. During his escape, Baron Larry received assistance from Intis spies. Even his mistress, Madame Panis, was actually a disguise—she was the military attaché Bianca from the Intis embassy, a Sequence 7 'Warlock'…"
Earl Hall paced for a moment before saying, "You suspect that the assassination was orchestrated by Intis? Or that this mysterious organization worshiping the 'Fool' is connected to Intis?"
"A secret organization that can send out Saints as soon as it emerges cannot be without backing… It's more likely an 'old friend'!" Aguesid said as he revealed another document. "This is a report submitted by the Church of Storms and the Church of Steam about the Aurora Order's previous attempt to conduct the 'Abyss of Flesh' ritual… That incident was actually resolved by the Hero Bandit 'Black Emperor.'
"And the report also mentions that an Intis envoy's bodyguard died during the incident—killed in battle against the Aurora Order's Angel…
"But why would an Intis envoy's bodyguard just happen to wander into the South Bridge District at night? We didn't pay much attention before… But now that I think about it, was he there to support the Hero Bandit 'Black Emperor'?
"Maybe this 'Fool' has ties to the Secret Order…
"A few months ago, the Church of Storms had been retaliating against the Secret Order after one of their 'Wind-blessed' was turned into a 'Marionet'…
"And later, the assassination of the Intis ambassador—we all know that the Church of Storms wasn't responsible, but Intis might not believe that… Even though they officially accepted the claim that it was the Aurora Order's doing.
"So, I suspect that this entire incident was orchestrated by Intis… Their goal is to embarrass the Church of Storms and retaliate for the suppression they faced earlier."
Earl Hall pondered for a moment before asking, "What is His Majesty's stance?"
"Sorrowful, but without giving any specific instructions," Aguesid replied.
Upon hearing this, Earl Hall nodded thoughtfully and said carefully,
"With the current evidence provided by MI9, Intis will never admit to it… And even if we obtain key evidence, such as a confession from the military attaché disguised as Madame Panis, the most they will do is offer a scapegoat as compensation… They won't even make it public!
"After all, Feysac is already putting enough pressure on us. We can't afford to go to war with Intis over this."
"And we also need to find another mastermind behind the scenes, so the public doesn't direct too much hatred toward Intis…" Aguesid sighed, following up on Earl Hall's statement.
Earl Hall nodded and said,
"Exactly… In fact, solving this problem isn't about identifying the true mastermind but rather deciding what we want to achieve with this incident… If we want war, if we want to restart the colonial conflicts, then we simply tell the public that the mastermind behind Patrick Jason was the Feysac Empire or Intis. As long as the evidence is somewhat convincing, I doubt the public will scrutinize it too deeply."
Prime Minister Aguesid tugged at the corners of his lips in a humorless smile and said helplessly, "But we're in the middle of a series of reforms, which won't stabilize until at least the latter half of next year. We won't have the capacity to launch a war before then."
Earl Hall chuckled and said:
"The organization worshiping the 'Fool' or the Secret Order is too obscure. If we make this public as is, it will only cause greater panic—people always fear the unknown, the things they don't understand.
"So, what do you think about blaming the 'Aurora Order' instead?"
…
West Borough, Williams Street, inside the Panis family's villa.
Bianca, who was disguised as Madame Panis, was having dinner with her "husband."
Mr. Panis was a man in his forties—obese, unattractive, and prone to fits of anger. His attitude toward women was exactly what one would expect from a devoted believer of the Lord of Storms…
No wonder the real Madame Panis had an affair with the young, handsome, and charismatic Baron Larry.
Bianca scoffed internally, but as she recalled that she would have to serve this man in bed tonight, she found it difficult to even swallow her food.
Yet, for the sake of her mission and to maintain her cover, she had no choice but to endure.
However, just as she was forcing herself to eat, a sudden wave of dizziness struck her, her thoughts becoming sluggish…
"There's poison in the food!" Bianca's heart trembled in shock. Without caring about maintaining her cover, she prepared to chant an incantation to use her witchcraft and neutralize the poison.
But to her horror, she found that her tongue and throat were completely numb—forget chanting, she could barely make a sound!
Even so, Bianca did not give up. Summoning her last ounce of willpower, she reached into her clothes for a scroll.
Just as she was about to tear it open, a hand suddenly reached out and took it from her.
Bianca froze for a few seconds before turning her gaze toward the owner of the hand, only to see that it was her own "husband," Mr. Panis.
"Bianca, your body has always fascinated me… If not for the orders from above, I would be reluctant to kill you." Mr. Panis sighed with regret as he placed the scroll aside, then reached out to caress her face while chanting an incantation to remove her disguise.
You too… are undercover? But why did they order my execution? Bianca's beautiful eyes were filled with terror and confusion.
"You're truly beautiful—far more so than the real Madame Panis! I would have loved to enjoy you in your true form at least once… But alas, there's no time.
"After killing you, I still have to retrieve and place the real Panis couple's corpses here to stage their deaths as a poisoning incident."
As he spoke, Mr. Panis unbuttoned Bianca's clothes, exposing her chest, and located her heart. Under her horrified gaze, he plunged his hand inside.
But the next moment, his expression froze.
A sharp, unbearable pain suddenly shot through his own chest!
Realizing what was happening, Mr. Panis tried to withdraw his hand to heal himself, but his entire body was paralyzed—he couldn't move at all!
At that moment, Bianca stood up. She glanced down at the arm lodged in her chest without any hesitation, then chanted an incantation, unleashing a wind blade that severed his neck.
Next, she pulled his arm from her chest and sighed:
"You were truly unlucky… Of all the ways to kill me, you just had to go for my heart.
"Every 'Warlock' inherits a unique form of witchcraft from their bloodline… And mine happens to be a peculiar 'Heart Curse'—a spell that only activates when I take a fatal hit to the heart, swapping my injuries with my attacker's.
"Heh, it looks like misfortune doesn't only plague my 'master'… Anyone who's had an intimate relationship with me seems to suffer from it as well… Is this one of the negative side effects of that experiment?
"Whatever. No point dwelling on it now… The priority is to go into hiding and figure out what's really happening. Why did the envoy order my execution?"
Muttering to herself, Bianca quickly redressed and retrieved the mask that had been taken from her. After a brief disguise, she slipped into the villa's underground drainage system and made her escape—leaving all her injuries transferred onto the dead man.
About ten minutes later, a joint team of Mandated Punishers and MI9 agents entered the villa.
…
Inside the rest chamber of the Dream Labyrinth Tower, Ebner murmured to himself after listening to the preliminary "search" results from the "Magic Mirror" regarding the Desire Apostle's soul:
"The Andrelard family once used a high-ranked sealing artifact—a sigil—in their conflict with the other two major demon families… And it is said to bring misfortune?
"This artifact was entrusted to the Andrevad family by Duke Yaldabaoth…
"Yaldabaoth was Roselle's adopted son…
"Could it be the 'Seal' from Roselle's Sword-Mirror-Seal trio?"
(End of Chapter)