"So you're saying you saw me joining this operation and assumed everything was under control—that's why you looked so calm and confident?"
After a short exchange, Ebner couldn't help covering his face with one hand, speaking weakly.
Klein also felt somewhat speechless, but still explained earnestly, "Part of it was also to fulfill Gehrman's acting requirements…"
"Then I guess that extra portion of the Faceless potion you took must've been digested because of that," Ebner teased, then stopped dwelling on the topic. Instead, he shared some of his own deductions with Klein and finally asked,
"What do you think?"
What do I think? So I was just bait from beginning to end! Klein couldn't help grumbling internally. Still, he wasn't too upset—after all, those big shots behind the scenes were trustworthy enough to ensure his safety.
It's just… the last time I played bait in the first layer of the Dream Labyrinth Tower, I got quite a few rewards. Why didn't I get anything this time? Klein asked, puzzled.
That wasn't the point… Ebner sighed silently, but after talking with Edwina earlier, he had some idea and explained, "Actually, whether it's the Lunburg side, the Numinous Episcopate, or the power behind the Spirit Angel—they all owe you a favor now."
"Favor?" Klein looked at Ebner, waiting for him to go on.
"For example, if you want to cash in the Admiral of Blood bounty, you can go to Edwina. She can use her Aisara connections to claim Senor's bounty in Lunburg." That was something Edwina had mentioned earlier, so Ebner wasn't bluffing.
"I see… then I'll keep those favors for later," Klein said happily, feeling that his network had just expanded again.
Once business was done and it was clear Klein didn't know any more, Ebner couldn't resist joking:
"Come to think of it, out of the four pirate admirals, two have become your puppets, and the other two are… well, 'complicated' with you. Tsk tsk, Gehrman Sparrow will soon earn the title Pirate Admiral Hunter."
And you—a 'Goddess Hunter'—have the nerve to talk about me? Klein ignored him, changing the subject instead:
"These past two days have been so busy I nearly forgot Melissa's birthday… Find a way to give her this badge—it'll be my gift as her brother."
He took out a black badge radiating a tranquil, night-like stillness. Tiny stars shimmered faintly on its surface, giving it a mysterious air.
It was the Nightmare Badge, a mystical item he had once traded from the Artisan's Proxy using a stalk of Berserk Grass during Mr. Eye of Wisdom's gathering.
The badge had originally had fourteen months of active use. Back then it was early October; now it was early May—meaning seven months remained.
"This looks like something Fanny sold… definitely Mr. Surry's handiwork," Ebner muttered and accepted the badge casually, agreeing to deliver it for Klein.
—With Ebner's current spiritual strength, he could bring items from above the gray fog into reality without any ritual.
…
Outside Bayam City, on a mountain slope, a forest had lost all vitality and was half-buried under collapsed rocks.
A tall, broad-shouldered middle-aged man with thick, dark-blue hair stood in midair, wearing the robes of a Storm priest. Fury burned unmistakably in his eyes.
This was Sea King Jahn Kottman—Cardinal of the Church of Storms, Archbishop of the Rorsted Sea, and senior executor among the Punishers.
At that moment, Kottman was using his mutated Water Curtain ability to replay the battle's traces.
He saw a Rose School angel descend in the form of a massive arm, clashing with another angel wielding a cursed object.
Later, the only remaining mortal had blown a whistle, summoning a strange Spirit World entity of angelic rank.
That eerie creature entangled the Rose School angel's arm, giving the other angel a chance to cast the curse that turned it into "chocolate."
The forest's space was distorted—there were likely other separated battlefields. Though he couldn't peer inside, the auras alone suggested no fewer than six powerful beings had fought there.
In the end, the sole mortal survivor—after somehow killing the great scientist Tulani von Helmosuin—had escaped into the Spirit World with that bizarre being before Kottman arrived, making pursuit impossible.
Still, Jahn Kottman recognized that man.
An adventurer capable of killing a Sequence 5 Apostle of Desire—his file certainly had a place on the Sea King's desk!
What's more, he was connected with Vice Admiral Ailment,Admiral of Pale,Admiral of Stars, and even Vice Admiral Iceberg's crewman, Danitz.
Though this placed him among the lesser-known figures, anyone who had walked the Sailor pathway could recall such details easily.
In a low, thunderous voice, Kottman murmured the name:
"Gehrman Sparrow."
…
After spending the afternoon discussing mystical knowledge with Edwina, Ebner didn't leave the Golden Dream until dusk.
As thanks for his help, Edwina gifted him the Giant's Key she had recovered from a sunken ship on the seabed.
Holding the massive black-iron key, Ebner couldn't help feeling a wave of emotion.
He remembered—during his very first voyage, he had reached that same cavern containing the wreck and had obtained the Sword of Dawn. But back then, he'd been too weak and had missed out on the key.
Now, after all these turns of fate, it had finally come back to him.
Recalling the tacit understanding between the Mechanical Emperor and the True Creator, he suddenly felt a faint sense of "destiny."
But Ebner quickly shook his head, dismissing the thought. Nonsense—when I literally hold the Wheel of Fortune in my hand, how can destiny exist?
Besides, I could just hand this thing to the Beacon of Fate and wash my hands of it.
After putting the Giant's Key away, Ebner adjusted his watch back a few hours for the time difference, realizing that in Backlund, it wasn't even dinner yet.
Taking one step forward, he appeared directly inside Dr. Allen Chris's home.
After using the Wheel of Fortune to bait Ouroboros for so long, it was time to check the results, wasn't it?
Not to mention, tomorrow he'd need to use Fors as bait to fish for Mr. Gluttony—he'd better wrap up her previous commission first.
(End of Chapter)