After mocking himself inwardly for a moment, Ebner put "Pride," Hvin Rambis, into the Bizarre Domain created by Alvin. He then had dinner together with the two ladies, "Sloth" and "Greed."
At the dining table, both sides exchanged some intelligence gathered after the Indo Port Twilight Festival Incident.
"…Because the identity of the Saint who fought Lords Wimbledon and Ivan could not be confirmed, both the 'Demon Hunters' and Feysac's official intelligence organizations—the Security Intelligence Department and the Security Measures Department—have all taken the Black Emperor of the 'Hero Bandit,' whose true identity can be locked onto, as their breakthrough point…
"After all, the 'Hero Bandit,' the 'Earth Witch,' and the 'Steel Iron Man' clearly belong to the same organization as that Saint, and in the end were all taken away by him."
The one speaking was "Greed," Ksenia. As a noble countess and also the tutor of the youngest daughter of Duke Wimbledon Einhorn, the Graycastle Duke, she naturally had access to quite a bit of insider information.
At this moment, she glanced at Ebner. Although she clearly knew that the mysterious Saint who stopped Wimbledon and Archbishop Ivan was the man before her, as his "believer," she tactfully glossed over the matter and continued:
"Because 'Creeping Hunger' exposed his identity as the 'Hero Bandit,' Gehrman Sparrow has been jointly put on a bounty of 300,000 Gold Horns by the royal family and the Church!"
Let me calculate… 1 pound can be exchanged for 5.5 Gold Horns. Three hundred thousand Gold Horns is roughly fifty-five thousand pounds… Klein's market price has really gone up.
Ebner muttered a complaint to himself. As he put a piece of bacon into his mouth, he listened to the countess continue with further intelligence:
"Because both Ince Zangwill and that mysterious Saint held invitations issued by the mayor of Indo Port, Nelly Pitt, he too came under investigation by the God of Combat's Church.
"But that mayor may have already sensed the danger long ago. What remained in his residence was merely his historical projection. As for his true body, it had already disappeared.
"Only then did the Security Intelligence Department and the Demon Hunters realize that the mayor of Indo Port was actually a demigod from the Hermits of Fate.
"As for his so-called wife and children, they were all transformed from his marionettes… His secretary, assistants, helpers, and maids, however, were all real humans, completely unaware of Mr. Nelly's secrets."
I already knew this. As the chairman of the Hermits of Fate, although I said nothing when asking for the invitations, Nelly Pitt—being a demigod of the 'Dog Three Families'—naturally sensed the danger and immediately abandoned his identity to go into hiding.
Ebner thought as he took a sip of coffee.
At this point, after "Greed" Ksenia finished sharing her intelligence, "Sloth," Clossfia, who had been savoring the food, wiped her mouth with a napkin and asked:
"Ebner, you mentioned earlier that you had already captured 'Gluttony.' Have you interrogated him for the information about the ruins he promised us?"
Before Ksenia shared her intelligence, Ebner had already taken the initiative to recount some of his own experiences—those suitable for the two ladies to know—including the matter of Kallen capturing "Gluttony."
Back at the Supreme Council meeting of the Psychology Alchemists, the reason "Lust," "Sloth," and "Greed" had agreed to "Gluttony's" request to come to Indo Port was, on the surface, because he had offered up the ruins of a great noble of the Fourth Epoch Solomon Empire as payment.
According to "Gluttony," that noble was named Rhine Carendia.
Hearing Clossfia ask about this, Ebner nodded slightly. He then set down his knife and fork, took out a card, and released a "fat man" from it.
—Before coming to the hot spring resort, Ebner had already gone to see Kallen and taken both "Gluttony" and the sealed artifact Heavenly Feast from him.
At this moment, although "Gluttony" had not yet completely died, his state was even worse than that of "Pride," who previously had only a "blank slate" personality. The defenses of his Island of the Mind had been utterly destroyed.
Facing "Gluttony" in such a completely unguarded mental state, "Greed" and "Sloth," both experts in the field of the mind, did not hold back at all. They directly invaded his subconscious and began reading his memories.
A moment later, the stronger Clossfia was the first to come back to herself. Smiling, she said:
"I didn't expect this Mr. 'Gluttony' to have already lived nearly seven hundred years—and to have had such a colorful life!"
Although she was smiling, her tone was icy cold. That was because she had discovered that one of her direct elders had once fallen into "Gluttony's" hands, been made to use that sealed artifact to "trace back" their bloodline, and thus gained a small measure of the abilities of a Chaos Hunter.
That elder had later gone mad from loss of control for no apparent reason—and the cause lay right there.
At this time, "Greed" Ksenia also finished "reading" the fat man's memories. After some consideration, she said:
"That ruin is actually located within the Antals Mountains. It only appears during the full moon… and it even possesses 'life,' capable of roaming across the mountains…
"That makes sense. The blood clan duke named Rhine Carendia was a noble of the Solomon Empire… and during the War of the Four Emperors, the territory of the Solomon Empire basically overlapped with present-day Feysac… It's perfectly reasonable for his ancient castle to be active within the Antals Mountains.
"As for the castle being alive… for a 'Creator,' that's not really a problem.
"However, according to 'Gluttony's' memories, he only explored the first level of that castle ruin before being forced back by the strange creatures inside. Over the following several centuries, he made several more attempts, but none of them allowed him to go any further.
"The danger level of that ruin likely far exceeds our imagination. We'll need to make thorough preparations before exploring it… Fortunately, there are still nearly three weeks until the next full moon…"
Although that ruin really is dangerous, if I went there, it might feel just like going home… Ebner muttered inwardly. On the surface, however, he reminded them:
"'Gluttony's' Heavenly Feast was found on the first floor of that castle. On the upper levels, there may be similar 'bizarre' items."
As for why a summoned creature of the Blood Moon Queen, Ornia, would appear in the ancient castle once inhabited by Rhine Carendia, Ebner—after carefully examining "Gluttony's" memories and using his Insight ability—had already formed several rough hypotheses.
But as for the exact situation, that would have to wait until an on-site investigation.
"With such tight defensive measures… could that blood clan duke himself be sleeping on the top floor of the castle?" Clossfia speculated.
"No!" Ebner replied without hesitation.
After all, Rhine's body had already become the Goddess of Beauty, and was currently located in the basement of the Harvest Church.
(End of chapter)