Fate of Dekan and Tarlomati – Chapter 291
“Please — wait a moment. The top-level spy you mentioned, isn’t it… by any chance, an Archbishop?”
Dekan looked at Ludwig with disbelief as he asked.
“Hmm, I don’t know either.”
Ludwig immediately began to act cute.
“I…”
Dekan resisted the urge to summon the Ruined Bard, furrowing his brows as he began to think.
At least Ludwig was willingly sharing this intelligence with him for free.
It was likely already the greatest concession Ludwig could make in her current position.
After all, a competent superior wouldn’t casually hand over the life of their top agent to someone like Dekan without careful deliberation.
Dekan had originally thought that destroying the Rebirth Church would be a long-term plan: rooting out the Archbishops one by one, and then scheming to assassinate the Pope.
But it seemed the church was already nearing its end.
Things hadn’t been that bad before.
However, after Dekan eliminated two competent Archbishops, Evans and Fahim, and then “forced his way into the organization,” the situation changed dramatically.
Now the church… probably had informants making up half its members!
The issue now was whether Dekan could confirm if all these three types of treachery stemmed from the same individual.
Based on the intelligence he had, he couldn’t determine how many spies were involved.
Even if there were multiple spies, they may not all belong to the same faction or cooperate properly due to their own conflicting interests.
In such a chaotic state, when various factions collide with ulterior motives, it often leads to dramatic scenarios.
It could only be said that whatever the Rebirth Church did next, it would likely result in an unpredictable and bizarre outcome.
Suddenly, Dekan felt as though he was playing an identity game like “Three Kingdom Killers,” except in this scenario, he didn’t even know how many loyalists, spies, or rebels were in play.
And whoever the “ruler” was would face exploding blood pressure.
“By the way, how powerful is the Pope exactly?”
Dekan asked.
Currently, the biggest trouble for the Rebirth Church must be this Pope.
Even Dekan almost couldn’t gather any intelligence regarding the Pope.
Appearance, name, age, and even species were all unknown.
It wasn’t until recently, when the Pope personally blocked Dekan’s permissions, that Dekan confirmed the Pope’s existence.
Hearing Dekan’s question, Ludwig shook her head with a helpless smile:
“He is not someone you can defeat at your current level. You need a very long time to grow before you could possibly take him on.”
“When I took out Evans, everyone thought the same thing.”
Dekan quickly retorted.
“…”
Ludwig opened her mouth but was unable to respond.
Upon reflection, she realized this guy really didn’t follow any ordinary rules when it came to fighting bosses…
Back when he was third-tier, Dekan dared to challenge an eighth-tier Destruction Archbishop like Evans—something Evans likely never anticipated.
In general, the ending of a story sees the protagonist leveling up to their maximum.
But Dekan’s story wasn’t necessarily like that.
He was, by nature, an outlier in combat strength, and despite his tier, his capabilities were otherworldly—more so as he advanced in rank.
The only thing that restricted him wasn’t his tier, but his morality.
“Did you leave your vocal cords at home? Master Astrologer?”
Seeing that his jab finally silenced the young reporter, Dekan felt much better inside.
For some reason, Ludwig looked at Dekan with a complex expression, as though making a decision. She sighed.
“In any case, if we were peers at ninth-tier… I’d probably be defeated by him in a few moves… That guy feels so inhuman, and no one has ever seen his true form…”
Ludwig said with a hint of frustration.
“Could he be a demon or a vampire?”
Dekan understood Ludwig’s implication.
She truly doubted the Pope’s species.
Take demons for instance; they possess great physical strength, a long lifespan, and exceptional magical creativity.
Or vampires who have innate powers and immortality.
Compared to humans, their racial traits were absurd.
Humans’ sole advantage was their rapid reproduction rate, and when given a large enough population, some exceptionally talented individuals could emerge purely by luck.
Only individuals like these could take on demon and vampire elites alone.
And Ludwig could already be regarded as a standout genius in human history.
If even someone as talented as her found the enemy to be inhuman, the Pope was likely not of human origin.
“Not necessarily, it feels different. Perhaps there’s a more mysterious and dangerous race, one that even in the Shadow World cannot be encountered,”
Ludwig’s gaze became unusually serious, “Dekan, have you ever thought about whether the relatively mundane and flawed races like humans, elves, goblins, or orcs, are truly capable of cleansing the world of the demons and vampires—two perfect races that might be the darlings of the Creator?”
“…”
Dekan fell into deep thought over Ludwig’s question.
If this world truly had a Demon Realm comparable in scale to the one in the Shadow World, and demons could use magic cards,
Dekan didn’t believe humans could defeat such a terrifying Demon Realm.
Even with a few ninth-tier demons, there were more than enough.
Yet the reason the Holy Country could resist was because it had over a dozen ninth-tier experts.
The present reality did not have this number of elite ninth-tier combatants.
The more he explored the Holy Country, the Demon Realm, and the Shadow World, the more Dekan realized certain issues in the present reality.
Even though the bloodline of vampires had been in decline in the Holy Country for a thousand years,
There were still survivors and vampire magics.
Even if the Holy Country succeeded in defeating the Demon Realm in the future, it would be near impossible to eliminate it and less likely still to completely annihilate the demons.
If the demons were driven to desperation, no one knew who would perish first.
But in this world, there were signs that vampires and demons once existed.
Though the history could be found, their legacies seemed deliberately erased or hidden.
However, this was beyond the capability of humans.
As if, somewhere in the world, there existed a higher order, controlling everything.
Despite all these speculations sounding outlandish, they were as improbable as Dekan’s theory that the Rebirth Church attacked the Hero Festival.
But since Ludwig took Dekan’s words seriously, so too would Dekan give her theories due consideration.
In some respects, they were a kindred spirit.
That’s why Ludwig, confident that Dekan could understand her meaning, was willing to disclose them to him.
Seeing Dekan deep in thought, Ludwig continued:
“Of course, all of this is conjecture, and even I haven’t found any evidence to prove it. However, if such an ‘imaginary enemy’ does exist, exposing the fact that I’ve become aware of them would likely lead to my immediate demise.”
At first, Ludwig didn’t intend to share these thoughts with Dekan.
She would at least wait until Dekan could threaten ninth-tier power before “dragging him into the mess” or “seeking his help.”
But Ludwig realized that Dekan should never be underestimated based on his tier.
After listening, Dekan quickly launched into an exaggerated, sinister look, turning to Ludwig and asking,
“Aren’t you afraid that I could be one of them? Maybe I’ll show you what true terror looks like in the next moment?”
Just to scare her, he even altered his voice.
“You wouldn’t be. You’re someone who protects demons,”
Ludwig smiled calmly, gesturing to Tarta’s small frame.
“Tch.”
Dekan clicked his tongue, failing to frighten Ludwig.
“And moreover, your destiny is destined to make you their enemy.”
Ludwig added.
“My destiny?”
“Didn’t you see your own reflection in the destinies of the people you saw in the Holy Country and the Demon Realm?”
“!”
Dekan suddenly seemed to realize something and was startled.
In the Holy Country and Demon Realm, there were some powerful individuals who had counterparts in the present world.
And his Holy Country/Demon Realm counterpart must be the dream-inducing Delroyce.
Delroyce was originally a demon.
“Do you understand now?”
Ludwig observed Dekan’s reaction, asking.
“However, in this seemingly perfect world, no matter how we search, we’ll never find their weak points. All it would do is expose ourselves.”
Dekan nodded seriously, his expression heavy.
He felt a headache coming on.
Ludwig had proposed a hypothesis that he couldn’t ignore,
But there was no way to verify or prove it, leaving only a gnawing uncertainty.
After all, an enemy whose existence couldn’t even be confirmed was beyond Dekan’s comprehension.
“They are not without flaws.”
Ludwig smiled faintly, pointing at herself and then at Dekan,
“After all, there are already at least two of us who are aware, right? We have already started feeling it, which means they do have loopholes. The only way to make more people realize it is in one place they cannot control.”
“Are you talking about… the Shadow World?”
Dekan hesitantly asked, as if understanding Ludwig’s implication.
Ludwig’s awareness came not only from her innate talent for information-based magic and her position at the peak of the Kingdom Union’s intelligence network,
But also importantly,
Because Ludwig had seen Dekan’s first four journeys into the Shadow World.
This was also why Dekan could understand Ludwig’s words and gave them serious thought.
Not only were the characters in the Holy Country and Demon Realm correlated with real-world individuals,
But even the trajectories of the entire worlds seemed to correspond in some way!
The Holy Country and Demon Realm appeared to also be undergoing evolutions of sorts aimed at eradicating vampires and demons, in ways that were unperceivable in their subtlety.
And the present reality seemed to represent an already completed version of that process.
Therefore, in the Shadow World of the Holy Country and Demon Realm, one might be able to indirectly uncover the true nature of this unknown group!
If they could be found,
Every one of Dekan’s previous Shadow World records would serve as concrete evidence supporting Ludwig’s hypothesis.
“So, as a team that can reliably enter the Holy Country and Demon Realm, you must reach their final conclusion. There, you will surely find the answers to all of this, at least uncovering some of their trails.”
Ludwig’s eyes revealed deep anger and resolve.
To whom could she possibly confide all of this to?
Clearly, she had been waiting for a long time.
“Rest assured, we are allies now.”
Dekan nodded earnestly, then changed the subject,
“But what does this have to do with your earlier smear campaign against me?”
Dekan suddenly asked,
“Eh…”
Ludwig immediately found herself at a loss for words.
At this moment, was it appropriate to make such a turn?
Ludwig was slightly baffled by Dekan,
But she felt that revealing her “mere amusement at blackening Dekan’s name” thought could jeopardize their newly formed alliance.
She quickly shifted the topic:
“Of course, please do not mention any of this to anyone! They will neither understand it, nor would it be safe for them!”
In a single fluid motion, Ludwig quickly dispelled the barrier and slipped away.
“… You’re certainly cut out for journalism.”
Only now did Dekan realize that this ninth-tier astrologer was completely different from his expectations: reliable yet eccentric and with a personality that made his blood pressure rise.
If he could only beat her, he might want to summon reinforcements just to teach her a proper lesson.
“Very well, one day, I’ll make you, this ninth-tier astrologer, suffer a major social death.”
Dekan found that when the dignified and sacred Astromancer Shien was revealed to be merely a gossip columnist who acted cute all the time, the scene would be quite spectacular.
But Dekan did not rush off just yet.
Today was a relatively relaxed day for him.
The gentle breeze in the park felt quite pleasant.
He leaned back, looking up at the sky.
“Isn’t this world better or worse compared to the Holy Country and the Demon Realm?”
Dekan muttered to himself.
Originally, he thought that compared to the Holy Country and the Demon Realm,
The present reality was practically a perfect world.
Even though there were dangerous groups like the Rebirth Church, the northern empire might have ulterior motives, and there were many open and hidden conflicts within the Kingdom Union,
Compared to the war-torn northern regions of the Holy Country where surviving today might not guarantee a tomorrow, the present reality was already so perfect.
But if what Ludwig feared turned out to be true, wasn’t the current world hiding crises beneath the surface that were even more dangerous than those in the Holy Country and Demon Realm?
After all, neither the demons nor the vampires were around anymore.
In some aspects, their original objective might already have been halfway accomplished.
“At least you’re more trouble-prone than Delroyce, though I can’t recall much about him, I don’t think he’s someone who would irritate me.”
The Master suddenly interjected in Dekan’s mind.
This was Tarlomati-style comfort.
Translated, it meant: “Even if the present reality presents a higher difficulty level than the Holy Country and Demon Realm, things that Delroyce couldn’t accomplish, you can.”
Dekan chuckled softly, shaking his head.
This old woman’s personality had always been this twisted.
Thus, Dekan sent a message to his Master within his mind:
“Hmph, if someone like Tarta were as obedient and knew to call me ‘brother,’ would there even be a need for me to argue with you? It’s not too late for you to bow and call me ‘master.’ I don’t mind taking on an older disciple.”
The Master was silent for a moment, then responded with obvious irritation,
“Have you gone mad?!”
Dekan noticed his vision gradually turning black.
A premonition that lunch would soon be skipped!
Worse, Master intended to indulge in afternoon tea, dinner, and a late-night snack!
Her stomach might suffer from it!
“I’m wrong, I’m wrong! Master! Sister! I’m wrong, Sister!”
