Chapter 465 Temptation
Pritt, Tivyán.
At the crossroads of Blackwater Street in the southern part of Tivyán, a rare charity event was still ongoing. The poor people from all over Blackwater Street were jubilantly lining up to receive supplies one after another. Amidst this excited and lively crowd, there was an emotion that was extremely out of place.
“What’s going on… How did that butler from the Boyle family suddenly appear? What about the others who were supposed to be watching him? Or is this guy really the butler from the Boyle family? If he isn’t, then why does he look so much like him, almost identical… Are they brothers?”
Standing at the end of the crowd, the male figure wearing a cloak and a mask looked at the old butler leading the charity event from atop the carriage. Confused by this strange scene, he most urgently wanted to understand the truth of what was happening. The elderly butler should have been locked up in their temporary hideout. What was going on here?
“I don’t care. For now, I need to inform the others about this situation. This is too suspicious. Lord Atif must be informed immediately.”
As he thought this, the man silently began to leave the scene. Soon, he quietly slipped away from the bustling crowd and headed in a certain direction.
While he left the crowd, on the other side, Adele, also in disguise, had long since left the crowd and walked into a narrow alleyway. Without being noticed, she took a small, motionless crow from her bag. After placing it in her hand, the crow started moving slowly amidst convulsions. It then stood up, spread its wings, and flew into the air.
This was Dorothy’s controlled crow puppet. Unlike ordinary animal puppets, this crow puppet was made using the method for creating living puppets. The process involved knocking out a live crow and then drawing the puppet mark on it.
Dorothy could extend spiritual threads through information channels, allowing her to control the living puppet remotely using Adele or Gregor as nodes. This eliminated any distance limitations for her puppet manipulation.
Under the will from afar, Adele’s crow flew into the air, landing on a low building in Blackwater Street. From above, it quickly located the hooded man who had just exited the crowd.
After leaving the crowd, the man hurried through the streets of Blackwater Street, frequently looking back to ensure no one was following. After passing several streets and alleys, he arrived at a very secluded corner in Blackwater Street.
After turning the last corner, he entered a deserted alley where grass grew between the cobblestones. He walked to the end of the alley, opened a nearby iron door, and entered the stairs behind it, disappearing into the darkness at the bottom. On a clothesline nearby, a black crow watched everything happen.
Entering the iron door, the man continued downward. Soon, he reached the entrance of a basement. Looking at the basement door illuminated by a gas lamp, he knocked rhythmically on the door. After a while, the door opened, revealing a bald man with slightly tanned skin.
“Hadi? Aren’t you supposed to be on lookout? What’s happened?”
“There are some issues outside. Let me in. I need to see Lord Atif.”
…
In the dim, windowless room, only a few weak gas lamps illuminated the surroundings. On the dirty floor, a complex magical array was drawn using white bone powder. In the center of the array was a closed, giant eye. Above the eye symbol, a bound figure lay.
The old butler Nunuot, who had served the Boyle family for decades, was bound and thrown in the center of the array, unconscious and bloodied. In front of the array stood a middle-aged man wearing a robe, a headscarf, and a thick beard.
This man sat in front of the array, his breathing rapid. His face was serious, and beads of sweat trickled down his forehead, indicating he had just undergone some strenuous activity.
“Lord Atif… How is the situation with this guy?”
Around Atif stood several figures with anxious expressions. One of them, dressed simply with a low hat, asked. After a moment of contemplation, Atif replied.
“My attempts are starting to show results. The soul protection mark on him is weakening. With a few more tries, I should be able to remove this mark…
“The soul protection mark on this old man is highly intricate and precise, clearly placed by a master. Compared to conventional marks, it has many variations, indicating it was specifically designed to protect against treasure hunters. Removing it by conventional means would be difficult. However, I’ve figured out the way now…”
Looking at the injured Nunuot in the center of the array, Atif stated bluntly. Hearing this, those around him sighed in relief.
“At last… We’re making progress? That’s great. If we can summon this guy’s soul, we’ll have clues about the whereabouts of the scepter!”
“Lord, how much longer will it take to remove the mark? After summoning the soul, we still need to steal the items again. If the total time exceeds our deadline, I’m worried we won’t make it,” another figure asked anxiously. Atif responded directly.
“It shouldn’t take long. Based on my estimate, I should be able to remove it within seven or eight more attempts, which shouldn’t exceed a day. That means we should be able to summon the old man’s soul tomorrow at the latest. Even if we include the time needed to steal back the house, the total should not exceed three days.
“The prince gave us five days. We should be fine in terms of time…”
While calculating mentally, Atif spoke to those around him. After hearing Atif’s words, the others visibly relaxed, their tense expressions easing.
“If the timing works out, that’s good. As long as we can steal the scepter before the deadline, we won’t be cursed…” said a man next to Atif. Another person added with a pessimistic tone.
“It’s not certain… Even if we summon the soul, we only know how to enter the secret room. What if there are other security measures inside? The person who built the secret room was a very experienced treasure hunter. If he had other tricks, it could be problematic…”
Hearing this, the previously relaxed atmosphere became heavy again. Everyone present wore a deeply concerned expression, and the atmosphere froze once more. Someone then spoke up.
“No matter what’s inside the secret room, we can only find out by entering. Whether we can obtain the scepter mentioned by the necromancer prince affects all our lives. We can only do our best.”
“Oh… Yes, as long as this cursed positioning remains, we have to face whatever comes. d*mn it… I never thought it would be such a powerful necromancer…”
A complaint echoed through the crowd, and soon, more complaints arose. Hearing the grumblings, Atif frowned and sternly said.
“Enough, enough. Things are finally progressing. Now is not the time for complaints. Instead of whining, you should go do something productive.”
“Productive? But Lord Atif… aren’t we just waiting for intelligence about the secret room? What else can we do?”
“Of course, we need to prepare for evacuation. Once we get the scepter, we need to leave Tivyán as quickly and discreetly as possible. Capture a few locals and interrogate their souls to find ways to evade customs when leaving by sea!” Atif shouted to his subordinates. His subordinates immediately fell silent.
After scolding his subordinates, Atif ordered them to leave. Just as he was about to rest and prepare for the next attempt, an unexpected figure burst into the small ritual chamber and shouted at Atif.
“Lord, Hadi just reported that a large charity convoy suddenly appeared on the street!”
“A charity convoy? What does that have to do with us?” Atif said seriously as he looked at the intruder. The subordinate then paused for a breath, looked at the unconscious Nunuot in the ritual array, and continued.
“Lord, according to Hadi, the leader of the convoy looks exactly like the old butler we captured.”
“What…?” Atif’s eyes widened as he listened.
…
In the afternoon, at the intersection in the center of Blackwater Street, many poor people had gathered. The usually quiet intersection was now bustling.
Poor people from all over Blackwater Street had gathered here. Some were happily taking their supplies home, while others lamented that they had come too late to receive anything.
“This… Is it gone? Did those guys finish distributing everything so quickly?”
Standing at the edge of the intersection, the cloaked man named Hadi stared at the scene in astonishment. The convoy that had been distributing supplies had vanished, and the elderly butler who had been directing operations from the top of the carriage was nowhere to be seen.
Through the souls of recently killed locals, Hadi, who knew the Pritt language, could hear the discussions around him. The charity convoy was not limited to one location; it had already moved to the next site.
“I just saw someone on the convoy who looked exactly like the old butler. They’ve left now, but I’m not lying to you.”
Turning around, Hadi explained excitedly to a companion in a cloak. Listening to Hadi, the companion remained silent, staring at the empty space.
Hadi and his companion returned to their base and reported the situation to Atif. After hearing their words, Atif fell silent for a moment, then began to ponder.
“Two people who look exactly alike…
“If they’re not brothers, then it must be some extraordinary ability, a power that allows one to change their appearance. If it is an ability, then it might mean… we’ve been discovered?”
Atif thought to himself. Then, he took out a bone fragment and released countless semi-transparent spirits.
Atif controlled these spirits to search the area within two or three hundred meters, detailed and thorough. After collecting data from all the spirits, he found nothing unusual and breathed a sigh of relief.
However, to be safe, Atif maintained his seriousness after a brief relaxation. He then sternly said,
“We’ll move to a different location tonight…”
Just as Atif spoke, a small eagle, barely visible to the n*ked eye, was circling high above their hiding spot, about seven or eight hundred meters in the sky.
…
For Atif and his group, changing their hideout wasn’t difficult. Before they hid here, they had already prepared a backup hideout in the Blackwater Street district, not far from their original underground hideout.
This warehouse was on the outskirts of Blackwater Street, near the factory zone. The environment was even more unbearable, sparsely populated, and more hidden. Since they didn’t have many possessions, they quickly moved everything over.
After moving into the abandoned warehouse, they quickly set up. Soon, the magical array used to remove the mark was drawn inside, and Nunuot was placed in the center. Around the warehouse, countless enslaved, invisible spirits began to drift. Any stranger approaching would trigger an alarm audible only to those with the “Silence” extraordinary ability.
In Atif’s group, Hadi was assigned to guard the perimeter of the warehouse, controlling the alert spirits more flexibly. Hadi had no objections because it was his turn to be on lookout today, and his duty was to pay more attention to the movements outside the base.
As dusk faded into night, the ritual to remove the mark was underway inside the warehouse. Hadi, responsible for lookout, patrolled the perimeter with numerous invisible spirits.
Under the moonlight, Hadi circled the abandoned warehouse repeatedly. When he yawned out of boredom, he suddenly heard a crisp sound coming from the dark bushes far away.
“What’s that sound?”
Hearing the sound, Hadi focused his gaze on the distant darkness, feeling a hint of curiosity. He wanted to know what was hidden in the darkness. Then, he began to walk toward it.
For an “Enlightenment” extraordinary being, this was a very reckless act. He could easily send a spirit to investigate and report back, without needing to venture into the unknown.
But in that moment, when Hadi’s curiosity rose and his desire to know the truth in the darkness emerged, he didn’t think much else. Impulsively, he walked into the darkness, abandoning any caution. He left the patrol range of the spirits and entered the darkness. All he cared about was seeing what that sound was about. He had never been this curious about anything before.
Thus, in his impulsiveness, Hadi stepped into the dark bushes, arriving under a tree. There, he saw a broken glass bottle.
“Oh, it’s just the sound of a broken glass bottle.”
Seeing the broken glass, Hadi muttered to himself. Just as he satisfied his greatest curiosity, a pair of hands suddenly attacked from behind, binding him and covering his mouth.
“Mm… Ugh!!”
Struggling against the surprise attack, Hadi tried to break free. However, at the moment he exerted force, a piercing, numbing sensation coursed through his body.
Amidst this intense numbness, Hadi’s body began to convulse violently. But soon, the convulsions stopped. In the electric current, he lost consciousness completely.
Seeing the bound figure no longer resisting, Gregor, dressed in black, released his grip and laid Hadi on the ground. After confirming that Hadi was still breathing, he couldn’t help but remark.
“This is the detective’s ability? To render a black earth person immobile so quickly without harming them—it’s terrifying…”
Wearing a face that wasn’t his own, Gregor muttered. Soon, another voice responded.
“Yes, it’s a bizarre and frightening ability, sharp mind, and unexpected essence. No matter how you look at it, that detective is quite charming.”
From the darkness, Adele, dressed in simple attire, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a mask, slowly emerged. She fanned herself with a folding fan as she spoke. Hearing this, Gregor turned curiously and asked.
“Unexpected essence? Lady, do you know what the detective’s true nature is?”
“Ahh… I know a little bit, but not much.”
Adele covered her fan beneath her mask as she responded. She thought to herself that at least she knew the detective couldn’t be called a gentleman.
“Alright, Mr. Shadow-Faced Man, time is short. Let’s not waste words. Let’s start tonight’s performance. Take your position.”
Adele continued speaking to Gregor, who nodded in agreement. He then looked at the fallen Hadi. Gregor’s face began to shift, and after a transformation, he resembled Hadi entirely.
Then, Gregor bent down, untangled Hadi’s unconscious hand, and took out a seal from his pocket. He pressed it onto Hadi’s skin, leaving a mysterious inverted pentagram pattern.
Soon, Hadi slowly opened his eyes and stood up, standing beside Gregor. At the scene, there were now two identical figures.
