Chapter Six Hundred Seventy-Eight: Fishing
In the bright midday, in the outskirts of a city in Faraluo, stood an exquisitely designed manor. The noon sunlight shone upon the gray-white tiles of the manor, and various servants were busy working inside and outside the estate. Although the weather appeared warm and sunny, the expressions on each of their faces were grave, creating an atmosphere that felt oppressively heavy.
Inside the towering main building of the manor, in an exceedingly spacious reception room, a young man with shiny brown hair, dressed in a well-fitted suit, sat elegantly on a bench, one leg crossed, smoking a cigarette, a smug smile playing on his lips. In front of this young man was a coffee table, and on the opposite side sat a neatly dressed, bent-over middle-aged man who seemed somewhat anxious.
“Mr. Henri, I beg you, please have mercy on me! I’m at my wit’s end, and if you don’t stop, I’ll be finished!”
In a tone of servility, the middle-aged man pleaded with the young man named Henri, who remained in his relaxed pose, taking a deep puff of his cigarette. After exhaling a cloud of smoke, he leisurely replied with a disdainful expression.
“Mr. Moro… I’m afraid I don’t quite understand what you’re saying. You say… to let you go, or you’ll go bankrupt? How ridiculous! Are you implying that I’m secretly manipulating all those messes your company is currently facing? Don’t try to frame me… or I might sue you for defamation.”
Henri spoke, and as he did, the middle-aged man named Moro couldn’t help but be taken aback, before seeming unable to hold himself back and immediately continued.
“If it’s not you, then who…” Moro began to say, but before he could finish, Henri’s eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a dangerous glint. Feeling this ominous aura, Moro seemed to recall some unpleasant memories and abruptly stopped speaking, sinking to his knees with a thud, bowing down completely.
“It’s not… it’s not your fault! It has nothing to do with you! Whether it’s the stock price of my company… the warehouse fire… or the cargo ship accident… everything, absolutely everything, is my doing! It’s my… my incompetence that has squandered the family fortune. It’s all my fault!”
With a clear note of desperation in his voice, Moro spoke loudly to Henri, who remained silent, his eyes cold as ice.
“It’s all my fault. I’m at this point because of my own mistakes… so I’ve come to request your help, Mr. Henri, not to ask you to stop… I’m willing to give you the majority shares of ‘Swordfish Shipping.’ Please, you can take over the whole company, as long as you can save it…”
Moro continued kneeling on the ground, earnestly expressing his plea. After hearing his words, Henri sighed, exhaling smoke, then slowly stood up and walked over to Moro, speaking softly.
“Mr. Moro… don’t say it like that. Our meeting is a kind of fate; I don’t wish to rob someone fated to me of their family fortune without cause. However, I also do not wish to see someone d*e without helping… how about this? I’m willing to invest in your company to alleviate your urgent situation. Although we will have some minor involvement, the company will still remain yours, and you will continue as the chairman.”
Henri said to Moro, and after listening to his words, Moro looked up in disbelief, muttering.
“R-really?”
“Of course it’s true, as long as you agree to the cooperation I proposed earlier,” Henri continued. Hearing this, Moro’s eyes widened slightly, and he muttered to himself.
“The cooperation you mentioned… no, impossible… smuggling is illegal! Not to mention people… Mr. Henri, if you truly want my company, then take it! I only need one…”
“Ha, Mr. Moro, how could I forcibly take what’s yours? Am I that kind of person? The owner of Swordfish Shipping must remain you… think carefully here, but remember that time is short; if you don’t want to be driven to the brink by those black creditors of yours, you better come up with a solution quickly…”
After finishing his words, Henri disregarded the despairing expression on Moro’s face and stepped out of the reception room. Not long after he left, Moro, now somewhat broken, shouted loudly.
“I agree! I agree to everything! Please, help me! Mr. Henri!”
“Ha…”
Hearing Moro’s near cry from behind, Henri smiled faintly, then continued to leave the reception room. Just as he stepped out the door, a butler-like man who seemed to have been waiting outside promptly approached him, presenting something to Henri.
“Sir, please take a look at this.” The butler said, and upon hearing his words, Henri turned to see that the butler was holding a newspaper and immediately inquired.
“A newspaper? Is there some big news?”
“Yes, it’s about the recent notorious thief; he successfully committed another crime yesterday and stole from the national museum in Froz,” the butler said respectfully to Henri, who responded with keen interest.
“The thief… that Thief K? He has already made it to Froz so quickly, but what does that have to do with us?”
“Please look here, the list of stolen artifacts published by the national museum…” The butler pointed to a page in the newspaper, and as Henri followed the butler’s finger, he observed closely, and his brows furrowed slightly.
“Hmm? This is…”
Henri’s expression grew serious as he snatched the newspaper into his hands. After carefully reviewing it twice, he took a deep breath and said to the butler beside him, “You may leave now.”
“Certainly.” Following Henri’s command, the butler bowed and immediately exited. Henri glanced at the newspaper two more times, then rolled it up and quickly left.
Not long after, Henri arrived at the first floor of his manor; in a deserted corridor, he strode purposefully down to the end, where he completely disappeared behind the wall.
Henri navigated through the heavy, solid layers of rock, descending all the way until he reached a secret room deep underground. This sealed chamber was adorned with strange gems that emitted a dim glow.
Ignoring the various odd ornaments and cabinets within the secret room, Henri walked straight to the center, where a large sand pit lay on the ground filled with fine sand.
Reaching the edge of the sand pit, Henri slowly knelt on one knee, placing his hand on the ground inscribed with a series of mysterious characters, and closed his eyes to begin chanting something. As Henri’s voice continued, the shifting sand in the pit began to move, gathering on its own, molding into a humanoid figure seated on a throne.
The sand humanoid seemed to gain self-awareness soon after materializing, looking towards Henri at the edge of the sand pit, while Henri bowed slightly and spoke respectfully.
“Great Chancellor…”
“What is it?” The sand humanoid’s indistinct face opened its mouth, producing a similarly muffled yet heavy sound. Hearing this, Henri didn’t dare to slacken and directly spoke.
“Thief K has made another move. He announced and successfully stole from the Grand Palace yesterday, and early today, Faraluo’s officials released a statement issuing a bounty for Thief K and a list of lost items to widely gather clues in society.
“On this list of losses… is something called the ‘Golden Triangular Base.’ According to the drawings printed in the newspaper, it is precisely the item you previously instructed us to seek!”
Henri reported to the sand humanoid before him, maintaining his posture as he silently awaited a response. The sand humanoid didn’t immediately reply but after a moment of silence, finally spoke in a measured tone.
“Thief… K?
“I remember last year in Adria, it was also because of his interference that Garib failed…”
“Yes, it was definitely because of this Thief K that the Boneyard Society had directly capsized in that situation! The crystal that Azamu possessed must have fallen into the hands of this notorious thief back then! Recently, he has been very active in Faraluo, committing four crimes in a month. Almost every item he has stolen has been an artifact from the First Dynasty of Northern U, indicating that he is targeting these objects specifically!”
Henri spoke with focused expression, and upon hearing Henri’s words, the sand humanoid paused slightly, then continued.
“Thief K… has been active since the first half of last year. Shortly after stealing the Azamu crystal, news of a revival of the Judge of Heaven faith came from Adus. Now that he has resumed activities, he has been fixated on stealing the artifacts of Northern U. It’s hard to say that there isn’t some deeper connection between them…”
“Sir, you see clearly… I too believe that Thief K is related to the sudden emergence of the Judge of Heaven Church. His movement from Adus might also be motivated by the intent of that church. Could his actions be to assist that church in gathering the lost artifacts of the First Dynasty? But that doesn’t quite add up… such a powerful extraordinary church wouldn’t likely care so much about these mundane items without extraordinary properties, would they?”
Henri analyzed in front of the sand humanoid, who quickly provided a reply.
“Those crystals… under conditions that don’t correspond, they are no different from ordinary items, and cannot be distinguished. What this so-called thief is truly seeking should be objects with properties similar to those crystals.
“He should have received some information from somewhere; some museums in Faraluo may contain items similar to the crystal he previously obtained. However, he doesn’t know exactly which item it is, so he visits place after place, taking away all suspicious items, then slowly sifts through them for his targets. This is similar to what he did in Adria, taking all of Azamu’s belongings, whether useful or not.”
The sand humanoid spoke solemnly, and after hearing its words, Henri immediately responded.
“It should be so… if that Thief K truly acted on received information, then what he is looking for should be that crystal base we’re after… Sir, this thief is after the same item we are, and now that base has fallen into his hands. What should we do? Should I mobilize all resources to find him?”
Speaking with a tone of request, Henri asked the sand humanoid, which remained silent for a moment as if pondering, then spoke with a light laugh again.
“Ha ha… there’s no need to make it so troublesome. We can let him come to us willingly.”
“Let him… come to us?” Upon hearing the sand humanoid’s statement, Henri furrowed his brows in confusion, and the sand humanoid immediately provided clarification.
“What use does that golden base have without its corresponding crystal? The crystal has long been taken out by Char and made into the necklace ‘Light of Maria.’ This thief will soon verify that his spoils are actually incomplete, and he will seek to understand where the missing crystals have gone. Why are they missing?
“The Light of Maria is currently in my possession. We can wait until that notorious thief begins to wonder where the other half of his spoils is, and then give him a hint in the newspapers, hmm… just fabricate a reason, let the illustrious Light of Maria reappear in the world, introduce its background, take some pictures to publish, and hold a public exhibition, then await the grand arrival of this thief.”
The sand humanoid explained to Henri, who, after hearing its words, nodded in realization and then immediately opened his mouth.
“Sir, you mean we can fish…”
“Indeed, once he learns about the golden base, he won’t ignore the Light of Maria. I believe he won’t mistake the appearance of the crystal on the Light of Maria, as he was the one who stole it in Adria himself.”
The sand humanoid said, and hearing those words, Henri nodded thoughtfully, then continued speaking.
“This is indeed a good plan… however, if that thief is truly behind the Judge of Heaven Church, will capturing him provoke their hostility? If that happens, won’t we face pressure in our divinations?”
“You need not worry about this. If that thief actually had sufficient divination resources, he would have long ago used precise divination methods to locate the items he desires, instead of conducting a series of museum visits and indiscriminately stealing artifacts. If the Judge of Heaven Church was truly determined to possess the gold and crystals, the church’s divination would have been severely attacked long ago. After all, the Light of Maria has always been in our hands.
“This thief may have connections to the Judge of Heaven Church, but the ties may not be strong. Even if they are closely connected, it’s not much of a problem. That church, even if it truly possesses the legacy of ‘Enlightenment,’ is likely still at the beginning of its rise, and their influence is not yet formidable. They still need to reserve resources to guard against the heretics of Glimmer in Northern U, as well as the Sacred Summit and other probing societies…
“Right now, the Glimmer heretics in Northern U are still doing fine; what do we have to fear? If this thief truly has connections to the Judge of Heaven Church, catching him might even allow us to follow the trail to further uncover the secrets of ‘Enlightenment,’ potentially greater than the rewards we would gain from recovering the golden crystal embedding.
“Therefore, don’t think too much now; start preparing for the promotion.”
The sand humanoid continued, and after hearing its words, Henri’s concerns nearly vanished, and he respectfully bent forward, saying.
“Understood! Mr. Federico.”
