## Chapter 149: Before the Show Begins
“…k*ll the clown?”
On the east side of the square, hidden from the vibrant lights, in a dim, damp old house with extinguished candlelight, Ordinary Man Daniel bit into a meat skewer and suddenly widened his eyes: “Uh, is that what she said?”
“Yep.”
I nodded gently.
Sitting at a dusty wooden table, I fished the last piece of sweet cake out of a paper bag, sniffed it, and couldn’t bear to eat it, so I just held it in my hand and tossed the empty bag on the floor: “Regardless of whether it’s true or false, the clown is highly likely to show up tonight.”
“…But why would she come to you?”
The man across from me fell into thought.
“What else did Miss Silvya say to you? For instance… did she mention anything about the ‘Tears of the Goddess’? Oh, you know, that divine relic the heretics stole from the Royal City, that bl**d pearl, you should be well aware of that.”
The old house’s windows were sealed tight, hardly any light streaming in from outside, concealing the man’s face in darkness, making it hard for me to decipher his expression.
“She didn’t mention it,” I shook my head and said.
“…Not even a hint?”
The man seemed to be staring at me. Though I couldn’t see it, I could feel his gaze.
“What do you mean?”
Does he not believe what I said?
“No, nothing. It’s just… you need to understand, this is critical information that must not be overlooked. If all goes as expected, that thing should be in the clown’s hands, and that’s almost certainly the reason they’re converging here and possibly even starting the Southern War. You know this.”
“So what?”
Of course I knew.
That was an evil object formed from the bl**d of children. It was something Teresa had madly chosen to sacrifice everything for, putting her own life on the line to ensure it was handed over to the clown, even if it meant she would d*e and become a terrifying monster.
Such a thing needed to be destroyed; buried in the ground so the children could rest, it must never be used by the heretics again.
I thought for a moment, switching the sweet cake from my right hand to my left, fiddling with it: “That bl**d pearl. What exactly does the Gate of Truth intend to do… Has the Church figured it out?”
“… Unfortunately, no.”
Ordinary Man Daniel muttered in the darkness, then sighed: “The only thing confirmed so far is that the pearl is closely linked to the Land of Dragons; that’s the only lead we have.”
“That lead I provided to you.”
I couldn’t help rolling my eyes, my heart filled with complaints.
What is the Church even doing?
How long has it been? They’ve mobilized so many people, and yet they still haven’t caught that old gatekeeper from the Royal City who ran off, and now they’ve even lost a bishop in the process—said to be missing, with no one knowing whether he’s dead or alive. After all that, the pearl has already fallen into the clown’s hands, and we can’t even figure out what it is?
And they expect me to get new information from the heretic?
Even if she spoke, would you dare to believe her?
Seriously…
Complaints aside, I couldn’t waste any more time on meaningless blame; the Church’s internal strife had become such a mess that if one were to really investigate, the blame wouldn’t necessarily fall on these workers underfoot…
I shook my head, clearing away all those distracting thoughts: “What’s the situation over in the Land of Dragons?”
The man pondered for a moment.
“According to reports from the day before yesterday, members of the First Knights Order have been deep in Woodward Forest for half a month but still haven’t found anything. Forget about seeing a dragon, they haven’t even spotted a trace of one; and as for the entrance… the size of Woodward Forest is immense, with dense, tangled trees and less than ten thousand knights— even if they rally the familiar hunters from nearby villages to search the forest, the odds of finding an elusive entrance are extremely slim…”
Daniel paused for a moment.
“However, I heard they seem to have discovered some ruins.”
“…Ruins?”
I switched the sweet cake back to my right hand, frowning as I squeezed it, slick grease now coating my fingers, but I didn’t even notice.
“They call it ruins, but it’s probably more accurately referred to as a pile of rubble from an unknown era, with signs of having been quarried… Hmm, or maybe it wasn’t quarried by human hand; it could just as well be the work of forest fairies—or something else. The Church has already dispatched specialists there. In any case, the information about that place is still under strict confidentiality, and what I know isn’t much.”
…Forest fairies?
Those fairy clans I read about in books long gone…
“Don’t think too much about it, Miss Silvya; that may not be important. The pressing issue is that we need to focus on the present. If that heretic woman isn’t lying, then there’s evidently an irreconcilable contradiction within the Gate of Truth, to the extent that it might come down to wanting the other side dead. Under such circumstances, if the clown shows up, unexpected conflicts are likely to arise…”
“Do you believe it?” I retorted.
“…Belief or disbelief, we came prepared for this. Every possibility must be accounted for. If that woman is telling the truth, she probably wants to use our hands to eliminate her opponents within the Gate of Truth. That wouldn’t be a bad thing for us.”
Ordinary Man Daniel seemed to shrug in the dark.
“And if she’s lying… Well, we intended to take all those people out anyway. What we need to ensure is that in the instant the battle begins, while we pull back the battlefield, we can activate the Sin Barrier successfully, ensuring that the lives of the civilians in Stag Town won’t be caught up in the chaos. That has never changed, and we’ve long been prepared for it.”
“Miss Silvya, your task is to restrain him as quickly as possible the moment the clown appears, leading him away from the land, away from the town, to the location of our ambush. Given the heretic’s fiery infernal powers, this is something we can’t achieve on our own; the clown is incredibly strong, but only your Frost Order has a chance to get close to him and suppress him.”
“You assured us of this, and we are well aware of your abilities. As for the other heretics, you can leave them to us; given their capabilities, they wouldn’t be able to break through the defense of the Sin Barrier in a short amount of time—”
“What about that woman?” I interrupted, asking.
“…You needn’t worry about her; there will naturally be someone to handle her.”
“Who?”
“……”
Daniel went silent for a moment, then tapped the table twice: “He’s still in the Southern Region…”
…Oh, Angel will come over.
There’s definitely no problem entrusting it to him…
After all, that reverse endpoint power or whatever isn’t something to be trifled with.
“Will he make it on time?”
The show is about to start, even if Angel comes now, he’ll first teleport to that underground prison. There’s still quite a distance from there to Stag Town. Is it really alright?
“No problem.”
But Ordinary Man Daniel seemed quite confident.
Well…
If it really comes down to it, I still have my trump card ready— the power of Oblivion. Even though I’d prefer not to use it in front of these people, if the situation becomes critical, saving lives takes precedence; I’ll use Oblivion to trap one…
I think I’ve figured out how to do it.
Tilting my head and pondering for a few seconds, I furrowed my brows again: “That woman…”
Angel is after all the Pope, and by the time I arrived, he must have been busy spinning in circles, dealing with various matters, issuing orders, handling things one by one…
The food problems in Alectine City can’t possibly be resolved in just one day; civilians and even soldiers are still hungry. The Knights Order is putting pressure on several nearby cities; the escaped heretics will take a while to deal with. Under such circumstances, if Angel leaves his post, even for just a brief moment, many things might have to come to a halt, and some might even take the opportunity to stir up trouble…
Meanwhile, Isaac— now that several third-stage heretics have been dealt with, the war is reaching its conclusion, and his significance isn’t as pronounced anymore. With the scattered heretics already taken care of by Safiros and that old bishop who flirted with me, it’s enough. In fact, Angel could send that bald guy over…
Why show up personally?
Could it be that the Church has already figured out her identity and thus thinks Isaac… is not a match for her? Is that even possible?
The bald guy is so strong.
I tried asking Daniel: “Who exactly is she?”
“Didn’t you ask her identity?”
He countered, and I gently shook my head: “No.”
“Then we are even less clear.”
“……”
“But one thing is certain.”
“What… Ah.”
With a crunch, the final piece of sweet cake was crushed in my hand.
Feeling crumbs falling from my grip, I panicked and quickly tried to grab them, at the same moment Daniel’s voice came through: “More than twenty years ago, after the Great Cleansing in the Eastern Continent, the old councilors who followed the Great Demon either died in battle or were captured and executed. Now it seems the only one left alive is the clown.”
“Since then, the heretics have been silent for twenty years, only reappearing now, and the current councilors are probably all fresh faces… That guy who claimed to be the sixth councilor and died by your hand in Alectine City, we actually know him. Many years ago, just like you, he was also a Pope Knight.”
“Hmm…”
I swiftly grabbed the larger bits of crumbs and shoved them into my mouth.
“Later, some… unpleasant events occurred. His wife died, he left the Western Continent, and then disappeared. I never expected he would join the Gate of Truth and become one of the heretics’ leaders, ha…”
Daniel chuckled as if reflecting on something: “A person once belonging to the Church joining the Gate of Truth and becoming a councilor within just a few years… I know that guy’s character well; he’s not trustworthy at all. I can’t believe the clown actually entrusted the war in the West to him…”
“Though it’s just unnecessary bait, who knows what that madman really thinks? But it’s evident that within the Gate of Truth, they might not have many usable people left… Yet, in such circumstances, their plans are still able to proceed smoothly, showing that the Gate of Truth still has a certain level of organization. They are not truly a scattered mass, especially the clown…”
“He didn’t take the chance to unleash his nature in the Southern region, ruthlessly killing, but instead obediently went to the Northern region. None of us saw that coming; that madman actually listened to a woman! If you had said that twenty years ago, who would believe it…”
“…So?”
I mumbled as I chewed on the sweet cake.
“So, in this bloody and chaotic situation, a woman, thousands of kilometers away, can influence the actions of the clown… The very madman who would dare k*ll even councilors; twenty years ago, no one could sway his thoughts but the Great Demon, yet he truly came… And if what you said is true, that woman even harbors a strong intent to k*ll him.”
“Setting aside deeper connections, just looking at the surface, it’s also quite an outrageous thing. The clown acts solely on preference; he won’t listen to anyone’s orders, except for the long-dead Great Demon. Therefore, I guess…”
The man’s voice paused.
“Her identity must be closely related to the Great Demon.”
…………
Stepping out of the old house, I looked up at the night sky.
It had deepened.
A hundred meters away in the entertainment district, it was lit up brightly; cheers and shouts erupted from the crowd gathered there, their spirits seemingly at a peak.
Soon, the show was about to begin.
