Bellman Carnot's expression immediately turned odd when he heard Frank Lee's name.
"Yes, he... he's a kind and pure person, but at times, his pureness is terrifying."
Indeed... Klein made way and allowed the bellman to walk down the stairs. As he followed him down, he asked, "Are you familiar with him?"
Carnot silently walked ahead, and after a while, he said with his back facing Gehrman Sparrow, "I'm a failed product filled with all kinds of problems. I was always mocked, and only Frank was one of the few who looked at me normally, treating me as someone with a real soul..."
"Why did he leave the Church of Mother Earth?" Klein asked despite knowing the answer.
Carnot came out of the bell tower, answering while getting his bearings, "I do not know about the specifics.
"He's an orphan. He grew up in the cloister from a young age. He really treats the Church as a family and views Mother Earth as his mother.
"He has many strange ideas. He had the opportunity of becoming a diocese bishop, but he was later nearly sent to a tribunal for being sacrilegious."
Frank mentioned this before. He was trying to crossbreed a bull, a cow, and wheat together... To be frank, if it were me, I would've sent him to the tribunal as well... This guy was fine early on because of his low Sequence, limiting what he can do... Klein mumbled and followed Carnot down another street and arrived in the alley behind St. Draco Cathedral.
Carnot walked in front of an ordinary building, pulled the doorbell thrice, each tug lasting two seconds.
After a while, thudding sounds approached as the door creaked open.
Klein immediately saw an elder in a black short coat with a hard cane.
His hair was as white as snow, but he didn't have any obvious wrinkles. He wore a black eye mask around his eyes.
"Mr. Councilor, Mr. Gehrman Sparrow is here to pay you a visit."
Councilor Ricciardo? He's Councilor Ricciardo? He's blind? Previously, Klein had only heard his voice without meeting him. It was no wonder he was surprised.
Ricciardo turned his ear to the side and slowly turned his head towards Gehrman Sparrow and chuckled.
"Sorry, I can only meet you this way. When I woke up this morning, I suddenly had a premonition that I mustn't open my eyes to see anything today. To prevent any accidents, I wore an eye mask."
... You can actually do that... He's in no way inferior as a charlatan... Klein was momentarily amused and surprised.
Following that, he understood the correct interpretation of his premonition. He didn't want to see him!
He remembered that Beyonders from the Monster pathway were able to see things others couldn't see. Therefore, Snake of Mercury Will Auceptin was able to sense my uniqueness. And back in Tingen City, Ademisaul's eyes bled and he collapsed to the ground simply from seeing me.
Councilor Ricciardo sensed the danger and wore an eye mask ahead of time... Sigh, if not for that, I was planning on asking what he can see... Klein didn't have any penchant about forcing others to harm themselves. He held back his thoughts and asked, "Do you have clues to the mystical item I need?"
"Not for now," Ricciardo said with a smile. "After I recovered from my injuries, I went to Bayam. I was lucky that there was some adjustments to the upper echelons of the navy and governor-general's office, so I successfully rescued Roy King, but it wasted quite a bit of my time."
Klein had expected this as he said without any signs of surprise, "Then, I'll use this request to get another form of help.
"I have a friend who is plagued with bad luck after interacting with a mural left behind by the Angel of Fate. He needs it completely removed."
Ricciardo thought for a moment before saying, "No problem. Bring me over to him. Don't allow him to leave his residence, or there might be accidents."
Klein nodded and walked towards the alley with his suitcase in hand. He took the opportunity to ask, "Mr. Councilor, what do you know about the Mother Tree of Desire?"
From Klein's point of view, the Life School of Thought and the Rose School of Thought were at odds with each other, so it was likely that they knew each other very well.
With cane in hand, Ricciardo slowly walked behind him to his right. He didn't need anyone to help him; it was as though he wasn't wearing an eye mask.
He chuckled.
"The Mother Tree of Desire is the Rose School of Thought's manifestation of the Chained God. However, I suspect that the truth is actually the reverse. The Chained God is one of the Mother Tree of Desire's many manifestations. My reasoning is that Red Light, Moria, claims that the Mutant pathway's Sequence 0 is still unoccupied. Heh heh, you know about Sequence 0, right?"
"Yes," Klein succinctly answered. He didn't even express his knowledge of the Great White Brotherhood.
Ricciardo tersely acknowledged. "In short, no one knows the true identity of the Mother Tree of Desire, nor does anyone know what ‘Her' pathway is. Perhaps, that's ‘Her' true identity. In addition, I can provide some indirect information.
"The Mother Tree of Desire and the Primordial Moon are at odds. There seems to be some irreconcilable conflict between them, and it's because of this that the Rose School of Thought views us as an enemy.
"However, at times, the Mother Tree of Desire and the Primordial Moon seem to have a subtle relationship. You might find it hard to imagine that the Southern Continent's Shaman King, who worships the moon, joined the Rose School of Thought.
"The seven Churches hate the True Creator, Primordial Demoness, Dark Side of the Universe, and the other evil gods, but their hatred for the Primordial Moon and Mother Tree of Desire runs even deeper.
"Similarly, the Aurora Order, Demoness Sect, Blood Sanctify Sect, and Moses Ascetic Order do not like the Rose School of Thought."
That's interesting... Mother Tree of Desire is one of the two most isolated ones? Klein stopped a carriage while in thought as he watched Carnot help Ricciardo up the carriage.
He then entered the carriage and instructed the driver to bring them to a nearby hotel.
Before long, the carriage arrived at their destination. Just as Klein was about to get off, he suddenly heard a loud bang. A rumbling explosion shook the entire street as glass fragments from a window fell to the ground.
No way... Could it be caused by Anderson's bad luck? Klein's spiritual intuition told him that it was the case, but the Unluckiest Hunter had apparently lived.
He turned his head to look out the carriage and saw that a huge chunk of wall had collapsed from the hotel's second floor. Flames and smoke remained.
At this moment, a figure with disheveled blond hair and messy clothes stood below as he muttered, "To think that there's such a daring person to trade arms in a hotel. New kinds of explosives, especially. He nearly caused me to die without even knowing why... My suitcase..."
Klein looked down at the suitcase he was carrying and suddenly felt how great it was to be cautious.
He turned around and helped Ricciardo down the carriage.
Anderson sensed something as he turned his head to say with a bitter smile, "The arms dealers these days are too unprofessional! Thankfully, it's daytime, and there aren't many people in the hotel. The owner sure is pitiful, having to suffer a certain loss. However, the gold they carry shouldn't be destroyed that easily. It should make up for his loss."
I think your bad luck is responsible for a large part of the accountability... Klein nodded and said to Ricciardo, "It's him."
Ricciardo then turned his head to Anderson, but his gaze was completely blocked by the black eye mask.
He paused for a few seconds before smiling.
"Give me a gold coin."
"Oh?" Anderson took out a Loen gold coin from the inside of his clothes, feeling suspect. Then, he smiled at Gehrman Sparrow. "Tradition from my hometown. We sew a tiny pocket on the inside of our clothes to keep a few coins. I originally didn't believe in it, but I've been just too unlucky recently."
As he spoke, he handed the gold coin to Ricciardo.
Ricciardo received the gold coin, slowly closed his fingers, before retracting his hand.
He then laughed and said, "Alright. Your bad luck has been dispelled."
"Ah?" Anderson stood there in shock as he looked at Gehrman Sparrow, as though saying, "That's it? Did you get a fraud?"
Klein was surprised as well, but he chose to believe Ricciardo. After all, he was a Fate Councilor.
Ricciardo put away the gold coin and chuckled.
"The bad luck you received this time wasn't child's play. If you don't believe me, you can head over to the casino to try your luck."
"Makes sense!" Anderson clapped and immediately got directions for the nearest casino from a passerby.
After a while, he returned in a clean and decent jacket. He looked at Ricciardo and instinctively opened his mouth.
He was suddenly taken aback as he forcibly closed his mouth and thanked him with a grin.
After the demigod was sent on a carriage, he leaned in towards Gehrman Sparrow and wistfully said, "I was planning on saying that ‘although you're blind, you really are amazing when it comes to the domain of fate...' Thankfully, I recalled in time that he's a demigod."
If you had really said that, you might have the chance of becoming the hunter who died immediately after having his bad luck removed... Klein didn't echo his sentiments as he said, "Now can you tell me the clues to that revolver?"
As Creeping Hunger had great limitations, he still wished for a more conventional offensive mystical item.
Anderson combed his hair and chuckled.
"It's in Bayam.
"It's from a friend I used to know, a very powerful adventurer. As he got sick of the unstable and dangerous life, he used his savings to buy a few spice gardens and found a lady to marry. He then completely left this line of work we're in.
"He recently had a child and his thoughts changed again. He began to wish that his child would be brought up in a better and safer environment with better educational prospects, so he plans on moving to Backlund. There are the best grammar schools and public schools there.
"Heh heh, he doesn't wish to rent a place in Backlund, but he also doesn't plan on selling his gardens that constantly earn him money. He happens to have an excess when it comes to mystical items, so he plans on selling that revolver.
"Back then, I was in a rush to follow the treasure-hunting expedition into those waters, so I'm not sure if he succeeded in the end. However, few people can buy something worth nearly ten thousand pounds at once, so the transaction won't close that easily."
"Alright. Bring me to him," Klein replied simply.
...
At that moment on the Golden Dream, Danitz was horrified to realize a problem.
His captain hadn't appeared in three days!
