The Sanguine Earl, Mistral, frowned slightly. Although he was unwilling to admit it, he said rather honestly, "I don't think there were any leaks prior to this.
Because if that was the case, the Rose School of Thought's demigods would've had plenty of time to use the response from the Mother Tree of Desire and Abomination Suah, laying a more dangerous and terrifying trap. It wouldn't be something an angel could easily resolve.
This was also the reason why Mistral had said that the trap appeared to be a last-minute setup and looked rather hasty.
This proved that there was no mole. After all, the ones who knew of the operation before tonight were the ones involved. If they wanted to leak the information, they could've done it earlier. This was unless someone changed their minds or wanted to use the urgency of time to obtain more benefits. And all of these would only leave clear traces.
The black-bonneted Sharron continued looking at the restaurant that had lost its roof. After a moment of silence, she said, "Perhaps it's a way of detecting danger via other means."
For this operation, the Sanguine had used a Sealed Artifact that could even disrupt a Devil's danger premonition, much less, things like spiritual intuition.
"Possibly..." Mistral couldn't think of a better explanation.
At that moment, in a room on the second floor of the restaurant, other than the red wine and strange figure evaporating, everything else remained untouched, as if nothing had happened.
Originally, Sharron and Mistral could attempt using divination to find answers to their questions and restore what had happened before the attack. But now, they couldn't do so because the surrounding area had been illuminated by the "crimson moon." It was equivalent to receiving the corresponding cleansing from the Mother Tree of Desire. This meant that divination easily led to this evil goddess, and the results would be unimaginable.
Without waiting for Sharron to speak, Mistral took a silent deep breath and said, "There are incidents in every matter. There's no such thing as a 100% success rate. Let's leave it here today. If we stay here any longer, the officials might discover something amiss."
As soon as he said that, the black chains hanging from the roof instantly turned dim and illusory.
The roof descended once again, covering the second floor of the restaurant and looking no different from what it was like before.
Of course, when the storm rained, there would definitely be water leaks. If there was a storm, the entire roof would be thrown up again.
The gigantic bat wings that blanketed the area shrank back into the darkness as the drizzle once again took center stage.
Hidden in the shadows, Klein watched as Miss Sharron's figure rapidly turned transparent and vanished. He saw an illusory cloud of smoke puffing up and countless tiny bats flying in every direction. He couldn't help but frown and silently mutter to himself:
What exactly happened...
It wasn't worrisome to have an accident. What was worrisome was not even knowing what the accident was. Regardless of what one's level was, the unknown was always frightening.
At that moment, he suddenly heard a staccato voice:
"What..." "Exactly..." "Happened..." "Here..."
When Klein turned his head, he realized that Miss Messenger had walked out of the spirit world at some point in time, standing alongside him.
The four blonde, red-eyed heads in "Her" hands were all trained at the restaurant.
"...Can you see what happened here earlier?" Klein asked hesitantly.
After the Mutant pathway reached the Wraith stage, the Beyonder was free to enter and exit the spirit world, allowing them to receive revelations from there directly. Be it their spiritual intuition or divination, they were rather formidable at that. A corresponding Sequence 2 angel was definitely powerful in such aspects; therefore, Klein posed the question.
The four heads held by Reinette Tinekerr shook as they said in unison, "No."
Klein nodded thoughtfully. Without further questions, he controlled his marionette to leave the area.
Emlyn White, who had retched for a while, rubbed the ring that was embedded with a ghostly-blue gem. He muttered to himself in surprise, "It ended just like that..."
Through the Oath of Rose, he could sense Earl Mistral's frustration, anger, and reluctance to vent his anger at a lady or others. His initial judgment was that the operation had failed because of an accident.
"It's over?" Upon hearing his words, Marie was equally stunned.
He had actually wanted to ask Emlyn White the reason for his sudden nausea and grimace, but he had perfectly tempered his curiosity and restrained his urge.
"Th-they didn't find the target..." Emlyn tried his best to recall what Earl Mistral had seen and heard, but due to the seal by Marquis Nibbs, he was only able to see the situation via Oath of Rose after the "crimson moon" rose. And these feelings were made ineffective quickly after the anomaly.
At the same time, Emlyn mumbled inwardly, The demigod from the temperance faction came here while possessing a doll?
Which master's work is this... It's simply art!
"Didn't find the target? How can that be..." Marie's brows furrowed uncontrollably.
From his point of view, everything in the operation had been going smoothly up till that point in time. Whether it was him, Sharron, or the Sanguine, none of them had the motives to leak the information to the Rose School of Thought.
As for Sherlock Moriarty, he had proven his credibility through numerous collaborations.
Suppressing his immense disappointment and puzzlement, Marie said without much change in expression, "Then we've to leave the vicinity as quickly as possible."
As soon as he said that, his figure began to fade, revealing the qualities of a Wraith.
Emlyn subconsciously wanted to ask him if he knew of any doll masters, but after opening his mouth, he found that it was damaging to the image of the Sanguine. Therefore, he could only swallow his words back down.
Even if I know that master, I don't have the money to buy it... To bear the burden of my mission, I have to sacrifice something... Unfortunately, we didn't capture the demigod of the Rose School of Thought this time, making it impossible to figure out the current situation of their headquarters. It'll be difficult to receive that holy artifact of the Ancestor... Amidst Emlyn's thoughts, his expression slowly turned grave.
Backlund Bridge area, Iron Gate Street, in one of the billiard rooms of the Bravehearts Bar.
Klein, in the image of Sherlock Moriarty, was sitting opposite Sharron and Marie.
After a brief moment of silence, the black regal dressed Sharron, who was seated on a high stool, said to the detective, "What are your thoughts on the matter?"
Klein thought for a moment before saying, "The influence that the crimson moon brought was quickly destroyed."
"What you mean to say is that since the Rose School of Thought's demigod had already sensed the immense danger through a certain method or a certain existence, why would he set up a trap that didn't have any effects?" Marie exchanged looks with Sharron before asking in thought.
"Yes." Klein nodded. "He should be able to foresee that under such dangerous circumstances, a trap at this level can be easily resolved. Then, why would he waste time setting it up and not flee immediately? This is the natural instinct of a living creature."
Wearing a small bonnet, Sharron moved her head indiscemibly.
"On the surface, it's a trap, but it's actually to cover up something?"
Klein replied, delivering the sentence at a slower pace, "Yes, using such a trap to ‘cleanse' the scene and stop any divination to conceal the actual situation back then.
"Only if there's a secret to hide would a demigod from the Rose School of Thought take the risk and stay on the scene for such a long period of time."
"But it's also possible that they didn't expect us to have an angel from the Sanguine to help deal with the trap..." Marie suggested.
Klein smiled and said, "They wouldn't ignore the angel behind you. For you to have launched a surgical strike on the concealed Rose School of Thought members in Backlund, you must have defectors who know them well."
He was referring to the existence of Reinette Tinekerr.
"What secret would they need to cover up?" Sharron seemed to accept Klein's suspicion as she sat upright and asked. Klein shook his head.
"There are too many possibilities. Perhaps they discovered the secret of the attack in time. Perhaps they were planning on plotting something in Backlund..."
Having said that, Klein tried to consider if the Rose School of Thought was associated with the current tense situation in Backlund, but he realized that there was no place for them. Be it the orthodox deities or the evil gods, they were unlikely to work with the Mother Tree of Desire.
This puzzled Klein even more. He didn't know what kind of unknown accident such an unknown factor would brew.
He paused for a moment as he swept his gaze across Sharron's and Marie's faces.
"In short, we need to be careful and cautious. We need to avoid coming here as well.
"Yes, under the premise that you can ensure your own safety, try to monitor other members of the Rose School of Thought again and see if we can figure out the secret they're hiding."
"Thank you." Sharron's figure floated up and bowed.
Marie did the same.
The scarlet flames soared up as Klein vanished from his spot.
According to the agreement, as he didn't have the chance to take action, the only remuneration he received was one free instance of help from Reinette Tinekerr.
After returning to 160 Boklund Street, Klein took off his clothes and went to bed early, hoping to wake up early. Suddenly, he heard a series of illusory pleas.
It was from a woman.
Miss Justice... With a guess, he nodded and entered the bathroom. He took four steps counterclockwise and went above the gray fog.
As he had expected, the supplicant was Justice Audrey. This lady had gathered 12,000 pounds in cash, hoping that Mr. Fool could transfer it to Mr. World to complete the transaction of the Dreamwalker and Hypnotist Beyonder characteristics.
Yes, if the ritual can be replaced by Angel's Embrace, Miss Justice can try to advance in the next two days. When that happens, it's time to place the exploration of Groselle's Travels in the schedule. Heh, Leonard has already become a Spirit Warlock for days and has nothing to do... Klein heaved a sigh of relief and replied to Miss Justice, getting her to begin the sacrifice.
With the current situation becoming more and more tense, with more and more unknown factors, he wished to strengthen himself as quickly as possible. This included many aspects—first, the increase in the number of marionettes and Sealed Artifacts; second, the recovery of his helpers; and thirdly, a further grasp of knowledge and secrets. This aided him in knowing the truth and obtaining the true attitude that the different factions have; thus, finding an opportunity from within.
The exploration of Groselle's Travels corresponded to the third point.
