City of Generosity, Bayam, in a rented apartment lit up with gas lamps.
Verdu Abraham, who was wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, held a thick stack of information. He was reading seriously under the dim light, drawing a symbol and recording what he deemed useful information from time to time.
He left Loen and came to the Rorsted Archipelago mainly to avoid being watched by Dorian and his other family members, and focus on studying mysticism. He wanted to find an effective way to save Ancestor Bethel Abraham, or rather, reduce the difficulty of the known ritual.
However, he hadn't made any headway after half a year. It was as though he had no other choice other than hunting a Bizarro Sorcerer, a Parasite, and a Secrets Sorcerer.
This made Verdu rather depressed, but he was clear about how dangerous a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact was. Even if he was willing to sacrifice himself, he was unable to truly control it. He was unable to guarantee the final outcome.
And the most important thing was that he couldn't find any Bizarro Sorcerers or Parasites. They were all saints that were hard to track, with styles that were known for being strange and bizarre.
Phew... Verdu put down the stack of documents in his hand and muttered silently, Don't tell me I can only place my hopes on The Fool like Dorian and the others?
Upon thinking of The Fool, Verdu couldn't help but frown. This was because there were more and more half-giants promoting The Fool's faith in Bayam City, so much so that even he, who rarely went out, heard of it.
This made him suspect if he had arrived near the headquarters of the Church of The Fool.
If it wasn't for the mysterious knowledge that was spread in secret in the Rorsted Archipelago was far beyond Verdu's expectations—many of them were things that the Abraham family didn't know of, and were extremely useful—he would've left Bayam last month and headed for the Southern Continent.
I can't stay here any longer. I need to buy ship tickets to East Balam as soon as possible... Just as Verdu made a decision, he began to waver. Dorian and The Fool probably wouldn't expect me to hide in the area that's under their headquarters' jurisdiction. Emperor Roselle once said that the most dangerous place is the safest place...
After some hesitation, Verdu put down the documents and switched off the lights. With the moonlight from the window, he walked towards the bedroom.
At the corner of the balcony in his room, a figure suddenly jumped out of the darkness and jumped over the railings.
The figure was like a feather, light and weightless. It landed from a height ten meters above the ground, without making a single sound.
Right on the heels of that, the figure moved through the shadows to the vicinity of the Church of the Sea God and went up the bell tower.
Then, "he" took out a pen and paper and wrote the report on tonight's surveillance before stuffing it into a crack.
After the figure left, a howling wind suddenly sounded above the bell tower about fifteen minutes later.
The report was pulled out from the crack by an invisible hand. As it swept through the wind, it rose and fell into the distance like a bat spreading its wings in the dark night.
Not long after, the report plummeted like it had been bound to a rock, landing on a hand that extended out in a hidden corner of the garden.
This hand belonged to the cardinal of the Church of Storms, Alger Wilson.
He then unfolded the report and began to read it in the darkness. He was completely unaffected by the lack of light.
Even in the dark sea, Alger could see everything around him clearly.
Verdu is becoming more resolute in his intention of leaving Bayam... Alger nodded indiscernibly as he came to a conclusion.
Over the past half a year, he had been monitoring this member of the Abraham family according to Mr. Fool's instructions, but he hadn't noticed anything abnormal about him.
After Verdu left the Rorsted Archipelago, his mission would be completed.
However, Alger didn't wish for it to end just like that. He believed that he hadn't made enough contributions. All he did was simply monitor a Sequence 7 Beyonder without any special characteristics.
The Hermit had already obtained a Sequence 3 Beyonder characteristic from Queen Mystic, and had gathered the corresponding supplementary ingredients and was busy preparing the ritual. This made Alger deeply stressed. Of course, he had also done many things according to Mr. Fool's intentions, but even he felt that there was a huge difference from doing those tasks, with the identity, status, and strength of Sea God.
For a moment, Alger wanted to use all sorts of methods to force Verdu Abraham to expose himself, but in the end, he gave up on the idea. This was because he couldn't be sure of Mr. Fool's attitude towards the target.
Previously, when the City of Silver and Moon City sold Beyonder characteristics and potion formulas, Alger had purchased some from the Tarot Club. He had used it to secretly nurture a team of Beyonders who were loyal to him. This was how he had people monitoring Verdu.
Currently, this less-than-ten-member team was mostly at Sequence 9, while only a small number of them had been promoted to Sequence 8.
As for where Alger had obtained the money for purchasing Beyonder characteristics and potion formulas, the answer was very simple:
As a cardinal of the Church diocese, Alger could easily "save" a sum of money for himself. And during that period of time, the minerals, farms, spice plantations, and factories in the Rorsted Archipelago were sold at below intrinsic value. As long as one had the funds to buy them, they could earn a lot after a short period of time.
More importantly, the Church of Storms's headquarters was quite interested in the Beyonder characteristics and potion formulas sold by the City of Silver and Moon City. They provided a large sum of money for their purchase. The go-between was without a doubt the cardinal of the Rorsted diocese, Alger Wilson. It was understandable that some losses were inevitable during such situations.
Reining in his thoughts, Alger decided to sell some mysticism knowledge in Bayam's Beyonder circles through his Shadow Guards. He wanted to bait Verdu Abraham and keep him in the vicinity for as long as possible.
The main reason is that the City of Silver's preaching has frightened that gentleman... Alger shook his head and muttered inwardly.
He then destroyed the report in his hand and walked back into the cathedral.
...
The sky had just lit up, and a young man walked out of the hotel, leisurely enjoying the scenery of Bayam's morning.
He had just bought the "Teana" beverage that was packaged with the fruit's shell when he suddenly felt a huge shadow appear beside him.
The youth turned his head and looked up bit by bit only to find a 2.5-meter-tall half-giant walking over.
"Excuse me sir, do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior, Mr. Fool." The half-giant bent his back and tried his best to make his smile appear amiable.
The youth drank a mouthful of Teana and pointed to the side. He smiled and nodded.
"Sure, but not here."
He then walked to a place where they wouldn't be in the way. The seemingly oppressive half-giant followed warmly.
"Go ahead." The youth didn't hide his curiosity at all.
The muscular half-giant's expression turned solemn.
"My Lord claims to be The Fool. In the past, the present, and also in the future, ‘He' is the great ruler who dominates the spirit world. ‘He' is also the King of Yellow and Black who wields good luck. ‘He' is also the landmark when every living being seeks eternal life.
"My Lord lives above the real world and the spirit world. ‘His' benevolence spreads across Heaven and the land. There are a total of six angels under ‘Him'...
"The Angel of Mercury is the embodiment of fate, my Lord's most cherished angel. The Angel of Death has followed my Lord for the longest period of time and is the consul of the Underworld. The Angel of Redemption is my Lord's bugle, the messenger of ‘His' revelations. The Angel of Life is the crystallization of wisdom itself. ‘She' is the indestructible spirituality that resides in everyone's body."
Upon hearing that, the youth laughed.
"Your Lord is really impressive. He actually has so many angels to serve him."
"Not only that," the half-giant replied gently. "There's also the Angel of Retribution beside the Lord's throne. ‘He' is the Lord's lightning, the Lord's rage, and the Lord's palm. It's all the judge of the fallen and the ones who aren't chaste.
"In contrast to the Angel of Retribution is the Angel of Time, "He" is a ‘king' of ancient times. "He" eventually submitted to my Lord and now strikes the bell of Heaven."
"Impressive, impressive." The youth sincerely sighed.
Upon hearing such a response, the half-giant couldn't help but smile. Then, he described the various miracles that Mr. Fool had performed as succinctly as possible. Finally, he said, "It's already been fifteen minutes. I won't waste your time. If you're interested, you can go to The Fool's cathedral on 16th Phillips Street. This is the biggest cathedral in Bayam City. Heh heh, the rest are still in planning."
The young man nodded.
"I'll pay a visit if I'm free."
After watching the half-giant turn and leave, the youth took out a crystal monocle from his pocket and wore it on his right eye.
...
The half-giant walked straight back to a restaurant and changed into a chef's attire.
"Baldur, you went proselytizing again?" the restaurant owner asked with a smile.
When the industry association recommended this half-giant to learn culinary skills from his restaurant, he had been rather reluctant. He always felt that the other party could kill him with just a swing of his arm, and he didn't seem like someone with any culinary talent.
However, he was now very pleased with Baldur. Not only was he humble, obedient, and willing to take hardship, he had quite the intimidating demeanor. This scared off the gangsters who had placed their sights on the restaurant.
The only problem was that he would go out every morning to proselytize The Fool.
Of course, the restaurant owner couldn't say anything since it wasn't working hours, so he didn't mind.
Baldur smiled honestly and walked into the kitchen. He said to his good friend, Bonn, who had come from Moon City to seek refuge with him.
"I can teach you how to roast fish today."
Bonn looked rather normal, but his eyes appeared awkward with one looking up and the other looking down. He was one of the citizens from Moon City who wasn't very deformed, and he had the courage to interact with the people outside. He nodded.
"I have to pray in a moment. Mr. Fool sent a revelation to get all the residents of Moon City to pray to ‘Him' at nine in the morning. We are to wish that we are no longer deformed."
