"We need to find the girl first." Reina said. Her voice was steady and pragmatic. "We need to see what we're dealing with. Is this Aella a child who just had a bad day and a sudden burst of magic? Or is she no longer her, but an ancient entity wearing a child's skin? The nature of a bloodline awakening can be quite deceptive, Dear."
Jack nodded. His pumpkin head tilting slightly. The orange glow from his carved eyes casted long, jagged shadows against the wall.
"Logical." He said. "It won't feel right to let an innocent girl be targeted and in danger without lending a hand. But we do need to make sure. Not every bullied and suffering person is innocent."
He turned back to the sleeping Purity Cultist. The man's chest rose and fell in a rhythmically heavy tempo. Tethered to the dream world by Sloth's [Drowsy Aura]. And he was also still affected by the puppet's [Dreamy Truth].
Jack wasn't finished with him. He needed numbers. He needed names. He needed the tactical layout of the enemy.
"Tell me..." Jack commanded him. "How many cultists from your Purity Group are in this island? Is there any illuminated level powerhouse?"
The cultist's lips moved sluggishly. A thin line of drool escaped the corner of his mouth. "Twelve... Only twelve of us here... No masters of the Illuminated level... We are the vanguard..."
"Only twelve?" Jack mused. "That's a small number to contend against the syndicate and the church. And without illuminated being? What do you depend on?"
"The Sword of Purity..." The man surprisingly replied the rhetoric question. "An artifact from the Goddess... It carries the weight of a saint... In the hands of a believer, it can strike with the power of an Illuminated being... It clears the path of filth..."
Jack stayed silent. The gears of his mind turning as fast as a steam engine. Twelve men and a high-tier artifact. Dangerous, but manageable if they were caught off guard.
He gestured to Sloth. "Keep him under. Make sure he doesn't wake up until the sun is high tomorrow. I want his brain to feel like it's been pickled in cheap gin."
He paused and recalled the information from his [Eyes of Judgement]. This man was no innocent. His karma was really dark and his sins were numerous.
"And give him a terrifying nightmare." He added.
Sloth gave a tiny, stuffed nod. The [Drowsy Aura] deepened. And the cultist's snoring turned into a heavy, drug-like stupor.
And then the sleepy panda plushie activated its [Nightmare Snores]. The cultist's expression gradually turned twisted. Showing both pain and fear, despite being still completely unconscious.
Jack didn't revert to his human form. His Jack Lantern form was small and agile. And, with his [Mysterious Anomaly] and Reina's illusion, it would have no problem for scouting the wood carving town, Naoville.
He signaled to Reina. And they slipped out of the door. Returning back to the inn's crowded first floor before going our to the main street.
"One source is a rumor. Two is a lead. Three is the truth." Jack whispered as they moved. "Let's find a different source of information."
Their next target was the Black Market Syndicate. Unlike the cultists, the Syndicate didn't exactly hide. They could easily be found. But they were rarely alone.
But then, Jack spotted a lone sharpshooter from the syndicate lurking in the town's central clock tower. A vantage point that covered the main thoroughfare and the path leading toward the mountain wilderness.
Reina's misty illusion began to ripple. She bent the light around them and applied an advance camouflage technique. Making them more invisible and ignorable.
They ascended the clock tower's internal stairs. The smell of grease and cold brass filled Jack's currently non-existent nose.
They quickly found him at the top level. The sharpshooter was a lean man with a scar running across his bridge of his nose. He was focused. Peering through a long, brass-bound spyglass.
He never heard them. Jack deployed Sloth again. The panda plushie appeared and activated its power. Within seconds, the sniper was fast asleep. Curling on the floor.
"Sloth, use the [Dreamy Truth]." Jack gave an instruction. The panda puppet immediately activated the skill.
Jack started the interrogation.
"The girl you were looking for, Aella..." Jack pushed. "Tell me about her."
"Eight years old..." The sniper mumbled. "Daughter of a slave.... When the mother died... the world broke around her... The boy, the Vice Leader's son tried to grab her... She didn't even touch him. He just... folded. Like paper... Then she vanished... Space... time... power..."
Jack's interest sharpened. Space-time manipulation power in an eight-year-old? In most cases, it would be a recipe for an apocalypse.
"How many of you are here?" Jack continued asking.
"Forty-eight transcendent members... mostly combatants, trackers, hunters. Hundreds of normal members..."
"Any illuminated one?"
"No illuminated yet..." The sharpshooter replied. "But Lady Kaelan, the Vice Leader... she's on her way. Two days... maybe less... She wants revenge... She'll burn the mountain to find the girl..."
"Two days." Jack repeated. He looked at Reina. The timeline was shrinking.
Jack asked the final question. "Do you know the girl's current location?"
"The mountains... in the wilderness..."
There was no more question Jack deemed important enough. They left the sniper in a deep sleep without giving him a nightmare. After all, his karma was only slightly negative and his sins were surprisingly... not that many.
They moved toward the Chapel of Justice. The Church of Justice was the final piece of the puzzle. The cult wanted a sacrifice and the syndicate wanted revenge. So, what did the church want?
The Chapel was a white-stone structure that looked out of place among the wooden artistry of the town. Inside, the air was thick with the scent of incense and the low hum of prayer.
Jack and Reina found a priest in a side room. Kneeling before a statue of a winged figure holding a balance.
The process was rhythmic now. Sloth's [Drowsy Aura]. And then, its [Dreamy Truth].
This priest was more guarded and he could stay awake far longer than the previous two. But eventually, he fell into a slumber.
"What does your church want with the girl, Aella?" Jack asked. "Does your god demand her life?"
"No..." The priest droned. "She is a vessel of the ancient faewitch-blood... She must be rescued... She will be taken to the Papalon Holy Kingdom... There, she will be educated... Her mind will be molded to serve the Light... She will be the ultimate weapon, or the ultimate shield..."
"Brainwashing, huh?" Jack said flatly.
He didn't mind the concept. It was fine for him if anyone could brainwash evil people and turn them into decent ones. He did it to Reina once after all.
He would find it unforgivable when the target was an innocent though. He was biased, he knew that. And he was fine with that.
For him, the 'evil' people had less right than the decent ones. Stealing from them, killing them, torturing them... those were fine. Change the targets to innocent ones... those would be unforgivable evil acts.
And in this case, Jack would have to see the little girl first before he could judge whether the church's plan was acceptable or not.
"How many transcendent individuals does the church have in the island." Jack asked.
"Twenty-five divine acolytes..." The priest replied. "An Illuminated Bishop is on the way... Bishop Hearthstone... He will arrive in three days... Bringing the Shackles of Penance... No magic can escape them..."
Jack signaled Reina. They had heard enough. They exited the chapel. Jack transformed back to his human form before they returned to the docks.
The Ocean Wanderer, their ghost ship disguised as a humble sloop, rocked gently in the harbor. To the casual observer, it was just another trade vessel. To Jack and his crew, it was their secret fortress.
Jack, Reina, and Rune made their way to the main cabin. Only Ned and Don were in there. The others were still ashore. So, they waited...
...
The crew returned back for dinner. And they all gathered in the main cabin.
"Something must have happened in this town." Baroness Artheim started. "We've seen many transcendent people during our exploration. And Bell suspected they were from the Black Market Syndicate."
"Indeed." Leon said. "The Church and Justice and the syndicate seemed to search for something here. Argust and I couldn't find much about it yet. We're planning to gather more information tonight. Bartenders and drunk people would usually loosen their mouths further at night."
"No need for that." Jack said. He shared his findings without sugarcoating anything. "Reina, Rune, and I have collected enough information. We're sitting on a powder keg here in this island. The syndicate, the church, and the Purity Cult are competing for one little girl."
He took a deep breath. "There's this girl, Aella. Eight years old. Formerly, a slave owned by the syndicate. She's an awakened Mysterious Faewitch with, apparently... space-time abilities. She's currently hiding in the mountains after wiping out a Syndicate slaver party."
"Mysterious Faewitch?" Chloe gasped. Her eyes went wide. "The legendary bloodline? The one that caused massive chaos three hundred years ago?"
Baroness Artheim tapped the table in contemplation. "Mysterious Faewitch huh? If I recall correctly, it should be a bloodline class which might awaken elemental power randomly, just like primordial sorcerers. However, the energy it uses is eldritch energy, unlike the sorcerer's arcane energy. And it also possesses the nature affinity comparable to the sacred druid."
"And the current Mysterious Faewitch seems to awaken space-time element." Reina chimed in. "She will be a really troublesome transcendent character if she can master that."
"The problem is..." Jack said. "She's still too young. And she's being hunted by three different flavors of trouble. We have the Purity Cult with twelve men and an illuminated level artifact. And then... the Black Market Syndicate with forty-eight transcendent men and a vengeful illuminated powerhouse arriving in about two days. And finally... the Church of Justice with twenty-five divine acolytes plus an illuminated bishop arriving in three days."
The room went silent. The weight of the numbers pressed down on them.
"The syndicate wants her dead as a revenge." Jack continued. "The cult wants her for a sacrifice ceremony. And the church wants to turn her into a brainwashed puppet. None of them are interested in her well-being."
Baroness Artheim tapped the map. "Do we need to interfere in this matter, Captain? We are currently a treasure hunter group, aren't we?"
"And that girl is definitely a potential 'treasure', isn't it?" Jack countered. Looking at her directly.
Leon chuckled. "Indeed. And leaving a little girl in deadly peril just like that would feel nasty for my conscience."
"The problem will be our opponents." The baroness sighed. "We aren't strong enough to face an illuminated level transcendent being. And the ones involved this time wasn't just one. But two illuminated powerhouses."
"We should get her before the illuminated guys arrived then." Jack said calmly.
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