"The Great Emperor!" Cattleya was slightly surprised and greeted him with a bow.
Roselle nodded slightly, and Cattleya's bowing motion was naturally stopped by him. Then, he greeted her like an elder, "No need to be so polite. You must be Cattleya. I often hear Bernadette mention you."
"You are more composed than she described. To be a Clairvoyant at such a young age, when I was your age, I had just been promoted to Arcane Scholar."
Then he turned to Frank and said with a smile, "You are right, the greenery in this city is indeed a problem. Neither I nor the Erudite have authority related to life, so we cannot make this city full of flowers and bushes."
Frank was stunned for a moment, not expecting the topic to suddenly shift to him, and even less that his words just now had been heard by Emperor Roselle, who was already an existence like a True God.
Swallowing his saliva, Frank suddenly felt his words become jumbled, and he explained somewhat flustered, "Ro, Emperor Roselle, I just said it casually, just like Nina said, not everyone likes an environment full of plants."
Roselle shook his head and smiled, saying, "Relax, don't be so nervous. This is just a projection, coming to see the somewhat reckless little girl Bernadette mentioned."
"Your words just now were not wrong. Appropriate green embellishments can make people feel physically and mentally happy, and also make this city more livable. If you have ideas, you can provide some suitable plant seeds to help improve the environment of this city."
No, he doesn't. Cattleya opened her mouth, but ultimately did not say the words. She was a little worried that Frank's aesthetic would turn this "City of God's Blessing" into a city of mushrooms.
After going back, I'll tell Frank to let me see the seeds before he provides them. Although his mushrooms are unlikely to cause large-scale mutations in this kind of place, he himself might be arrested as a terrorist.
"Someone else is here," Roselle muttered softly, then turned to Cattleya and said, "You can move closer to the Municipal Square. There are more novel and fun things there."
As soon as he finished speaking, his figure, like a shadow, merged into the city, into the underlying rules.
It was a while after Roselle's figure completely disappeared that the Future's crew finally breathed a sigh of relief, exchanged glances, and exclaimed in admiration:
"I never thought that one day I would be able to see a living, no, the true Emperor Roselle, and even talk to him."
"Bullshit, you didn't dare to say a single word just now, your legs were shaking so much you almost wet your pants."
"I've decided, I'm going to change my faith. Compared to the Lord of Storms, a legendary figure like Emperor Roselle is more worthy of my faith and worship!"
Ignoring the noisy pirates around her, Nina patted her somewhat overly large chest and exhaled a long breath, saying, "You scared me to death. Even though Emperor Roselle acted so kindly, I still couldn't control my accelerated heartbeat. That feeling was more terrifying and oppressive than facing those Monsters in the deep sea."
Cattleya nodded slightly and explained calmly, "Even if it's just a projection, the rank will not diminish. If you were of the Lawyer Pathway, you would feel even more; perhaps you would have fainted on the spot."
At this point, Cattleya remembered that there was also a cat of the Sheriff Pathway on her ship. As an adjacent Pathway, Paz might also be able to sense some auras that ordinary Beyonders could not.
As she pondered, she looked around with some concern, searching for Paz's figure, and finally found Paz lying motionless beneath a metal lamppost at the street corner.
The Clairvoyant's spiritual intuition allowed her to immediately determine Paz's state: it had been scared unconscious.
On the other side of the city, Roselle, who had just disappeared, appeared in a magnificent palace, sitting on a high-backed chair at the head of the table.
"Those little guys are really cute. They believed me when I said I was just a projection."
He muttered to himself, then suddenly reached forward and pulled at thin air.
Figures, some bewildered, some composed, appeared out of thin air. They were directly transferred by Roselle from various parts of the city.
Klein, maintaining his Gehrman Sparrow appearance, was stunned for a moment, still holding a string of candied haws he had gotten from a street vendor.
Fortunately, there were no candied haws in this world before, otherwise my image as a cold adventurer would have been ruined.
He mumbled to himself, then calmly looked around, finding many familiar figures in the hall:
There was Ma'am Arianna, the head of the Church of the Evernight Goddess Monastery, a Sanguine with eyes as red as blood, a bishop of the Church of the Earth Mother as tall as a half-giant, an old man in the robes of a priest from the God of Knowledge and Wisdom Church, Queen Mystic Bernadette, and even Ouroboros, the Angel of Fate under the True Creator.
Roselle, seated at the head of the table, raised his right hand and spoke in a deep, majestic voice, "Since you have come here, then you are friends. Everyone, please take your seats."
As his words fell, chairs appeared out of thin air on both sides of the hall, laden with fruits, pastries, and wine, seemingly all prepared beforehand.
Klein's gaze swept around, and he finally chose the seat to Arianna's left.
After sitting down, he turned to her and nodded slightly in greeting, "Long time no see, Ma'am Arianna."
"Long time no see, Mr. Sparrow."
Arianna nodded gently in return, not confused by Klein's current appearance.
As expected, the Faceless's disguise was ineffective in the eyes of this Angel of Concealment. Indeed, the Church of the Evernight Goddess itself cultivated Seers, and the Goddess was once a subsidiary god of the Demonic Wolf, so she was very familiar with this kind of disguise ability.
As he pondered, he saw the Sanguine with eyes as red as blood and a faint, strong aura of life about him, sitting to his left.
Before he could think of how to greet him, the other party spoke first:
"Gehrman Sparrow? You are indeed a believer of the Fool, or more accurately, a Blessed."
"I am Feodor, the Sanguine Duke of the Crimson Moon, representing the Sanguine and the Ancestor, here to attend this celebration initiated by the Black Emperor and the Hermit."
Klein maintained Gehrman Sparrow's indifferent expression, nodded slightly, and said nothing.
No wonder there were no Loen or Feysac royals among the people present, nor any churches of the Eternal Blazing Sun or the Lord of Storms. The so-called celebration was essentially a victory banquet.
As his thoughts drifted, he saw Roselle at the head of the table stand up from the high-backed chair. At some point, he had a crystal wine glass in his hand, filled with a deep red liquid, which he raised to everyone present.
"This cup, to celebrate our victory!"
The celebration in Meris continued until early the next morning. Everyone, dragging their tired bodies, returned to the inn, to their assigned rooms. This was not the end; the festival for ordinary people was still ongoing. As compensation after the War, this celebration would last for five days, allowing everyone to completely relax and forget the sorrows brought by the War.
Klein yawned as he took the shuttle back to Leyton's port. Although he was already a Saint of Sequence 3, he was still not very accustomed to this kind of staying up late, drinking, and celebrating lifestyle.
Leaving the port, he casually found an empty alley, and by praying to himself and responding to himself, he left Southern Intis and returned to Backlund.
Feeling the serious and depressed atmosphere of the city, Klein felt as if he had suddenly woken up from a dream.
"Actually, this is the true reality of this world. The joy and excitement of Meris are just a facade, an outburst after long-term suppression. When the celebration ends and they return to their empty homes, their hearts will settle down again."
Leyton's voice suddenly echoed. His figure materialized beside Klein, and he sighed softly, looking at the desolate and dilapidated Capital of Capitals, Backlund.
Klein turned his head to look at Leyton, somewhat puzzled, and asked, "If it's just a facade, why spend so much manpower and resources on a five-day celebration instead of rushing to recover after the War?"
Leyton smiled and replied, "People need some laughter and joy to live. They need to laugh heartily or cry bitterly to forget their troubles and sorrows. Of course, more importantly, the War did not spread to Intis itself."
Klein nodded slightly, sighed, and stopped the topic, instead asking, "Why are you here?"
Leyton said without much change in tone:
"Horamick Haydn, head of the Steam Church's Backlund diocese, Archbishop, member of the Council of the Gods."
"He disappeared after the War of the Gods in the Astral World. Along with him, the Sealed Artifacts Above the Sequence 2 stored in the Steam Church's underground in Backlund, and various archival materials preserved by the Church, also disappeared."
Klein was slightly stunned, then immediately thought of a certain mirror that had always been trying to curry favor with him.
Leyton added at the appropriate moment, "Among the Sealed Artifacts taken by Horamick Haydn, your sycophantic 'Demonic Mirror' Arrodes was also included."
Klein's mouth twitched slightly, wanting to refute, but finding no point to refute, he could only ask, "Can you find that Archbishop of the Steam Church?"
"Why do you think I'm here?" Leyton retorted, turning his head.
"Alright."
Klein sighed and nodded, then reached into the Historical Void and took out a dressing mirror he had once touched. He traced a symbol of "Concealment" and "Peeping" mixed together on the mirror's surface.
As the symbol was completed, nothing changed on the mirror's surface.
"Arrodes is no longer in Backlund."