In the study, Hastur looked at the Baron of Corruption Beyonder characteristic placed inside the safe and felt very satisfied with his actions tonight.
He only knew that Earl Gill would die tonight, but Will hadn't told him the exact time down to the minute, so he hid at a place not far from Saint Mary Hospital at the beginning. Only after hearing the crying from the upstairs ward did he start to act.
A spirit body could merge into walls, so he quickly arrived at the ward ahead of everyone else. However, the Beyonder characteristic had not yet been extracted, so he could only choose to wait.
It was only after the three members of the Machinery Hivemind appeared and used a Sealed Artifact to extract the corresponding Beyonder characteristic that he emerged from the shadows.
Originally, his first sword strike was meant to force the captain of the Machinery Hivemind squad to give up the safe in his hands, but unfortunately, the man refused to let go no matter what. With no other choice, he had to add another kick.
The biggest gain from tonight's battle was realizing just how many Beyonder items the Machinery Hivemind members truly had.
Not only did each of them possess their own exclusive Beyonder weapons, many of the accessories on their bodies were also Beyonder items.
The arm guards protecting their arms, the portable miniature Lightning Prison, and even a pocket watch capable of interfering with time, among others.
Although none of them were particularly powerful, their functions were extremely comprehensive.
If they hadn't been wary of the people in the corridor outside, he would have had to waste even more energy to leave tonight.
As for whether the Machinery Hivemind could trace things back to him, he wasn't worried in the slightest.
This was Backlund. There were so many Loen nobles that it was impossible for them to investigate each one. There would always be some even more disgraceful nobles who would obstruct their law enforcement.
Besides, he possessed the chain of secrecy. Let them investigate all they wanted, unless they caught him in the act, it would be useless.
Considering that he still needed a little more time to completely digest the Briber potion in his body, Hastur took the Baron of Corruption Beyonder characteristic out of the safe and placed it in the room where he stored Beyonder materials.
To ensure safety, Hastur deliberately took down one paper crane from a string of a thousand paper cranes and hung it alone in the room where the Beyonder materials were stored.
That way, if someone really did sneak in, Will would be able to sense it.
Trying to steal his things under the gaze of a Serpent of Mercury, hmph, that wouldn't be so easy.
After that, Hastur chopped the safe into pieces and cleaned everything up.
Only after finishing all this did he leave the room and go to the neighboring room, Ariella's room, to tease Ariella, who hadn't gone out tonight.
After being forcibly sent outside by him during this period of time, Ariella had grown quite fond of going out. Tonight, since it wasn't allowed to go out, it sulked in anger.
It took quite a while of coaxing before it finally calmed down.
...
The next day, in a good mood, Hastur naturally prepared a gift for Will.
He first had Butler Neil send someone to buy the currently most popular rainbow ice cream in Backlund, planning to taste it for Will first. If it easily caused stomach discomfort, Will's small body definitely wouldn't be able to handle it.
After taking a few bites, Hastur waved his hand and had a boxful of so-called rainbow ice cream delivered to Will.
This stuff didn't taste good, overly sweet and greasy. Better let Will enjoy it slowly by himself.
....
At three in the afternoon, the Tarot Club convened once again.
Above the gray fog, Klein's gaze fell on the light point where Mr. Hanged Man was located.
Having missed the previous Tarot Club meeting, he had finally regained his freedom and had clearly stated that he would attend today's gathering.
"A lot has indeed happened recently. I wonder if Miss Justice and the others have found any Roselle Diaries during this time."
Klein felt that ever since arriving in Backlund, the amount of information he obtained from the Roselle Diaries had become much lower than before.
If he had to make an analogy, it was like reading a serialized novel, the author had started padding the word count.
After a brief moment of silence, Klein activated the light points and began this week's Tarot Club meeting.
When Miss Justice, Audrey, appeared, she naturally greeted everyone, then looked toward Mr. Hanged Man, who had been absent from one Tarot Club meeting.
Derrick and Fors also turned their gazes toward Alger, wanting to hear from him the reason for his absence last week.
Alger, who had long anticipated such a scene, did not speak immediately. This was the time for Mr. Fool to read the Roselle Diaries.
"Mr. Fool, I only managed to collect one Roselle Diary page."
"Respected Mr. Fool, these are the Roselle Diary pages I've collected during this period, four pages in total," Audrey spoke up after Alger.
"Very good." Klein expressed his approval of Miss Justice, who was generous and found it easy to collect Roselle Diaries.
But when he began flipping through these five pages of Roselle Diaries, it felt as if a hundred horses were galloping wildly through his heart.
The content of Miss Justice's four diary pages wasn't even as substantial as the single page from Mr. Hanged Man!
They were filled from beginning to end with Roselle's romantic escapades. The so-called dangers came from the husbands of those noble ladies.
After reading everything, Klein fell into deep thought. He really didn't understand why Roselle liked recording this kind of thing in his diary so much.
Didn't he feel even a bit embarrassed or ashamed when writing these things down?
Or did he take pride in these experiences, so writing them was more about commemorating the passion of his youth?
But that didn't seem right either. The Roselle Diaries were divided into early, middle, and later periods.
Judging from the content and tone here, these entries should have been written during Roselle's middle period, when he already possessed a certain amount of power.
In the end, Klein reached a conclusion: Roselle was simply lusting after other people's bodies.
Tsk, how shameless! After cursing inwardly a few times, Klein's gloomy mood finally improved quite a bit.
"You may converse freely now."
With permission granted, Alger swept his gaze across everyone and slowly spoke, "Last week, I encountered a terrifying and dangerous person, which prevented me from participating in the previous Tarot Club meeting. I have already mentioned this to Mr. Fool."
He knew everyone would definitely be curious about that person's identity, so he took the initiative to explain, "I don't know where he came from, nor do I know what terrifying identity he has. I only know that he has the appearance of a young man, fair-skinned and thin, with a tall, slender build. His features aren't particularly striking, but when he smiles, it's very infectious, giving off a feeling of innocence and harmlessness."
"He is extremely mysterious and extremely powerful."
"A Sequence 4 or above Beyonder from the Church of Storms fell without any resistance at his hands. He even subdued one of the Four Kings, the King of Immortality, and took over the his fleet, becoming the most terrifying pirate king on the seas at present, the uncrowned king."
Alger honestly recounted what he knew. He also hoped to obtain information about that person from those present, especially from Mr. Fool.
That person was simply too terrifying. He had already decided to temporarily leave the sea and return to Backlund to rest for a while.
After thinking for a moment, Audrey slightly furrowed her brows and said, "That's truly terrifying. Even the King of Immortality was subdued. In the future, won't there be only one true Pirate King on the seas?"
She didn't yet understand what level of Beyonder the King of Immortality was at, but he should be above a Sequence 4 at the very least.
Someone capable of subduing the King of Immortality would certainly be even more terrifying. In the past, the Four Kings stood in balance; now, this uncrowned king dominated alone.
This would definitely bring new shocks to the situation at sea. And Loen was a coastal nation, an enormous portion of its economy even relied on the sea as a lifeline.
If something went wrong, it would be terrifying.
A few days ago, she had even heard Earl Hall mention issues regarding the coastal defense line of Southville County. Now that she thought about it, the person who proposed corresponding countermeasures truly had foresight.
Compared to Audrey's worries, Fors remained silent. She didn't have much longing for the sea, nor did she have any fondness for pirates.
As for who became the Pirate King, she didn't care at all.
Derrick couldn't really understand everything. He only knew that Mr. Hanged Man had encountered a very terrifying enemy and had almost not made it back.
Unable to help Mr. Hanged Man, he could only silently pray for him in his heart.
Mr. Fool, seated high at the head, saw that everyone had fallen silent, and that Mr. Hanged Man kept nervously glancing toward the area near him. He understood that he should say something.
"In the future, more and more inconceivable figures will appear. Before the apocalypse arrives, the existences hidden in the darkness will all extend their claws."
He said something that sounded like nonsense, yet not entirely meaningless.
There was no helping it, he truly didn't know the mysterious figure who had subdued the King of Immortality. He had no idea of that person's origins, so how could he enlighten Mr. Hanged Man and the others?
"So there will be many more people like him appearing in the future?" Alger was shocked and looked toward Mr. Fool, only to see a smile on His face, with no intention of continuing the explanation.
Sigh. As expected, he really couldn't stay on the sea any longer. He should seize the opportunity and run as soon as possible.
Alger no longer harbored any sense of luck. What if that person found the King of Immortality boring and came looking for him instead?
If that happened, wouldn't he be doomed if he were still on the sea?
After thinking for a moment, he added, "Recently, the situation on the Southern Continent has also been very complicated. A large number of wealthy merchants and nobles from the Southern Continent have already fled to Southville County in Loen."
"There are also many more warships from the Kingdom of Loen on the seas, including iron ships that have only recently been put into naval service."
"The Southern Continent is also urgently preparing for war. Warships have been dispatched to patrol nearby waters to guard against surprise attacks from outside the Southern Continent."
"There's also a piece of news that isn't very certain, most of the forces on the Southern Continent seem to have formed an alliance, preparing to wipe out in one fell swoop the personnel of the Seven Gods' Churches who remain on Southern Continental soil."
Alger then went on to recount quite a bit of intelligence he had heard from other pirates.
During this period, because of the sudden upheaval on the seas, many pirates lived in constant fear.
Ironically, this pushed them to unite, making it easier than before to obtain information.
Fors and Derrick didn't feel much about these developments. Only Audrey felt a heavy weight in her heart, with an indescribable sense of discomfort.