Chapter 11: The Possibility of Cooperation Lord of the Mysteries: I Keep Jumping Between Two Timelines
Author: Half Moon Tiger
Word Count: 4070
Date: July 11, 2025, 08:30
"That guy"?
Upon hearing Nimrod's words, Leonard immediately thought of Ince Zangwill. He took a deep breath and said solemnly to Nimrod:
"Please wait a moment, I'll go notify Captain Dunn."
Even though the team's captain was nominally Creste Cesima, after training ended, Creste didn't actively interfere with the team's affairs. Everyone still maintained the habit of calling Dunn Smith "Captain."
This was partly because the team had a special structure, and secondly because Creste needed to target Ince Zangwill and couldn't expose his own situation within the team investigating Ince Zangwill.
With a sacred artifact at his side, Creste could contend with demigod-level powerhouses, roughly equivalent to demigod-level combat power. However, once "0-08" knew Creste's location, he would fall into a passive position.
"Good." Nimrod smiled and sat patiently on the sofa, maintaining his current appearance as "Mr. Dionysus."
Before long, Dunn, wearing a windbreaker, came down from the second floor. Looking at Nimrod, who had changed faces compared to before, Dunn observed him with his deep gray eyes for a moment and slowly nodded:
"It's been a while, Mr. L."
"I thought you would come here, but I didn't expect that the owner of the Fred Company that's been making such a stir recently would be you."
Dunn's tone was calm, seemingly not too surprised by Nimrod's identity. Nimrod's lips curved upward slightly:
"Coming to Backlund, I naturally couldn't use my original identity. Mr. Dunn knows that compared to the Church of the Night, the Church of Storms pursues us with much greater intensity. Plus, with this face of mine—I estimate my identity in Tingen has been thoroughly investigated by the Church of Storms."
"Moreover, speaking of different identities, your identity changes are far greater than ours. If I hadn't seen information about this detective agency in the newspapers and had our saint perform divination, I really wouldn't have thought you'd disguise yourselves as a detective agency."
When saying this, Nimrod deliberately glanced at Leonard, who was listening nearby, with the corner of his eye, his tone seeming to carry deeper meaning.
Sure enough, as soon as his words fell, Leonard's expression became more serious. He was obviously communicating with Pales and couldn't manage his facial expressions well while distracted.
When in Tingen, Nimrod hadn't yet acquired the means to change his appearance, so he had been walking around with Amon's face all the time.
Although he had anti-divination protection and high-level safeguards, the Church of Storms, which had always been dedicated to preventing the ancient Sun God's resurrection, would naturally target anything related to it with the highest specifications.
For example, Adam, Amon, and the "True Creator."
The disaster in Tingen had already involved the True Creator and couldn't possibly go unreported. Once reported to the church's higher-ups, an Aurora Order divine envoy with Amon's appearance would inevitably be noticed by the church's saints.
Furthermore, although Nimrod wasn't Amon, when the Church of Storms' saints tried to confirm his identity and location through divination but got no results, labeling him as one of Amon's avatars within the Church of Storms would be inevitable.
—Besides Amon, who else had angel king-level anti-divination? It couldn't be that the "Lord of the Mysteries" had awakened!
This was why he rarely appeared in public with this body's original face since coming to Backlund... However, constantly wearing a human skin mask was quite uncomfortable. Nimrod complained inwardly.
"The detective agency was Klein's idea... though it was approved by the church, of course. But you're right."
Dunn nodded, rubbing the head of his pipe with his thumb, speaking slowly with apparent deeper meaning:
"The Church of Storms has indeed issued a warrant for you, but only within the church—it hasn't been released publicly."
The Church of Storms' internal affairs were definitely not something a "Red Gloves" reserve captain should know. Dunn telling me this intelligence was clearly hinting at something, no—representing the church... Nimrod lifted the tea Leonard had poured for him and took a sip:
"I see. Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Dunn. Shall we discuss business now? Since this is a detective agency... I presume you won't refuse my commission to 'investigate Ince Zangwill.'"
"Of course, that's exactly what we hope for." Dunn supported his chin with both hands, leaning back on the hall sofa, speaking in a steady tone:
"I just heard Leonard's report saying you know some information about Ince Zangwill that requires our exchange?"
"Heh, you should be able to see that we don't fear exposure to '0-08's' sight, since we're essentially serving as 'bait.'"
Nimrod nodded, answering Dunn in a more formal posture:
"Ince Zangwill is already on the Aurora Order's kill list. Within the Aurora Order, using our Lord is an unforgivable crime. We need to eliminate Ince Zangwill."
"On this point, our interests align with yours. And we already have basic trust—during our cooperation in Tingen, the Aurora Order didn't harm innocents either, wouldn't you say?"
"Moreover, the Lord has awakened, and the Aurora Order will gradually change its style of conduct—though this is indeed very difficult and will require considerable time to complete."
"After all, most of the Aurora Order's divine envoys and believers are accustomed to the former style, and some joined precisely because of the Aurora Order's past crazy behavior. Even with the Lord's demands, it's difficult for them to change immediately."
"Of course, even now there are certainly those within the Aurora Order unwilling to reform from their fallen state—these are the targets we need to clean up."
Nimrod said calmly:
"Currently, the information I have is that Ince Zangwill is suspected of cooperating with the Witch Cult, planning to eliminate all survivors from Tingen in one fell swoop. The Aurora Order is also maintaining cooperation with the Witch Cult—though this is only surface cooperation; we're equally prepared to backstab the Witch Cult at any time."
"But with Ince Zangwill's presence, the Witch Cult's cooperation with us has no good intentions either."
"If you want to investigate Ince Zangwill's situation, this is your biggest breakthrough. The Aurora Order can't openly conduct investigations—once Ince Zangwill chooses to report us to the Church of Storms, we'll face intense scrutiny."
"This is our unavoidable weakness, but fortunately, you can make up for it."
"...The Witch Cult? I understand." Dunn's pupils contracted slightly, seemingly shocked by Nimrod's answer: "But they're also involved in this matter?"
At this point, Dunn showed a thoughtful expression:
"Previously in Tingen, the church's higher-ups did capture a Sequence 6 'Pleasure Witch'... but ultimately, quite mysteriously, couldn't keep her alive."
Nimrod mourned in his heart for 0.003 seconds for that unfortunate witch lady who had stumbled into a high-level game, then said:
"It seems Ince Zangwill's cooperation with the Witch Cult began much earlier than we imagined."
Hearing Nimrod's response, Dunn thought for a few seconds before saying: "We'll investigate according to the direction you've provided, and we can continue to maintain contact afterward."
Nimrod's face immediately showed a knowing smile as he slowly extended his right hand: "This is the church's meaning?"
Dunn hesitated for a moment, then slowly shook his head: "No, you can consider that we're not the church's 'Nighthawks' now, just four detectives who came to Backlund looking for work... and detectives naturally accept investigation assignments."
With that, he smiled and extended his own right hand, shaking hands with Nimrod.
After getting the satisfactory answer he wanted, Nimrod maintained his original expression as he walked out, got into a carriage, and began reviewing the information he had gained from the brief exchange.
"The Church of the Night's higher-ups should have been monitoring the Tingen team serving as 'bait' all along, ensuring they wouldn't face too much risk. Otherwise, it would be equivalent to pushing Klein away from themselves. If I had shown a terrifying, crazy side, the only option left would be Amon..."
"Klein, you owe me a meal next time. In this regard, I've essentially helped you considerably."
"The Night Goddess acquiesced—no, can't say acquiesced. Before this, She had already shared some information with Her dependents. Even if information about 'Old Ones' and above needs to be concealed, the Church of the Night's higher-ups should have received some vague information..."
"That means after learning of the 'True Creator's' tendency toward sobriety, the Church of the Night gradually shifted toward 'neutrality' regarding the Aurora Order's existence. As I said before, the Night Goddess has no grudge against the ancient Sun God—why would She help the 'Lord of Storms' go to great lengths to find the Aurora Order?"
"However, Dunn's behavior was somewhat strange. Based on Dunn's performance, I can basically confirm my earlier guess—the church's higher-ups told Dunn, the 'captain,' some information, hoping Dunn would contact me in a personal capacity."
"Or it could be put this way: the Tingen team should now all be aware of 'Mr. L's' cooperative relationship with the church. As long as it's not explicitly stated, this relationship can be maintained."
"Captain, won't we be held accountable by the church for directly cooperating with the Aurora Order like this?"
Leonard asked Dunn worriedly. Dunn picked up his pipe and took a light puff, sighing:
"Of course not."
"Leonard, we already cooperated with Mr. L once in Tingen. Do you know what Creste the deacon told me after the review?"
"You mean..." Upon hearing Dunn's words, Leonard immediately understood his meaning: "The church supports our cooperation with the Aurora Order?"
"Of course not. The church could never cooperate with an organization recognized by ordinary people as an 'evil cult.'" Dunn sighed again:
"Deacon Creste only told me that when Red Gloves teams complete missions while hiding their identities, their thinking can be more open—we're facing vicious criminals, not being responsible for a city like before."
Red Gloves teams were responsible for eliminating dangers, while aftermath and assisting the government in maintaining order was the job of local Nighthawk teams.
Dunn looked at Leonard, who seemed thoughtful but still didn't quite understand the meaning in his words, and spoke slowly again:
"Confirmed by the church's Beyonders, Mr. L of the Aurora Order is temporarily our ally."
Dunn felt he had made his words quite clear, and Leonard finally lived up to his expectations, understanding the implied meaning—though it might also be that Pales Zoroast finally couldn't resist telling Leonard the truth, but this couldn't be seen from Leonard's expression:
"You mean that in the church's view, Mr. L is our ally, but the 'Aurora Order' may not be?"
After Leonard calmed down, his intelligence reasserted dominance: "Hmm... Mr. L mentioned similar things before—he and many Aurora Order believers aren't on the same side. You're talking about this reason, right?"
Dunn nodded:
"Exactly what you're thinking. It's just that for the church, putting the fact of cooperating with Mr. L on the table isn't a good thing."
"So when we cooperate with Mr. L, no matter what, we can only do so in our personal capacity."
For some reason, Dunn always felt that after the great disaster in Tingen, Leonard seemed to have relaxed some kind of restriction and integrated more into the Red Gloves team.
For Dunn personally, he thought this was a good thing. He had some guesses and speculations, ultimately concluding that during the church's review, Leonard had clarified his secrets and thus put down his heavy burden.
"Later, we'll hold a brief meeting to tell Daly and Klein about Mr. L's visit." Dunn put down his pipe, stood up, and walked toward the second floor:
"I'll go check if there's any information related to the Witch Cult in the materials we've collected. This is our next phase of investigation."
Leonard quickly followed: "Captain, let me help you organize it. I'm quite good at this."
After Leonard's words slipped out, he faintly heard a voice near his ear saying "shameless brat..." but Leonard felt this must be, had to be, an auditory hallucination.
He followed Dunn's steps while starting a conversation:
"Speaking of which, Lady Daly's potion digestion speed is quite fast now..."