After a short while, a gust of wind flashed by, and the "Singer of the Divine" Ace Snake descended from the sky, landing at the crime scene.
The place where the "Demon" had fallen had already been cordoned off by the Mandated Punishers.
"Unshadowed—Demon—"
As an experienced demigod, the "Singer of the Divine" only took a glance at the traces remaining at the scene, and he roughly analyzed the situation.
He strode up to Loen, his tall figure carrying a sense of oppression: "Was it you who saved Duke Negan?"
"Yes." Loen nodded calmly.
"However, I didn't kill this Monster. By the time I found him, he had already turned into what he is now." His tone was very sincere, and his answer was exactly the same as what he had told the other "Mandated Punishers" who had asked him.
"I'm not entirely sure about what exactly happened."
The "Singer of the Divine" looked deeply at Loen, as if wanting to see something from his face. In the end, he nodded slowly.
"Thank you for saving Duke Negan. You have gained our friendship."
Unlike his usual fiery and irritable style, Ace Snake displayed considerable poise at this moment.
As a bishop of a true god's church, although he couldn't shake off the "irritable" label, he still possessed the corresponding etiquette and political wisdom. To put it bluntly, in terms of importance to the Church, Duke Negan's significance even exceeded his own as a saint.
This duke was the "Church of Storms's" most powerful political ally in the Kingdom of Loen and the most important manifestation of the Church's secular influence in Loen.
Otherwise, Duke Negan wouldn't have possessed that conch which could summon him at any time.
Therefore, he selectively ignored the sensitive identity of James Scott as a "wild Beyonder." Furthermore, the latter was a believer of the "Evernight Goddess." If he were to really go by the book and take him back for interrogation, it would likely cause unnecessary friction with the "Church of Evernight." It wouldn't look good, and politically, it would be easy for those reformist political enemies to seize upon it and launch a fierce attack.
Phew—I thought they were going to arrest me for interrogation.
Loen quietly let out a sigh of relief in his heart, then bowed slightly to return the salute.
The "Church of Storms" of the past would not have been so polite to wild Beyonders like them.
He could tell that the other party was actually trying their best to suppress their emotions. After all, the relationship between Duke Negan and the "Church of Storms" was known to everyone. With such a major incident happening to their important ally, it really wouldn't look good for their Church's reputation.
It was quite awkward to think about it. If I were a believer of the Lord of Storms, the situation might have been a bit better, and the Church of Storms could even take this opportunity to promote themselves. But the surface identity of "James Scott" was that of a believer of the Evernight Goddess.
Even though the relationship between the "Church of Storms" and the "Church of Evernight" had always been good, it was still somewhat—
I don't know how the "Church of Evernight" will respond later.
A Conservative heavyweight, a top-tier aristocrat, and two major orthodox churches—Loen could already foresee how troublesome the subsequent matters would be.
After the "Singer of the Divine" carefully inspected the Demon's corpse and found nothing, he returned to Loen's side, his expression appearing somewhat hesitant—
"May I ask, is the Duke—alright?" Loen saw the other party's dilemma and took the initiative to ask.
Ace Snake stared at him for two seconds before answering in a deep voice: "I just received news that the Duke's life is not in danger. As for the rest—it depends on the subsequent situation.
"Depends on the situation—"
Thinking of Duke Negan's battered and torn appearance at that time, Loen felt that the Duke's remaining life would probably be quite miserable.
"By the way," the Singer of the Divine suddenly changed the topic, his tone becoming exceptionally serious, "Mr. James Scott, are you interested in converting to my Lord?"
It was already two hours later after dealing with the various investigations from the Church and the police department.
Without a doubt, he had completely missed Viscount Negan's party. But Loen believed that Viscount Negan would absolutely not blame him. After all, he had just saved his uncle, who possessed immense power.
According to the authorities hints, the Negan family would definitely provide a generous reward afterward, and might even convert that "Apostle of Desire" characteristic into gold pounds or properties as compensation. Of course, the specific details would have to be discussed after the Duke's condition stabilized.
After declining the "kindness" of the Church sending someone to escort him home, Loen walked alone in the direction of the "Bravehearts" bar.
After confirming that no one was following him, he changed back into the appearance of "Lorne Disenk" and pushed open the door to the familiar bar.
Nighttime was the liveliest time here, with the clamor of drinkers, the cheers from card games, and the smell of cheap tobacco all mixed together.
"Hey! Have you heard? Something big happened in the South Borough!"
"With a boom, I heard half the street was blown down—"
"It's true! My cousin is a police officer over there, and he said the entire South Borough has been cordoned off now!"
South Borough—the discussions of the customers reached Loen's ears. This reminded him of that "Singer of the Divine," Archbishop Snake, who had looked dusty and hurried when he arrived at the time.
He passed through the noisy hall and came to the card room, finding Maric and Sharron, who happened to be there as well.
"It seems like something happened in the South Borough?" Loen asked straight to the point.
"Yes," Maric nodded, "The commotion is not small. It's said that the Aurora Order did it."
"A scapegoat?" Loen asked subconsciously.
Having spent a long time in the Beyonder world, he knew well that the "Aurora Order" was often used by various forces as a fig leaf.
"This time, I'm afraid it really does have to do with the Aurora Order. The specific details haven't been leaked yet, but the entire South Borough is now cordoned off by the military and the Church—"
"For the next period of time, we had better lie low and not make any big moves." Sharron also spoke in her cold, clear voice.
"If you need to, you can temporarily move into my villa to stay."
"During this recent period, there shouldn't be any official coming to my place to cause trouble." Loen offered a suggestion.
"Why?" Maric was somewhat surprised. That "hero of the east district" title of yours isn't that big, is it?
"Sigh—" Loen sighed, pulled over a chair, and sat down, "Actually, it's because—"
He briefly recounted what had happened this evening to the two of them.
"That's how it is. So, for the next period of time, I might face a very complicated situation—"
"Your experiences are truly rich—to be able to run into a duke's assassination." After listening to Loen's description, Maric exclaimed with an incredibly strange expression.
"The 'Demon' you encountered should be a 'Sequence 5' 'Apostle of Desire'." Sharron analyzed calmly.
As a Beyonder of an adjacent Pathway, she was still quite familiar with the "Demon" Pathway.
"Yes, and thanks to those skills you recorded in my pocket watch earlier, otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to banish that guy."
"Help me collect information about the last time Duke Negan was assassinated."
"The more detailed, the better—"
"These two times might have been done by the same group of forces."
"Can do." Sharron nodded.
"Then what do you plan to do next?" Maric asked.
"I will definitely receive attention from all sides. For now, I can only meet changes with constancy."
"I'm not good at political maneuvering, but what is certain is that I am now at the center of a huge vortex.
"Sigh—"
Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit heavy, Loen tried to change to a lighter topic: "Come to think of it, how do you think the Negan family will thank me?"
"Money, or land." Maric analyzed, "The Negan family is the kingdom's largest land-owning aristocracy; the thing they lack the least is real estate."
"They might even directly gift me a mansion. In that case, wouldn't the house I'm currently renovating be for nothing?" Loen joked.
"Of course, they might even consider an arranged marriage with me, marrying off a young lady of the Negan family to me—"
"If it were someone of the level of Miss Audrey Hall, I might consider it. Of course, getting along with a young lady from such a top-tier aristocratic family would surely be very—"
Halfway through his sentence, his smile froze on his face. Because he discovered that the atmosphere—seemed to have become even more strange than before.
"Uh—this joke—is it not funny?"