"Mr. Levi, what kind of hidden circumstances do you think are involved in this?"
Kons couldn't help but ask.
Originally, he'd only felt something was strange, but after hearing the other's words, he'd also discovered numerous problems behind this matter.
The MI9 members who'd mysteriously appeared at the Capim estate, superiors who seemed to be concealing key information, and the undercurrents in the office...
Soon, Kons recalled certain recent anomalies at MI9. He and Levi belonged to Group Two, mainly responsible for security.
Group One, directly under the Major's command, was usually quite idle, but recently they'd been frequently mobilized, with large numbers of members absent from the office all day.
"I don't know, and I don't want to know."
Levi glanced at him and said flatly, "Remember, curiosity killed the cat... especially in our profession.
We need to be clear about this. We just follow orders, do what we're supposed to do, and maintain restraint."
"One of my former superiors knew too much and refused to play dumb. He ended up with a tragic fate.
Not only was he sentenced to death, but his family's honor was stripped away and they lost their noble status."
Levi looked directly into Kons's eyes, his words calm but carrying a warning.
MI9 belonged to the royal family and often came into contact with certain secrets of the upper echelons.
At such times, pretending to know nothing was the best choice.
"...All right."
Kons suppressed the confusion in his heart and followed Levi, making a circuit around the place where the "Desire Apostle" had died.
Because it had just snowed yesterday, melted and then frozen again, traces at the scene had mostly disappeared. They could only smell a faint scent of blood.
"All right, we'll just write in the report 'scene heavily damaged, no obvious clues'..." Levi muttered in a low voice, crouched down to examine the red residue on the road surface, then straightened up.
"Survey complete, we can head back now."
That's it?
Kons was somewhat dumbfounded.
"Mr. Levi, isn't that a bit too fast?"
He couldn't help but say.
"Hmm, you're right. Going back like this makes us look too perfunctory."
Levi thought for a moment and nodded seriously.
"Then let's stay out a while longer. As it happens, there's a bar nearby that I frequent. I'll take you for a drink."
With that, he changed direction and walked toward the other end of the street.
"This..."
Kons froze.
Noble reserve made him feel he shouldn't go to a vulgar bar, but at the same time, noble etiquette required him to cooperate with his superior's actions.
He hesitated in place for a moment before finally moving to catch up with Levi ahead.
Fortunately, Levi hadn't gone too far. Kons turned the corner and saw him chatting with a group of people.
These people wore clerical garments with patterns of lightning and storms embroidered on their cuffs.
Punishers!
"So, do you have any leads?"
The lead Punisher seemed to be an old acquaintance of Levi's, asking in a familiar tone.
"No."
Levi shook his head. "I plan to examine the corpse this afternoon."
"If you discover anything, remember to share it with us. We'll synchronize information on our end too."
The Punisher said, exchanged a few more pleasantries with Levi, then led his team away.
Kons watched the Punishers' departing backs, surprise welling up in his heart.
The Storm Church's people are also investigating the Blood Priest?
That makes sense.
It seems that during the Capim case, the first to arrive at the scene was our Director, and the second was the Storm Church's Cardinal Archbishop, the "Spellsinger of God" himself...
Kons was thoughtful.
At that moment, he suddenly had a bold idea:
Could it be that we're just a front to placate the Storm Church, while the members of Group One are the real investigators carrying out the main work?
The more he thought about it, the more possible it seemed.
That's why the Major would casually arrange investigation teams without expecting them to bring back intelligence, because they just needed to appear here for the Storm Church's people to see!
As for why MI9 would deceive the Storm Church...
"What are you standing there for? Let's go."
Levi called out, interrupting his thoughts.
Kons looked up, recalled the other's earlier reminder, shook his head, and quickly caught up.
————
Queens District, inside a house that wasn't particularly conspicuous in this area.
"Let's begin."
Silas sat on the living room sofa, surveyed the room once, and spoke calmly.
"As you command, Mr. A."
Everyone present bowed respectfully to him.
Using the Faceless's disguise ability, Silas wore an almost perfect face of Mr. A, impersonating him to host the gathering.
Several flesh puppets posed as servants, wandering around the living room and accepting notes handed over by participants.
One servant stood by a small blackboard, taking notes from other servants and transcribing the requests onto the blackboard.
"Seeking to purchase a unicorn horn from a phantom warhorse, price negotiable."
"Exploring abandoned castle outside the city, seeking teammates."
"Spirit elimination commission."
"Want to learn about some hidden history from the Fourth Epoch."
From time to time, commissions were claimed.
Led by servants to separate small rooms for transactions, these items would be erased from the blackboard.
At the very top of the blackboard, a line of Loen text was written in prominently large font:
Seeking to purchase Roselle's secret diary, fair price offered.
The signature was the character "A."
That's right. Under Mr. A's name, Silas was openly seeking Roselle's diary at the gathering.
Including this one, he'd already held three gatherings, and so far no one had discovered he'd replaced Mr. A.
When he'd first posted the purchase notice, people had felt puzzled. Some had even speculated about Mr. A's purpose in doing this.
But very quickly, at the second gathering, someone had brought four pages of diary entries and exchanged them for 20 pounds in cash.
Unfortunately, what was written there was all about Roselle's youthful affairs, including things with his family's maid, attending noble gatherings outside, and various noble ladies and madams... One could only say that Intis's social customs were indeed open, and Roselle himself had enjoyed it thoroughly.
At the same time, below.
Audrey looked at the Mr. A above with a strange expression.
There was no helping it.
When you discover someone who should already be dead appearing before you again, your expression inevitably becomes difficult to maintain.
According to the information she'd learned at the Tarot Club, Mr. A had already been killed by Mr. Temperance.
However, she'd learned from others that Mr. A's gatherings were still being held as usual.
She'd struggled for a while in confusion and surprise before finally deciding to come take a look.
As a result, as soon as Audrey entered, she saw the writing on the blackboard seeking to purchase Roselle's diary.
An un-dead Mr. A who'd suddenly started seeking to purchase Roselle's secret diary... The truth was quite simple then. Mr. A had been replaced.
His current identity was actually Mr. Temperance, Kafka Anderson!
"I feel like Mr. A is different today..."
Xio, who'd come with her, shook her head and said in confusion.
۞۞۞۞
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