A new week rolled in quietly.
Over those three days, with Viviane's help, Vincent had successfully distributed all four remaining Broker blessing slots, adding a modest chunk of grey crystal to the Scale.
Judging by the Scale's current state, even giving out all the remaining Prosecutor and Shadow Merchant slots would probably only get it to about two-thirds. The rest would have to come from his "employees" out there grinding it out.
So Bernadette had Vincent give one of the Shadow Merchant slots to Crunch, letting him pause his "needle-in-a-haystack" work out at sea and instead, as the Queen Mystic's first mate, help facilitate cooperation and transactions.
She'd originally wanted to give one to the third mate, Angel, but after mulling it over, ultimately decided against it.
"Come to think of it, I've never actually met this Angel," Vincent remarked curiously. The first time he'd encountered the name was when they'd first arrived in Backlund — Bernadette had mentioned her in a message — but so far Vincent only knew her name and that she was a Sequence 5 Ocean Singer.
"Mm. Angel runs her own pirate ship and mostly acts independently. She's got a wide-reaching social circle — knows a ton of pirates, adventurers, all kinds of Beyonders — and also organises Beyonder trades out at sea."
"Wait," Vincent said immediately. "Isn't she our ideal ready-made employee?"
Bernadette was quiet for a few seconds. "But Angel's real identity is an official Beyonder for the Church of Evernight."
Ah.
So basically the same as Alger of the Church of Storms and Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina of the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom — both ostensibly pirates, actually doing double duty for their respective Churches in the pirate community.
When he'd been reading the novel, Vincent had wondered why none of the other Churches seemed to have their own pirate agents. Turns out he just hadn't gotten there yet.
"You really are something else," Vincent said. "You actually managed to get one of the Evernight Church's people embedded into your crew? What exactly were you planning to use her for?"
"I think you've got it backwards," Bernadette said coolly. "I didn't plant someone inside the Evernight Church. The Evernight Church planted someone inside the Dawn."
"???"
"She revealed her identity to me not long after joining the crew. Said she'd rather not risk her life spying right under a Saint's nose — so she asked me to reassign her elsewhere. That way I don't have to worry about her feeding the Church my secrets, and she still has something to report back. A win-win."
"So it'd be risky to give the Lord of Chaos's Honorific Name to the third mate?"
"Mm."
Though both of them knew the Evernight Goddess probably already knew everything — the whole thing kind of came with the territory at this point — there was no need to push it any further. If She'd wanted to do something about it, She'd have done it.
"Worst case we can always rely on ourselves," Vincent said, trying to be reassuring.
And right now there was actually a golden opportunity — getting involved in the brewing cooperation between the Aurora Order, the Demoness Sect, and Loen's political dynamics might let them balance the Scale in one go.
Just as he was thinking this, Vincent heard a prayer emanating from the Nation of Disorder. He shifted his consciousness and entered the newly restored palace.
The ancient Scale was giving off a faint golden mist. As spirituality was fed in, a figure began to take shape.
"Fors?"
Vincent was surprised. After bringing Xio on board, her best mate Fors was basically low-hanging fruit — he could've pulled her in any time. The reason he hadn't was purely because the woman was too damn lazy. Expecting her to go around facilitating cooperation and transactions was like expecting more initiative from a random East Borough vagrant — at least vagrants had some get-up-and-go.
Hadn't expected she'd come to him on her own, though. She's probably here about the moonlit whispers — looking to sort them out.
Vincent poured more spirituality in, establishing a connection, and took on that lofty, unfathomable image floating in the golden mist before Fors's eyes.
"It was Xio Derecha who passed My Honorific Name to you?"
Fors flinched at the figure that had appeared out of nowhere and grew even more apprehensive. "Yes." Then she belatedly remembered her manners and bowed. "Ah — sorry to bother You, great Lord of Chaos."
Vincent raised an eyebrow and said with mild amusement: "Are you genuflecting to Me with the gesture used for the God of Steam and Machinery?"
"Ah?"
Fors blinked, then realised what she'd just done, and nearly cried at her own stupidity. After a moment's thought she said quietly, "I… I can fix that."
"..."
Vincent was struck speechless. "Why did you recite My Name? Are you seeking to become one of My followers too?"
"Yes."
Fors nodded without hesitation. "I want the same protection Xio has."
"Oh? Protection?"
Vincent said evenly. "You're talking about the moonlit whispers you hear every full moon?"
"Huh?"
Fors first went blank, then blurted out: "How do You know about the full moon whispers?!"
Xio did know about the whispers — but because Fors had kept quiet about the worst of it, Xio had no idea that every full moon brought Fors agonising torment that had once nearly sent her spiralling out of control.
So Xio couldn't have told the Lord of Chaos.
She hadn't expected the prayer to yield this particular surprise.
She asked urgently: "Do You know what those full moon whispers are about? Can You stop them?"
"One at a time."
Vincent smiled. "Your first and second questions are really the same question — namely, where the full moon whispers come from."
"On the surface, they originate from the bracelet you wear. Think of it as the bracelet carrying a certain cursed power. When you use it, you become tainted by that curse, which is what causes the whispers every full moon."
Fors had actually figured this much out herself. She'd even tried separating herself from the bracelet, but it hadn't made a difference — the whispers at every full moon came regardless.
Just as the Lord of Chaos said — maybe the curse has already soaked all the way through me.
"As for the true cause of the full moon whispers — that involves certain secrets about the gods, and it's not something you should know about at your current level."
So those whispers really do originate from an actual god.
Fors felt bitter. All she'd wanted was to be a regular, perfectly ordinary writer with zero aspirations. Why did she keep getting tangled up with evil gods? The moonlit whispers were one. Whatever was in that book was another. Now the Lord of Chaos made a third.
And that wasn't even the half of it.
According to Xio, it sounded like she was now also tied up with something called the True Creator — which, by any reasonable calculation, meant she was already doomed to be dragged along for the ride.
Ugh, might as well just be dead...
Actually, let's try to salvage this first.
"Great Lord of Chaos — can You make it so I don't have to hear those full moon whispers anymore?"
Vincent looked down at her from on high. "What would you be willing to offer?"
Fors scratched her head. "My most valuable possession… is probably this bracelet."
She quickly added: "I can also help You like Xio does!"
"That won't be necessary."
"Ah — why not?"
"Because you're too lazy."
To be continued…
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