80 Joint Investigation Team


    Leah sensed Michel’s abnormality and turned to Ryan, asking with her eyes if she should knock him out.


    At this moment, Lumian spoke up. “Is the padre not here?”


    Michel’s eyes lit up, unable to hide his excitement. “The padre is resting. You can pray to me.”


    His face was filled with pleading.


    Lumian hesitated, obviously uneasy, before reluctantly saying, “Fine.”


    Seeing Michel’s ted expression, Lumian turned to Leah and the others, feigning annoyance.


    “What’s wrong with you lot? Coming to the cathedral to pray is what any true believer would do. What is there to be afraid of?”


    What he really meant was that they had already escaped the basement without getting caught. Why worry now? As believers of the Eternal zing Sun, it was perfectly normal for them toe to the cathedral to pray. Using a side door was a trivial matter. As for the padre and hisckeys taking an extended lunch, what did that have to do with them?


    Lumian knew such excuses would only fool dimwits, but they should cate the padre, at least for now. The padre wouldn’t expose them until Ryan’s group tried reporting the irregrities to the higher-ups and put an end to Cordu’s depravities.


    As long as Leah and the others continued strolling around the vige, casually chatting with people as if they hadn’t found anything incriminating in the cathedral’s basement, the padre would be content to maintain the status quo.


    Add to that, Ryan had demolished their underground altar. It would take time for them to restore it. Lumian estimated the padre wouldn’t gain any boons for at least a couple of days, if not until after Lent began.


    By then, it wouldn’t matter if the padre suspected them or not. Appearing “normal” was the most pressing concern.


    Upon hearing Lumian’s words, Deputy Padre Michel Garrigue vigorously nodded.


    “Absolutely! No matter your past sins, if you pray sincerely and repent, God will forgive you.”


    Is that so? What if the padre repented to the Eternal zing Sun and confessed that I had strayed long ago, believing in an evil god? Now, I want to return to the righteous path? Lumian appeared pious as he strode to the altar, but he didn’t buy it.


    Michel hastened ahead, seeming poised to take flight in his zeal.


    Leah couldn’t help but nce sideways at Valentine, seeing hisplicated expression at the fanatical clergyman. This should have earned Valentine’s praise, but he knew the deputy padre was clearly deranged.


    Redirecting her gaze from Valentine, Leah rushed to Lumian’s side and whispered in his ear, “Did you consider that half those present don’t believe in the Eternal zing Sun?”


    “You’re not?” Lumian seemed genuinely surprised.


    Not because he was perceptive and grasped her hint, but of the five there, aside from the unhinged deputy padre, Valentine was certainly one of the remaining four. Lumian himself barely counted as half.


    Leah nodded slightly, her bells chiming.


    She smiled and whispered, “Ryan hails from the Machinery Hivemind. I’m from Bureau 8, we don’t belong to the Eternal zing Sun Church.”


    Lumian had heard his sister mention that the Machinery Hivemind was on par with the Eternal zing Sun Church’s Inquisition. It was a branch of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery dealing with matters concerning those from beyond. Bureau 8’s full name was Bureau 8 under the Intis Intelligence and Homnd Security Committee. It was the Republic’s most official organization in the domain of the Beyonders.


    “Weren’t you sent by the Church?” Lumian asked curiously, finding a chair and sitting down.


    Leah sat beside him, smiling thinly.


    “Too many dangerous run-ins with those from beyond have happened at country borders in recent years, especially in disputed territories. When Cordu called for help, the higher-ups decided to set up a joint task force to get into Cordu, figure out what’s really going down, and give the best rmendation for how to handle it.


    “Who knew that this ce…”


    She shook her head, seeming at a loss for words while her bells chimed.


    The strangeness and horror of this ce was beyond her imagination.


    At times she felt Valentine was right to suggest reporting everything and requesting Cordu’s destruction.


    But she wasn’t ready to die yet. She had to choke back her professional instincts and morals.


    At that moment, Deputy Padre Michel Garrigue picked up the book on the altar and nced at the four praying.


    Leah then crossed her arms over her chest and bowed her head.


    “…” Lumian was a little stunned.


    And you im not to believe in the Eternal zing Sun!


    Leah sensed his gaze and turned, shing him a wry grin.


    “God won’t fault me for posing as a sheep of another flock during a crusade. If you doubt it, look…” She jerked her chin to the other side.


    Ryan, hailing from Machinery Hivemind, folded his arms over his chest in a pious fashion.


    So your moralpass possesses flexibility when questing… Lumian longed to jibe Leah and Ryan, but worship hadmenced. He couldn’tg behind.


    After adopting a reverent mien and closing his eyes, the deputy padre, Michel Garrigue, riffled through the Holy Bible and intoned gravely, “God spake, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light…”


    Lumian suddenly felt a surge of nostalgia as he listened to the familiar sermon in the cathedral.


    Though he used to just go with the flow and float through the service, whispering and gazing around, he now longed for the simplicity of the past—even if he had to pray with the greatest devotion.


    Even the unpleasant events that had once annoyed him were now a source offort.


    By the time Lumian and the others left the Eternal zing Sun cathedral, the padre and servants were still knocked out cold.


    Ryan nced toward the castle and sighed emotionally.


    “That woman’s far more powerful than I realized.”


    “How powerful?” Lumian asked, curious.


    Ryan deliberated a moment. “It’s like she’s touched the threshold of godhood, yet not quite.”


    You seem to have said something yet not quite… If Lumian didn’t need Ryan and the others recently, he’d have spoken his mind.


    However, thanks to his extensive knowledge of mysticism, he could roughly guess what Ryan meant by “the threshold of godhood.”


    Sequence 4! The beginnings of a demigod!


    He pondered a moment.


    “I think Pualis seemed off when she appeared as Madame Night.”


    He’d told them about Madame Night in Paramita.


    ...


    “I got the same impression,” Leah said with a smile. “Like a botched patchwork monster.”


    Ryan nodded.


    “We have an understanding of Madame Night to some extent. In the border region between Intis and Feynapotter, simr incidents have urred frequently in recent years. Some call her Madame Night, some call her Madam H?rt, some call her The Benevolent, and some call her The Vile. But so far, we haven’t caught any of them. We stillck a systematic grasp of them.


    “Yes, this is the first time I’ve heard of Paramita.”


    Leah strode to the edge of the vige square with a tinkling gait. “Something about Paramita urred to me from the description.”


    “What?” Lumian never felt embarrassed to inquire.


    Leah nced southward. “In Feynapotter’s Church of Earth Mother, there’s a saying: ‘The soul returns to thend.’”


    The soul returns to thend… Images of the wilderness and wandering undead surfaced in Lumian’s mind.


    He had to admit Leah’s association made sense.


    Arriving at the elm tree at the vige entrance, Ryan surveyed the area and remarked,


    “Let’s not provoke that madame further. Regarding escaping the loop, even if she doesn’t provide aid, she won’t be an enemy. We just need to monitor her movements and see if we can utilize the specific temporal node she mentioned.”


    ...


    Wasn’t it because you clearly couldn’t defeat her if you didn’t provoke her? Lumian suppressed his mouth, ready to retort.


    He then asked Valentine, “How many minutes?”


    He worried that if he mistimed, his sister would trigger the loop and restart everything.


    Valentine extracted a gold pocket watch and popped it open.


    “Ten minutes remaining.”


    “That’s good…” Lumian sighed in relief and waved at Ryan and the others. “I’m going to search for Aurore. If you’ve nothing else to do, help me locate Sybil’s husband, Jean Maury. Investigate who’s spreading the rumor that the horoscopes are about to change and everyone will usher in good fortune. If you discover anything,e to my house to find me. Goodbye, my cabbages!”


    That was what Leah and the others had nned to do, so no one objected.


    ……


    Lumian fell into deep thought as he bade farewell to the Joint Investigation Team and walked to the agreed-upon spot at the edge of the vige.


    Afterpleting his exploration of the cathedral’s underground, he had a darn good hunch about the anomaly in Cordu.


    The ones responsible for the loop were definitely the padre’s group. They’d been secretly worshiping an evil god for at least six months and had secretly sacrificed quite a few foreigners under the cathedral in exchange for loads of boons.


    Before Lent, the padre, Pons B, and their lot had received a boon using the three Beyonders that Shepherd Pierre Berry had brought back—or at least one of them. The former instantly became a pretty powerful Beyonder. Hence, they kicked off a grand ritual at the start of Lent.


    On the twelfth night, in the final stage of the ritual, the hidden being with the name of Inevitability would ept therge-scale sacrifice andplete something that the padre andpany had prayed for. But at that moment, something unexpected happened. The ritual failed toplete, and the power involving the past, present, and future dissipated, bringing about a time loop.


    As for what unexpected event had urred, Lumian recalled something the mysteriousdy had once said: “You belong to the group of individuals who are on the brink of being corrupted. Luckily, the mark left by that great existence was activated, and the corresponding power descended upon you, sealing the source of corruption and establishing bnce…”