Lord of the Mysteries

Darkwill sprawled on the ground, momentarily forgetting to stand up. His mind remained blank.

Ever since he had matured, he had never encountered a scenario of tripping himself. After consuming the potions, his body had experienced enhancements to a certain degree, making it even more impossible. Now, for some baffling reason, he had fallen down in an inexplicable manner.

Did I step on something? Darkwill suddenly snapped to his senses as he struck down with his palm and rolled to his feet. He pretended as though the one who had just fallen wasn’t him.

He looked left and right without finding anything odd on the ground. Filled with puzzlement, he took a few difficult steps forward to pick up the milky-white die.

At this moment, a patrolling constable seemed to have sensed the disturbance as he jogged over with baton in hand while holding his other hand down on his revolver.

Upon seeing this scene, Darkwill suddenly felt worried, feeling suspicious that he had fallen for a trap.

They caught Old Man but haven’t come for me all this time. It’s because they were secretly observing me and waiting for me to find some clues?

Now, I’ve gotten my hands on this strange die, they’ve started taking action?

The official Beyonders are here to catch me?

Darkwill instinctively turned around and ran, but he had suffered a rather heavy fall, causing him to feel pain in his knees. He was momentarily only able to walk.

Seeing the patrolling constable approach him, and with him not being able to run, a scene of an underground prison instantly surfaced in Darkwill’s mind. In an environment with only an everlasting candlelight, locked with Beyonders who would heave intensely like monsters...

“What happened?” the patrolling constable pressed down on his revolver as he kept his distance and asked cautiously.

Darkwill suddenly felt an irrepressible fear. As his wrist trembled, the milky-white die he had just picked up fell to the ground again as it rolled a few times.

This time, six red dots pointed up.

Faced with the constable’s scrutiny, Darkwill replied with a trembling voice, “I just stepped onto a damn banana skin and fell.”

The moment he said that, he felt his heart skip a beat. This was because there wasn’t any banana skins on the ground.

Damn it. I was too nervous. I should’ve said that I tripped myself... Darkwill thought in frustration.

He decided to summon the owl perched on the roof opposite him, preparing to make a last stand.

The patrolling constable gave him a glance and chuckled.

“Make sure to watch where you place your feet when walking. I was imagining that you had been robbed.”

He released his palm on his revolver, raised his baton, and walked away.

“...”

In a daze, Darkwill looked at the constable’s back that was opening up a gap from him. He wasn’t sure how the constable had so easily believed his excuse that was filled with mistakes.

He retracted his gaze and looked at the milky-white die which was sitting on the ground in silence. He slowly frowned.

I’m not pure Loenese. The constables here don’t need to suck up to me... Could it be all thanks to this? Be it my strange fall or my weird way of convincing the constable, it was all because of this? Is this that important Sealed Artifact which Teacher was taking care of? Darkwill quickly made certain connections as he carefully proceeded forward. He picked up the die again and stuffed it into the extremely tiny ring box. In the box, the die had no room to roll.

Signaling to his owl, Darkwill picked up the News report copy, stopped a rental carriage, and hobbled up. His destination—Red Theater.

The carriage smoothly proceeded forward. Because dusk was setting in, the street lamps which were relatively far away didn’t illuminate the area much. He wasn’t in a rush to study the ring box or the die inside. He patiently waited until he returned home.

After entering the herb store and heading up to the residential area on the second floor, he lit the wall lamp and chased the silly bird out of his room. He sat in front of his desk and repeatedly checked on the ring box and milky-white die.

Finally, he took out a folded piece of paper about the length of a finger segment from the bottom of the ring box.

Darkwill inhaled silently as he quickly spread open the piece of paper and discovered that there were three paragraphs written in ancient Feysac.

“If I didn’t appear three days after the appointed time, then I must’ve been betrayed and have been arrested. Therefore, do not seek out help from the other members of the School of Thought. This is because I’m unable to determine who did it. This will bring you great danger.

“There is only one thing that you need to do. Bring the die to Oravi Island and hand it to the bellman, Carnot, in the port city. My teacher, Ricciardo, is hidden there. The subsequent matters will be handled by him.

“Don’t worry that I’ll divulge this secret. Once I finish writing this letter, all relevant memories would completely disappear. I wouldn’t even remember having an apprentice like you until I’m rescued. Remember, try your best not to use the die. It has living characteristics. The more you use it, the easier it is for it to awaken. It will roll itself when you aren’t watching it, even without any space. When it’s at ‘1,’ please trust me when I say that you’ll suffer from worse than a direct death. This is because almost everything you do will end in failure, including your bed activities.”

Indeed, this die is very dangerous... Darkwill subconsciously sighed and immediately realized the dumb act he had done out of goodwill.

In order to rescue his teacher, Roy King, he overcame his cowardliness and remained in Bayam, as well as sent out a cry for help to the Life School of Thought members.

And according to the information, this meant that he might very well have been targeted by the person who betrayed Roy King!

Why didn’t you say so earlier! No, why didn’t I head out to buy the die earlier!? Darkwill raised his hands and yanked at his hair.

He didn’t dare stay any longer. He decided to leave his residence and buy a scalped ticket at night. He would head for Oravi Island early the next morning. That was an island that was on the route between the Rorsted Archipelago and Toscarter Island.

My charms, my revolver, my bullets... Darkwill quickly counted the items that could provide him with safety, feeling concern over his lack of combat strength.

He quickly thought of an idea as he paced around and mumbled, “I need to hire a bodyguard. A bodyguard...”

Who should I hire? How much money must I spend? Amidst his thoughts, Darkwill’s gaze swept across the News Report copy which he had just brought back.

Suddenly, he thought of an excellent bodyguard—Gehrman Sparrow!

A powerful adventurer who could hunt a pirate worth 5,400 pounds!

If he’s willing to accept the mission, I should be able to successfully arrive at Oravi Island if the “councilor” doesn’t take action... How can I find him? Right! I should paste notices in the bars where adventurers frequently appear! Darkwill nodded indiscernibly as he stuffed the items back into his packed suitcase. With this plump owl, he left the herb store once again, his heart feeling the pinch.

...

In the seas beyond the Rorsted Archipelago, in a small port belonging to Loen, the Black Death was docked there without any scruples. It was being surrounded by three ships.

Vice Admiral Ailment Tracy, who had just taken a hot bath, wore a loose man’s shirt, and she finished the final treatment for her mostly recovered wound.

To a Demoness, scars weren’t a thing.

At this moment, the blonde female attendant knocked on the door and entered the captain’s cabin after receiving permission.

When she saw Tracy, her cheeks flushed red as she moved her gaze away.

“Captain, a telegram was sent from Bayam to the port over here.

“Mithor, uh—Third mate has been killed.”

Tracy stopped her actions as her expression sank. She asked hesitantly, “Do you know who did it?”

She had sent Wormtongue Mithor to Bayam to investigate the assassination attempt on her, firstly as a form of punishment for his dereliction of duty, and secondly, to spread the news that she was heavily injured so as to lure others who harbored malicious intent into attacking her. She never expected Mithor to be able to make any breakthroughs or developments in a short period of time.

After the demigod addressed as Death Consul by the Demoness of Unaging visited her, she had deliberately concealed this matter and didn’t quickly inform Mithor. She allowed the punishment to continue as she felt that it was naturally for the best if his investigations turned fruitful. Even if there was nothing, she wouldn’t be too disappointed either.

She never thought about the possibility of Mithor being placed at risk, as it was a part of the punishment.

But to her surprise, Mithor had been killed so quickly!

The blonde female attendant handed over the telegram and said, “It was done by an adventurer named Gehrman Sparrow. It can be confirmed that he had used a Beyonder power similar to Dragon’s Might.”

“Gehrman Sparrow... Dragon’s Might... Heh heh. Qilangos also knew Dragon’s Might. He likely Grazed a Psychiatrist or Hypnotist with Creeping Hunger.” Tracy sneered after receiving the telegram as she spoke to herself.

She was quite certain that Gehrman Sparrow was the enemy who had disguised himself as Helene to attack her. Furthermore, he had been using the Faceless powers which Qilangos had Grazed.

Creeping Hunger is with him, and he has an ancient demigod, who Mother addressed as Death Consul, backing him... Does this mean that Qilangos was really killed by that Death Consul? Tracy muttered silently as she waved her hand to send the blonde attendant out.

After the door to the captain’s cabin closed, she chuckled to herself.

If I were to divulge this information, the organization that ordered Qilangos to assassinate Duke Negan would definitely be very interested.

For a brief moment of time, she really had the urge to do so, but her rationality stopped her.

This was because it meant that she would directly offend the Death Consul!

And with the single chance of him being recognized as the murderer, she would immediately be suspected of divulging the information.

When the time comes, unless I hide back at Mother’s side, I’ll be under the shadow of death at any moment... I’m not afraid of other Saints. They will have to find me before they can attack me. Besides, there will definitely be some indication of that, and a significant amount of time is needed. I will have sufficient chances to escape danger, b-but the Death Consul can travel using the spirit world. As long as he determines my location, he will quickly appear beside me... Tracy bit her lip as she thought in depression.

She gave up her previous thoughts and decided to take note of Gehrman Sparrow’s whereabouts. She wouldn’t spare him once a good opportunity arose!

At this moment, Klein was still living in the Teana Inn, waiting for his bounty to be delivered to him.