Secret: The years I served as a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

766
Backlund, Queens, in the Hall family's study.

After getting permission, Audrey opened the door and walked in. Her father, Earl Hall, and her brother Hibbert were discussing something.

"Oh, baby, you don't look well?" Earl Hall looked towards the door.

Audrey didn't play any part, she smiled sincerely and said:
"There is a big gap in the food supply of the Poor Relief Fund. I want to collect more. I visited many nobles today, but they all told me that there is no extra food, even if I buy it with gold pounds."

While saying these words, the nobles were either in the small living room or in a place specially used for afternoon tea, with high-quality black tea and a variety of exquisite desserts placed in front of them. From time to time, they would ask Audrey to comment on the cooking skills of the dessert chef in their home.

Their servants had ruddy faces and walked lightly, making almost no sound, so as not to disturb the guests.

"The current situation..." Earl Hall sighed when he heard this.

Audrey thought about it and said seriously:
"Dad, I remember there should be a lot of food at home. Can I spend money to buy some?"

"Audrey, you've done too much. You don't need to do this anymore." Hibbert Hall frowned slightly and spoke, but Audrey just looked at her father and did not respond to her brother's words.

Earl Hall's expression, which had been somewhat relaxed by his daughter's arrival, slowly turned serious again:

"Audrey, the premise of charity is not to affect the lives of yourself and your family. This is a principle I hope you will keep in mind."

Audrey, who was wearing a gold and white dress, frowned and then relaxed her brows, and said sincerely:
"Dad, the food stored at home is enough for everyone in this house to eat for a whole year, or even more. In addition, there is still a lot of food in East Chester County."

Because Winter County had not yet completely fallen, Feysac's army had already retreated, and now the God of Thunder was protecting the war situation at sea, the situation in Loen did not deteriorate, but stabilized instead, but it did not improve.

Earl Hall looked at his daughter's emerald green eyes for several seconds, then suddenly sighed and smiled:

"Audrey, you have really grown up and have your own ideas and persistence.

"However, none of us knows how long this war will last, or what the final outcome will be, so we must reserve a lot of food to cope with it.

"I can accept having two less delicious dishes at every meal to help those in need, but I don't want my table to become like the middle-class ones described in the newspapers. This will completely make us lose our dignity as aristocrats, which is what we have been upholding for every generation.

"Do you understand what I mean? I just made an analogy. The essence of the matter is that I value the survival and future of my family more, and value our identity and status. I will only show my love and kindness when it does not affect them.

"Audrey, my words may be cruel, but you have grown up, and it's time to listen. Everyone is selfish, just to different degrees. In my heart, the importance of the entire Hall family is greater than your mother and me, greater than you, greater than Hibbert and Alfred. In addition to these, the first is faith and good friends, followed by acquaintances, and finally the people throughout Backlund who need help.

"If it doesn't affect those in front, I don't mind helping them, but unfortunately, I have to think about more things now."

At this point, Earl Hall shook his head in self-mockery:

"I'm sorry to have you know that your father was such a selfish man."

As Audrey listened attentively to her father's words, her expression changed slightly at first, then quickly settled down and disappeared. Until the end, she did not show any additional emotions.

……

After a brief conversation, Klein, who had already gained the trust and respect of the people of Moon City, said goodbye to them. He took the animal skin lantern given by his teammates and walked alone into the gradually darkening east.

In their eyes, this messenger of God was a loner, just like the missionaries in ancient texts who traveled across thousands of mountains and rivers to spread the glory of God.

But where they couldn't see, Hermes, who was standing next to Klein, had already visited each of their mental islands to help them relieve their mental stress, adjust their mindsets, and heal their past mental illnesses and shadows. The entire hunting team felt relaxed physically and mentally after talking with the envoy, and naturally attributed the credit to the light and treatment just now.

Hermes smiled and waved at them, then followed Klein to the east, towards Moon City.

When they completely disappeared from the exploration team's sight, a flame suddenly rose in the night ahead. Medici, who was wearing more casual clothes, walked out of the flame, looked at Klein, then looked at Hermes, and laughed:
"You kept me waiting for a long time."

The Red Angel looked very relaxed. Having witnessed everything that had just happened, his opinion of Klein had become higher. At the same time, he was still a little worried about what Klein had said to the Moon City team:

"Although I know that you are doing this to distinguish between Amon and yourself, isn't it too early for you to tie yourself to the 'Lord of Mysteries' now?"

Klein also sighed and shrugged helplessly at Medici.

“I have no other choice, Your Highness the Red Angel,” said the young and ancient Fool. “As soon as I woke up, I found myself inseparable from Sefirah Castle. Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun, or the Lord of Mysteries as you call him, chose me. What can I do?”

"Even so, you shouldn't..."

Medici paused, his voice becoming a little deeper. "You are about to be promoted to Sequence 2, which is the watershed for becoming a complete mythical creature. During this period of time, you have increased your connection with the Lord of Mysteries and even made up a second honorific name. This is not a good thing no matter how you think about it."

That's what I said...but what else can I do? Klein resisted the urge to sigh:

"In my opinion, the name of the Ancient Sun God is completely consistent with the 'God' of our old era and the 'Chaos Sea Incarnation' of this era. It can even be said that they are completely consistent. So what can He do? Has He succeeded in changing? Since He, who has continent-level believers and multiple angels, has chosen the most extreme method, I have no other choice."

"I have received your concern for me, but this is the price I have to pay for gaining power at the fastest speed."

When talking about the betrayal banquet, not only Medici, but even Hermes's expression was gloomy for a moment. For the ancient angels who have lived from that era to the present, this is the most unforgettable regret.

"So what will happen? Will it speed up the loss of my humanity?"

"perhaps."

"Will it increase the chances of me losing control?"

Medici paused. “It depends on how you define out of control.”

Klein gave a standard answer as if he was reciting a book: "The loss of physical control means being affected by the potion and turning into a monster, while the loss of mental control means gradually becoming indifferent and heartless, or being too deeply affected by the potion and requiring an 'anchor' to stabilize."

Medici nodded perfunctorily: "Do you feel that the so-called loss of control of the body means turning into an incomplete mythical creature, and the loss of control of the spirit means gradually becoming less human? This is the inevitability brought about by power, and is also the standard of judgment for humans. - Just like for me, the Great Snake, or some high-level beings you know, we are born mythical creatures, so how can we say we are out of control?"

"Why don't you just tell me a story... You're a fortune teller, and have I ever told you about Antigonus?"

Klein nodded. "Yes, I have also been to the Secret Land, seen the Kingdom of Night, and met the out-of-control Antigonus."

"As long as you know."

Medici and Hermes looked at each other, and the former took the initiative to say:
"Antigonus is a natural mythical creature, an eight-legged demon wolf. In addition, he protects his believers, that is, the Kingdom of Night. There were no problems until one day, Antigonus developed an extraordinary understanding and care for his believers. His mental state and thoughts began to approach that of a human, and later he even went to the Tudor Empire to form a large family."

"You said that the originally inhuman creatures gradually became like humans after they had the anchor. Is this a kind of loss of control?"

Klein was stunned.

Yes, there are many races in this world. Those similar to humans include giants, elves and vampires, those completely different from humans include dragons, magic wolves and phoenixes, and the "mythical creatures" brought by magic potions are basically beasts.

To humans, the "animality" of other races is a kind of pollution. Then, to these non-human creatures, isn't "humanity" the same?

Once he shifted his perspective away from his human identity, Klein suddenly felt a lot of new things in his mind.

"But you don't have to think so much."

Medici quickly changed the subject and drew Klein's attention back: "What is the form of the mythical creatures of you fortune tellers? Oh, it seems that the mythical creatures of your three paths are all insects. This is indeed a bit difficult to deal with. You must not think of yourself as a little insect."

"In the final analysis, the meaning of 'losing control' is that you have lost control of yourself and lost your self-awareness. But before you completely lose it, as long as you can still control yourself, you are not out of control. It's like Antigonus. Although he was polluted by human nature, he still did not crawl into the ant nest and lie down with the ants, or think that he is an ant."

"He is still a demon wolf, but in the eyes of humans, he seems to be more merciful and more able to understand humans."

Klein thought for a moment, and suddenly felt that he understood something:
"Not all gods are human. According to what you said, even if gods are human, they will gradually develop cognition of other races because of the magic potion. In other words, the gods are also accepting some human ideas in this way?"

Medici nodded: "That's what an anchor is."

"In addition to stability, it can also make non-human creatures appear human out of thin air..." It turns out that "anchor" not only has the meaning that people are familiar with, but also has such an effect... After solving all the problems, Klein was a little amused.

Therefore, gods generally tend to have their own kind believe in them, because the changes brought about by the form of mythical creatures are already troublesome enough, and adding some "humanity" of other races is even more troublesome - but now that humans have become the race with the largest base, the gods have no choice.

The extraordinary world is so twisted and weird.

As long as they drink a bottle of magic potion, ordinary people can immediately become outstanding talents in a certain field. In the early stage, the cost of the magic potion is too small, and in the middle and late stages, even if the price of gaining power turns into gradually losing oneself, it is still acceptable compared to the gains.

Of course, this also varies from person to person.

"So I don't approve of your behavior."

After an in-depth analysis of the role of the "anchor," Medici brought the topic back to the beginning, back to admonishing Klein:
"You have only been human for a short time. Becoming a complete mythical creature is a spiritual baptism and change in itself. But... the premise of persuading you to change is that I have a plan. You said yourself that you have no choice. I don't have a better way. I can only wish you good luck."

After saying that, Medici reached out and grabbed Klein's hand, taking away the cross that the latter was holding tightly.

"I'll give it to you in Moon City."

Medici stopped talking about divinity, humanity, anchors, and other grand things, and asked, "Are you planning to go directly to Moon City now?"

"...I have seen the gray fog seal that separates the East Continent and the West Continent from Sephira Castle."

Klein thought about it and decided to tell the two of them this secret that no one had ever known. Hermes had already accepted with difficulty the reality that "an ordinary person who woke up from ancient times in modern times was recognized by the source as soon as he opened his eyes." After all, there was the precedent of the ancient sun god. However, this also made Hermes more worried about Klein's future.

"It seems that Sefirah Castle is made of that gray fog."

"The East Continent cannot communicate with the spirit world, and is sealed by the gray fog. This must be related to Fusheng Xuanhuang Tianzun, the Lord of Mysteries."

But before he finished speaking, Hermes seemed to suddenly realize something. He looked at Medici in astonishment, only to find that Medici was also looking at him. After the two exchanged glances for a moment, they realized the conspiracy at the same time.

No, it is the conspiracy of the Lord of Mysteries!

Klein looked at this one, then that one, his eyes filled with confusion and a desire for ancient historical knowledge.

"There is more than one source essence, and they are all separated behind this seal."

Medici explained to Klein briefly: "In other words, if you want to communicate with the source essence, you must open the seal, and you must have a master of mysteries. But at the same time, it doesn't matter even if there is no master. Anyway, these immortal spirits will return sooner or later..."

Klein was stunned for a moment, then stopped talking.

He had understood something, and holding the animal-skin lantern, he walked towards somewhere in the east. Although he had lost contact with Sefirah Castle, he could feel that a certain place that attracted him was there.

Time passed by minute by minute, and Klein finally stopped.

It was already night, and with the help of lightning flashing across the sky, he saw a gray fog solidifying a few hundred meters away.

The fog connected the earth and spread all the way to the sky, as if there was no top.

At the same time, the fog extended to both sides, boundless.

He stared at the silent gray mist for dozens of seconds without moving, as if he had turned into a statue.

Klein looked intently for a long time. Even though there was darkness in between, he kept looking up slowly. He retracted his gaze only after the second lightning subsided.

Behind or within this fog is the disappeared "Western Continent"?
The location of this fog is the Asian part of the Eurasian continent, where my hometown is?

Klein thought solemnly, and couldn't help but slow down his breathing.

He carried the animal-skin lantern and continued forward in the flickering light, until the dim candlelight could illuminate the solidified mist.

There was no need to make any other attempts. Klein's "Fortune Teller" intuition told him that the gray-white mist was an invisible barrier that could not be passed through by conventional means.

At this moment, he suddenly heard a slight sound of breaking coming from within his body.

His "Ancient Scholar" potion was completely digested.

……

"Well, in this way, the common language derived from the long-term coexistence of the ancient Phoenix and Quetzalcoatl has been deciphered. I will go back and ask the God of Death if my deciphering method is correct. If it is completely correct, I can consider contacting Qi Guang to apply for a patent..."

In the ruins of an ancient city-state, an Outer God who had not moved for four days since he began his archaeological research contentedly put away the piles of manuscripts around him, stood up and stretched.

Suddenly, he glanced into the distance and noticed that there seemed to be a small fluctuation somewhere in the seal.

He was suddenly stunned, slapped his head, and immediately started running.

Just as He stood up, He noticed from the corner of His eye that somewhere in the darkness, there seemed to be a figure slowly approaching there.

The Lord of Withering suddenly turned his feet. He looked at the black shadow, and his light green eyes seemed to suddenly turn into a giant net woven with countless threads. However, this scene only lasted for less than a second. In almost the blink of an eye, he returned to normal.

"A mysterious waiter?"

No, not the Secret Server.

"How can a mysterious servant walk around so brazenly on the land favored by God? What is this?"

"What is it that has completed the ritual but has not become a secret attendant?"

He looked at the huge creature in the distance in surprise. Because of the distance, the creature's high speed seemed to be moving slowly to him. But despite this, he could still see its appearance - a giant wolf, a demon wolf that should have been extinct long ago, and the giant wolf's body was strangely covered with a strange thing. In his eyes, that thing was the real "Mysterious Servant"!
"What did He carry?"

"The aura of Sefirah Castle!"

TBC
------

Haha, I thought I was sweating because I was hot, but it turns out I have a low-grade fever. Beware of seasonal flu!