Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 259 Another Visit to Portlu (Bonus Chapter, 8K words)

After receiving the white envelope, Roger didn't rush to open it. Instead, he leisurely finished his fried haddock and fries, drank the draft beer in his glass, patted his belly, and swayed away from "Fragrant Leaf Bar" in a very unladylike manner.

He then went to a bar, sat with a group of rough men, watched dogfighting for a while, and deliberately lost 20 pounds in cash before walking out looking dejected like an ordinary gambler.

It was already dark by then. After confirming that no one was following him, Roger wandered back to the Portlu Market in the dock area.

Good evening, Mr. West.

Upon seeing Roger appear, Rossman immediately stood up with a fawning, sycophantic expression.

"Lend me your recliner for a while."

Roger ignored Rossman and collapsed onto his recliner, crossing his legs in a very unladylike manner.

"correct."

He thought for a moment, then pulled out a small wad of banknotes from his pocket.

"I'm going to participate in the Shadow Market tonight, please help me register."

"The remaining money is for your errand fee."

Rossman pressed his thumb against the side of the banknote and slid it quickly, immediately estimating that he should be able to earn around twenty pounds on this trip.

He immediately beamed with joy:

"Please rest, I'll go and do it for you right now."

Roger closed his eyes and nodded.

After Rossman left, he took out the white envelope from his pocket, opened the four sheets of paper inside, and began to read the contents.

First, there's information about Ophina King, the captain of the "Tide Whirl" and a female sea monster.

It must be said that the information provided by "Fragrant Leaf Bar" was really detailed.

This intelligence not only revealed that Ophina King was of mixed Fennepot and Fussac descent, but also disclosed that the "Tide Whirl" was currently disguised as an ordinary cargo ship and docked near Toscart Island.

The details of her armed forces, her current alliance with Bratov, and the secret information that she was a "Fire Thief" Sequence 6 "Fire Thief" were all listed on the paper.

In addition, the intelligence even revealed that before cooperating with Bratov, Ophina King belonged to the "Mad Blade" fleet of the great pirate, Sequence 6 "Windbringer" Borno Stone IV, and also gossiped about their romantic relationship.

"But for unknown reasons, Borno Stone IV is suspected to be dead, as the Church of Storms was seen towing the 'Mad Blade' near Damir Harbor."

"It is worth noting that no one has yet claimed Borno Stone IV's bounty."

Roger shook his head slightly upon seeing this:
"The remains were all swallowed by that strange box, so there's no way to claim the bounty."

"Furthermore, there is no mention of the information that Borno Stone IV has been promoted to 'Ocean Singer', nor is there any mention of the man-eating box. It is likely that the Church of Storms has blocked the relevant information."

After having a general grasp of Ophina King's information, Roger continued reading the second piece of information.

Compared to the first intelligence report, the intelligence regarding the Bayam military appears somewhat disorganized.

The "Fragrant Leaf Bar" clearly cited more than 20 sources, some in detail and others in a more disorganized and fragmented manner, which posed a considerable obstacle to Roger's reading.

This information is roughly calculated from the point in time when Chunas Colger was killed and Roy King was kidnapped, and includes troop movements, the rotation of the governor's office, and changes in the garrison at several military camps, etc.

In particular, due to the riots of "Sea God" Kavituwa, martial law was declared in Bayam. Many soldiers were mobilized to investigate the activities of the rebels, while others went to the streets to maintain order and cooperate with the Storm Church's actions. The personnel changes during this period were so frequent that the last three pages were filled with dense writing, making it impossible to logically deduce Luna's location.

The only certainty is that this female demigod with the rank of lieutenant general should still be in Bayam and has not left.

Just as Roger was getting worried, Rossman came back again and handed Roger an admission ticket.

Roger took the ticket and glanced at him:
There are some things you haven't told me.

"Ah, this..."

Rossman was startled:
"Mr. Hernandez said that because you are a VIP at the Shadow Portru Market, you will receive a 30% discount."

After a while, seeing that Roger remained silent, he spoke again:
"% off."

Roger was speechless at Rossman's petty theft and swindling habits, and he stood up:
"You can take what I give you; I didn't explicitly say you can't take what I give you."

"You'd better get rid of this habit. If it happens again, I'll sink you into Bayam Harbor."

After saying that, he took the 50 pounds in cash from Rossman, yawned, and leisurely walked towards the direction of the last gathering.

Although it wasn't 10 o'clock yet, Roger knocked on the iron gate, handed over the admission ticket, and stepped inside.

The old man from last time was still there, calmly handing Roger a cloak without even glancing at him.

"Sir, are you an extraordinary being?"

Roger couldn't help but glance at the old man a couple more times before asking a question.

When he came last time, he sensed that the other party must be an extraordinary person, but he couldn't figure out which path the other party took.

The old man nodded without saying anything more.

Could you please explain how you did it?

He pressed for more information, but this time the old man completely ignored him, staring straight into the darkness.

"Ok."

Roger shrugged and walked somewhat boredly into the dark tunnel.

Because they arrived very early, there were only two or three people in the venue, and even the warehouse door was tightly locked.

However, Hernandez seemed to have anticipated Roger's early arrival. He was still wearing the same clothes as last time, and upon seeing Roger enter in his cloak, he immediately stood up and shook hands with him.

"It's a pleasure to see you again."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Hernandez asked:
"What do you want this time? You can take a look at the price list in advance. If it's not too far off from what you expect, I can transfer it to you at a discounted price."

Roger understood from Hernandez's words that the latter feared he would again use his extraordinary abilities related to fate to disrupt the auction, and not wanting the other to misunderstand, he nodded.
"I need a potion recipe and an extraordinary item."

"Please tell me."

Hernandez stopped and spoke respectfully.

"This potion recipe shouldn't be too hard to get. It's the 'Navigator' of the 'Sailor' pathway, Sequence 7. Of course, if you could find the main ingredients for me while you're at it, that would be even better."

Since Roger originally intended to train a "navigator," this work could be done in advance.

This was a spur-of-the-moment decision—he originally planned to buy the "Navigator" potion recipe from Alger at the "Tarot Club" later, but Hernandez offered a discount, so he decided to take advantage of the situation.

As for who should be promoted, he currently has three suitable candidates in mind: Zeus, Matteo, and Lupin. All three are Sequence 8 "Wrathful People" and have performed exceptionally well.

Although Roger secretly preferred Zeus as the second mate, the "Star Fleet" couldn't be without a "navigator" to lead the way, so there was still a competition between the three in the short term.

Especially when exploring the two very easy-to-get-lost areas of Koske Island and Blackwing Reef, the role of the "navigator" is irreplaceable. While Roger can get Alger to help in the short term, in the long run, he still needs to train his own "navigator" as soon as possible.

This potion recipe isn't useless after one use. On the contrary, since the "Star Fleet" now has seven ships, Roger can theoretically have up to seven "navigators" at the helm, and they can even split up to carry out missions when necessary.

On the other hand, Zeus has already mastered the "playing method," so although he is a latecomer among the "Wrathful People," he may be the first to qualify for promotion.

"As luck would have it, we happen to have the potion recipe you need, and we'll offer it to you at a discounted price of 800 gold pounds."

“I happen to have a set of the corresponding main materials here, and I'll charge you 800 gold pounds for that too, for a total of 1600 gold pounds. I hope you're satisfied.”

Hernandez immediately smiled.

The "Navigator's" potion recipe belongs to the "Sailor" route, which is a popular route on the five seas. The recipe is relatively widely circulated, so he got his hands on it early on.

He didn't lose out by selling it to Roger at a low price.

Potion recipes are products that can be resold. Considering that potion recipes obtained through the "sailor" route are relatively widely circulated, Roger buying from him is considered doing business for him. Therefore, Hernandez offered a relatively high discount.

"make a deal."

Roger quickly estimated that the price was indeed very reasonable, and there was nothing to complain about.

"What about the second item you need?"

Hernandez asked again.

"The second item is not easy to find."

Roger paused:
"I need an extraordinary item that corresponds to the 7th level of the 'Reader' pathway, even if the side effects are a little severe."

The seventh in the sequence of "Readers" is called "Keeper of Knowledge," which was known in ancient times as "Detective."

In addition to gaining stronger reading, action, and combat abilities, the most important quality of those extraordinary individuals in this sequence is their ability to reason using knowledge and known information.

The extraordinary abilities of the "Knowledge Keepers" allow them to reconstruct the original events that occurred within a certain area based on sufficient known information, thereby deducing the correct cause and effect.

Roger needed this item for two main reasons.

The first reason was that he needed it to help him summarize and organize various information about the theft of gold and silver from the Ministry of the Interior and the Central Bank of Ruen, so as to find valuable clues.

Moreover, it can also be used in the search for Luna, so it can be said to play two different roles in the same matter.

The second reason is that Roger needs its superhuman reading ability to quickly read and extract the key information from the logbook he bought from Hernandez, in order to find a way to break through the labyrinthine outer space of Blackwing Reef.

"It's indeed not easy to find."

Hernandez frowned upon hearing this:

"As you should also know, the 'Reader' pathway is mainly controlled by the Church of Knowledge, and it's not easy to find the corresponding items in Bayam."

The Church of Knowledge, being one of the smaller of the major churches, primarily focused its missionary work in Remberg, Maxig, Segal, and Siberian, with Remberg serving as its headquarters.

Most items related to the "Reader" pathway are concentrated in Lenburg, although Lenburg is sandwiched between the kingdoms of Segal and Feneport, and is quite far from Loen and its colonies, so finding mid-series extraordinary items of this pathway in Bayam is not an easy task.

"Yes I know."

Roger was naturally aware of these circumstances.

"So I'll try asking the guests during the open discussion and trading session after the auction. There might be some people connected to the Church of Knowledge among them."

He then smiled again:
"Of course, I won't participate in the lottery. You can just remove my number slip."

Upon hearing Roger's suggestion, Hernandez immediately nodded in agreement.

As long as this plague god doesn't draw lots here, he's fine with whatever he does.

"By the way, Mr. Hernandez."

Roger had taken two steps toward the assembly area when he suddenly turned around.

"What, what's wrong?"

Hernandez paused, for a fleeting second thinking Roger was about to back out.

"Um, do you still have those sandwich cookies filled with honey and pupa jam that you provided last time?"

Roger's eyes were full of anticipation:
"I really like eating this. If possible, could you also get me a cup of pure black tea?"

"Of course, of course."

Hernandez breathed a long sigh of relief and quickly had his waiter bring Roger a silver iron plate filled with pupa jam, along with a large cup of steaming hot black tea.

When the other attendees arrived, they all saw the tall figure carrying a large iron platter, eating and drinking leisurely, as if he wasn't there to attend the gathering at all, but rather to enjoy a buffet.

"Hey, this guy... doesn't his back look a bit like number 15 from last time?"

Suddenly, some people started whispering to each other in a worried tone.

Roger almost burst out laughing, but he kept a low profile, shrugged his shoulders, and tried to appear as harmless as possible.

As 10 o'clock officially arrived, the auction officially began. Although there were some interesting items, Roger had little use for them, so he just watched the excitement from the sidelines.

Around 11:30, the long-awaited free trading session finally began.

Roger sent his request through Hernandez's waiter and then began to wait.

At first, no one answered. After a long while, someone seemed to hesitate for a long time before taking the initiative to contact Roger.

The man was short, wearing a cloak the same color as Roger's. He walked straight up to Roger and said:
"Hello, I heard you're looking to purchase extraordinary items corresponding to the 'Guardian of Knowledge'?"

It was a male voice, deep and calm.

"Yes, do you have one?"

Roger countered with a question.

"No."

The other person shook their head, then lowered their voice and said:

"However, I once killed a 'Knowledge Keeper' and I have his belongings."

Is this a test to see if I know the law of conservation of extraordinary properties?
Roger keenly noticed the word "remains" that the other person used.

"I should know what you mean."

Roger nodded: "How much?"

In fact, he was pleasantly surprised.

If the other party possesses the "Guardian of Knowledge" extraordinary ability, he can use this extraordinary ability to create a sealing artifact himself.

With the "Key to the Gate" as an aid, Roger is not afraid of not being able to create good items, and can achieve the best results in terms of both positive and negative effects.

"2000 gold pounds or the equivalent in fair gold, no bargaining."

The other party spoke in a deep voice.

It's a bit expensive...

Roger frowned.

The extraordinary properties of Sequence 7 levels vary considerably in value depending on the pathway through which they are located.

比如“黑皇帝”途径序列7的“贿赂者”和“审判者”途径序列7“审讯者”的非凡特性一般能够卖到1000镑，稍微罕见一点的、例如“被缚者”途径序列7的“狼人”就能卖到1200金镑。

As for those methods that are significantly stronger than those of the same method and have more complex abilities, they are more popular and more expensive.

For example, the "Psychotherapist" extraordinary trait of Sequence 7 of the "Dreamer" pathway can be sold for around 1600 gold pounds.

If you happen to encounter someone who doesn't care about money, such as a certain "righteous" lady, the price could even be raised to 1800 to 2000 pounds.

Although the abilities of the "Knowledge Keeper" are relatively limited, considering the scarcity of the "Knowledge Keeper's" extraordinary characteristics, the price of 2000 pounds is indeed very tricky, just right on the edge of being reasonable and unreasonable.

A dark glint appeared in Roger's eyes beneath his cloak. He observed the other man quietly for a moment, and after confirming that there was no sign of him lying, he began to bargain:

"1700 gold pounds, no one else will know about this."

Sure enough, the short man froze upon hearing those words.

Roger keenly noticed this brief moment of stiffness, and he couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

Without a doubt, this guy was a pirate, and the person he killed was most likely an official Beyonder from the Church of Knowledge.

Although Bayam is not a parish of the Church of Knowledge, Roger speculated that Lenburg and Segal should have corresponding bounties for this pirate.

The other party's reaction proved this point.

Normally, in transactions involving extraordinary items, suspicion exists between people:

"What method did you use? Is your sequence level higher or lower than mine?"

The result of this suspicion is that everyone is afraid of retaliation, so normally, gatherings are both a pretense and a form of protection.

Ultimately, however, each individual is primarily responsible for protecting their own interests.

Therefore, people generally don't use external factors to bargain—unless they have already guessed all of the other party's moves, but this is extremely rare.

Roger seemed completely unafraid of these things, or even of retaliation from the forces behind this small pirate.

So in an instant, the burden was passed to the short pirate. He could refuse to sell, but he couldn't rule out the possibility that the other party would try something against him later.

"make a deal."

The short pirate gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement.

"readily."

Roger smiled slightly. Although this approach was somewhat unethical, in the end, everyone was in the same boat. Piracy was a high-risk profession, and everyone should have a basic understanding of their own circumstances.

The principle that "if you don't court death, you won't die" applies everywhere.

After Hernandez's waiter helped with the handover, Roger finally received the bottle of silvery, transparent, gel-like substance that looked a bit like molten glass, to his satisfaction.

This is the extraordinary characteristic of the "Guardian of Knowledge".

Roger was finally relieved to have obtained the item. After drinking two more cups of black tea, he got up and walked towards the door, bowing to greet Mr. Hernandez before leaving.

Afterwards, Roger casually bought a pair of fairly sturdy non-prescription glasses at a small grocery store as a vessel to hold the extraordinary characteristics of the "Knowledge Keeper".

This was not only because the glasses made reading materials more convenient for Roger, but also because Roger missed the "Decipherer Glasses" that he previously owned, which corresponded to the "Deciphering Scholar" and had now been incorporated into the "Star Lord" defense system as an auxiliary analytical element.

When he returned to the deck of the "Star Lord", Bandit immediately ran over to greet him with its tail held high.

What did you do on the ship?

Roger immediately noticed the ice shards and bloodstains scattered on the ground.

“I learned a few moves from Lindsay, and then I grabbed little Philip and we sparred.”

The tabby cat meowed, seemingly very happy.

"Sigh... Being the first mate of the 'Star Lord' is really not easy."

"He has to drive the boat, act as a thug, and get beaten up by the cat... I guess I need to find a way to increase Philip's allowance."

Roger sighed. Although he hadn't seen Philip, he could guess that the guy hadn't beaten Bandit.

"How is it, any harvest?"

Bandit wagged its tail and looked at Roger.

It refers to the gold theft case.

"I have a direction, but I still have no clue how to proceed."

Roger nodded: "There's a lack of evidence."

"Would you like me to do a fortune telling for you?"

Bandit winked at Roger.

"Stop joking, your astrology skills are not as good as mine."

Roger found it somewhat amusing. Although Bandit had already digested the "Astrologer" potion, his ability in this area was definitely stronger than Bandit's, given his "Judgment Star" pathway sequence 5.

"Have you forgotten my astrological chart?"

Bandit said somewhat unconvinced.

"Astrological chart?"

Roger paused for a moment:
"You figured out that thing?"

Previously, Bandit only knew how to seal it, but sealing and divination are two different concepts.

"Yes, all you need to do is provide me with enough information... even if it's a little messy, it doesn't matter, as long as it's true, I can help you reconstruct a rough outline."

Bandit said with great confidence.

"Great."

Roger scooped up the tabby cat and ran back to the captain's cabin.

"Here'll have some dried fish for you. Play by yourself for a while while I organize the data."

Roger settled Bandit down temporarily, letting it play in the corridor, while he used the power of the "Key to the Gate" to "load" the extraordinary characteristics of the "Knowledge Keeper" into his glasses.

The black-rimmed non-prescription glasses were modified in no special way; they just became shinier and the lenses looked clearer.

But when Roger put it on and tried to use it, the lens suddenly shimmered with a mercury-like light.

The mercury-like substance did not obstruct Roger's vision at all; on the contrary, it brought a lot of information to life before his eyes.

Roger's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly spread out the information he had just bought from the "Fragrant Leaf Bar" and scanned it rapidly.

This information immediately began to arrange and combine, and then began to present a very clear timeline in Roger's eyes.

Through this timeline, what people and which units did what is revealed, allowing repeated information to corroborate each other, while information with obvious temporal contradictions is excluded.

In this way, duplicates were merged into similar items, and false information was eliminated. Roger quickly figured out a relatively clear picture of the movements of the Rune army over the past few days.

"The depletion of mental energy is extremely severe..."

Roger suddenly felt a slight throbbing in his temples and a dull ache between his eyebrows, so he quickly took off his glasses.

The side effect of this thing is that it will rapidly deplete mental energy. Even if you don't use it, just carrying it around will slowly deplete your mental energy.

Even someone as mentally strong as Roger felt that the level of mental exhaustion was somewhat terrifying.

Of course, it is also possible that Roger was performing deductions and event reconstructions in multiple threads, which made the computational cost much higher than that of single-threaded reasoning.

Based on the current reasoning, there are two points that seem suspicious.

One is a suspected military-controlled area in a mountainous region west of Bayam, and the other is a remote area in the south near Blue Mountain Island.

These two locations have seen the entry and exit of high-ranking military officers, including majors, on more than one occasion.

If Luna, who holds the rank of lieutenant general, did not return to Backlund through "teleportation" or similar means, but instead remained in Bayam managing the army, there is a high probability that she would be in one of these two places.

"Let's leave the rest to Bandit."

Roger opened the door and called in Bandit, who was resting outside.

"Finished?"

"Ah."

Roger nodded in response to Bandit's question.

He showed Bandit the more crucial information, including the two suspicious addresses.

"Where you can't follow up with your logical reasoning, just leave it to me, the cat."

Bandit jumped onto the table and had Roger place the "Virtual Nexus" in front of it.

As the tabby cat infused the astrological chart with spirituality, the 22 celestial bodies on the "Virtual Realm Nexus" began to rotate.

These celestial bodies include stars, planets, and asteroids, and at this moment they are rotating and revolving at different rates.

This system is almost a one-to-one replica of the real universe. Although the elements are not as complete, it is perfectly adequate for making relatively complex calculations.

Roger even observed that the rotational angular velocity and the orbital angular velocity of some celestial bodies were exactly the same, which meant that one side of these celestial bodies always faced the upper celestial body. This phenomenon, known as "tidal locking," was also closely replicated, which amazed him.

"As expected of something created by the 'astronomers' of the Steam Church, the level of precision is truly impressive."

Roger watched with a sigh as Bandit began to rapidly activate these celestial bodies, making them move.

He could tell that Bandit was simulating the changes in the stars over the past few days. Each star had its corresponding power or person, and the phase relationships between them hinted at different events and possibilities.

Not long after, Bandit extinguished the light on the "Virtual Star Hub" and told Roger in a very certain tone:
"Assuming the female lieutenant general you mentioned is the highest-ranking female officer currently in service in Bayam, then it's almost certain that she's in the military control zone in the west."

"Next, you need to think about how to break in. After all, you are a wanted criminal now—even if those soldiers don't know your real identity, you should have been on MI9's list long ago."

"Well, I see."

Roger nodded. According to the intelligence he had obtained, the military control zone had a very long history, and its construction began almost as early as when Bayam was colonized. It covered an area of ​​at least tens of thousands of square meters and even included a combat command post. It was the largest fortification of the Rune army in Bayam.

Roger certainly couldn't just charge into such a large military facility, because there was a high probability that it contained angel-level sealed artifacts and other demigod-level male extraordinary beings.

On the other hand, it's not a question of whether he can win or not. Roger is just an adventurer, not a bandit. It's impossible for him to have just robbed people at the Governor's Mansion in Bayam and then turn around and attack military facilities.

After much deliberation, Roger decided that it would be more appropriate for him to sneak in secretly.

"I could use the abilities of a 'hermit' to infiltrate, but that might not be safe enough. It would be best to call another person."

"Philip and Zeus are definitely no good; they'd just be throwing their lives away."

“In this regard, Linsaya is definitely more reliable…after all, extraordinary individuals using the ‘assassin’ pathway are very skilled at stealth and also have ways to protect themselves.”

With that thought in mind, Roger stood up and went up to the deck, intending to go aboard the "Mars" to talk to Lindsay.

But before he could even get to the "Mars" next door, Roger saw Lindsay on the deck, enjoying the sea breeze and drinking.

Roger stopped, patted a passing sailor on the shoulder, and asked him to fetch him a bottle of rum before carrying the bottle toward Linssaya.

"Why are you drinking alone here all by yourself?"

He sat down next to Lindsay with a smile.

"It reminds me of some things from the past."

"Lyssaia answered in a low voice."

"Ago?"

Roger took a swig of wine:

"By the way, if I remember correctly, you said last time that if you won the battle against Bulatov, you would tell me about your past, right?"

(End of this chapter)