Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 168 Tulips

The news of the demon dog being hunted and killed by the Nighthawks was shared via telegram to the Church of Storms and the Church of Steam. In the world of Beyonders, a major case that had been plaguing Backlund had come to an end.

The incident report was jointly completed by Daly Simone and Al Hassan. Al Hassan's team and the police are jointly responsible for the aftermath of the incident.

However, the police will not announce the case has been solved for the time being. One reason is that the murderer is an extraordinary creature, which is prohibited from being disclosed to the public. The other reason is that they need to make sure that no subsequent cases occur.

"It was my Nighthawks team that stopped the demon dog from escaping, and I was the one who led the team in killing it. I don't agree with giving the credit to Red Gloves' Daly Simone and Galadilla."

In the small meeting room in the basement of St. Samuel's Church, after several meeting agendas were discussed, Alicia rarely expressed her clear opposition to the distribution of merit in specific events.

Sitting opposite Alicia, Cecima was quite troubled by this kind of thing. He was better at dealing with evil events on the front line rather than sitting at the conference table arguing about the distribution of interests.

But he has not yet resigned as the head of Backlund's Red Gloves.

To protect the Red Gloves' deserved interests, Cecima explained, "Daly has been in charge of this case the entire time. It was also Daly who shifted the focus of the investigation from Beyonders to Beyonder creatures. Therefore, I believe that every bit of Daly's merit is well-deserved."

Cecima knew that Alicia was deliberately preventing Daly from gaining more merits for Messeri, and wanted to downplay Daly's achievements as much as possible.

He naturally wouldn't allow this to happen.

But Alicia persisted, "But in reality, Daly Simone didn't participate in the hunt. In fact, because of her stupidity and recklessness... I mean, she was actually tricked by a stray dog, which nearly resulted in casualties for Team Al Hassan."

Cecima frowned and retorted, "Daly suspects the demon dog might be kept by someone, so tracking and investigating stray dogs suspected of being demon dogs is a normal line of investigation."

"And it was Daly who contacted me promptly after dismantling the illusion, which allowed me to use my dreams to summon the 'Sleepless' to Caditon Street for support. Galadilla's timely arrival also relieved a lot of pressure on Team Hassan."

"And..." Cecima looked at Alicia. "After I promptly informed you of Team Hassan's crisis, why didn't you immediately use your 'Spiritual Journey' ability to rush to Caditon Street? Instead, your slowness nearly resulted in casualties among the Nighthawks."

"After all, I'm not yet a Sequence 4. To use 'Spiritual Journey', I need to meet several strict conditions..." Alicia explained indifferently. Seeing that Cecima was drawing the flames towards her, she stopped interfering in Messeri's affairs and softened her attitude. She said:
"I will no longer object to the achievements of Daly Simone and Galadilla, but in return, I request that the credit for my actions be attributed to Messeri. Messeri has also been pursuing this case and has made significant contributions."

The merit points of the Church of Evernight cannot be transferred or traded privately, and even gifts are not allowed. However, during the distribution process, those with the power to distribute have some room for maneuver.

For example, this time, Alicia wanted to attribute all her own merits in this incident to Meseri on the grounds of "hard work in tracking down", which is a borderline behavior.

It is not clear whether Messeri can be said to have worked "hard" in the "serial murder case", but the claim of "great merit" is pure nonsense.

But neither Cecima nor Saint Anthony, who was sitting in the middle, objected to this.

Just as the church gives team leaders the maximum power they deserve, this kind of distribution is also allowed to facilitate the work of each person in charge.

After a brief argument, the meeting returned to a peaceful atmosphere. Even as the atmosphere relaxed, Cecima extended an invitation to Alicia: "...One of my informants suffers from delirium every full moon. Your Excellency Alicia, could you please use the power of the 'Holy Coffin' to help her through this full moon this Wednesday night?"

"Of course." Alicia naturally wouldn't refuse such a small favor.

While these church leaders were discussing matters, Claire ate and drank for free at the Hall family's house under the pretext of "explaining the scriptures to Miss Hall."

"...It's hard to believe you're not only the goddess's messenger, but also my captain. I'm a little annoyed that I joined your team." Audrey sighed as she watched Claire eating at a steady pace in front of her.

"Emperor Roselle once said, 'Only food and love can't be wasted.' It's such a waste to simply present this kind of food on a plate." Claire chewed and swallowed the food in her mouth and said, "Anyway, these delicacies will just be thrown away by your servants before tonight. I might as well eat them."

"Although Emperor Roselle's life was legendary, his decadent private life has led to his words being criticized by many critics today." Audrey smiled and pointedly said, "Captain Galadilla, you didn't come here simply to eat, did you?"

"Well, actually, I'm here to apologize, Audrey," Claire said to Audrey formally. "I should have invited you to join the Red Gloves in a more thoughtful way, instead of subjecting you to unwarranted and malicious inquiries like this."

Claire apologized sincerely.

Seeing Claire yield was rare, and Audrey was in a good mood. She sat upright and asked, "What happened to that aggressive lady at St. Samuel's Church? Captain Galadilla, her undisguised malice has already threatened me. I believe I have the right to know the inside story."

"Of course." Claire nodded. "That woman's name is Messeri Doherty. She calls herself the assistant to Alicia, the Nightwatch chief. But it's also true... Alicia, the Nightwatch chief, delegates many tasks to her."

"As for why she deliberately came to trouble you and me... it was because there was a member of our team who was in competition with her for Sequence Advancement, and she took her anger out on you and me. I later learned about this."

"There's competition for promotion...and it seems the church is also short on potions?" Audrey suddenly asked doubtfully.

Compared to that kind of woman's anger, Audrey cared more about these extraordinary things.

"Yes, even the Church has a very limited number of potions. As for why this is so..." Claire gave Audrey a look that said, "You're making a killing," and explained, "Just think of it as your first training after joining the team... In the world of Beyonders, there's a law, specifically, the 'Law of Conservation of Beyonder Characteristics.'"

"Extraordinary...conservation..." Audrey's eyes were filled with confusion, and the confusion gradually turned into disbelief as she chewed on the words: "What does this mean... Does it mean... that the number of Extraordinary people in this world is constant?!"

"What a smart girl, Audrey." Claire praised and continued:

"Within the same pathway, if there are more high-order sequences, there will be fewer low-order sequences, and vice versa."

"So even within the Church, the stock of potions and Beyonder properties is very limited, and some of them are stored in the form of sealed objects behind the Chanis Gate, making them difficult to use. The materials that can be used for advancement are therefore scarce."

After hearing this explanation, Audrey pondered for a moment, smiled bitterly, and whispered, "No wonder the Church is hiding the existence of Beyonders... Beyonder power is actually constant, and the more High-Sequence Beyonders there are, the fewer Low-Sequence Beyonders there will be."

As she spoke, Audrey suddenly exclaimed:

"That's not right... If that's the case, as the current Beyonder sequence improves, the number of Beyonders in the world is bound to continue to decrease. Then, as time goes by, Beyonders will become extinct!"

"Especially low-sequence Beyonders!"

"But in fact, even now in the Fifth Epoch, there are still newcomers like me embarking on the path to extraordinary achievement!"

Facing Audrey's inquiring gaze, Claire was surprised that Audrey was more perceptive and intelligent than she had expected. She spoke again, "Audrey, you should have heard of the creation myth."

"Is it from 'Night Revelation'?" Audrey said matter-of-factly, "Of course I've read it. I'm a believer in the Goddess."

This is really not convincing...

Complaining in her heart, Claire said:

"It's not just the 'Apocalypse of Night,' but also the 'Book of Storms,' the 'Scripture of Steam and Machinery,' and all sorts of hidden legends. Whenever it comes to creation myths, they all involve a 'Creator.'" "Not the evil god worshipped by those lunatics of the Aurora Society, but the 'Creator' who separated all things." Claire slowed down her speech, recounting the creation myths propagated by various churches and some secret organizations!

"The Creator awoke from chaos, broke through the darkness, and created the first ray of light."

“He merges into the universe and becomes everything.”

“His body became the earth and the stars.”

"One of his eyes turned into the sun, and the other into a red moon."

"Part of His blood flows into seas and rivers."

"His lungs evolved into elves; his heart evolved into giants; his liver evolved into tree people; his head evolved into dragons..."

"His spirit became the Eternal Sun, the Lord of Storms, the God of Knowledge and Wisdom..."

"From His wisdom came the birth of mankind."

Claire had previously specialized in studying various church scriptures and folk myths, and possessed a photographic memory. After saying this, she looked directly into Audrey's emerald green eyes and asked, "Audrey, do you think... does this resemble the separation of Beyonder characteristics?"

In fact, apart from these, Claire actually knew much more, especially the illusory images of fusion and separation that she had seen in divine knowledge!
"When Beyonder characteristics converge to a certain degree, separation is inevitable." Claire said with a slightly absent-minded look.

Claire even speculated that the various mythological descriptions of the supposed fall of gods in past history might have been referring to the separation of Beyonder characteristics on a smaller scale than the creation myths.

"The aggregation and separation of extraordinary characteristics..." Audrey took a breath. She immediately had the urge to confirm this phenomenon with Mr. Fool. Because if this thing actually existed, then the path to extraordinaryness would undoubtedly be tragic and hopeless.

The road to gathering is destined to be littered with corpses.

And when everything converges to the end, it is possible that like the Creator, everything will be in vain...

Are we stepping over corpses all over the ground just to set off a big firework?

But Claire smiled and said, "Audrey, judging from your expression right now, Emperor Roselle has a word that fits you perfectly: 'worrying about nothing'..."

Hearing the phrase "杞人忧天" (a person worrying about nothingness in the sky) and recalling the meaning of the word she had read before, Audrey's mood calmed down from her pessimistic and nihilistic feeling. Yes, I'm still a low-sequence person, so why should I worry about such a distant and illusory thing?
Ever since she learned that the extraordinary properties condensed in other people's corpses could serve as potions of corresponding sequences, Audrey had realized that the real extraordinary world was not as beautiful and innocent as the fairy tales she had imagined.

In fact, reality is cruel and cold.

But even so, Audrey still walked unwaveringly deeper into the world of Beyonders.

Because she longs to explore the magic and the unknown.

She had long since realized that what she was pursuing was not beautiful.

But she truly wants to learn more about extraordinary knowledge and phenomena. This is her pursuit.

Seeing that Audrey hadn't concealed this thought, Claire sighed inwardly and said, "I'm organizing a new Beyonder gathering. Are you interested in joining?"

"A Beyonder gathering?" Audrey looked at Claire in surprise. "Captain, did you organize this?"

Claire nodded and confessed, "I entrusted the specific work to two members of the team, one of whom you know."

"I know him..." Audrey read a lot of information from Claire's words. She glanced at Claire and rolled her eyes before saying, "Fors? Hugh?"

"It's really Hugh..." Audrey confirmed her suspicions from Claire's expression. "No wonder Miss Hugh came to ask me about the secret organization. You must have said something bad about me to Miss Hugh, right?"

Claire waved her hands and smiled, denying, "Not really, not really. But why did Quinn ask you about the secret organization?"

"Curious, right?" Audrey gently brushed aside the topic. "Captain Galadilla, what exactly is the Beyonder gathering you mentioned? How big is it?"

Claire, understanding each other, didn't ask any further questions and followed Audrey's lead, saying, "It might not be very large at the moment, but because we have the ability to assess the authenticity and value of extraordinary items, it will attract quite a few people."

Audrey hesitated and paused for a moment before saying, "Can I participate anonymously?"

She wanted to participate in more Beyonder gatherings, but at the same time she didn't want to reveal her identity.

"Sure." Understanding Audrey's concerns, Claire said, "I can help you create a fake identity to participate. It's also a good opportunity for you to come up with a code name. The other members of the team are 'Psychic', 'Viper', 'Arbitrator'..."

"The code names are rather confusing..." Audrey muttered, but she still gave herself a team code name out of interest. "Since there's no specific format, I'll just call myself 'Tulip'."

……

On Pacefield Street, in Claire's residence.

As the party time approached, Claire looked at herself in the mirror.

Inviting Audrey to the party wasn't an impulse. During this time, she had slowly figured out a better way to disguise herself as Flora. Since Tessa had some suspicions, she simply tried to pass off the identity of "Flora" as Claire.

Claire gradually adjusted the power of the "Heart of the Goddess" in her chest, and the spiritual creature "Mist Butterfly" that was summoned gradually possessed her.

After adapting to the possession of the mist butterfly, Claire opened her eyes.

In the mirror, her facial features gradually became softer and younger, and her appearance was more like "Claire", and no longer resembled Galadilla at all.

Her dark red eyes gradually became lighter, closer in color to the crimson moonlight.

The height has decreased slightly.

The possession of the mist butterfly made her aura more chilling, and coupled with her cold expression, her temperament was more in line with the code name "Viper".

(End of this chapter)