Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 180 Spell
After borrowing the Nightmare Candle from Bishop Utravsky again, Claire politely exchanged a few words with him.

But even though the converted missionary knew that Claire was a priest of the Night, he still talked about the teachings of the Earth Mother every three sentences. Claire understood Dunn's complicated feelings when he talked about the Earth Mother Bishop.

What ultimately surprised Claire was that the person who pulled her out of this "pagan" exchange was actually Dunn, who had hurried here.

"Dunn?"

Claire saw that Dunn looked like he had finally found her, as if he had come here specifically to find her?

“Galadia, you’re really here…” Dunn, dressed in a black windbreaker, walked over quickly. After greeting Bishop Utravsky, he whispered quickly to Claire:

"I have something to ask you."

After saying goodbye to Utravsky, Claire followed Dunn out of the church. She also saw Leonard waiting outside in a carriage.

I was able to take a ride on Dunn and his carriage back to the church on Pacefield Street...

Sitting in the carriage, beside her was Dunn, dressed in a black windbreaker, and in front of the carriage was Leonard, who was driving the carriage skillfully. Claire felt as if she was back in Tingen. After recovering slightly, she asked:
"Dun, you came specifically to find me this time. Could it be that something went wrong with the previous mission?"

After Dunn halted the further investigation into the demon dog's owner, their respective teams should have had a short break, so Claire guessed that there had been new changes to the previous mission.

Dunn waved his hand and replied, "I've already reported the anomalies in the investigation of the demon dog owner to the Church. You don't need to worry about that anymore. There's a new incident that requires your assistance, Captain Galadilla."

"A new incident?" Claire was stunned.

Dunn sighed. "The things involved in this strange incident aren't exactly new. It even involves the demonic painting from the Beth Lyonness case that you and Daly previously investigated. So, after I accepted this incident, I immediately thought of finding you while you were supposed to be resting... Sorry to interrupt your vacation."

Dunn quickly told Claire about the Baroness's incident of eating people in the street.

After hearing Dunn's description of this strange incident, Claire couldn't help but frown - she didn't expect it to be related to the "devil's oil painting".

"The noble women victims of the Demonic Painting Incident generally died of sudden old age after the incident concluded. Previous case file analysis suggests this phenomenon stemmed from them praying for youth and beauty from the Demonic Painting, and when they didn't receive the 'replenishment,' it backfired."

"And Baron Sorge's wife was the last survivor of the demonic painting incident... No one could have imagined that Mrs. Sorge, who should have also perished, actually survived by relying on her husband to feed her living people."

Claire raised her eyebrows in surprise: "Feeding a living person?"

Dunn nodded, his gray eyes gleaming with coldness. "The baron, in his own mansion, used the guise of delivering food to feed the woman who was locked away deep inside the mansion with his hired servants."

Dunn sighed, "...something went wrong, but the woman being fed completely lost control and devoured every living person in the mansion...according to the latest intelligence, there were even incidents of people being eaten alive on the streets."

"After this incident was reported, Leonard and I are currently in charge of the investigation under the arrangement of the church. However, similar to the serial murder case, divination, spiritualism, and other methods have all failed in this case, which has brought great difficulties to our investigation. That's why I came to you."

"I understand your intentions," Claire leaned back in her chair and sighed. "But unfortunately, I don't know much about that 'devil's painting.' When I joined the investigation, the painting was still in Beth Lyonness's possession. Later, Beth Lyonness was murdered by a mysterious person, and I have no idea who the painting fell into."

Dunn looked a little disappointed, but not surprised. He said, "I was just trying to ask if you knew anything more about the painting, but you don't have any clues... And the painting is likely in the hands of that mysterious organization with tarot elements."

The Organization of Tarot Elements…

In fact, this statement is not wrong. After all, this matter involves many members of the Tarot Club, and in the end, this oil painting may have fallen into the hands of that woman Tessa.

Due to her personal stance, Claire naturally couldn't reveal these thoughts to Dunn. She could only say:
"Before Beth Lyonness was exposed, I was invited by her to be painted into a demonic painting. Later, through investigation, I learned that the women painted into the demonic paintings had sacrificed many lives to the paintings in order to obtain the youth and beauty they desired."

Dunn nodded and said, "These files all record everything, including the subsequent fates of those women. This Mrs. Sorge is the only survivor of that incident."

Claire thought for a moment and asked, "How did Baron Sorge know that he could prolong his wife's life by feeding... feeding living people? Could someone have guided her to do this?"

Dunn replied, "On the night of the disaster at the mansion, Baron Sorge was lucky enough to be out and about, so he wasn't eaten by his wife. He's currently being apprehended by MI9."

MI9... It's probably not just because of Baron Sorge's noble status that this Beyonder organization affiliated with the Loen royal family took action.

Claire recalled what Tessa had mentioned at the Tarot Club: Beth Lyonness was involved in many dirty affairs within the aristocratic circle, and it was even suspected that the Loen royal family was involved.

Dunn continued, "Leonard and I participated in the interrogation on behalf of the church. We did not find that Baron Sorge was involved in any mysterious incidents, nor did we find that he had come into contact with any suspicious people."

"After a servant bit his wife while delivering food, Baron Sorge had a sudden idea and began feeding her human flesh. Although this cruel method didn't restore his wife's appearance, it saved her life, making Mrs. Sorge the sole survivor of the women involved in the demonic painting incident."

The cannibal woman affected by the devil's painting... Claire had a hunch that this sort of thing would more or less involve Tessa, who had obtained the devil's painting.

Although that woman wasn't a good person, Claire subconsciously took this information to heart.

So, Claire asked Dunn, "What is the risk assessment for this Mrs. Sorge?"

Dunn replied, "The danger level is equivalent to that of a Sequence 8 cultist."

The danger level wasn't high... but Claire couldn't help but frown. "How could such an evil creature vanish without a trace after committing a crime in the street? This isn't normal."

Dunn smiled wryly and said, "Yes, I also think this is very unusual. Should we say that Backlund is worthy of being the capital of all cities? Every case here is peculiar, so Leonard and I initially focused our investigation on the demonic painting. We speculate that this property of being unable to be divined or channeled is due to the existence of the demonic painting."

Claire didn't think so. She said, "How could an item taken by another secret organization actually help a mad cannibalistic woman hide her whereabouts? Furthermore, how did this mad woman gain Beyonder abilities? Did she consume Beyonder properties, or was she contaminated by the evil god?"

After hearing Claire's words, Dunn said thoughtfully, "Do you think there are other people or other forces involved in this case?"

Claire nodded and said, "This needs to be investigated. At the moment, this possibility cannot be ruled out."

On the carriage back to St. Samuel's Church, Claire and Dunn discussed the case at length, but Claire did not express any intention to get involved.

With so many troubles of her own, Claire did not intend to get deeply involved in the investigation of this case. For her personally, the top priority at the moment was to improve her sequence, followed by resolving the hidden dangers in her inner world.

Tessa's matter, the memory problem, the contamination on her body, etc. are all matters that come to mind. She does not intend to get involved in this case that sounds troublesome.

"But... I need to give that woman a warning about this case. I still have a lot of questions I want to ask her, so she shouldn't fall into the hands of some inexplicable person."

The next day, Monday morning, Claire, using Flora's identity, came to the Hall residence as agreed to tutor Audrey in extraordinary knowledge.

In addition to tutoring, Claire would also use extraordinary cases that occurred in Backlund as examples for practical explanations and applications. Among them, Claire mentioned the case of Mrs. Sorge.

"Mrs. Sorge has turned into a man-eating monster? Miss Viper, to be honest, I once socialized with Mrs. Sorge. She was a graceful and eye-catching lady. I never expected she would fall to this level."

Audrey had already heard from her circle of nobles about the dramatic changes in Baron Sorge's family and his arrest, but she didn't know the details. After hearing Claire's explanation, she lamented the dangers of extraordinary items and sighed deeply about this incident.

"Beth Lyonness has already been beheaded. How could the extraordinary items she left behind lead to such a horrific incident? This is truly unimaginable."

After revealing this case to the Tarot Club's "young class leader," Claire subtly changed the subject:
"Items like the demonic painting are most likely made using Beyonder traits. They can even be considered inanimate Beyonders. If we can extract these traits, we can even create a Sequence Potions."

"The sealed objects in the church exist like this."

Audrey had long realized that the promotion of Extraordinary People was not romantic, but rather cruel.

Even after learning about this cruelty and madness, she still persisted in pursuing an extraordinary path. Therefore, Audrey did not show any obvious emotions in response to Claire's words.

"However, the demonic painting could also be something else." Claire continued to shift the topic to a more intellectual level. "Through your in-depth study over this period of time, you should have understood the power of spells."

Audrey nodded and said, "A spell is essentially about praying for power from a higher being, and then fixing the power obtained using materials that can bear it and corresponding symbols."

As she spoke, Audrey's bright eyes shone with a thirst for knowledge. "Huh? Could it be... that the demonic scroll is also a spell... a high-level spell bestowed by the evil god?"

Claire explained, "Talismans, especially those from the major churches, are time-limited. The spiritual power within a talisman will gradually fade. It's impossible to maintain the appearance and youthfulness of so many people for such an exaggerated period of time like the demonic painting."

"But cultists often come into contact with such things and powers. For example, monsters appearing in some strange incidents..."

Claire pursed her lips and said, "In these kinds of strange cases, even if we kill monsters with extraordinary powers, we can't extract the corresponding Beyonder characteristics. This is because some monsters don't rely on consuming Beyonder characteristics to gain their Beyonder powers."

"Can you gain extraordinary powers without relying on extraordinary characteristics?" Audrey murmured in astonishment.

Claire nodded and said, "Those cultists who turned into monsters did so by securing the power of higher beings within themselves through a special ritual. Some call this power a gift from the gods, while others call it the contamination of evil gods."

After Audrey understood Claire's words better, she sighed, "Besides the potion system, there are actually ways to gain extraordinary powers? Are talismans actually such a powerful force in essence? But the price of this power is probably very high, right? Taking or digesting potions can cause someone to lose control and turn into a monster. This method of directly accepting the power of a higher being doesn't give people any sense of security..."

Audrey had heard Mr. Fool vividly describe the essence of "acting" using examples like castles and invitations. Her understanding of the potion system was even higher than that of most Beyonders, so it was easy for her to see the dangers of the gift system.

Seeing that Audrey had her own thoughts on this, Claire didn't explain further. Just as Audrey said, even the potion system could hardly resist the influence of higher-level beings. She couldn't imagine how the extraordinary people of the gift system could resist the will of higher-level beings.

Therefore, whether it is the power left to her by the Hidden Sage or the Goddess of Night, she has hidden worries in her heart. However, the vision and strength of her current class are not enough to think about and solve these problems, so she can only put them aside for the time being.

Even now, she still has to rely on the goddess and believe in the goddess to solve the problems in her body.

But just by looking at the methods used by the different gods within me, I can sense the difference between the Hidden Sage and the Goddess of Night. So, the Goddess is a righteous deity worshipped by the people, while the Hidden Sage is an evil deity that needs to hide...

Claire complained slightly in her heart.

As she had some free time, Claire deliberately extended the teaching time.

After a "simple" lunch with Audrey at the Hall residence, Claire continued to explain various ritual magic and spells to Audrey. As time went by, Audrey's mood gradually changed from thirst for knowledge to anxiety...

Because Audrey saw the time displayed on the luxurious clock hanging on the wall getting closer and closer to three o'clock in the afternoon.

(End of this chapter)