Old days, dice and investigator's manual

Having ascertained the Golden Bough Church's stance, Isaac expressed his gratitude, saying, "Thank you for your insightful guidance, Cardinal."

Verca nodded slightly, then looked at Carlo: "Shuster."

"Yes—" Carlo drawled.

"Yesterday, the church received a report from Lord Banbury. A group of workers went to the monastery seeking refuge, claiming they had encountered Calamity Sequence 83, Mary the Shepherd, in the wilderness."

Isaac thought to himself, "As expected." The workers followed Carlo's advice and reported the names of the calamities directly. The church immediately took it seriously and reported it to the cardinal.

Since Verca came here specifically to bring up this matter, she must have guessed who had alerted the workers to the "Calamity Sequence" that they were unlikely to know about before.

"A calamity has appeared in the border region of Vista, which is cause for concern," Verca said. "The FBI, the Golden Bough Church, and the city defense forces were originally preparing to organize a joint operation to hunt down 'Shepherd' Mary."

Carlo raised an eyebrow: "You came all this way to tell me this, just so you could get me to do some work? But your use of 'originally' is quite interesting."

"Because I rejected the original encirclement and suppression plan."

Isaac was taken aback. Carlo shrugged. "So you're just letting Mary wander around the wilderness with her lambs? If you don't explain in detail, Asa already thinks you're a monster who disregards the safety of civilians."

Isaac said helplessly, "I didn't..."

"Look, you denied it so quickly, you're feeling guilty."

Isaac also had a bit of an urge to smash Carlo's head in.

Verca glanced at Isaac, seemingly deciding it best to explain, and asked, "Mr. Lessing, how much do you know about the current situation of the Vesta nobles?"

Isaac thought for a moment, and combined what he had heard Carlo say yesterday—the repeal of the Grain Act, the advancement of the railroad plan, and the expansion of the FBI's authority—all of which were weakening the power of the traditional nobility: "At this stage, the Grand Duke seems to be trying to suppress the nobility."

Verca nodded: "Yes. If a siege operation were to take place at this time that would require the cooperation of nobles, it would send them a signal that the Grand Duke still needs to rely on their strength. Once this illusion is created, the attitude of those nobles who are watching will become even more hardline."

Isaac understood her concerns: if the operation to hunt down the shepherd Mary were to be carried out on a large scale, it would inevitably require coordinating the passage and logistical support of the noble territories along the way.

Therefore, those nobles might use the cooperation as political capital, or even deliberately sabotage the operation to cause the siege to fail, in order to weaken the Grand Duke's prestige.

Although their territory is on the front line threatened by calamity, and eradicating calamity would also benefit them, we should not underestimate the shortsightedness of some people, nor their astonishing wisdom in engaging in internal strife.

"So the encirclement and suppression still needs to be completed, but it won't be a high-profile campaign; it will be carried out in a different way," Verca said.

Carlo tilted his head: "So you came all this way to ambush people, just for your sneaky encirclement plan, right?"

Verca stated directly, "My plan is for me to personally go to the area where 'Shepherd' Mary is located, unleash Vicania's Judgment, and directly eliminate her."

Isaac couldn't help but admire Verca's martial spirit, personally going to the area ravaged by calamity to complete the kill. This didn't sound like something a cardinal should do; it was more like a mission for a frontline Templar.

"The shepherd won't just stand there and listen to you chanting."

"Therefore, I need a certain level of protection; this can be considered a request."

"You've come here because you need my help, then why were you so tough just now?"

"Because you really are infuriating, and besides, this isn't something that absolutely needs you to do; it's just that it would be easier if you did it."

"Tsk, the way you put it, it's like I'm some cheap commodity that you can just grab anytime." Carlo stroked his chin. "But since you've come to me, I guess your plan isn't going through the Grand Duke's side or the Pope's side, right?"

Verca remained silent, and Carlo continued, "Because your safety is too important, those two old men wouldn't dare take the risk. They'd rather have the Grand Duke's personal guards or church knights take your place."

"That's why," Verca sighed softly, "I wanted to reduce unnecessary sacrifices and avoid mobilizing too much. But the Grand Duke and the Holy See are too concerned about my safety and unwilling to use my power."

As Isaac listened, a new idea began to form in his mind.

Verca's position is special, and the fact that the two highest-ranking figures in Vesta are so concerned about her safety suggests that her value is not simply limited to the connection between the Ogilvy family and the Church. She may carry some more important significance, which is why the Archduke and the Pope are unwilling to put her in danger.

The fact that Verca approached him instead of issuing the mission to Section 9 through the FBI indicates that this was a private commission, bypassing official procedures and thus circumventing the Grand Duke and the Pope.

"So you planned to sneak out and kill Mary without their knowledge, and by the time those two old men found out, it would be all over," Carlo concluded.

"That's roughly it."

"If I agree to help, and those two guys find out later, I'm afraid I'll get into trouble."

"You still care about this?"

"That's true." Carlo shrugged. "Alright, we're just killing time anyway, let's treat it as a picnic. But I don't want to do any dirty or tiring work for you, so bringing an assistant along, okay?"

Verca's gaze shifted to Isaac, and Carlo pointed: "Besides, he's already met Mary before."

Does he have the ability to protect himself?

"You're worried he'll hold us back? No problem, we can just throw him out to feed the sheep and buy us time to escape."

Isaac: "..."

Verka: "..."

"However, since it's a commission, we need to talk about the commission fee," Carlo said.

How much money do you want?

"Your family prints money. If I talk to you about money, you can give me as much as I want. Wouldn't that make me seem petty? I want something I can't usually get."

"……so?"

"First of all, I haven't thought of anything yet, so I'll leave it for now and talk to you when I come up with something."

"In other words, it's a favor that can be repaid later."

"Not only that, but also another strange object."

"When did you start getting interested in unusual objects?"

"There's no other way. Since it's a commission process, and I even brought an assistant, it's considered a commission from the firm." Carlo shrugged. "The firm operates on a profit-sharing system, and you can't split favors 30/70, so I can only ask for something in return to avoid being accused of withholding wages."

Isaac was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected the so-called wonder to be given to him, but...

Verca looked at Isaac: "What kind of wonder do you want?"

"Well……"

Can Isaac say he doesn't even know what a strange object is?