Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1465 Clue Map
Inside the church, Vanessa looked at the spell in her hand with a puzzled expression.

"Vanessa, breakfast is ready. Today..." Veronica walked into the house, but stopped speaking immediately upon seeing Vanessa's expression. She knew that Vanessa's magical studies had probably reached a rather crucial stage.

However, Vanessa put down her spell and asked Veronica with a puzzled look, "Veronica, our teacher said that the study of magic should be a process of experience and continuous accumulation, especially now... right?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

“Uh… I just felt like my spell was successful.” Vanessa drew two circles with her finger. “It’s just a feeling that it can be cast as a complete spell. Isn’t that a bit wrong? I mean, I should have studied it for a year or two, and then go through a period of trial and error, failures, and finally figure out what the principle of this spell is, and then successfully cast it.”

“That’s generally how it should be, and it won’t be a year or two, it will be longer,” Veronica said.

"I just gave it a try... and it didn't give me any sense of accomplishment at all. Although I did think about it for a long time, it shouldn't have been possible to succeed on the first try, right? Am I really a genius?"

"Or luck, either way, I don't think it matters. What matters is that we should celebrate! We can also tell our teacher and let her know what an excellent student we've taught," Veronica laughed. "Everyone else is worried about failure, why are you the opposite? You've always been much bolder than me, why are you so insecure now?"

"This isn't a matter of confidence or lack thereof, it's just defying common sense... Hey, don't pull me!"

Vanessa, who was dragged away to eat breakfast, didn't get a chance to tell the pharmacist the good news, because as soon as the pharmacist returned, he gave everyone a big job.

Father Thorne and the others were already tacitly aware of the apothecary's identity. After the apothecary announced the city-wide investigation, Father Thorne immediately selected several clever monks and nuns to assist him, Vanessa and Veronica naturally included. After gathering everyone, the apothecary gave them an emergency training session on plague identification and various basic facts—these were all young people from the Minute Church, and in terms of experience, they were probably less than Vanessa, who had actually handled many cases.

After the pharmacist finished explaining the necessary information, a carriage was already waiting outside. Mr. Poirot and three others alighted from the carriage and began unloading the documents. There were quite a few documents, and they needed to be sorted and arranged, so Mr. Poirot had to direct the process—a task that was quickly taken over by Father Thorne.

“We’ve categorized all the recent cases in Violet City by location, time, and case type,” Mr. Poirot explained. “The first step is to eliminate irrelevant cases, which is actually the most difficult. The impact of the plague might be minor, only escalating into major disasters during the outbreak. Cases involving deaths require careful examination to identify any suspicious elements. Often, even the urge to kill can be controlled by the plague.”

“If you can’t be completely certain, come to me or Mr. Poirot. Our goal isn’t to sift through all the problematic cases, but to piece together a coherent picture and figure out what the Plague Apostles are really up to. Their recent actions are definitely inseparable from their objectives,” the pharmacist added.

Mr. Poirot left only one student there to help, while the other two left immediately, which suggests that the data will likely continue to be updated.

There were too many cases, big and small, in Violet City, given its size. Mr. Poirot took a map, nailed it to a wooden board, and prepared a bunch of colored nails. While reviewing the documents, he marked the clues he and the apothecary considered potential leads on the map. Around evening, Father Thorne, Veronica, and Vanessa joined the discussion. Father Thorne's screening wasn't problematic, but he always added some dark interpretations, making it seem as if Violet City was about to fall the next day. Mr. Poirot had to selectively accept his opinions. Veronica was more serious; she carefully categorized the clues she found and explained her reasoning, which Mr. Poirot appreciated. Vanessa, on the other hand, had a very rapid-fire thought process, using a semi-intuitive search method. She could connect seemingly unrelated things, and while some of it made sense, others just sounded like storytelling, which gave Mr. Poirot a headache.

"How is it?" the pharmacist asked Poirot teasingly as he handed him a document.

"The progress is much faster than I expected. It's just that although these three people are all very smart, their styles are inconsistent, which makes them both lovable and infuriating..." Poirot said with a wry smile.

“That’s good.” The pharmacist glanced at the nails of various colors on the map and pondered for a moment.

These differently colored nails represent which Plague Lord's authority is involved in a case potentially related to the plague. The symptoms caused by different Plague Lords may be similar, but subtle differences exist depending on their authority. On this rather cluttered map, aside from the central hilly area which Poirot probably couldn't investigate, the number of nails varies across the four main districts: east, west, south, and north. The south district clearly has the fewest, likely due to its smaller population. The west, however, is the hardest hit area, with half the nails located there.

“Now, almost every district in Violet City has a multi-functional layout. Even in the southern district, there aren’t many matters that require crossing district boundaries… unless it’s something that requires finding a specialist.” Poirot rubbed his nose. “So, why are there so many related cases in the western region?”

"Is it related to the population?" the pharmacist guessed.

“I think we should think about it the other way around,” Father Thorne said, walking over. “The large number of cases in the West District indicates that a large amount of plague was released there, or rather, that it was considered the main target of the plague apostles.”

“It’s the same thing, we’re looking for the root cause, Father Thorne.” The apothecary glanced at him and explained, “It’s not enough to just find the Plague Apostles’ target, because Plague Apostles are usually the type who commit crimes randomly and without rules. Although they are not easy to catch, the plague is obvious. But if they use this kind of meticulously planned method, it means that the Plague Apostles must be planning something.”

“Hmm… According to what you’ve told us, plague apostles are usually there to summon the Plague Lord to this world, right? But you haven’t explained this in more detail,” Father Thorne said.

"That's enough for now, Thorne. You're not yet capable of delving deeper into matters concerning the gods." The apothecary shook his head.

"Alright, alright, then why don't you just accept that they spread so much plague in order to call upon the gods?"

Poirot provided the answer: "Because the field of the sacrifice must be pure."

Once, a daring plague apostle attempted to summon two plague lords simultaneously, which saved the church personnel who came to besiege them a great deal of effort—divine punishment fell at the start of the ritual, and all the plague apostles were killed within the spell's field; not one escaped.

It was from this point that people learned the Plague Lord could not summon simultaneously, not even just the filth. After this, the Church's pursuit of these followers of the evil god became even more resolute, since the Church's gods did not have this problem. Thorne was also learning this for the first time, and even Veronica and Vanessa, who were eavesdropping, showed expressions of surprise.

“After all, there are only so many offerings, and the Plague Lords are all greedy and can’t control themselves,” Poirot shrugged. “Therefore, areas where various plagues mix are unlikely to be used as places for summoning. So the question is, if it’s not to summon a god, what is the real reason they’re making such a commotion and trying to hide?”

“Perhaps they just want to breach this city that no one has ever conquered before?” Father Thorne said.

“If that’s really the case, then it’s not much of a threat. It’s just like the many crises we’ve faced here before,” Poirot snorted.

Just then, the sound of horses' hooves came from outside the church, clearly indicating that the second batch of materials had arrived.

"Alright, alright, once we've sorted everything out, we might have different opinions." Poirot pulled out a pipe, didn't light it, just put it in his mouth. "We're going to be working late... everyone, please be prepared."

"Veronica, Vanessa, let's brew some stimulant. We need to get everything sorted out by tomorrow."

=
The church was brightly lit at night, which surprised some people who were returning home from the fields late at night.

The pharmacist was alright; she was used to working long hours and staying up late. Even though she did less of this as an inquisitor, traveling was still a tough job, but she could handle it both physically and mentally. Mr. Poirot was clearly the same; although he didn't smoke, he seemed to get more and more energetic as he stayed up.

As for Veronica and Vanessa, needless to say, at their age, let alone being sleepy, they were both incredibly excited about having this legitimate opportunity to stay awake. The first one to give in was Father Thorne. After all, he was over forty years old, and his mental and physical strength were no longer at their peak. After prolonged mental exertion, he was already showing signs of fatigue.

The pharmacist and Poirot didn't force him and let him go back to rest. The remaining people gradually couldn't hold on any longer, and by the middle of the night, apart from four people, very few could still keep going. Such a large amount of reading had drained their energy.

“So it seems there are some in the southern region too.” Vanessa looked at the map, which was covered with dense nails, and stood in front of it with her hands on her hips, her face full of a sense of accomplishment. “However, the density is lower, and there aren’t many murders. Hmm… we shouldn’t underestimate the suspects because of this.”

“Alright… girl, let’s see what this is all about?” Poirot rubbed his temples and walked over to the map. “As far as I know, there are two spells that require this kind of setup.”

"The eighth-tier divine spells 'Embrace the Stars' and 'Rainbow Kiss'?" the pharmacist asked.

"What? There are other divine spells that also require this kind of setup?" Poirot was somewhat surprised. "I only know about Embrace the Stars and the 'Fault Age' that the Secret Vision Hub once discovered at a site of a divine war."

"That makes three." The pharmacist wasn't particularly surprised; there were plenty of spells in the world, and many with similar conditions.

The eighth rank is a watershed moment for spells. Spells before the seventh rank can be used by a single person, but at the eighth rank, it almost always requires multiple casters who simultaneously master the spell to use it.

The word "almost" means that there are very few cases in which a single person can activate this level of magic, but both the apothecary and Poirot are certain that no one on the Plague Apostles' side has this ability.

“It seems to be a conspiracy involving multiple people,” Poirot said. “The Age of Fault is an extremely dangerous spell. It can overlay an old silhouette onto the present-day Violet City, and it certainly has the power to destroy a city overnight. But its most important function is to extract valuable information from the reconstructed history. The spell configuration obtained by the Visionary is not complete, but this information is from three years ago. I don’t know if the reconstruction has been completed by now. But theoretically, this spell cannot be mastered by the Plague Apostles.”

“Then the other two are highly suspicious… Both of these are spells used by the Plague Apostles.” The apothecary explained to the two students, “Before the Empire was established, the largest trading city in the Northwest, Hunseng, was destroyed by ‘Embrace the Stars.’ Its function was to summon fragments of other gods, allowing the remains of gods who died in the war of gods to briefly appear in the world. The pollution caused by the rotting remains of gods was astonishing, and the Church paid a terrible price to purify the place.”

"Not... a plague?" Vanessa asked, having never read about it in any books.

"No, plagues aren't the only calamities in the world. Otherwise, the Church wouldn't have cardinals like the Vision Cardinal, the Warning Cardinal, and the Burial Cardinal," the Pharmacist said. "However, as a member of the Salvation Cardinal, your primary goal should be to learn how to deal with plagues. The Kiss of the Rainbow is such a divine spell. It's used in areas with multiple plague outbreaks. Its effect is to randomly disassemble and recombine all the plagues within its range to create a super plague. Among the plagues you know of, one was created by this spell."

Vanessa immediately recalled those well-known plagues and then asked, "Was it... that wiped out the Fragrant Gardens of the Holy Federation?"

“Yes…” the pharmacist looked at the map. “With so many plagues, it’s already the perfect breeding ground for ‘Rainbow Kiss,’ especially now that the plague apostles’ plague technology has made great progress. The plague king created here will definitely be more powerful than the original Fragrant Garden.”

She glanced at Poirot, who was rapidly sketching on the map, and said, "That's enough. Even if it's just a guess, such a threat is enough for the Secret Vision to activate the sealing spell cultivators. In short, let's rule out the activation conditions of these spells first, and then talk about what those plague apostles are planning to do."

After quickly drawing the design, he left the church that very night with his students. The pharmacist, after seeing him off, still frowned slightly.

This was just a gut feeling, and she didn't know if it came from her or from the person sleeping inside her. Her gut feeling told her that it was probably not as she guessed.