Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 136: Membership Mission
In the morning, the sky is bright.

Hugh Dilcha woke up from a light sleep, and the slightly dark circles under her eyes attracted the surprise of her roommates.

"Xiu, what were you doing last night?" Fors, with her curly brown hair, had a look of deep doubt in her light blue eyes, as if she had gone somewhere to steal a cow.

Xio, with her delicate and youthful features, looked expressionless. She felt sleepy yet heavy-hearted, unable to fall asleep. She complained to Fors, "I went to St. Samuel's Church. I'm telling you..."

Xio told her most trusted companion, Fors, everything from her experience with the old paper to her visit to St. Samuel's Church without hiding anything.

Whether it's financial sponsor Audrey or captain Galadilla, in Hugh Dilcha's mind, neither can compare to this partner who has shared life and death with him.

"Xiu. You're doing the right thing. Although I don't believe in the Goddess of Night, seeking help from an official Beyonder in situations like this is always more reliable than guessing blindly on your own." Fors agreed with Xiu's approach, and while reassuring Xiu, she smiled and said,
"If I weren't afraid of being arrested by the authorities due to my identity as a wild Beyonder, I would also want to seek help from the authorities to resolve my increasingly severe Full Moon Talking."

Fors didn't dwell on this topic for long, instead jokingly saying, "Come to think of it...unconsciously, your current identity has become more diverse...Are you considered an official now?"

Xio was stunned for a moment, then silently took out the paper contract from the bed board, then took out the identity badge from his arms, and said, "According to the contract the captain gave me, my official identity is Nighthawk, but I am currently lurking in the underworld as a member of the Red Gloves."

Xio sighed and said, "If Forth wishes to seek assistance from the Nighthawks, I can make a request to Captain Galadria."

Fors flipped through Xio's contract and shook her head. "I'm completely fine at the moment... and I only believe in the God of Steam and Machinery."

Fors changed the subject and sighed, "As expected of an official organization, they have everything from contracts to identification badges. When you finish your undercover work, won't you be able to live in Saint Samuel Church? I suddenly have this complicated feeling that my roommate has made it big..."

Fors looked at the double seals of "Backlund Nighthawks of the Kingdom of Loen" and "Backlund Police Department Special Operations Department of the Kingdom of Loen" on the contract and suddenly said:
"By the way, Hugh, I heard from the writers' circles that the three major churches have supported many nobles in the Kingdom of Loen, to the point that the nobles now possess power that even the king finds difficult to control. For example, the Hall family and the Meazza family, who believe in the Goddess of Night, are giants in the Conservative Party and the New Party respectively... Of course, the most powerful is still the Nigan family, which is supported by the Church of Storms."

"If you want to take back your family's former glory and everything they have, gaining the support of a certain church will definitely greatly increase your chances of success!"

After hearing Fors' words, Xio fell into deep thought for a moment, his eyes slightly brightening: "You make a lot of sense, Fors!"

The sleeplessness that had plagued Quinn was replaced by a surge of excitement. "...Now that I can connect with Miss Audrey, the daughter of the Hall family, and I've become a Nighthawk... I might be able to rely on the church to uncover the truth about my father's past and restore the glory of my family!"

……

After breakfast, he slowly and steadily worked on investigating the cases at hand, including the "serial murder case," "the woman with the same name as Tessa," "the Beth Lyonness imprisonment case," and "the small town residents who were transferred from Omlight to Backlund to get high-paying jobs."

In other words, she possessed both the abundant energy of an "insomniac" and the memory of an "universalist," which allowed Claire to arbitrarily advance these matters simultaneously.

Every incident had its own tiny clues, but a deeper investigation required more energy, time, and even a bit of luck. Claire understood that panic was futile, so she set aside her impatience during the investigation and began to investigate, piece by piece, from the smallest details.

During the investigation, Claire suddenly sensed a disturbance in the gray fog world. It was Audrey praying to the Fool through a prayer ritual.

Audrey's prayers were carried through the gray fog, and Claire heard them clearly:

"Mr. Fool, I have revealed your honorable name to the Beyonder lady I met through a very subtle guidance. I wonder if she meets the requirements to become a member of the Tarot Club?"

"I was originally more inclined towards the captain-level Red Glove, but she was so busy with her work that she missed my arrangement this time. However, I will try again when I have another chance. I think her joining us will be beneficial to our Tarot Club."

Miss Justice really has some ideas about me... Claire chuckled and shook her head. She had no plans to rejoin the Tarot Club for the time being because she was unsure whether joining the Tarot Club again would expose the secret fact that "Galadia is Claire Meazza."

If her identity is exposed, her actions will be restricted and may cause a lot of trouble.

When it was three o'clock in the afternoon, Claire, who had already prepared, had returned to her residence on Pacefield Street.

Claire peered through the thick gray fog and saw the Fool sitting at the head of the table.

The Fool waved his hand, summoning a series of distorted and hazy figures.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool. Good afternoon, everyone." Audrey's clear voice echoed in the palace.

Audrey quickly glanced at all the Tarot Club members and lowered her head in disappointment. Did Xio and Fors fail to touch the paper I left between the books? Or did they touch it but it didn't meet Mr. Fool's standards?

Audrey was filled with doubts, but she didn't dare to ask the Fool about such matters.

Let's wait and see... maybe I'll have to move up the schedule to contact Galadilla, Audrey thought.

Then came the customary reading time by Mr. Fool.

As promised, The Hanged Man presented the new Russell diary to The Fool.

The new diary is about "The Knower" and "The Secret Peeper"!
As a fellow "universalist" path, Russell's diary inevitably discusses some of his own thoughts, and these are of great value to extraordinary people like Claire who are on the "wild" universalist path.

"September 10th. I've been patient for a long time, but I still can't help but complain a few words."

"I was fucking mad to choose the 'Educator' path, wasn't I?"

Is it a complaint...I always feel like I'm being scolded too?

Claire actually thought that the "Generalist" was quite good. Whether it was the formation of the memory library or the daily passive effects, it helped her a lot.

Of course, Claire knew that she could use the abilities of other paths to make up for the shortcomings of the "universalist" path, so she didn't complain like Senior Russell did.

Although it is a complaint diary, people will unconsciously reveal a lot of valuable information when complaining, because when they are emotional, they will more easily break through their rational restraint.

From this diary, Claire saw that the modern name for Sequence 6 of the "Generalist" pathway was "Mechanical Expert," while in ancient times it was called "Craftsman."

In other words, both roles help digest the potion, and in this era, "mechanical expert" is easier to digest than "craftsman".

Claire also got the name of Sequence 5 from it!
"...Finally, I got some good news. After I advance again, I'll gain my own combat-oriented Beyonder ability, Sequence 5, 'Astrologer'!" "Its modern name scares me a little. It's called 'Astronomer'..."

This modern name actually made Mr. Russell describe it as "scared". Does the word "astronomer" have any dangerous connotations?

Claire didn't understand the meaning of it, but after being exposed to more and more knowledge of the occult, she also discovered that people had a deep understanding and application of the "real world" and the "spiritual world", but the exploration of the "astral world" was almost blank, with no information left.

If the word "starry sky" wasn't in the goddess's name, even Claire would have doubted whether this was a world where the starry sky didn't exist.
In addition, the diary also mentioned the "Secret Peeper" pathway sequence:

"Comparatively, the Sequence 7 'Wizard' and Sequence 6 'Scroll Professor' of the 'Secret Peeper' pathway are both quite tempting. If the Church had the complete sequence, and if the Hidden Sage didn't exist, that would be fine."

As expected, it was the Hidden Sage who controlled the path of "Secret Peer," so the Beyonders on the "Secret Peer" path were tortured by the Hidden Sage's whispers...

This sentence in Russell's diary further deepened Claire's suspicions—the gods were the end point of the potion system!
After the Fool finished reading the diary, the Tarot Club members entered the stage of trading and communication.

Tessa first thanked Audrey.

Audrey asked, "Ms. Queen, have you recovered the body of the Priestess?"

Tessa didn't respond directly. "You deserve the reward you receive, Miss Justice. Also, I continue to offer a high reward for the method of clearing the evil god's contamination!"

All the Tarot Club members regarded Tessa's attitude as a tacit consent to the recovery of the "Priestess's" body.

Otherwise, why would the "Queen" be so eager to obtain a method to remove the pollution of the evil god?
After the Queen offered a reward but still received no response from the others, Audrey, who had obtained the "Psychologist" Extraordinary Characteristics from the Queen, kindly chimed in:

"Thanks to the 'Queen' deal, I no longer have to worry about the materials for subsequent promotions."

Audrey's words indeed gave the other members a rough estimate of the generous remuneration of the "Queen".

The Sun also spoke at this time:

"From here, I only found out about the method of separating the mental pollution of those who have lost control of their Beyonder characteristics, but I didn't find any method to remove the pollution of the evil god..."

"Besides, even if we want to separate the mental pollution of those who have lost control of their Beyonder characteristics, we still need to at least patrol..."

The Sun paused, consciously avoiding revealing anything he considered common sense, before continuing, "That is, those who are Sequence 7 or even Sequence 6 or higher."

However, it had only been a short time since "The Sun" became a Beyonder, something all Tarot Club members knew.

The "Queen" fell silent.

Audrey spoke again, "Does anyone have a more convenient way to store Beyonder characteristics?"

Audrey's question caused the meticulous "Hanged Man" to glance at the silent "Queen"...

The "Hanged Man" probably guessed what Audrey got from the "Queen"... and therefore became even more wary of the "Queen".

The Hanged Man said, "The storage method of Beyonder characteristics cannot be simplified. Even among the major Orthodox Churches, it is not an easy task."

However, the Beyonder's ability to activate objects it touches caused Audrey considerable trouble.

Becoming an Extraordinary Person herself and raising a "spectator" dog have made it difficult for Audrey to cover up her self-perceived success in the family.

Therefore, Audrey couldn't bear the trouble of having another animated storage container.

However, Audrey believed that frequently changing containers would also increase the risk of exposing her Beyonder identity.

But it is even more impossible to ask Audrey to give up the extraordinary characteristics of "psychiatrist".

After no one offered a better suggestion, Audrey mustered the courage to bother the Fool and said, "Dear Mr. Fool, I beg you to solve my problem. I am willing to wait for you in exchange for the diary or gold pounds."

The Fool, now even poorer due to various reasons, thought deeply after hearing the gold pound and said, "Miss Justice, you can deposit this Beyonder characteristic with me through sacrifice. When you need it, pray to me and I will grant it to you."

Even Audrey hadn't expected Mr. Fool to offer a "deposit" service. She delightedly praised Mr. Fool, "Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Fool! After the party, I will offer you a sacrifice!"

The Fool asked Audrey to provide some financial support, saying that one of his followers needed funds for activities recently.

"It seems like the Fool is truly short of money... Is it a regular pattern for organizers of secret gatherings to be short of money?" Claire thought of Mr. A, who was also short of money and was trying every possible way to make money, and she complained in her heart.

But when she thought of Miss Audrey, the organizer of the small secret gathering... this thought disappeared in less than a second.

As the conversation drew to a close, the Fool suddenly said to Audrey, "The two candidates you proposed are still under review..."

"I'll give you a simple task. You can entrust it to them in your name. This is part of the assessment. You can also entrust this assessment task to the third candidate you are currently contacting."

The Fool's initiation mission?

Claire, who was listening in, looked at the portrait that materialized before the Fool. It was a young man wearing round-framed glasses.

Claire's pupils couldn't help but shrink slightly: "Laneverus..."

The fraudster who created the vessel of the evil god Megose in Tingen.

“Find out about the person in the painting. He’s in Backlund,” The Fool said calmly.

(End of this chapter)