Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 212 Container
In response to the Hanged Man's question, the Tarot Club remained silent.

After all, the Hanged Man is the only Tarot Club member active at sea.

Audrey, who had just made a splash, hesitated and said:

"I've heard, but I've only heard... that in recent years, there have been many incidents of mass looting of indigenous tribes in the southern continent. I wonder if this has anything to do with the 'slave ships' you mentioned?"

This matter was occasionally mentioned in letters home by my second brother Alfred, who lived far away in the southern continent.

But it was the distant southern continent after all, and Alfred only mentioned it briefly, so Audrey had no idea of ​​the specific situation.

After receiving the response, The Hanged Man pondered for a moment, stealthily glancing at Mr. Fool in the upper seat. He made up his mind and decided to bind himself more deeply to the Tarot Club.
"I know these things in more detail. Miss Justice, what you're talking about has happened frequently in the southern continent over the past two or three years. Furthermore, slaves have also strangely escaped from various plantations and islands off the coast."

"Now, the Church of Storms has organized a fleet to secretly hunt down Vice Admiral Tracy's fleet, which is suspected of being involved in slave trafficking."

After saying this, The Hanged Man slowly exhaled. What he revealed was likely to allow the other members of the Tarot Club to guess his identity more accurately.

But thinking of the gradually recovering Mr. Fool, The Hanged Man believes this is a worthwhile investment. Though the Tarot Club, under the Fool's watchful eye, is still weak today, it is destined to become a powerful force in the mystical world!
Due to his humble origins in the Church of Storms, he couldn't get ahead even if he risked his life. The "Hanged Man" had experienced this kind of suffering enough times, so much that he was almost numb.

The method of pushing oneself to the brink of losing control in order to evade church missions was also forced out by repeated unrewarding lives of being a slave or even cannon fodder.

Perhaps, the Tarot Club is the place where I can realize my ambitions... The "Hanged Man"'s hands, placed under the long bronze table, were trembling slightly, even though he tried to suppress it.

He believed that he was standing at a crossroads of fate, and compared to the untouchable Storm Lord, he chose the resurrecting "Fool".

Just like the vicious incidents of surrendering to evil gods recorded in the church archives, The Hanged Man found with a wry smile that he could not resist such temptations, especially when The Fool showed enough kindness and the Tarot Club showed enough growth potential.

The news revealed by the Hanged Man especially made Mr. Fool, the Queen, and Judgment all fall into their own thoughts.

In the past two or three years, there have been large-scale disappearances in the southern continent...

At a time when the slave trade has been abolished in all the countries of the Northern Continent, there is no secular world that can absorb such a large population. These events clearly reveal an extraordinary background.

Is there another evil god carrying out large-scale blood sacrifice?
This was the most common thought among the Tarot Club members, and Claire, who was watching from the sidelines, was also thinking along the same lines.

After learning about the Capin case, she had originally thought that Backlund's slave traders were abducting women and children from Loen, or secretly trafficking a small number of people from the southern continent into slavery.

But for several years, tribes were collectively plundered... It was obvious that a large number of people in the southern continent were disappearing.

The Witch Cult's pirate fleet and the slave traders of the Kingdom of Loen were all involved, hinting that these trafficked people had arrived in Loen...

The Augustan royal family, deeply suspicious, wondered why they were trafficking so many people. Was it to raise military funds? But where could they possibly have sold such a large number of people in the northern continent, where slavery was prohibited?
Starting with Beth Lyonness, the story drags on with the implicated conservative elites, including the assassinated Duke Negan, Alicia hiding in the Church of Evernight, the murdered slave trader Capin, the personnel changes at MI7, and the gradually emerging Augustus family...

Clues flashed clearly in Claire's mind.

This is reflected in the memory library as books flying automatically and converging towards the bookshelf labeled "Ka Ping An".

Suddenly I saw the "Black Emperor" card that was covered by "The Fool" next to my hand.

An idea suddenly popped into Claire's mind.

"The 'Black Emperor' is going to build a mausoleum?"

A series of detailed information about the Black Emperor's apotheosis ritual, the conditions for his resurrection, and more filled in these clues, making Claire's idea increasingly clear.

Is the Augustus family building a mausoleum for the "Black Emperor"?
The evil god standing behind Augustus is the "Black Emperor"?
But why did the Goddess of Night remain silent about the appearance of the "Dark Emperor"?!
After this thought, more questions arose. However, the more questions she had, the more active Claire's mind became. The truth that was originally obscured by the fog and difficult to explore now gave her many new ideas.

Maybe it's more than just the Goddess of Night.

The Storm Lord is also very likely to remain silent.

The Church of the Storm's investigation into the Capin case is likely a similar exploratory move by individual church leaders, similar to Saint Anthony's. Otherwise, the Church of the Storm, with its numerous "captains" at sea, wouldn't have assembled only a handful of ships to pursue Tracy...

As for the Church of Steam and Mechanics, which remained silent, it was either colluding with the Augustus royal family or was completely unaware of this series of events...

There are a large number of "arbitrators" and "lawyers" in the military intelligence department of the Beyonder, and it is likely to have become a hidden organization that believes in the "Black Emperor"...

but……

If the "Black Emperor" really were to use the Augustus royal family and the Kingdom of Loen to revive, how could the three righteous gods, especially the Goddess of Night and the Lord of Storms, who were anchored by the people of Loen, tolerate this?

Claire thought about the history of the "Four Emperors' War," the increasingly tense relations between the nations, the escalating fighting on the border with the Feysac Empire, and Intis' increasingly ambiguous attitude...

Although all countries are still enjoying a peaceful and prosperous atmosphere, a warlike atmosphere has already spread to all countries.

Is the war of gods about to begin again?

And the recovering "Black Emperor" has joined the Loen Kingdom's camp?

Claire's hands and feet turned cold at the thought. If that were the case, then the Goddess of Night, her most trusted supporter, would undoubtedly be on the opposite side this time...

In order to keep the operation secret, they relied on innocent people who were trafficked to secretly build the Black Emperor's mausoleum... and even allowed these scum who got rich by participating in the slave trade to cause trouble in the country.

Even if they were trying to win over a deity, where would such methods and choices place the believers? They couldn't just treat the believers and humans as consumables...

Claire never considered herself to have high morals, but the practice of using so many innocent people as fuel was something she could never agree with or accept.

Not harming innocent people is her moral bottom line in recognizing the church and her commitment to combating cult members.

For the first time, she did not continue to listen to the Fool's gathering. She sprinkled the special powder made by the Church of Night and prayed to the Goddess of Night in the simplest and most urgent ritual.

Pray with a questioning mindset.

The surge of emotions made Claire disregard the consequences...

The familiar and intimate three-part honorific name of the Goddess of Night now sounded so cold when it was chanted.

Punish? Ignore? Or...

……

After a long moment, Claire, who was clutching her chest, opened her eyes with a complicated expression.

The goddess didn't ignore her, but she also didn't respond to any of her questions about it.

But in the form of an oracle, he clearly told her the truth—

"Heart of the Goddess" is a vessel belonging to the Goddess that can contain divine power!

However, until her container host reaches the demigod realm, the "Heart of the Goddess" can only be used as a disposable item...

In this fifth era when gods cannot descend from the astral realm at will, the goddess cultivated me in order to obtain a reusable vessel for divine descent?
Claire didn't think the goddess's attention and cultivation of her was solely for this purpose.

But this time, the God used the oracle to tell her, the host of the container, about the ritual...

Claire understood that the goddess...had once again placed the right of choice in her hands.

(End of this chapter)