Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 99 Investigation
Sunlight streamed into the room through the bay windows. In the dappled light and shadow, Claire, wearing a light-colored shirt with her sleeves rolled up, sat behind her desk, buried in the files, searching for the information she needed.

"The Hall family is a hereditary earl family. The family's original title originated from the White Rose War. The family members are all devout believers of the goddess."

“A noble…”

Claire used her captain's authority to retrieve some of the files on the Hall family that she could see and spread them out on her desk, filling up most of it.

Just like the Night Watchmen were once unable to enter her dreams or communicate with her through spirits, in order to prevent them from prying into the secrets of the noble family.

Now Claire is also restricted by this rule and cannot directly enter Audrey's dream to exert any influence.

However, this obstacle was not a setback for Claire. From this part of the Hall family archives, Claire found secret records about Audrey Hall that were unknown to the outside world.

"Audrey Hall, daughter of the Earl of Eastchester, Sequence 9 'Spectator'. Record date: July 1349, 7."

Claire had originally planned to investigate the Hall family, using the excuse that Audrey was a wild Beyonder, as a way to establish contact with her. However, she hadn't anticipated that the Earl of Eastchester had already registered Audrey's Beyonder status.

Only Audrey herself thought she had concealed it well.

In the face of a massive clan, the power of an individual still seemed insignificant. Only a demigod, Sequence 4 or higher could possess the power to rival such a massive clan.

Claire held the printout of Audrey's registration form in her hand and said with heartfelt emotion, "Old foxes always do things so perfectly."

But there are two sides to every coin. The record prevents Claire from using "Audrey becoming a Beyonder" as an excuse to investigate and contact Audrey.

But this same filing information allowed Claire to confirm that Audrey was definitely Miss Justice.

The serial name, filing date, figure characteristics...all of these match.

"Even for an official Beyonder, it's not easy to contact Audrey under the protection of the Hall family." Claire closed the file in front of her with her fingertips, took the steaming coffee from the side, and sighed silently in her heart as she felt the faint heat.

"A 'natural acquaintance', and I also need 'Justice' to be willing to regard me as a 'trustworthy person'. Only then will the information I reveal have a chance for 'Justice' to share it with the Tarot Club."

Claire couldn't help but smile bitterly as she thought about this. It wasn't that it was difficult, but she felt like she was playing the role of a "gentleman" who was trying every possible way to get close to beautiful girls.

"It's a natural acquaintance..." Claire began to recall and ponder the recent situation revealed by "Justice" Audrey at the Tarot Club. "Investigating Qilingos's case is a good starting point."

According to the information exchanged at the Tarot Club, Miss Justice is tracking down Vice Admiral Hurricane Qilingos, one of the seven pirate generals. Based on what she said, she also revealed that she has friends or employers who assist her.

Even the Church of Evernight has not yet received any news of Qilingos's secret infiltration into Backlund, and the probability of other forces getting the news is even smaller.

Claire leaned back in her chair, thinking quietly. "This news is about the bounty offered by the Hanged Man at the Tarot Club, and Justice has already indicated it's following up... So, at this stage, the people investigating Qilingos's whereabouts in Backlund are most likely from Justice."

"In Backlund, the most well-informed are the gangs or intelligence dealers hiding in the shadows of the city. Since 'Justice' is Audrey, this 17-year-old noble girl, unable to manipulate powerful organizations to participate in the investigation, can only use money to obtain information from these people who only care about money..."

Thinking of this, Claire stretched lazily and stood up, taking her coat from the hanger. She continued thinking, "I want to get clues from these information dealers. Although I don't have money, whether it's 'dream entry' or 'spiritual communication', they are both very effective methods. What's more, many of them are recorded and tracked in the Night Watchers' intelligence..."

While checking the condition of his guns, ammunition, and seals, he walked out of the house, confirming the intelligence of the enemy he might encounter and making preparations for a possible battle.

"Hopefully, we won't encounter another oversized creature like the Evil God's Container... 'Vice Admiral Hurricane' Qilingos, a Sequence 6 Wind-Blessed One and owner of the mystical item 'Creeping Hunger,' which appears to have the 'Shepherd' trait..."

In Claire's mind, which possessed the 'Memory Library', these things happened in a flash.

Sunlight shone. With the help of official information channels and the passive ability of the holy artifact, Claire finally learned after two days and two nights of round-the-clock investigation that someone in the East District was inquiring about "Lieutenant General Hurricane."

"Darkholm, a gang leader who controls a large number of beggars and thieves, is one of the most well-informed people in the East District. His address is in the East District..."

After reading the note in her hand, she applied some powder and focused her mind. Claire sketched out the symbol of "fire" in her mind.

A small flame suddenly appeared out of nowhere and burned the note completely.

Other wizards are more accustomed to "reciting spells" instead of "concentrating their spirituality and outlining symbolic symbols", but Claire's extremely fast thinking ability allows her to outline symbolic symbols faster than "reciting spells".

"Witchcraft is truly all-powerful. In comparison, appraiser is a profession that requires both development and money... You need to both fill your Extraordinary Knowledge and find ways to collect magical items to unleash your combat effectiveness..."

Complaining inwardly, after looking at Darkholm's recent address, Claire rented a carriage and headed for the East District of Backlund.

When they were still some distance away from their destination, Claire checked out and got off the car.

The environment in this area was run-down and dirty, so Claire found an abandoned house nearby, concentrated her spiritual energy, and patted the nightmare doll at her waist, letting her will rise.

Claire wanted to use Nightmare's ability to pull people into dreams, and directly obtain information from Darkholm from a distance!
Her consciousness continued to move forward, but when she arrived at Darkholm's residence, Claire discovered that the dream world could not connect with Darkholm.

In this case, is Darkholm dead?

Claire regained consciousness instantly, raised her head, dug out some bottles and jars from the inner pocket of her coat, and began to arrange a spiritual ceremony.

As the spiritual spell was chanted, soon a weak and harmless spiritual creature called "white paper" floated out from the spiritual world.

The characteristic of this spiritual creature is that it can carry a special ability of extraordinary people that is not very powerful.

Claire chose to carry the "Eye of Prying Eyes" on the "white paper", using this method to share her vision with the "white paper".

This is a method of long-distance reconnaissance used by a small number of wizards proficient in psychic arts.

The "white paper" floated slowly towards the Darkholm family.

There was a townhouse located in a narrow alley.

The "white paper" floated across the messy green plants and penetrated the half-open door.

Through shared vision.

Claire saw a portion of heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys placed on the coffee table.

I saw one person's portion of flesh and blood cut into strips and hung on the coat rack.

I saw a head clustered among the pile of clean-shaven bones.

That is--

The head of the "information dealer" Darkholm.

(End of this chapter)