The bishop is unfathomable.

Boca didn't go home all night; he sat in his office smoking silently.

He had to admit that Agnar's words had frightened him.

He was neither an upright and incorruptible person, nor a reckless and righteous individual.

These kinds of guys are all in the Crow Law Court.

To put it bluntly, someone like that is unlikely to be in his current position.

So he did hesitate, even though he couldn't be sure whether Agnar was telling the truth or not, but one thing was certain.

Without anyone's support or tacit approval, such a large number of cultists could not possibly enter the city, let alone complete the ritual array that covered the entire city.

This is something that the cultists could never have done; there must be someone else helping them behind the scenes.

But the question is... who is it? And why is it being done?

Unlike other factions, the Sons of the Sands are a secret cult composed of the remaining core members of the Death Worship Cult. They are truly pure-blooded madmen who unconditionally send anyone, including themselves, to their deaths.

The kind that harms others without benefiting oneself.

The ritual array was confirmed by Varg to be a pure divine descent ritual array.

Summoning a god requires a large amount of spiritual energy, and the selection range of offerings is the entire area within the ritual circle.

If there is enough energy, the summoning will succeed, but all the sacrifices will die.

If there aren't enough, then all the offerings die, and nothing happens.

Whether the ceremony succeeds or not is another matter, but the person chosen is definitely going to die.

The person who can provide assistance must hold a high position of power in Beldor, at least higher than him, the head of the inspectorate.

At the very least, he should be at the level of a member of parliament.

The Council of Twelve of Beltorius was the core of supreme power in this autonomous dominion.

However, this identity is not recognized by the outside world.

At least the position of a member of parliament is nothing outside the autonomous territory.

Territorial nobles and military nobles were the true elites of the Lerepon Empire.

Killing all the people in Berduro's territory would be self-destructive, wouldn't it?

This is all based on the premise that the person behind the scenes can survive the ritual. What if he doesn't survive?

Or was the high-ranking person who helped them kept completely in the dark and had no idea what these cultists were planning to do?

That's not impossible. After all, there aren't many decent ritual masters in the Beldor region.

It wouldn't be surprising if they were truly deceived.

Boca finished another cigarette, stubbed it out in the ashtray, and prepared to investigate some matters.

For example, entry records.

After all, letting people into the city couldn't have been done without the help of the supervisory bureau.

Even if the records were deleted, he could still find the person who handled them and get an explanation. The bodies of those children of the sandstorm were still very well preserved yesterday.

It's entirely possible to compare facial features one by one to find out when they entered the city and what forged documents they used.

After that... he couldn't do anything about Agna, that stubborn guy who wasn't afraid of boiling water, so how could he not do anything about you, a mere inspector?

With that in mind, he left the office where he had spent the night, intending to go to the immigration department to get some answers.

But as soon as he stepped outside, he saw two Royal Military Police officers coming up the stairs.

Seeing this, the white-bearded old man Karl smiled and bowed, then took three steps at a time to walk up to Boca: "Director Boca, I know what you're worried about."

"I have some thoughts I'd like to discuss with you."

"Regarding the Speaker."

"Also, on my way here, I heard that an inspector has died. His name is Warren. His Excellency Black is already on the scene handling the situation, and Deputy Director Reed has also arrived."

"I'm telling you this for one reason only—Warren Inspector General is a member of the immigration department."

"I think you know what I'm talking about."

"Although the Royal Gendarmerie lacks legitimate law enforcement authority, the unlimited supervisory power granted to us by Her Majesty the Queen remains valid, and therefore, we have already gathered some clues."

"However, the subsequent execution will need to be completed by you."

……

……

"As expected, he's not here."

After searching through the entire catalog of Section 7, Li Wei's initial idea was confirmed.

Not only was the book Vera saw, "Applications of Ritual Studies: Investigation and Location," not on the bookshelf, but nearly 40% of the banned books added to the library in the past seven years only existed in records and had no physical copies.

Moreover, the timing is quite clear: seven years earlier, in October 1871, a vacancy arose for the administrator, which was also the time when the Bureau of Control and the church began to accept the work of recalling banned books.

For the next year, the number of banned books sent out matched the records. This was the result of Li Wei's verification of the records of all banned books entering the warehouse over the past seven years, as recorded in the banned book catalog.

After all, only 109 banned books had been sent in over the past seven years. Although it took some effort to check them, it wasn't too difficult, because these books were divided into sections 7 to 12 according to the plan, and the distance between them was not too far.

Moreover, Li Wei from District 12 had already taken stock of the books once, eliminating more than a dozen of them.

Interestingly, Livy's Book of Poems of the Soul was added to the library seven years earlier, in 1871.

After that, defects began to appear, and the situation became more and more serious over the years.

It's clear that when the librarian position is vacant, the librarian, Barris, shows little interest in the restricted book section and doesn't even bother to take inventory.

Perhaps it was this realization that led the group to decide to resell banned books.

Anyway, the records will be kept as usual, and the books will be provided as usual.

If you didn't check it when you received it, and then can't find it, that's your own responsibility.

According to procedure, there is indeed no problem with this. Accepting the items without checking and verifying them is indeed a problem on the part of the library.

It's no wonder that Barris didn't seem to care about the consequences; he just told Li Wei to be careful not to make any mistakes in the recycling process after becoming an administrator.

Unfortunately, since the book has most likely been resold, it's unlikely to be recovered.

Looks like I'll have to find a new book on rituals.

Li Wei sighed, left the forbidden book area, and went to find Vera, who was waiting for him at the entrance of the third-floor forbidden book area.

"The hypothesis has been verified. In the seven years before I joined the company, there were loopholes in the prohibited book cataloging process. The book you found may very well have never actually entered the library."

"So, we need to keep searching."

Upon hearing this, Vera quickly shook her head, her expression complex and conflicted: "No need to trouble Mr. Levi."

Actually, something big just happened.

"Mr. Warren, who was in charge of recalling banned books within the Bureau of Inspectorate... he's dead."

"Furthermore, several banned books that should have been confiscated were found in his home."

"...The ritual book I just found is in his house."

"Mr. Blake asked me to inform you to come and take a look at the site when you have time."

"Director Barris just came by and said you're getting a day off, so don't worry about the restricted book section."

After saying that, Vera quickly asked, "Oh, right, because of the book borrowing issue, I mentioned yesterday that I didn't know about the book borrowing rules."

"He asked me to tell you that the librarian can also borrow banned books, but you have to apply to him and go through the proper procedures."

Upon hearing this, Li Wei felt that the situation had become more complicated.

But he still smiled at Vera: "Thank you for your help, Miss Vera. Without you, I would have had to ask Mr. Barris separately."

"Let's go now. The situation with Inspector General Blake is probably complicated."

……

……

In front of an apartment building, residents who had been evacuated from the building and relocated to both sides of the street were gathered outside the cordon, engaging in lively conversation with the inspectors coming and going.

The control over extraordinary knowledge made everyone understand how serious this incident was.

It's so serious that even the authorities can't silence it.

Reporters who had come after hearing the news had already retreated after gathering intelligence.

Perhaps we'll see a similar report in tonight's evening paper.

Blake sat on the steps at the entrance of the apartment, smoking a cigarette with a melancholy expression.

Blake's distress wasn't about the case being leaked.

While reselling banned books is a serious offense, even punishable by death within the Empire, Warren's actions also involved official misconduct.

But none of that matters. The crucial point is that Warren is dead!

Moreover, based on the time of death, he died on the very night that he had instructed him to organize the banned books and documents in preparation for the handover of the work.

Furthermore, Warren's death was very suspicious; he had no external injuries, but his heart was ruptured.

Crushed.

It doesn't seem like something that could be caused by an illness or injury.

It's more like... a curse.

This essentially rules out the possibility that Warren committed suicide out of guilt.

It seems more like a cover-up orchestrated by a larger interest group to cut off all leads.

Furthermore, the banned books that were found seemed to have been deliberately placed here.

They probably wanted to make it seem like everything was Warren's personal action, rather than that there was a team involved.

But we'll have to wait for my good older brother Wag to come over to find out the specifics.

He knows the afterimage re-creation ritual, so he should be able to replay some things.

Thinking of this, Blake couldn't help but laugh.

Who would have thought that behind such a deeply connected case, there were actually two esoteric practitioners in charge of solving it?

At that moment, Levi and Vera, who had arrived in a carriage, stepped down from the carriage and walked towards Blake.

"Mr. Blake, judging from your expression, the situation on the ground must be quite bad?" Levi greeted him first, then looked at Blake, who had a distressed expression.

Blake gave a wry smile and pointed behind him: "Indeed. But that's not something you need to worry about."

"I called you here so that you could witness and then retrieve these banned books."

"I'll get people to help you move the books; I've even prepared a special carriage."

"Given the current sensitive situation, it would be better if you, the administrator of the banned books, were present during the handover of the banned books."

"If we send it directly to you, those tabloids will just use it as an excuse to make a fuss."

After saying that, Blake stood up, dusted off the dust from his backside, and said, "Take all the books back with you."

"Including that ceremonial book that Director Boca might use, we will go through the proper procedures to borrow it from the library later."

Li Wei nodded in understanding, then said, "No problem."

"But I heard you were supposed to give me some other documents, weren't you?"

"That's right, Vera will help you tidy these up when we get back. Now..."

As Blake was speaking, the previously noisy crowd behind him suddenly fell silent, followed by an even more heated discussion.

Because a very important person was present.

A thin, elderly man wearing a black top hat, a brown suit, a well-maintained mustache, and a monocle stepped down from a luxurious four-wheeled carriage.

"Inspector General Blake, let's suspend the investigation for now."

"Since the problem originated within the Supervisory Bureau, it shouldn't be left to the Supervisory Bureau to handle, right?"

"The City Council's Inspectorate will intervene in the investigation. Please immediately hand over all materials and evidence related to the case to me, and have all inspectors withdraw from the scene of the crime immediately."

Blake's face darkened, but he still said, "As you wish, Congressman Coase."