I reign supreme in the Western fantasy world for eternity.

The sails of the Haique had just caught the wind when the sky suddenly darkened.

The distant clouds surged and piled up at a speed visible to the naked eye, their leaden-gray base pressing down extremely low, as if the entire sky were slowly sinking.

A bolt of silvery lightning struck from the clouds, illuminating the sea in a stark white light, followed by a muffled clap of thunder.

"This rain came really fast."

Captain Evelyn tightened the rudder line and shouted to the sailors on the mast, "Lower the sails to half-mast! Lower the fore-sail too, lest the wind capsize the mast!"

The sailors responded immediately, the ropes slid rapidly between the pulleys, and the sails were quickly gathered.

The Haique bobbed a few times in the waves before regaining its stability.

Lilith was crouching in the sheltered spot at the stern of the boat, pulling the fishing line into the wooden box, when she suddenly looked up and gazed in the direction of Lily of the Valley.

"Master! Over there... there seems to be a snake on the mountainside! A really big and thick snake!"

Ji Tian looked in the direction she was pointing.

On the mountainside of Lily of the Valley, during the intervals between lightning strikes, several thick, winding serpentine outlines appear on the mountain's surface, their bodies grayish-black, almost blending into the color of the mountain.

They appeared and disappeared amidst the flashes of lightning, their postures stiff, showing no sign of wriggling.

It is remains.

Ji Tian's gaze fell on those silhouettes, and he finally understood what the phrase "animal friends who breathe smoke and smoke" in the letter referred to.

The sea creature that can swallow clouds and spit out mist, resembling a giant snake, isn't that the mirage in the "mirage"?

That makes sense.

Ji Tian had thought those creatures had already left, but now he realized that the remains of those giant snakes lying across the mountainside might have been their final resting place.

In other words, the "animal friends" mentioned by the first hero no longer exist.

He looked back.

"Let's go, the downpour is coming."

The Sea Sparrow resumed its journey along the same route it had taken towards Lion Tooth City.

The island of Lily of the Valley behind me gradually blurred in the rain. The island appeared and disappeared in the lightning, and finally only a dark gray outline remained, stretching between the vast sea and sky.

……

Lion Tooth City, Police Station Hall.

Bishop Villar, the church's resident bishop on the island, sat at one end of a long table, with more than a dozen parchment files spread out in front of him.

Sitting opposite me was a middle-aged man, around fifty years old, wearing a dark gray short jacket and worn leather gloves. He had a thin face, high cheekbones, and light brown eyes that appeared remarkably calm in the dim light.

His name is Kalchenko, a legendary investigator for the church, who has been sent to Lion's Tooth City by the Holy City for almost two months.

His mission was clear: to find out which workshop produced those new cannons and who was supplying them to the pirates.

In the past two months, he changed his identity three times, from a dockworker to a tavern regular and then to a ship repair shop apprentice, getting a general idea of ​​Liontooth City's underground network.

He had long since identified several key figures, including the middleman, the cannon-casting workshop's handyman, and the ship owner in charge of transportation, but he had never been able to connect to the line that truly led to the source.

Until yesterday, he received intelligence intercepted by the Knights Templar during their patrol in the southern seas:

A small cargo ship flying a merchant flag departed from Liontooth City and deviated from its planned course. After being boarded and inspected by a patrol team, unregistered cannon parts were found in the hold.

The ship's owner has been taken back to Liontooth City and imprisoned in the underground cell of the police station.

"Did he confess?" Karchenko asked.

Bishop Villar pushed a transcript of his statement over.

"He hid a letter on the ship that he didn't have time to destroy. The address was a warehouse in the eastern district of Lion Fang City. Our people have been monitoring that warehouse, and the people inside are exactly as you found out."

Karchenko folded the statement and put it in his pocket: "We'll do it tonight. If we drag this out any longer, they'll move on to another location."

……

The rain gradually subsided in the latter half of the night, turning into a continuous drizzle.

The streets of Lion Tooth City's eastern district were almost deserted in the rain, and the shops along the way had closed their doors early.

Karchenko stood in the shadows at the street corner, behind him were twelve elite warriors from the Knights Templar.

They wore standard gray-black light armor, their faces covered with half-length rain masks, and the swords at their waists gleamed from the rain.

The iron gate of the East Warehouse was suddenly smashed open, and several knights broke in through the side window. Then, a holy light spell suddenly exploded inside the warehouse, illuminating everything in the darkness with a pure white light.

There are three people in the warehouse.

One person was trying to destroy the ledger; another was fleeing into a hidden door in the corner; and a middle-aged man sat calmly on a wooden box, holding a half-finished glass of wine in his hand.

The battle did not last long.

Those who attempted to destroy the ledgers were apprehended on the spot, while the one who tried to escape lost the will to resist under the influence of the church's specially crafted holy light spell.

The middle-aged man sitting on the wooden box had his shoulders held down by two knights, and the wine glass in his hand fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

He was then strapped to a specially made stone chair, his hands and feet chained directly into the cast iron frame of the chair, with a sealing rune attached to the lock to suppress the flow of magic.

Karchenko walked in from the doorway and knelt down in front of the middle-aged man:

"Terrence, who calls himself Anvil, is the biggest arms dealer in Lionfang City's underground market. He's been quite a handful of me!"

Terence looked up, his face still bearing that composed, slightly mocking smile: "You're the investigator?"

"I'm the one who investigated you."

Terrence shook his head as if he had long anticipated this day would come:

"So what if you capture me? Those cannons have already been deployed to the entire sea area."

Karchenko stood opposite him, looking down at him, holding a recorder's tablet.

"Who ordered you to do this?"

"Nobody told me to do this, this is my business."

Who is funding the iron foundry?

"Myself."

"Where did your goods come from? Where did your money come from? Where did your cover come from? Could it be that you did it yourself?"

"..."

Seeing that the other party remained silent, Karchenko signaled to the knights to take the other two away first.

Only he and Terrence remained in the warehouse. Karchenko continued, "..."

"This is your last chance. Who's behind you?"

Do you think I would say that?

Seeing that the other party refused to listen to reason and was forced to drink a penalty cup, Karchenko twisted his wrist, then opened his specially made trench coat, revealing various small torture instruments inside.

"Won't talk? No problem, I have plenty of ways to make you talk. Why don't you guess why I'm one of only two legendary investigators in the entire church? Don't worry, this is just an appetizer. The real torture instruments are in my storage ring."

After a powerful memory restoration technique, Kalchenko finally learned the final answer.

He went out with a grim face, instructing the Templar Knights who were guarding the gate to take Terence to the prison for treatment, while he himself went straight to the police station where the archbishop was located.

The lobby of the police station.

Bishop Villar was engrossed in reviewing a report on supplies for the southern ports when he heard hurried footsteps approaching. He looked up and saw that Karchenko's clothes were still dripping wet.

The bishop put down his pen. "You don't look well. Did the prisoner confess?"

Karchenko walked to the table and stood still:

"Your Excellency, let's leave this case here."

What does that mean?

Villar frowned slightly; he knew Karchenko and was familiar with the legendary investigator's temperament and style.

"You chased Terrence for two months before finally catching him. What did he say?"

"He revealed the name of the mastermind behind it all."

"What's your name?"

"Sherdorf von Wilhelm".

Bishop Villar's expression changed slightly. "You mean, that William?"

"Yes, the former prime minister of the kingdom, the one who returned to the Southern Territory after stepping down, the King of the Southern Territory."