13 Mink Street

Hearing the captain’s lip-reading translation, Karon asked in astonishment, “Is the Church of Pamireth a church made up entirely of traitors?”

The Pontiff was the true helmsman of the Church of Pamireth. Of course, within the Herald’s Domain, the Church of Pamireth likely also had figures similar to the Temple Elders within the Temple of Order, but in terms of church affairs, the Pontiff possessed absolute legal authority at the very top.

The last time Rasma and three Elders from the Temple of Order were at Mink Street to face Tiz, it had still been Rasma standing at the very front, with the three Temple Elders standing behind him.

The Chief Executor of the Church of Pamireth was equivalent to the director of the Pontiff’s office. Since she essentially represented the Pontiff’s will, in terms of real influence, she should have been the number one figure beneath the Pontiff. Her status was even higher than that of the Divine Progeny, because the Divine Progeny belonged to the next generation of leadership, while she was part of the current governing circle. Besides, before the Divine Progeny became Pontiff, anything could happen.

So a figure of such high standing in the Church of Pamireth stepped out from the blue gate and saluted the Knight Regiment of the Church of Order, she, too, had gone over?

“The Divine Progeny is a traitor, the Chief Executor is a traitor, this Pontiff is really pitiful...” At that point, Karon stopped. What if the Pontiff himself is one too?

The guess felt absurd, but Karon had watched others speculate about his identity and immediately rule out the one correct answer to his face so many times that he could no longer be certain. Was it possible?

At that moment, the Third Knight Regiment gathered outside the opening began entering the platform above the sea in batches and stepping through the blue gate of light. As they advanced, they looked like a black torrent, radiating terrifying pressure.

“Let’s go,” Nio called to Karon and turned to head down. Karon followed the man.

Just before they got back to the car, the captain asked, “You driving, or me?”

“You.” With a road like that, and after seeing it only once, Karon truly did not dare take the wheel lightly. More importantly, he had seen the captain activate the ritual array within the car before it had successfully passed through the ward.

Karon knew he learned Arts quickly, but if he made even one mistake, he might end up wrecking the car and killing both himself and the captain. He still preferred learning Arts while eating plain noodles.

Nio drove, retracing their route.

“What do you think is going on?” Nio asked.

“Setting aside the extreme possibility that the entire upper hierarchy of the Church of Pamireth is made up of traitors, there’s only one explanation left: our church and the Church of Pamireth must have already reached a secret cooperation agreement.

“The crimes listed against the Church of Pamireth in Order Weekly, as well as the wave of criticism against the Church of Pamireth stirred up by our own church, should all have been smoke bombs, everything meant to create the illusion of extreme hostility.

“The Third Knight Regiment has already been mobilized, so it’s very likely that regiments in other places have been mobilized as well. With such a large-scale deployment and such a realistic, high-cost smoke screen, the true target of our church must be at least one of the major churches.”

“Be bolder. Think bigger.”

“The target is an orthodox church?”

“Definitely. No other church besides an orthodox one is worth this grade of smoke screen.”

“But there are things in this that I cannot make sense of, limited by my experience, knowledge, and what I’ve seen.”

“Say them.”

“First of all, what exactly is the position of that Divine Progeny?”

“In this matter, his position has no real effect. Remember the drugs in the food and drink? I think that entire ordeal was more a matter of a father who had not seen his son for too long simply wanting to get a little closer to him.”

“...” Karon.

“I’m not joking. I really think that’s possible.”

“So that Divine Progeny is the most pitiful one of all; like a fish sealed inside a glass container and thrown into the sea, always believing itself free and important.”

“Pitiful?” Nio glanced at Karon. “I told you I wouldn’t actively investigate your secrets, but if you take the initiative to expose things in front of me, that doesn’t count as me breaking my word. From that sentence alone, I can tell your identity absolutely cannot be simple. What normal person would pity someone for this? His status, his position, his family background, all of it is there, enough to make countless people envious.

“At present, all that has happened is that his father played a joke on him, or perhaps gave him a small tempering, hoping he would mature faster. Once tonight passes, he may turn from a prisoner of war back into the noble Divine Progeny of a whole church.

“You pity him? Do you possess what he possesses? Do you possess the freedom he does not?”

“Heh. So, is your grandfather the Archbishop of the Veyn regional district?”

Karon very much wanted to return the captain’s earlier sentence to him: Be bolder. Think bigger.

But Karon held back, smiled, and said, “I simply trust you, Captain.”

“No need to trust me. I will disappoint that trust.”

“But our squad’s creed is, no evasion, no surrender, no betrayal?”

“When I’m the captain, of course that’s how it is. But what if one day I am no longer the captain?”

“That sounds a little frightening, Captain.”

“Only a little? Then it seems you’ve already seen something truly frightening, haven’t you?”

“Yes. The scene just now, when the Third Knight Regiment came out of that cave, was truly shocking.”

“All right, all right. Looks like from now on, I need to be a little nicer not just to that Richard, but also to you. Do you know, I brought Richard into the squad for a purpose.”

“A purpose?”

“Yes. Before he went home, I told him to help me ask a question, though I don’t know if he’ll be able to get an answer.”

“You knew something like this would happen before you recruited him?”

“No. I only sensed a bit of the wind. You know how it is, the ears of hunting hounds always have to be sharp, especially since I’m the leader of the hunting hounds. If my ears weren’t good, I couldn’t lead the team.

“So don’t trust me. My purposes are never simple.”

“If someone were useless, you wouldn’t recruit them into the squad in the first place. By your own logic, your purposes toward every member of the squad are impure.”

“That answer is very fitting. I like it. For a moment there, it even makes me feel clean again.”

Buzz! At that moment, the car drove out of the barrier and continued back toward York City. Without this car, getting into that place would have been genuinely difficult.

“Captain, I still have another question. Our church’s declaration of war on the Church of Pamireth couldn’t have been just to create a smoke screen and catch the orthodox church being attacked off guard, right?”

“In theory, that’s the purpose, but from the standpoint of practical execution, it’s different. First of all, the Church of Pamireth excels at forging spatial instruments. Like that old refrigerator you received, what is its greatest use? Certainly not storage, but transportation.

“You can think of the Herald’s Domain of the Church of Pamireth as a giant refrigerator.”

“The Herald’s Domain serves as a transfer station?”

“Not just a transfer station, but a springboard. The Herald’s Domain was opened up by the god Pamireth. Because of its special nature, spatial transfers carried out there are more effective and faster. Transferring one person can be done quickly, but transferring an entire Knight Regiment or several Knight Regiments is bound to be very slow. Inside the Herald’s Domain, that process can be accelerated.

“Also, because of the destruction of the Seventh Knight Regiment, our church was enraged. Mobilizing several more regiments to display the strength of our church is also a very normal reaction.

“Secondly, the Church of Pamireth is under attack, and intense fluctuations of spatial ritual arrays are coming from within the Herald’s Domain. That too is very normal. Do you know, every time a large-scale teleportation ritual array is activated, the disturbance and impact it creates is no less than an oversized divine descent ritual summoning a heretical god, in fact, it’s even greater than that. Because I have never heard, nor seen in any records, of any heretical god being summoned together with an entire army. A commotion on that scale is very difficult to conceal completely, and in truth cannot be concealed at all. Other churches are bound to sense it, especially the orthodox churches. They do not lack people specialized in monitoring, nor genuine powerhouses, nor even divine artifacts capable of early warning.

“Under normal circumstances, you could never successfully launch a surprise attack against them. But under these circumstances, a surprise attack can have a real effect. So yes, this is indeed a smoke screen, but the effect of that smoke is greater than you can imagine.”

“This really is... an ambitious plan.”

“Perhaps you’ve seen some of the rot within our Church, but never underestimate the wisdom of those at the top. To replace the Church of Light and rise as one of the pillars of this era, strength is a given, but it is the mind that must surpass it.”

“This trick can only be used once, can’t it?”

“Yes, it can only be used once. A strategic surprise attack using a medium-sized church as a smokescreen can only be done once. Most importantly, you won’t find a second church with the characteristics of the Church of Pamireth, and there is no second Herald’s Domain to provide this convenience.

“I think that if it were not for the prophecy that the gods will awaken, followed by the violent shock attack against the Temple of Order, which pushed our Church into an extremely disadvantageous storm of rumors and threatened the foundations of our hegemony, I believe those people above would never have been willing to use this move.”

“...” Karon. So all of this is still part of the chain reaction triggered by Grandpa’s explosion? No wonder the Church of Order was still so wary even after Grandpa went to sleep. After all, he can still sit up in bed and blow things up one more time.

No, if Karon counted the one that Tiz had voluntarily turned over to the Temple of Order, then he could cause two more explosions.

Nio rolled his neck, producing a few crisp cracking sounds.

“But after this, Order’s hegemony will be stabilized again, unless...” Nio paused.

“Unless the gods really awaken.”

“Captain, do you want the gods to awaken?”

“Whether the gods awaken or not is not something we can predict, nor something we can interfere with. Many people want the gods to awaken because they hope the gods will lead them forward, but in this epoch, when the gods don’t appear, and our church in the name of Order has forbidden the churches from excessively interfering in the secular world, the world today has shown something that does not appear in records from other epochs.

“Sometimes I wonder, if this world had no gods, if gods had never appeared at all, would that have been better?”

“Captain, are you no longer hiding things in front of me?”

“Heh heh... that’s because I trust you, and I know you won’t disappoint the trust I place in you.”

“That’s unfair.”

“It is fair. Come on, I’m buying you a drink.” Only then did Karon realize that the luxury car had already driven up in front of a hotel.

“Put on your mask and get out.” Karon summoned his silver mask and followed Nio out of the car, but the man did not head for the hotel’s main entrance. Instead, he walked to a corner passage, where a group of gang-like men stood glaring menacingly.

Nio ignored them, passed right by them, and straight into the wall ahead and disappeared.

Mm... Karon also stepped forward and walked into the wall, then discovered that he had entered an extremely spacious bar. It was lively and crowded.

“What? You’ve never been to the black market?” Nio asked.

“My first time.”

“Then there must be someone trustworthy around you.”

“Yes.”

“This is the bar, that over there is the dance floor. This whole level is for entertainment and indulgence. The floor below is the real black market area, much like a shopping arcade, but the rules here have to be followed: no violence, no abuse of power, and yes, you can also do commissioned transactions.

“In short, the black market runs by rules similar to those of a gang. Its purpose is to serve every guest well and provide the best possible trading environment so it can skim its own cut.

“There’s a church bank on the upper floor where credits can be exchanged, and some financial operations can be done there too.”

“Financial operations?”

“Futures, generally in Arts materials. Besides that, you can even speculate on credits.”

“Speculate on credits?”

“Yes. Just like the currencies of secular nations, you can target them.”

“You can do that too...”

“The value of credits is much more reliable than rels. There’s a saying, how does it go...? ‘Money is only not omnipotent when it stands beside credits.’”

“That really is... not what I expected at all.”

“You’ll get used to it.” Nio brought Karon to the bar counter. “What would you like to drink?”

“Captain, order for me.”

“No need to be so restrained.” Nio said to the server, “Two glasses of Delna Blood Wine, one strong, one light.”

He took out a one-hundred Order credit note and handed it over. Karon noticed that the server did not give change. So the monthly stipend of a Divine Servant is only enough for two glasses? No wonder Dinkom and Pike only drink soda.

The two glasses of blood wine were served. One was a deep color, which Nio took. The other was much lighter, which Karon picked up.

He took a sip. There was none of the bloody stench he had imagined, nor the sharpness of liquor. On the contrary, it was fresh and mellow. After one sip, he immediately felt his head grow a little light, the kind of perfect gentle intoxication that didn’t make one uncomfortable, but rather made them enjoy it.

“Tasty?” Nio asked.

“Yes, very.”

“Then remember its name. Next time you come to a place like this with your captain, order this for your captain.”

“Oh. All right.”

“Want me to take you for a look around? Down to the black market below?”

Karon shook his head. “There isn’t really anything I need to buy right now.”

At home, the ones responsible for preparing the shopping lists were the cat and the dog. The one responsible for actually buying anything from the black market was Alfred.

Other than feeling some temptation over ingredients bought with credits, Karon had no need to worry about the traditional materials. All he had to do was earn credits and then leave them with Alfred for safekeeping.

“Then let’s sit in the bank upstairs. I usually like to order a drink here and then go sit upstairs. It’s quieter up there.”

“All right, Captain,” Karon agreed to the suggestion. At the same time, he also felt that going upstairs had likely been the captain’s real intention all along.

“Oh, almost forgot; there are some other services here as well. For example, there’s a pastry shop where church priests often provide services, men and women both, though the transaction is done in credits. If you’re not interested in humans, there are also some strange species here, like demon beasts.”

“I’m not interested.”

“Mm, all right. I heard Fannie and Paige complain that even when they stripped naked and lay down in front of you, you still weren’t tempted.”

“They even told you about that?”

“No, I just guessed. Still, looks like I guessed right. Next time I see them, I’ll make sure to mock them properly. Let’s see if they still dare stay so confident in their figures.”

“...” Karon.

Karon followed the captain to the second floor. There were guards posted at every key point, and many guests wore cloaks that obscured their faces. Karon and the captain were wearing masks.

The bank upstairs was large and quite full of people, but it was very quiet. Nio chose a chair in a corner and sat down. Karon took a public bank magazine from the rack and sat beside the captain. On the large screen ahead, the latest financial information kept appearing. The atmosphere was very similar to a securities exchange in the secular world. If Uncle Mason knew a place like this existed, would he regret not taking over the funeral home?

Karon opened the magazine. In the credits section, the Spacegem credits issued by the Church of Pamireth were prominently marked with the note “recent heavy fluctuation.”

When touched, the area reacted like Order Weekly, producing a hidden image that slid out. It was a fluctuation curve.

For a very long period before recent days, the exchange ratio between Spacegem credits and Order credits had remained very stable. Recently, it had fallen for the first time, which should have coincided with when Order Weekly had started to publish criticism of the Church of Pamireth.

After a long period of steady decline, there had been a slight rebound in the last few days, corresponding to the arrival of the Church of Pamireth’s Divine Progeny at the Church of Order for negotiations.

Although the rebound was not large, and it was nearly half of the initial value of the Spacegems, it had at least stopped the downward trend. From that alone, one could see that the ecclesiastical financial circles were not optimistic about the Church of Pamireth’s prospects after merging into the Church of Order. Those prospects were far worse than when it had remained independent.

“Aren’t you curious why the various churches agree to the existence of black markets like this, and black market banks as well?” Nio asked Karon while holding his glass.

Karon thought for a moment and answered, “I think the orthodox churches are quite happy to see this. The more people there are who use their credits, and the wider the areas where those credits circulate, the greater the profit they earn.

“Except for the orthodox churches, most of the other churches below them are actually being exploited by this model, but they don’t dare crack down on black market banks like this. First, because the orthodox churches allow them to exist from behind the scenes. Their fists are too hard, and the smaller churches can’t possibly contend with them.

“Second, the harm caused by withdrawing would be even greater. Unless they are capable of complete self-sufficiency, their own development would be restricted. But the problem is that if a church develops to the point of complete self-sufficiency... then its strength would probably already qualify it for entry into the orthodox church sequence, and it would instead begin liking this model.

“As for a church like the Church of Pamireth, which excels at forging spatial instruments, it can obtain comparatively large profits under this model. But churches without any particular specialty can only play the game by collecting and selling raw materials.

“The existence of black market banks like this is, in essence, a system where the orthodox churches make the lower churches work for them.”

Nio looked at Karon with some curiosity. “Studied economics?”

Karon shook his head. “History.”

Nio nodded.

At that moment, a wave of commotion rose from the crowd ahead. “Look, it’s crashing! It’s crashing!”

“Why is it dropping so much? Aren’t they in negotiations? That shouldn’t be happening.”

Karon looked up at the screen and saw that Spacegem credits had begun crashing, and very quickly. “The mole has leaked the news. It looks like it’s going to fall to a truly outrageous level.”

Tomorrow was the date when the Senate of Order was supposed to formally issue the divine decree to the whole ecclesiastical world, but clearly the news had already leaked early, and the market was reacting, beginning a massive short on Spacegem credits.

Because no one doubted the ability of Order could destroy the Church of Pamireth, especially not once war had been formally declared, and once the Church of Pamireth was destroyed, Spacegem credits would instantly become waste paper.

“Yes.” Nio was also watching the large screen.

“Captain, we can buy Spacegem credits now,” Karon suggested. “Once the war actually begins and it becomes clear that the Church of Pamireth isn’t the real attack target, Spacegem credits will definitely rebound.”

“Go over to that counter and get an anonymous card. That will let you trade.”

“Uh... I didn’t bring any credits with me.”

Nio took out two cards from his pocket and handed one to Karon, saying, “There are twenty thousand Order credits on it. Remember to return the principal to me tomorrow.”

Karon reached out and took the card, then asked in confusion, “Captain, aren’t you buying any yourself?”

Nio shook the remaining card in his hand and said, “This card contains all the savings I’ve accumulated over the years. I’m waiting for news.”

Karon seemed to understand something and asked, “Captain, are you waiting to hear which orthodox church our Church is really targeting this time?”

Nio picked up the Delna Blood Wine, took a sip, and licked the corner of his lips. “Yes. I’m going to short it.”

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