Chapter 498: Sin (Asking for monthly votes for the last half day)

Regarding Fors's proposal, Lumian said indifferently:

"That works too. Later, if any of you want to use this armor, I'll 'teleport' over to give it to you.

"What do you call this? This is Charles Express, delivered instantly!"

After cracking a joke, he walked to the "Arrogant Armor" standing beside the coffee table and stuffed its silver-white glove into the opening of the "Traveler's Bag."

Accompanied by this action, the tall full-body armor shrank entirely into the small dark black cloth bag.

—As long as one part of an item could enter the "Traveler's Bag," no matter how big it was, as long as it didn't exceed the capacity, it could pass through the opening. Normal living flesh and blood couldn't be put into the "Traveler's Bag."

Based on these two points, when Lumian received this Beyonder item and its "instruction manual," his first reaction was that it could be used to hide corpses.

"Truly magical..." Jenna looked at this scene with some envy.

She had already participated in quite a few occult gatherings and had never seen such an item. The closest thing to this was actually that painting world.

Lumian hid the "Traveler's Bag" inside his clothes, looked around with a smile, and said to Anthony and Jenna:

"After this incident, you should be able to see that Fors and I have a hidden organization behind us, not the 'Iron and Blood Cross Order,' nor the Witch Sect. How about it, are you interested in joining? If not, you need to sign a confidentiality agreement or make a binding promise of secrecy."

Jenna had heard Lumian and Fors mention that hidden organization before and knew that they truly believed in that Mr. "Fool." She knew that they used Tarot cards as codenames. At this moment, having received a response from Mr. "Fool," she had no hesitation:

"I want to become one of you."

Anthony Reid was silent for a few seconds, then tentatively asked:

"The organization you follow pursues a certain hidden existence?"

"It's a True God." Lumian had an expression of "I understand your concerns." "If you don't believe me, I can take you to visit the church."

Anthony observed his eyes and expression, confirming he wasn't lying.

This "Psychiatrist" smiled bitterly:

"Then I have no problem. My previous encounters and this incident made me understand a truth: I am still too weak and have no way to stop such disasters from happening. Even if it appears right beside me, I can only watch helplessly as myself and those around me fall into the abyss."

And wanting to strengthen oneself, joining a hidden organization was a good choice, especially since the hidden organization followed a True God.

As a believer of the "God of Steam and Machinery," Anthony carefully recalled it just now and discovered that the church's scriptures contained no content hostile to any True God, unlike the "Eternal Blazing Sun" church, which always taught believers to hate those related to the "Lord of Storms" and the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom."

In other words, faith wouldn't hinder Anthony from joining such a hidden organization.

Without waiting for Lumian and Fors to respond, Anthony laughed at himself:

"I originally thought about returning to the west bank of the Sonia Sea to live a rural life, but now I'm very worried that there's no way to truly escape disaster, just like the people in the Market District. Who wants to suffer mutation again and again, hovering on the edge of life and death? However, their will and their wishes play no role.

"From my personal experience, disasters are becoming more and more frequent."

Lumian mocked this companion:

"You became long-winded after your psychological illness was cured."

He then said:

"Wait until you determine which Major Arcana card you belong to and are assigned tasks before discussing subsequent matters."

Jenna pursed her lips, her expression somewhat dim:

"I actually quite like living in the Market District..."

It seems I need to move away from here now.

Lumian laughed:

"This is actually protection for the Market District. 'Hunters' and 'Witches' always bring disaster."

Always bring disaster, even if they do nothing? Jenna's eyes narrowed, and she fell into deep thought.

"Get lost! Clearly, only you are like this!" Fors scolded, both angry and amused.

In these past few months, most of the disasters in the Market District happened around Charles. What does it have to do with me and Jenna?

Doesn't that prove "007" is right?

After finishing other matters, Lumian and Fors walked out of 3 White Coat Street in the morning sunlight. One's destination was the headquarters of "Psychic" magazine on Shell Street in the Boulevard District, and the other was going to Chayer Town.

Lumian didn't take the public carriage as usual, choosing a four-wheeled two-seater rental carriage.

Outside the carriage window, street vendors were selling sour wine, meat pies, freshwater fish, onion bread, chili sauce, bean paste, and other items. Passersby were either stopping to buy or hurrying past, some dressed as small clerks, some wearing worker uniforms of different colors.

After last night's riot and the doomsday-like heavy rain, here was another scene of bustle and noise.

For Lumian, this was no different from the Market District in the past, except that he had become a wanted criminal again, under the identity of Charles Dubois, a member of the "Iron and Blood Cross Order" and a leader of the Savages.

The Breeze Dance Hall and other industries were undoubtedly taken over by the Police Department, and the power of the "Iron and Blood Cross Order" in the Market District had been nearly uprooted.

Lumian felt quite regretful about this, because it meant he had lost a stable source of money.

Of course, after taking in Ludwig last night and informing "Magician" about the data, he took advantage of the chaos not yet fully subsiding to return to the Breeze Dance Hall once, taking away the 30,000 verl d'or in the safe. Now he had a total of 75,000 verl d'or and gold worth 1,000.

Looking at the people coming and going, listening to the vendors' shouting, Lumian's thoughts gradually drifted away.

After "reporting" last night's events to Mr. K and obtaining the consent of this "Aurora Order" envoy, he would leave Trier and head to the Feynapot Kingdom to track down his enemies.

And before officially setting off, he had three things to do:

First, find Lugano Toscano, who was unemployed again, and ask if he was willing to follow him to Santa Port in the Gaya Province of the Feynapot Kingdom—this Beyonder who had become a Sequence 8 "Physician" often went to the Feynapot Kingdom to adventure and could speak fluent Highland language, while Lumian only knew Intis and ancient Feynapot, so going to the destination rashly would lead to the predicament of relying entirely on body language to communicate;

Second, wait for Jenna and Anthony's Major Arcana card to arrange their tasks and see if they could act together and help each other;

Third, utilize the data on Spirit World creatures related to messengers provided by "Magician" when giving the "Reaper" potion formula, and try to have a messenger. In this way, it would be more convenient to contact Fors and the others later. In addition, he also had to hold a ritual to increase one or two contract abilities.

…………

Boulevard District, 19 Shell Street, the bottom of that luxurious beige house.

Lumian saw Mr. K again in the basement.

This envoy, whose face was covered by the shadow of his hood, sat on a red-backed chair, his gaze deep as he looked at Lumian.

"I entered the Trier of the Fourth Epoch last night." Lumian went straight to the point, striving to attract Mr. K's attention to this matter.

Mr. K's hooded head seemed to nod:

"I know. Tell me the whole process."

You know? Lumian was startled in his heart, and at the same time, from catching Bouvard Pompei in his revenge process, he told everything until he and Fors and the others defeated the Gardner in the mirror and used that special mirror world to escape the Fourth Epoch Trier.

In the whole thing, he only told his own encounters, not mentioning the experiences of Jenna and the others and the guesses he made based on this. For example, he didn't mention the lucky coin and Jenna praying to Mr. "Fool," only saying he inexplicably entered the painting world.

Similarly, he didn't tell many details.

Mr. K listened attentively, not interrupting Lumian's statement.

It wasn't until Lumian proposed that the Market District branch of the "Iron and Blood Cross Order" had been cleared, his identity had been exposed, he couldn't hide anymore, and he wanted to leave Trier for a while to go to Feynapot to track down his enemies, that Mr. K stood up and said in a hoarse voice:

"No problem.

"You can request my help at any time."

After finishing, without waiting for Lumian to respond, this "Aurora Order" envoy turned his body and suddenly knelt down, prostrating on the ground.

Mr. K's face was pressed tightly against the floor tiles, and he muttered to himself, not knowing what he was doing.

Lumian waited quietly, not interrupting Mr. K, only feeling the shadows around him becoming deep, as if one eye after another was looking at him from within, making his hair stand on end and his spine feel cold.

However, he wasn't nervous. He felt it was very normal for people of the "Aurora Order" to suddenly go crazy and do some strange things.

After an unknown amount of time, in the indescribable solidification, Mr. K coughed violently, and even a little blood seemed to splash on the ground.

He then raised his head and said in a deep, hoarse voice containing madness:

"Merciful Father, please forgive me for the sins I have committed."

After saying it three times in a row, Mr. K pressed his face to the ground again and made a sound of suspected chewing and swallowing.

After doing all this, he stood up and tapped his chest four times in the order of up, down, left, and right.

"What happened? Why do you need to repent?" Lumian then asked curiously.

Mr. K said in a hoarse voice:

"Last night's disaster, our 'Aurora Order' failed to react in time and didn't cooperate with you to destroy that ritual. This is my dereliction of duty."

"This is not your responsibility." Lumian responded with a twitch of his mouth.

This was mainly because the actions taken by the "Tarot Club" caused the "Hostel" plan to be brought forward. It was already not bad that the "Aurora Order" could quickly figure out what happened. There was no need to repent for this and take the blame on himself.

Mr. K shook his head:

"No matter the reason, not doing it well is a sin."

Do you guys have to be so responsible... You are just a hidden organization, not fanatical "Eternal Blazing Sun" believers... Lumian muttered silently.

Seeming to perceive his thoughts, Mr. K opened his arms and said with abnormal fanaticism:

"Because we 'Aurora Order' are born to bear all sins."

I think you guys are too extreme... Lumian managed to control his expression with great difficulty.

ps: Last half day of the month, asking for monthly votes. There will be an early update at 0:05~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 499 =====