Chapter 559

So fast? Lu Mian didn't expect that in just one day, the "Knight of Swords'" investigation would have a harvest.

He followed his intuition, turned his body, and cast his gaze toward the full-length mirror.

That "Knight of Swords" with messy brown hair and a pale face had appeared there at some point.

"Just clues?" Lu Mian savored the other party's words just now and extracted the key points.

The "Knight of Swords" swept a glance at Lu Mian with that extremely suppressed and restrained gaze and said:

"The second day they arrived in Santa Harbor, they went to the Balansat Ship Rental Company, asking how many gold Risos it would take to rent a boat to go fishing at sea. Afterward, they never appeared again."

Hearing the "Knight of Swords'" answer, a thought flashed through Lu Mian's mind subconsciously:

Quite romantic, indeed. As expected of a combination of one and two-fifths Intis people and half a Feynapot person, they actually chose to go fishing at sea as a way to date!

If Norfi didn't have the identity of a "Sea Maiden's" child, and this wasn't Santa Harbor, pursuing romance might be closer to their true purpose for renting a boat. Unfortunately, reality had no ifs. Lu Mian sighed and seriously thought about the real reason Norfi and Bartner did this.

—Santa Harbor had many fishermen, but not everyone had their own fishing boat. These lower-class fishermen either accepted employment, helped on the boat, and obtained income composed of relatively fixed money and a portion of seafood, or partnered with others to buy or rent a fishing boat capable of going to sea. The Balansat Ship Rental Company mainly made money from this aspect. As for the income brought by the middle class and tourists sightseeing and sea fishing, it wasn't much. Santa Harbor wasn't a city famous for tourism.

When Lu Mian entered a state of thinking, the "Knight of Swords" continued:

"The act of inquiring about the price was led by the woman named Norfi, but the man named Bartner was very cooperative throughout and didn't show any resistance."

Bartner wouldn't really think that fishing at sea was a date, right? For Intis people, this was indeed something worth looking forward to, so how could he resist? Renting a boat to go to sea... What exactly did Norfi want to do? Intercept that specially made ship carrying the candidate "Sea Viceroy" halfway during the Sea-Praying Ceremony, or load a boat with gunpowder and crash into it directly, ending the lives of the "Sea Viceroy" and the "Sea Maidens"? Or, follow quietly and replace them at a critical moment? Lu Mian's thoughts surged, having all kinds of guesses.

Suddenly, he remembered one thing.

In the intelligence about the Sea-Praying Ceremony he had collected from different channels, all mentioned one piece of information:

The sea sacrifice segment, which was the last and most core part of the Sea-Praying Ceremony, was held in a special sea area outside the harbor. Those who hadn't followed it didn't know the details of the sea sacrifice, nor did they know where that sea area was located.

Thinking of this, Lu Mian's mind flashed with inspiration, and he made a new speculation:

"Norfi's mother was a 'Sea Maiden' who fled Santa Harbor. She must have been to that special sea area and might have told her daughter the corresponding information."

"Was Norfi's purpose in renting a boat to go to that special sea area?"

"What is there?"

"The core sea sacrifice segment of the Sea-Praying Ceremony is held there, does that mean that somewhere in that sea area hides something, some existence, or some kind of power, and the essence of the Sea-Praying Ceremony is to borrow specialness from it?"

"Does Norfi want to take away that thing, make it her own, and become a permanent 'Sea Viceroy,' or completely destroy it, ending the long history of Santa Harbor selecting 'Sea Viceroys' and 'Sea Maidens' and holding the Sea-Praying Ceremony?"

"If it could be taken away relatively easily and controlled in one's own hands, the Fishery Guild commissioners would have done it long ago. In most cases, human nature is selfish; it's impossible to leave good things to a child of a 'Sea Maiden,' unless that 'Sea Maiden' had other encounters after leaving Santa Harbor, knew how to approach, how to obtain, and how to avoid danger..."

"Compared to occupying, destroying might be simpler..."

As his thoughts turned, Lu Mian raised his head slightly.

"Could the purpose of the core members of 'April Fool's' in playing such a prank also be to steal that thing or all its specialness?"

"Did they succeed?"

This was a very critical question.

The "Knight of Swords" looked at Lu Mian quietly without interrupting his thinking, like a corpse standing there.

After a while, Lu Mian asked with curiosity:

"How did you manage to find the traces of Norfi and Bartner's whereabouts in just one day?"

The "Knight of Swords" replied in a low voice:

"Obtained information from the spirit world, then conducted on-site screening."

"After they left the Balansat Ship Rental Company, all relevant information was hidden or erased and could no longer be found."

"Isn't this the principle of some divination... Norfi and Bartner didn't do anti-divination before going to the ship rental company, but did it after leaving?"

"This doesn't make sense. Either don't do it, or do it throughout. Unless both are rookies who only remembered to do anti-divination after asking the price of renting a boat..."

"Hmm, a more reasonable explanation is that ship rental also belongs to the fishery and maritime trade-related industries and has a deep relationship with those commissioners of the Fishery Guild. The act of two outsiders inquiring about the price of renting a boat attracted attention, their identities were exposed, and then they were passively 'disappeared'..."

"Did the note telling me that Norfi is a child of a 'Sea Maiden' come from the owner or a shareholder of the Balansat Ship Rental Company?" Lu Mian's train of thought gradually became clear.

He looked at the "Knight of Swords," hesitating about how to ask the other party to continue the investigation.

At this time, the "Knight of Swords" took the initiative to say:

"I will conduct further investigation from the ship rental company side."

"Thank you." Lu Mian thanked him sincerely.

He then saw the "Knight of Swords'" figure rapidly become transparent and disappear.

Became a soul-type creature? "Wraith"? Lu Mian saw more details this time.

This made him suspect whether the "Knight of Swords" came from the "Temperance Faction" of the "Fool" Church and was going to the Southern Continent afterward to deal with the "Rose School's" "Indulgence Faction."

He didn't think much, took off his clothes, changed into a cotton shirt that had been washed until it was white, and lay on the bed.

…………

Late at night in Trier, Franca, wearing a thick woolen top and trousers that fit her leg curves quite well, walked in the intermittent light of street lamps, stepping in her boots.

Although she didn't wear makeup and deliberately used darkness and shadows to cover her appearance, there were still many drunks who came to chat or ask for prices just by seeing her back or side, behaving like the small flying insects hovering under the gas street lamps on summer nights.

Slap!

Franca's ponytail swayed slightly, and she kicked away a certain drunk who was pestering her.

That drunk screamed and vomited all over the ground.

Franca curled her lips in disgust and muttered to herself silently:

"'Pleasure' is really troublesome. It's fine during the day, just some guys who feel good about themselves come to hook up. Going out at night means there is malice everywhere. Even those who save the beauty are for the sake of subsequent chatting..."

"However, those bastards all came with imagined happiness and expectations, but only harvested a beating and corresponding pain. Hmm, this can also be considered a simple version of pleasure bringing pain?"

It was precisely because she wanted to experience this matter and see if she could find an opportunity to digest the potion that Franca didn't dive into the shadows and walk forward without letting anyone see her.

After walking for another while, Franca entered the shadows and arrived in the empty room where she had met "007" before.

That companion said he had found the situation of the ancient tomb chamber next to the "Crazy Mushroom Cave" on the fourth floor of the catacombs through the Church's materials and municipal archives, but it wasn't convenient to talk about it in the telegram group. After all, no matter how good the relationship was, one had to guard against it, so he put the organized materials at this contact point for Franca to take herself.

Franca searched slightly and found two thin sheets of paper folded up.

She unfolded them directly and browsed through them rapidly—as an "Assassin," even the darkest environment couldn't stop her from seeing words:

"The ancient tomb chamber where you found the 'Mirror World Fragment' belongs to a great noble family of the Tudor Empire in the Fourth Era."

"Their surname is Tamara."

"I haven't found relevant information about which members of the Tamara family that tomb chamber specifically belongs to for the time being, but I discovered a strange thing:"

"Not only are there multiple Tamara family tomb chambers on the fourth floor of the catacombs, but there are also some on the third floor, such as the 'Thorn and Shield Wall Tomb Chamber,' the 'Justiciar Tomb Chamber,' etc. Why don't they put them together..."

Seeing this, Franca's gaze suddenly froze.

Wasn't the "Thorn and Shield Wall Tomb Chamber" the tomb chamber where Jenna completed the mission with the tear bottle?

The mission they used as an excuse involved the Tamara family, and the tomb chamber where they harvested the "Mirror World Fragment" also belonged to the Tamara family!

Wouldn't this be too coincidental?

Could it be a manifestation of occult laws?

After calming her emotions, Franca read the content behind:

"Regarding the Tamara family, my rank still can't touch more detailed intelligence. Think of other ways yourself."

Hmm... Franca nodded lightly, having already decided to report the whole matter to "Justice," hoping to obtain certain information and hints from the "Tarot Club."

…………

Early morning, Santa Harbor, Aquinas Street.

Inside a house diagonally opposite the Solo Hotel, Lu Mian, who had already changed his appearance, stood at the window of a certain room, holding the new identification document given by Valerio, looking out at the suite where he, Lu Jianuo, and Ludwig lived and the street below.

Now, he wanted to play the role of an ordinary bounty hunter who had accepted a secret commission and was monitoring the great adventurer Louis Berry.

With his radical performance in the past few days, all well-informed people in Santa Harbor should know that there was such a great adventurer who wanted to investigate the Sea-Praying Ceremony. This likely included core members of "April Fool's" such as "Bard"!

(End of chapter)