Chapter 178: Grandfather's Mask

Chapter 178: Grandfather's Mask

Karen followed Neo to a hillside.

From this vantage point, a small squad could be seen climbing the slope, their backs bent as they maintained a steady pace in a combat formation.

Neo remarked dryly, "A very ordinary flock of ducks."

If they were an elite squad, they would have driven much closer instead of strictly enforcing tactical discipline so early on, groping their way forward at a snail's pace; caution implied a lack of confidence.

Neo looked at Karen and asked, "Do you find my words a bit absolute?"

"No, not at all, Captain. I trust your experience."

"Everyone knows caution is virtue, but more often than not, you can only govern yourself this way. Once your squad possesses formidable strength, it becomes difficult to compel your men to maintain such tedious prudence.

Should you lead your own squad in the future, you must bear this in mind; they will elevate you, but concurrently, you will be constrained by them.

Yet, a solution exists: if you can prove yourself even more extreme than they are, they will inevitably restrain themselves. Take them, for instance—they constantly urge me to be cautious and careful."

"I understand, Captain."

"Good. Furthermore, there are times when even as the central actor, it remains difficult to truly see things clearly, for you cannot behold your own face."

Did he mean that onlookers see most of the game?

But why did the Captain suddenly append that phrase about being unable to see one's own face?

Neo extended his hands, and a flash of Order's light burst forth, causing the squad below to instantly raise their heads.

"Danger lies ahead, please halt your advance for now."

"Captain Neo?"

The leader of the opposite squad called out.

"Oh, you recognize me?"

"You once saved my life."

"Is that so? Do not take it to heart, for I have no memory of you."

Far from being offended, the man inquired with a remarkably calm demeanor, "Captain Neo, might you tell me what has transpired ahead?"

"A minor nuisance, but well under control. Two squads have already been annihilated. Rest where you are and wait, for I have no desire to share our merits with you."

"Understood, Captain Neo."

The entire squad then settled down to rest.

"Excellent, a very obedient flock of ducks." Neo turned his gaze to Karen. "You need not toss copper coins before them anymore."

"Understood, Captain."

Preparing to commit this kind of black-eating-black... no, white-eating-white act for the first time,

Karen still felt a tremor of nervousness in his heart, along with a slight, albeit manageable, weight of moral constraint.

The squad rested on the hillside for a full twenty minutes until movements were heard from other directions as well.

"Very well, we may return. I expect whatever needed cleaning up has been dealt with."

"Understood, Captain."

Neo stood up and shouted to the squad below, "Come over and assist in gathering the corpses."

"Captain Neo, my name is Gendi."

"And?"

"I know you have been transferred to York City. I am truly delighted."

"Splendid, pray maintain your delight."

"The Gendi Squad is willing to cooperate with any of your actions, Captain Neo, should you ever find yourself in need of extra hands."

"Very well, I shall endeavor to remember the name of your squad."

Neo reached out, gripping Karen’s shoulder before dissolving into a black mist; simultaneously, Karen felt himself enveloped by the dark fog, his entire body floating upward.

Before long, the black mist dissipated, and Karen found himself standing on solid ground with Ophelia seated ahead of him.

The others remained on the periphery.

Wende walked over to Neo's side and nodded, signifying that the spoils of war had been plundered and secured.

"Report on the casualties," Neo commanded.

Gerry spoke up, "Captain, sixteen personnel actually participated in this engagement."

This calculation included both Ophelia and Panmiel.

"Fourteen from our squad; four are severely wounded but out of mortal danger, while four sustained light injuries and can continue the mission despite their wounds."

"Thank you for your hard work, Captain Neo." Ophelia rose and bowed to him.

"Yes, My Lady."

"My Lady... No... My Lady!"

Ophelia reached out and directly pushed Xinla away. The people of the Order of Order were watching right here; she could not act as if nothing had happened, nor could she allow Xinla to continue serving her, otherwise it would bring shame upon Dark Moon Island.

Captain Neo waited until the matter was settled,

and then spoke:

"Now, the mission continues, escort Lady Ophelia safely back to the hotel."

...

By the time they returned to the Ankara Hotel, the sky was already faintly brightening.

After entering the hotel, Neo's squad was effectively temporarily disbanded.

The lightly wounded took the other injured to the church hospital for treatment, while Neo himself needed to go to the relevant department of the Order to report and explain the situation.

As for that Lax copper coin, Karen had kept it wrapped in his clothes the entire time, and upon entering the hotel lobby, under Captain Neo's watchful eye, Karen handed it over to a group of priests dressed in white divine robes.

After confirming the item, this group of priests sealed it in a containment box, remaining completely silent from beginning to end, and left immediately upon finishing.

Neo explained briefly to Karen: they were from the Sealing and Restrictions Management Bureau.

A department specifically responsible for the sealing and safekeeping of dangerous artifacts, it was divided into squads and tiers; the highest-level management squad controlled a separate sealed space, and anything that could enter it was at least of the divine artifact tier.

Some artifacts, after being treated, repaired, or subjected to a certain degree of sealing, could be brought out for circulation within the church; of course, some things were destined to be sealed forever, because once leaked, they could easily cause disasters.

Before Neo left to report the incident, he added an extra remark to Karen:

"Legend has it that within the sealed space, there is a ferocious beast sealed by the God of Order himself back then. Its eyes sweep across the sealed space every minute, watching over everything inside."

...

Ophelia and Panmir returned to their own room, while Karen entered the opposite suite with Paget and Fanny.

The room had already been cleaned and was very tidy, even carrying the scent of having been treated with a "Purification Spell."

The official meeting that required Lady Ophelia's personal attendance was tomorrow morning, which meant Karen and the others could rest completely today.

"Which of you is bathing first?"

"I'll sit for a while," Fanny said.

"I'll smoke a few cigarettes," Paget waved her hand.

Karen walked into the bathroom and began to bathe. After finishing, he came out draped in a hotel bathrobe and sat down on the clean bed.

After last night's experience, Karen was no longer awkward about anything.

Precisely because of this, Fanny and Paget had also lost the fun of teasing this newcomer, and everyone got along much more naturally instead; seeing Karen come out wearing only a bathrobe, the two women did not come over to flirt again.

"By the way, remember earlier when you dropped me, Karen was originally going to catch me, but you threw me aside again."

Fanny began to settle "old scores."

Paget replied indifferently, "You don't know how much momentum you had when you were thrown down. I was afraid he would fracture his own bones trying to catch you."

"Then you misjudged him; our new teammate is much more valiant than imagined."

"Have you tried him?"

"Yes, very good."

"How did it feel?"

"You can try next time you get a chance, he saved me once today."

"It seems his combat ranking within the squad needs to be raised."

"I will adjust it upward, though the Captain should already have it in mind."

"I really feel that the Captain's initial positioning for him was absolutely not this," Paget said, picking up a sugar cube from the coffee table, walking over to Karen, and holding it to his lips.

Karen reached out to take it and put it in his mouth.

Paget said, "The harvest this time is very abundant. Oh, by the way, when collecting the spoils of war, I saw a pretty good spell pistol."

"What model?"

"Sava 7. If you wanted to exchange for it at the Order shop, it would take about 5,000 Order vouchers."

Fanny said, "Give this one to Karen."

"Of course, that's exactly what I meant. I don't want to see him walking around with that basic equipment revolver anymore either."

Fanny looked at Karen and said, "I'll help you finish the modifications and upgrades, and pair it with special spell bullets I make myself. I won't charge you for labor, only for materials, which will be about 1,200 Order vouchers."

"Alright, thank you," Karen nodded.

"You're welcome."

Although Karen had just saved Fanny's life, this could not be used as a condition, because teammates helping or even saving each other was exactly as it should be.

As for teammates helping each other, one could owe a favor, but when it involved vouchers, things had to be calculated clearly; that was the rule.

Paget comforted, "Rest assured, after we liquidate the things we don't need on the black market this time, everyone should get at least ten thousand Order vouchers. That silver human-faced centipede is full of good materials from top to bottom."

"So much?" Karen was somewhat surprised.

One person could get at least ten thousand Order vouchers, so what about the whole squad? One had to know that this was the liquidated price after removing the things everyone needed; for example, that Sava 7 spell pistol they mentioned earlier, because Karen needed it, it would be given directly to Karen instead of being sold.

"In addition, the rewards for this passively executed mission should also be considerable, depending on how the higher-ups intend to reward us. I hope they won't be too stingy," Paget smiled.

Fanny said, "Now that we are in York City, we don't have to take other people's missions and have them take a cut in the middle like before. They wouldn't dare make it so obvious either, so the earnings will definitely be much higher than before."

Paget sighed with emotion, "Yes, York City is a good place; the speed of earning vouchers is much faster too. This way, our development will be even more rapid."

Karen's connection between vouchers and his own development had never been very tight.

Of course, this wasn't because of how special or aloof he was, nor did it mean that the effect of vouchers on one's development was insignificant, but rather because no one else was like him, where keeping two pets at home could rub off appropriate high-level spells for him.

At the same time, he could also rely on his face from time to time—for instance, with the ring on his hand, Lemar hadn't charged him any money, and he had even turned around and made 500 Abyss vouchers off him instead.

His line of growth was actually far more luxurious; some conditions could not even be piled up with vouchers.

"I want to sleep first," Karen said.

After lying down on the bed, he sensed a deep exhaustion coming from his spirit.

"Go to sleep then, darling," Fanny blew Karen a kiss.

Karen closed his eyes and began to sleep.

This sleep lasted for a very long time, because he had overlooked—or rather, failed to realize—one thing: although he had deployed the Sea God's Armor and the Dark Moon Blade last night, the consumption had been within a controllable range; the greatest consumption had actually occurred when his consciousness entered that sealed space through the Lax copper coin.

Although the duration was very short, lasting less than a minute according to the Captain, this kind of consumption was nonetheless incredibly staggering.

Therefore, when Karen woke up, he found that the light brightness outside the French window was no different from when he had just gone to sleep, and even the position of the rising sun hadn't changed, which left him somewhat dazed, believing he had only slept for a little while.

Sitting up, he saw Paget lying beside him, also fast asleep; she quite liked to sleep without clothes.

Karen simply turned his head like this, staring blankly.

"If Paget knew you were looking at her body so infatuatedly, she would definitely be very happy when she wakes up," Fanny said as she walked out of the bathroom.

Karen shook his head; he hadn't been sizing up her body earlier:

"I feel a bit dizzy in my head."

"Dizziness is only natural; you have slept for a day and a night. Was yesterday's spell truly that draining on your energy? We will need to consider the timing of your actions next time."

"It is not that issue, but rather for other reasons," Karen explained. "It does not affect my combat capability."

He did not want Fanni to misunderstand and place him at the rear when arranging the battle formation. It was not that he longed to fight on the front lines, but rather that he did not wish for the squad to underestimate his strength and fail to make full use of his capabilities when drawing up battle plans.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Fanni went to open the door. "Very well, understood."

Promptly, Fanni walked to the bedside and said, "Miss Ophelia is quite worried about you. It seems she wanted to call you out for a late-night snack last night, but you were still asleep. Now, she wishes to invite you to breakfast."

"Oh, alright."

Having slept for so long, Karen felt a pang of hunger as well.

After washing up and changing into a fresh set of clothes, Karen walked over to the opposite room. When he rang the bell, the door was opened by a new, young maidservant.

"Mr. Karen? Yes, please come in. The young lady is waiting for you."

Karen walked inside and saw Ophelia dressed in the traditional attire of Dark Moon Island, her hands resting on the sofa and her legs crossed as she gazed at him entering.

Moreover, Karen noticed that today, there were two dining carts in the room.

"Did Mr. Karen sleep for a very long time?" Ophelia inquired.

"Yes."

Karen picked up a plate and began to load it with food.

"Was the event yesterday... no, the day before yesterday, triggered by the Artifact of Lax?"

"You were not briefed?" Karen sat down, having filled his plate.

"I was, but it was very vague."

"Yes, it was the Lax copper coin, the source of evil."

"Oh, so that was it. How thrilling, and yet how unfortunate. In truth, I very much wished to join you all in resolving the problem that night."

"Your status makes it inappropriate," Karen remarked.

"I will simply have to find another opportunity in the future," Ophelia said, her words laden with deeper meaning.

Yet Karen did not press for details, for he understood well that even if the Orthodox Church remained wary of certain factions and forbade them from venturing out, were those factions truly so obedient? It was nothing more than a tacit understanding shared among everyone, provided boundaries were not excessively crossed.

Karen consumed four plates of food before he was full.

"Are you attending the official meeting today?"

"Yes, and you all will need to accompany me as well. By the way, I rejected your Holy Church's request to change the security squad; I insisted on continuing with you."

"Thank you."

"You are welcome. It is only right."

Karen stood up and said, "Please enjoy your breakfast. I shall head back first to await accompanying you to the conference room."

"Take one of the dining carts with you."

"Is that alright?"

"As you can see, I prepared two dining carts today."

"Thank you for your generosity, Miss."

Karen pushed the dining cart and returned to his own room.

Seeing this, Fanni cried out, "Heavens, you brought the dining cart back again!"

"She prepared two today."

"Rest assured, I will help you think of names for the children."

Promptly, Fanni approached the bed and delivered a sharp slap to Peige's backside.

"Smack!"

"Get up, it is time for delicious food!"

...

Within the sealed space, Luoya sat atop her canopy structure, humming a tune while swinging her legs.

Just then, the gentle silhouette of a woman appeared before her. She was the spirit of a harp, a gift crafted by the Sea God's own hands for his lover, Miles.

"Luoya, you seem very happy today."

"Indeed I am, Sister Luonidaier."

"And why is that?"

"Because yesterday, I dreamed that my big brother came to visit me."

"How wonderful. Not every artifact spirit is capable of dreaming."

"Mhm, at first I could not even recognize him, and I only confirmed it was him after calling out tentatively a few times."

"Oh? Is it because his appearance has grown faded in your memory?"

"No, it is because he was wearing a silver mask."