Chapter 431: Richard's Inquiry

Chapter 431 Richard's Inquiry

The Rula evil spirit was completely melted down in the Tower of Light, vanishing into nothingness.

Neo looked down at his own injuries. During the battle, it would have been impossible for him to deliberately control the recovery of his wounds. It was just like how you wouldn't think about the cutlery in your hands becoming cultural relics a thousand years later while you were eating, and then begin to cherish it ahead of time.

The problem now was that the recovery was a bit too good.

The fire of light flared up from Neo's left hand, while the sword of light condensed in his right. He began to treat his own body as an ingredient on a chopping board, piercing and roasting himself.

"Ah... hiss..."

After a series of manipulations, Neo was satisfied, and then he sat down unsteadily.

His gaze swept across the area one last time, and after confirming there were no problems, he pursed his dry, cracked lips and mocked himself:

"Alright, time to be hospitalized again."

Before long, a section above was moved away, and a group of armored knights dropped down, surrounded by a large crowd of priests.

Whether it was the murderer hunting the Priests of Order within York City or the Tower of Light that had appeared earlier, either matter was enough to strain the nerves of all parties involved.

A knight commander walked over to Neo and crouched down. Because he was wearing a visor, his gaze was hidden within the narrow slits.

But it was this very exchange of looks that caused Neo's pupils to contract.

Sometimes, certain things did not require evidence; a single feeling could override everything. This was especially true for people with an arrogant nature; they did not need sufficient evidence and clues to support their claims, but instead preferred the thrill of "gambling."

Neo smiled.

Although it couldn't be seen, it felt as though beneath the knight commander's visor, a smile had appeared as well.

Neo opened his mouth and said: "Remnants of Light... evil spirit... hunting... conspiracy..."

Originally, there should have been "fortunately," "stopped," "in time," and "praise Order" to follow...

But the best acting was reality. After saying "conspiracy," Neo succumbed to his severe injuries and fell into unconsciousness.

This wasn't faked.

...

"I really didn't expect something like this to happen. You should have notified me to come back earlier, Vannie. If I had been by the captain's side back then, the commander might not have ended up like this."

Sitting in the passenger seat, Karen spoke to Vannie, who was driving.

His words carried just the right amount of complaint, which could both express concern for Neo and allow the person being complained to to feel understood without breeding resentment.

Sitting in the back seat, Alfred and Muri held their backs perfectly straight.

They still remembered that after learning York City was "busy" from Bart's Uncle Chali, Karen had ordered them without hesitation to play for two more days before returning.

Regarding this, they did not feel their master (captain) was hypocritical. After all, who could refuse a leader who could lead everyone to achievements and also lead everyone to slack off?

"I wanted to notify you, Karen, but the commander stopped me. He said you were too tired and should rest more."

Karen sighed and looked out the car window. Acting up to this point was enough.

Vannie drove the car to the entrance of the church hospital and asked the two sitting in the back: "Who is coming with me to fetch the mission briefing?"

Alfred spoke up: "I will go."

Vannie needed to collect the official security mission briefing on Neo's behalf, and Alfred accompanied her to handle the handover.

Two days later, the official delegation from the Luna Church would arrive in York City.

Karen and Muri got out of the car and walked toward the hospital, and then Karen stopped in his tracks.

"Captain?"

"Did you bring the reils?"

"I did," Muri explained with a smile, "useful for when having breakfast."

Muri, who lived in the Allen apartment, had gradually grown fond of watching movies due to Karen's suggestion, and he had even masterfully acquired projection skills himself.

Upon learning of this, Alfred had directly fired the projectionist who had originally been hired.

And he had quoted the words of Lord Dis from back then: The Silva family does not harbor idle people.

Muri, who liked staying up late to watch movies, rested and woke later than ordinary people. Often, he only prepared to sleep when dawn was breaking. At that time, the servants in the apartment were not yet awake, and he was too lazy to disturb their sleep, so he would go out by himself to eat a bit at the dinner (breakfast) stalls prepared for night-shift workers before going back to sleep.

"Go buy me some fruit."

"Alright, captain."

Muri went to the distant fruit shop, while Karen stood at the hospital entrance waiting.

He just happened to see an acquaintance carrying a food box walking over, and it was none other than Xinyali.

"Did the mission go smoothly?" Xinyali asked directly.

"Thanks to your intelligence, it went very smoothly."

"Oh, something outside the intelligence must have happened, and quite a lot at that. Is it inconvenient to tell me?"

"Not just yet."

"There must be something else you need me to do?"

"Yes."

"I like this kind of straightforwardness."

"Me too."

"I need some point tickets to buy some practice materials."

"Pavaro Funeral Parlor."

"Do I have to go pick them up myself?"

"Go to the funeral parlor to find your assistant, Alfred. He will interface with you in the future. Whatever needs you have, tell him directly. He is also my assistant."

"Alright," Xinyali smiled, revealing the braces inside.

"Has your teacher not been discharged from the hospital yet?"

"He was supposed to be discharged today."

"Supposed to be?"

"As a result, he was caught by my mistress with a female nurse in the restroom... then two more of his bones were broken, and he is still lying on the hospital bed now."

"I care more about that nurse."

"My teacher protected her from being implicated, and that's the reason why the second rib broke."

"Your teacher is truly kind."

"Setting aside certain aspects, my teacher is a good person."

"Yes, indeed."

"Can I go to your funeral parlor after I finish delivering the food in a while?"

"You can. My assistant knows about you."

"I understand."

The partnership between a cleric of Order and a cleric of Principle was, by its very nature, a symbiotic entanglement of mutual exploitation. While there were rare exceptions—like Dis and Hoffen, whose bond had matured into a late-life kinship—the vast majority remained shackled strictly by shared interests.

Thus, dispensing with the tedious veneer of superficial courtesies and keeping the transaction purely professional often provided a strange sense of relief and comfort.

Muri returned, bearing a fruit basket, and remarked, "The fruit shop actually accepts merit vouchers for payment."

"Utter extortion," Karen observed.

Muri followed Karen into the main building of the inpatient ward.

After inquiring at the nurses' station for Neo’s room number, they walked down the corridor just as a group of figures clad in the sacred robes of Order emerged from within. Their garments were embroidered with the distinct insignia of whips and eyes.

Stepping aside to grant them passage, Karen waited for them to vanish down the hall before entering the room, fruit basket in hand.

Neo was propped up against the pillows of his bed. The moment he saw Karen enter, he commanded without preamble, "Pour me a glass of water."

Karen set the basket down, filled a glass, and offered it to Neo. Reaching out to take it, Neo said, "My apologies for making you visit me in the hospital once again."

"Think nothing of it. I rather enjoy visiting you in the hospital."

"If you wish to laugh, by all means, do so. I won’t take offense."

"Now, that would be terribly impolite."

Karen took a seat by Neo’s bedside, retrieved a tangerine from the basket, and began to peel it.

"I have discovered something rather peculiar..."

"I have discovered something rather peculiar..."

The words left their lips in perfect unison.

Neo stared at Karen.

Karen smiled faintly. "Allow me to go first."

"You certainly don't stand on ceremony."

"The more ceremony one observes, the more distant the relationship."

"Oh, is that so? Yet I feel we ought to maintain a modicum of boundaries. For instance, you have yet to address me properly since entering."

"My dear Squadron Commander, if you wish to spar, I really wouldn't mind doing it right now."

"Very well, you speak first."

Karen recounted his experience during the physical examination, placing particular emphasis on Davens, the deputy director of the Knights' Hospital.

When it came to Neo, Karen’s trust was absolute and unconditional.

The sentiment was entirely mutual; Neo had once even confessed to an existential anxiety over having no remaining secrets left to share with him.

Karen did not believe in destiny, especially not in a world where gods walked the earth. Yet he could not deny that it was precisely because of Miss Elisa’s funeral that he and Neo had crossed paths, gradually forging a genuine friendship.

Without Neo, Karen’s ascent within the hierarchy of the Church of Order would never have progressed so smoothly. He might still have been laboring under Pavaro’s identity, desperately scraping together merits to endure the grueling wait for a promotion.

And without Karen, Neo would have endured an agonizingly solitary existence during his darkest, most aimless days following Miss Elisa’s burial.

Karen pressed a segment of the tangerine against Neo’s lips. Neo opened his mouth and swallowed it. "Hmm. Quite sweet."

Karen then proceeded to feed him the remaining segments of the fruit, one after another. Halfway through, Neo looked at him askance. "Aren't you having any?"

"I knew it was sour. Stop pretending."

"Hiss..." Neo took a deep gulp of water and demanded, "Did you do that on purpose?"

Karen shook his head, gesturing toward the doorway, out where Muri sat on a bench in the corridor. "He is a young master, after all. What does he know of buying fruit? Every single one is green."

"Ah, that explains it."

"Well, let's try a melon instead. This one looks decent." Karen split the melon open, only to find it overripe and thoroughly rotted from within. Left with no choice, he tossed it into the wastebasket beneath the bed.

"Cheated by the fruit shop outside?"

"So it would seem."

"Send him out to demand an explanation. The shops out there are getting entirely out of hand, taking advantage of people like that."

"To operate a fruit shop right outside the church hospital, the owner must be a relative of the deputy director at the very least. After all, they even accept merit vouchers."

Alfred interjected, "Would a young master of the Benda family truly fear a mere deputy director?"

"True enough."

Karen stood up and walked to the doorway. Muri turned his head to look at him.

"Captain?"

"The fruit you bought is entirely inedible. Go back and demand a refund from the owner. And don't overthink things; we aren't sending you away because we have secrets to hide from you."

"No, I wouldn't think that."

Muri rose and made his way toward the stairwell.

Closing the door, Karen returned to his seat, and Neo began to recount his own ordeal.

When the tale was finished, Neo asked, "Do you get the impression that our two accounts share a rather distinct overlap?"

"Yes."

"To think this organization has grown so profoundly influential."

"Did you truly catch no whispers of this before, Commander?"

"None. The various departments within the Holy Church have always operated in relative isolation from one another."

"Indeed. But I believe it best we do not involve ourselves further in this matter. It invites far too much trouble—though trouble may have already found us. The members of that organization might well know that Madame Sidra was no remnant of the Light."

"Madame Sidra did not belong to their order, and they knew little of her."

"Yet you have undoubtedly drawn their gaze. Did you do so intentionally? Merely to cultivate a little extra amusement for yourself?"

"I flatter myself that you hold me in such high regard, but the truth is, do you honestly believe it a simple task to slay an evil spirit possessing a cleric of Order?"

"So there was no alternative?"

"None. I had no choice at the time. I had to avenge Geri. That single resolve severely restricted my options. Otherwise, I might have simply taken fifty thousand Order vouchers and treated everyone to skewered sausages from a roadside stall."

Karen slid his stool a few inches backward.

Witnessing this, Neo scoffed, "What? Are you afraid that my compromised identity will bring ruin down upon your head?"

"I merely felt a bit warm. I am creating a little distance to catch the breeze."

"Heh."

"Whether you were compelled or acted of your own volition, you would do well to tread lightly around this organization."

"Must I rely on you to instruct me in this?"

"Consider it a gesture of goodwill."

"Are you truly entirely devoid of curiosity regarding them?" Neo inquired, his interest piqued. "Much like what you have done with Muri and Ventura—are you not also cultivating an organization of your own?"

"Is it the same?"

"It is different, yet they share a profound commonality. They are loyal to the God of Order. Yes, yes, I know you are about to protest that you are not, and I am well aware you aren't. But have you never considered turning them to your own advantage?"

Karen merely shook his head.

"Is it because they are loyal to that God of Order, and not to you?" Neo asked.

"No."

"Then what is it?"

"They are merely loyal to the God of Order of their own imagination."

......

Stepping out of Neo's ward, Cullen let out a long breath. Sometimes, he truly disliked his squadron leader's habit of stirring up trouble everywhere, as it completely contradicted his own consistently cautious nature.

Yet, on the other hand, if Neo didn't constantly go out to pluck those black, yellow, gray, and red clouds to bring back, work and life might feel somewhat monotonous.

Cullen then went to the ward where Teacher Xinyali was staying, but when he pushed the door open, she wasn't there.

"She went to wash the tiffin carrier, and she mentioned that you two already crossed paths at the entrance," the old man said to Cullen with a smile.

Cullen walked over, drew out his cigarettes, and lit one for the old man.

After the old man devoured the first cigarette in giant gulps, Cullen immediately lit another one for him, and this time, the old man began to savor it slowly.

"Run into some trouble?"

"Just a small matter."

Having Xinyali as a partner from the Principle Church was more than enough; Cullen was unwilling to become too entangled with this old man, primarily because of his wife.

"You can trust Xinyali implicitly; I know my own student."

"I will."

"I share a deep affinity with that squadron leader of yours; he has come to keep me company again, haha."

"That is quite good, so neither of you will be lonely."

Cullen bent down and placed the pack of cigarettes and the lighter into the bottom drawer of the nightstand, which was protected by a barrier.

A gratified smile appeared on the old man's face, and just as he was about to offer another word of advice, he saw Cullen wave his hand to use the Purification of Order to clear the scent of smoke from the ward, making his smile deepen even further.

"You are a good boy."

"Thank you."

"Do me one more favor." The old man drew a pink envelope from his tunic—undoubtedly a love letter, if expectations held true—and said, "Deliver this to her for me."

"To that nurse?"

"No, to her older sister."

Cullen accepted the envelope, turned, and left the ward. After making an inquiry at the nurse's station, he located the nurse in question.

She was currently comforting another nurse who bore a striking resemblance to her. When Cullen handed her the envelope, he caught the flash of joy and excitement in her eyes.

He went to the restroom in the hallway to wash his hands.

As he stepped out of the inpatient building, he happened to see Muri walking over, and the two of them walked out of the hospital gates together.

Cullen glanced over and noticed that the fruit stall had been smashed to pieces.

"Next time, just demand compensation; there is no need to be so aggressive."

"Yes, Captain."

Hailing a taxi, Cullen then went to Gray's home to pay him a visit.

There was a high probability that Gray would remain a vegetable for the rest of his life, which left Cullen feeling a sense of quiet lamentation.

One had to remember that it was Mr. Gray who had first taught him how to fight.

Gray had no family, only two caregivers who stayed to look after him.

After leaving Gray's house, Muri noticed Cullen's dampened spirits and spoke up: "Sooner or later, we will all experience such things, Captain."

"Your way of offering comfort is truly dull."

The taxi was still waiting at the original spot, and it drove the two of them back to the funerary parlor.

Alfred had not yet returned, but he should be back soon.

Cullen walked into his study, only to find Richard unexpectedly sitting on a cushion, reading a book—indeed, that was Kevin's cushion.

Had it been the previous era, such an action would have been deemed absolute sacrilege.

But since it was Richard, it was hardly surprising.

"Why haven't you gone back?" Cullen asked.

"Going home the moment a mission is finished makes it look as though I haven't grown up yet."

"Where is Memphis?"

"He went home."

"You see, even he knows to go home."

"What does his going home have to do with me?"

"Well, that is true."

I am only afraid your father is waiting for you at home in a frenzy, and won't know when to hold back when he lays his hands on you.

Cullen sat down behind his desk.

Richard stood up and walked over to the front of the desk.

"Is something the matter?"

"It is about the physical examination. I just haven't found an opportunity to ask you in private."

"I discovered a mechanism—you could also call it a pattern, or a loophole—which allowed me to exert some influence and control over that quill. It was quite interesting, and rather simple, too."

Richard blinked, making no move to leave.

Cullen looked at Richard, spread his hands, and asked, "Is there anything else?"

"It is still about that matter..."

"What is it?"

"Let me state this clearly beforehand: I don't mean anything else by it, I am simply curious, and this curiosity is something I must voice. Though I feel it might be inappropriate, in my heart, we are brothers—whether cousins or blood brothers, our relationship should be perfectly candid.

Therefore, I feel the doubt in my heart must be asked, otherwise I will feel plagued by discomfort."

"Alright, go ahead and ask."

"I heard a sentence the quill spoke in response to you."

"What words?"

"Obeying the divine decree."

Cullen paused for a brief moment, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "What is so strange about that? I am the God of Order, after all."

"Hahahahahahaha!"

Richard burst into roaring laughter, laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face.

"Is that loophole capable of altering its cognition, making it believe that you are the supreme leader?"

"Yes, exactly, a rather intriguing minor spell. Most of the time it is quite useless, but on rare occasions, it can work wonders. If you wish to learn it, I can transcribe a copy for you."

"Useless most of the time? Never mind then, I do not want it. Ah, much better, I am heading home now."

Richard stepped out of the study, thoughtfully closing the door behind him for Karen.

At that moment, Purr’s voice drifted over: "Perhaps you ought to be a bit more cautious, my little Karen, at least until you possess a power as formidable as Dis's."

"Is it not possible that, in truth, I have always been careful?"

"Then how do you explain the question just now?"

"Perhaps it is because the blood of Art also flows within my veins."