noveltune Chapter 151 Protection from the Steam Church
Chapter 151 Protection from the Steam Church
Chapter 151 Protection from the Steam Church
Holamick did not linger at the Russell memorial exhibition. After exchanging a few words with Sirion, he left directly, as if he were a leader making an inspection of a passing leader.
However, after Horamik left, Sirion keenly noticed that there were many more security personnel in the Kingdom Museum.
...It looks like these security personnel won't be leaving anytime soon. Am I making things harder for Klein who's going to steal the Blasphemy Token tonight?
As he pondered, he followed the flow of people to the restored section of Russell's study and soon spotted a half-exposed bookmark among a stack of yellowed manuscripts.
The bookmark features a simple sketch of Roselle dressed as an emperor, and neither his psychic vision nor his actual vision reveals anything special about him.
Although he couldn't see anything special about it, his intuition told him that this was the blasphemous card that Russell had hidden away as a bookmark—the Black Emperor!
He stood in front of the folded manuscript, examining it curiously for a while, until a voice suddenly sounded behind him:
"Is there anything special about this stack of manuscripts?"
"Huh?" He subconsciously turned around and saw the lady again, wearing an olive green dress and an old-fashioned black soft hat.
Behind the fine-checkered veil was a face he remembered fairly well: Bernadette, the eldest daughter of Emperor Roselle, the "Mysterious Queen".
Seeing that he did not answer, Bernadette asked again:
"You've been standing in front of this manuscript for a long time. Is there anything special about it?"
After a two-second silence, Sirion carefully chose his words and said:
"Roselle the Great's manuscript is special enough in itself, and this is the original manuscript."
"How do you know this is the original manuscript?" Bernadette pressed.
Cyril paused for a moment, feeling that Bernadette seemed overly fixated on this issue, but in order to prevent Klein's nighttime theft from escalating further, he could only bite the bullet and explain:
"Well, I know a fair bit about these kinds of antiques, especially those related to Emperor Roselle, since there's an admirer of his in my family."
Bernadette nodded noncommittally, then continued to ask:
"Then why are you only staring at this stack of manuscripts?"
Cyril looked somewhat helpless and said, "Because I've only just started watching."
"Before, I had a witch with me, so I had no time to pay attention to these things."
He paused for a moment, then asked, "By the way, did you report her to the Steam Church?"
Bernadette nodded slightly, then cautioned:
"You'd better avoid contact with mirrors, stay away from churches, and avoid leaving behind things like hair or blood."
Cyril nodded repeatedly: "I understand, thank you for your help."
Bernadette didn't say anything more and turned to go to another exhibition hall.
The direction she left in was exactly where Cyril saw Klein walking towards them with the flow of people.
Their eyes met briefly, but he didn't say hello and turned to go to the next exhibition hall.
At this moment, there must be hidden members of the Machine Heart watching him. In the eyes of the Machine Heart, he should not know Sherlock Moriarty, the detective. A hasty greeting could easily lead to unnecessary investigations for the two of them.
Klein stared blankly at Sirion, who had walked away as soon as he saw him. His nod froze for a moment, then he turned around as if nothing had happened.
They toured the books and manuscripts in the study.
Then he also saw the bookmark that had been placed inside the manuscript...:
Outside the Kingdom Museum, Cyril, who had just finished browsing the Russell Memorial Exhibition, ran into Carlson, who seemed to have been waiting for him there.
"It's quite a distance from here to St. Hillan Cathedral. His Excellency the Archbishop has asked me to take you to the nearby Leverage Church first."
"Don't worry, it's safe enough now. The church has already deployed enough security personnel for the Russell memorial exhibition, and His Excellency the Archbishop came by in person just now. No one would dare to cause trouble at this time."
Cyril nodded slightly: "Yes, thank you for your help."
"It is indeed quite troublesome," Carlson nodded honestly.
Cyril paused for a moment, then covered up his embarrassment with a smile.
Carlson said nothing more and led him directly into the carriage.
Only when they arrived at the Leverage Church did he finally relax, his gaze towards Sirion filled with pity and speechlessness:
"While it's difficult to have a peaceful life after becoming an extraordinary person, yours is far too turbulent."
"You might encounter extreme cult members at school, and then be haunted by a witch after leaving school..."
"By the way, how did you manage to secretly report her right under that witch's nose?"
"I reported it?" Sirion pointed to himself, his eyes wide with surprise.
Carlson, realizing what was happening from his expression, hesitated and asked, "You didn't write that whistleblower letter?"
"But Your Excellency the Archbishop..."
Carlson abruptly stopped mid-sentence, then awkwardly changed the subject:
"Wait here for a moment, I'll go report to the deacon."
"Don't worry, the church is absolutely safe. Even a high-ranking 'witch' wouldn't dare to barge directly into the church of a true god."
"Steam above!" Sirion reached out and tapped his chest repeatedly, drawing the shape of a triangular holy symbol, responding with action.
"Steam above!"
Carlson returned the same greeting, then turned and walked toward the back of the church hall.
After watching the other person leave, Cyril looked at the triangular holy emblem in front of him, which was a solid triangle filled with symbols such as steam, gears, and levers. Then he found a place to sit in the hall and pretended to pray.
A few breaths later, thick gray mist suddenly welled up in his eyes, and at the same time, the image of Sherlock Moriarty praying to "The Fool" appeared.
"Dear Mr. 'Fool,' I hope to receive some assistance from Mr. 'Fate,' as it is difficult for me to obtain the bookmark within Russell's creative manuscript on my own."
"The reward I can offer is £500 in cash, with additional rewards depending on the difficulty of the task, or the potentially useful content within that bookmark."
The image and sound of Sherlock Moriarty praying quickly disappeared, and Cyril looked at the "Fool" deep in the gray fog, saying helplessly:
"The Steam Church has discovered the high-ranking 'witch' beside me. I'm currently under protection, which limits my mobility."
Above the gray fog, upon hearing Cyril's reply, "The Fool" Klein looked away slightly and noticed that his surroundings were a church of the "God of Steam and Machinery".
No wonder he turned and left without even saying hello when he saw me...
He paused for a moment, then turned his gaze to the illusory star that represented "justice," Audrey.
Fortunately, he has backup options.
Inside Earl Hall's luxurious villa in Queens.
As Audrey sat at her dressing table, lost in thought, her vision suddenly blurred as an endless gray mist surged forth.
Then he saw the figure of "The Fool" perched high above the gray fog, and a somewhat unfamiliar figure praying to "The Fool".
"Dear Mr. 'Fool,' your faithful follower requests some help..."
In the clergy's lounge behind the prayer hall of the Lever Church.
Cyril met the butler Carlson had mentioned, a man in his thirties with a strong, clear face. His shirt and coat were impeccably tailored, but his head was covered in messy brown hair.
Noticing the unnatural pause in Cyril's gaze above his head, he calmly said without much change in expression:
"This is a negative effect of a sealed artifact."
He then changed the subject and said seriously:
"Hello, my name is Ikonser Bernard, captain of the Mechanical Hearts of the Church in the Backlund parish."
"I will be in charge of your safety for the next few days."
Cyril blinked blankly. "Isn't this a bit too much?"
A captain and deacon of the Mechanical Hearts of Backlund Parish personally taking charge of his own security didn't seem to have such a high priority within the Steam Church.
Ikonser said solemnly, "God will protect every one of his believers."
He paused, softened his tone slightly, and explained earnestly:
"The appearance of a high-ranking 'witch' in Backlund is something to be very wary of; the presence of those paranoid and insane women is always accompanied by disaster."
"Whether it's passive or active, nothing good ever comes from being around those 'witches.'"
"Furthermore, this is also to investigate the purpose of the high-ranking 'witch' appearing in Backlund. She certainly wouldn't appear beside you for no reason. Do you know what her purpose is?"
"Um... she said she wants to date me, does that count?" Xireen hesitated before answering. Ikonser looked at him for a long while, her expression a mixture of surprise and indifference, before finally nodding with difficulty.
"...Calculate."