Part 1 The Joker Chapter 146 Wriggling Hunger
”What’s so special about that magical item of Zilingus?” At this point, Audrey asked with quite a bit of confidence.
She had just given it some serious consideration, and surprisingly, she felt that she possessed good people-seeking abilities in Berkland.
First of all, her father was a top tycoon in the aristocracy with a good reputation and connections, and she, herself, was very popular among the younger generation, so there were a lot of resources that she could use inadvertently in the middle and upper classes of society.
Secondly, the two extraordinary friends she currently knows also have their own circles. “Apprentice” Voorhees is a former clinic doctor, now a budding writer, and knows a lot of people in the literary world, in the publishing industry, and in the middle-class doctors.
Hugh “The Arbiter” Dilcha, a long-time coordinator and arbitrator for the lower and middle classes, is well known in the East End of Birkeland, in the working class, and in a number of gangs, and has a lot of covert contacts.
In addition to their contact with other extraordinary people, as well as other extraordinary people to expand out of the circle, the energy of the search for people should not be underestimated.
In the face of the “justice” question, “upside down” Alger almost no hesitation, without the need to think like a direct answer:
”The real name of that magical item is not known, but those who know something about it call it ‘Creeping Hunger’, Zillinger must satisfy it with the soul and flesh of a living person every other day, otherwise it will take its own master instead.”
”This is an important clue that can be used to find Zillingerus.” Audrey said with a slight frown.
She felt discomfort from the bottom of her heart and was very disgusted by the kind of evil objects that craved the blood and souls of the living.
”Yes, but the disappearance of a few vagabonds in a metropolis of at least five million people isn’t going to go unnoticed.” Alger reminded, turning to say, “Ever since he got ‘Creeping Hunger’, Zilingus has become very difficult to deal with.”
”He was originally just a ‘Wind Favored One’ with good extraordinary abilities in the fields of water, wind, and weather, but later on, it was discovered that he could make his targets go berserk, enter other people’s dreams, summon light to purify the dead, enhance himself with song, and take on the appearance of different people …… can do almost anything.” Alger described in considerable detail, “We suspect that all of these are brought about by the magical item ‘Creeping Hunger’ ……”
Before he could finish his sentence, Derek “Sun” Berg, who was quietly observing, blurted out in dismay:
”Shepherd!”
”Shepherd”? “The Secret Prayer,” “The Listener,” and “Sequence 5?” Well, one of the newest elders in Silver City’s Council of Six is a “Shepherd. “, said to be powerful enough to resist a Sequence 4 powerhouse, uh, an evil spirit of equivalent rank …… Klein’s facial expression changed slightly, but it was all hidden by the grayish mist, and at this time, that audience member didn’t focus on him either.
”Shepherd?”
”Shepherd?”
”Justice” and “The Hanged Man” both spoke at the same time, one completely puzzled, the other slightly surprised, as if they had heard of the name “Shepherd” somewhere, and knew something about it, but did not know the specific details. They seemed to have heard the name “Shepherd” somewhere and knew something about it, but did not know the specific details.
Seeing that everyone’s eyes were cast on himself, Derek was a bit flustered, he was silent and introverted, sad and depressed, but also just a teenager.
He was busy stuttering and explaining:
”I mean, the characteristics listed by the ‘Inverted Hanged Man’ are very much like the extraordinary abilities of the serial profession of ‘Shepherd’, where each ‘Shepherd’ is able to devour other people’s souls, including resentful souls and evil spirits, into their bodies and drive these souls in a unique way that corresponds to the use of their certain abilities, as if they were herding lambs for the gods.”
”Therefore, no one knows exactly how many abilities the ‘shepherds’ possess, it only depends on how many extraordinary souls they have devoured, and this makes them appear to be very terrifying, nearly equal to the high-sequence powerhouses.”
”However, it is suspected that there is a limit to the number of souls a ‘shepherd’ can devour and graze, but turnover can be done.”
So the meaning of “shepherd” is this ah …… “Aurora Society” mastered the sequence pathway is as bizarre as ever… …No wonder their object of worship is the “True Creator”, no, the “Fallen Creator” …… Klein suddenly realized, but did not nod, showing that he already knew. He knew it all along.
At the same time, he sighed inwardly:
”Sun” ah, you really are still just a child, this is very important information, very important information, can be used in exchange for valuable things, you even just say it out! I’ve told you ……
Well, that magical item that needs to be sealed, “Creeping Hunger,” shows an ability similar to the Sequence 5, “Shepherd.” …… Could many sealed items be equivalent to a certain Sequence? I wonder which Sealed Item “2-049”, the puppet of the Antigonus family, is similar to a certain Sequence profession. ……
After listening to the “sun” explanation, “upside down” Alger seems to have solved a certain mystery nodded his head, a moment of silence.
Audrey “Justice” asked more curiously, “Which sequence pathway is the shepherd in? Sequence number?”
”Of the ‘Secret Prayer Man’ pathway, 5,” Klein seized the opportunity to nod without a trace to show he knew everything.
”‘Secret Prayer Man’s’ …… Aurora Society’s ……” Audrey snapped, thinking of the suspected Mr. A, who was suspected to be the messenger of the “Aurora Club”, and her mood suddenly became a bit heavy.
She began to think seriously, thinking about what price she can use in exchange for Mr. Fool’s hand, easy to solve that disgusting guy, but after thinking about it, did not think of how to impress Mr. Fool.
Sure enough, big people close to the gods are not that easy to impress …… The items and things they are interested in are not that many in the first place …… Audrey sighed in her heart.
She gave up her impulse for the time being and nodded gratefully to the “sun”, thanking him for making everyone have a new guess about the “writhing hunger”, so that they could make a more reasonable and effective response.
”Mr. Inverted Hangman, I’m willing to accept the commission, but I don’t guarantee that I’ll be able to find ‘Hurricane Lieutenant General’ Zillingerus.” Audrey turned to look across the room and said.
”There couldn’t be a better answer than that, whether you succeed or not, just make the attempt and I’ll pay you a certain amount of remuneration afterward, such as certain hidden knowledge and intelligence, and if it works out, perhaps I can just provide you with the main material for the ‘Mind Reader’, provided of course, we have to know what it is.” Alger promised with a rare generosity.
”Deal.” Audrey pursed her lips and replied with a light smile.
Next, Alger, with Klein’s permission and help, materialized the portrait of Zilingus.
This one of the seven pirate generals had a distinctive wide chin, brown hair tied in an ancient warrior’s bun at the back of his head, and dark green eyes that seemed to hold a smile, but were unusually cold.
After discussing the things that should be discussed, after sharing the information that should be shared, towering at the top of the Fool Kraven smiled and announced that the day was over, and then saw the “Justice” and “Hanged Man” rise up and salute neatly, saw the “Sun” half a beat slower, and then saw the “Sun” half a beat slower. “He saw Justice and the Hanged Man rise and salute, and saw the Sun mimic half a beat slower.
He pressed his right hand forward, breaking the connection, but did not leave immediately.
……
Silver City, Berg’s house.
Derek looked around at the familiar setup, and looked out at the dark sky with lightning streaking across it, and for a moment drifted off again.
But he soon came to his senses, and found a parchment and a quill, and wrote down the recipe for the “Songbringer” that he had been forced to memorize.
He read it over a few times to make sure there was nothing wrong with it.
Derek wasn’t worried that he would be suspected by the upper echelons of Silver City if he possessed the recipe for the “Glorifier” and became a different kind of extraordinary person, because in every previous exploration operation, the members of the elite team would more or less get some recipes, materials and strange items from monsters and from those abandoned and destroyed cities.
And in this process, it was quite normal for someone to hide a little bit of it, as long as it didn’t involve the ones that were too important, the captains and the higher-ups tacitly refrained from pursuing the matter.
After a long time of accumulation, certain recipes began to circulate in the unofficial channels of Silver City, and some of them became the root of the family’s strength for generations – the characteristics of the darkness around Silver City are relatively fixed, some materials are easy to obtain, and some must go deep into the cursed land to have any hope of encountering them.
Placing the parchment away, Derek remembered the Mystic Fool’s instructions, and bowed his head with a simple prayer regarding his humble bedroom:
”The Fool who is not of this age.”
”The mysterious lord above the gray mist.”
”The yellow and black king who reigns over good fortune.”
……
–Giants is a very ancient language with its own mystical nature of rituals, prayers and spell casting, so Derek didn’t need to switch to ancient Hermetic.
……
”A fool not of this age.”
……
Sitting silently at the head of the ancient bronze table, Krynn heard the prayers hovering in his ears, and saw the crimson star corresponding to the Sun expanding and contracting.
But he made no attempt to touch it, intending to wait until the next gathering to respond ten minutes earlier, thus preparing the Silver City boy for his solitude.
And that most importantly allowed him to circumvent the conversion of time and date, reducing the possibility of the Fool’s powerful image breaking.
Confirming this matter, Klein wrapped himself in his spirituality and plummeted sharply downward.
Returning to his room, Klein disarmed the wall of spirituality and prepared to go out again after a short rest.
Now that there was no need for him to play the role of a Diviner, there was no need for him to make going to the Divination Club a regular schedule, and it would be good to occasionally go there to earn some extra money and fulfill his duties as the supervisor of the night watchman.
Originally, Klein had hoped to have a nice lazy afternoon, but then he thought of the one thing he hadn’t done and had to re-energize himself again – as promised, he had to go to Detective Henry today and get the final report on the Red Chimneys investigation.
”Hey, I’m told the big guys are pretty busy …… After that, I have to find time to go with Benson and Melissa to the ‘Tingen City Helping Household Servants’ Association to find a good handyman maid… …” struggled Klein as he changed out of his shirt, put on his black tuxedo jacket, grabbed his half-height silk bowler hat and silver-encrusted cane, and walked out the door like a gentleman.
Besick Street, below Henry’s Private Investigator’s Office, Klein put on his mask, lowered his hat, and passed quickly through the street and into the stairway.