Part 3 The Traveler Chapter 9 Sherlock Moriarty in the Investigative Report
Leonard?
For a moment Klein thought he had misread.
But the blur caused by the glow was not serious, and familiarity with the other man quickly affirmed his earlier judgment.
In the time it took to breathe once, Leonard disappeared, the glow dispersed, and the river valley returned to the quiet of the midwinter season, and the images Klein had seen in his dream shattered with it.
He opened his eyes and placed the medallion, which he had received from Lanlus, on the surface of the long bronze table.
”The real Leonard, or Leonard the ‘Faceless Man’ in disguise?” Klein thought briefly and tossed a gold coin.
His aura told him with the aid of this medium that it was Leonard Mitchell, a teammate of the Nightwatchman Squad in Tingen!
”Is he an ‘investigator’ sent by the Church of the Goddess for that party, or is he an avenger who has gone behind the backs of the Nightwatchmen and ventured out in search of an opportunity?” Klein wondered to himself, having trouble making an accurate judgment.
And with no prior information at all, his divination could not give a revelation.
After a few seconds of silence, Klein smiled to himself and drew a Crimson Moon on his chest:
”Good luck to him, and may the Goddess protect him.”
Klein stopped dwelling on the issue, ready to learn more about the details of that party before deciding whether or not to participate in the future, and whether or not to alert Leonard Mitchell anonymously.
……
BECKLAND, in a secret room in the underground area of the Steam Chapel.
Iconser removed his hat, pressed his tousled but not soft hair, and took the first seat on the left.
With that, he took out the ancient silver mirror of Arodes from a special pocket on the inside of his clothing and set it in front of him.
To his right, across from him, and diagonally across from him, there were the deacons and captains of the Mechanical Heart, all of whom had been summoned to a meeting by Archbishop Horamik Haydn of Birkeland, a member of the Council of the Divine Presence.
The Archbishop, dressed in white priestly robes, was sitting serenely at the top of the room, as if he were an ordinary old man.
Seeing that the people had arrived, he looked around the room and said gently:
”Starting with Ikonser, tell us about the investigations of the past few days in order.”
Ikonser Bernard raked his hair and reported in simple language while flipping through the thick documents:
”His Eminence the Archbishop, we are responsible for the part of Sherlock Moriarty, and after a detailed investigation and the aid of corresponding extraordinary means, we have confirmed that he was passively involved in this matter, and prior to that, there was no evidence that he had been aware of the problem of Prince Edzak.
”He was friends with the dead Talim Dumont, and had indirectly fulfilled some of the commissions given by the prince, but there was nothing wrong with that; at most, he had misrepresented his expenses.”
Speaking here, Iconser suddenly felt a bit weak, because Sherlock Moriarty was also an informant of the “Mechanical Heart”, and it was likely that the expenses he reimbursed on this side were also exaggerated to a certain extent.
In any case, his work as an informant was effective and excellent enough to offset many of the problems, and he hadn’t been our informant for very long, and the largest amount of money involved in that case was “split.” …… Iconser exhaled slowly, and continued his report, “Iconser is a very good informant. :
”Our conclusion is that he belongs to the innocent, there is no hidden plot behind, he was once keenly aware of the danger of the Red Rose Manor, but that belongs to the reasoning error results in the right typical, he was afraid of the royal family’s tipping, for this reason, he has been passive, did not do substantial in-depth investigations, this point, he is to us reported.
”Unfortunately, he still didn’t avoid this incident, but he was also lucky enough that the descendant of the god of death he mentioned was monitoring near the Red Rose Manor, and promptly saved him from the desperate situation of the meteorite fall, and the traces at the scene indicate that this is a very horrible attack, with a high probability that it is related to the ‘0-08 ‘ related.”
Klein had mentioned Ince Zangwill and the existence of “0-08” in his letter, and as to the question of whether or not he knew the former archbishop and the “0” seal, no one cared, for he was with Azk Aegis at the time, and it was entirely possible that he had learned of it from each other’s This is also the subconscious judgment of everyone.
On the other hand, the seven orthodox churches had been informing each other of the rough situation when it came to the “0” and “1” level seals, the numbers were shared and there was no duplication.
”…… However, we don’t have the full picture, there are still three things we can’t confirm, firstly, ‘2-111’ shows that after Sherlock Moriarty escaped into that forest, he didn’t rush to get away from it, instead he stayed in the where he was, not knowing who he was praying to, secondly, the question of when he and Azk Aegis met, and thirdly, the question of how he escaped from that underground relic, which he shouldn’t have been able to do with his strength, and in the process he even destroyed the Aurora Society’s Advent Ceremony.” Ikonser concluded.
”2-111″ referred to this magic mirror of Arodes.
Horamik listened quietly and smiled to himself:
”False claims ……”
He whirled around and cleared his throat:
”For what it’s worth, Sherlock Moriarty is a hero of Birkeland.
”Most of us wouldn’t be alive right now if he hadn’t stopped it in time, if he’d been scared in that moment and chosen to run away.
”Moreover, he has shown his faith in God and his friendliness towards us, and as long as there is not much wrong with him, some small shortcomings and small secrets, we can pretend that we don’t know about them.”
”Your Excellency the Bishop, that’s exactly what we thought.” Iconser said with a sigh of relief, “My guess is that his prayers within the woods, including the ritual of blowing the brass whistle, were methods of contacting Aztec Aegis, but not with the same effect, not with the same speed, and that the only thing he could do in that critical situation was only to save himself, which we deduced from the subsequent course of events.”
”In addition to saving himself, he could also write a suicide note.” Another “Mechanical Heart” deacon teased, and then reported on the part he was responsible for, “…… We still haven’t been able to find the underground relics described by Sherlock Moriarty, even with the help of the ‘2-111’, it doesn’t work either, and the whereabouts of the Royal High Sequence powerhouses on that day are beyond our grasp for the time being.”
”…… It can be confirmed that the Black Night Church received the earliest intelligence, which originated from a special channel of Count Hall, the details of which are unknown.”
”……The Aurora Society’s forces in Bakerland were cleared of the vast majority of them by us joining forces with the Night Watchers and the Substitute Punishers, but I suspect that they still have hidden forces ……”
”…… At the time of the incident, the Tris mentioned by Sherlock Moriarty was traveling to Bakerland, but no one has seen her since then, and according to Sherlock Moriarty, she was the key figure and was renamed Trischke.”
”…… Unable to figure out the means by which the Church of Darkness captured the ‘Witch of Despair’ and Finkel the Steward, the results of the divination tell me that they are still alive, but no longer free.”
……
One by one, the deacons and captains reported their own findings, and Horamik half-closed his eyes, seemingly thinking about something.
After the room had been quiet for a dozen seconds or so, he opened his eyes and spoke not too quickly or slowly:
”Make every effort to find Trischke, if she is still alive.
”Summarize the problems that cannot be effectively revealed by divination and give them to me; the Church has holy men who specialize in this area, though not necessarily more effectively than ‘2-111’.
”Surveillance and investigation of the royal family’s high sequence powerhouses can be put on top of the ‘poker table’ without too much worry, they’ve always known we were doing this, and it’s a warning all the same.
”The line of investigation into the underground ruins continues, and the Church of Darkness and Storm is informed.
”Ikonser, you question ‘2-111’ about how Sherlock Moriarty escaped the ruins and when he met Aztec Aegis.”
Looking at the Archbishop and then at his colleagues, Iconser said with a clench of his teeth:
”Yes, His Eminence the Archbishop.”
He was saddened to think that his legend was about to spread from the few Mechanical Heart squads he was in charge of to the entire Steam Church of Birkeland’s extraordinary people.
After a skillful process, he spoke:
”Honorable Aroldus, my question is, when did Sherlock Moriarty meet Aztec Aegis?”
A watery light suddenly floated above the silver mirrors that seemed to have eyes on both sides, quickly forming a picture:
Sherlock Moriarty standing in a room, watching a rat with a rotting abdomen crawl up the wall and burrow, with old Kohler and the owner of the Cheap Inn behind him.
”He met the other man when he was completing the Aztec Aegis bounty mission, the one issued by MI9 and stemming from a coincidental conflict.” Ikonser deciphered the picture.
When he finished, he chose to reciprocate the answer, then held his breath as he waited for Aroldus to give the soul-piercing question.
Without surprise, he saw the words in bright red:
”Do you know what it’s like to go all out to please someone, only to have them leave you where you are?”
This, this question isn’t sharp enough, unlike Arodes’ usual style …… Ikonser suddenly felt that the words in blood on the mirror lacked the usual thrill, weren’t bloody enough, and appeared breathless.
He couldn’t be bothered to think about why, and instantly opened his mouth to reply:
”Got it!”
”Congratulations, correct answer.” New words appeared on the surface of the silver mirror, whitish in color.
……
January 5, 9:00 AM.
Klein, with a gray scarf wrapped around his neck, arrived at the Rose Quay, carrying his suitcase and cane.
The White Onyx was moored there, unusually large in relation to humans and said to be capable of carrying hundreds of boat passengers.
It had strong features belonging to the era, with chimneys alongside the sails, and twelve guns and corresponding gun emplacements on each side of the ship – a necessity for defense against pirates and fellow travelers.
Selected stalwart sailors and crew lined up at the gangway entrance, arranged by Captain Erland Karg, some even deliberately revealing legal revolvers, rifles and sabers.
This gave the guests who were boarding the ship one by one a lot more security and less trepidation about the nine-day-long journey ahead.
Klein stood below, looked up and stepped onto the hanging ladder in the undulating azure waters.
The journey had begun …… between steps, he sighed silently.