Part 5 THE RED PRIESTS CHAPTER XXXIV CHOICE OF PARASITIC SUBJECTS
After a moment of soothing, Alan Krebs and Velma Gladys finally calmed the little baby.
Phew…… tall and thin Alan sighed in relief, straightened up, pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, nodded apologetically to his guest, and held his tongue for a few seconds before organizing his words:
”Sorry, kids do that.”
”Yeah.” Klein responded with a smile, indicating that he didn’t mind at all.
Then, he changed the subject and continued to share what he had seen and heard in East and West Byron.
During this process, he once again used his extraordinary ability to make all the ordinary people in the living room all fall into an illusion, while he himself picked up the ice cream that he had not finished earlier, replaced it with a silver spoon, got up with a smile, walked over to the stroller, and asked gently:
”Will, want some?”
Not waiting for the fleshy fellow wrapped in silver silk to respond, he said in a softer and softer voice:
”You should be able to fold paper cranes now that you’ve been born, so that I don’t have to make frequent house calls, which, you know, can easily draw suspicion.”
Will Onsettin Krys glared at him without replying.
Without flinching, Klein took a good quality piece of white paper from the side and placed it in the stroller.
Then he leaned down and spooned a bit of ice cream out with a silver spoon.
”All gifts of fate have long since had their price marked in the dark, haven’t they?” Klein said with a low chuckle as he moved the silver spoon in his hand.
Will, who was lying in the stroller, raised his left hand, wiped his tear-stained face, and cooed:
”For the extraordinary people of the ‘destiny’ path, it’s all about paying for things on the price list before waiting for the gift.”
With that, the fleshy infant grabbed the piece of white paper and folded the paper crane with slightly difficult, vaguely sobbing movements.
Klein stood in front of the stroller, keeping the silver spoon steady, and watched the scene with a smile.
……
A carriage departed from Pinkster Street towards where St. Samuel’s Church stood.
As it passed the house at 160 Birklund Street, Leonard Mitchell glanced there through the window of the carriage, and said, as if to himself:
”Dawn Dantes is back, too.”
The slightly older voice swirled within his mind:
”Fate will eventually meet.”
”Old man, you’re becoming more and more like a godly man after waking up from your sleep.” Leonard couldn’t help but mock.
Parleys Zoroaster laughed twice without responding.
After arriving at St. Samuel’s Church, Leonard was led by a priest into Archbishop Becklander’s St. Anthony’s study.
Anthony Stevenson was wearing a black with red robe, his eyes were deep and his face was beardless, standing in the shadows created by the cabinet was like an unknown existence watching everything from the depths of darkness, making people feel fearful for no reason.
”Your Excellency the Archbishop, what is the matter for which you summoned me?” Leonard said with a less-than-standard salute despite his anticipation.
Anthony nodded gently and said:
”You have made enough contributions to apply to become a Sequence 5 ‘Spirit Wizard’, however, your ‘Spirit Anchor’ magic potion has yet to be fully digested, so I have taken you out of the Soest Squad and assigned you individually with some tasks.”
Leonard responded according to the flow:
”As you command.”
Anthony picked up a stack of papers on his desk and said:
”Here are all suspected haunted events, you make investigations one by one, focusing on pacification rather than purification, if you need assistance, you can take candidates from the night watchman squads in the areas involved.”
”Yes, His Eminence the Archbishop.” Similar things, even if St. Anthony didn’t order them, Leonard himself would take the initiative to do them, so he had no problem with such an assignment.
After receiving the stack of papers, he casually flipped through them and said:
”Your Excellency the Archbishop, what is Captain Souster’s squad currently busy with?”
Although in the previous half year, he had been focused on revenge, outwardly scattered, inwardly self-absorbed, and the members of the “Red Gloves” squad had not established a deep friendship, but they were always teammates who had fought side by side and experienced danger together, so it was inevitable that he would be more concerned.
”They are cooperating with Crested Butte to complete a mission.” Anthony Stevenson didn’t answer in detail.
His Excellency Cecima also came to Bekrand ah …… Leonard did not ask more questions and nodded four times clockwise on his chest:
”May the Goddess bless everyone.”
”Praise the Goddess.” Anthony returned the same gesture.
Exiting the Archbishop’s study, Leonard made his way down, preparing to enter the underground, find a quiet room, and make a list of the tasks that needed to be done, labeling them in order of priority.
On the way, walking on the stairs, he subconsciously looked up and glanced at the stained glass window high above him.
The sunlight shone in from there, making the colorful patchwork pattern more and more solemn, making the fluttering dust and tiny flying insects clear.
At this sight, Leonard remembered the old man’s description of Amon, and somehow had the illusion that the air was full of the “blasphemer”.
He shuddered inwardly, then had a doubt, and lowered his voice to say:
”Old man, I have a question.”
”What?” Palles Zoroaster asked slowly.
Leonard lowered his voice and said:
”Why didn’t you parasitize flying insects in the first place? They’re smaller, more stealthy, and can easily hide inside the church without fear of being found by Amon.”
”How long can a flying insect live? Always shifting the host is also a great drain on itself, so that not only will it not be able to recover a little bit through parasitization, but it will also make the state worse and shorten its life.” Palles Zoroaster grunted and said.
Leonard had a moment of clarity and asked a follow-up question:
”What about other creatures? The kind that can live relatively long and sneak into churches unnoticed.”
Palles Zoroaster snorted at once:
”You seem to have not been taking some of the things I said to heart, and that is going to be a big loss later on!
”On the path of Transcendence, the higher the sequence, the more madness and out-of-control tendencies one accumulates; this is the nature of the trait, which can only be suppressed and countered, not eliminated.
”Therefore, for ‘parasites’, the selection of the host object must take this aspect into consideration, if they parasitize ordinary animals, it’s only short-term behavior that’s fine, if it’s for a long period of time, they will inevitably be affected by the structure of the body and the hormones, huh, everything is mutual, isn’t it? The ‘parasite’ can affect the host, and the host in turn affects him.
”Once you’ve boarded inside the body of an ordinary animal, you usually have to talk to people a lot, not forgetting who you used to be, in this way, the risk of exposure is extremely high, and if you don’t, you will definitely be affected by the host object, gradually losing your voice, confusing your self-orientation, and not being able to figure out who you really are, and being overpowered by the tendency of madness and loss of control step by step. ”
Leonard listened with inexplicable alarm and nodded slightly:
”I understand …… no wonder you have to be strict in choosing your boarding partners.”
”Are you trying to flatter yourself?” Palles Zoroaster tsked, “For us, the most suitable boarding subjects are undoubtedly the Extraordinary of this Pathway, all aspects will be in sync, and, after nurturing them one sequence at a time, they can also be made to be a supplement to their own transcendent power, a potent medicine for their own ego state, and take that body for themselves. ”
Listening to the old man speak rather flatly about something so evil and so horrible, Leonard frowned slightly while secretly sighing in relief because it meant that the other man wouldn’t do that to him.
Palles Zoroaster continued:
”The next best choice is the extraordinary people of the two paths of ‘Diviner’ and ‘Apprentice’, the absorption of their power won’t be too much of a burden on the state of the ‘Parasite’ It can be recovered relatively quickly.
”Even worse are the other pathways of minded extraordinarys, who at least communicate well and know how to cooperate.
”As for you, hey ……”
Leonard was about to say something back to the old man when he suddenly saw a bishop traveling from the bottom of the stairs, and hastily closed his mouth, pressed the handrail, and quickened his pace.
……
7:30 p.m. 39 Birklund Street, home of Senator Macht.
Klein, dressed in a tuxedo, stepped out of his carriage as he buttoned up his clothing, and entered the foyer, set off by a fountain of lights, to see Murray Macht in his olive-green uniform with orange and red ribbons and combat medals.
His wife, Liana, in a strapless gown, smiled at Dawn Dantes:
”Welcome, our traveler, all are waiting for you to share what you’ve seen this time in East and West Byron.”
”Should I get a newspaper and start a travel column then?” Klein responded in a joking manner.
Councilor Macht knew exactly what kind of business Dawn Dantes was going to the Southern Continent for, and it would have originated from his introduction, so after exchanging smiles with the other party, he took the initiative to step forward, gave a hug, and pressed his voice to say:
”Good job!”
Klein smiled and nodded, turning to ask:
”Do you still like the gift?”
He pointed to the bottle of Riverdale wine that could be used for sour cocktails.
”Fantastic, that’s a flavor I’ll miss.” Senator Macht said sincerely.
Klein was about to enter the hall when he noticed something was wrong and asked with a casual sweep and a slightly puzzled look:
”Miss Hazel is not here?
”Already gone to the girls’ public school?”
Mrs. Lilliana sighed and shook her head:
”No, she is only ill, and the public school is not until September.”
”A cold?” Klein expressed the concern a guest should have.
Councilor Macht laughed helplessly:
”No, she was bitten by a crazy rat when she went to the suburban estate a few days ago, and the wound hasn’t completely healed yet.”
Hazel was bitten …… by a crazy mouse …… Klein nodded thoughtfully:
”Did you go to the doctor?
”Well, did the rat ever get caught?”
”The doctor did inject her with medication to prevent infection.” Councilman Macht said simply, “The rat hasn’t been found yet, maybe we’ll have to keep a few cats on the property.”