The Faceless Man Chapter 145 – The Sun’s Worries
On the luxurious carriage leaving the Earl of Hall’s house.
Luke was chatting with Lady Mary about the distinguished guests, such as Sir Des Shaw, Chairman of the Air Pollution Investigation Committee, Director of the National Weather Service, Mr. Cave, Member of the Air Pollution Investigation Committee, President of the Meteorological Society of the Royal Household, Member of the House of Commons, and Mr. Hoeksley, the renowned doctor and head of the Medical and Health Care Department of the County of Muleshoe.
They are all men of wide influence in the Government, the Crown or the House of Commons, and the report ultimately made by this Commission will be the most important basis for the scheduled Anti-Pollution Bill, the Smoke Abatement Bill.
It is this progress that Cowiem, which specializes in anthracite coal and charcoal, is trying to push and accelerate so that the aging but huge competitors won’t have time to make the transition.
”They certainly won’t skimp on the golden pounds and will certainly lobby the heavyweight MPs as a way of interfering with our investigations, we have to have a clear plan of how to deal with this, and as Mr. Hibbert Hall says, we have to get hold of public opinion and get the newspapers and magazines to repeatedly proclaim the horrors of smoke pollution …… “Luke, a senior manager at Cowiem, was a key aide to Mary, the majority shareholder, in her mastery of the company, and he was quite capable in his own right.
Between small talk, Luke suddenly noticed his wife sitting next to him but not saying a word, as if she had lost her soul.
”Starling, did something happen?” Luke asked with concern.
Starling came back to her senses and squeezed out a smile:
”Nothing, just a little tired.”
”Yeah, after meeting so many big names, your spirit must have been highly tense, now that you can finally relax, it’s normal to be tired, in fact, I’m the same.” Luke smiled and laughed.
Starling didn’t respond to him, but looked out the window in a daze, looking towards the park with the lake.
Her ears were still vaguely echoing the careless words of the noble girl from before:
”Four hundred and fifty pounds.”
”A well-trained hound costs between 450 and 700 pounds.”
……
Silver City, bottom of the round tower.
Derek Berg had been trapped in his small room, eating and taking his medication on a regular schedule, his mental state was improving by leaps and bounds, and the hallucinations and visions were no longer present.
Another day or two, should be able to go out …… always stay in this kind of environment, really suffocating panic …… Next door to the former exploration squad leader, was locked up for a full forty two years, surprisingly, still very lucid and sane, in my place, surely have gone insane …… However, the exploration deeds and strange monsters he told were fascinating and even a little scary …… Derek sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the candle that had burned to the end.
He would be in true darkness until the caretaker brought the next food and potion.
Just then, a gray mist suddenly filled his eyes and the low voice of the Fool rang in his ears:
”Prepare for the party.”
The change was instantaneous, and Derek withdrew his attention, subconsciously counting his heartbeats.
He soon realized that this was unnecessary, however, as his current state was one of solitude and he did not need to avoid others.
Derek, who was no longer counting his heartbeats, soon thought of a problem:
That is, he is at the bottom of the round tower within the seal of the magical item, Mr. “Fool” subsequent pulling people into the gray fog above the action will be detected, be detected?
This was one of the two magical items that had prevented Silver City from being completely destroyed during several crises!
In the midst of apprehension and uncertainty, Derek, who had never been able to make a decision, saw the boundless crimson rays of light pouring out of the void, and saw them drown themselves in just one rush.
The small, closed room was so quiet that even the sound of breathing was faint to the extreme.
Suddenly, there was a soft thud against the metal wall that separated Derek and the former Quest leader.
This was the code word for the two to seek a chat with each other.
”Atsushi!”
The opposite party flexed their fingers and tapped again.
After that, the third one, which should have followed soon after, did not appear for a long time.
After a while, the sound of “Atsushi” sounded hesitantly again, and then both rooms fell into silence, no more movement.
……
Audrey, having finished her luncheon, practiced a little on the piano, and made her way back to her bedroom at the right time.
Passing her father, the Earl of Hall’s study, she saw the door half closed and a thick stack of papers on her desk.
”Something that wasn’t there before ……,” Audrey said with curiosity, slowing her pace and giving a wink to Susie, the big blonde dog.
Become a “spectator” Suzie, often only need a little small hint, can understand the master wants to make their own what to do, of course, it will occasionally pretend not to understand, just willing to lie still.
Receiving the secret signal, Suzy, in a silent trot, slipped into the study, then poked out two front legs, propped up on the edge of the table, and stood upright.
It took a quick glance at the first page of the stack of papers, returned to Audrey, and lowered its voice:
”A survey of the living conditions of all classes in the East End, Docklands and Factory District.”
”Audrey, what does this mean?”
A survey of the living conditions of all classes in the East End, Docklands and Factory District? Why would Dad suddenly do this survey? I don’t remember mentioning anything like that to him ah …… Audrey was puzzled for a while and didn’t care to answer Susie’s question.
She looked around and saw that the servants were in their places and did not pay special attention to herself, so, slightly raising her head, she calmly and naturally turned around and entered Earl Hall’s study.
Coming to the desk, Audrey looked down at the survey and realized that the title did indeed match what Susie had described.
Well, it’s a typewritten document, the investigator is a reporter called Mike Joseph, and there is the sacred emblem of the Goddess at the bottom …… This was commissioned by the Church of the Goddess? But why give Dad a copy? Well, Dad is a devotee of the Goddess and the Church wants him to give some support in this matter? This is a good thing …… Audrey made an initial judgment.
She originally had the idea of hiring someone to do a similar survey, but felt that it was not in line with her own intentions of secretly guiding, and that it would be easy to manifest a sense of existence and no longer be ignored by the other nobles, so she had been hesitant to try it.
Audrey reached out and flipped through the documents, realizing that the report on the Eastern District, Docklands, and Factory District was not the only one from Mike Joseph, but there were quite a few others who had made field investigations from different perspectives.
Several of them even mentioned the spread of cults and the collusion between some of the Extraordinary People and the gangs.
Hoo …… Audrey looked at the wall clock in the study and saw that it was already close to three o’clock, so she gave up her intention to read it carefully and restored the document to its original state.
Before going out, she casually drew a book and disguised it as the purpose for which she had come in.
……
At exactly three o’clock, while the tolling of the wall clock was still echoing, Audrey had appeared in the deep red illusory glow of the majestic palace, at the side of the ancient long table.
She sketched a smile and rose to salute the uppermost head:
”Good afternoon, Mr. ‘Fool’~”
After receiving a gentle nod in response, she greeted “The Inverted Man,” “The World,” and “The Magician” individually, and was keenly aware that “Sun “seems a bit uneasy.
”What are you worried about?” Audrey asked out loud.
This allowed Klein, who could also see that the state of the little “sun” was not right, to no longer need to speak on his own.
He, who had entered this mysterious space in advance, had slightly cleaned up the items placed on the tabletop, throwing things such as the Aztec Copper Whistle, the Biotoxin Vial, and the Spirit Order Copper Whistle into a corner and completely covering them with a dense gray mist.
Now, the table in front of him is only covered with a “Black Emperor” card.
This is enough to match the identity of the “Fool”!
”Sun” Derek did not hide, immediately put his “pretend to be sick” success, was sent to the bottom of the round tower isolation treatment of the matter completely told once, and finally asked:
”Respected ‘Fool’ Mr., that magical object will find me to participate in the Tarot Club?”
How do I know …… I’m not even sure what it is …… But, for the time being, nothing or weird or powerful has tried to invade …… Well, not even the “The Eternal Sun” and “The True Creator” have not been able to find this place …… Klein tapped his fingers on the edge of the bronze table and replied with a “relaxed” look. ” replied:
”Normally, it can’t find it.”
”But certain magical items possess peculiar effects.”
Seeing Mr. “Fool” give an affirmative answer, Derek was instantly relieved, and he hmmmed:
”I don’t know what peculiar effects it has either.”
”It’s one of Silver City’s top secrets.”
Speaking of which, he suddenly remembered what the former questing squad leader had told him and asked offhandedly:
”Have you guys ever heard of this person Amon?”
Amon? Klein remembered the source of the familiarity after a little thought.
But he didn’t rush to answer, instead, he turned his gaze to the “Hanged Man”, he knew very well that this middle-ranking member of the Storm Church also knew about “Amon” and probably knew more than he did, similarly, “Justice” Audrey also looked at him. Similarly, Audrey “Justice” also looked at the “Inverted Man”, the last time she heard of this name, it was from the other side.
”Forsythe the Magician listened with a bewildered look on his face, feeling that what was being discussed here was outside of his knowledge.
”The Inverted Man” Alger, on the other hand, frowned, puzzled, and asked in return:
”In your Silver City’s exploration of the surrounding area, you encountered a person who calls himself Amon?”
”Or, found similar accounts?”
”Sun,” Derek said with a serious nod:
”Yes. Forty-two years ago, a small team of explorers encountered a man who called himself Amon in the depths of darkness, and upon their return to Silver City, they went mad and out of control one after another, with only one remaining, imprisoned at the bottom of the Round Tower, right, right next door to me.”
”Perhaps, he went mad, too, and that’s just conjecture …… “The Magician” Forsyth, with his extensive experience in writing fiction, offered a guess.
”Alger, the Hanged Man, glanced at Mr. Fool at the top of the table, and seeing that K. was calm and unperturbed, made no indication, and then boldly said:
”Conjecture is a possibility, but one does not come up with the name ‘Amon’ without reason.”
He looked sideways at “Sun” and said:
”In the Fourth Age, er, fifteen hundred years ago in the realm we live in, or more, there was once such a family that wielded such bizarre power, and they belonged to the Tudor dynasty, with the family name of none other than Amon.”
”Even in those times, when there were many powerful people of the High Sequence, this family’s surname was a taboo.”