Volume 7 The Inverted Man Chapter 51 “Arrogance”
”What is this place?” Audrey asked without much change in her demeanor, as if inquiring about the location of tonight’s ball.
Paulie Delrau, the self-proclaimed president of the Society of Psychological Alchemy, likewise cast his eyes out the window and smiled:
”It’s the city of everyone’s heart.
”It’s wherever there are people.”
Audrey nodded thoughtfully:
”That means it can be accessed from any corner of human society?”
Delrau rubbed her wheelchair:
”Right.”
Without much explanation, he turned to point at the pedestrians outside the carriage window:
”Everything here has a corresponding psychological symbol, they’re called ‘bestiality’.”
Beastly Lust …… Audrey repeated the word word wordlessly, and, while maintaining a dignified sitting position, set her eyes farther apart.
Among the “pedestrians” were, besides werewolves, bears walking upright, cats with a languid look, a strange man with the face of a spotted spider, giant rats with red eyes, pythons spitting out their cores, and some kind of canine creature scrutinizing every passerby in the vicinity with a gaze full of desire to mate! ……
They wore bowler hats and trench coats, or long, dark dresses of exquisite complexity, trying their best to imitate human beings in every detail, but unable to make themselves truly human.
The carriage traveled in the dark night, passing through the “pedestrians” and various Gothic buildings, and soon arrived at a church in the center of the city.
The church was more than eighty meters high, and was supported by a single black pillar, each of which was inlaid with a certain number of cranial bones, some of which were human and some of which were of different origins, but all of which pointed their empty eyes downwards as if they were staring at every living being that entered the church.
Like most of the buildings in this place, this church was exquisite in every detail, but what made them up were elements that favored nightmares, thrills, horror, and mystery.
Stepping out of the carriage and through the front door, Audrey saw a grand but empty hall.
In the depths of the hall, there stood a huge cross with a gray and white dragon statue wrapped around it.
Unlike ordinary churches, there were no rows and rows of seats for believers to pray, nor was there a place for candlesticks, only in front of the dragon statue, a modest long table was placed, with five chairs on each side of the table, with the top and the bottom both empty.
Paulie Delrau maneuvered his wheelchair to the very top of the long table, then pointed to his left:
”Have a seat.”
Audrey followed him unhurriedly, glancing left and right, casually pulling out a chair and sitting down.
She was not too close or too far from the psycho-alchemist society president, just enough to show her wariness without appearing to be faint-hearted.
Paulie Delrau raised his hands and interlocked them in a pestle and mortar to the surface of the long table:
”Miss Audrey, there’s something I’d like to ask you.”
”Go ahead.” Audrey’s head turned slightly, responding to the other’s gaze with her turquoise eyes.
Delrau nodded slightly and said:
”I would like to know how you were promoted to Sequence 4 ‘Manipulator’, and where did you get your magic potion formula and extraordinary properties?”
Audrey answered frankly:
”From a trade.
”A client wanted the help of a demigod of the ‘Audience’ pathway, and paid in advance for the ‘Manipulator’ magic potion formula and extraordinary traits.”
Delrau let out a laugh:
”To think there is such a thing? The conditions are generous like a father looking for an excuse to give his daughter a gift.
”Can you tell me exactly what kind of help you offered?”
”Rounding up another demigod. In this matter, mental control is quite crucial.” Audrey explained briefly.
Her manner was calm, as if she was talking about what the homework assigned by the governess was.
Delrau’s long and bushy eyebrows moved a little and said:
”Success?”
”The results are obvious.” Audrey gave the answer relatively politely.
Delrau looked her up and down for a few moments, seemingly realizing that the noble girl on his left was a “manipulator” who could kill other demigods.
Audrey read his thoughts and added:
”I’m just one of the participants.”
Delrau nodded and said:
”Do you know where that commissioner got his ‘manipulator’ magic potion formula and extraordinary properties from?”
”He didn’t state that directly.” Audrey gave her reply in a statement that had been constructed long ago.
”He? Can you tell me who he is?” Delrau asked with deliberation.
Audrey had been on the lookout for the other party’s “virtual personality” to infiltrate her psychic island, but she hadn’t noticed anything unusual from the beginning until now.
This made her wonder if the other party didn’t need to infiltrate, just observing the movements of the collective subconscious sea around her, she was able to gain insight into her truest thoughts.
Without making a cover-up, she replied calmly:
”It involves a pact I made with him, and I think that keeping one’s word should be a moral standard that is shared all over the world, and in the occult, it involves even more.”
Speaking of which, Audrey volunteered:
”If you can’t really trust me because of this issue of concealment, I’m willing to accept it.
”I can just be an ordinary member and exchange my contribution for as much psychological research information as I can.”
Delrau smiled at that:
”Everyone has their own secrets, that’s normal, what I need to assess is whether your secrets will affect the safe operation of the entire Psychological Alchemy Society.”
He gave Audrey a deep look and added:
”So can you tell me how you came to know such a client?”
”As I recall I had reported to you that before joining the Society of Psychic Alchemy I had already made some contacts in occult circles and met several extraordinary people.” Audrey spoke words that really couldn’t be more true.
As for what the real logical order of those answers just now was, that was another matter.
Moreover, the fact that Hwyn Lambeth’s “disappearance” had originated from the investigation of Forsyth and Hugh was a fact that had not been communicated to either party, but was absolutely recognized by both.
Delrau withdrew his hands from the table and placed them between his chest and stomach:
”One more question, when was the last time you saw Hwyn Lambeth?”
Audrey frowned slightly:
”I remember you all asking that once.”
After Hwyn Lambeth’s death, she didn’t immediately cut ties with the Psychological Alchemy Society, and still maintained some contact with the upper echelons through Hilbert, Stephen, and Yslante, and waited until the war loomed over Berkland before she realized that the members affiliated with her own group of psychic seminars couldn’t be contacted for a variety of reasons.
”I need to reconfirm this in person.” Delrau said in a calm manner.
Audrey nodded softly:
”The last time I saw Commissioner Hwyn Lambeth was within Viscount Grelint’s mansion, and at that time, as he instructed, I hypnotized two friends of the Extraordinary Ones that I knew, asking them why they were investigating Viscount Sturford, and who the masterminds behind it were.
”At that time, Commissioner Hwyn Lambeth was nearby, making sure that the hypnosis was not accidental, and when he was informed of the answer, he quickly left.
”I never saw him again after that day.”
As she answered, Audrey continued to guard her mind island against intrusion, but it was calm and nothing happened there.
Instead of feeling relieved, Audrey became more and more wary of even thinking about anything related to Mr. Fool or Germaine Sparrow of the World.
She was sure of one thing: whenever she was in danger of being exposed, Mr. Fool would surely provide shelter.
”Consistent with the previous answer.” Delrau nodded slowly.
He then looked into Audrey’s turquoise eyes and said frankly:
”My inability to use occult methods to trace the source of that extraordinary trait within you suggests that there is an existence beyond imagination behind that provider.”
Audrey nodded her head slightly harder to indicate that she felt the same way.
”I can’t force you not to cooperate and trade with other extraordinary people, it’s impractical, I just want you to commit to one thing, not to disclose anything related to the Psycho-Alchemy Society to anyone, or at least, you’ll have to wrap it up well and hide the secret when you want to delegate certain tasks out.” Delrau said calmly as he withdrew his gaze.
Audrey responded without hesitation:
”I promise not to tell anything related to the Psycho-Alchemy Society to beings who do not have the corresponding authority.”
She took the initiative to amplify the concept of a person to a living being to patch up the loophole in her promise.
And as soon as her words left her mouth, she felt one intention after another emerge from within her psychic island.
These ideas intertwined and turned into an illusory net, seeping into Audrey’s mind island and turning into her subconscious.
Because this “web of restriction” came from Audrey’s own spirituality, even if she became an angel, she would be powerless to remove it, and she would lose the will to communicate about matters related to the Psycho-Alchemy Society when she faced non-members of the Psycho-Alchemy Society or Psycho-Alchemy Society members with insufficient authority.
And she herself is incapable of recognizing this.
He didn t invade my mind island, and just by my own words, he made the promise into substance …… While Audrey was shocked in her heart, it was not so obvious on the surface.
Of course, she didn’t completely refrain from being surprised that such tactics were the instinctive response of a “manipulator”.
Based on this, she suspected that either there was something wrong with the city within the mind, or that Del Rau, the head of the Psychological Alchemy Society, was more than a Saint.
Seeing Audrey’s commitment, Delrau pointed to the long table with satisfaction and said:
”From now on, you are a member of the Psychological Alchemy Society’s panel.
”You can choose a personality mask as your codename.”
As he spoke, seven grayish-white, rather illusory, and unusually cold masks appeared on the long table, five of which were each placed in their respective positions, seemingly already having owners.
”There are two remaining personality masks, one for ‘Rage’ and one for ‘Arrogance’.” Delrau introduced, “They come from the sacred texts of that Creator of the Third Age.”
Audrey thought for a second and put her hand up to the personality mask that didn’t contain anger:
”I’ll go with ‘Arrogance’.”
Delrau gave her a look and said with a low smile:
”That was Hwyn Lambeth’s choice back in the day.”