Baron Brignais didn't immediately respond to Lumian's question. Setting down his mahogany-colored pipe, he calmly took a sip of coffee.
After a moment, he smiled and said, "I'm not an official. I have no obligation to help them capture wanted criminals.
"Turning over anyone who's wanted would cost my Savoie Mob a great deal of valuable talent.
"More importantly, your bounty isn't impressive. It's far from tempting me. However, if you cause any trouble in the market district, I won't hesitate to tie you up and hand you over to the police for a considerable bounty."
The unspoken message from Baron Brignais was clear: There were many wanted criminals in the Savoie Mob. As long as you behaved, he could turn a blind eye.
Lumian understood. "You had someone tail me to confirm my intentions?"
Baron Brignais nodded approvingly.
"I'm glad you comprehend."
Lumian scanned the faces of the thugs, then calmly stated, "You've seen my wanted poster, so you've seen the others.
"My sole purpose in Trier is to find them."
"Excellent." Baron Brignais recognized that Lumian had no intention of crossing the Savoie Mob.
He gestured to the chair opposite the booth.
"Care for a cup of coffee?"
"No need." Lumian declined the offer. "I just want to locate those people as soon as possible."
He spread his arms wide and proclaimed, "Praise the Sun for allowing us to live in the light!"
With that, Lumian turned and strode toward the stairs, unconcerned about the hidden guns of the thugs.
Once his footsteps vanished down the staircase, Baron Brignais turned to the reserved Maxime and said gently,
"Tell me exactly how you were discovered and coerced by him. Spare no detail."
With the mahogany-colored pipe back in his mouth, Baron Brignais leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
Trembling, Maxime recounted his ordeal from start to finish.
After hearing the account, one of the thugs asked indignantly, "Baron, why didn't you teach that punk a lesson? Why let him walk away so easily?"
Baron Brignais tapped the mahogany pipe on the table twice and inquired with a smile, "Teach him a lesson? Do you know his Sequence, his abilities, or his weapons?"
"I don't," the thug admitted.
Baron Brignais rose, gripping the mahogany-colored pipe and smashing it against the thug's head.
Blood flowed from the gash in the thug's forehead, but he didn't dare to cry out or dodge. He stood there, terror etched on his face.
Baron Brignais withdrew the pipe and regarded him coldly.
"You dare challenge him without knowing anything? Go ahead, take my place. Let's see how long you'll survive!"
Ignoring the thug's response, Baron Brignais smiled again.
As he wiped his pipe with a folded white handkerchief from his chest pocket, he casually remarked, "Didn't you notice something off about Lumian Lee's wanted poster?
"The difference between the bounties for capturing him and providing information is too small. One is a mere 3,000 verl d'or, the other 500.
"What does that mean? It means the authorities don't want us handling Lumian Lee directly. They want us to provide intel so they can act themselves.
"Two possible reasons come to mind. First, Lumian Lee is incredibly dangerous. Allowing bounty hunters to pursue him would cause widespread casualties and unnecessary losses. Second, he possesses something valuable that officials don't want to end up in the hands of the bounty hunters.
"If I had just taught Lumian Lee a lesson, the second scenario would've been fine. But if it's the first possibility, what do you think our chances of survival are?"
The thug nodded repeatedly, not daring to argue.
Baron Brignais sat back down, picked up his coffee cup, and continued, "Moreover, based on how he dealt with Maxime and his audacity to approach me directly, I can tell that he's ruthless, decisive, and utterly confident in his abilities.
"I wager that if I had threatened him, demanding his total submission, he would have attacked without hesitation. He's the type who won't hesitate to kill.
"Heh, this is both his strength and his weakness. Unaware of my capabilities or the number of traps laid here, he still dares to confront me with the intention of killing me to ensure my silence. Sooner or later, he'll pay the price."
Baron Brignais sipped his coffee and closed his eyes.
"Let's wait and see if we should offer him assistance and protection. This ruthless country boy with a warrant on his head could prove to be a very useful weapon."
…
Outside the Salle de Bal Brise.
Lumian glanced back at the white spherical statue made of skulls and headed toward the nearest public carriage station.
On his way here, he had already devised a plan to deal with them, but ultimately didn't execute it.
He had expected that if Baron Brignais threatened him with the wanted poster or showed any hostility, he would feign fear and reveal that he was wanted for stealing a powerful Beyonder weapon from Cordu's ruins. He'd offer to hand it over in exchange for protection.
If Baron Brignais was strong and confident, and allowed Lumian to approach with the weapon, Lumian would launch a fake assassination attempt, a ruse to actually hand over the Fallen Mercury to the other party.
In that case, the unsuspecting Baron Brignais would become the evil dirk's puppet due to his gloveless hand. Having interacted with and occasionally "communicated" with Fallen Mercury for some time, Lumian had earned a degree of control over it. As long as it didn't conflict with its instinct to find a knife wielder, it would follow Lumian's orders, even when in someone else's hands.
Eventually, Baron Brignais would abandon his animosity and become an ally. After a few days, when no one suspected Lumian, the baron would mysteriously vanish into the depths of Underground Trier with a handful of his subordinates who knew about the matter, never to be seen again.
If Baron Brignais didn't allow Lumian to approach with Fallen Mercury and instead sent one of his thugs to retrieve the pewter-black dirk, Lumian's strategy would be to first transform the thug into the wielder. Then, he would use cunning to hide the abnormality and give Fallen Mercury the corresponding instructions.
In the future, if he made the puppet attack Baron Brignais, the baron would inherit the fate of being the wielder.
After completing this task, Lumian would escape if possible or surrender and wait for the fate exchange to finish. Even if the puppet died due to exhaustion, as long as Fallen Mercury wasn't severely damaged, the fate exchange wouldn't stop.
As for the torture he might endure after surrendering, Lumian didn't mind. As long as he wasn't dead, he would fully recover by six the next morning.
Regarding the possibility of Baron Brignais becoming a wielder and turning into a zombie with evident signs of decay, Lumian had a solution.
Baron Brignais himself had mentioned that men wearing makeup in Trier was common, and he was likely an avid reader of Men's Aesthetics.
Cologne could mask the stench of decay, and cosmetics could conceal rotting skin!
Truth be told, Lumian had struggled with whether to act in the café on the second floor of the Salle de Bal Brise.
Ultimately, he decided against it because Baron Brignais had shown a degree of kindness to a wanted criminal like him.
Such kindness from a villain often meant they wanted to exploit him.
If Baron Brignais truly wants to use me, he'll definitely help me conceal my identity and inform me of any unusual movements from bounty hunters in advance… As Lumian thought, he smiled.
This was a good thing!
As for the risk of ending up in a dangerous situation due to being used, Lumian already had a plan.
By then, he should be well-acquainted with Baron Brignais.
Familiarity made striking easier!
Lumian had only one option when being used for dangerous and unthinkable tasks: kill Baron Brignais.
Phew… Lumian exhaled and considered how to better disguise himself.
Initially, he had been confident in his disguise. As long as he didn't "reveal" his connection to the padre and Madame Pualis like he had with Anthony Reid, he wouldn't be recognized.
However, the incident with Baron Brignais made him realize that he had underestimated other Beyonders.
If there were Hunters adept at tracking, there might be other Sequences even better at recognizing people.
Baron Brignais or one of his subordinates must possess similar abilities… Lumian nodded imperceptibly.
This was confirmed by the fact that Osta had relocated several times.
With this realization, Lumian halted at the stop sign and boarded a brown double-decker carriage. He paid 30 coppets to secure a spot inside the carriage. Had he chosen a seat on the roof, it would have cost him only 15 coppets.
The carriage gradually moved toward Quartier de l'Observatoire.
Lumian gazed out the window, taking in the sight of hurried passersby dressed in various attire. He observed ringing bicycles, rental carriages from different companies, and humanoid machines composed of gears, valves, pipes, and levers. The metal backpack on its back spewed white steam, propelling it forward step by step.
"Praise the Sun!"
The blazing sun beat down on the pedestrians, their arms outstretched in the street.
Clang! Clang! Clang! The nearby cathedral bell chimed. It was noon.
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