"Now?" Lumian jumped in fright.
Though eager to explore the cathedral's underground, not to this extent!
A thought occurred. "Can't we wait until nightfall?"
In the dead of night with only two or three servants left in the cathedral, wouldn't it be easy for Beyonders like them to infiltrate?
Ryan replied gently yet firmly, "Now is the ideal time. Think about it. If we realize there's no one in the cathedral at night and it lacks protection, how could the padre and company not realize the same? I suspect they'll send their strongest to guard it in shifts or set subtle traps. Once triggered, there'll be an alarm.
"And now, it's nearly noon. All villagers have gone home, so no one will come pray at this hour. Furthermore, it's daytime, so the traps won't activate to prevent accidents. With the two padres and servants in the cathedral, it's easy for people to lower their guard. In short, their strongest will be home eating in peace. We only face the padre, deputy padre and three odd-job workers."
Lumian nodded, grasping it, and finished Ryan's thought.
"And before April 3rd, the padre is still an ordinary person without supernatural powers."
Today was April 1st.
"Plus, though the deputy padre seems off, he's clearly not a core member of the padre's team. Same for the three odd-job workers," Leah added with a smile. "Can't four Beyonders handle five ordinary people silently?"
Lumian hesitated before replying, "But won't this make it impossible to reach the twelfth night?"
This amounted to triggering an abnormality on the padre's side. History would change accordingly.
"You said it yourself. Compared to us, the padre and company will hold back until Lent to usher in the twelfth night. As long as we don't kill him, finding someone entering the basement will make him pretend not to notice and accelerate gaining supernatural powers," Leah said smiling. "Gaining power, he might hunt us with the others, but Cordu isn't small and we're not weak. We can hide and stall until Lent."
Lumian accepted this reasoning. "Alright, let's do it now." He reminded them, "But Aurore's eyes haven't fully healed. I'm afraid she can't help us."
Before seeing Madame Pualis, Lumian had checked on Aurore. Her eyes might only recover by evening.
"It's fine. Madame Pualis backs us, doesn't she?" Leah said half-jokingly, the bells above her head ringing.
Lumian no longer objected and cautiously suggested, "Before the cathedral, let's walk around the village and confirm Shepherd Pierre Berry and the dangerous ones are home."
He wanted to avoid running into Pierre and the others, who had received a boon, upon entering the basement.
Ryan nodded approval, agreeing.
Discussing details, Valentine glanced coldly at Lumian. "Do you need cleansing?"
Leah quickly explained on her companion's behalf, "You went into the castle and spoke with Madame Pualis. You might have been corrupted again."
"No, I believe Madame Pualis won't do that this time. It's meaningless." Lumian felt certain.
He had no choice but to feel certain. He dared not let Valentine purify him again. Compared to yesterday, he was already a Dancer. Evil aura had seeped from the seal inside. Once purified by holy water, there would likely be huge trouble.
According to Aurore's analysis, he needed full-body purification.
Seeing Lumian having no issue with it, Valentine, just being kind, naturally said no more.
Then, wandering Cordu, Lumian made his way home and told Aurore their plan.
Aurore was vexed at the inability to join and help. She could only offer to wait in the village edge and restart the cycle if anything went wrong. This required little vision. It sufficed to vaguely see the road. Agreeing to have her restart before anyone came for her at 12:30, Lumian bid Aurore farewell and reconvened with Leah's group.
By then, the three official Beyonders had confirmed where Shepherd Pierre Berry and the padre's core members were.
Making a half detour, they reached the cathedral's side along a small path, the door they had used to catch the padre and Madame Pualis's affair in a previous cycle.
Lumian readied to volunteer when Leah strode over, using a wire to fiddle with the lock and push open the dark wooden door.
Seeing Lumian's surprise, she smiled. "It's a necessary technique for investigation."
Don't make it sound so noble… Lumian didn't voice his thoughts as Leah had already entered the cathedral.
The small silver bells on her veil and boots didn't move or make a sound.
Lumian tried interpreting this.
"It's very safe entering the cathedral. No danger?"
Leah glanced back. "Please add 'limited to dealing with the cathedral's people.'"
Did this mean danger in the basement remained unknown? Lumian roughly understood, gaining insight into divination. However, even improved by Dancer, he lacked divination.
Ryan passed him, following Leah into the cathedral.
Steps in, a servant approached.
In a blink, Ryan rushed over, raised a hand and chopped the servant behind an ear.
The servant crumpled soundlessly. Ryan caught and dragged him into the nearest room.
Leah rushed over, taking a colorless liquid-filled bottle and pouring it down the servant's throat.
"What's this?" Lumian asked, curious.
Leah maintained her smile.
"A sedative."
You're well prepared… Lumian sighed inwardly.
Taking down the three odd-job workers without alerting the padre, Leah crept into the padre's room through the shadows, silently turning the handle and cracking the wooden door. She saw Cordu's mightiest man in a gold-threaded white robe, breathing slowly and deeply on a simple bed.
Plates for lunch and silver cutlery were on a table by the door.
Leah sized him up and leapt in, chopping the padre behind his ear.
Immediately, she poured most of the remaining sedative down Guillaume Bénet's throat.
"That's it?" Lumian stuck his head out from behind Leah.
Wasn't this too easy?
"What else? What did you expect of an ordinary person?" Leah asked, amused.
Lumian tersely acknowledged, lifting the padre's robe.
"What are you doing?" Leah was shocked yet smiling.
Lumian said without turning, "Checking his body."
He wanted to see if the padre had the black thorn symbol on his chest.
Soon, the padre Guillaume Bénet's top half was exposed, revealing nothing but tufts of black hair.
No black thorn symbol. No black mark of a special contract.
Lumian nodded imperceptibly, muttering, Looks like the symbol is received after accepting the boon. Or does it exist now but only activates through Cogitation?
And how did I get mine? The twelfth night?
Thinking the padre Guillaume Bénet might lack the black thorn symbol now, Lumian couldn't help evil thoughts.
If I kill him now, will it trigger the cycle?
How would killing this man in advance impact later events?
Considering the padre's importance later, Lumian— still wanting to wait for the twelfth night—convinced himself otherwise.
Leaving the padre's room, Ryan said to Lumian and Leah, "Can't find the deputy padre."
"Ah?" Lumian hesitated before understanding. "Maybe he's home. He's not allowed to live in the cathedral, and no one brings him food."
"This demon's lackey is truly tyrannical," Valentine cursed, glancing at the padre in the room.
Without further ado, the quartet headed in the opposite direction for the altar.
In a corner loomed a stone staircase, narrow and steep, allowing only one person to pass through.
It ascended into the cathedral's roof before winding deeper underground.
Leah took point. After taking a few flights of stairs to the bottom, the veil and the four small silver bells on her boots rang at the same time.
Ding ding dang dang. The sound wasn't loud but echoed faintly in the small space. Sometimes urgent, sometimes soothing.
"What does this mean?" Lumian struggled to interpret it based on his past encounters.
Leah turned aside and grinned.
"It means there's a level of risk, but I can't determine how serious."
"The divination had worked for the castle…" Lumian muttered to himself in surprise. "Doesn't this mean it's even more dangerous underground?"
"Not necessarily," Leah soothed. "Perhaps it's just interference. Hadn't Madame Pualis been absent at the castle?"
At this point, it was impossible to back out over such a trivial hiccup. They descended the stairs one by one into the depths.
Soon, the four saw an old brown wooden door in the basement.
Leah pinched her glabella and activated her Spirit Vision before approaching the wooden door.
Though Lumian hadn't mastered activating Spirit Vision, with the Dancer's spirituality boost, it didn't take long for him to activate it. He saw everyone glowing red and healthy.
When her companions were set, Leah opened the basement door.
Amidst the creaking, Lumian caught a whiff of a familiar fragrance. Elegant and sweet.
He instantly made the connection and hurriedly told Ryan and the others, "Smells like gray amber."
This was the material used to revere the hidden entity called Inevitability!
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