On the platform of the Tivian West Station, Gregorius paused slightly after seeing the three men in front of him. After seeing the badges they held in their hands, he knew what was going on.
A crown and a sword, paired with swirling wind and a crescent moon, the badge was the emblem of the Prit An-Yin Bureau, slightly modified from the Prit Royal Family's emblem. Gregorius was very familiar with it.
'These are the people sent by the Main Bureau to pick me up...'
Looking at the scene before him, Gregorius made a judgment in his heart, then replied with a smile.
"I am Gregorius Meshaus. Thank you for your trouble. Please lead the way."
Gregorius said this, and the men in front of him also nodded, put away their badges, and turned to walk back. One of them reached out to take Gregorius's box, and Gregorius gave it to him.
Led by the men, Gregorius walked out of the train station. At the bustling and lively intersection in front of the station, he saw a large black carriage parked on the side of the road.
After that, Gregorius got into the carriage with the men, sitting in a carriage that was much more spacious than a normal one. Then, several fine horses began to pull the carriage, and it started to move.
Gregorius sat inside the carriage, feeling the subtle bumps. The windows of the carriage were closed, so he couldn't see the streetscape outside. He didn't know which street the carriage was on at this moment, or where it was heading. Gregorius understood that this method was to prevent him from knowing the location of the Main Bureau.
"Heh... I say, gentlemen, I will be working for the Bureau very soon. Won't not knowing the location be a bit inconvenient?"
With a smile, Gregorius said jokingly to the men sitting in front of him, and the leader of the group replied easily.
"This is just routine, Mr. Mays House. Until you are officially appointed, you are not one of us. According to regulations, any outsider who is not an official member entering the Main Bureau must do so in this manner."
"By the way, my name is McFoody. I work in the review department and am responsible for your face-to-face review. Please cooperate fully later."
The liaison named McFoody in front of Gregorius said this and extended his hand. Gregorius saw this and smiled as he extended his hand to shake hands with him.
'That's right. I haven't been officially appointed yet, and the review hasn't passed. This measure is understandable.'
Gregorius thought this in his heart. Just like that, he continued to move forward in the enclosed carriage, feeling a bit bored for a while. He looked at the local Tivian newspapers on the table in front of him, picked them up curiously, and started reading them, then was attracted by the news and advertisements from the big city.
'Oh... there are so many things to do in this big city. Circuses, amusement parks, racetracks, department stores, art exhibitions, theaters... and even... movie theaters?! Many of these are things that Igwinte doesn't have... they all look very interesting. If I have free time working here, I can take Dorothy to play. A child her age should be interested in amusement parks and circuses...'
Looking at the content of the newspaper in his hand, Gregorius thought with novelty in his heart. Longing for the big city, he suddenly began to look forward to his new life even more. As he continued to turn the pages of the newspaper, he was attracted by a large picture of a charming woman on one of the pages.
'This woman... so beautiful. Dancing star Adele... Is she a star in Tivian? She's really beautiful...'
Staring directly at the celebrity photo in the newspaper, Gregorius couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Although the clarity of photos in newspapers of this era was limited and they were all in black and white, they could not hide the charm of the woman in the photo. Looking at the photo in the newspaper, Gregorius thought that it was indeed a big city, even the stars were so good-looking.
'As expected of the capital, there are so many things to do. However, on the other hand, the public security here doesn't seem to be very good. Case reports are published quite frequently, and the efficiency of the police here seems to be a bit low. They actually need to rely on Detectives to help solve problems. I don't know if these are related to the hidden world.'
Continuing to flip through the newspaper in his hand, after reading reports of many cases, he continued to think in his heart. As time passed, he was also approaching his destination.
Finally, after about an hour and a half, Gregorius felt the carriage he was in begin a long descent. The surrounding light began to become darker, and the only light source in the carriage became a lit gas Light. Gregorius knew that the carriage seemed to have entered underground.
The carriage's descent only lasted for a while, then stopped. After that, the people on the carriage got up and opened the door. Gregorius also put down the newspaper in his hand and followed them. After getting off the carriage, he found himself in an underground stable. Many empty carriages without horses were parked on the side of the spacious underground space. People were moving horses in and out from other places, harnessing them to the carriages. Hunters in uniform were riding carriages towards the uphill exit.
"Please continue to follow us, Mr. Mays House."
After only observing for a moment or two, McFoody and the others beside Gregorius spoke. Gregorius listened and followed them without saying anything more. After leaving the underground stable, they entered a long corridor. They walked forward along the corridor, occasionally passing by other people. Some were clerks holding documents, and some were Hunters in uniform.
After turning left and right several times in the corridor full of forks, and finally passing through a door with a Hui Jian Lamp hanging on it, Gregorius finally walked out of the corridor. With a sudden expanse before his eyes, he arrived in an extremely spacious underground space.
This was an underground hall. Thick Stone pillars three or four stories high were neatly arranged in rows, supporting the wide dome. A strange, huge gem was embedded in the center of the dome, emitting a cold white Light, illuminating the dark space along with countless bright Lights hanging on the walls.
People were coming and going in the underground hall. On the most prominent high wall in the hall, the white and blue national flag of the Prit Kingdom with overlapping cross stripes was hanging high. What was most attractive in this hall was not the huge national flag hanging high, but a tall statue standing in the center of the hall.
This was a statue of a goddess. The goddess was wearing a long robe and lowering her hands slightly, holding a round mirror in front of her chest with both hands. A crescent moon was inscribed in the mirror. The goddess's head had long hair flowing straight down, so long that it even spread onto the pedestal where her bare feet stood. The face of the goddess statue seemed to have been specially treated and was extremely blurred, only barely showing the facial features, but one could still feel that the expression the goddess was displaying should be one of serene tranquility with her eyes closed.
The moment he stepped onto the marble floor of the underground hall, Gregorius froze. His eyes were fixed on the goddess statue standing under the dome of the hall, his expression far more focused than when he had seen the photo of the female star in the carriage earlier.
Gregorius stared blankly at the goddess statue in front of him, his mouth slightly open, feeling an indescribable strangeness in his heart. His eyes were fixed on the very blurred face of the goddess statue, and a sense of familiarity arose spontaneously.
'This statue, why does it feel like I've seen it somewhere before, but I can't remember? Strange... I've never seen this kind of statue since I was a child? But why does it feel so familiar...'
Slightly furrowing his brows, Gregorius thought this in his heart. Just then, the people who had been leading him also noticed Gregorius's abnormality.
"Mr. Mays House? What's wrong?"
The leader, McFoody, reminded Gregorius. Hearing this reminder, Gregorius immediately reacted, then turned around with a smile and replied.
"Oh... nothing, I'm just a little interested in this Stone statue. What exactly is this Stone statue carved? It shouldn't be the Holy Mother, right?" Gregorius asked the guide beside him, and the other person thought for a moment before answering Gregorius.
"This... this is certainly not a Holy Mother statue... but I don't know what kind of statue it is."
"You don't know either?"
"Yes, not only me, but no one in the entire Main Bureau knows who this Stone statue is, whether it is a person or a god. This statue has been in the Main Bureau for a long time, but no one knows its origin.
"According to some senior staff, this statue existed here before the An Yin Bureau was established, no… even before the Kingdom was established. Although it is obviously a god statue, it is very likely some otherworld or even pagan god, and our headquarters may even be its temple, but no director has ordered it to be demolished, and the people of the Church have not made any statement, so it has been left here.
"Although the origin of this god statue is unknown, we privately refer to this as the moon saintess statue… Of course, it's just a joke, don't take it seriously."
The guide said this to Gregorius, and listening to Mr. Mays House's words, Gregorius looked at the god statue in front of him with a thoughtful expression for a moment, as if thinking about something, but he didn't come up with anything, so he could only withdraw his gaze and continue to follow Mr. Mays House forward.
Following Mr. Mays House, Gregorius crossed the hall, and after wandering around this underground building for a long time, he arrived at the place where he was to be examined, a special unit, and the examination work for Gregorius began.
The face-to-face examination work for Gregorius lasted for several hours. Even though Gregorius was well prepared in all aspects, due to the long examination process, he felt a little tired of responding for a while. During this process, he couldn't help but wonder if the Eight Point Nest member who planned to impersonate him could really pass this examination, then he must have memorized his experience inside and out.
Finally, after the examination ended, Gregorius breathed a sigh of relief, and Mr. Mays House smiled and spoke to Gregorius who was sitting behind the desk.
"Mr. Mays House, your examination results are being processed, but I have read all the materials, and there should be no problem. Now, please follow me to another place."
In the examination room, Mr. Mays House spoke to Gregorius who was drinking water, and Gregorius, who put down the water cup, couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Another place? Is there anything else that needs to be examined?"
"No, it's not an examination, but someone else wants to see you."
"Someone wants to see me?"
Listening to Mr. Mays House's words, Gregorius couldn't help but feel puzzled for a moment, but he stood up without hesitation and followed Mr. Mays House out of the examination room.
He continued to walk around the underground building for a long time, and to his surprise, he was not taken to a deeper place underground, but went all the way up to the ground.
Through the window outside the corridor, Gregorius could see the sunlight and forest outside, as well as the towering wall and the soldiers on guard. There were also cannons on the wall, and patrolling soldiers on the stone road below the wall. He seemed to be in the interior of a military fortress.
'Is the location of the An-Yin Main Bureau inside a fortress somewhere in the forest outside Tivian? Or is the fortress a disguise for the Main Bureau? Just like the Igwinte branch used a department store as a disguise?"
Gregorius speculated in his heart, but he continued to follow Mr. Mays House forward, and the people he met along the way were not only Hunters and clerks, but also soldiers wearing the standard Prit red and white military uniforms.
Finally, under the guidance of Mr. Mays House, Gregorius came to a sparsely populated corridor inside the fortress. At this time, a double-opening wooden door stood in front of them.
Standing in front of the door, Mr. Mays House straightened his collar, then knocked a few times gently, and after a while, he heard a strong voice from inside.
"Please come in."
Hearing the response from inside the door, Mr. Mays House pushed open the door and walked in, and what appeared before him and Gregorius was a very luxuriously decorated large office, with carpets, sofas, coffee tables, large bookshelves, several high-quality oil paintings hanging on the wall, and several beast head specimens. On the ceiling of the office, there was a large Hui Jian Lamp shining, and on the wall behind the large office desk, there was a map of the entire Prit area.
There were two figures at the office desk. Standing in front of the office desk was a middle-aged man with a slightly plump figure. He was wearing casual clothes, was a little bald, and had a small mustache.
Sitting behind the office desk was a slightly younger man. He looked to be in his early thirties, with short blond hair, a clean and tidy face, a regular and long face shape, handsome features, a high nose and sharp eyes. He was wearing a military uniform that only high-ranking Prit military officers could wear. There were military ranks on the shoulders of the military uniform, but Gregorius, who was not familiar with the Prit army system, did not know what this military rank was.
"Since the Church has proposed it, let's arrange it this way, Apro. If that guy can wake up earlier, we can also ask for things earlier."
The man in the military uniform said to the mustached man named Apro in front of him, and the other party nodded and immediately responded.
"Understood, I will go and tell them now."
Then, the man named Apro turned around and quickly left the office, and at this time, the man in the military uniform also turned his gaze to Gregorius and Mr. Mays House at the door, and Mr. Mays House also bowed to the other party and said.
"Captain, I have brought the person, and the examination is fine."
Listening to Mr. Mays House's words, Gregorius's heart skipped a beat, and then he looked at the man behind the office desk in front of him with slightly widened eyes.
Mr. Mays House called the other party Captain, and this was the An Yin Bureau Main Bureau, so the other party's identity could only be one, and that was the Captain of the An-Yin Main Bureau, the real power figure who manages the entire An Yin Bureau system across the country! The head of the Prit Kingdom government's secret countermeasure system!
I actually met the big leader directly on my first day at the Main Bureau!?
After realizing the other party's identity, Gregorius felt a little stunned for a while. He never expected to meet his direct superior as soon as he came to the Main Bureau. There was no need for such a big official to personally manage the promotion of a small soldier like him.
And this Captain looks so young… He looks to be in his early thirties, not yet forty, much younger than Mr. James. Can he be the Captain of the Main Bureau at this age?
Gregorius thought with some confusion in his heart, and at this time, the man behind the desk nodded, waved his hand to signal Mr. Mays House to retreat, and Mr. Mays House understood and immediately retreated and closed the door. For a while, only Gregorius and the man in the military uniform behind the desk were left in the office.
In Gregorius's eyes, the man slowly got up from his seat, walked in front of Gregorius with his military boots, and looked at Gregorius twice. His gaze made Gregorius very nervous for a while.
"Uh… Captain… You…"
"You must be Gregorius Meshaus, my name is Harold Despenser, it's nice to meet you, a promising young man from Igwinte."
The man named Harold said to Gregorius, and extended a hand ready to shake hands, and after hearing the other party's name, Gregorius was stunned again, for no other reason than that he was very familiar with the other party's surname.
No, not only was he very familiar, but all the people of the Prit Kingdom should be very familiar. Despenser… This is the Royal surname, the surname of the Royal Family!
Gregorius suddenly discovered that the Captain of the An Yin Bureau Main Bureau, who seemed to also hold a military position, was actually a member of the Royal Family!