In Prit in the morning, in front of the Sitivian train station, countless travelers bustled back and forth before the station building's main entrance. Many people surged towards the crowded entrance, wanting to leave this huge city full of oppression and suffering, while even more people poured out from the entrance, facing the gray steel and stone jungle before them with anticipation or unease.
However, neither of these two types of people had anything to do with Pearson, because he was an active clergyman of the Tivian Church, with a stable and well-paid job in Tivian. In the name of the Lord, he handled various affairs and consolidated the Lord's authority. As compensation, not only did he not have to worry about his livelihood, but he also possessed some power beyond ordinary mortals.
Pearson, wearing a clergyman's robe and carrying a suitcase, weaved through the crowd with several companions dressed similarly, heading towards the interior of the station. They needed to take a train for a work assignment far away. However, the congested flow of people before them slightly slowed their progress, causing Pearson, as the team leader, to furrow his brow slightly and calculate in his mind whether he could reach the platform on time amidst such congestion.
"Although I had heard that Sitivian Station was crowded, I didn't expect it to be this bad." Looking at the flow of travelers coming and going around him, Pearson said to a companion beside him, who nodded in response.
"Yes, I used to come to Sitivian Station often, but I've never seen it this crowded. I guess it's bad luck this time. Anyway, we need to speed up, or we'll miss the train."
"Mm." After hearing his companion's words, Pearson responded affirmatively, then prepared to quicken his pace and continue leading the team into the station.
Just then, a surge of people even more turbulent than before rushed towards them. Under the impact of the crowd, the congestion and chaos around them instantly doubled. In this sudden situation, Pearson and his companions didn't react in time. Their group, which had been together, was suddenly scattered, each swept away by the crowd in different directions.
"What… Eben!"
Facing this situation, Pearson's heart grew anxious. He then focused his expression to stand firm within the congested crowd. He looked left and right, trying to find his companions in the flow of people, but all he saw were endless heads. He shouted his companions' names loudly, but his voice was easily drowned out by the surrounding chaotic chatter.
Facing the current situation, Pearson felt somewhat helpless for a moment. He could only be swept along by the crowd to one side. After finally managing to break free from the crowd, he found himself in a corner inside the station that he didn't recognize. None of the companions who had been with him were now by his side.
"This is troublesome…"
Looking at the scene before him, Pearson couldn't help but scratch his head, muttering to himself in distress. After that, he first looked around, trying to find his companions, but after having no success, he took out a pocket watch from his clergyman's robe. He opened it and looked at the time, finding that it was already very close to the departure time of the train he was supposed to take.
'I can only go to the train myself first. The others will also head to the platform on their own. We'll just meet up on the train later.'
Pearson thought to himself like this, then closed and put away the pocket watch in his hand. He then picked up his suitcase and began looking for the way to the platform.
However, the process of finding the way was not smooth for Pearson. He completely didn't recognize the place he had been swept to. There were no signs around. He could only walk through the station while asking for directions. After a period of searching, Pearson not only didn't reach the platform, but instead, as if by some strange coincidence, arrived in an empty corridor.
'Not here, looks like I took a wrong turn…'
Looking at the unfamiliar area at the end of the corridor before him, Pearson thought with a furrowed brow. After confirming that continuing forward wouldn't lead to the platform, he turned around and returned the way he came.
However, just at that moment, Pearson saw a tall female figure, her face concealed by a veil, approaching him.
Seeing the tall female figure, although Pearson walked towards her, a hint of caution arose in his heart. And just after the two of them had passed each other in the corridor, the veiled woman suddenly turned back and reached out towards Pearson, who had his back to her.
Pearson, who already had a sense of caution in his heart, immediately turned back the moment he heard the footsteps behind him disappear. When he saw the woman from just now reaching out to him, he immediately also reached out his own hand, wanting to grab her wrist. Just at that moment, above Pearson's head, from within the corridor ceiling, a fleeting Lakhman drifted down, attaching itself to him outside of Pearson's blind spot.
Immediately after, Pearson stood frozen in place, completely unable to move. His entire body no longer obeyed his commands. For a moment, he couldn't even utter a single word.
Pearson's body could no longer accept any of his own commands. Just like that, he stayed frozen in place in one posture, watching helplessly as the mysterious woman before him reached her hand towards his neck. Then, he only felt a pain in his neck before completely losing consciousness.
After Pearson fell, a wisp of Lakhman drilled out from his body, appearing as a translucent spirits in mid-air. After subtle changes, the translucent spirits also presented a hazy and indistinct female figure.
Afterwards, the female spirits and the veiled woman in front exchanged a glance, then nodded silently to each other.
…
Fainting, grogginess, scattered energy. After Pearson's consciousness wandered in the darkness for who knows how long, signs of waking gradually appeared.
The pain from his head stung Pearson's nerves, gradually activating his consciousness. After a dizzying sense of disorientation, Pearson's mind began to re-recognize himself amidst the chaos.
"Hiss…"
Enduring the splitting headache, Pearson gradually opened his eyes. After waking up, Pearson was first in a daze. After gradually recalling what he had experienced at the station shortly before, during his unconsciousness, he immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
'I was ambushed? I, a special envoy of the Church, was ambushed?! And now I've been kidnapped. Is this an extraordinary attack against the Church?!'
Pearson thought in astonishment. He then immediately tried to stand up, but when he moved, he nearly fell. After carefully checking, he found that his entire body was firmly restrained, bound everywhere by iron chains. Even his mouth was covered. It was extremely difficult to speak or move, at most he could only barely wriggle his body.
Seeing his current state, Pearson's heart sank abruptly. He then began to observe his surroundings. He found that he was currently confined within a closed, narrow, sealed cell. The entire single cell was dim, with solid walls on three sides and a steel cell door on one side. He was clearly imprisoned inside. The only light in the cell came through the gap in the steel cell door.
Seeing the scene around him, Pearson couldn't help but feel a surge of panic. He wanted to escape, but with his strength, even breaking free from the shackles on his body was extremely difficult. Just as Pearson was feeling despair because his attempts to break free were unsuccessful, a voice suddenly came from outside the cell door.
"It seems… you finally got it done?"
"Yes, that guy's face was a bit too ordinary, with no particular features. It took a little time to memorize."
Hearing the conversation outside the door, Pearson in the cell couldn't help but be startled. He then quickly stretched his head forward, reaching the gap in the cell door. Pearson peered through the gap at the scene outside the cell. He then saw two figures, a man and a woman, standing on a corridor outside his cell door.
Pearson remembered that woman; she was the mysterious woman who had attacked him at the train station earlier. The man was a middle-aged man around thirty years old. At this moment, they were standing together, talking about something.
"Since you've memorized it, hurry up," the veiled woman said to the man in front of her, and the man quickly responded.
"Just a moment..."
Saying this, the man touched his chin. Then Pearson saw the man's originally firm and strong face suddenly begin to squirm, rapidly changing amidst a violent upheaval. After a short while, the man's face transformed into another ordinary, unremarkable face, and his body also shrunk a bit. Pearson recognized it; it was his own face?!
'This is... a Shadow Masked Man!? They are from the Eight Point Nest! The Eight Point Nest that assassinated Duke Barret!'
Seeing the scene outside the prison door, Pearson thought in surprise. Because the assassination case at the beginning of the year had such a huge impact in Prit, the name of the Eight Point Nest had spread throughout Prit's hidden world. Even personnel like Pearson, who were not affiliated with the investigation department in the Church, had heard of them and knew about their abilities and what they had done.
"Alright, this should be fine now." Touching his new face, the man who seemed to belong to the Eight Point Nest said to the veiled woman in front of him, and the woman responded with her arms crossed.
"Not bad. Since you've changed your face, hurry up and change your clothes too. We stripped them directly from that group of Fanatics. The other four are already ready, just waiting for you."
'The other four... Could it be that besides me, the others in our group were also captured here?' Hearing the woman's words outside, Pearson thought in surprise.
Pearson had previously thought that if his teammates couldn't find him for a long time, they would return and report to the Church, asking the Church to send people to rescue him. But he didn't expect that his other companions had now been captured. Now, no one could report his situation to the Church.
"Five people... Among these five people we have to impersonate, there won't be anyone the Sister is familiar with, right? If they are familiar, it will be difficult to deceive her."
Outside the prison door, the man who had changed his face said this, and the woman in front of him quickly replied.
"According to the intelligence from Glamorgan, these five people have no connection with that Sister. The Sister's guards are mostly not Prit locals. You don't need to worry about this. That Sister only knows the name of the replacement ritual and is completely ignorant about the rest. After you arrive in Glamorgan, you can deceive her however you want. In the Sister's eyes, after all, you are the 'experts' she invited from Tivian..."
With a hint of evil smile, the veiled woman said to the man who had changed his face. Hearing the woman's words, Pearson was startled again.
'The Sister of Glamorgan... This group's target is Sister Vanya! They want to use our identity as the advance team to get close to Sister Vanya!'
Pearson thought in surprise, and at this moment, the man who had changed his face continued to speak.
"The gospel of the Natsuki Islands... The savior of Adus... The Light of the Holy Mother who reformed the fallen city... Vania Chafilun, hehe, it's truly an honor to be able to lure the Church's most brilliant young rising star in recent years to commit blasphemous defilement, polluting the night sky, and taking a significant step forward in the Deep Web Queen's great undertaking of weaving together the entire Prit. I wonder what expression the guys on Holy Mountain will show when they know that the Sister they are paying attention to has become our chess piece..."
With a smug expression, the man who had changed his face said with a smile, and the woman in front of him waved her hand and spoke.
"It seems you are very motivated, but you'd better save the rest of your excitement for Glamorgan. There's still a lot left for you to do there."
"Okay, it's time to set off now..." The man said this, and then he and the veiled woman walked away into the distance. But after taking only two steps, the man seemed to remember something. He stopped and looked back at Pearson's prison door, which scared Pearson, who was eavesdropping and peeking, into lowering his head.
"Speaking of which, when I went to identify the face just now, I found that the guy inside was still alive, just unconscious. Why didn't you just kill him? I only need to recognize his face, I don't need him to be alive."
The man looked at the prison door and asked in confusion, and the veiled woman quickly replied.
"We had a slight problem with logistics here. A bunch of idiots messed things up, and the soul containment measures weren't in place. If we kill them rashly now, their souls might be contacted by someone else. So for now, we can only keep them alive and locked up. Once things are settled on your end, I will also deal with them and clean them up as soon as possible."
"Is that so..."
Listening to the veiled woman's words, the man who had changed his face silently nodded. Then he followed the woman and walked along the corridor. Pearson, inside the prison cell, silently heard their footsteps disappear into the distance.
After hearing the footsteps recede, Pearson silently clenched his teeth and thought indignantly.
'I must... I must find a way to escape, and I must report the news here to Cardinal Francesco!'
...
On the other side, in the long, dark corridor, after the man who had changed his face and the veiled woman walked a distance together, they stopped again. The veiled woman looked back and then slowly said.
"Okay, at this position, he can't hear us, Mr. Shadow Masked Man."
"Is that so... That's good. Do you think I acted well just now, Madam?" Hearing the woman's words, the man who had changed his face showed a slight smile and said, and the veiled woman quickly replied.
"Not bad... It seems the Detective has guided you. Although it's not perfect, it's more than enough to deceive someone who is in a panic." The veiled woman said this, and then the man continued to speak.
"Phew... I didn't expect Mr. Detective to directly order us to attack the Church people this time. I really don't know what he is planning that requires him to oppose the Church..."
"You can't really say it's opposing the Church. At most, it's just using them. According to that great Detective, these five priests who were captured today will all be released when the time is right. It's clear he doesn't intend to fall out with the Church. If he really wanted to be an enemy of the Church, I wouldn't dare to help him so casually."
The veiled woman said this, and after a slight pause, she continued to speak.
"Alright, except for the final order to release the people, we're done with our tasks here. From now on, the focus of that great Detective's plan will not be in Tivian. Mr. Shadow Masked Man, you should go back and rest. You also have your own things to do, right?"
"Yes, then I will take my leave now, Madam. It was a pleasure to cooperate with you again."
Saying this, Grego quickly left with a face that was not his own. And Adele, who was veiled, stood in place. After Grego left, she leaned against the wall, silently contemplating something.
'It seems... your plan all along is finally reaching its most crucial stage... I wish you good luck, my little Detective...'