Fog Sea, inside a deluxe guest room of an inn at Lars Harbor. After having dinner at the Surrey family's villa, Ebner directly "teleported" here.
This inn was not newly opened. On the contrary, it had quite a bit of history. Its origins could be traced back to a temporary settlement established when Emperor Roselle first went to sea. After multiple expansions, it had grown into its current scale.
"This inn—and in fact all of Lars Harbor—is actually Kallen's property… And it's precisely by relying on the blood clan's influence over this island that Miss Gwen was able to smoothly take it over as a base…
"Of course, that also couldn't have happened without my influence over the major forces of Intis.
"Mm, come to think of it, 'Lady Dragon's Might's' reputation didn't decline after Intis revoked the bounty on her head. Instead, it became even louder because of it.
"She's now a strong contender for the position of 'Pirate Admiral'… Heh, thinking back to how green Miss Gwen looked when she first went to sea last year, the twists of fate really are unpredictable."
While Ebner was lost in thought, not far from him, a human figure was rapidly sketched into existence. The person pressed a hand to the brim of his top hat, slowly raised his head, and revealed a gaunt face, sharply defined features, and dark brown eyes devoid of any emotion.
It was Klein's persona—Gehrman Sparrow.
Ebner stared at him for a few moments. After confirming that Miss Sharon was not possessing Klein, he greeted him:
"How many uses does the 'Book of Endless Travel' have left? Do you want me to help replenish it?"
Hearing this, Klein's face darkened slightly. Using Gehrman's stiff tone, he replied, "No need for now…"
As he spoke, he casually scanned the surroundings, then removed the yellow crystal pendant hidden within the cuff of his left sleeve and began divining:
"There is danger present in this room."
After repeating this seven times in a row, he saw the pendant rotate clockwise—but with very small amplitude.
This indicated that there really was some danger, but it was within a controllable range.
Seeing this, Klein turned his head to look at Ebner, questioning him with his eyes.
Ebner spread his hands, took a cloth doll out of his pocket, and waved it in front of Klein, saying, "I think the source of the danger should be this?"
"What is that?" Klein frowned, but didn't take it directly. Instead, he took out a scroll and released the marionette Enuni the Winner from it.
Only then did he have this "Winner" take the doll from Ebner's hand and carefully inspect it, yet no abnormalities were discovered at all.
Based on his experience, this kind of situation could be divided into two types. One was that the doll itself had suffered from concealed corruption, which would only cause harm once certain conditions were met. The other was that some hidden existence had placed a special mark on this object, and the danger came from the outside.
"If it's the latter, then the 'danger' definitely wouldn't be controllable… Of course, it's also possible that that existence interfered with my divination…
"And if it's the former, then why is Mr. 'Tower' carrying this around with him and deliberately showing it to me?"
As his thoughts turned, Klein was about to have Enuni return the doll to Ebner.
But Ebner didn't take it. Instead, he smiled broadly and said, "I want to ask you for a favor…"
"What kind of favor?" Klein immediately developed a rather bad premonition.
"I think you've already guessed the problem with it," Ebner said as he pointed at the doll's head. "So, I'd like you to help 'divine' the source of that corrupting power…"
Hearing this, Klein's expression didn't change as he countered, "Your 'Alvin' avatar should also have the ability of 'dream divination,' right?
"And He can even travel on His own to Mr. 'Fool's' divine kingdom…
"Why not do it yourself?"
Asked this, Ebner answered very honestly, "Because it's dangerous!"
So it's dangerous for you, but not for me? Klein's mouth twitched. He almost broke character despite the "Clown" ability, but he still took a deep breath and coldly asked, "What kind of compensation can you offer?"
The corner of Ebner's mouth lifted slightly as he joked, "How many pages of Roselle's diary do you want? I can make them up for you right now!"
Then I really should thank you so much! Wait… make them up right now? From the look of him, it doesn't seem like this is the first time he's done this… Could it be that some of the diaries he gave me before were actually made up by 'Tower' himself?
Just as Klein realized this long-overlooked issue and was about to speak up to question him, Ebner suddenly changed the subject and said seriously, "I suspect that the doll may be connected to the reason behind the changes in the power of the Mother Tree of Desire!"
At the small meeting after the Tarot Club gathering a few hours earlier, Klein had mentioned the potential issues with Sharon to Ebner, so the latter knew that Klein would definitely care about this.
Sure enough, upon hearing that the corruption might involve changes in the Mother Tree of Desire's power, Klein's attention was immediately diverted.
"In that case… once things here are over, I'll try it," Klein replied seriously at first, but then he shot Ebner a glance and said coldly, "But I'm still taking compensation."
Preferably shaving a bit off that 500,000-pound price.
Ebner didn't oblige his wish. Instead, he extended his hand and said with a smile, "Hand it over."
"What?" Klein was confused.
"The 'Book of Endless Travel'… I'll help you replenish it, and we'll count that as compensation. You don't want it to really run out of uses at a critical moment, do you?" Ebner said with a teasing smile in his eyes.
"'Insight' users really are terrifying!" After quite a while, Klein sighed, then took out the Book of Endless Travel and handed it to Ebner.
Ebner took a look at it and clicked his tongue. "Only three uses left… Your luck really is as bad as ever!"
As an "African," I really am disgracing all transmigrators… Klein mocked himself inwardly, while outwardly maintaining Gehrman's persona and casting Ebner a cold glance.
After about another half hour passed, just as Ebner returned the replenished extraordinary book to Klein, a tall figure happened to step out of the full-length mirror in the room.
It was a woman who looked valiant and striking. She had jet-black hair cascading all the way down to her thighs. Her facial features possessed both a woman's softness and a man's sharpness. She was none other than "Pale Admiral" Maria.
However, this pirate admiral was not wearing the standard-issue Intis armor she never parted with. Instead, she had changed into an extremely form-fitting black evening gown, perfectly showcasing her figure.
It was just that her expression was far too stiff, ruining the overall beauty.
Simply put, her temperament didn't really suit this kind of outfit.
Seeing this version of the "Pale Admiral," and having roughly "insighted" Maria's thoughts, Ebner's expression also stiffened somewhat as he helplessly thought:
"Miss, I just want to study the abnormality on your body. I'm not asking you to 'offer yourself.' You really didn't need to dress like this to cooperate with me…"
Then Ebner shot Klein a glance and complained inwardly:
"I have no idea how Klein relayed my request… This misunderstanding seems a bit too big. Or is my reputation already so bad that people immediately think of that kind of thing?"
But he couldn't just let the misunderstanding continue…
With that thought, Ebner braced himself and explained the content of his "research" to the "Pale Admiral."
After listening carefully, Maria merely nodded and said, "I understand everything… When do we start?"
Do you really understand? Ebner looked at her suspiciously for a few moments, then replied, "Now!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he had the "Miracle Invoker" Alvin, who was hiding in the shadows, open the door leading to Groselle's Travels.
—Because the "Pale Admiral" was one of the five survivors of the experiment eleven years ago and carried corruption at the level of source material, Ebner couldn't accurately "insight" her thoughts and fate.
Nor did he know her true intentions.
...
Several hours later, inside the Hall of Honesty of the "City of Miracles," Liveseyd, after finally piecing together the complete secret from the last survivor, Ebner couldn't help but let his "inner voice" ring out:
"The conditions for performing the ritual are…
"Five survivors;
"the God's Coffer;
"a night of the full moon;
"and…
"the Observer's Castle?"
(End of the chapter)