October 16th, Tuesday.
The Blue Avenger slowly sailed into port.
This was Pritz Harbor, the largest and busiest harbor in the Kingdom of Loen.
Once one arrived at Pritz Harbor, Backlund was practically within reach.
All that remained was to transfer to a steam train and reach Backlund within a few hours.
As the ship docked, Yu Jin (Embers) stepped off the Blue Avenger.
Alger stood by the rail for a long time before silently choosing to return to sea.
Backlund was a fine place.
Unfortunately, it wasn't suitable for him right now.
His Navigator potion had not yet been fully digested, so he would continue serving as captain of the Blue Avenger for quite some time.
Of course, even after fully digesting the potion, he would not leave the sea.
Because the next sequence, Wind-Blessed, could likewise only be digested efficiently while sailing.
Everyone's circumstances were different.
But everyone had a bright future ahead.
Winter County, Cathedral of Serenity
Leonard Mitchell put on his black coat, adjusted his red gloves, and entered the office of Senior Deacon Crestet Cesimir.
"Congratulations on officially becoming a Red Glove. May the Goddess bless you."
Cesimir traced the Crimson Moon symbol over his chest. As always, his high collar covered his mouth.
"Praise the Goddess. It is my honor."
Leonard raised his right hand and tapped clockwise four times.
"According to your request, you'll be assigned to Sost's team. He's a Spirit Consoler."
"What about the Captain?"
Leonard hesitated before asking.
"The same as you."
Cesimir smiled.
"However, he'll serve as Sost's vice-captain."
"Whew..."
Leonard let out a heartfelt sigh of relief.
That was undoubtedly the best possible outcome.
As Leonard left the office, he found Dunn Smith, also dressed in a black coat, waiting in the hallway.
"Captain."
Leonard called out before grinning.
"This time you're really a captain."
Dunn had been Sequence 7 for over ten years. Under normal circumstances, he should have advanced to Sequence 6 long ago.
However, due to repeatedly consuming the Beyonder characteristics left behind by fallen teammates, his digestion progress had been exceptionally slow.
And Dunn had willingly accepted that burden.
Only Klein's death made him realize he couldn't continue living that way.
Combined with his own experience of "coming back from the dead" in Tingen, he finally achieved enlightenment.
A few days earlier, he had successfully advanced to Sequence 6: Spirit Assurer.
That was also why he had the qualifications to serve as vice-captain of Sost's team.
After accumulating more seniority, he would eventually be able to lead a team of his own.
Dunn nodded slightly.
"Frye sent a telegram. His brother Benson resigned recently."
When Dunn and Leonard left Tingen to join the Red Gloves, Frye, who had also advanced to Sequence 7, chose to stay behind and continue protecting Tingen.
Out of guilt and indebtedness toward Klein, they had continued quietly watching over his family.
"Why?"
Leonard's expression shifted slightly.
"About half a month ago, the Unified Examination Act was passed. He resigned so he could focus on preparing for the examination two months from now."
"If nothing unexpected happens, they'll move to Backlund in a few months."
"That's good."
Leonard opened his mouth, but in the end only managed a dry response before turning away in silence.
Hillston District
Xio continued living as a bounty hunter.
Fors remained as lazy as ever.
Now that she had advanced to Trickmaster, she felt she had achieved everything she wanted.
Still, for some reason, she felt unusually restless that day.
So she decided to go for a walk.
As she wandered, she unconsciously arrived at a familiar place.
Ahead of her stood Joseph Clinic, the first place she had worked.
It was a fairly large private clinic.
Nowadays it belonged to Doctor Allen.
After staring at it for a while, Fors remembered the elderly lady who had introduced her to the world of the supernatural.
She turned down a nearby alley and took a shortcut to a neighboring street.
Plane trees lined both sides of the road, their leaves drifting through the air.
It was a peaceful street.
Fors remembered that the old woman had lived in House No. 39.
At that moment, an elderly man with a half-top hat and blue eyes stood before the house, ringing the bell three times.
No one answered.
Naturally so, because nobody lived there anymore.
Noticing Fors watching from nearby, he immediately walked over.
With a warm yet anxious smile, he asked:
"Beautiful lady, do you live in this neighborhood? Do you know Roboro and Annisa?"
2:00 PM
After taking the earliest available steam train, Ashes arrived in Backlund.
Soon afterward, he transferred to the subway and headed for the Northern District.
His first destination was the Church of Evernight.
However, he did not immediately head for Saint Samuel Cathedral.
Instead, he made a detour to the Backlund Detective Agency.
As expected, he once again saw familiar faces.
Airel Hassan and Borgia were playing chess as usual.
Old Neil sat nearby watching them, remaining silent except for occasional sighs.
"Welcome back."
Borgia suddenly looked up and called out.
"Oh?"
Airel Hassan turned around in surprise.
"Tsk, you're finally back from your business trip. How was it?"
"Business trip?"
Ashes echoed before suddenly realizing.
"Oh, right. Business trip. It went pretty well."
Airel immediately covered his face.
Could you at least pretend a little harder?!
Anyone could tell you weren't on a business trip!
I'd suspected something was off all along.
A guy who never shows up for work disappears for more than a month and calls it a business trip?
More like slacking off for a month!
If you were really on a business trip, I'd eat this chessboard on the spot!
Without saying a word, Borgia quietly reached toward the chessboard.
Smack!
Without turning around, Airel slapped his hand away.
Then he slowly looked back at Borgia and sneered.
"You little thief! Were you trying to steal my chess pieces again? No wonder pieces kept ending up in the wrong positions when we played. It was you all along!"
"Steal?"
Borgia protested.
"You gave them to me."
"Heh."
Old Neil happily watched the two arguing and looked as though he wished he had a bag of sunflower seeds to enjoy the show properly.
"The captain became a deacon."
Old Neil chuckled.
"So his memory isn't nearly as bad as it used to be."
After a brief pause, he suddenly became somewhat emotional.
Dunn should be advancing soon too, shouldn't he?
"It's not worth mentioning."
Airel shook his head modestly.
"This is probably as far as I'll ever go. Advancing further isn't realistic, and I don't expect it."
A Sequence 6 deacon ranked just below the thirteen archbishops and nine senior deacons within the Church of Evernight.
However, advancing beyond that point was extraordinarily difficult.
"True."
Ashes nodded in agreement.
He was already a deacon yet spent his days slacking around at headquarters.
It was obvious Airel had no great ambitions.
Though there was nothing wrong with that.
At least it wasn't dangerous.
And there wasn't much work, either.
Ashes shook his head.
Judging by everyone's attitude, nothing major seemed to have happened over the past month.
Otherwise Airel would hardly be this relaxed.
After some thought, Ashes left the detective agency and headed toward nearby Phelps Street.
There stood a pitch-black cathedral flanked by two symmetrical bell towers.
It was none other than Saint Samuel Cathedral, headquarters of the Backlund Diocese of the Church of Evernight.
He entered the cathedral and passed through its quiet corridors.
Sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows as he arrived at the Grand Prayer Hall.
Perhaps because of the hour, the hall was completely empty.
Not a single worshipper could be seen.
Only Archbishop Anthony stood beneath the altar, smiling as he watched Ashes enter.
"Welcome back, Blessed One."
"Archbishop Anthony."
Ashes nodded.
Skipping any small talk, he went straight to the point.
"Can you perform spirit communication?"
"A little."
Anthony nodded.
"Then..."
Ashes flipped his hand over.
A glowing object appeared in his palm.
It was Jax's soul.
"A demigod's soul?"
A flicker of surprise crossed Anthony's eyes.
Lady Arianna had merely hoped that the Blessed One would spend some time at sea.
But apparently his experiences there had been far more eventful than expected.
"What would you like to ask him, Blessed One?"
Anthony quickly concealed his emotions.
Ashes replied:
"Ask him who he is, and why he attacked..."
He paused.
"...the person who killed him."
(End Chapter)