Endless Debt

Chapter 1211 - 44: The Gathering

As for the emergence of the Decaying Crimson Sect, the Order Bureau’s reaction wasn’t particularly surprised. The recent string of Night Race incidents had already left them run ragged; now the Decaying Crimson Sect was getting active—at most, it was just one more headache in a pile of them."The Decaying Crimson Sect? Is it connected to what happened in Gray Stone Town before?" Bologue asked directly.

Lebius said, "It’s still unclear for now. At present, all we’ve found are traces. They haven’t made any major moves yet."

Bologue shook his head. "Their showing up at all already counts as a major move."

The Order Bureau still held a certain degree of control within the Rhine Alliance Territory. In the past, these heretical groups would keep their heads down, hiding their tracks to avoid drawing the Order Bureau’s attention. But now they were popping up one after another, like vultures circling over people’s heads.

"Times are different now."

Lebius said, "If it were before, it indeed would’ve been a big event. But as the world grows ever more turbulent, just exposing their tracks no longer counts for much."

On this point, Bologue could only nod helplessly, acknowledging that it was true.

"Right now we’re wondering if this might be the King’s Secret Sword testing us." Lebius continued.

In the Decay Plague incident, the First Seat had displayed the power of a Devil, and even used his own body as a medium to briefly summon the descent of the Crimson Queen.

This fact had shaken the others quite a bit. As the First Seat of the King’s Secret Sword, he had actually made a deal with a Devil.

If the top brass were like that, then what about the King’s Secret Sword as a whole?

At first Lebius and the others merely suspected, but with Xilin’s rise, the King’s Secret Sword had been running itself ragged. Even that fortress-like, ironclad Empire had begun to show one deadly fissure after another.

Crow’s Nest intelligence agents had infiltrated the Kagader Empire’s interior. Though they hadn’t found direct evidence, from all kinds of signs, a terrifying truth was gradually surfacing.

As for all this, Bologue’s reaction was very calm. After all, there was a Devil hidden in the depths of the Order Bureau itself, not to mention those twisted, bizarre Entities.

In fact, from Bologue’s perspective, it was only normal that there were traces of Devils within the King’s Secret Sword.

The Material Realm and the Ethereal Realm, humans and Devils—their interests had long been tightly chained together, inseparable. Any attempt to cut them apart would inevitably be drenched in blood.

"Sigh..."

Bologue let out a helpless sigh. He’d clearly gained greater power, yet troubles just kept coming one after another.

Glancing at the time, Bologue stood up and said, "Let me know if you need anything. Calling it a vacation is basically the same as being on standby, anyway."

"Naturally."

Lebius never refused to squeeze labor out of anyone, even if the target was Bologue.

Bologue chuckled, checked the time again, and said, "I’ve got a gathering to get to. I’ll head out first."

A gathering, a lovely gathering.

Vasilina had now officially joined the Order Bureau. To celebrate her arrival, there was a gathering at the Undying Club tonight. Palmer was going to introduce Vasilina to all of his friends.

As for that, Bologue wasn’t sure if Palmer had taken the initiative, or if he’d been threatened by Vasilina. Whatever. It didn’t really have much to do with him anyway, and watching Palmer suffer was fairly entertaining.

After saying goodbye to Lebius, Bologue set off for the Undying Club. Hearing that a new friend was coming, Wei’Er and Bode had already tidied up the place, put up a banner, and blown up a bunch of balloons, as if they were about to throw someone a birthday party.

Stepping into the Undying Club, Bologue felt a bit guilty. An Original Sin Armament had passed through his hands, and he was afraid that Sai Zong would sense something and ask why he hadn’t brought the Original Sin Armament here.

Thankfully, Sai Zong hadn’t shown up. Wei’Er thought Sai Zong had gone out, but Bologue knew Sai Zong was in the depths of the stairwell, guarding his master.

The other missing figure was Serey. Ever since the Night Race had risen, his status had become sensitive. Because of this, he’d been holed up in his room all day, never stepping outside, not even doing his pole dances. A few days back, some noble ladies had even come to the Undying Club asking after Serey.

To avoid trouble, the Undying Club adopted a unified story for the outside world—poor Mr. Serey had died in a car accident a few days ago.

Peace at last.

"You’re all here early."

Bologue greeted Hart, Kemp, and Shelley in the corner. It wasn’t just Bologue who was growing; his friends were improving as well, turning from rookies into veterans.

After everything they’d been through, seeing his friends again felt really good.

After some brief small talk, the front door was pushed open again. A familiar yet unfamiliar figure stepped in. Bologue stared blankly for a moment before his sluggish memories resurfaced.

"Long time no see, Church."

Church, the mysterious Narrow Space Walker.

Bologue hadn’t seen Church for quite some time, but judging from Church’s complexion, he looked much healthier than before.

Now that someone was holding on to Church’s kite string, he wouldn’t be blown off and lost high in the sky. The face that was usually so cold now carried a faint smile, like a block of ice slowly thawing.

"Is she here yet?" Bologue walked up to Church and asked quietly.

"Afeiya?" Church said. "The flower shop is really busy. She doesn’t have time right now, and besides..."

Church didn’t go on, but Bologue knew what he was hesitating over.

Afeiya had long since noticed that something was off about Church, but she was a kind girl and had never called him out on it, just waited for Church to confess on his own.

But asking Church to confess was a bit too hard. Many times, it wasn’t that Church didn’t want to, but that the realities of the situation weighed on everyone.

What was he supposed to say? Tell Afeiya that the essence of this world wasn’t what she thought, that Devils and Demons lurked in the dark, that Condensers were calling forth wind and rain and lightning... It all sounded too bizarre, like it would tear Afeiya’s worldview apart.

Seeing Church so troubled, Bologue suddenly felt a bit like laughing. It wasn’t schadenfreude; it was the sense that he wasn’t alone. Everyone had their own worries.

After a while, Aimou arrived as well, hurrying in. She said she’d taken leave at the last minute, and that she’d have to go back to the Garden to work overtime after the gathering.

The last to arrive were the stars of tonight’s gathering, Palmer and Vasilina.

Palmer’s entrance didn’t draw anyone’s attention. This sorry bastard’s image was already deeply ingrained in everyone’s minds; there was nothing there to fuss over. What people were really curious about was the legendary figure who’d only ever existed in rumor—Palmer’s fiancée.

So when Vasilina pushed the door open and appeared before everyone, the thought in their hearts shifted from "Just how blind do you have to be to become Palmer’s fiancée" to "What did Palmer ever do to deserve this."

Faced with the doubt hidden in everyone’s eyes, Palmer shot back with a smug look, silently declaring to each of them that he was a winner in life. But only Bologue knew, at least somewhat, the price behind that "winner" status. Looking at Palmer’s forced composure, Bologue almost burst out laughing.

"This is Kemp, this fluffy one is Hart, this unremarkable one is Church—my former unlucky partner I told you about."

The merry gathering began as Palmer introduced his friends to Vasilina.

Bologue stood off to one side, enjoying the peace of the moment, until footsteps sounded from the stairwell behind him. He turned his head, and a familiar figure gradually emerged from the darkness.

"I thought you wouldn’t come, Serey," Bologue said.

Dim light slowly illuminated Serey’s face, and Bologue’s words trailed off. Serey looked unusually haggard, as if he hadn’t closed his eyes for several days and nights in a row.