“Since Angor went to the core of the fiasco together with Sunders, he might know some unique secrets yet to be revealed,” said Vifet as he showed an annoyed look. “But that little fellow always stays hidden. When the whole Remnant Auction went crazy over his new music box, he never showed up personally. No idea where he is right now. If I find a chance to talk to him, I’d make sure to ask a lot of questions. Besides, I’m hoping to meet with such a young genius and see what he looks like.”
Beals listened to Vifet carefully.
But I know how to find him! If I get some first-hand clues about the Evernight Kingdom from him and then sell the information to others...
But how do I get him to tell me?
“Cassini. Wait, he wants to know this Cassini person. Maybe I can find the answer and trade with him?” he muttered.
Vifet didn’t pay attention to Beals’ mumbling. It was the strange shadow, who had been all quiet until now, suddenly twitched and attracted their attention.
“... Repeat the name you just said,” the shadow demanded in a deep and distant voice.
“Name? You mean Angor?” Vifet looked a bit fearful for some reason.
The shadow stared at Beals.
Beals also noticed the staggering aura radiating from the shadow and felt his mind being slowly affected. He wondered if the strange guest was actually someone powerful.
But he didn’t remember anyone like this living in Moxa Westland.
Without getting Beals’ response, the shadow repeated the question again.
Beals would like to stay silent, but when he saw Vifet keep winking at him in a suggestive way, he chose to comply. “Do you mean Cassini?”
The shadow took a long moment to ponder over that name.
“I wonder how many eras have passed since I heard that name the last time...”
Who the heck is Cassini? Both Vifet and Beals wondered.
The shadow suddenly shed off a thin film of barrier and exposed his true body—a man with white skin and a tidy look.
Beals didn’t recognize him, but he saw something on the stranger that greatly shocked him—a robe pulsing with arcane energy.
“That’s-that’s the ‘Robe of Eternal Night’!” Beals pointed to the man’s body with a trembling finger.
On the first look, the robe was completely black. But it wasn’t a simple black color; it was as if the robe itself were a black hole that absorbed all light. Apart from this, the attire also came with golden decorations like stars shining at night.
Robe of Eternal Night, one of the most famous top-class alchemy items known to the public. It was supposedly a man from Starliege Temple, Gauss, who currently owned the robe.
Next, Beals looked up and saw a similar-colored circlet on the man’s head. The circlet had an hourglass and gears engraved on it.
“The Diadem of Time?!”
This was another famous treasure possessed by Starliege Temple, and it was also another precious alchemy creation known by almost everyone in the south.
Seeing these two items had confirmed for Beals that he was looking at none other than Gauss himself, one of the “Binary Stars” from Starliege Temple.
It was commonly acknowledged that “Celestial Thinker” Gauss and “Unfading Globe” Lupanya were the strongest wizards in the entire Brilliance Plane. Both of them were truth-finder wizards.
“Mister Gauss!” Beals quickly stood up and bowed to the great wizard he would never surpass.
“‘Whale Hunter’ Beals, is it? I heard about you. Here, I have a question to ask.” Gauss’ voice contained a peculiar rhyme that made him magically persuasive.
“Of course, Mister Gauss! Please go ahead.” Beals was more than glad to know that he was recognized by such a famous figure.
“Say, where did you learn about... Cassini?”
When mentioning this name, Gauss lost his calm temperament for a brief instant as if he both feared and envied Cassini.
Beals wanted to answer right away, but the discipline of a trader suddenly flashed in his mind.
“It was one of my customers who asked me to investigate. Please understand that I cannot betray him.” Beals anxiously lowered his head.
“Heh. Sure. I have other ways to know the answer from you, of which you are aware, aren’t you?”
As one of the “Eighteen Overseers” from Starliege Temple, Gauss was a skilled Prophet who knew how to directly read information from other people. In fact, he already prepared his spell as soon as he heard Cassini’s name. He would gladly disregard all manners and matters if it meant knowing Cassini’s whereabouts.
Beals felt an invading spell scanning his mind.
Sorry, Mister Padt, I do want to protect your privacy, but this is no longer under my control.
When the spell was done, Gauss looked in another direction. “Now let me see, who are you? And what did you do to earn his attention?”
In an instant, Gauss sent his keen awareness across great distances.
...
Angor, who was staying at Freighting Town, suddenly had a strange feeling and felt his hair stand.
At the same time, the droplet-shaped crystal affixed on his shoulder, which was a specialized space container used for keeping Crimson Aegis, suddenly began to glow.
But everything ended before he could check what was going on.
“What was that? Someone talking behind my back?”
...
Gauss suddenly felt an energy blockage in his body and began gasping painfully.
“What happened there, pal?!” Vifet asked. He had known Gauss for a long time, so he knew Gauss just failed a spell. But as far as he remembered, Gauss rarely made such mistakes ever since becoming a truth-finder.
Gauss did not respond. After calming his breaths, he put on a serious look and retried his spell.
Soon, a second prophecy spell was unleashed, more powerfully this time.
A drop of blood escaped from Gauss’ lips.
“It failed again?!” Vifet couldn’t believe what he was looking at.
Beals also watched in astonishment. He didn’t know much about prophecy, but he at least knew that a truth-finder Prophet shouldn’t act like this.
“You’re right.” Gauss nodded to Vifet. “I wasn’t careful enough.”
“But your spell is enough to check level-2 truth-finders.” Vifet frowned. “How in the world—”
“I do not know. I reached a blood-red dead end in my view, then the spell just... got canceled. It’s not a backfire. There’s simply something that stopped me. Maybe the target cannot be monitored by the Wheel of Time right now? Or maybe they’re inside an anti-prophecy area. I also heard about alchemy equipment that blocks off prophecy, but such items are extremely costly and rare.”
“Can’t be monitored by the Wheel of Time? Is that possible?” Vifet wondered.
“Yes, if the target of the spell is currently somewhere where time itself is disrupted. For example, the Nightmare Realm.”
Gauss and Vifet looked at Beals again. If prophecy didn’t work, they might as well ask a direct question.
Beals shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I really can’t. To traders like us, good credit is more important than our lives. If I break the rules here, I’ll deny the future of my entire team.”
Gauss considered and decided not to force Beals for now.
“Well, I understand that, but can you at least tell us how this customer of yours prevented prophecy spells?” asked Vifet.
He’s a genius alchemist! Of course he can make something for this purpose, Beals thought.
Yet he couldn’t reveal this fact either as it might expose Angor’s identity.
Vifet and Gauss exchanged a disappointed look. The guest room grew embarrassingly quiet.
Beals stood up and prepared to leave since staying would only cause more trouble.
Before he headed to the door, he heard Vifet speaking to Gauss, “Who’s this Cassini anyway?”
Beals slowed down so that he might conveniently learn more about this matter.
“It was Lupanya who mentioned this name before. He said that Cassini ‘stole his choices’.”
“Stealing choices?? Could it be—”
Both Beals and Vifet were reminded of another name—the Time Thief.