At nightfall, Silas hired a two-horse carriage and directed the driver toward Iron Gate Street in Backlund's Bridge District.
When they passed the Bravehearts Bar, he cracked open the window slightly.
Moments later, a chilling presence seemed to slip through the gap and into the carriage.
"Good evening," Silas said with a smile.
"Good evening," came the reply.
In the seat across from him, Sharron's figure had materialized without him noticing.
She still wore that black court dress, a delicate hat perched atop her head. Her features were exquisite yet lifeless, like a remarkably lifelike doll.
The carriage turned at the intersection ahead, heading north through the city.
"Is that demigod from the Rose School of Thought still hunting you?" Silas asked as the carriage rocked along.
"Yes," Sharron nodded slightly. "His subordinates all died. He's very angry."
The demigod's subordinates? Oh right, those werewolves, zombies, and wraiths.
"However, because we obtained that 'Crimson Crown,' as long as we conceal ourselves properly and don't leak our aura at close range, he won't detect us," Sharron said calmly.
That extraordinary item called the Crimson Crown enhanced abilities of the Prisoner pathway, likely making her even harder to detect than ordinary wraiths.
Actually, leaving Backlund would solve everything once and for all.
But Sharron and her companion would rather risk being discovered by a demigod than leave this place. They probably had their own reasons.
After exchanging a few pleasantries, the two made eye contact and fell into a rather quiet atmosphere.
"..."
Sharron seemed unaware of what awkwardness meant.
She simply looked at Silas with emotionless eyes, as if waiting for him to speak first, or perhaps emptying herself of all feeling, becoming a soulless doll.
Better find something else to talk about.
"By the way, have you ever seen this symbol?" Silas suddenly remembered something.
He used his fingernail to cut his palm, letting blood drip onto the carriage floor, then manipulated it to form a repeating circular pattern.
This was the emblem that had appeared on the grip of the Revolver of Luck, something he suspected might be related to another "Serpent of Mercury."
Then he saw Sharron slowly nod.
"I recognize it," she said.
Huh? She actually knows it!
"What is it?" Silas asked eagerly.
"This is the symbol of the Speaker of the Life School of Thought," Sharron answered.
Life School of Thought...
Silas recalled information he'd obtained from internal Nighthawks materials.
This was a secret organization founded in the early Fifth Epoch, possessing the complete Monster pathway and part of the Apothecary pathway.
They used a master-disciple inheritance system internally and had appeared across both the Northern and Southern Continents.
In Roselle's diary, he'd mentioned that the organization was divided into two factions: one that revered reason, and another that worshiped the moon.
"So this Speaker is..."
"The Life School of Thought's decision-making body is the 'Council of Fate,' composed of seven councilors," Sharron explained.
"Above the council is the Speaker, who united members who revered reason with those who believed in the 'Primordial Moon.'
He was the absolute core of this faction. But that Speaker suddenly vanished, causing the two factions to split, and many school members faced considerable danger."
"You know quite a lot about this school..." Silas said with both surprise and confusion.
"The Indulgence faction of the Rose School of Thought had connections with the faction of the Life School of Thought that worshiped the Primordial Moon," Sharron glanced at him.
"They assisted with the split, but afterward severely persecuted the members who believed in the Primordial Moon, seizing the school's heritage and resources.
In short, the Rose School of Thought was the biggest beneficiary of that split."
I see.
The Life School of Thought was caught off guard while leaderless.
The faction that believed in the Primordial Moon originally thought the Rose School of Thought was helping them, when in reality they were inviting wolves into their own home.
Silas felt speechless at their naivety and stupidity.
"I'm curious, where did you see this symbol?" Sharron asked.
"It was a coincidence..." Silas came back to himself and recounted his previous encounter to Sharron.
Of course, he omitted two important pieces of intelligence: first, the pregnant couple, and second, the Blasphemy Card he'd obtained.
He only mentioned getting caught up in a battle between demigods, and how the falling revolver created a coincidence that brought bad fortune to one of the demigods.
"The Speaker is Sequence 1 of the Monster pathway, skilled at manipulating fate," Sharron said.
Just as I thought! Everything makes sense now!
The one who manipulated my Lucky Wheel back then was a high-sequence Beyonder of the same pathway: the Speaker of the Life School of Thought, Sequence 1 of the Monster pathway, the Serpent of Mercury!
It all suddenly clicked for Silas.
He first manipulated the revolver to bring me misfortune.
But afterward, He made the Abyss card fall from the Demon's body for me to pick up, as if compensating me for the risk I'd endured.
So what was His reason for stopping the Demon and exposing me?
Was it to save that couple? That ordinary couple, with the pregnant woman...
Silas pondered for a moment, then looked at Sharron and asked, "Do you know anything more about that Speaker?"
"...I don't really know much," Sharron recalled.
"I've only heard that this Speaker always appears in different forms, sometimes as an old man, sometimes as a child."
Growing old and young again. Does this guy reincarnate?
Right, this must be a characteristic of the Serpent of Mercury!
Silas instinctively thought of the similarities between this Speaker's symbol and Ouroboros's: a snake devouring its own tail, overlapping circles.
This probably represented their ability to cycle through life repeatedly.
So that woman's womb likely contained a Serpent of Mercury.
To protect the mother, He manipulated my revolver, then gave me the Abyss card as compensation.
As for carving His symbol on the gun's grip, that could be understood as Him seeing something special about me and hoping to establish friendly relations.
At this point, Silas felt he'd roughly figured out what happened that day.
He couldn't help but feel a sense of absurdity.
A Sequence 5 witnessed two Sequence 4 demigods fighting, but had no idea that in a deeper hidden layer, a Sequence 1 angel was secretly manipulating everything.
No wonder that Demon was killed. He actually dared to offend an angel!
Silas kept his head down, lost in thought, while Sharron across from him offered no opinion, simply watching him quietly.
The carriage continued rolling forward.
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PS: The events between the Rose School of Thought and the Life School of Thought come from the original work, not something I added myself.