Two hours later, another lively square in Bayam became the stage for another extraordinary "trial." But this time, the accused weren't a handful of nameless small-timers — they were notorious pirates, each carrying a substantial bounty, names that made people's faces go pale. And more crucially, they were crew members of the Admiral of Blood, a figure legendary for her cruelty and savagery.
Bernadette went through the whole sequence without pause: lay out the evidence, state the charges, pass judgment, carry out the sentence. She delivered the Words of Order against all three at once:
"You raped. You murdered. You defiled the sacred."
"You are guilty."
Before a crowd of over a hundred witnesses, sharp ice spikes erupted from the ground and drove clean through all three pirates, tearing them apart. Dead on the spot.
Awe, cheering, horror, and dread all detonated at once throughout the crowd.
The potion began digesting again. Thanks to the three pirates being Beyonders — and to the weight of their infamy — this time the progress was considerably better.
A few more "trials" like this, and the Prosecutor potion should be fully digested.
The problem was that somewhere like Bayam, doing it again was going to be next to impossible. Next time, odds were overwhelming that a demigod-level Beyonder would come crashing in to make trouble.
By the time they made it back to Backlund, night had fallen. The day's gains had far exceeded any reasonable expectation — they'd not only successfully confirmed the Prosecutor potion could be digested outside of a courtroom, but had also worked out the complete core acting method for the Prosecutor.
"It's time to start preparing for your advancement to Sequence 6," Bernadette said, dining at a nearby restaurant and speaking to Vincent as she ate.
"You mean making the scales balance again?"
Vincent thought it over. "We still have one 'Shadow Merchant' slot and three 'Broker' bestowment slots. If we use the same method as before and release those slots, I think we'd collect enough crystallised spirituality. The only question left is who to bestow them on."
Of course, once the Prosecutor potion was fully digested, if they needed to rush the Sequence 6 advancement, they could simply find anyone willing to believe in an 'evil god' and bestow the slots on them. The world would never run short of such people.
"Would your crew benefit from some?"
"They could, but if you give the slots to them, don't expect them to be of any real use to you the way Vivian and Xio are."
"Fair enough."
Vincent said suddenly, "Oh — speaking of which, what about Blazing Danitz from today? You seemed to get quite a lot of use out of him. How about giving him a bestowment slot as a reward?"
"You sure that's a reward and not a fright?"
Recalling how Danitz had looked when they'd parted ways earlier, Bernadette couldn't quite suppress a small smile.
While the "trial" of the Admiral of Blood's three crew members had been underway, Danitz had thrown himself into the role with visible enthusiasm. But the moment he watched all three of them die in front of him, something seemed to click belatedly in his head:
Wasn't this now extremely obvious — to absolutely everyone present — that Blazing Danitz had everything to do with the deaths of those three people? Which meant... he was about to face the Admiral of Blood's retaliation, wasn't he?
The realisation hit him like a bucket of cold water. He'd gone pale and frantic, especially after finding out that his "patron" was leaving Bayam without him. He'd been nearly in tears, and had then proceeded to throw on a disguise and flee Bayam that very night.
Vincent honestly hadn't expected to run into Danitz like that. He'd encountered plenty of characters from the original story before — Xio had clearly been drawn in by the law of convergence between Beyonder characteristics, and Fors had come through Xio, and the little snake had made contact on her own initiative after catching a glimpse of fate, and Emlyn had been drawn in by the puppet connected to Emperor Roselle, and Sharron and Maric had shown up to handle identity verification paperwork.
Hmm.
Now that he thought about it, Emlyn, Sharron... the timing on all of them was a bit convenient, wasn't it?
His PTSD was threatening to surface.
But he shook it off. Fear was just a symptom of not being strong enough. The moment you had the power to back yourself up, other people stopped being frightening.
With that thought, he asked, "By the way — those 'mythological stories' I told you about before. When are you planning to study them and create the corresponding Mystery Reincarnation spells?"
"I've been studying them the whole time you're in control of the body. Progress hasn't been especially smooth."
"Why not?"
Bernadette explained: "Mystery Reincarnation works by drawing power from esoteric knowledge in your possession — knowledge that's obscure, little-known, barely circulated. The less widely known it is, the more powerful the resulting spell. But to draw that power, you need a truly thorough understanding of the esoteric knowledge or event in question. A short story sketch isn't enough to complete a Mystery Reincarnation spell."
Vincent paused, then recalled the various "fairy tale spells" Bernadette already had in her arsenal — each of them was backed by a complete, fully fleshed-out narrative. The mythological snippets he'd shared were just fragments.
In that case, it was actually simpler than he'd feared. He just needed to get the Bernadette in the Harry Potter world to find the relevant books, have her read them to him, and then relay the full versions to this Bernadette.
The process would be a bit roundabout, but if it resulted in actual "mythological spells" — that was absolutely worth it.
The next morning at eight o'clock, another round of soul-swapping took place — smooth, unremarkable, no complications, the same pair from the Lord of Mysteries world as always.
Wearing Vincent's "Charles" face, he arrived early at the Prosecution Office. He was there to hand in his resignation and say goodbye to Ellie.
Strangely, half an hour past the start of the workday, she still hadn't appeared. That was distinctly out of character for her.
"Mr. Montbarton, has Ellie not come in yet?"
The older man, who was in the middle of making his coffee, shook his head. "Oh, I forgot to mention — she came to ask me for a day off yesterday. Poor girl hasn't had a moment's rest these past few days. Probably worn herself out."
"Oh. Right, then."
Vincent stepped out of the office and said inwardly, Looks like we come back tomorrow.
The seasoned old-timers at the Prosecution Office obviously had no interest in the comings and goings of a newcomer who'd only been there a few days. As they liked to say, young people got assigned to this department every year, and most of them lasted no time before moving on — so the same old faces just kept cycling through. They were used to it.
The only person worth saying a real farewell to was Ellie — the partner who'd helped him, indirectly, figure out how to act as a Prosecutor.
Twenty-odd minutes later, Vincent arrived home. The moment he pushed open the front door, he blinked.
The flat, which had been perfectly tidy when he left, had been completely ransacked. Belongings were scattered across the floor everywhere.
His expression darkened. He walked quickly into the bedroom — the same story. The bed sheets and covers had been ripped and thrown on the floor; the wardrobe had been flung open and every garment inside trampled and strewn across the room.
Before Vincent could even speak, Bernadette erupted: "Who did this?!"
As the undisputed authority on fashion and personal style in the Lord of Mysteries world, Bernadette had always had a love of collecting and having bespoke clothing made — even if her combinations tended toward the eccentric.
Staring at the trampled clothes covering the floor, she was absolutely livid. "Find those bastards for me. Now."
Vincent sighed. "I know you're furious, but calm down first. They're already gone. How am I supposed to find them?"
A cold snort. "Divination."
To be continued…
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