Inside the collection room, a long silence fell in the wake of those words.
Sitting in the chair, Neo kept his eyes closed. His breathing grew deeper and longer than before, hands resting in front of him, alternately opening wide and clenching into fists.
Karen continued leaning against the wall, his gaze sweeping across the other items in the collection room one by one, as though he were earnestly taking a tour.
At last,
the captain opened his eyes and looked at Karen.
"I don't know what kind of gesture I should make or what expression I ought to show right now. Gasps or leaping to my feet seem unseemly, but acting too quiet feels utterly inappropriate.
"In short, my heart was—and still is—in total turmoil. You can understand that, right?"
Karen nodded. "Yes, I understand."
"Good, then I won't force any reaction."
Neo pressed his hands against the chair's armrests. Instead of standing up, he merely shifted his posture, exhaling a long breath in the process.
Even for the captain, having such a secret dropped on him was hard to endure.
"Inmerlais... is that your family name?"
"Yes, a lineage of Inquisitors."
Neo blinked.
"A lineage of Inquisitors?" he repeated.
"Yes."
Neo raised a finger to knead the space between his eyebrows. "It seems I need to reexamine my definition of a 'lineage of Inquisitors.'"
"Because my ancestors were all Inquisitors of the church. As far as I know, my grandfather's rank was also only Inquisitor."
"What is your grandfather's name?"
"Diss."
"Diss?" Neo shook his head. "That surname, that person—I've never heard of either before."
"It's completely normal that you haven't, Captain."
"Oh, are you trying to comfort me?"
"Yes."
"Yet to my ears, it sounds entirely mocking."
"My apologies."
"So, that violent explosion in the Temple of Order was your grandfather's doing?"
"Yes."
"How did he do it?"
"Captain, you should know what level a Temple Elder stands at, right?"
"Condensing a godhead fragment, summoned by the Temple of Order, entering the temple to reach the place closest to the great God of Order, becoming a transcendent existence above the Holy See."
"Then do you know how the gates to the Temple of Order open?"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Karen, but I've disappointed you. I am still exceedingly far from condensing a godhead fragment."
"Er... Captain, even if you succeed in condensing a godhead fragment in the future, you probably wouldn't go to the Temple of Order anyway—though I don't know if the Temple of Light still exists."
"Ah, now that I can hear—that was genuine mockery."
"In any case, once a godhead fragment of Order is condensed, the gates of the Temple of Order appear before you, inviting you inside. It should be a self-activating formation, a teleportation array anchored to the temple, and the newly born godhead fragment is the summoned catalyst.
"Through such a medium, no matter how many knight orders the Temple of Order deploys on the perimeter to defend it, it's completely meaningless."
"And that was how your grandfather went in?"
"Yes."
"And after he entered?"
"He detonated the godhead fragment."
"Was your grandfather corrupted?"
"No. He... he just had some conflicts and misunderstandings with the God of Order.
"And as you know, since the start of this era, the gods have not shown themselves, so there was no way to resolve the misunderstanding face-to-face. As the misunderstanding grew deeper and deeper, Grandfather could only resort to the most extreme method of clearing it up."
Upon hearing this, Neo rubbed his face and asked Karen, "Got a cigarette?"
"Yes."
Karen handed his pack of cigarettes and lighter to the captain.
Neo took a cigarette but waved away the lighter. He treated the cigarette like a chocolate stick, taking a bite out of it, and chewed the shredded tobacco in his mouth.
"I'm sorry..."
It was a customary condolence offered whenever a conversation touched upon a deceased relative.
However...
"My grandfather isn't dead. He's still alive."
Neo spat out the shredded tobacco and stared at Karen, enunciating each word carefully: "Your grandfather detonated a godhead fragment inside the Temple of Order, and now you're telling me he isn't dead?"
"Yes."
"How is that possible? Does your grandfather have more than one godhead fragment?"
"No."
"Ha, I knew it. How could such a thing even—"
"Grandfather has three."
"..." Neo fell silent.
Neo stood up from his chair. He could no longer sit still. Walking over to the display shelves, he began dismantling the arms and heads from the figurines one after another.
After a long while, Neo spoke:
"Three godhead fragments?"
"Yes. They correspond to his youth, his middle age, and his old age respectively."
"How did he manage that?"
"I don't know." Karen shrugged. "All I know is that for a very long time, Grandfather was distressed by his inability to suppress his realm."
"Distressed?" Neo closed his eyes, then opened them again. "My apologies. I just tried, and I found it impossible to empathize with that kind of distress."
"Yes, I can't either," Karen admitted honestly.
"And then? Where is your grandfather now?"
"At home."
"At home... doing what?"
"Sleeping."
"Sleeping?" Neo threw up his hands. "After blowing up the Temple of Order, he went home to sleep?"
Finding the whole matter utterly preposterous, Neo began swapping and reassembling the heads and arms of the figures in front of him. Karen could well imagine how hysterical Mr. Lemar would be when he returned to his collection room and saw his beloved figurines treated this way.
"Grandfather detonated one godhead fragment to blow up the Temple of Order, handed another to the Temple Elders, and took the third with him into slumber. His condition was that the Church of Order must not intrude upon the lives of the Inmerlais family."
Neo caught on immediately and asked:
"So that's why you need to borrow Pavaro's mask to enter the Church of Order?"
"Yes."
"If your identity were exposed..." Neo suddenly chuckled. "Then you could sit on equal terms with guys like Leon and Lore... No, wait, you'd be sitting, and they'd be standing."
Karen neither confirmed nor denied it.
"No wonder you can get along with them. I said it before—you're cut from the same cloth."
"I don't think we're cut from the same cloth. I can only say that psychologically, I don't consider myself beneath them."
"Fine, fine. Then what is your purpose in hiding your identity?"
"Grandfather believes his path was mistaken. So he placed his hopes on me, wanting me to walk a different path."
Neo sharply picked up on the deeper meaning of those words and asked, "Was your grandfather alone in walking the wrong path, or have all of us... been walking the wrong path?"
"I don't know how to explain that."
"Alright, no need to explain. I'll stop asking here." Neo turned back, sat down in the chair, and interlaced his fingers. "The awkward thing is, I can't match your bet anymore."
"It's fine, Captain. The therapy fee—"
"So I've decided to tell you one more thing as a small compensation. You don't need to bet again, even though my intuition tells me you still have plenty of chips in hand."
"Alright, Captain."
"Him—the one I devoured. Though he deliberately hid his identity all along, we were so intimate during that year that I still caught glimpses of some of his secrets.
"The biggest secret is this:
"When I finally 'killed' him, he cried out a surname."
"A surname?"
Neo raised both hands. "Something along the lines of: 'Is this the curse and retribution our family must endure for our sins?'"
"Ah, I understand." Karen nodded, indicating that he had already pictured the scene.
"That's also why I'm digging into him now. Even though I know doing so might lead to my own destruction, throwing away the victory I fought so hard to win, I'm still willing.
"Because the surname he shouted was... Philias."
"Philias?"
"Do you recognize that surname?"
"I do." Karen nodded. "If Simosen is the royal bloodline of the Church of Samsara, then Philias is roughly the equivalent for the Church of Light."
For a time, Karen had been curious about the history behind the Church of Light's fall and had gone out of his way to look through reference materials, reading extensively from Mr. Hoffen's notes in particular.
The Philias family had produced multiple Popes throughout history, and the final Pope of Light—the Mad Pope who had stood atop the Tower of Light and declared that he did not believe in the existence of gods in this world—had borne the surname Philias.
While one couldn't say the Mad Pope caused the destruction of the Church of Light on his own, his actions had indeed tolled the final death knell for a church that was already teetering on the brink.
So the person the captain devoured was a descendant of the Mad Pope?
As if guessing Karen's thoughts, Neo said, "That's my guess as well. I have a hunch that through him, through his bloodline, I might be able to trace the reason why that Mad Pope lost his mind.
"As you know, records concerning the final period of the Church of Light's history are fragmented even within the orthodox churches, as if every church back then was deliberately erasing something.
"This secret excites me. This truth fascinates me.
"After losing Elisa, I needed to find a new focal point for my eyes, and this is it."
"Captain, I'm very interested in this secret as well."
"Naturally, I figured you'd say that. But mine is merely a conjecture; in fact, I've only just begun investigating him. Still, I can already feel some of his influence on me.
"It's like being drunk. At times, I naturally confuse the concept of him with myself, taking things he once did and assuming as a matter of course that I did them. Yet I don't resist that feeling, because I haven't detected any pain in it."
"Still, something will go wrong eventually."
"That's a worry for my future self. Right now, I just want to savor the present."
Neo stood up and patted Karen on the shoulder. "Dawn is approaching. Do you need to head home? I'll drive you back."
"Alright, Captain."
Neo and Karen left Lemar's collection room, walking out of the shop without bothering to bid farewell to the owner.
Once they were in the car, Neo asked, "Back to the funeral parlor?"
"Yes."
Neo started the car. Outside, the sky hung in that twilight between night and daybreak.
"To some extent, our goals are aligned. Both of us want to seek out the true scenery along the path of faith."
"Yes, Captain."
"Karen, thank you for your candor. Tonight, I got the better end of the deal."
"Captain, the therapy fee—"
"In the squad from now on, I'll take even better care of you."
"Thank you, Captain."
"There's one more thing I need to ask of you, though. You're the only one who knows my secret. So if one day you realize I'm no longer myself..."
"What should I do?"
"Do as you see fit."
"Understood, Captain."
"Do you know what I think about whenever I stand before Elisa's gravestone?"
"The meaning of life?"
"Actually, I think about nothing at all. Because only when standing before Elisa's gravestone can I truly stop moving."
"I think I understand how you felt then, Captain. You completely emptied your mind, didn't you?"
"Yes. Sooner or later, I will find the one who drove Elisa to her death—the same bastard still whispering in my head from time to time—and I will erase him completely."
At this, Neo looked at Karen and smiled. "Walking aimlessly might be relaxing, but once leisure becomes the main course instead of stolen moments between duties, it stops being so wonderful. I need to give myself a goal—and preferably one set high and difficult to achieve."
"As it should be."
"What about you? Have you ever thought about setting a goal for yourself?"
"I want to go see him."
The car hesitated for a moment. Neo let out a chuckle, followed by a burst of hearty laughter: "Hahahahaha!"
Karen laughed along with him.
Neo knew full well who Karen meant by "him"—the God of Order.
"Karen, before Order declared war on Samsara, almost the entire church circle was buzzing about that terrifying explosion in the Temple of Order. But I believe you will do something in the future that will shock them even more than what your grandfather did."
"I don't care whether they're shocked or not. I only want to try walking the path I chose to the end."
They arrived at the funeral parlor, and Neo brought the car to a halt.
"The next time we meet, you'll still be you, and I'll still be me."
"Of course, Captain. Both of us wear a mask."
"Yes, each of us has our own mask." Neo raised his hand, gesturing for Karen to look at his ring finger. "Remember this ring. Out of all my rings, it's the only one that isn't made of plastic."
"I'll remember."
"I won't say any more. Just like when we stood on the balcony earlier, praying together that the Church Affairs Building would stay safe tonight—certain words easily spoil things once spoken aloud."
Karen nodded in deep agreement, confirming that the captain really had been leading him in a reverse jinx earlier, even if the captain didn't know the term.
"Alright, try to get some sleep. If the fighting goes smoothly, we might have to assemble by noon to resume security duties. If things go even smoother, Samsara's surrender request might arrive before our Church of Order's divine decree of war is officially proclaimed."
"Alright, Captain. Get some rest as well."
"I'll try."
Karen opened the car door and stepped out.
Neo rolled down the window, pointed at his own face, and added, "There's one thing I should still remind you of."
"Please instruct me, Captain."
"If you have a choice, try not to get too close to your mask—even if it's something meant to be worn on your face."
"I won't. Mr. Pavaro is out on missions all the time right now; he barely comes home once a month. I won't go around wearing his mask for no reason either—after all, Mr. Pavaro's wife lives with me."
"Mm."
Neo drove away. Karen turned and walked toward the funeral parlor. Just as he reached the entrance, he heard the sound of an approaching car behind him. Turning around, he saw Alfred returning.
"Young Master, I just settled the bill at the cafe," Alfred said with a smile.
"Thank you for your hard work."
"It was nothing, but the front desk manager had a heart attack from the fright. I performed first aid on him, and he pulled through."
"Bless him."
The cafe's front desk manager had first received a phone number for a funeral parlor, only to find the two people who should have been inside the room vanished into thin air. That kind of situation could easily prompt some peculiar associations and scare someone half to death.
"Young Master, please get some rest early."
"Alright. Keep an ear out for the phone for me; I might have to assemble again during the day."
"Understood, Young Master."
Karen returned to his bedroom. Kevin trotted over, wagging his tail, and Karen rubbed his bald head.
Ever since Purr burned off that tuft of fur, it still hadn't grown back.
Purr also climbed out of bed and came to the edge. "Oh, my dear little Karen has dragged his exhausted body home. Earning a living to support the family really isn't easy."
"It's fine."
"So after finishing your mission with the lads, you all went to a cafe together to drink coffee and unwind? That truly is traditional male socializing."
Evidently, a certain cat had eavesdropped on the phone call.
"You're annoying."
"I'm annoying? I'm keeping an eye on you for my great-great-great-grandniece!"
"Then what about Miss Ophelia?"
"Ha! You're actually still thinking about her! I knew it—how could it just be as simple as supporting a fellow clan member?"
"Whose fault was that?"
"Mine?" Purr swished her tail indignantly. "Swap you out for Kevin and see if she'd trade poems with him! Clearly you were the one flirting so smoothly, and you blame me? Humph."
"I'm tired. I want to sleep for a bit."
Karen undressed and lay down on the bed.
Seeing this, Purr immediately shut her mouth. Once Karen lay down, she even hopped onto his chest of her own accord, gently patting his chest with her paw, muttering, "Looks like you really are worn out. It's rare to see you skip a bath."
Hearing those words, Karen climbed back out of bed and headed toward the washroom.
"Er... my bad, I shouldn't have reminded you," Purr apologized at once.
For someone with an obsessive urge to bathe, reminding him that he hadn't washed meant he truly wouldn't be able to sleep.
Standing in the washroom as hot water poured down from above, Karen closed his eyes and savored the relaxing sensation.
In his ears, the words the captain had said before driving off suddenly echoed: *Try not to get too close to your mask—even if it's something meant to be worn on your face.*
Karen reached up to touch his face.
Shaking his head, he murmured,
"Captain, this mask of mine cannot be removed."
Chapter 221