A colossal nation situated in the west-central region of the Southern Continent.
The Canberra Kingdom stood out as a preeminent power among the Southern Continent's many kingdoms, having maintained its neutrality for years.
Both the Southern Continent Shadow World Management Association and the headquarters of the Card Makers Association were situated within its borders.
In scale, it was considerably larger even than the Hutton Kingdom, a major power along the east-central coast of the Southern Continent.
To the south of Canberra's royal capital stood the assembly hall of the United Council of Kingdoms, its grandeur seeming to challenge the sky itself.
Within the towering structure, soaring ceilings were adorned with intricate tracery. Sunlight streamed through these delicate apertures, weaving through the space like myriad golden threads, while mosaics inlaid along the walls depicted the glorious history of the United Council of Kingdoms.
On the highest floor, inside an enclosed chamber secured with barriers and heavy metal portcullises, several figures sat around a circular table.
The center of the round table was smooth as a mirror, inset with what appeared to be an Astrological Chessboard that reflected every ray of light in the room.
"How should we investigate this?"
A heavy silence of contemplation hung in the air. The face of everyone seated there wore a grave, focused, and even nervous expression.
Among them were permanent councillors of the United Council of Kingdoms, as well as representatives from the associations, the churches, and the academies.
"Regardless, the cardinal who arrived from the Northern Continent has brought genuine turmoil. Even the southern region of the Hutton Kingdom, where he resides, suffered a frontal assault by the Resurrection Church. It is hard to imagine that this cardinal had no hand in that attack."
"We must understand what his conspiracy is, and uncover even the slightest scrap of intelligence about him."
The councillors' gazes shifted among one another, tacitly seeking out each other's stances and thoughts.
The Astrological Chessboard in the very center of the table was an ancient divine artifact capable of resonating with the Pope's Authority handed down through generations of the Resurrection Church, allowing it to determine the approximate locations of all the cardinals.
Beyond that, it was inherently an astrological magic apparatus. Once every year or so, by gathering the energy reflected from the stars, it could perform a divination without the need for an astrologer.
Although its results could only manifest as vague sand paintings formed from star sand, it was nonetheless capable of yielding some measure of intelligence when there were no other leads to follow.
Its divination of the "future" was not necessarily accurate, and divinations of the "present" were easily clouded; only divinations of the "past" were relatively reliable, though the time elapsed could not be too great, or else its precision would drop drastically.
Furthermore, the more complex the question asked, the vaguer the result would be.
Today, the core councillors of the United Council of Kingdoms had decided to invoke its divinatory power to probe for information on the new cardinal who had come from the Northern Continent.
Yesterday's terrorist attack had finally convinced them of the threat posed by this new cardinal.
After deliberation, they settled on the direction of their divination:
They wished to see the most critical moment for the new cardinal over the past few days.
Perhaps they could uncover the full story behind the attack on the south of the Hutton Kingdom!
"Let us begin the divination. If there are no objections, we shall proceed on this premise."
"No objections."
The assembled council responded in unison.
Under the Speaker's direction, the star sand at the center of the Astrological Chessboard dissolved into flowing halos of light that glided across the mirrored surface. The pupils of all the core councillors were cast in pure white, as if enveloped by the mighty power of the stars in their bid to be the first to glimpse the truth.
At last, the pale blue star sand coalesced, forming a hazy sand painting.
The councillors rose to their feet,
their brows furrowing deeply as they stared at the center of the round table.
"This is..."
"Huh?"
On the sand painting displayed by the Astrological Chessboard, there appeared to be three figures twisted together like three strands of a braided cord. Their faces were completely indiscernible, leaving it utterly impossible to tell what they were doing.
"What in the world are they doing?"
A few councillors flushed red, suspecting that the new cardinal was engaged in something utterly shameless.
The Speaker coughed dryly twice to ease the intensely awkward atmosphere that had fallen over the chamber.
"Regardless, let us reproduce this star sand painting as an ordinary sand drawing and release it through select media outlets associated with the United Council of Kingdoms under the guise of an art piece," the Speaker said, studying the image with a grave expression. "If anyone recognizes something, they can contact us immediately. To avoid causing panic, do not disclose that this painting is intelligence regarding the new cardinal."
The outlines in the star sand painting faintly distinguished that the figure on the bottom was male, while the one straddling the top and the one wedged in the middle were both slender females.
After hearing this, the councillors slowly nodded in agreement with the Speaker's proposal.
"The new cardinal must be someone with a very chaotic romantic life."
In any case, that was the conclusion they reached.
"We will likely need to send professionals to the Hutton Kingdom to conduct an investigation. Relying solely on the clues in this painting probably will not suffice to uncover the cardinal's identity," the Speaker said, his resolute tone making no secret of his determination to unmask the cardinal.
Originally, five bishops in the Southern Continent and five in the Northern Continent had maintained a precarious balance.
Half a year ago, after a fierce battle between the Bishop of Destruction and the Cardinal of Dimensions, the Cardinal of Dimensions vanished from the Southern Continent for a time, only to reappear recently. Moreover, an unidentified cardinal had also arrived from the Northern Continent.
Now, there were six cardinals in the Southern Continent.
Factoring in the movements of the Creti Empire, the United Council of Kingdoms was under tremendous pressure.
"I will go."
At that moment, a figure seated at the corner of the round table, clad head to toe in pale golden heavy armor, raised a hand.
During the High Priest examination of the Church of the Goddess of Fate in the high-dimensional observation space, the Paladin Commander had already been worried about his close friend Loren's mental state, sensing that he was doing poorly and harboring an ominous foreboding.
Sure enough, yesterday Loren had been drawn into a brutal battle.
Because the Canberra Kingdom and the Hutton Kingdom were vast distances apart—Canberra lying in the west of the Southern Continent and Hutton at its easternmost edge—ultra-long-distance communication magic between the two nations required relaying through transit stations across several countries, making ordinary contact difficult.
Furthermore, traveling to the Hutton Kingdom in person to visit Loren involved an immense journey, and securing an extended leave of absence was rarely possible. Now, this official mission to the Hutton Kingdom presented the perfect opportunity.
"..."
The Speaker looked in astonishment at this Paladin Commander of the Church of the Goddess of Fate, not expecting him to accept such a perilous mission with such resolve.
"Then we leave it in your hands," the Speaker said solemnly.
"Understood."
The Paladin Commander clenched his fists under his gauntlets.
*My friend, I am coming.*
...
Meanwhile, in the royal capital of Ikerite, the Hutton Kingdom.
At this hour, the Boss Cat Restaurant was not in its peak dining rush, and patrons were sparse.
Pranay stood behind the bar counter, leisurely wiping a glass.
Suddenly,
he pressed a hand over his eye, wincing as if struck by a stabbing headache.
"Brother, what's wrong?"
Sinora hurried over, handing him a glass of water with concern.
She noticed his face had turned pale, as if he had witnessed something terrifying.
Still, they had only just returned this morning from escorting that dangerous creature, the decay alchemical beast, back from South Vantina. Pranay had expended the most effort, and upon returning to the capital, he had to pretend nothing had happened yesterday and carry on with his regular work. It was only natural that he would feel exhausted.
"Intermittent Clairvoyance. I can't control this rudimentary magic yet."
Pranay took the glass gently, shook his head, and used a magic voice transmission that only Sinora could hear to signal that he was fine.
Afterward, Pranay specifically cast a glance toward Antanas.
Fortunately,
Antanas hadn't noticed him.
In truth, his Clairvoyance had seemed to interfere with a divination spell cast somewhere unknown, showing him a scene that could alter the node of the worldline.
And yet...
What he had actually seen was—
The King, Hyperion, and Talia, all three tangled together on the ground!
For a moment, Pranay wondered if his Clairvoyance had malfunctioned.
Cold sweat was still beading on his forehead.
He could never let anyone know that he knew.
Otherwise, not even ten thousand lives would be enough to save him!
*I will take this secret to my grave,*
Pranay resolved firmly.
"Phew..."
He let out a breath of relief and resumed tidying the restaurant front, preparing to welcome the lunch rush.
It was fortunate Talia didn't possess mind reading.
According to the ancient demon texts he had studied, the innate demon ability of mind reading could cause the user to uncontrollably speak aloud whatever they read during its developmental stages, much like the side effects accompanying the intermittent triggers of his incomplete Clairvoyance.
Otherwise, if an accident like that occurred, setting aside whether Pranay himself could survive, the King might truly end up dying together with Talia.
Chapter 514