Assembly of the Church of the Earth's Core

Isabella's stomach was like a bottomless pit. Her voracious appetite far exceeded the butler's expectations, and because preparations had been inadequate, the dishes arrived only in fits and starts. It was not for a lack of stockpiled ingredients in the kitchen storeroom; the Landau family owned a bank and was never short on money. Rather, Butler Fra had not arranged for enough chefs. The kitchen could not keep up with the speed at which Isabella cleared her plates, bringing utter shame upon the household. At least, that was what Fra believed. Due to his oversight, a guest had not been properly entertained, bringing disgrace to both the mistress and the young master. Wayne did not share that view. Watching Isabella clean plate after plate from start to finish, he had been entirely preoccupied with shock. … In the living room. Isabella sat down on the sofa, sinking deep into the cushions. Wayne gentlemanly ignored the sight, retrieved the investigation report on the Church of the Earth's Core, and handed it over alongside the promotional brochure. He began by clarifying the two detectives' identities. "Wesley hails from Londan and is a fairly well-known detective. Secretly commissioned by an intelligence agency, he came to Enrold to investigate the Church of the Earth's Core and connected with a local investigator named Detective Hood…" "By the time Hood contacted me, Wesley had already vanished. Hood noticed he was being followed, hid this dossier, and reached out to me…" "Now I can't get in touch with Hood, either. Both detectives are missing." Isabella listened quietly, not uttering a single word throughout. After skimming through the investigation report and the brochure, she knitted her brows slightly. "The intelligence is insufficient; there is no way to determine the cult's true objective. We cannot rule out the possibility that the gathering of believers in five days is merely a smokescreen. Do you have the home addresses of the senior officials in the town administration hall?" "Not on hand, but if you need them, I can have the butler prepare them." Wayne grasped her line of thought. The report made it clear that the cult likely controlled the town administration hall; after all, no one stopped them when they blocked the streets to hand out eggs. Isabella needed only to track down a town dignitary and apply a little grand memory restoration magic, and she might just squeeze out more accurate intelligence. If that one knew nothing, she could move on to the next. If none of them knew anything, she could follow the vine to root out a high-ranking cult member, get up close and personal, and ask what the Church of the Earth's Core was actually planning. Only by learning the other side's scheme could they intervene and dismantle it; otherwise, they would just be running around like headless chickens. "Make it quick. I plan to head out tonight," Isabella said. "So soon?" "Yes. The Windsor Kingdom's intelligence agency has quite the reputation. I have heard plenty of jokes about them back in Frank. If even they noticed something wrong with the Church of the Earth's Core, it can only mean one thing: this cult has been compromised for a very long time." Isabella laid out the facts without mercy. *Is it possible that this is just a Frankish stereotype about Windsor?* Wayne opened his mouth, reflecting that while Isabella was biased, she wasn't entirely wrong—Windsor's intelligence apparatus truly was atrocious. Her logic was sound, leaving no room for refutation. Wayne instructed the butler to compile the home addresses of the key figures in the town administration hall as swiftly as possible, stressing the importance of discretion to avoid tipping off the cult. For now, the Church of the Earth's Core only knew that two detectives were investigating them. Wesley had vanished, Hood had deliberately drawn their fire, and Wayne and Isabella remained concealed in the dark. As long as they did not show themselves, they held the upper hand. Fra bowed and departed to begin gathering the intelligence. As a Windsor man and a former senior operative of Windsor's intelligence agency, he had little fondness for Isabella. She was far too blunt, lacking even a shred of tact! Late into the night, Fra returned with five dossiers covering the mayor and four other senior administrative officials. Everything was laid out in full detail, from home addresses, telephone numbers, and post office boxes to the names and occupations of their family members. Fra had prepared extensively, seemingly eager to prove a point. Isabella skimmed through them at lightning speed, memorizing the five addresses. Expressionless, she said to the butler, "The addresses alone would have sufficed. The dossier you prepared is overly verbose, filled with meaningless padding that wasted precious time." Fra: (ಠ灬≖) He truly despised this Frank! Isabella stepped out of the mansion, commencing her covert investigation that very night. Disciples of the Goddess of Nature possessed an array of methods, especially when it came to gathering information. Once a hallucinogenic spore was planted, an ordinary person stood no chance of resisting and would confess whatever was asked. Veronica had once utilized this magic. Back then, her mana had been sealed by a curse, forcing her to rely on crafted magic tools to deploy a rudimentary version of the hallucinogenic spore—namely, feeding someone mushrooms. Isabella did not invite Wayne to team up. Upon receiving Xifei's call, she had been assigned two tasks in total. Task one: protect Wayne. Task two: investigate the Church of the Earth's Core, assess the situation, and either destroy the cult or escort Wayne away. Isabella did not have much time. She would gather intelligence tonight and probe the background of the cult's upper echelons tomorrow morning. Synthesizing intelligence from all fronts, she would determine how best to complete task two. Since Isabella had made no request, Wayne had no intention of tagging along. A person needed self-awareness; joining her would offer no help and would only drag her down. … The following day, Wayne rose bright and early, meeting his meditation in high spirits. Meditation itself was tedious, but growing stronger was a joy. To make the process even more enjoyable, Wayne pretended to be a villain, resorting to any and all underhanded means to plunder the four elements. He found a collaborator among them, using the fire elements as snitches to track down the earth, water, and wind elements hiding near the mansion. Ruthless hands, and an underhanded heart. Having an underhanded heart was perfectly normal. The phrase carried a double meaning—both a bodily organ and a descriptor for deceit—which could hardly be written off as a mere coincidence. Such was the wisdom of the ancients, and one could always place their trust in the wisdom distilled by the ancestors throughout history. Wayne believed in that ancient wisdom. Since everyone was underhanded anyway, he saw no reason to pose as an upright gentleman. He made lavish promises to the fire elements, assuring them that as long as they led him to the hiding spots of the earth, water, and wind elements, boundless wealth and glory would surely be theirs. With that, the tedious meditation instantly became a delight. As for the fire elements, true to their nature as the embodiment of desire, they scrambled over one another to betray their companions without the slightest hesitation. Isabella did not return on the second night, nor on the third. On the fourth and fifth days, she remained completely out of touch… "She couldn't have starved to death out there, could she?" Watching more and more cultists distributing eggs in the streets—even the maid sent out for news returned carrying a full basket—Wayne grew somewhat restless. Tomorrow was the day of the cult's mass assembly, yet there was still no word from Isabella. With a tonnage like hers, even dropping into water ought to make a splash! Uncertain, Wayne phoned his mature teacher. Xifei told him to cultivate in peace and not to doubt Isabella's capabilities; she was an experienced mage, and her prolonged silence merely meant she had uncovered something and was lying in wait, biding her time to deliver a fatal blow. Seeing that Xifei had full confidence in Isabella, Wayne could hardly press further. After consulting her on a few questions, he resumed his path of meditation. Time marched on to April 2. The Church of the Earth's Core held a grand assembly at its headquarters. Various dignitaries of Enrold Town appeared at the ceremony, and the mayor even delivered an impassioned speech. In the streets, thousands of believers swarmed in. Cheers, applause, and shouts of acclaim rose and fell in waves, stoking an increasingly fervent atmosphere. Many townspeople who were not cult members also joined the assembly. For one, the massive crowd made for a lively spectacle; for another, eggs were being distributed free of charge, and the chance to get something for nothing drew in swarms of housewives. Rumor had it that the eggs were given per person—regardless of age or gender, anyone present could claim five—prompting many to bring their entire households in tow. Outside the throng, Wayne stood in a black trench coat, gazing upon the surging crowd around the headquarters of the Church of the Earth's Core. Tugging down the brim of his hat, he turned toward the town administration hall. It was the final day, and he simply could not hold back any longer. If Isabella had truly met with misfortune and he foolishly kept waiting, he would be doing nothing more than sitting around waiting for death.