"Leonard."
As he went to work as usual, Leonard was greeted by the betrayed and apprehensive looks of his colleagues.
The leader of the Red Glove team faced Mr. Star, a frown on his face.
"You are arrested for suspicion of believing in an evil god, and conducting human sacrifices."
Leonard stilled, unmoving.
The disappointed gazes of his teammates were focused on him. Meanwhile, Pallez in his mind remained silent.
Subconsciously, maybe a part of him knew it would eventually come to this point.
Yes. That's what it was. All along, he had been in contact with an 'evil god'.
Slowly, Leonard's eyes lost their light.
Emptied of all emotions, his eyes seemed devoid of life.
"You are deprived of your status as a Red Glove and will be unable to work as an official Beyonder in the future due to the atrocities you committed."
His soulless gaze made the Red Glove captain uncomfortable.
"For the time being, you will be imprisoned for an indeterminate amount of time. Do not resist or we will have to use force…"
Leonard didn't resist.
***
After a work-related trip at sea, Alger changed out of his pirate attire and headed to the Church. Fortunately, in Bayam, faith in the Lord of Storms was common, thus it wasn't hard to find a Cathedral to report to his superiors.
'Why was I summoned?'
What differed from usual is that they had ordered him to come faster than expected.
Did an incident happen?
With such questions, Alger entered the Cathedral of Waves, finding it unusually empty.
As he stepped through the door, a huge sense of pressure overwhelmed him. It was a natural occurrence when facing Beyonders of a higher-level from the same Pathway.
The Hanged Man's gaze fell on the person provoking such a reaction, who was currently talking to the Bishop there.
Jahn Kottman.
A Cardinal of the Church of the Lord of Storms, and a high-ranking deacon of the Mandated Punishers, the former Archbishop of the Cathedral of Waves in Bayam, as well as a Sequence 3 Sea King of the Sailor Pathway.
Then, Jahn Kottman noticed his arrival and turned toward him.
"Alger Wilson?"
Alger's breath caught in his throat.
For what reason was such a high-ranking person here? Did they want to promote him? Or had they found out he had advanced to Sequence 5? Would they find out?
The pirate tried hard to keep a straight face.
"I greet your Excellency," Alger greeted.
He shouldn't show any abnormality.
As the Sea King coldly peered down at him in silence, Alger couldn't help but feel cold sweat flow down his back.
"It must have been fun making fun of us, huh?"
Huh?
Suddenly, the oppressive aura intensified, making his whole body instinctively tremble.
Alger understood that the person in front of him was angry.
The reason for his rage was related to him.
"What-"
As if not wanting to bother with him any longer, Jahn Kottman declared, "You know how we deal with evil god believers here."
Hearing these words, Alger Wilson understood.
His pupils contracted in horror. It seemed that the Church had somewhat discovered his involvement with the Fool.
Heretics received the wrath of the Lord.
He needed to deny it until the end. He had to-
Lightning strikes fell from the sky, striking down on him.
The Sequence 3's power instantly reduced the Sequence 5 into ashes.
The Lord of Storms showed no mercy toward sinners.
***
'Why did the elder call for me?'
Emlyn happily walked down the corridor, puffing up his chest with pride as he crossed paths with a fellow Sanguine.
Naturally, as the savior of the Sanguine, he was worth far more than others.
Did they recognize his efforts? Would they give him a gift?
Emlyn reached Nibbs's coffin, Cosmi Odora sending him a disdainful glare as he stepped into the room.
Emlyn brushed it aside, thinking he must have been jealous.
"Why did you summon me?"
In response, Nibbs Odora was silent for a moment before speaking up.
"Emlyn, have you been in contact with the existence named the Fool?"
In the first place, they were the ones who had introduced the existence to Emlyn and made him recite that honorific name.
Since the Fool had told him to keep their contact a secret, Emlyn had thus lied and said that the existence had never answered, but he didn't find it surprising that his elders knew the truth.
About to confirm it, he swallowed the words, recalling that he was forbidden from speaking about it. However, it was his elder asking, shouldn't it be alright?
Emlyn's lack of answer told Nibbs everything he had to know.
"You are going to be temporarily detained in the Sanguine's underground for the time being."
As for the length, it was indeterminate.
Emlyn's eyes opened wide.
"What, why?" He blurted out.
"…As you may have been contaminated by an evil god, we need to make sure there is no issue with you."
An evil god?
Who? The Fool?
No, it wasn't possible.
This was their ancestor's order in the first place.
Emlyn started to panic, retorting, "But you said it yourself, I am the Savior of the Sanguine!"
Right, the savior of the sanguine. With this thought, he barely kept a hold on his emotions.
"I wasn't contaminated. I did it all for our future, so-"
"I fooled you, Emlyn."
At that moment, Mr. Moon's brain stopped working.
What?
Nibbs exhaled a heavy sigh. He also blamed himself as he was the one who had asked Emlyn to recite that evil god's honorific name at the time.
Cosmi Odora sneered, driving in the final nail, "Still can't understand? You are too naive. We lied to you to make you recite that honorific name."
The words resonated in his mind, causing a shock.
'No, I was following the ancestor's orders… I always only believed in the ancestor…'
"Our savior? That's nonsense. How could someone like you ever be our savior?"
Emlyn was frozen.
Nibbs prevented Cosmi from speaking further, "Stop it."
But it was too late, the damage was done.
"Listen, Emlyn, although I lied-"
The words didn't register in his brain.
"…to confirm there are no issues with you… under observation…"
The realization came that what he had thought true all along were only delusions.
He had never been a savior.
Understanding his state of mind, Nibbs sighed.
"…Bring him away."
Emlyn was thus detained by the Sanguine.
***
In the Forsaken Land of the Gods, Derrick's reckless attempts at spreading the Fool's faith were noticed—the teenager was thus judged to be endangering the safety of the City of Silver and kept under the Tower's Spire where other Beyonders losing control were kept.
"No, Mr. Fool is a benevolent god! He answers prayers, and isn't like those secret existences-"
However, worse than that was the abrupt stop of the Tarot Club gatherings.
After that, not matter how many times he prayed, Derrick did not receive an answer.
'Did something happen to the Fool? Did He abandon us like the Lord?'
As days passed, Derrick was finally released from his imprisonment. Nothing wrong was found with his state.
However, instead of being happy at these news, Derrick was increasingly overcome by despair.
Still no answer today.
The City of Silver's prayers weren't answered anymore, left alone in the dark once again.
On her side, Cattleya easily escaped the chase of the official Beyonders. After all, as an experienced pirate, she was used to going into hiding.
'Mr. Fool suddenly stopped answering prayers.'
Tarot Club gatherings weren't held anymore either.
Cattleya frowned. However, that didn't affect her much as she had other organizations to rely on to gather resources.
Sharron, as a member of the Temperance Faction of the Rose School of Thought, wasn't caught either. After all, the Puppet was used to living hidden with Maric.
The same was true for Anderson. Despite wondering why official Beyonders were suddenly after him, he easily evaded their pursuit and continued his life as an adventurer.
'Did I offend someone I shouldn't have again?'
The only inconvenience was that it would be a bit harder to cash out bounties from now on.
Meanwhile, not receiving an answer to his previous letter, Azik wrote a new one and summoned Zhou Mingrui's messenger.
Receiving his call, Reinette warily faced the Death Consul. As she saw the envelope in his hand, Her heads took turns speaking, "Can't…" "Send…" "It…" "Not…" "Reachable…" "At…" "The…" "Moment…"
Azik put down the letter, concerned.
What happened to the Fool?