92: Chapter 92 Observation Squad Tea Party! Inquisition Prison!

West District, Gino City.

Inside an exquisite manor with a merchant guild background.

A small tea party was being held.

There were five participants.

Three were from the Imperial Senate's observation team: Vanessa Bryce, Lucius Winter, and Eli Holmes.

The others were Viscount Hawke, a representative of the Ice Lake City Commercial Council, and a local wealthy businessman accompanying them.

The convener was Eli Holmes.

This young noble scion from the prosperous commercial center of Weixino City in the Empire's East had a smile on his face as refreshing as a spring breeze.

The Holmes Family was a famous commercial noble family in the Empire and one of the original shareholders of the Vilantia United Bank.

Weixino City was also a well-known deep-water port city on the east coast of the entire Valenor Continent, situated at the mouth of the Rhine River. It handled complex international trade and was extremely wealthy, serving as the headquarters for many multinational organizations, with magic towers standing like a forest.

All of this had cultivated Eli Holmes's extremely sharp commercial intuition.

At this moment, Eli spoke in a relaxed tone:

"Everyone, after this chaos in Gino County, it is a foregone conclusion that the Golden Flame Territory will change hands."

"The future master of this great city, which guards the main artery of the North, will directly influence the trade patterns and distribution of interests in part of the North."

"My Purple Gold Merchant Alliance is very interested in this."

He looked at Viscount Hawke and smiled. "The Hawke Family is an important member of the Alliance in the North, and Ice Lake City is a key node for the Alliance in Will Province."

"If we can take this opportunity to bring Gino City into the Alliance's sphere of friendly influence, it will be a good thing for everyone."

Viscount Hawke was a slightly chubby middle-aged man. Hearing this, he immediately nodded in agreement.

"Sir Holmes is absolutely right!"

"When Count Farrell was here, there were many restrictions on commerce and tax checkpoints everywhere. Our merchant guild suffered unspeakably."

"If a more enlightened lord who values commerce can take charge of Gino City, it will surely promote trade prosperity in the North!"

Lucius Winter came from the Duke Winter family in the South, but he was low in the line of succession and had a significant interest in commerce.

After thinking for a moment, he said thoughtfully, "Because of the impact of Count Farrell's case, Duke Witton has promised not to directly intervene in the final ownership of the Golden Flame Territory."

"In that case, the Church's preliminary selection of candidates is crucial. Although the final vote in The Senate holds the ultimate decision-making power, the Church's attitude will influence the choices of many nobles."

Eli Holmes frowned slightly upon hearing this. "But we've hit a wall several times when testing the Church's attitude."

He paused and continued, "We cannot pin our hopes on that."

"In addition to the Church's candidate slot, as long as the three of us agree, we can secure the observation team's candidate slot."

"As for the royal family, according to the intelligence I've received, the candidate they propose might be Viscount Harrington, who is closely related to Marquis Lance's family."

Vanessa Bryce leaned back in the soft sofa, her eyes lazily scanning the group as a faint, inscrutable smile played on her red lips.

Although the Bryce Family had dealings with the Purple Gold Merchant Alliance, her purpose for this trip was not commercial expansion.

The effort her family spent to get her into The Senate's observation team was not for that.

Thus, she raised her eyebrows slightly and spoke softly:

"You're all discussing this here, but don't forget, if that Arbitration Priest from the Church doesn't speak up and this case isn't concluded, we won't even reach The Senate vote. It'll all just be an illusion..."

Hearing this, the expressions of several people changed slightly.

What that Priest was thinking was indeed somewhat unpredictable.

The Scarlet Heresy case in Gino County had come this far, and with the evidence being conclusive, it should have entered the closing stages...

...

Deep beneath the Dawn Cathedral.

The Inquisition's exclusive prison.

Sunlight never reached this place. The walls were cold black stone, carved with suppression and imprisonment runes, and the ever-burning lamps stretched all shadows into distorted shapes.

Inside a special cell deep within, the once mysterious and eerie Pale Knight was now suspended in mid-air in a spread-eagle position, his shoulder blades, limbs, and spine pierced by dozens of fine-gold chains carved with holy runes.

The pale mask that never left his side had long been removed, revealing his true face beneath.

It was a face distorted by pain and hatred.

The lines of his face were rugged, with high cheekbones and sunken eye sockets, and his gray hair, streaked with frost, hung loosely.

Most striking were his eyes; the whites were bloodshot, and the pupils were an eerie dark red.

The Frost Wolf Clan, one of the ancient barbarian tribes of the Northern Wilderness, had complex and chaotic beliefs.

Among them, the tribes that worshipped the [Lord of Scarlet] were called [Blood Barbarians]. They revered blood and battle, and their high-ranking members often transformed into a special form of [Vampire] through secret rituals.

Unlike the more elegant and secretive vampires of the south, the northern Blood Barbarians were more violent and bloodthirsty, with a deeper connection to their bestial nature. They were one of the Empire's primary enemies beyond the Northern Great Wall.

The war patterns and aura on the Pale Knight indicated that he likely came from a powerful tribe that worshipped the Lord of Scarlet, and might even be one of its high-ranking members.

Consecutive days of harsh interrogation had left him covered in wounds and his aura withered, but the madness and malice in those dark red pupils had not diminished in the slightest.

Light footsteps echoed in the silent corridor, drawing closer.

A figure in pure white, surrounded by several black-robed monks, arrived silently outside the cell.

Aria's gaze passed through the magic-patterned steel bars, looking at the bloodied Pale Knight inside with an indifferent expression.

The guarding black-robed monks immediately bowed in salute.

Aria's gaze lingered on the Pale Knight for a moment before turning to a senior inquisitor responsible for the interrogation.

"Besides the abandoned peripheral strongholds of the Crimson Knights he revealed before, has he said anything else of value these past few days?"

The inquisitor showed a look of helplessness and whispered:

"Reporting to the Priest, no... He is very stubborn. His mental defenses are guarded by an eerie scarlet power, and conventional interrogation methods have limited effect."

"Once we touch upon the core, he either stays silent or talks nonsense, or it triggers a self-destructive reaction of the scarlet power within him. We don't dare to use excessive torture, fearing he might die directly."

"Is that so?" Aria's tone was flat.

"Yes..." The inquisitor lowered his head even further.

Just then, the suspended Pale Knight inside the cell seemed to sense something.

He struggled to lift his head, his dark red pupils locking onto that piercing pure white outside the bars. His mouth pulled back, revealing blood-stained teeth as he let out a hoarse and malicious laugh:

"Heh... heh..."

"It's useless even if you caught me... My Lord is about to descend upon the North, and this land will eventually be bathed in scarlet..."

"Haha... Hahaha!"

Aria acted as if she hadn't heard his wild words.

She just watched him quietly for a few seconds, then turned and instructed the inquisitor:

"Maintain the status quo; do not let him die."

"Continue trying, using the minimum level of soul probes to find the patterns and flaws in his memory protection."

"Yes, Priest!"

Aria did not stay any longer. She left the dungeon, completing her routine inspection.

Returning to her exclusive quiet room on the upper floors of the cathedral, Aria dismissed her attendants.

The room contained only a simple prayer altar, a desk, a bookshelf, and a high window overlooking part of the city.

Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling window, casting mottled light and shadows on the floor.

She walked to the window and looked into the distance, but not at the street scene of Gino City; she looked further west.

That was the direction of Aksai City, the provincial capital of Will Province.

The scarlet law protection in the Pale Knight's mind was exceptionally powerful and strange. If she forcibly used high-level divine arts to search his memory, she would only have one chance.

Moreover, there was an extremely high probability it would trigger the self-destruct mechanism within his soul, leading to his immediate death.

She did not want to do that unless absolutely necessary.

But based on the information known so far, such large-scale activity by the scarlet cultists in the North must have had the long-term coordination and support of a powerful local figure in the Empire's North.

If she hadn't happened to receive the news and interrupted the scarlet sacrifice in Mist Whisper Town...

...then the three sacrifices in the North would likely have all succeeded.

This was definitely unusual!

There were not many forces in the North capable of blinding the Church's eyes and ears to achieve this.

The Earl Farrell's Estate was likely just one link in the chain, and perhaps not even the most important one.

Her gaze seemed to pierce through space, falling upon that magnificent ducal estate in Aksai City.

As the hereditary dukes who had ruled Will Province for centuries, the Duke Weiduns Estate had enough power to do this.

"But, why?"

This was the point that confused Aria the most.

As early as sixty years ago, Duke Witton had already stepped into the [Sky Knight] realm that countless people dreamed of. His lifespan was long, and his strength stood at the top of the Empire.

He himself practiced the perfect-grade Breathing Technique passed down by the Wheaton family; he was powerful and held immense authority.

What else could he be dissatisfied with? Why would he need to collude with an evil god like the Lord of Scarlet and risk universal condemnation?

Power?

He was already a Sky Knight.

Lifespan?

A Sky Knight possessed several centuries of lifespan, and he was currently in his prime.

Authority?

He was more prominent than most royal princes and held a top seat in the Imperial Senate.

Faith?

Like most families in the Empire, the Wheaton family had worshipped the Goddess of Dawn for generations; there were only differences in degree, no fundamental conflict.

So, if it really was him, what would be the source that prompted his change?

And what was the reliance that gave him the audacity to do this?

Aria fell into deep thought.

Something that could move a Sky Knight and a hereditary ducal family was definitely no small matter.

And to dare to plot such a large-scale conspiracy under the Church's nose, there must be a trump card behind it sufficient to oppose the Church and the Empire's wrath.

The sunlight outside gradually slanted toward the west.

It stretched her shadow long.

The quiet room was silent.

Amidst the mottled light and shadows.

She pondered for a long time...

...