In the "City of Generosity," Bayam, in a rented room lit by a gas wall-lamp.
Verdú Abraham, of the gold-rimmed spectacles, was holding a thick sheaf of materials and, by that less-than-bright light, reading carefully, every so often making a mark with his pen to record some content that seemed it might be of use.
He had left Loen and come to the Rorsted Archipelago chiefly to escape the eyes of Dorian and other members of the family and to study the occult in peace, in the hope of finding an effective means of saving the family's ancestor Bethel Abraham — or, more precisely, of finding reliable knowledge by which the difficulty of that ritual might be lessened.
But more than half a year had gone by and he still had not the slightest clue; it seemed that, apart from hunting Trickster, Parasite and Hermit, there was no other option.
This made Verdú deeply despondent; yet he knew with sober clarity how dangerous "Tier 0" sealed artefacts were, and that even if he were willing to sacrifice himself he would not be able truly to control one — and could give no guarantee as to what the final outcome would be.
More important, he could not even locate the Trickster and the Parasite — both of them Saints whose movements were secret and whose style was famously bizarre.
Whew… Verdú set down the sheaf of materials in his hand and murmured, all but soundless:
"Is there really nothing for it but, as Dorian and the others do, to set my hopes on that 'Fool'?"
At the thought of the "Fool," Verdú could not help knitting his brows, for inside the city of Bayam there were ever more half-giants preaching the faith of the "Fool," so much so that even he, who seldom went out, had heard tell of it.
This led him to suspect that he had wandered into the vicinity of the Church of the "Fool's" headquarters.
Were it not for the fact that the occult knowledge circulating in secret on the Rorsted Archipelago exceeded all Verdú's expectations — much of it of immense usefulness and never even mastered by the Abraham family — he would have left Bayam a month ago and made for the Southern Continent.
"I cannot tarry any longer; book a ship's passage to East Balam as soon as possible…" No sooner had Verdú made the resolution in his heart than a small wavering took hold of him: "Neither Dorian nor the 'Fool's' Church would imagine that I am hiding within the very radius of their headquarters; Emperor Roselle once said that the most dangerous place is also the safest…"
Caught in hesitation, Verdú put away the materials, extinguished the wall-lamp, and, by the moonlight from outside the window, walked to the bedroom.
At a corner of the balcony of his room, of a sudden, a figure leapt out of the dark and vaulted the railing.
That figure was like a feather, floating, weightless; falling from over ten metres to the ground it did not make the slightest sound.
Then the figure stole along the dimmer parts of the street, all the way to the vicinity of the Church of the Sea God, and climbed the bell tower.
There "he" produced paper and pen and wrote out, in swift scratches, the surveillance findings of that night, then stuffed the report into a certain crevice.
Once that figure had departed, perhaps a quarter of an hour later, the sound of wind suddenly arose atop the bell tower.
The report was drawn out from the crevice by an invisible hand, and, on the great wind passing through, surged off, rising and falling, into the distance — like a bat spreading its wings in the night.
Not long after, the report dropped, as though weighted by a stone, into a palm extended out of the shadows in the garden.
That hand belonged to Cardinal Alger Wilson of the Church of the Storm.
He at once unfolded the report and, in the night's gloom, read it through carefully, no whit troubled by the lack of light.
— even in the lightless deep sea, Alger could see his surroundings clearly.
"Verdú's intention of leaving Bayam grows more and more definite…" Alger gave a barely perceptible nod and made his inward summing-up.
For these past six months and more, in accordance with Mr. "Fool's" instructions, he had been keeping that member of the Abraham family under surveillance, but had detected nothing especially out of the ordinary in the man's conduct.
Once Verdú left the Rorsted Archipelago, the task could be counted complete.
Yet Alger did not wish to end it in this manner; he felt he had not yet made contribution enough, having only, in a very simple way, kept under watch a not-particularly-special Sequence 7.
— the "Hermit" had already received a Sequence-3 extraordinary characteristic from the "Queen of Mysteries" and had gathered all the corresponding auxiliary materials, and was now busy preparing the ritual. This put considerable psychological pressure on Alger. Of course, beyond keeping watch on Verdú, he had also done a great many things in line with Mr. "Fool's" intent; yet even he himself felt that this was still a long way short of the "Sea God's" identity, divine standing and power.
There was a moment when Alger thought of forcing Verdú Abraham, by various indirect means, to betray his own problems; but in the end he abandoned the idea, for he could not tell whether Mr. "Fool's" disposition towards that target was benevolent or malevolent.
— back when Silver City and Moon City were selling off extraordinary characteristics and potion formulas, Alger had bought some at the Tarot Club, in order to develop a force of Beyonders independent of the Church of the Storm, loyal only to himself, and hidden in the dark; the personnel watching Verdú came from that.
At present this team of fewer than ten members was for the most part Sequence 9, with only a small number promoted to Sequence 8.
As to where the money came from with which Alger bought extraordinary characteristics and potion formulas — the answer was very simple.
As Cardinal in charge of a diocese, Alger could effortlessly "save out" sums of money for himself; and during that period, the mines, plantations, spice estates and factories of the Rorsted Archipelago were all being sold off below their value — anyone with the means to buy in could, after a time, reap a handsome profit.
More importantly, the headquarters of the Church of the Storm itself had no small interest in the extraordinary characteristics and potion formulas put on sale by Silver City and Moon City, and provided a great deal of capital for the purpose. As for the one handling the affair — it was, without doubt, the Cardinal of the Rorsted Diocese, Alger Wilson; and in such transactions some attrition is unavoidable and understandable.
Drawing back his thoughts, Alger decided to use his Shadow Guards to sell off some occult knowledge among the Bayam Beyonder circles, so as to hook Verdú Abraham and to delay his departure for as long as possible.
"The chief reason is that the missionary work of Silver City has given that gentleman a fright…" Alger shook his head and murmured to himself.