After hearing the name Frank Lee, the bell-ringer Cano wore a strange expression.
"I know him. He... he's a kind and pure person, but sometimes, his purity is frightening."
"Indeed..." Klein stepped away from the stairwell and casually asked as he followed the bell-ringer downstairs, "You know him well?"
Cano walked ahead in silence. Only after a while did he speak, his back to Gehrman Sparrow. "I'm a failed product, riddled with problems, always being mocked. Only Frank and a handful of others look at me normally, treating me like a real person with a soul..."
"Why did he leave the Church of the Earth Mother?" Klein asked, carrying his suitcase, feigning ignorance.
Cano left the bell tower, orienting himself before answering. "I don't know the exact reason. "He's an orphan. He grew up in an orphanage and truly saw the Church as his family and the Mother Goddess as his mother. "He has a lot of strange ideas. He had a chance to become a diocesan bishop, but he was almost sent to the tribunal for blasphemy."
Klein recalled this. Frank had mentioned it before. He wanted to crossbreed bulls, cows, and wheat... To be honest, if it were up to me, I would have sent him to the tribunal too... The reason that guy didn't get into much trouble early on was definitely because his Sequence wasn't high enough, so his actions were limited... Klein grumbled inwardly as he followed the bell-ringer Cano around a street and into an alley behind the Church of St. Drakon.
Cano walked up to an ordinary house and rang the doorbell three times at two-second intervals.
After a while, footsteps approached, and the door creaked open.
Klein saw an old man in a black short coat, leaning on a sturdy walking stick.
The old man's hair was white as snow. His face had no obvious wrinkles, and over his eyes was a black blindfold blocking his entire vision.
"Councilor Rachod, Mr. Gehrman Sparrow wishes to see you on a matter."
Councilor Rachod? This is Councilor Rachod? He's blind? Klein had only ever heard his voice, never seen him, so he couldn't help feeling slightly surprised.
Rachod tilted his ear, slowly turning his head in Gehrman Sparrow's direction. He chuckled. "Apologies for receiving you like this. When I woke up this morning, I suddenly had a premonition that I shouldn't open my eyes to see anything today. To prevent an accident, I had to put on a blindfold."
...It can be like this... I can't compete with this prophet vibe... Klein felt both amused and astonished.
Then, he understood the exact meaning of the other's premonition: not to look at him!
He remembered that Beyonders of the Monster pathway could see things that others couldn't. That was how the Mercury Serpent Will Auceptin could detect his peculiarity, and how Admisur of Tingen City, back then, had bled from his eyes and fallen in agony the moment he saw Klein.
Councilor Rachod sensed the danger and put on the blindfold in advance... Ah, if it weren't for this, I was planning to ask him what he could see... Klein had no hobby of forcing others to harm themselves, so he suppressed his thoughts and asked instead, "Any leads on the mystical item I need?"
"Not yet." Councilor Rachod smiled. "After my injuries healed, I went to Bayam. I was fortunate to run into the reshuffling of the Navy and Governor-General's top brass, and managed to rescue Roy King successfully, though it wasted quite a bit of time."
Klein had expected as much and said without surprise, "Then I'll use this request in exchange for a different favor. "I have a friend who was cursed with misfortune after coming into contact with a mural left behind by the Angel of Fate. I need to eradicate it."
Councilor Rachod thought for a moment and said, "No problem. Bring him to me. Just don't let him leave the house; there might be an accident."
Klein nodded. He grabbed his suitcase and walked towards the mouth of the alley, seizing the opportunity to ask, "Councilor, what do you know about the Mother Tree of Desire?"
In Klein's view, the School of Life and the Rose School of Thought had many apparent contradictions and should have a deep understanding of each other.
Rachod, leaning on his walking stick, walked slowly on the side and behind, not needing anyone's help or guidance, as if he weren't wearing a blindfold at all. He chuckled. "The Mother Tree of Desire is the incarnation of the Rose School's Bound God. However, I suspect the opposite might be true. The Bound God is one of the Mother Tree of Desire's incarnations. My reasoning is that 'Red Glow' Elm Morea claimed that the Sequence 0 position of the Chained pathway is still vacant. Heh, do you know about Sequence 0?"
"I do." Klein replied curtly, without elaborating, not even indicating that he also knew about the Pure Light Brotherhood.
Councilor Rachod grunted. "In short, no one knows the Mother Tree of Desire's true identity, nor which pathway it corresponds to. Perhaps that is its true identity. Besides that, I can provide some related details. "The Mother Tree of Desire and the Primordial Moon are opposed to each other, seeming to have an irreconcilable conflict. This is why the Rose School of Thought has always been hostile to us. "But sometimes, the relationship between the Mother Tree of Desire and the Primordial Moon is very subtle. It might be hard for you to imagine, but the Southern Continent has 'Witch Kings' who worship the moon but have joined the Rose School of Thought. "The seven orthodox churches despise evil gods like the True Creator, the Primordial Demoness, and the Cosmic Evil, but they hate the Primordial Moon and the Mother Tree of Desire even more. "Similarly, the Aurora Order, the Demoness Sect, the Church of the Blood, and the Moses Ascetic Order all dislike the Rose School of Thought."