Under a pitch-black starry sky, surrounded by countless brilliant stars, Lucian stood upon the Master Star of Fate, gazing quietly at the unfathomable depths that seemed to contain infinite mysteries. His ear-length black hair whipped about by an inexplicable, rolling wind, lending a touch of wild abandon to his usual composed and steady demeanor.
Suddenly, the starry sky before Lucian turned a sanguine crimson, and a luminous silver moon rose swiftly from within, piercing through the darkness entirely.
In the next instant, the silver moon transformed into Rhein, dressed in a red shirt and black jacket, his enormous bat-like wings once again enveloping the starry sky.
"Your dream is identical to the last one. Just how much do you love the starry sky? Could that be why you chose Astrology magic?" Rhein smiled and tossed off a few casual jibes. "Of course, I know you're actually hypnotizing yourself before sleep to control your soul and brain, so that no secrets leak out in your dreams for me to see. Mages really are such boring creatures — musicians are far more fun. What a pity, what a pity…"
Within his own dream, Lucian maintained the unflappable bearing of a powerful master. "Mr. Rhein, did you find anything in the Clown's dream?"
Rhein chuckled. "Of course. Your request was carried out smoothly. Sure enough, a big shot showed up before the Clown died and tried to recruit the remaining Night Watch members."
Before planning this operation, Lucian had already summoned Rhein's projection through the mark, instructing him tonight to project himself into the Clown's dying dream and observe everything the man had seen before death. That was the true reason Lucian had repeatedly urged Natasha to let the Clown escape in a mortally wounded state.
"A big shot did come… Was it Saer de himself, or Cardinal Amorton?" Lucian asked calmly, showing no self-satisfaction at his correct deduction. Of course, the main reason was that this was a dream in which Lucian was half-asleep, half-hypnotized — he could be as calm as he wished to be, and in truth he was the dream's master.
Rhein's smile gradually faded, and his tone turned measured. "How did you guess it might be Amorton?"
There was a faint note of inquiry in his composure.
"Because in this whole affair, without Cardinal Saer de's 'telepathic' coordination with me, Natasha would have found it very difficult to push the Church, push the Tribunal, into such a flustered and weakened state — and very difficult to drive the Clown to the brink of execution. Without his indulgence, my scheme could never have proceeded so smoothly. And amid that smoothness, I noticed that Cardinal Vera Amorton maintained complete silence throughout, merely relaying Saer de's wishes — hardly the behavior of a true powerhouse within the Tribunal. Based on this, I concluded that she had problems of her own." Lucian laid bare the second purpose behind his staging of his own death — probing Saer de's situation.
In truth, conspiracies did not always need to be complex and elaborate. What mattered was the ability to grasp the opponent's thoughts and desires!
After the Clown rashly made his move to test him, Lucian had changed his plans, weaving yet another layer of a "secret net" around the false death. Then, step by step, from the Church's responses, he had read exactly what he wanted to see. And tonight, Rhein's projection into the Clown's dream was the final — and essential — confirmation.
Even Natasha only knew part of Lucian's objectives in this matter. How could the Clown possibly have guessed? And so, caught between deliberate provocation on one side and coordinated pressure on the other, he had inevitably stepped into the trap.
A faint smile appeared on Rhein's handsome face. "He's already seizing every opportunity that others cannot detect to divide the Church and expand his own power — just as those saints did in the past. As for the Netherworld, he clearly knows more about it than I do. No wonder I was trapped while he was not. Though perhaps he had a different encounter in there."
"Lucian, this is good news for your Arcane Council. If Saer de is allowed to develop freely, perhaps in a few decades or a century, the Southern Church will split again. Being able to confirm this ahead of time through this opportunity is enormously beneficial for your future choices and development."
"I don't think it will split. Saer de is no fool and no madman. He surely understands that if another schism occurs, the Southern Church will never again be able to maintain its current dominance of suppression over all parties, and the territory it controls will shrink dramatically. Regardless of Saer de's true objectives, a drastic reduction in wealth and followers would be absolutely detrimental to him. His approach should be that of a parasite — clinging to the great tree of the Church to siphon its essence, gradually growing stronger, until one day, perhaps when he becomes Pope, he replaces the outer shell without changing it."
Lucian paused, then continued. "That is why I concluded that when Amorton recruited those Night Watch members, the pretext she used was that the Church had grown weak and fallen, straying from the Holy Scriptures, and needed to return to the righteous path — rather than, as those saints did when they split the Church, directly accusing the Pope of being an avatar of the lord of Hell who had stolen the Lord's glory. Their path should be more subtle, more inclined toward 'reform,' even though in substance it remains unchanged."
Rhein clicked his tongue. "As your Arcane Magic rank grows, Lucian, you're getting smarter, more mature, and more possessed of a strategic vision. Ah, but I still think that awkward, green youth from before was more interesting."
He then recounted everything he had seen in the Clown's dream, finally confirming that the Clown had died.
Lucian let out a breath of relief. Letting the Clown leave in a near-death state had carried a certain risk — if Saer de had intervened personally on that end, there was a non-trivial chance of saving him. And once Lucian's reputation grew within the Arcane Council and he appeared on the Purification Sequence under his true identity, there was no guaranteeing that the deranged Clown wouldn't do something terrible to his loved ones and friends.
Though if the Clown survived and was discovered by other Night Watch members or nobles, it would easily expose the anomalies of the Vaorite Diocese — and that led Lucian to reason that Saer de would not save the Clown. Whether acting in person or sending a proxy, Saer de would deliberately arrive late by a stretch. But nothing in life was absolute, and Saer de's thoughts were not something Lucian could fully divine. What if he decided the Clown was a talent worth deploying elsewhere for some secret purpose?
And so, upon hearing Rhein's confirmation of the Clown's death, Lucian finally put his mind at ease. What remained was the Grand Musician's funeral ceremony — one in which he would not need to participate.
…………
Awakening from the dream, the moonlight beyond the window remained as cold and pale as ever.
Opening his eyes, Lucian thought of how his loved ones and friends would react with grief upon hearing the news of his death, and felt a pang of guilt and pain. To ensure the funeral's sincerity of emotion and his own safety, he would have to wait until everything was concluded and he was about to leave Altor before revealing to Uncle Joel and the others that he was still alive — and explaining the reasons behind his choice.