"Simple, now that we know our true selves, isn't this the best time to show what we're looking for?" The redhead said calmly.
The man's scarlet eyes moved steadily to one side, looking at the group in the distance.
Passing each of them and the story he had with each one, he nodded.
He motioned for her to follow him, walking toward the group and stopping in front of them. With his arrival, the sound of voices stopped, and all the members' attention focused on him. Vivian stood beside him, appearing unperturbed on the outside, but the pocket watch in her hand was slightly more open.
After a moment of silence, Mr K began to speak, his attention still on the group but occasionally glancing at her.
"While we have the same ultimate goal, the paths we chose are different, as are the reasons they decided to join.
"Some joined to survive because they had nowhere else to go, others to find a reason to live as well as a reason to die. Others try to pay a debt that cannot be repaid in money. Others for revenge, and others to not leave close friends alone. Others because they have their own goals to fulfill..."
He then turned his attention back to her and continued.
"I'm not asking you to tell me your life story or anything like that, that's not what I'm asking. If you want to tell your story in the future, that's fine, but to ask that now would be hypocritical of me.
"Right now, I'm only asking one thing of you, a small truth if you can call it that...
The redhead paused for three seconds before saying calmly, "Why are you here, Miss Vivian? What are you really looking for by joining us?"
Vivian didn't even blink when she spoke, her honey-colored eyes becoming deep and dense like amber.
"Truth. I'm looking for the truth."
"Oh?" Mr. K looked at her with slight interest, tilting his head slightly to the left and raising one eyebrow.
Vivian didn't take long to answer the unspoken question.
"Every child born in the capital of Intis, Trier, has heard of the urban legend of Emperor Roselle, of his madness in recent years, and why he fell from grace with the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery..."
Vivian was about to speak when she suddenly stopped, but gathering her courage, she continued.
"I'm sure it's not just a legend, and I want to prove it."
"Pff—" Covering his mouth quickly, Nathan controlled his expression and coughed to hide his accidental slip.
Even with his powers to control his expression and body from being a clown, what the woman had said was so ridiculous that he could not contain the laughter inside him.
Seeing that he had earned the attention of those present and a particularly hard look from Sasha, he gave a polite smile and, placing a hand on his heart, bowed.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am Vivian, that was disrespectful of me... But I feel obliged to ask, although I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding on my part..."
"You're not talking about 'that' legend, are you?"
The Barbarian raised a hand and waved it dismissively, "Never mind, I'm used to that reaction. And yes, I am talking about 'The Emperor's Sunset."
"... Sigh. That's what I was afraid of..." Nathan sighed slightly.
Looking between them, Sasha raised a hand and said curiously.
"Excuse me, but what are you talking about? What is an urban legend? And what is 'The Emperor's Sunset'? I've never heard of anything like that."
Silently, Opera and Jerry nodded in agreement.
Adryan also looked curiously at this, one hand on his waist and his attention focused on the two Intisians in the group.
It was the first time he had heard of this, too. Not even the memories of his current body had anything about it.
"It's something Emperor Roselle used to tell at parties when he was still young, long before he took an important place in Congress... They were quite popular with the ladies.
They were horror stories that varied about pale, thin monsters that ate people in the woods or that, at certain times of the night in certain parts of Trier, a woman with a bloody smile would appear to lonely men and ask them whether she was beautiful or not, after which she would kill them or disfigure them depending on their answers. Emperor Roselle never named them, but preferred to refer to them as urban legends.
"More people began to use it to refer to those kinds of stories that were born over time, but the term rarely leaves Trier..." Nathan explained a little before turning his attention back to the lawyer.
"But even among the urban legends that appeared over time, The Emperor's Sunset is the most ridiculous of all."
"That's why it's the one with the most truth in it!" Vivian entered with a smirk.
"It's so ridiculous and exaggerated that it has to be true! The fact that in over 150 years it has never been completely disproved means something!"
Looking at those present, she began to speak with energy and great emotion.
"The Emperor's Sunset tells that the reason for Emperor Roselle's madness and why he did the things he did in the last years of his life is because the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery did something to him, what is still unknown but is believed to have had something to do with some kind of ritual or that he discovered something he shouldn't have."
Her eyes sparkled, and she quickly added, "Honestly, I think he discovered something he shouldn't have. A secret of the Church that should never have been discovered, and this information broke his mind! It drove him mad!
"If this is true, it would not only explain his madness, but also why the Church abandoned him to his fate and did nothing to help him. They didn't get the result they wanted, so they decided to get rid of him!
"The only reason they didn't decide to get rid of the Emperor once whatever they did failed or the Emperor found out is because he was too popular! Someone like him, the Son of Steam, couldn't just disappear like that!
"Therefore, they decided to let the Emperor continue with his life and let him be the one to ruin it!"
Huff! Huff!
Breathing heavily, the woman looked around her with eyes shining with a strange glow. Everyone present gave her strange looks, especially Nathan, who at one point focused his attention on the opposite wall, finding it extremely interesting.
'What's wrong with her?' Fors and Xio looked at each other, not understanding why she was acting this way.
Opera just smiled and listened intently while Jerry ate her cookie and watched what was happening with crystal-clear gray eyes.
"..." Bringing a hand to his forehead, the redhead massaged his forehead slowly.
'Don't tell me I've picked up a crazy conspiracy theorist...' Adryan cursed internally, but at the same time, he gave the woman a point.
While she was wrong about the reason for the Emperor's madness, she was right that the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery had a secret.
With this in mind, he decided to try something. "And you decided that the best way to prove this was to accept my invitation? Wouldn't it be better to join the Machinery Hivemind in that case?"
"How could I investigate them like that?" Vivian looked at him as if he had said the sky was green. "They don't seem like it, but they guard and control their information almost as jealously as the Wise Owls, and that's not saying something about their... security methods."
"Why is that?" Opera asked.
Looking at the attractive red-eyed woman, Vivian smiled amusedly, "You step into an area you're not authorized to be in and, best case scenario, you turn into red mist because the guard there is a machine gun."
"Ah, instant death, classic. Effective but horrible to clean up." Shaking his head, he would give her that point.
The feeling of being watched made him glance out of the corner of his eye at the clown of the group, who was giving him a look with his eyebrows slightly raised.
It was clear where he stood on whether to accept the woman, but it was already a little too late.
'Well, at least she's not a flat-Earther... And there might be some truth in that urban legend...' Sighing slightly, the redhead raised a hand and stopped the lawyer for a moment.
"I'm not so sure that the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery had anything to do with the Emperor's madness... But it's true that they have a secret project."
The Barbarian looked at him intently, her eyes dimming as he spoke, but as soon as he said the last part, her head shot up.
"I knew it!" Vivian exclaimed ecstatically, her eyes wide open.
"Wait, really?!!" Nathan entered incredulously, his mouth half open in shock.
Was that silly legend true?!
"Please tell me! What was the Secret Project? What were they trying to achieve? Did Emperor Roselle discover it and make him swear secrecy? Vivian quickly approached him, took his hand, and looked at him pleadingly.
Silently, Adryan pulled his hand away from the woman and patted her head as if she were a child. "Now, now. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Okay?
"Do you understand me?"
Vivian blinked for a moment, taken aback by the movement, but nodded slowly.
Seeing that it had worked, he sighed, "First of all, all churches have secret projects, so whatever the 'Emperor's Sunset' refers to, it's not that special. It's just one of many. Besides, it may not even be the same one.
"That said," Addyan paused for a moment before continuing, "this one in particular is rarer than usual.
"Whatever it is, it happened during the Fourth Epoch and its code name was Project C. Beyond that, I know nothing."
"Project C..." Vivian brought a finger to her mouth and bit her nail slightly.
After three seconds of deep thought, she shook her head, "I have no idea what that could mean."
Her words may have sounded sad or disinterested, but the way her eyes shone showed that Vivian was happy that she had finally found something she had been looking for for a long time.
Shaking his head internally, the redhead approached the small table, took one of the cookies Opera had prepared, and began to eat it.
As he had promised, he would not pry into her life story. He would give her time to settle into the group and share it at her own pace. But this urban legend about the Emperor was certainly interesting.
'Who spread it, and why didn't the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery stop them? Did they create it themselves? Why? If it wasn't them, who did it and why? What did they gain from it? To worsen the relationship between the Church and the people?
If so, it failed because no one blames them for what happened, so the goal must be something else.' Having gone through Conspirator, Adryan had his own ideas about why someone would do it, but he kept his mind open.
Jumping to conclusions without all the information was deadly. Besides, he already knew the truth about the Emperor's madness. What caught his attention the most was why someone would do this.
Putting this out of his mind, but taking note, he took a seat next to his favorite worm, who didn't even open her eyes to look at him, focused on drinking her beverage.
"..." Vivian looked at this, her gaze passing over the group and how they were enjoying their snack, not knowing what to do.
"Miss Vivian, take a seat and have some food," Opera said with a slight smile, extending a cup toward her in a friendly manner.
Regardless of the fact that everyone was looking at her and that it was rude to keep a lady waiting, Vivian took out a coin and, after reciting seven times in her mind, tossed it into the air and let it fall into her palm.
Seeing that the result was positive, she smiled elegantly and took the offered cup. "Thank you, beautiful lady."
With the corners of her lips twitching and her eyebrow trembling, Opera nodded, "N-no problem."
'Rude woman,' Jerry thought silently, squinting at the lawyer who began to drink from her cup without any shame.
As that happened, Sasha could no longer contain her curiosity. She leaned forward in her chair and clasped her hands together. "Boss, could you show us that artefact you got? Pleaseeee?"
She had never seen a Grade 1 artefact before, and her curiosity was killing her!
"Mmm? Oh, sure." Adryan shrugged his shoulders; the request was simple enough.
Vivian, who was about to take a bite of her cookie when she heard that, froze. "What?"
She knew that K had gotten his hands on a Grade 1 artifact, but she didn't expect him to bring it with him, much less show it off so quickly!
For a moment, she considered whether it would be better to leave. Grade 1 artifacts were already entering dangerous territory that she couldn't face or deal with, but remembering the negative effects she had written down, the danger was minor even in the worst case scenario and would only affect K. With that, she decided to stay and see what it looked like.
'Since he accepted so casually, he must have it nearby, but where? In one of the other rooms?' Her eyes moved from side to side, looking for where K could have kept it.
But contrary to what she expected, K didn't get up from his chair to go look for it, but instead boredly raised a hand.
In front of everyone, he plunged his hand into his own shadow as if it were a black river and began to rummage around a bit.
Her confusion turned to bewilderment when the hilt of a sword emerged from those dark waters, followed by the sword itself.
Turning his wrist, the tip rested on the floor, and he placed his palm against the golden pommel. The knight's sword was exposed for all to see in all its glory.
"This is Rapture, say hello." The redhead said casually.
"Oh! It's beautiful!" Sasha approached and looked it up and down, but did not touch it.
Having once been part of the Church of the God of Combat, she knew how to appreciate the beauty and dedication that went into each weapon. This one was undoubtedly a blessing to the eyes.
Looking up, Sasha clasped her hands together again in supplication, "Would it be possible to see the blade?"
Laughing a little, Adryan shook his head, "Why would I do that? You're not my prey."
In a display of agility that made no sense for someone her size, Sasha jumped back, putting distance between them, and raised her hands in surrender, her eyes wide with panic, "I'm sorry if I overstepped!
"It's okay, don't worry, I'm not angry."
There was a short pause, "... Seriously?"
Adryan's expression flattened, "... I'm not your mother to lie like that, Sasha. I'm not going to hit you for something like this."
Jerry stared at the sword in a daze, coming out of her spectator mode. Her eyes shone, and her mouth opened in a silent "Oh."
That sword was as tall as her—no, it was taller than her!
'Sooo cool!'
Fors covered her mouth and looked away before she was caught, her cheeks swelling with laughter.
'It's taller than Xio!' The writer shook violently, trying and almost failing to contain her laughter. She was sure that if she looked at her friend right now, she wouldn't be able to hold it in.
Xio, for her part, only raised her eyes slightly to look at the sword, her face expressionless.
Still with his hand resting on the pommel of Rapture, Adryan turned to look at Vivian.
"Now that you're on the team, tell me, you know about the acting method, right?"
The lawyer stopped halfway to putting her third cookie in her mouth and looked at him in a daze.
"I—
"You act too much for it not to be noticeable." He said calmly, "If you know about it, then fine, but if not, I can explain how it works and its universal rules."
Slowly lowering her cookie, Vivian pressed her lips together slightly before shaking her head. "Don't worry, Mr. K, I know what you're talking about."
K raised an eyebrow, "Are you sure?"
Vivian nodded and recited as if reading from a book, "You're just acting."
The redhead looked at her for two seconds before nodding, "Fine. That solves my problem, then."
"..." Watching the man, waiting for him to continue, the honey-eyed woman only saw him grab a cookie and eat it calmly.
'He's not going to ask me how I know? He's really not going to ask me about what he said before, that he wouldn't pry? Is he that carefree? Criticizing her new 'leader' internally, Vivian turned away and returned to finishing her meal.
…
"Every Sunday we meet here, usually at noon or in the evening, but we always give advance notice." Back to his black-haired, plain-faced appearance, K looked at her calmly.
"Remember, if you have a problem or have already digested your potion, it's best to come with us so we can coordinate getting the ingredients for the next sequence."
"I understand." Vivian gave a slight bow. "See you next Sunday, then. Have a good day..."
...
Walking down Artiros Street, Vivian could no longer contain herself and began to laugh softly.
'This was much better than I thought! Not only did I get information about the Emperor's Sunset, but it's clear that Mr. K is a powerful figure in the Church, not to mention that he most likely has the formulas for Sequences 6 and 5 that I need!'
K knew the name of Sequence 2 of her pathway, and he had told her long ago what he had just told him, that he would take care of the formulas and materials. She did not doubt that he was telling the truth because who would go to trouble for such a complicated lie?
Her laughter grew a little louder, attracting the attention of passersby, who gave her even more space. But Vivian couldn't care less what they thought.
What did it matter that she didn't know his name? She had seen his face!
'I just have to ask Grandpa to find out more about Mr K. Since he's probably high up in the Wise Owls, I'm sure he'll find something!'
Besides, how hard can it be? How many Wise Owls are there with... with... Uh?
Vivian's gait froze suddenly, as did the smile on her face, which was quickly fading.
Her lips began to tremble and dry, and a chill ran down her spine.
'Why can't I remember his face?! I can remember the faces of everyone who was there, but not Mr K's! I saw him directly, so why?!'
Looking around, barely able to avoid looking alarmed, Vivian pressed her lips together and quickened her pace to get off Artiros Street as quickly as possible.
'I underestimated him... Damn it! Damn it! Why did I think I could outsmart a Wise Owl?!'
She still had a lot to learn.
'I hate having to agree with that old fossil...' Sighing and entering a semi-meditative state to calm her racing heart, she continued on her way.
'Well... It's not like they can even find anything interesting about me.'
...
Seeing that the new team member had already left, Sasha turned to the now again redhead and raised an eyebrow.
"Boss, are you sure it was a good idea to show her your face? Miss Vivian may not have recognized you, but if she tells someone about you, won't there be problems?"
The corners of Adryan's lips lifted into a sideways smile. "I said I'd show her my face, but when did I say she'd remember it?"
With that, he held out his cup to the white-haired woman, who gently clinked hers against his in a toast.
"That was easy," Flora said, casually looking at her nails, a satisfied smile on her face.
Now that she was a Dream Stealer, what she could steal became more conceptualized, allowing her to steal thoughts, knowledge, intentions, ideas, dreams, and memories. And if the memory was very recent, no matter how much time passed, the target would never remember what was stolen.
That was something she missed doing...
....
It wasn't long after the weekly meeting ended, each one going to their respective homes to rest or prepare other things.
In the living room of apartment 145 in Astope Quarter, two figures quickly appeared in midair.
The next moment, Adryan in his true form and Flora walked out of the air, both holding hands after using Feynapotter Children Stories to move.
The eyes of the once again red-haired man moved to a corner of the room, where a simple little bird slept hidden.
Now that he could summon more than 10 soldiers, he took advantage of it and left one of them in the room sleeping, so they could always come here without relying so much on shadow jumping.
Turning around and looking at the woman who was only now letting go of his hand, scarlet eyes sparkled with amusement.
"Well?" Adryan asked with a small smile. He was extremely interested in what was to come.
There was no need to mention what the woman had said to Hazel; they both knew that he had heard her perfectly.
Flora pressed her lips together slightly, but, having already made up her mind, she straightened up a little more, her gaze suddenly gaining a dazzling brightness and depth.
With a slow sigh, the white-haired woman looked him straight in the eyes.
"Adryan, we need to talk."