Backlund.
Leonard had now been a part of the Aurora Order for several days. His daily duties as an attendant consisted of serving tea, fetching water, sweeping floors. He was starting to genuinely wonder whether he'd been had — whether the whole thing had been one big scam to get him in here as free labour.
An evil god's cult? A terrorist organisation? You people just eat and drink and boss us attendants around all day. Would it kill you to go out and do something that matches your reputation?
If you use me as your errand boy one more time, I'm going to—
"Ed — go clean that room over there."
"On it!"
Leonard answered before he knew what he was doing and was already trotting over to start sweeping. "AAAGH! I hate this pavlovian reflex!"
He swept furiously, fuming inwardly: Every room, every day, six or seven times. Even the most obsessive neat freak doesn't need this — nobody's even BEEN in half of these rooms!
That said, he hadn't come away with nothing in the past couple of days. According to the intelligence he'd received, the Aurora Order's Backlund representative should be the divine emissary, Mr. A — the same person who'd "interviewed" him.
But Mr. A had vanished shortly after Leonard arrived, and Mr. Z had taken over in his absence. Leonard had reason to suspect Mr. A's disappearance meant he was off engineering some covert scheme somewhere.
Which was precisely why Leonard was here.
"Mr. A is back."
An attendant's voice drifted in from outside. Leonard's heart lurched.
He's done already?
"Everyone, gather round."
Bernadette settled into the sofa, accepted a glass of wine from an attendant, and said: "I have something to announce."
"Ha — Mr. A, nice of you to finally grace us with your presence."
Mr. Z walked over, and the look he gave Bernadette held a pointed edge.
"Sorry, Mr. Z. I received an urgent instruction from the Master two days ago. The task is now complete."
Mr. Z blinked, then his expression eased entirely. He crossed himself over his chest. "Understood. You've worked hard."
Bernadette continued: "Based on the Master's guidance, I've confirmed that the Demoness Sect's cooperation with us also involves the Psychology Alchemists and the Loen royal family. On the surface, they're helping us facilitate the Master's descent. In reality, they intend for us to serve as a target — drawing the Churches' attention while they do what they actually came to do."
Mr. Z's expression didn't change. Evenly: "I don't care what they want to do. As long as they don't interfere with us, it doesn't matter."
"Right. But do you really think the Loen royal family is going to let us set up a descent ritual in Backlund and actually get away with it?" Bernadette gave a quiet, cold laugh. "We were always going to be the sacrificial piece. There was never any intention of letting us succeed."
"..."
He was quiet for a few seconds, then raised an eyebrow. "Just say your conclusion."
"It's not so much a conclusion — it's more of a thought. Since the Loen royal family is willing to 'cooperate' with us and use us as bait for the Churches, it means what they're planning is equally something the Churches won't tolerate. Which begs the question — can we turn that around on them? Use them as our bait instead?"
Mr. Z's eyes narrowed. His already-striking features became sharper. The corner of his mouth curved. "I see."
What exactly Mr. Z had understood, Vincent and Bernadette weren't certain — but most likely he intended to direct some pressure at the Loen royal family. Perhaps to take some kind of action against them.
And that was the signal Vincent was sending through him: I know about what you did that night. Either you pull out of the Aurora Order cooperation entirely and move to eliminate us, or you make some kind of gesture.
If the Loen royal family really did send people to wipe out the Aurora Order — honestly, perfect. Vincent would make a scene with the True Creator — crying, wailing, throwing fits — until He dispatched a couple of angels to Backlund to make George III's life extremely difficult.
Once Mr. Z left, Vincent looked at the two rows of ten-odd attendants standing before him and said evenly: "You've probably heard — we're planning something significant. Given the sheer scale of what's ahead, it won't be something Mr. Z and I can handle between the two of us."
"Therefore, I intend to select one of you to be involved. They will take charge of the others on my behalf, and handle certain matters for us."
Excitement and eagerness bloomed on every face in the room.
"The selection process will follow principles of fairness, openness, and transparency. It will evaluate your abilities comprehensively. You'll have one night to prepare. Tomorrow I will announce the qualifying conditions. Anyone who meets them and passes the assessment will be selected."
Then, with a flat calm: "To repeat — this selection is fair, open, and transparent. Is that understood?"
"Understood!"
"Good. Dismissed — go prepare."
Leonard turned away and immediately vented to the old man inwardly: "I'm starting to question whether I've actually joined the Aurora Order. When did they start running fair, open, and transparent competitions?"
"This is… unprecedented to me as well."
In the early days Pallez had known the Aurora Order, they'd been fairly standard, as cults went — yes, some of the rituals were grim, but they'd once been a legitimate Church under the Solomon Empire. It was only after the True Creator was defeated by the seven gods and lost most of His anchors that the Order had grown progressively unhinged, and the cult along with it. But what was happening now wasn't a question of unhinged or not — it was just strange.
"Either way, isn't this a good opportunity for you? If you get selected as the 'core member,' you might finally learn what the Aurora Order is actually scheming. Then you could go back and report to the Church."
Leonard sighed. "I've only been here a few days. There's no way they'd pick me."
...
The next morning.
Leonard stared at the notice pinned to the chalkboard, jaw hanging open:
Conditions: Male. Under thirty. Good-looking. Sleepless Pathway. Previous experience as a police officer.
The attendants looked at it, looked at each other, and looked back at it — all of them with the same expression of mild bafflement: Why does this feel strangely deliberate?
"It IS deliberate!" Leonard screamed inwardly. "This was written specifically for me!"
"Old man — have I been made?! Are they just messing with me? Should we make a run for it now?"
"Run where?" Pallez said, unimpressed. "And think about it — if they specifically set this up to toy with you, what do they get out of it?"
"That..."
Leonard genuinely couldn't figure it out.
Vincent gave a quiet smile. "Ever heard of a rigged job posting?"
When it came to dark-box operations, the methods were endless — but a rigged job posting was basically unavoidable. It had the appearance of fairness, openness, and transparency. It looked open to everyone. But its carefully tailored conditions were designed, from the start, for one specific candidate.
Dark-box operation: achieved.
Bernadette pressed her hand to her face. "You two… are something else."
"Hey, not me. Someone else. And more importantly—" he coughed — "I can't say too much. Right. I should go congratulate our newly selected 'squad leader.'"
Led by an attendant, Leonard walked nervously into Bernadette's room. He looked at the smiling figure sitting there, and bowed his head. "Mr. A."
Bernadette smiled slightly. "Congratulations, Ed. Effective immediately, you are the Aurora Order's Backlund chapter squad leader."
"..."
He scrambled to fill his eyes with excitement and fanaticism, and declared loudly: "Mr. A! I will not let you down!"
"Do you know why I listed those particular conditions?"
"No."
"But you definitely figured out that this position was made specifically for you, didn't you."
"..."
Bernadette kept smiling. "Do you know why I did it this way?"
Leonard shook his head.
"Naturally, because I saw the white-hot fervour of your faith in our Master. I believe that for the Master's sake, you are willing to give everything."
"Absolutely!!!"
"Then here is your first important task."
"Name it!"
Bernadette looked at him with a serene smile and said: "I need you to find a way to infiltrate the Evernight Church. Join one of their Nighthawk squads."
To be continued…
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