It had been a while since she'd last visited, but the place was as lively as ever — especially around the dog-catches-rat contest, which had drawn in more than half the bar's patrons, all of them worked up, waving their arms and shouting encouragement — er, for the rat.
Xio hadn't taken a private room this time, choosing instead a quiet spot by the window. She'd used the Faceless item to transform into a man in his early twenties, a bit on the short side, though that wasn't unusual in Backlund — plenty of people were stunted from malnutrition.
"I've finished half of what you asked me to do."
Xio slid a glass of South Wells beer across the table to Bernadette. "I say half, because right now I'm only really an unofficial contact for MI9. To join properly, I'd still need to complete a few more commissions."
"How did you get in?"
"Same as before — buying up follow-up Arbitrator formulas at extraordinary gatherings."
Xio took a long swig of her beer. "And sure enough, MI9's people came looking for me not long after."
Bernadette nodded. "Is that all you wanted to see me about?"
"No."
She arched a brow. "MI9 gave me an assignment yesterday — find a man named Lanevus." She paused. "And, funnily enough, Miss Audrey came to me this morning with a commission too."
She slid a stack of papers across the table: a sketch of an unremarkable-looking young man, but with his hair neatly combed back, round glasses, and brown eyes carrying a faint, mocking smile — the kind of face that made you feel like it was laughing at you.
Lanevus.
Vincent couldn't help feeling a bit exasperated: Miss Justice, you really don't waste any time, do you. "Mr. Fool" only said to use tracking down Lanevus as a test for the person I recommended, and I hadn't even gotten around to asking Xio yet — you beat me to it.
Still, why would MI9 suddenly start looking for Lanevus?
Bernadette said, "So if I told you I also wanted you to find this man — would that count as an even bigger coincidence? Oh, and the Aurora Order's Mr. Z is looking for him too."
"???"
Xio froze, staring at the sketch, startled. "What did this con man do to make so many people go looking for him at once?"
Bernadette said flatly, "Swindled people out of their money. Deceived them emotionally. Took advantage of an innocent young woman, got her pregnant, then offered her up as a sacrifice to an evil god, which led to her horrific death."
Xio's expression darkened instantly. "He deserves to die!"
"Oh, and that's all just what he did before coming to Backlund. What he's done since arriving here — enough to get MI9 actively hunting him — I honestly have no idea."
Bernadette thought it over. "This man is dangerous. He was directly responsible for helping bring about an evil god's descent once already. If you actually get any word on him, tell me immediately — do not try to handle him yourself."
Xio nodded. "Understood."
"Oh, and if you get the chance — find out why MI9's looking for Lanevus in the first place."
"No problem."
Once she'd finished her beer, Xio hurried off, saying she needed to get back and keep an eye on Fors, who was writing her new novel — for safety's sake, Fors had given up the writing identity she'd built over many years and "debuted" fresh, as a newcomer.
If she couldn't produce something decent soon, she'd burn through her savings in no time.
"Ugh. Poor lazy fish."
Bernadette asked, puzzled, "What lazy fish? You mean Fors?"
"Yeah. Didn't Emperor Roselle ever mention it to you? Where I'm from, 'lazy fish' is what we call someone like Fors — always wanting to do nothing, looking to slack off any chance they get."
"That's an interesting way to put it."
"Whoa!!!"
Just then, a burst of shocked exclamations erupted from the dog-catches-rat area, a crowd of people staring wide-eyed at the ring, murmuring in disbelief.
Bernadette listened in for a moment and gathered that the rat had actually bitten the dog chasing it to death — the first time that had ever happened in all the years the contest had run.
If it were a case of an unusually vicious rat and a particularly timid dog getting spooked, that would happen occasionally. But a rat actually killing a dog — that was well outside the ordinary.
Something clicked for Vincent, and he suddenly remembered — there really was a vicious "rat" like this in Backlund, wasn't there? The rat demigod from the Jacob family, the one who later got badly played by Amon.
Though, if he remembered right, she should still be sealed away in the sewers, unable to move freely — which was exactly why she'd manipulated that young noblewoman into helping her tunnel her way out.
Could this be another case of him, the butterfly, flapping his wings and causing her to break free early?
No.
Vincent dismissed the thought immediately. Even if she had gotten out early, there was no way she'd waste her time performing a dog-catching-rat show for a crowd of ordinary people. She'd have slaughtered the lot of them by now.
While he was still thinking it over, Bernadette walked closer. The crowd that had been packed in front instinctively parted as she approached, letting her walk right up to the center with ease.
Inside the circular ring, roughly four or five meters across, lay a large black dog, motionless, its throat torn open in a gaping wound, blood pooling steadily beneath it.
Beside it sat a rat, palm-sized, its fur entirely blood-red, eyes glinting with malice. It sat up on its hind legs, glaring around at the crowd, letting out a series of shrill, piercing shrieks.
The sight sent chills through more than a few onlookers; some of the women in the crowd quietly began backing away from the ring.
"Squeak!!!"
The rat bared its blood-red fangs, lowering its upper body slightly, hind legs coiling — as if about to spring forward and attack the crowd.
Then, suddenly, its gaze locked onto Bernadette, and its small rat face abruptly filled with an unmistakably human expression — terror. Sheer horror.
Its body shook violently, the tension draining out of it all at once as it collapsed to the ground, flipped onto its back, eyes wide open, all signs of life gone.
Vincent said, startled: "...Did you just scare it to death? A Sequence 3 demigod, and it just dies of fright — that's terrifying."
"..."
Bernadette stared at the dead rat, her brow furrowing. "That doesn't add up. From how it was behaving a moment ago, it should have just been an ordinary rat, mutated from corruption. How could it possibly have recognized me as a demigod?"
"That's..."
Right — in the Lord of Mysteries world, unless someone deliberately revealed their power and presence, there was no way to tell anything just by looking.
Bernadette's eyes suddenly deepened, her gaze passing through the rat's corpse, revealing a stretch of pitch darkness beyond it — what looked like a wall, and within that wall...
Just as she was about to trace it further, her vision suddenly blurred, twisted, and then dissolved entirely into an empty void.
Her opponent had used a counter-divination ability.
Bernadette's eyes quickly returned to normal. She lingered on the rat for a few more seconds, then turned and walked away from the ring — it had only been a chance encounter after all, something she'd taken a passing interest in out of curiosity; it had nothing to do with her, and there was no reason to chase it any further.
"Miss... Natasha."
A low voice sounded just as she stepped clear of the crowd. It belonged to a pale-faced man in a white shirt and black waistcoat — Maric, of the Rose School of Thought's Temperance Faction.
"Could I have a few minutes of your time?"
Maric said, "Sharron would like to speak with you."
To be continued…
Advance 100 Chapters are up on my Patreon!
pat reon.com/AlphaSenatus