Chapter 601: Provoking
"But how do we start?" Anna asked.
On the other hand, Charles retracted his wisdom power and spoke to the coachman.
"Drive the Carriage to South Borough." Upon hearing those words, Anna's eyes squinted.
"Slum Borough? Why do you want to go there?" She couldn't help but get more curious.
On the other hand, the Carriage Driver didn't listen to his orders and spoke back.
"Customer, the Carriage has already reached the Central Borough, why not go back to Inn first and then go to the South Borough?"
"Oh? So, you don't have to alter your plan to arrest me? I shouldn't talk to Radiant Inquisitor like that, right?" Charles's response made the coachman fall silent.
After a short silence, the coachman, the Radiant Inquisitor, asked in a cold tone.
"How did you find out? Did Anna tell you? No, it should be the Bishop of Sun Church!"
Charles let out a chuckle and shook his head.
"Don't worry; I'm not going to run away."
"You shouldn't even think of running away, Mr. Max. We have all information about you. Although you are only under observation, I can easily dispose of you under the pretence of investigation." The Radiant Inquisitor stated in a cold tone.
After that, he drove the carriage deep into the Central Borough and stopped at Mermaid's Inn after fifteen minutes.
Then, the Radiant Inquisitor climbed down from the driver's seat, moved towards the carriage door, and opened it.
"Get out," He said coldly.
On the other hand, Anna was utterly dumbfounded by the current situation and looked at the Inquisitor in shock and confusion.
Noticing her gaze, the Inquisitor smiled lightly and explained.
"We received a report from many of the passengers of Airship SW45325 that a devastating disaster happened at the Miracle City. After some investigation, we also found out that that airship was the first one to leave the Miracle City." He paused for a moment and then added.
"Surprisingly, our Pope also received a divine revelation this morning saying that 'Nightmare' is about to descend upon this land. That was also the moment when this Airship from Miracle City arrived at the Holy City. This can't be a mere coincidence."
"But why him, Sir? Although he has the same characteristics as what Lord Pope mentioned, he isn't the only one with similar characteristics." Anna first stepped out of the carriage and spoke.
"Like I said, he is only under watch now. Like him, more than twenty five members are under house arrest. But among them, his identity is bit special even in the Miracle City." Inquisitor paused and signaled Charles to come out quietly.
Meanwhile, Charles sighed deeply and walked out.
"I'm innocent, Mister Inquisitor. Although I was the Head of the Security Department until yesterday, things are not looking good at Miracle City now. Not only was Demigod Rafael kicked out by a mysterious identity named Anangu, but even the defensive array system also kept going malfunctioning. Even before the big incident, a large accident happened at the airport's main building security array and killed lots of people. So, that accident has nothing to do with me or any other passengers." He said while raising both his hand up.
"We'll decide after a thorough investigation. For now, you have to do what I say and never even try to escape. Or else, you'll die." The Radiant Inquisitor kept a cold face and spoke threateningly.
On the other hand, Charles looked irritated at the Inquisitor's attitude and asked in a provocative tone.
"What if I don't? You think you can stop me? Do you really think you can do as you please?"
'Oh no. This guy is short tempered and also a powerful figure. Although Radiant Inquisitor is a Rank-4 being, he still isn't a match for him!' Anna soon realized that this guy was using this chance to get into a fight with Radiant Inquisitor and decided to intervene.
After all, if something terrible happened to Inquisitor, she might get dragged into the investigation.
"Please be patient, Mister. I promise that as long as you stay in your room, nothing bad will happen to you." She also signaled Inquisitor to back down and led Charles into the hotel.
Under the watch of the Inquisitor, both entered the hotel and soon went to the second floor.
On the other hand, Inquisitor gave a deep look at Charles's back and furrowed.
'I don't like that guy's attitude. Although his current strength is only around Rank-3, why did Archbishop Michael warn me to be careful around him? Tsk, I will sneak into his room later and observe him stealthily.' After muttering, he suddenly became transparent and soon disappeared from there.
In the meantime, Charles returned to his room and pondered what to do next.
First, he decided to discard Professor's identity because it might expose his location to Udnir.
'Although Abium said I don't need to be too cautious of Udnir, I don't dare to take any risks. At first, I thought of relying on Anna's help to fake my death. But after seeing that Inquisitor's attitude towards me, I changed my mind.'
'And my next worry is the upcoming disaster. Although there is still no sign of any abnormalities in the sky, I want to take precautions. From the earlier vision, I vaguely suspect that each meteorite would be around the size of a school building. If it was on Earth, even a single school-building-sized meteorite would result in large-scale global catastrophes. But here, it's completely different. Although the damage caused by these meteorites would still be catastrophic, there are many external figures like World's Will and divines might intervene and lessen the velocity. And, if I can break all those massive objects into small pieces before before it reaches the atmosphere, all might disintegrate before reaching the ground.' He quickly nodded and was about to stand up from the bed but suddenly froze.
At that moment, he noticed someone sneakily entering his room through the balcony.
'He couldn't even wait for few minutes?' Muttering inwardly, he let out a yawn and ordered Genesis.
'Genesis, gather all information about Sacred Empire's illegal activities and show me in the form of text.'
As he ordered, more than hundreds of blue notifications popped up in front of his eyes.
'Wow, so many information.' As he started reading the information, his expression darkened.
The first information itself was about 'Slave Auctioning.' Simply put, the Sacred Empire's fourth Cardinal managed the trade and business-related stuff and even conducted a 'Slave Auction' once a month. But the unique thing about this was that the ones who auctioned were not from Edhen World but another plane!
'So, Sacred Empire also shows interest in exploring other planes and seems to have already conquered a Low Plane called 'World of Wild.' But from the looks of it, this world inhabits are also humans called 'Barbarians' and looks primitive. The reason they are in high demand in the market is actually because of their strong physical strength. Even a normal Barbarian human has the strength of ten people, huh? Interesting.' After that, he looked at other information and noticed not only human trafficking but the Sacred Empire's core official members were also involved in drug dealings, Corruption, Suppression of Mages, Human Experiments, and even the killing of young mages in the name of Evil Persecution.
After reading for more than 15 minutes, he sighed deeply and muttered.
"It's so boring here. Hah, these crazy religious a**holes are going nuts. All I did was just to escape from that horrible place, but they are treating me like a criminal. Tsk, if it had happened at the Miracle City, I would've even shaved this so-called Pope's head and make him kneel before me."
"Ah, now that I think about it, didn't I read information about Pope's little secret? Yes, I read that he was a eunuch of the Star Empire few hundred years ago. But he later betrayed the Empire while revealing many secret documents to Order Church and became a Bishop-" He abruptly stopped talking and shook his head.
"What am I doing saying those things out loud. Thankfully, no one is nearby. If not, I might have been killed for saying blasphemous things." At that moment, he seemed to have recalled something and continued to mutter.
"I wonder if the guy named Cardinal Leon is still in relationship with the holy knight named 'Anderson'. Although I don't have any prejudge against gay couple, what will happen if someone really found out that he isn't a straight guy?"
As Charles started talking, Inquisitor's face changed from anger to embarrassment and hate. The more he heard Charles's loud mutters, the more he felt he needed to eliminate this guy!
'Even a single rumor will create a great chaos in this city. Whether he is saying truth or lie, I need to eliminate him.'
At that moment, Charles suddenly read another piece of information about an Inquisitor's wife and smirked inwardly.
"But that Inquisitor from earlier is indeed an arrogant scum. Humph, if he acts like that around his woman, she might even run away from him. Wait, now that I think about it, there is also a secret scandal I heard from John two months ago, right? He said that his paladin friend Hunt actually managed to seduce an Inquisitor of Order's wife and has been enjoying his life for the past two years. I wonder how they are doing right now."
At that moment, Inquisitor's face suddenly froze.
'Wait, Hunt? Isn't he the Rank-3 [Paladin] of Life Church who lives next to my house? But doesn't he have a beautiful wife named Charlotte?' But as he further heard Charles's words, he finally lost his cool and leaped toward Charles while unsheathing his sword.
"I'm going to kill you, bastard!"
