Demon Bible

Chapter 185: The Fall Guy

"Baiter?" Inside a residential house not far from the Cathedral, near the South District, Rhine could not help but frown.

News of the attack on the Baiter Merchant Guild was spreading like wildfire, and it was quickly linked to the previous assault on the Nitton Estate.

This was because both incidents involved attacks by unidentified individuals.

In the past, even if incidents occurred in Tail Fin Town, they mostly took place in the South District.

Those living in the North District were either rich or noble. As a result, very few dared to cause trouble there, and most of those who did were eliminated almost immediately.

But this time was different. Two consecutive attacks had caused a massive uproar.

Rhine took off his glasses and wiped away the dust.

He knew of the Baiter Merchant Guild; he had even ordered an investigation into them.

The final conclusion was that the Baiter Merchant Guild generally did not overstep their boundaries. They simply and honestly wanted to monopolize the fruit and vegetable trade in Tail Fin Town.

While this might generate considerable wealth, the Church also took a significant cut during the process.Furthermore, this kind of merchant guild was not irreplaceable.

If the Baiter Merchant Guild caused trouble, the Church could replace them at any moment.

Baiter? Based on the current situation, he was just a young man who had broken through to the Iron Rank a few years ago.

"However, if the ones who attacked the Baiter Merchant Guild are truly the same group that assaulted the Nitton Family, then it is highly likely that Baiter has been hiding his true strength," Rhine muttered, instantly spotting the inconsistency.

Although the Nitton Family Head was old and burdened by past injuries, he was not someone an ordinary Iron Rank could provoke.

How could Baiter, a recently advanced Guild Master's Son, remain completely unscathed during the attack? This simply did not match the strength he displayed to the public.

Of course, for now, all of this was merely Rhine's speculation.

What truly made Rhine feel strange was that upon hearing the name Baiter once more, he felt an undeniable sense of familiarity.

However, he could be certain that this familiarity did not stem from having heard or seen the name before.

His memory was not that poor. That was exactly why he had specifically ordered an investigation when he first heard the name.

'So, does the word Baiter hold some symbolic meaning?' Rhine pondered as he mentally flipped through the languages he knew, yet he found little of note.

Whether in human tongues, Demonic Language, Elven, Draconic, or various other minor dialects, the word Baiter did not carry much significance.

"Perhaps it originates from some obscure dialect I am unaware of, or maybe its meaning comes from someone's personal creation," Rhine muttered, furrowing his brow as he subconsciously committed the name Baiter to memory.

Rhine knew that his Sensing was never without reason.

During the Baiter Merchant Guild incident, the fact that he cared more about the word Baiter than the identity of the attackers meant that his Spiritual Insight was sending him a warning.

With his current heightened perception, being just one step away from the Golden Rank, anything capable of triggering such a warning had to be connected to his Advancement.

While Rhine was growing increasingly suspicious of Baiter, Nemus had managed to confirm a piece of intelligence on his end.

"Under the current circumstances, the identity of the Demon Warlock is basically isolated," Nemus stated, simplifying the situation as if treating it like a game of hidden identities.

From there, it was easy to spot the problem.

Although Rhine was suspicious, his identity as a Saint Child and his behavioral style essentially confirmed that while he had ulterior motives, he could not be the Demon Warlock.

As for Baiter, he was equally suspicious and likely harbored his own agenda. However, the Power System he displayed last night revealed him to be a Life Path cultivator possessing rare Spatial Traits, meaning he could not be the Demon Warlock either.

In a classic choose-one-of-three scenario, with the other two ruled out, the remaining spot naturally fell upon his head.

The Noble Family Head—Jacquard Ben.

As a Noble family, they were neither top-tier nor insignificant.

Yet, the Ben Family had incredibly few members within the Church.

Currently, only four people from their family held positions there.

Moreover, they only occupied internship or basic entry-level roles, without a single Captain position among them. This was entirely too low-profile.

Viewed in isolation, this might not seem like a major issue. But when observing the pool of suspects, Jacquard Ben's identity as the Demon Warlock was practically laid bare.

Therefore, after discovering the problem with Baiter the previous night, Nemus had realized the issue with the 'Ben' family and subsequently ordered Opper to abandon the probing operation.

"Well, well, well. These days, you cannot even survive in Tail Fin Town without some special tricks up your sleeve," Nemus sighed in admiration, observing the current distribution of power in the town.

Rhine was a failed Saint Child, currently closely tied to the Grand Commander and seeking to advance to the Golden Rank.

Baiter had a mysterious identity and possessed extremely rare Spatial Traits.

Jacquard Ben was a Noble Family Head, a Warlock on the surface but secretly a Demon Warlock, and had previously been covertly backing the Floating World Society Cult Group.

The Dartmenerly Family possessed a Saint's Bloodline and their family's Sacred Artifact, though it harbored some unknown Disaster inside, and they had recently brought back the Saint Child.

Isabella was the bearer of a special bloodline, an extremely talented Priest with an incredibly fast growth rate; her intellect and strength were absolutely extraordinary.

The former Grand Knight Westbin possessed a Fae Bloodline, secretly planning the Historical Trajectory in hopes of reaching the Legend Rank.

Then, there was Nemus himself.

Leaving himself aside, his subordinate Krew Krew possessed a High-Tier Demonic Bloodline, born with one soul and two bodies.

Becky was a mad Alchemist of unknown origins, completely obsessed with Knowledge.

Purr and Downs were Monster-level combatants he had personally molded.

Even Opper was considered a rare Summoning Mage.

And Leah was an unprecedented Whalefication Disease Mutant.

Even Nemus could not help but sigh in realization that in this small Tail Fin Town, capable individuals were as numerous as hemp.

However, the more complicated it became, the more interesting things got.

The more excited Nemus grew, the more calmly he analyzed the situation in Tail Fin Town.

From the looks of it, Tail Fin Town was filled with capable individuals and numerous Chess Players.

He currently held a certain advantage among them.

But this advantage was not overwhelmingly large; at the very least, he could not completely crush the other factions yet.

"So, before making any major moves, I need to force some of them off the stage. I will absorb their resources and bide my time to develop further," he murmured.

Nemus narrowed his eyes.

Meanwhile, Opper and the others were asking whether the Plan targeting the Ben Family should be modified or completely abandoned.

"You may leave behind some traces near their perimeter," Nemus instructed.

"I believe I have found the perfect fall guy." Nemus chuckled softly.

During the establishment of the Construct Protocol, there was a reason he had discarded its peripheral forces.

Aside from those outer members being largely incapable of taking on important tasks, the other reason was the Demon Warlock.

The Warlock had secretly reached agreements with many peripheral members, spreading a method that absorbed desires and converted them into Demons.

The reason Nemus had not immediately dealt with him was partly because the man kept himself exceptionally well-hidden. Every time he made a move, Nemus found it difficult to track down his true body.

The other reason was simply to keep a scapegoat handy.

Now, it was finally time for him to serve his purpose.