The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 1015: Followers of the Law of Truth

From the depths, the presence that had shrouded the camp receded, and the radiant golden scales slowly began to fade.

A faint, illusory sapling emerged from the scales, mending the wound on the back of Lu Li's head, nourishing his parched body, and awakening the dormant plants.

Countless sprouts burst through the wooden planks, like sentinels standing guard around the bound Lu Li, but they were powerless to help.

As the plants swirled around his ankles, creating a verdant carpet, the faintly glowing sapling, having sprouted a second and third leaf, vanished into the void.

Color returned to Lu Li's face. He had escaped certain death, but he was far from safe. Bound to a stone pillar in the silent camp, he was completely exposed. Without the heretics on watch, an anomaly could appear at any moment, or worse, the camp would be plunged into darkness and silence once the bonfires burned out.

The short dagger Professor Haig had thrown lay on the tender grass. The distance—less than two meters—seemed an insurmountable barrier; the unthinking plants would not bend to his will.

In the distance, the alchemy tower flickered like a lone star. Lu Li remained bound to the stone pillar, bathed in the firelight, waiting for salvation... or death.

Then, Lu Li heard an approaching noise—a mix of shuffling footsteps, the clang of metal, and hushed breathing.

Lu Li raised his eyes and saw them appearing at the camp entrance: knights surrounded by wizards, with Claire at the center of the formation.

This was no fever dream, no hallucination; they were real.The knights and wizards fanned out to search the camp. Claire strode directly toward Lu Li, her hand swathed in thick bandages.

"You're late."

Lu Li remarked calmly as she approached.

If he hadn't exploited a loophole in the Church of Equilibrium's doctrine to turn the sacrifice back on them, his rescuers would have found nothing but an empty camp and a sated evil god, long since departed.

Claire drew a supple sword from her belt, ascended the platform step by step, and stopped just before the carpet of tender grass. With a swift motion, she severed Lu Li's bonds.

"Not many people know you've become a Lord," she said. "If it weren't for Mother, these fools would have assumed some anomaly left this patch of grass behind."

She surveyed the silent camp, now occupied only by their group.

"And Spit Haig's family? The believers who were here?"

Lu Li shrugged off the sundered ropes.

"They were sacrificed."

For a moment, Claire blurred into a silhouette. When she came into focus again, she was already on the grass, shielding Lu Li with her own body as she scanned the camp.

"Did a third party intervene?"

"I sacrificed them."

?

Claire snapped her head around, her eyes betraying her confusion.

Lu Li stepped onto the soft grass and explained how the heretics who had meant to sacrifice him became the sacrifice themselves.

"How did you manage that?" she asked. "Even a wild evil god wouldn't typically forsake a sacrifice to consume its own believers..."

"Because of the doctrine of the Church of Equilibrium."

Lu Li recounted his ordeal as he stepped down from the platform.

Claire bent down, plucked a tender sprig with an unopened bud, and tucked it into a pocket. She then followed Lu Li away from the altar, grabbed a burning torch from the bonfire, and made her way toward a nearby barn.

"No wonder Mother sent just me," she murmured. "She must have guessed you'd be alright."

Creak—

The drafty wooden door of the barn swung open. Lu Li used a smoldering brand from the torch to light a sconce on the wall. As the light grew brighter, he spotted his bundle lying in a corner.

The Book of the Apocalypse, the stomach, his spirit pistol, and the eyeball were all inside.

Thankfully, Sisoran had been carrying it, so the power of the Book of the Apocalypse, one of the evil spirit chess pieces, had gone undetected.

The moment he grasped the Book of the Apocalypse, the weakness receded from his body.

Claire sensed the shift. Her expression flickered, but she said nothing.

Finally, after securing the stomach and his holster, Lu Li and Claire left the barn.

A knight approached them, his armor clanking with each step. A radiant, symmetrical sun was emblazoned on the dull steel of his breastplate. He was flanked by two scribes in cloth armor.

They were a squad from the Second Expeditionary Army of the Order of the Radiant Knights. Their mission had been diverted to find Lu Li after his disappearance, and they had split up to cover more ground.

"Mister Lu Li, I am Grand Knight Kizz Vance. It is an honor to find you. My squad and I are most fortunate." Kizz Vance removed his helmet and gave a formal knight's bow.

He then turned to one of the men behind him. "Scribe, contact the other four squads. We've found the exorcist."

"Mister Lu Li," the knight continued, "we detected the aura of a sacrifice in this camp. Do you know what transpired here?"

So Lu Li once again recounted the tale of the prey turning on the hunter.

After a thorough inspection of the deserted camp, Grand Knight Kizz Vance and his squad escorted Lu Li back to their temporary encampment at the foot of the Giant Tree.

Lu Li received a warm welcome at the camp. This was not his first encounter with the Order of the Radiant Knights, nor theirs with him. For the knights, Lu Li's legendary feat was still a story told and retold with reverence: how he had ventured alone into the wilds when humanity was plunged into despair by Silence, and how he had managed to wound the Calamity itself. His fortitude was an inspiration to them all.

Claire remained silent, apparently unwilling to reveal her thoughts or emotions in front of outsiders.

Unfortunately, before Deputy Commander Agon Bagdadi could return, the Hour of Silence descended without warning.

The Order of the Radiant Knights had no choice but to send Lu Li and Claire back to the safety of the Giant Tree.

The abduction incident, however, was far from over. The lingering dangers left behind by Professor Haig still needed to be investigated, not to mention the fact that Lu Li himself had been forced to become a believer in the Church of Equilibrium.

His only consolation was that the deity of the Church of Equilibrium appeared to adhere to truth itself, rather than a consciousness shaped by faith.

If that were the case, the shackles binding him would be significantly weaker, almost to the point of being unnoticeable.

"Go ask my mother," Claire advised. "She'll know whether your Church of Equilibrium is a cult dedicated to an evil god or some ancient divinity."

Claire walked Lu Li to the door of the alchemy lab, then departed.

Lu Li knocked on the office door. A pleasant voice called for him to enter, and he pushed the door open.

Vice-Dean Kris was seated on a large, custom-made sofa, wearing a wide-brimmed hat with lace cutouts. She looked as if she had either just returned or was about to leave—most likely the latter, since she wasn't teasing Lu Li as she usually did. Taking a delicate sip of some potion, she whispered:

"I sense the aura of the Law of Equilibrium."

With a faint wave of her hand, a book drifted from a nearby shelf. Its pages rustled as it floated down into her open palm, already turned to a specific page.

"I have one piece of good news and one of bad. The good news is that this 'Lord of Equilibrium' you spoke of accepted your sacrifice of the truth-twisting believers. It possesses the true Law of Equilibrium... which means it is an ancient deity, or perhaps the servant of an Ancient God."

"The bad news is that if you become a renegade, you will be rejected by the Law itself."

And while the Law itself may be ephemeral, the cults that worship associated laws and powers would not be pleased.

"My dear, my advice is to maintain your faith. The paths of Truth are close to the laws of the world, and thus, close to one another."

"Among such truths, barring those that are fundamentally opposed, there exists a natural alliance, much like the pantheons of old gods."

This particular deity may only manifest consciousness during a sacrifice, and it seems to be in some kind of predicament, but that very fact means it won't be able to constrain you.

Vice-Dean Kris picked up her handbag, which was adorned with magnificent jewels.

"But I'll leave the choice to you. After all, beyond your wisdom, you've always had luck on your side, haven't you, dear?"