The Bizarre Detective Agency

Chapter 929: Glory to Vinnelag

Lu Li walked the road toward the Cathedral of the Inquisition.

Behind shop windows, on balconies, in windows, on the streets, the townspeople—and those who had come from elsewhere—watched him pass in silence.

Among them were middle-aged men shivering in thin clothes, scoundrels in filthy, bloodstained coats, unarmed soldiers, and the quietly standing Guards of the Inquisition.

"Seize that fallen exorcist!"

A voice erupted from the crowd, causing a stir, but not even the knights of the Guard made a move.

The experience of the dream was still fresh in everyone's memory; the townspeople had no desire to become the "heretics" they had once condemned, and the knights and soldiers had no wish to be accomplices to conspirators—

This was not the outcome the citizens of Vinnelag had wanted.

Soon, a figure with an enormous pack on his back appeared beside the solitary Lu Li.

Antoni the Trader had escaped from the dungeon.

"Mister Lu Li!"Shortly after, Prusius and Ophelia also squeezed through the parting crowd, circling Lu Li's feet with a wagging tail.

"The dungeon let us go! Did you create the dream?"

"I saw... the Deep... God... Did you... make peace?"

"Mhmm."

As Prusius waved to the shadows over the bay, Matteus, his assistant, and several others emerged from the crowd.

Their appearance signaled that Vinnelag had slipped from the Inquisition's control, and his subsequent words confirmed it.

"Because of the Inquisition's terrible, perverse, and treacherous actions in that dream, many councilors, nobles, knights, and priests have severed their ties with it. Those who knew of the conspiracy have been arrested, leaving only the instigator, Bishop Ussa. He is in the Cathedral of the Inquisition."

"That's where I'm headed," Lu Li said.

The Cathedral of the Inquisition.

It was also once known as the Cathedral of Light.

A tall spire reached for the clouds, and a disc symbolizing the sun was embedded where a statue should have stood.

The rebellious—or rather, returning—knights and soldiers had already surrounded the place.

However much the people had once revered this place, their feelings toward it were now just as complex.

And just as full of contempt.

To be honest, the Inquisition's collapse wasn't Lu Li's doing—it had been strangled by its own cunning trap, "The Glory of Mankind." It had betrayed itself. And its downfall was sealed by the destruction of the false dream.

Even without Lu Li, what had transpired in the dream would have eventually become reality.

The gray crowd in the square parted, opening a path to the cathedral, which was guarded by knights.

An elderly bishop in golden ecclesiastical robes stood before the cathedral and bowed to Lu Li as he emerged from the crowd:

"Respected Mister Exorcist, the former Bishop Ussa is waiting for you in the hall."

Stepping onto the paved road, Lu Li and his companions entered the empty cathedral hall.

Faint light filtered through the ornate stained-glass windows, solemn and sacred.

They walked down the aisle between the pews, their footsteps echoing through the hall.

Bishop Ussa stood behind the pulpit. A precious crown emphasized the old man's nobility, his dark blue eyes were still wise, and a whisper of admiration echoed through the cathedral.

"Incredible power, something no human could possess..."

"The Deep God helped me a great deal," Lu Li replied.

"Ussa, your plot to destroy Vinnelag is over!" exclaimed Mayor Matteus, his solemn voice ringing through the cathedral like that of a warrior confronting a demon king.

"It was not my doing," Bishop Ussa said, slowly shaking his head.

"I saw everything in the dream," Lu Li stated calmly.

No one, no anomaly, was controlling him—not the Pope he had imprisoned, nor the Inquisition he controlled.

"I did not want to destroy Vinnelag, nor did I want to kill people. Faith... is something we were forced to pursue..."

Now, we have been defeated.

You have won, you who are stronger than us...

A flicker of what seemed like relief passed through Bishop Ussa's eyes.

"Lead humanity forward..."

Matteus, who had been about to ask a question, froze.

"Why?" Lu Li asked.

"You ask why I did this?"

Bishop Ussa's dark blue eyes dimmed.

"Because this is the best of times... and the worst of times."

Lu Li fell silent. Ophelia grew thoughtful, while Prusius, unable to contain his curiosity, asked:

"What do you mean, 'the best'?"

"Very simple... if what we are experiencing now is the darkest, most tragic, most agonizing and hopeless age of anomalies..."

"Is it all just a prelude?"

Ophelia emerged from her thoughts, but Lu Li remained silent.

"That's impossible!"

Matteus's astonishment echoed through the cathedral like an imperious command.

Bishop Ussa ignored Matteus's insistence, his whisper cutting through the echoing shouts:

"There is no time..."

"Where is your proof?" Lu Li asked.

"One of the greatest adventurers of the past, Captain Lefrancia Werth."

"That adventurer from the Kingdom of Allen? Didn't she go missing decades ago...?" Matteus said with a frown.

"She returned several years ago and has been hiding in Vinnelag."

"What does this have to do with her?"

"Captain Lefrancia Werth returned from the north... from the other side of the World's Spine mountains."

Matteus fell silent. That side was unexplored territory; treacherous, stormy seas prevented anyone from setting foot in the north, and no one expected that an explorer had once been there and returned alive...

"Where is she?"

"Can she still be found?"

Matteus and Lu Li asked at the same time.

"Of course... She's at 24 Lenskyn Street. I think she is ready for your arrival."

"Why did you never tell us?"

"It is a secret,"

Bishop Ussa answered.

"A secret is a secret because not too many people should know about it."

Lu Li and his companions left the cathedral. Mayor Matteus ordered his soldiers to guard the place and went with Lu Li to 24 Lenskyn Street.

They met Captain Lefrancia Werth. She was just as she appeared in the museum portraits, but without the sharpness and intensity. Instead, she looked more like a crazed witch.

When Lu Li and the others arrived, she clung to the doorframe, growling hoarsely, and wouldn't even let them inside.

"Look, you still have water to drink, food to eat, and light to guide your way!"

Her eyes, like cracked tree trunks, rotated eerily in their sockets.

"But the end is near... Look... A severe winter will destroy the last pure cities of humanity, and darkness will cover the earth..."

As her hoarse, crazed laughter, like a witch's cackle, filled the air, they backed away from the door, and Mayor Matteus ordered his soldiers to take her to a hospital for treatment.

The fact that Bishop Ussa had believed the words of a mad old woman was baffling. Then, a soldier rushed over to inform them that they would never get an answer: Bishop Ussa had taken his own life in the cathedral.

Matteus sank into silence; though Bishop Ussa had once been his adversary, he could feel no satisfaction from this.

Now, prying more secrets from the lips of Captain Lefrancia Werth and her ominous predictions became the mayor's task.

In any case.

From this day forward, the true glory of humanity belonged to Vinnelag.