Fire Mage

Chapter 181: Three Culprits

'That was f*cking scary... She forcefully pulled my consciousness into a separate space!' Charles's heart thumped harder.

But in the next second, he returned to his former state, clasped his hand together, and started to think.

'Find it sooner, huh. Hmm?' He suddenly paused for a moment and furrowed his brows.

'This Goddess appears to know more about me… Did she foresee my arrival?'

Charles knew that no external force had influenced his previous action and was sure that his arrival here was a pure coincidence.

'Coincidence… Wait… Was it the artifact's doing?' His face hardened.

'I couldn't rule out such possibility. Troublesome…' Although Charles didn't know much about this artifact, he was sure that it must be a creation of this Goddess.

'My current problem is to find the artifact… But even this almighty Goddess seemed to be clueless about it. What can I do? No, I think I'm missing some key information… Why didn't the Goddess act personally?' He quickly glanced at the red gem-embedded bracelet and asked.

'Mr. Runeth, can a God descend to Edhen whenever he wants?'

'Your question itself is a complicated one, lad. When a God ascends to the throne, his main body will directly enter his Divine Kingdom and he would rarely show up in person. To a God, his main body is the core part. As long as he hid in his Divine Kingdom, no one can kill him.'

'Well, if a higher Rank God attacks him, he and his Divine Kingdom will be squashed to a pulp, though. Now, if a God descends to Edhen without minding these consequences, he will face severe attacks from the 'Will' of this world. So, the Divines mostly send their avatars and incarnations for their personal matters.' The Holem's Crown deliberated for a moment and then continued.

'But due to the Planar Alliance, all the Lawful Gods signed an agreement not to send the avatars and Incarnations to Edhen. Haa, if an army of Demons invades this plane, these Gods would definitely send their incarnations, subordinate Angels, and their avatars to death… I wonder if I can snatch an avatar's body to do a false reincarnation during that situation….'

Charles rolled his eyes and then thought.

'It seems this Goddess is planning to push the troublesome work on to me. Hmm, I'm currently more interested in the Goddess's Gift.'

'Mr. Runeth, what do you know about this Goddess?'

'You mean Rodia? Hmm, she is a neutral Goddess and has ties with many foreign Neutral Faction Gods. Now that I think about it, she also has some relation with Royal Elven Family and their Guardian Goddess Nyara of Easica Plane.'

'Goddess Nyara? Who is she?' Charles's interest piqued.

'She is Goddess of Tricks… Oops, don't try to think of that name again. She might come here.' The Holem's Crown's tone instantly changed into a scared one.

'You're scared of her?' Even Charles got stunned inside.

'Scared? I'm not scared of her strength, but I'm scared of her tricks. She is literally a crazy Goddess who would do anything for fun. Her pranks even fooled the almighty Destiny Goddess once. Let's not talk about her.' The Holem's Crown stopped speaking.

On the other hand, Charles focused his attention on his current situation.

'From her earlier actions, I can tell that Goddess Rodia doesn't hold any ill intentions towards me. Otherwise, she could have squashed my consciousness to death earlier… Or she might also have some ulterior motives? Anyway, she currently needs my help and I also need her backing. As long as she didn't interfere with my plan, I will go on my own.' He nodded inwardly and ended the prayer.

Then, he turned his gaze towards Bishop Myles and spoke.

"What are you guys going to offer?"

"Our Goddess's protection, Mr. Oswald. As long as Her Highness stays in the Day and Night Church, no one can harm her."

"Who needs that? If she stays here, then who is going to complete the personal mission?" A cold reply came from Charles's mouth.

"It's true that Rank-4 and above Rank mages are forbidden to participate in this successor Mission, Mr. Oswald. But you can simply hire some powerful Mystics and complete the mission. As long as you bring the three culprits' heads, churches will declare Rhea as the winner of this competition."

"Three culprits? Why haven't we heard of this?" Charles stared at the Bishop in surprise.

A wry smile appeared on Bishop Myles's face as he placed his hand on his chin and spoke.

"After the assassination incident, Truth Church Cardinal used one of his class skills and found out that there are three peoples who were behind that incident."

Saying so, Bishop Myles took out three scrolls from his space ring and passed them to him.

At that moment, Charles took a random scroll, opened it using the other hand, and looked into it.

Inside, he saw a colored photo of a man in his thirties. The face of that man was ageless, neither old nor young, though it was written the memory of many things both glad and sorrowful. His hair was dark as the shadow of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver; his eyes were grey as a clear evening, and in them was a light like the light of stars.

He wore a brown cape over his head and appeared emotionless.

"We know nothing about his real name, but he currently goes by the nickname 'Omen'. We are suspecting that he has some ties with the Divine Order organization, but we don't have enough proof." Bishop Myles explained calmly.

Meanwhile, Charles passed the scroll to Jessie and opened the next one.

It was the image of a girl child, who appeared to be about four years old. She wore a black aba, and the hood was thrown back, revealing her pretty face. Her eyes were Fremen blue, staring out of a soft, round face. She appeared completely unafraid, and there was a look to her stare that made Charles uneasy for no apparent reason.

Before he could ask for an explanation, Bishop Myles let out a deep sigh and spoke.

"We call her 'Ivy' for now. As for her whereabouts and background, we are still searching."

'A child, huh.' Charles nodded inwardly, gave the second scroll to Jessie, turned his attention towards the final scroll, and opened it.

The next instant, his eyes squinted all of a sudden.

Because what appeared in the scroll was not a human but a damned human skeleton!

It simply covered itself with a blue hooded cloak, and its eye sockets were shining in fierce red color!

"This guy is suspected to be a Demi-Lich, a Rank-4 [Death Mage] Class Mystic. But from the gathered information, we learned that he is a former member of Destiny Conquerors Organization and also an injured one." Bishop said.