The gas lamps cast a dim yellow glow through the thick fog in the restaurant. As Nyx's black trench coat brushed against the brass door handle, it stirred up a cold breeze. She stared at the silver pendant swinging on the man's chest. The six-pointed star chain was wrapped in faded red string, with a tiny grain relief embedded at the center of the star. This contradictory composite accessory had appeared for the first time in recent cases.
"Why do you think the deities gave humans the sense of taste?" The man's fingers rubbed the leather-bound notebook, the inside cover of which was drawn with a complex star chart, and the edges were outlined with indigo paint depicting a harvest festival. "When the original creator created taste on the seventh day, He must have hoped that humans would perceive His existence through taste."
As he spoke, his gaze swept toward the kitchen, where sparks from the grill flickered through the double doors, and the aroma of meat mixed with butter wafted toward him. Nyx's gloves tapped the table, and the silver ring on her slender finger, adorned with the same grain relief, glowed coldly in the kerosene lamp.
As the waiter passed by carrying a porcelain plate, his voice suddenly became urgent: "When we chew bread, it is not just wheat grains that our teeth grind, but the tangible blessings left by the deities in the world. Every swallow is a small pilgrimage, blending the Creator's gifts into our blood."
The clatter of the porcelain plate hitting the table interrupted the discourse. The medium-rare filet mignon sizzled on the plate, melted butter pooling at the edges in irregular starbursts.
The man's knife and fork clinked together, but he paused when they touched the steak: "Just one bite,"
he looked up at Nyx, his pupils slightly contracting behind his glasses, "The first prophet wrote in The Book of Abundance: 'Eating is the simplest hymn of praise that mortals can offer to the deities.' I want to leave with this praise."
She didn't respond, just stared at the red string on his wrist and slowly raised her left hand with the ring on it.
Seeing her gesture, the man panicked a little: "Wait, wait, I told you about that... Village Deity? I really don't know anything about it. My wife put this red string on me. Even if you're going to kill me, let me have a bite of steak."
With that, the man cut into the steak with his knife and fork.
In that instant, Nyx snapped her left fingers. As the sound waves echoed, the man felt as though he had been in a long dream, revisiting his brief yet sinful life:He graduated from the Vatican University at a young age and became an aspirant of the Vatican with excellent grades.
After that, he rose rapidly within the Vatican and, as a commoner, was promoted to senior priest before the age of 30. Of course, it was not because of his talent, but because he had been helping a certain priest smuggle black honey and hunt young girls. This red string was taken from one of those girls...
The clatter of cutlery hitting the table was jarringly loud. The man's body lurched forward, his nose nearly buried in the steam rising from the steak. With his last ounce of strength, his tongue licked the sauce from the corner of his mouth.
Nyx watched as his pupils gradually dilated, and drops of blood dripped from his nostrils onto the edge of the porcelain plate, mixing with the melted butter, looking exactly like the "concrete manifestation of a deity's blessing" he had just described.
The sound of his snapping fingers was as light as mist dissipating.
The man's head tilted to one side, and the silver pendant slid into the pool of blood on the steak. The red string was soaked in blood but still taut, just like his discourse on deities and eating, which in the end could not escape the path of death.
As Nyx wiped the silver ring with a white handkerchief, she noticed half a sheet of parchment fall out of the man's notebook. Written in ancient script were the words, "The ears of the grain god connect heaven and earth."
She folded the parchment and tucked it into her coat, her fingertips brushing the red string on his wrist.
The clock on the street corner struck twelve, and the sound of horse-drawn carriages in the thick fog gradually faded away. Nyx's shadow was stretched out by the streetlights, and as she passed by the shop window, the fog on the glass slowly blurred the figure lying next to the steak.
His knife and fork were still raised, as if he was about to complete his final praise to the "deity" in the next second.
She had been searching for traces of that deity. Since the establishment of the Luminous Covenant, almost all heretical deities in the free world had disappeared. Except for the priests of the Luminous Pontificate, the other ancient pagan clergy had not received a response from the deities they served for too long.
The only exception was the Village Deity.
She searched everywhere but could not find any information about this mysterious and obscure deity. Perhaps it was too ancient and had long been forgotten, or perhaps it was too young and had not yet been discovered. Regardless of the situation, this deity was extremely important to the Shadow Legion!
In a world where deities truly existed, the only way to truly resist the Luminous Pontificate was to seek the support of the deities.
However, the statue of the deity was in a strange state. After miraculously restoring Nyx to her original state, it exploded into pieces, and no matter how Nyx prayed, the pieces of the statue did not respond, as if that miracle had exhausted the deity's power.
Nyx was convinced that the deity was in a bad state and seemed very weak, so she hoped to be able to help him.
It was just a coincidence that a one-legged elf sailor told her about the sermon he had heard a few days ago in Stellaxis about the Village Deity, so Nyx rushed to the elf capital, where events were unfolding.
It had been a long time since she last left this place...Well, it had only been a few months, because in addition to being the leader of the Shadow Legion, she also had a hidden identity.
Or rather, in addition to being the leader of the Shadow Legion, her first identity was Lysandra Vesper, a professor in the Commerce & Global Trade Department of TradeStar Polytechnic College.
Of course, with her identity, it was extremely dangerous for her to be hiding in Stellaxis, located in the heart of the Luminous Covenant. Three-quarters of the Luminous Covenant had put a bounty on her head, not to mention that Stellaxis was home to not only a large number of high-ranking clergy, but also many famous heroes.
The only consolation was that Stellaxis was not stable, and the royal family and the Holy See were not united, which was something she could use as the leader of the resistance.
With a little luck, she could establish contact with the royal family of the Zodiac Kingdom and work together to fight the Holy See, which was why she had also invited a sister from her college sorority.
Adrian Gray, the glorious Golden-ranked Hero, a powerful extraordinary being, and the illegitimate daughter of King Kelus III of Zodiac.
This time, they were at a restaurant. Nyx seemed to place great importance on food, but Adrian Gray didn't find this odd.
She too was passionate about fine cuisine, though the restaurants she usually frequented had tables and chairs that were too small for someone of her stature. Nyx, however, had thoughtfully reserved a table at a restaurant with larger seats.
"The filet mignon here seems quite good." The warm glow of the chandeliers in the steakhouse cascaded over Lysandra Vesper's honey-colored curls, the ends of which were carefully styled into trendy, delicate waves. She pinned them behind her ears with pearl hairpins, revealing her elegant cheekbones and a pair of emerald earrings studded with diamond chips.
Her emerald eyes were like cornflowers soaked in cream, with slightly upturned corners, and her eyelashes cast butterfly-wing-like shadows beneath her eyes. Her nose was high and straight, and her lips were a soft rosewood color, currently gently holding a silver fork as she cut into the medium-rare filet mignon on her plate.
She wore a deep indigo-colored high-waisted skirt with lamb's leg sleeves, the collar embroidered with intricate caravan routes, and the cuffs adorned with three brass compass clasps, echoing the emblem of the Trade Star Merchants' Guild. On her left ring finger was a simple silver ring, its face engraved with tiny grain reliefs.
Beside her handbag lies an open notebook with a gold-embossed cover, its edges curled with several pages of trade data written on parchment, held down by a paperweight inlaid with emeralds to prevent them from being blown by the draft.
Who could have imagined that this elegant lady was actually Nyx, the ruthless Night Knight?
Adrian Gray couldn't stand the professor's pretentious appearance and mannerisms. She had always hated all the formalities. Compared to noble banquets, she preferred fighting criminals. No matter how exquisite a handbag was, it couldn't compare to a dagger in her hands.
"It's only been two months since we last met."" Adrian Gray asked while eating her steak. As old classmates, they often met privately. "Get to the point; I'm busy."
"The royal court has been bustling lately." Lysandra smiled at Adrian. Without needing to rely on the Shadow Legion's power, as a college professor, she had her own social circle and knew a lot. "As the hero responsible for maintaining order, do you have any insider information?""
"What are you up to now?" Adrian Gray looked at the beautiful lady warily. She knew very well how business-savvy Lysandra Vesper was.
As a professor in the continent's trade department, she naturally had connections with many merchant guilds. This cunning vixen often extracted information from her and reaped the benefits, without sharing any of the profits!
Last month, Adrian casually mentioned at a dinner gathering that the police station would be strictly enforcing regulations on the resin content of Baltic Sea timber. Nyx quickly picked up on this information and deduced that the goods of the relevant merchant guilds might be seized.
She instructed her allied chambers of commerce to stockpile low-resin wood in advance. When customs raised taxes and the rival's goods were delayed, the allies seized the opportunity to monopolize the market. Nyx reaped a 30% cut and secured the exclusive right to transport the wood.
Lysandra Vesper didn't seem upset: "The key clue in the black honey smuggling case you cracked last month wasn't it the temperature data from the Black Sea shipping route that I analyzed in my 'Trade Route Risk Assessment' class?"
They really did have a mutually beneficial relationship. If it weren't for the help of this professor, Adrian Gray would have had a hard time becoming a Golden-ranked Hero at such a young age. Although she was a formidable fighter, she was no match for the young professor when it came to brains.
"You're good. If you're so smart, why don't you help me find the Ripper?" Adrian Gray said unhappily.
"The Ripper of Rust District?" Lysandra Vesper was stunned. This serial killer had recently become famous in Stellaxis, and the students often talked about him. "Wasn't he already caught? The newspapers even praised the brilliant Miss Charlotte Holmes for her great achievements. What, it seems like there's more to this story?"
"There is indeed more to the story. That was just some unlucky guy that the police department pushed forward to take the fall. Although he's not exactly innocent, he's not qualified to take the blame for so many deaths." Adrian Gray still trusted his old friend. "The higher-ups just want to close the case as soon as possible, but in fact, the heroes all know that the Ripper is still at large, and we are still trying to catch him."
"What is the reaction of the Holy See?" With such a big incident, the Holy See would surely have something to say.
"They have their hands full," Adrian Gray said with a pained expression. After much deliberation, he still did not tell the other party about Lucus. "As you know, something happened at the cathedral a few days ago. The wraiths sealed beneath the church escaped for some reason.
They suspect that it was the work of the rebels, so the Holy See is conducting a thorough investigation of all levels of the clergy."
Lysandra Vesper couldn't help but think to herself: We don't have that much power, but the escape of the wraiths sealed beneath the cathedral is a once-in-a-century event. I'm afraid there's more to this than meets the eye.
"By the way, have you ever heard of the Village Deity?" Lysandra Vesper suddenly asked, mentioning the name of a heretical deity.
For anyone else, just mentioning this name would be a crime, but the two people present were an officially authorized hero and a university professor who enjoyed a certain degree of academic freedom, so it was acceptable for them to discuss heretical deities to a certain extent.
"Village Deity? That sounds like a very rustic deity. Where did this obscure wild god come from?" Adrian Gray had been really busy lately and hadn't had time to pay attention to a cult organization with less than a hundred followers in Stellaxis.
"I saw it in an ancient document, and I'm very curious about this deity," said Lysandra Vesper.
Adrian Gray knew that his friend had always been interested in heretical deities, and it was precisely because of this interest that she did not attend the most prestigious University of Sancta Gratia, where one could not study heretical deities so freely in a church university.
"I'll keep an eye out for you," Adrian Gray waved his hand. One of a hero's duties was to purge heresy, and the hero's database contained plenty of information on heretical religions. "Are you free later? There's an old friend I think you should meet."
"Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I have a practical class later."
"You teach practical classes?" Adrian Gray was a little surprised. How could a professor in the trade department teach practical classes? Did he take his students to the docks for practical training?
"It's a general education class. In addition to business courses, I'm also taking a general education class and a specialized class on the Blood Ethercraft this semester," Lysandra Vesper explained.
Adrian Gray then remembered that his sister had also joined the Pureblood Order, but later left for unknown reasons.
It was said that Professor Lysandra Vesper, in addition to teaching, also had some business dealings in the southern Free World and the Fertile Continent. "With your original business courses, you'll be taking four courses this semester. I don't know how you manage your time."
Time management master Lysandra Vesper smiled without saying anything, but in her heart she was still thinking about where she could find out the whereabouts of the Village Deity.
At this moment, the savior whom Nyx had been thinking about, the Village Deity himself, was kneeling on the ground with unparalleled piety, then bowing his noble head deeply, prostrating himself.