As the sound of a baby’s cry echoed in the sky and gradually faded away, the Silver Baron stepped back into the column of light and departed.
It was only after that Salvatore, along with Lin Yiyi and Delicious Wind Goose, came out from the courtyard at 44 Clearwater Street.
Seeing Annan safe and sound, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he asked in a puzzled low voice, "What just happened to you?
"I saw you suddenly stop moving, and then you fell down..."
Annan took a deep breath, adjusted the collar of his white robe, "We’ll talk when we get back."
Salvatore nodded, wisely choosing not to say anything further.
Annan took a deep breath.
He had previously thought that with so many trump cards, he might have had a chance to injure or even defeat the rotting husband...
He had even fantasized about how much experience he could get from that—
But the truth proved that Annan’s ability to stay alive for three minutes in front of the rotting husband should be credited to the Silver Baron’s intimidation being strong enough to deter the rotting husband from using too powerful moves.
However, this trip turned out to be quite profitable...
[The Silver Baron’s Favor]
[Type: Equipment/Armor/Clothing (Gold)]
[Defense: 3 (equivalent to thick leather armor)]
[Preferential Protection: Slashing]
[Disadvantageous Protection: Piercing, Bludgeoning]
[Description: A silver silk robe personally woven by the Silver Baron, which is lightweight yet very durable, possessing an undeniable divine nature recognized by clergy ranked bishop and above.]
[Effect: When "Annan Winter" is worn, it automatically grants immunity to conceptual poison kills of the silver rank and below.]
[Effect: Wipe eyes with the garment to gain the "Detect Poisons" ability for ten minutes, equivalent to the hunter ability of the same name; wipe hands with the garment to gain the "Poison Cleansing" ability for ten minutes, equivalent to the idol school spell of the same name.]
[Effect: Spends silver coins to perform automatic repair.]
—This was the most useless gold-rank equipment Annan had gotten or even seen.
Its greatest advantage is... that the abilities of this equipment require no cost or restrictions.
The ability to detect and cleanse poisons could be used any number of times in a day. It felt like silk pajamas in texture but could protect against simple bladed weapons like thick leather armor—even if it got damaged, it could be repaired again with silver coins.
While its effects were not powerful enough for combat, they were even more useful in daily life. Whether preventing poison kills or interrupting ritualistic curse killings...
It was as if hinting to Annan to wear these clothes as much as possible on usual days.
Annan pondered the implication.
This must be the Silver Baron’s signal to his subordinates in the church, a means for them to distinguish friend from foe...
That is to say... after I enter the Royal Capital, will the Silver Baron not inform the church that "this person needs to be protected"?
Annan quickly realized the Silver Baron’s purpose.
The Silver Baron made a special "token" for him, a clear indication that the Silver Church wanted to sever any open association with him.
Even to the point of openly opposing Annan—or rather "Tan Juan Geraint".
The high-ranking members of the Silver Church, those cunning old bishops, would naturally discern through Annan’s clothes that he was actually an ally infiltrating enemy ranks; and those lower-ranking clergy members, who were hostile to Annan and giving him trouble, would make this play seem even more real.
...What does the Silver Baron want by staging this play?
However, Annan also noticed another message from here and from the Silver Baron’s previous words about finding the Paper Princess—
—No matter what mess Annan created, the Silver Baron would ultimately never intervene.
Just then, the door was pushed open again.
The person walking out... was none other than Benjamin.
And he had completely transformed from how he was just a few minutes ago—
Benjamin constantly exuded a strong and utterly unmistakable sense of abnormality. A visible Twisted distortion swirled around him, looking like the air above a barbecue grill.
His eyes burned like flames, so bright that they were almost impossible to look at directly. The intense aura he possessed made him even more eye-catching than gods.
In Benjamin’s arms was a mirror of moderate size, facing outward—but the reflections in the mirror were not complete or faithfully reproduced.
The mirror nearly reflected an exact image of everything in the outside world.
The only difference was that it did not show any person at all.
Yes, it could even reflect the walls and houses behind Annan and his group, but they were as if transparent, not appearing on the mirror’s surface.
Annan suddenly noticed something...
He saw a golden signet ring on Benjamin’s left ring finger—the kind that was large and flat, and could be used as a seal.
And his original silver ring had vanished without a trace.
Had Benjamin... successfully advanced to Gold?
Just then, from the mirror embraced by Benjamin, an odd voice that sounded both old and infantile emerged, "Thank you very much. I heard everything you did for me before...
...No, I didn’t really think that much.
Annan hesitated to speak and then decided not to say more.
He looked curiously at the mirror in Benjamin’s embrace.
Was this the newly born False God "Mirror Man," the God of Mirrors and Clocks?
Speaking of which, what about the baby?
"I can’t think of anything to give you right now that would equal this favor. After all, you don’t need anything at the moment."
The Mirror Man continued in that strange voice, "Then I’ll give you this mirror first... Whenever you have a need or a question, call me with it.
"You know my two names—with this mirror in front, call me by the name of the past to summon the me from the past; call me by the name of the present, and you can summon the me of now.
"Once I feel the debt is paid, I will leave."
Having said this, Benjamin handed over the mirror.
Several lines of text flashed before Annan’s eyes:
[Mirror Man’s Mirror of Birth]
[Type: Accessory/Tool (Gold)]
[Description: The first mirror touched by the Mirror Man upon becoming a deity, with extraordinary commemorative value and an undeniable divine essence.]
[Effect: Call on any deity’s true name in front of the mirror to summon their mirror reflection without consuming the corresponding mysterious knowledge (Warning: Please perform the respective rituals to confirm the deity indeed permits this special calling)]
[Cost: Those who view this mirror lose one hour of life per second; each person can lose a maximum of twenty-four hours per day]
Seeing this, Annan’s expression changed immediately, and he quickly took the mirror and covered himself with it.
After seeing everyone leave the house, Benjamin closed the door behind him.
With a click—Michel Notre Dame, who had been born not long ago, and the Notre Dame couple from two and a half years ago, once again vanished without a trace.
Then, Benjamin raised his hand.
The house suddenly twisted, as if it were being sucked into a black hole, quickly flowing toward the central point and changing shape and color at a visible speed, elongating once more...
In the blink of an eye, Benjamin transformed the house into a towering ancient tree with a lifespan of at least a hundred years, appearing at the location of 44 Clearwater Street.
And naturally, the equilibrium achieved by the "Mirror Ritual" was also destroyed.
Annan was deep in thought.
...This was a line of thinking similar to that of the Rotting Husband and the Bone Sovereign.
As they did not possess truth in themselves and could only acquire temporary truth through a ritual... But the ritual itself could not be stopped or left unattended, as it was easily disrupted.
So, the Bone Sovereign placed the ritual site into the Mist, beneath the ruins of the kingdom; whereas the Mirror Man concealed the ritual within an "alternative past" that never happened.
If others wished to reach the ritual site, they would need to employ the powers of Time and Mirrors to reconstruct the Mirror Ritual... and arrive at the past from two and a half years ago.
And both these powers were in the keeping of the Mirror Man himself, difficult for others to acquire.
It was like the key to a safe locked within the safe itself—forming an unsolvable paradoxical cycle.
So that’s how it is...
Annan looked at Benjamin.
In this way, it was almost certain.
Benjamin had truly become the Pope of the new deity.
—The keeper of the Mirror Man’s Curse Binding.