BXBX NOVEL Chapter 496: The Sign of ….
"But Your Holiness," Matthew retorted, "we\'re not even sure Mr. Emberweave will allow us to learn one of his core technologies."
"This is an order, Brother Matthew," the Pope insisted, prompting Matthew to sigh in acceptance.
"Yes, Your Holiness," Matthew agreed with a wry smile.
"Then, you may go, Father Richard," the Pope said, shifting his gaze to Grand Paladin Christopher. "You will accompany them and protect them during their stay there until further notice from me."
"Yes, Your Holiness," both Richard and Christopher replied, excusing themselves from the Pope\'s office.
After the trio departed, the Pope\'s eyes reflected a complex mix of emotions—sadness, farewell, and a glimmer of hope.
— 10 Hours Later - Whispering Hall —
After Daniel actualized the Whispering Hall and altered the rules governing spirits and ghosts worldwide, chaos erupted in Europe, the Qing Empire, Africa, and South America.
However, regions under Astral Corp\'s management, such as North America, Southeast Asia, and Japan, remained relatively calm. This was due to Albert\'s successful efforts in facilitating communication between his spirit employees and the world\'s ghosts.
In a matter of hours, the Whispering Hall employees had quelled the chaos that had engulfed most of the Curtained World. This demonstrated the true power of the Whispering Hall—to change the world\'s rules and allow ghosts and spirits to freely travel beyond their confined spaces.
This newfound freedom enabled spirits and ghosts to showcase their unique ability: apparition to any location they could imagine. This form of teleportation was exclusive to spirits and ghosts, given their distinct nature compared to living beings and other undead creatures.
Within the Whispering Hall\'s soul well, Albert stood on the second-floor balcony, overseeing the operation. Countless spirits lined up to register their willingness to work for the Whispering Hall.
"This sight of hundreds of thousands of spirits registering to work for us is quite astounding, isn\'t it?" Albert remarked with a satisfied smile.
Moments later, a figure emerged from the shadows. His face was obscured by bandages, revealing only eyes filled with resentment as he surveyed the long line of spirits below. It was Jack the Ripper, returning from a patrol where he had enslaved any vengeful spirits who refused to abide by the Whispering Hall\'s rules.
Jack silently handed Albert an information note containing several key details that required attention.
"Huh? Rajendra Sharma? Interesting..." Albert muttered with a cunning smile as he continued reading. "Lost everything gambling, and his sons, other than Mr. Aryan Sharma, are wastrels. Now he\'s brought his entire family here to Sector Alpha City to seek his son\'s forgiveness and leech off him?" Albert turned the page.
"The information isn\'t complete. Send someone to find out which underworld gang in India this Rajendra guy owes his debt to. The last thing we need is some idiotic gang knocking on our lord\'s company door with ridiculous demands," Albert instructed, returning the note to Jack.
"What should we do after we find them? Annihilate them?" Jack\'s terrifying and horror inducing, artificial voice inquired.
Albert stared at Jack strangely, as if he had a thousand things to say but couldn\'t.
"What?" Jack asked.
"Your artificial voice spell is too terrifying," Albert replied. "If I were alone in the bathroom at night and heard your voice, I wouldn\'t need to use it anymore and I would instead need to wash my pants! Until you master the damn spell, please refrain from using it. It\'s better to send me messages through a chat app."
Jack didn\'t respond verbally, simply giving Albert the middle finger before vanishing back into the shadows.
"Weirdo," Albert muttered with a shrug, turning his attention back to the long line of spirits below.
It was fortunate that spirits didn\'t need to physically fill out forms. They could simply project their will onto his employees for registration, significantly speeding up the process. Otherwise, it would have taken years to complete.
This highlighted another advantage of employing wandering spirits: their communication with other spirits was far more efficient than their communication with living beings or other types of undead. This efficiency extended to the speed with which they could sell information to the Whispering Hall.
Now, Albert simply needed to wait for the information to flow in through the soul well, accumulating enough data to build a massive database that could be sold to various buyers.
— Morning —
At Daniel\'s house, it was a peaceful day. As usual, Daniel prepared to take little Sylvana to school. Envy and Koyuki busied themselves in the kitchen, preparing breakfast, while Michaela attended to Sylvana. The little girl, having just finished showering, was now riding on Sat, the dog, with Mammon perched on her head. Michaela had skillfully caught her and placed Mammon back in his cage.
[That lizard seems to have gained weight] Daniel thought, observing the somewhat chubby lizard munching on cherry tomatoes.
He knew the reason behind Mammon\'s sudden growth spurt: the gluttonous lizard had somehow discovered the hidden location of Daniel\'s Chromatic Philosopher\'s Stone reserve and had been secretly snacking on them. Daniel resolved to change the hiding place and entrust the key only to Envy, the sole person capable of controlling the greedy lizard.
Just then, Greed groggily descended the stairs, still clad in her pajamas, and headed straight for the dining table.
"Go wash up first. Don\'t be a bad influence on little Sylvana," Envy scolded Greed, who was about to sit down at the table. She then placed a tray of assorted English breakfast items on the table. It was a typical day with no special occasion, so there was no need for a celebratory meal.
"Yes, Mama~" Greed teased, earning a light slap on the head. She feigned injury but couldn\'t suppress a mischievous smile.
At that moment, the doorbell rang, and Penthesilia entered the house with a smile. She was dressed in her usual green suit, her standard office attire. Although her role and responsibilities had lessened since the arrival of Odysseus and Cao Cao, she still oversaw the Atlanteus base, which housed Daniel\'s primary research center and weapon manufacturing plant.
"Good morning, My Lord," Penthesilia greeted Daniel with a bright smile, only to be met with disapproving looks from both Daniel and Envy. Koyuki, on the other hand, found her nervousness amusing.
Penthesilia was indeed nervous, a mix of complex emotions causing her to blush. "G... Good morning... Da... Danny..." she corrected herself, almost whispering in embarrassment, realizing the impropriety of addressing her lord so informally.
With this, she earned approving looks from both Envy and Daniel, who smiled at her.
Penthesilia was one of Daniel\'s wives and among the few who could bear children. Three of his wives were witches of the Seven Deadly Sins, who were incapable of having offspring.
Penthesilia\'s ability to conceive, being an ancient Greek hero, was a welcome prospect for Envy, who adhered to the mage tradition of having multiple partners to ensure the continuation of their bloodline due to the difficulty mages faced in conceiving.
"I heard Richard is returning from the Vatican today," Daniel said. "We should clear our schedules for a celebration. Maria is also here because of the vengeful spirit incident last night in the Sanguinis clan territory in Germany." He paused, then continued, "By the way... where\'s James? I haven\'t heard from him in a while." Daniel inquired about James, the werewolf.
Penthesilia hesitated, struggling to find the courage to answer.
"James seems to have permanently settled in Hollywood as your agent there. He\'s dating Lust, didn\'t you know?" Greed interjected, answering for Penthesilia, who was James\' direct superior.
"Huh? He\'s dating Ms. Lust? That James?" Daniel asked, surprised and intrigued by the news.
In truth, James had ignored Penthesilia\'s reassignment order, and she hadn\'t yet found the time to address it.
"I\'ll send a team to bring him back immediately, My Lord," Penthesilia declared through gritted teeth, mentally adding, [That damn mutt, he dares to embarrass me. Just you wait!]
"Ah, hahaha, no need for that," Daniel chuckled, stopping Penthesilia before James found himself facing a fully armed Astral PMC squad in power armor storming his love nest in the morning. "James staying there is actually beneficial. We can rearrange some personnel from America to be stationed here instead." He reasoned.
Penthesilea joined Daniel\'s family at the dining table. Little Sylvana, fresh from her bath and dressed for school, entered the room riding on Sat\'s back, followed by Michaela, who wore a wry smile.
"Urrggh..."
A sound of nausea escaped from Penthesilea, who suddenly found the smell of the sausage and bacon, her usual favorites, overwhelming. She abruptly rose from the table and rushed outside to vomit.