Chương 321: An Offer

"How the hell is this possible? Who could have leaked it?!" Lunovis was pretty much greeted with terrible news the moment he got out of bed. Compared to Rootriska and Heldinot, Malkazert actually had a very well-developed national newspaper–In Lunovis Boorizar's opinion, this thing was the worst idea possible. The people writing it had a bit too much freedom when doing so, and it seemed like actually doing research was their deadly weakness, as they simply refused to ever bother.

They just wanted to shove whatever sounded juicy without any regard for context, the truth, or even logic.

"This is madness!" The headline read as follows: Noble Trouble: Wife of Head of Boorizar Family Had a Son With Her Husband's Brother!

"This is terrible… Hold on" Lunovis noticed that there was someone credited for giving the information. MMMN"..."

"This bitch… Can you believe what she's done?!"

"I can believe it. This is quite tame compared to emptying an orphanage the hard way… Still, how was she even able to learn of this in the first place? Your secret is supposed to be pretty well guarded, is it not?" Sitting across from the owlfolk was Binibelle, who seemed more well-rested than she had been for a while now.

"... There's only one possibility I can think of. I sent an agent of mine to sabotage Leou Palf a while back, but not only did he never come back, but his lifestone never shattered. It only dimmed, which indicates that he was severely injured and probably tortured, but… Gilepre isn't the kind to normally reveal anything. He also has mental protections against forceful memory searches. However, I don't see how the leak could have come from anywhere else" Lunovis shook his head.

"I picked up Gilepre when he was young. He seemed doomed to live a wretched and short existence, as his parents were a demon and a beastfolk, each with odd family trees. He was born looking like a deformed human… His loyalty was unmatched. If I told him to sever his own head, he wouldn't have hesitated to do so""She is a mysterious entity. She certainly has her own ways""That's true, but take a look at this" Lunovis chucked Gilepre's lifestone. Such an item was supposed to have only three distinct states.

It was either shining green, not shining at all and broken, or hovering between the two states, showing the person to be alive and well, deceased, or getting closer to death. It worked by linking to a person's life force and tracking it. It was with this very thing that Lunovis had been able to know that, despite no other proof of it existing, Hulil had met his demise. His lifestone had suddenly lost all of its brightness and shattered to dust, which demonstrated how sudden and brutal his death had been.

However, the lifestone on the table was displaying something out of the norm. Binibelle leaned closer to it, probing at it with some of her investigative spells. A slight frown formed on her face.

"This is… I think his life force was corrupted, somehow. He is still alive, but I guess that he wouldn't be the same person anymore. Especially if the source of the corruption is Mara herself" The halfling stayed quiet for a few minutes, but Lunovis didn't say anything as he could see that she was thinking quite hard, as evidenced by the scowl that progressively formed on her face.

"This is absolutely terrible" She finally spoke up again.

"How so, Miss Binibelle?"

"The ability to corrupt someone like this but leave them alive… That sort of crap is usually reserved for absolutely awful people, and Great Realms! I heard that Mara was in contact at least once with an abyssal creature. What if she has some knowledge of the Abyss, somehow?"

"That's a bit of a stretch, Miss Binibelle. I am quite familiar with the dire effects of many Great Realms, and this looks like none of them. Although it is hard to tell through the lifestone, it seemed more like she injected another type of energy into Gilepre's lifeforce. If it was Great Realm related, that lifestone would have already burst and spread Abyss or True Void all over the place" Binibelle closed her eyes for a few seconds.

"I suppose you are right, but I still wonder if she learned how to corrupt due to her connection to that abyssal…" She clicked her tongue.

"... I swear, how many damned abilities does this woman have? I am really starting to think she's the reincarnation of the monster queen or something…"

"There are many reasons that could lead someone to have many different abilities, Miss Binibelle. Do you remember the accident with a summoned Unwanted Presence that had the ability to steal the abilities and strengths of those they killed? Such abilities have a dangerous snowballing potential, but they aren't nearly as rare as they should be…

I hear that some of the devil princes are quite trigger-happy with granting such devilish powers to those who manage to summon them" Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Binibelle merely shook her head. She didn't believe that Mara owned such an ability. If it were the case, she would already be unstoppable with the number of people she's killed and feasted upon. Besides, the manner in which she became what she now is remains veiled in mystery.

"Mister Lunovis. I am absolutely willing to help you, but there isn't much that can be done when the one who leaked your secret is Mara Nebulo herself. I am around here because one of those steel creatures was reported to be nearby, and I am afraid that I can only solve your issue by solving the case I have been pounding my head against for so long""...

Only once I understand what makes her tick, will I be able to bring her to justice" The owlfolk sighed, one of his fingers turning into a claw as he scratched his face.

"What if the actual person who leaked it was Leou Palf? I am confident that Mara Nebulo hides in Palf's tower, and she receives help from the snow leopard""I don't disagree that the real Mara is probably in this tower, but I am uncertain as to why this Leou Palf would purposefully help her in any way, shape or form. As far as I am aware, she's just a prodigious businesswoman who inherited from her father, and everyone seems in accordance to say that she's a good person.

So, I have no clue what possible reason there could be for her to be an ally to Mara" Lunovis leaned back in his chair.

"They're probably lovers""... What…?"

"I said that they are probably lovers""No, no… I understood that part, but why would you think that?"

"I looked into who this Mara Nebulo was when she was a human, and I mean… It's kinda obvious that she would like women. I have some conflict with Miss Palf now, but I spoke with her a few times in the past–And it's also pretty damned obvious that she likes women. So by putting two and two together…" Binibelle was gobsmacked. Was Lunovis just saying random things, or did he actually have a damned detector in his brain for that sort of thing?

She couldn't know, but as a man in charge of surveillance and gathering information for the sake of his country's crown, she doubted that he would say something like this with such confidence if he truly didn't believe himself to be right.

"Even if Miss Palf is a good person at heart, who doesn't do things they normally wouldn't for their beloved? For example, my wife sometimes brings back some of her friends home, and wants me to-""I-I don't want to know what you and your wife do! Also, shouldn't you be speaking with your wife about this? I know you told me that she already knew for Hulil and all, but shouldn't you still be talking to her?"

"She's in… She's in confinement right now" Binibelle blinked, and Lunovis elaborated.

"The news getting out made her very angry, and she was suddenly invigorated to go and let Lunima know that she despised her. However, not only is Lunima the family's matriarch on account of her being married to my brother, but she's also known as the Entrails Ripper, so I figured that I should probably stop my wife from going and punching that unhinged woman in the jaw" He looked at the ceiling before adding something else.

"I heard a giant troll once stomped on her, and she laughed before burrowing into his skin and flesh… They should replace the boogeyman in stories with her, to be honest. She's way scarier" Binibelle rubbed the bridge of her nose, making a mental note to avoid Lunima Boorizar in the future.

"Since you seem to have a good intuition, why do you think she has so many different abilities at her disposal?"

"My Lady's abilities are simply unfathomable" Lunovis was about to say that he had no idea, but another voice rang out, accompanied by the opening of a door. The owlfolk and halfling both stood up, stanced for combat as they saw who stepped through the door. Lunovis frowned deeply.

"Gilepre…?"

"That is indeed me. How else would I have been able to get into this residence and avoid all defensive measures?" Indeed, even if Gilepre was good, he wasn't good enough to get past the security of someone like Lunovis. The only way he could have arrived here without causing any uproar was simply by entering through the way prepared for agents like himself.

"What are you here for?"

"Why so defensive, My Lord?" Strange lines seemed to appear on his face as he spoke, his eyes locking in on Binibelle.

"Miss Binibelle… Do take your leave. This matter does not concern you" He spoke politely, but he subtly moved his cloak to reveal the sword sheathed at his waist whilst doing so. She glanced at Lunovis.

"You can go. There is no need for you to get involved in such matters" Binibelle shook her head. It was clear that things wouldn't move if she remained, so she left the room. A maid who had definitely not noticed anything wrong led her out of the residence, but the halfling lingered on.

"She must have sent him here to negotiate something…" Meanwhile, Lunovis and Gilepre remained in a stand-off for a little while, the latter making sure that the halfling was gone before moving away from the door.

"What does she want?"

"I am quite hurt that you do not care to ask how I have been, My Lord" Lunovis just stared. Something was obviously wrong with Gilepre. The way he walked and moved seemed natural, but when he talked, it was like his whole body tensed up. The owlfolk could tell that speaking coherently seemed to require a lot from his former agent. He probably couldn't move and speak at the same time without one of those two actions being botched.

"Then… What happened to you?"

"I am reborn, My Lord. I have gone through the cycle of rebirth… My goddess plunged me into the pool of rebirth. I am me, but I am no longer myself""Is that so?"

"My Lord, won't you ask me about my mask?"

"You aren't wearing any masks, Gilepre""You are wrong, My Lord. This is not my face you are looking at…" The strange dark lines Lunovis had noticed for a moment reappeared, but they revealed themselves not to be lines at all, as the former agent's face opened up, dozens of chunks of meat pulling themselves away from his face like segmented plates.

A blood-coloured viscous substance linked the pieces of flesh that only remained attached to Gilepre's head via small pieces of skin that joined up the flesh that wasn't cut up into segmented portions.

"... This is my face" Lunovis said nothing. His former agent's 'real' face was nothing but crimson meat, exposed white teeth, and eyes that could only be wide open.

"You've become a monster" Gilepre didn't respond to this comment and instead went straight to the reason for his presence here.

"My Lady has a deal to offer to you–An offer so good that you can't refuse it"