"Hey, don't be nervous. Is this your first mission?" a melodious female voice came from behind. Angel turned to see Ms. Lolotta, who was accompanying them.
Her right hand continued to flex, while her left hand patted Angel's shoulder reassuringly. "I see you've gone stiff. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine now, it was just... well, a bit of a scare earlier," Angel quickly denied, not wanting to appear unprofessional.
Lolotta stepped forward, walking alongside her towards the stairs, resting her right hand and switching to flex her left. "Don't worry, '2-049' is just a Level 2 sealed item. It's not very dangerous. Although its effects are silent and the consequences severe, we have excellent countermeasures. As long as we move as a group like this, there's no need to fear its harm."
As if protesting her assessment, the iron box Borgia carried at the front suddenly began to "thump thump," as if something inside was rapidly and violently striking the walls.
Angel, who had been observing the box, was startled and almost drew her revolver to shoot it.
"Umm... it does that occasionally, but don't worry, it doesn't increase the danger," Lolotta explained awkwardly.
"Even with countermeasures, this sealed item still seems very dangerous. Why bring it on today's mission?" Angel asked, puzzled.
"Ah, I forgot your captain hasn't told you about this yet." Lolotta glanced back at Dunn Smith, who was bringing up the rear. Seeing he didn't stop their conversation, she continued, "Today we're looking for a notebook, the Antigonus family's notebook."
"This sealed item's full name is 'Antigonus Puppet,' and its sole purpose is to find anything and anyone related to the Antigonus family."
Antigonus? Angel found the name familiar, as if she had heard it recently. Right, the Antigonus family notebook - wasn't that the notebook "The Fool" had mentioned at the Tarot Gathering, the one the "Secret Order" had lost?
The "Hanged Man" had later explained the relationship between the Antigonus family and the Church of the Goddess of Night. The former had been wiped out by the Goddess of Night over a thousand years ago, vanishing from Fourth Epoch history, harboring a deep grudge against the Church.
How did this puppet, with its ability to specifically find the Antigonus family, end up in the Church's sealed item inventory?
As her mind raced, Angel looked at the iron box in Borgia's hands.
Thump thump thump—
As if responding to her gaze, the box emitted a few more knocks.
The five of them stumbled down from the second floor of the Black Thorn Security Company to the ground floor. Squeezed together on the stairs, in just one minute, 2-049 "Antigonus Puppet" activated its negative effect four times. Except for Lolotta and Dunn, the other three were all affected, with Borgia, who was carrying the box, being controlled twice. Fortunately, everyone maintained the arm-flexing motion, so when affected by the negative effect, they were immediately noticed by others and freed from the full-body rigidity by a shoulder pat.
Leonard Mitchell had already parked the carriage on the street below, a short distance from the stairs. Seeing the group descend, he quickly raised his arm from the driver's seat, where he had been massaging his right arm, and began flexing his elbow. Dunn quickened his pace forward, and sure enough, as Borgia approached the carriage, Leonard immediately showed signs of slowed movement. Dunn pushed him as he boarded the carriage.
"I'll drive with him. You four get in the carriage and protect the Antigonus Puppet," Dunn looked back at the other four, quickly giving orders and assigning tasks.
Although 2-049's characteristics only prioritized affecting the three closest targets when surrounded by multiple people, it was still safer to have two people driving and watching out for each other.
Borgia nodded and took the lead, entering the not-so-spacious carriage compartment. Angel followed but bumped into him as he entered a sluggish state, incidentally breaking his negative status.
This effect is too frequent, occurring almost every 20 seconds...
Angel frowned at the iron box emblazoned with the Goddess of Night's holy emblem. The box still occasionally emitted knocking sounds, the "puppet" inside extremely restless.
The four took their seats, with the two ladies on one side and the men on the other.
Borgia placed the box on the carriage floor, in the center of the four. This way, "2-049" was surrounded by the four people in the compartment, minimizing the possibility of its negative effects reaching Dunn and Leonard driving outside, or affecting passersby.
Leonard set the carriage in motion, the wheels rolling quickly over the cobblestone road.
"Where are we going?" Angel asked curiously, watching the scenery change outside the window. Her eyes tracked the pedestrians left behind by the carriage, trying to observe if they had fallen into the negative state caused by the sealed item. Only after confirming it wouldn't affect targets outside the carriage did she ask puzzledly.
The taciturn, scarred man Borgia remained silent, just staring at the box in the center of the compartment. His eyes occasionally glanced at the other three, ready to break their negative status at any moment.
" Ray Bieber's house. That's where the Antigonus notebook last appeared. Your 'seer' found it," the black-haired Lolotta answered, nodding towards Klein sitting opposite.
"Actually, divining Ray Bieber was Mr. Neil's achievement. I just happened to sense something off with my spiritual perception," Klein waved his hand, explaining. His hand, mid-wave, suddenly slowed, his eyes lost focus, and his whole person froze.
Borgia elbowed him, breaking the negative state. Seeing Klein sigh in relief and lower his arm, he said in a low, cold voice, "Modesty is a virtue, but excessive modesty isn't."
After saying this, Borgia fell silent again, returning to his previous state of immersion in the task. Of course, he was soon favored by Antigonus, falling into stasis, only to be awakened by the "excessively modest" Klein.
The carriage drove through the streets of Tingen City, soon arriving in front of a three-story building. Leonard reined in the horses and stopped.
"We're here," Klein said briefly.
Borgia nodded, picked up 2-049, and was the first to exit the carriage.
Angel followed, surveying the building before them.
The three-story building resembled the kind of street-side apartment block she had seen in her previous life. The main door was in the center of the street-facing side, with identical suites on either side. Clothes were hanging outside the windows of the four units on the first and second floors, clearly long-term residences. The right window on the third floor was covered with yellowish-brown seals from the inside.
That must be today's target.
Dunn and Leonard also left the carriage. The six regrouped, raising their arms left and right, continuously flexing without pause. Passersby looked at them curiously or warily, instinctively avoiding this area.
Even the taciturn Borgia, who seemed not to care about these gazes, couldn't bear it. The group quickly left the street, ascending the apartment stairs, soon reaching the third floor.
The door to Ray Bieber's home was also sealed by the police, with an officer's name signed on it. Dunn Smith unceremoniously tore it off, took out a key to unlock the door, and gestured for Borgia, carrying 2-049 "Antigonus Puppet," to enter first.
A putrid smell wafted out from inside. The moment he stepped through the doorway with the iron box, the "thump thump thump" knocking sound appeared again, becoming more intense.
Looking at the iron box shaking from the internal knocking, Angel unconsciously took half a step back. She glanced at Dunn and Leonard, who seemed unsurprised, as if they had anticipated this.
Wait... they've been affected by the negative effect...
Seeing their swaying arms suddenly slow down, Angel realized and quickly reached out, pushing both Dunn and Leonard to wake them up.
Borgia also turned to look at the group. Seeing two people simultaneously affected by 2-049, he nodded and said seriously, "This confirms it. Ray Bieber is indeed a descendant of the Antigonus family."
This confirms it? Is the judgment based on the sealed item starting to affect two people simultaneously?
"It becomes excited and violent when it encounters even a trace of an Antigonus family descendant. You've seen the consequences," Lolotta explained from the side.
"This sealed item can get excited? Does it have its own thoughts?" Klein asked curiously.
"You'll see in a moment," Lolotta answered mysteriously.
The group watched as Borgia carried the box around the room, allowing 2-049 to absorb as much of Ray Bieber's aura as possible. Then Dunn locked the door, and they all returned to the carriage.
"Thump thump thump—" Back in the center of the carriage, the knocking from inside the iron box grew more intense, as if a monster was about to leap out.
Leonard and Dunn remained in the driver's seat, with the latter peering through the small window at the front of the compartment, waiting for 2-049's further "actions."
Borgia fumbled with the mechanical switch on one side of the iron box, simultaneously disabling the spiritual shackles surrounding it. An eerie atmosphere enveloped the compartment, and the knocking stopped at that moment, plunging the previously lively carriage into silence.
The next instant, the lid was pushed open from inside, the rusty hinges making a teeth-grinding creak. A brown arm extended from the box.
The arm was less than 5 centimeters long, with finger-thick digits. It gripped the opening of the iron box, dragging its entire body out, flipping over the wall and falling onto the carriage floor.
A palm-sized puppet appeared before everyone.
Its face was painted with bright oils, its body wrapped in brownish cloth strips. Its joints were strangely twisted, as if controlled by invisible strings, standing up crookedly with mechanical movements. Its head, the size of a pebble, had complete features, but looked bizarre.
The puppet's neck twisted in a circle as it raised its head, looking at each of the four people in the compartment in turn. Then it grinned, its mouth corners rising high, looking like a circus clown against the backdrop of face paint.