The God of Jesters
Chapter 579 - 9.07.1 Finally the answer.

Chapter 579: 9.07.1 Finally the answer.

There is no foolish transcendent in this world. The fact that they have lived long to tell the tale was reason enough that unless they are feeling suicidal, rarely if ever they would make any stupid decisions willfully.

And Sheva coming out in the open when there was an open season hunt going on her was reason enough why her exposing herself wide in the open can be considered suicidal.

The reason was also very simple. Sheva had not only made an enemy out of the Radiant Order of The Cynark, but she had turned an entire church into her enemy. The tragedy of the Church of Truthful Deceit would force it to close its doors for decades to come, taking it out of the political sphere of the world and reducing its influence. Such a wound is not easily healed.

And just like that wound, it’s far harder for one to forget the one that gave them this wound, even if that person might be as ignorant as them when they struck the ’natural disaster’.

So although the Church can’t blame Dragon at this point, for he had exceeded the strength of what was manageable, the same can’t be said about Sheva and her backers.

As for the Bartender’s Guild? Well, they have long made an exit out of Rudrain after experiencing failure. However, none of the people here blamed them. Not after learning the kind of thing, they were forced to manage. However such secrets were only kept close to the ones in power. The Bartenders were still forced to take responsibility for their mistake.

That is what life is like.

"I wish to tell you some things you might be interested in," Sheva spoke, looking at Remira with some curiosity of her own. The woman she once knew, filled with confidence to take on the world was no more. It’s surprising to see how much she changed after those days. Well, that is to be expected after what she had gone through. But Sheva still remembers her will have remained strong when she had made an exit out of Yethel before.

’She is at her limit.’ Sheva knew this. But was there pity in her heart? No, not at all. She can see that the darkening of Karma over Remira is worse than before. The sins have their weight and Remira suffered under such weight.

It’s almost ironic to this day that the ones that carry the greatest evil are the ones in power in orthodox organizations. Though few exceptions abound.

"Miss Remira must have understood our intentions over why we wanted to stop Heroth’s harassment by your people and the church. Sadly we failed on that part." Sheva complained for a bit. Though the truth was, she only learned of what Heroth really was after the incident had come to an end. But such details were kept to herself, making it appear as if Sheva knew about it since the start.

And although these words hurt Remira, she nodded. Though not before complaining why weren’t the Radiant Order not warned directly about it?

"If you think anyone among Jester’s men trusts the Radiant Order, then you are very wrong... Others in Jester’s group don’t share my affinity for the Radiant Order." At those words, Remira shut up.

There is no need to go into detail about the state of the relationship between the two parties.

"Back to the topic. What happened has happened and there is no coming back from this. Our efforts to keep that monster at bay had failed and now it’s out in the world, doing who knows what." At this point, Sheva paused for a bit, before continuing. "But you see, we had two reasons to take care of him and why we employed the bartenders to do the same."

Sheva told the story, the whole false story that she had been fed herself, so in a way this part was not false. "Heroth worked for an old scholar by the name of Malidi," Sheva spoke as if this was a big secret. But there was barely any change on Remira’s face, considering she had been aware of this since the start.

"Malidi that old man helped Heroth keep the monster at bay, in return Heroth turned into Malidi’s mule, bringing him items and objects to places that are far too dangerous for even grandmasters to visit."

"What sort of places?"

"Forbidden ones, the places that are too much for even people like us." Spoke Sheva, which was finally something new in Remira’s eyes.

Riktor Malidi was the last of his family, a lineage of nobility that came to an end with him. In his youth, with the talent he showed, Malidi was said to hold the potential for his family’s Revival. All he needed to do was marry and have a bunch of kids while selling some of his own properties. That’s all he needed to do to get back into the circle of nobility.

But call it fate or a curse. Malidi without any of his family or guardian figure to lead him on the right path, fell to the devil of knowledge. He ingrained himself in books day in and day out, even going so far as to touch the forbidden text that even the Mystics fear.

The result? It was something not noted in history, but Remira knows it was not something good, considering that Malidi ended up turning into a fugitive. What did this fugitive do after running away from his home? Few knew or were even aware of it.

There were some who claimed that he had entered forbidden zones in this thirst for knowledge, but those were considered absurd in the eyes of many, as no one is foolish enough to do such a dangerous thing, even if it was someone as crazy as Malidi.

Though it would seem, that those suspicions in the past were correct. ’The last noted appearance of his was about seven decades ago.’ The notes left by the old Grand Knight Alabasta, who only spoke little about that man and instead his focus had remained on Jester.

’Hmm.’ Though Remira suddenly thought of something odd. ’Why didn’t Knight Alabasta Pursue such a criminal? His actions were dangerous.’ The Radiant Knights were hated for their blind hatred for all they deemed corrupted, so it’s bizarre for the craziest of the Radiant Knights to ignore such a dangerous figure. Someone who carried forbidden knowledge that can harm entire communities.

’It’s an oddity.’ Remira suddenly thought as her mind got active after hearing such words. "What Forbidden Zone?" Remira asked again. She didn’t speak about what kind of forbidden zone, she needed an exact answer to it.

Because she feels that she might finally get what she wanted all this time. "Well." She sighed for a bit. "Well, I was going to tell you this anyways," Sheva explained the little details she had found from the bartenders.

Heroth was retired from his adventuring days and had no crew of his own left anymore. Meaning that if he wanted to travel to places, he still needed to pull some connections, which were mostly done through the Bartender’s Guild.

This is how they got the idea of where Malidi might be, or at least his approximate location. "It’s Pulgasiri?" She seemed surprised by the mention of that dwarven country before she went silent again.

"This is too good to be true... Sheva, tell me the truth. What is it that jester wants from me?" She asked, a bit disturbed after getting what she wanted all this while. The very reason she had harassed Heroth, so easily.

It felt unreal and hollow.

All this tragedy, misery, and mistakes were made for such simple information. It almost felt like fate was mocking her, or was it, Jester? Playing this dirty game with her.

"Jester? I don’t know what his intentions are behind this. But he did tell me to expose where that old man used to go, so I did." Those words, it was confirmation, that this whole meeting was forced by the jester and not by the will of Sheva.

’Sigh.’ It all felt so tiresome to Remira for no reason. She can feel herself being dragged toward something dangerous and it’s better if she doesn’t bite this bait. But then again, doing nothing with this information will be wrong, considering how many people lost their lives for it. "Miss Remira, Jester has also told me this."

"Professor Malidi is the kind that never takes any sides and as long as you can show him something interesting, he won’t mind helping you if you are in a pinch."

"You want me to go there... why Sheva?"

At those words, Sheva came to a pause, before sighing and explaining. "Professor Malidi is currently stuck in a dangerous place, and only someone like you or that other friend of Jester can help. And as it’s harder to reach the other guy and considering there is no one capable among Jester’s group that can do this job, he thought you might come forward yourself."

"Asking help from the enemy, knowing full well this might just result in his doom?"

"Jester also spoke about this. In his eyes, Miss Remira learning more about him will turn things a bit interesting... entertaining even." Sheva felt embarrassed to say such words, but she understood what Jester wanted to do.

He treated Remira as a kid with disability, hence he planned to give her certain advantages to level the playing field. As for whether Remira will accept such help, it would depend on her ego.

An ego that was strong in the past to ignore such handicaps. But at this point in thing, Remira let go of her shame and chose to accept this show of goodwill on Jester’s end.

"Tell me the location." And this time, she won’t just go herself, nor will she bring along a group of weaklings with her. No, this time, she plans to bring a team of Grandmasters and even Legendary beings if it is possible.

No, there was already a name in her head on who to choose.