Around noon, Ebner followed his connection to the card in Shoko's possession and arrived at a café in Cherwood Borough.
As soon as he stepped inside, he spotted a young woman dressed in a chef's uniform carrying a plate of what looked like mung bean cakes. She placed it on the table in front of Xio, who was sitting at the very back of the café.
The girl had long hair draped over her shoulders and a sweet-looking face, but her frame was thin and petite—she seemed even shorter than Xio…
A flash of pure white flickered in Ebner's eyes, but he didn't stare at her for long. Instead, he headed straight toward Xio's seat.
Despite the change in gender and the significant reduction in height, not to mention the makeup that concealed her original features, Ebner instantly recognised the chef-uniformed girl as the former police officer, Shoko.
Back when he had been injured, Shoko had rescued him and gifted him the Fallen Morning Star. At the time, Ebner had subtly warned him that an Assassin would eventually become a Witch…
He never expected that after just a few months, he had truly become her!
Suppressing his emotions, Ebner didn't bother checking for Lina, who was likely hiding nearby. Other than the matter of the Fallen Morning Star, he had no deeper connection with them—if anything, they had even fought briefly once. Their relationship could hardly be called friendly.
But this mung bean cake seemed a little suspicious…
As he contemplated, he naturally took a seat across from Xio. A silver card appeared in his hand, which he briefly displayed before making it vanish again.
"You change your appearance every time… That's really convenient…" Xio muttered under her breath before pushing the plate of mung bean cakes and a cup of coffee toward him. "I've already eaten. I ordered this for you… This café has some unique desserts, and they taste great."
Since it was close to noon, Ebner was a little hungry, so he didn't refuse. He cut off a piece with his knife and put it into his mouth.
The texture was smooth and dense, the flavour fragrant and soft, though it was slightly dry in the throat… Yep, this was definitely mung bean cake! Ebner took a sip of coffee as he confirmed his thoughts.
But why would Shoko and Lina be making something like this? Even if they happened to stumble upon the recipe, the taste shouldn't be this close to what he remembered from his past life. A slight difference in preparation could completely alter the final product…
And from what Xio said, this café had many other unique desserts?
Could it be that some transmigrator left behind a recipe, which Lina and Shoko happened to find? Hmm… I wonder if there's any spiritual imprint left on it… Would Lilith be interested in collecting recipes?
Of course, this could also be Klein's doing… Based on the intelligence I'd gathered, Klein had already known Lina back in Tingen…
As thoughts raced through his mind, Ebner decided to investigate this café when he had the chance. If there really was a collection of recipes, perhaps he could consider buying them… though the chances weren't high.
After all, the prophecy he received before was: "In the darkness, the miracles of civilization are destroyed by corruption."
That probably didn't mean that a group of people got fat from eating too many desserts and then, in their frustration, destroyed the miraculous delicacies that caused their downfall, right?
Amused by his own thoughts, Ebner quickly finished the remaining dessert. Then, under Xio's lead, he left the café, turned onto another street, and entered a small standalone house.
This was one of Xio's safe houses. Since it was considered a necessary expense for her work, MI9 would reimburse the rent.
Ebner glanced around the house while using the Cursed Tudor Emblem to set up a barrier that blocked surveillance. Casually, he asked, "Why not meet at your place?"
After all, it wasn't that far from the place you and Fors are renting.
"…" Xio's expression grew complicated. She couldn't exactly say that she didn't want to meet Ebner in an environment identical to the one in her dream last night.
Reading Xio's thoughts, Ebner combined them with what the magic mirror had done and immediately understood the situation. Dropping the topic, he instead asked her why she had arranged this meeting.
Hearing his question, Xio forced herself to stop thinking about unnecessary things. She organised her words and relayed both the intelligence and the request from World to Ebner.
"Protect Talim, huh?"
There was too little information about Baron Larry for Ebner to analyse anything meaningful. However, when it came to Talim's situation, he had a decent amount of knowledge from the original novel.
And Talim's death wasn't something that could be easily prevented. Since Ebner didn't have a particularly close relationship with him, he hadn't considered intervening before.
If he wanted to save Talim, there were two major obstacles. The first was avoiding the surveillance of 0-08. If they failed, not only would Talim remain unsaved, but the rescuers themselves would also be exposed to 0-08, potentially inviting unknown dangers. The second issue was that, at this point in time, even if Talim was "protected," he could still be "cursed" to death at any moment by the ring in Trissy's possession. No, it wasn't just a possibility—once those behind the scenes noticed that Talim was out of their control, they would undoubtedly have Trissy use the ring to curse him, eliminating any unforeseen risks.
The ring in Trissy's possession symbolised the Primordial Demoness's vessel, essentially making it a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact. To avoid being cursed to death, at least an angel-level intervention would be required. Perhaps Talim could be sheltered within the Church of the Earth Mother, but he likely wouldn't even make it to the Harvest Church before suddenly dropping dead.
Beyond these challenges, there was also the issue of how to handle the aftermath of Prince Edessak's incident. Once it unfolded, investigations would follow—another major hurdle. This meant that Xio absolutely couldn't be the one to "protect" Talim. Moreover, Talim himself couldn't be allowed to know exactly who had saved him. If he ever returned to Backlund, the royal family and the major Churches would inevitably interrogate him.
Ebner didn't dwell on these thoughts for too long. He worried that the Cursed Tudor Emblem, as a Grade 1 Sealed Artifact, might not be able to completely block 0-08. Without hesitation, he summoned the Gate of Dreams and Reality, pulling Xio with him into the Dream Labyrinth Tower.
Inside the tower's lounge, Ebner solemnly explained all the difficulties to Xio. Of course, when referring to 0-08, he only described it as "a certain Sealed Artifact capable of surveillance and manipulation." Miss Judgement, who had seemed somewhat distracted earlier, grew serious as she listened. She didn't question how Ebner knew about the curse—she was already used to him simply "knowing" things.
"The Sealed Artifact those people are using for 'monitoring'—maybe Mr. World can handle it. As a Blessed of Mr. Fool, he should be able to ask for some assistance," Xio suggested after some thought.
Mr. Fool's Paper Angel probably couldn't block 0-08's perception for now… But compared to his counterpart in the original timeline, Klein had far more tricks up his sleeve at this point. Maybe he could pull off something unexpected.
Ebner nodded thoughtfully. "If we can resolve the issue of avoiding that Sealed Artifact's perception, then dealing with the post-incident investigation will be much easier. I could simply disguise myself as someone else while taking Talim away and use the Teleportation Altar to instantly move him far from Backlund—outside of that Sealed Artifact's range of vision."
"So… the only remaining problem is the curse?" Xio paused before asking, "Can the curse ignore distance?"
"Talim likely has an important 'medium' in their hands… something like his hair or blood. Maybe distance could block the effect… but the question is whether Talim can even make it to the Teleportation Altar." Ebner sighed.
"There's no other way?" Xio furrowed her brows, racking her brain for a solution.
Another way… Ebner fell into deep thought for a moment, then activated Pure White Eye and used its once-a-day active divination.
"A reliable method to prevent Talim from being cursed to death."
As the prophecy took effect, a single line of revelation surfaced in his mind:
"Sheriff Fassin's wife."
Sheriff Fassin's wife?
The Chained God?!
Of course! When it comes to dealing with curses, there's no one more skilled than Them! But… would They be willing to help?
(End of Chapter)