CHAPTER 108: ALL SUCCESS STEMS FROM GREED, ALL FAILURE STEMS FROM EXCESSIVE GREED

At the agreed-upon restaurant, Wayne met Kael and his ‘ugly sister’. He had to admit she was stunning. The brunette had exceptional looks and figure, especially for her dignified temperament. With red lips and glasses, she had a bookish air to her with a hint of sexiness.

“Let me introduce you. This is my sister, Mona Hawthorne.” Kael enthusiastically introduced them. “This is the Wayne I mentioned before. Don’t let his youth fool you. He already owns his detective agency. He’s talented and well-off, young and accomplished. Exactly your type.”

Youthful and accomplished is a little exaggerated. Someone else paid for my detective agency.

Wayne looked questioningly at Kael. If she was his sister, why would they have different family names?

Kael shrugged and said evasively, “Blended family. She’s an adult, so it’s not unusual for her to keep a different surname.”

Like hell I’ll buy that! Wayne rolled his eyes and politely offered a handshake to Mona, instinctively observing her appearance and attire. She looked young, not even thirty. Her clothing and makeup were both well put together with just the right vibrancy. Under her black knee-length skirt, she was wearing stockings, indicating a decent financial condition.

At the same time, Mona was also sizing up Wayne, scrutinizing him carefully beyond a detective’s habitual observation.

The afternoon tea didn’t last long. Wayne turned the meeting into a recruitment session, and out of his trust in Kael’s character, he hired the detective on the spot.

Mona had registered with the White Glove Society and was also at Blue rank. She was pretty and capable without expecting a high salary, so Wayne had no reason to turn her away. Besides, with all other detectives being men, having a female detective would be useful in handling certain cases.

After the pleasant afternoon tea, Wayne left her a business card and departed. Judging by Mona’s rank at the White Glove Society alone, he knew that she had to be a mage. She couldn’t be volunteering herself simply to become his subordinate. No matter what her reason was, Wayne planned to keep their relationship strictly business, separating his work and personal life completely. She wouldn’t eat him or anything.

After Wayne left, Kael looked at his ‘sister’ and asked quietly, “How was it? Did you find anything? Is he the one you people want?”

“It’s not that easy.” Mona shook her head. “I can’t say for certain yet, but since you mentioned that he can transform into an angel, the lead is worth pursuing.”

“Can you tell me what the church is looking for?”

“Kael, it’s a pleasure chatting with you. Thank you for your help. That’s it for today. I’ll take my leave since I have other matters to attend to.”

She sauntered away, leaving Kael rolling his eyes. If you won’t tell me, I’ll look into it myself.

“Wait, why am I paying the bill?”

***

Wayne returned to the detective agency and had Wesley stop recruiting detectives. Including him as the boss, the agency now had three detectives; there was no need to hire more in the short term. The business was only starting up; they should take baby steps.

Time passed quickly, and soon, Veryl came to pick up his master from work. Sitting in the back of the black car, Wayne played with the antique silver coin in his hand. All six points of his hexagram had been filled, with earth, fire, water, and wind overflowing, yet the star still wouldn’t take shape.

The water should just naturally make a ditch? Mine’s about to flood!

At this point, the antique silver coin could offer him little help. The Book of Greed alone kept eating like a black hole, devouring what was stored in the grey space.

The black car turned onto Baron Street when it suddenly started pouring rain, the sky gloomy like the clouds would come crashing down.

“Too dark...”

Wayne sensed something was wrong and signaled Veryl to stop, but strangely, instead of pulling over as his master commanded, he drove into a dark alley.

It got darker and darker. Wayne narrowed his eyes in dawning realization. He put the antique silver coin in the gap of the leather seat. The car stopped. An undead soldier opened the door and sat down beside him, immediately launching into a villainous cackle.

He rolled his eyes. “Director Planck, you don’t need to cover your face every time.”

“That won’t do. One has to honor their word. I made a promise to the High Reverend.”

Planck insisted on being honest. Since he had sworn on the divine that he would never appear before Wayne, he had to do as he promised.

Well, your god’s easy to fool! Wayne thought sarcastically, then watched as Planck retrieved the antique silver coin from the gap between the seats.

“How strange. This coin looks just like the one I lost,” Planck exclaimed, boasting his good fortune before cheerfully pocketing the coin.

My silver coin! Wayne dejectedly watched as the bandit seized the coin, vowing silently to remember this humiliation and one day reclaim what he lost today with his own hands.

“Wayne, I heard that you ran into an evil god on Dragon Heart Island, and there was an ancient god, too?”

“You’ve heard, Director?”

“Of course. It’s an ancient god we’re talking about.”

Without beating around the bush, Planck told him about the relationship between the White Glove Society and the Free Mage Alliance. Wayne had guessed correctly. The Windsor royal family had a long reach, and the White Glove Society was only one example.

“Did you see the ancient god?”

“No, I heard voices at the time, then I became unaware.”

“What a shame... but as it should be. Ancient gods cannot be gazed upon directly. They are such ineffable existences.”

Planck sighed, falling into the same dilemma as the evil god. He craved the candy from the ancient god but feared that his body wouldn’t be able to handle too much sugar intake.

After lamenting for a moment, he asked about the evil god. His collection included a chalice of blood. He had exterminated a cult of Blood Worship and casually adopted their belief in the evil god. Faith was nothing but business, and believing in more couldn’t hurt.

The descent of the evil god from hell wasn’t something that had to be kept secret, so Wayne told the story. When he mentioned the evil god foolishly trying to claim the ancient god’s faith, Planck cackled. If the evil god hadn’t been so greedy, perhaps it would’ve succeeded in descending to the mortal realm.

All success stems from greed, and all failure stems from excessive greed!

Having taken back his coin and asked what he wanted to ask, Planck opened the door and was about to leave, but Wayne stopped him. He asked about Life Magic and the Silver Cross.

“Every church studies Life Magic. It’s complicated. I can’t say who’s right or wrong...” Planck gave some examples. “The Life Alliance’s elven evolution theory and Death’s skeletonization are both Life Magic, so is the magic of the master and student pair, Marshall and Sidney. It’s a broad topic. When you reach Silver-rank and start studying the church’s faith magic, your life will naturally begin to evolve.”

Wayne memorized his words. Planck was a mage of the Free Mage Alliance with no absolute faith, so he would be more objective in tackling the matter. His insights were thus more valuable than Silvia’s.

“As for the Silver Cross, you can consult your master. The High Reverend is a Gold-rank mage. She can more than give you an answer.”

Planck guessed that Wayne had already asked. Pleased that the genius hadn’t blindly trusted his master, he cleared his throat and said, “The Silver Cross consists of life, self, void, and god. We free mages put ‘god’ last. While god is important, it shouldn’t be singular. It concerns your future path...”

He spoke bluntly. “The High Reverend is a disciple of the Goddess of Nature, so the goddess is all she sees. You’re different. Defining god as Nature will limit the heights you can reach in the future.”

“Then what should I define god as?”

“Theoretically, the more the merrier, but too many won’t work, either. Humans have limits. Too many faiths will make your life essence, thoughts, and knowledge reserve struggle to keep up. If the four components become unbalanced, the Silver Cross will never form.”

Planck pondered briefly. “I suggest you act within your abilities. You could view the three goddesses of the Life Alliance as the god component, starting with the three faiths.”

“Of course, you have a ring for Darkness, so once you believe your life essence and thoughts to be strong enough, you can consider incorporating Darkness, too...”

“Then your knowledge will fall behind. The High Reverend won’t provide you with knowledge in Darkness, so you should seek me out then. The Free Mage Alliance has no shortage of it.”

Planck chuckled. All was going according to plan. Wayne was destined to become a free mage.

Wayne arched an eyebrow. If Darkness would work, then Death should, too. He only had two hands. Could he hold onto the legs of all five goddesses?

Oh, wait, he had tentacles as well. Using them to wrap around their legs should work the same way.

“By the way, your master probably didn’t tell you that you still need to capture the four elements during the process of forging the Silver Cross.” Planck patted Wayne’s shoulder. “Remember to come to me then. I can lend you the antique silver coin for a while.”

It won’t cost too much anyway! Planck thought.

Wayne looked at Planck in excitement. Although there was an element of manipulation in their relationship, he had to admit that the old geezer was a good guy. He always came through when Wayne needed him.

Thank you, Schrödinger!

The car stopped. Once Planck left, the darkness dissipated. Outside the car, the rain-soaked Baron Street was visible again. Veryl didn’t know what had happened at all. He took Master Wayne home before heading to the academy to pick up the future mistress of the household, Miss Kristen.

“This is beneath him. I should hire a driver.” Wayne felt sorry when he saw Veryl bustling about constantly, handling whatever household matters in person.

There was still time before dinner. He consulted his knight master about swordsmanship in the living room and asked about the Silver Cross.

Concerning his future path, every step of his training was important. He wouldn’t blindly trust Silvia, a devout believer, but neither would he just take the word of Planck, someone with no definite faith, without exercising discretion. To put it bluntly, both of their faiths were extreme. It was best to seek multiple opinions.

Valkyrie gave him a confused look. What was a Silver Cross?

He rolled his eyes. Right, he forgot that the knight didn’t have a brain. There was no point in asking her.

***

On September first, the Wayne Detective Agency officially opened for business with no fanfare. The White Glove Society sent congratulations and gave him two cases in a gesture of goodwill.

Wayne reviewed them. The first involved finding a wealthy person’s missing pet dog, easy enough for Wesley to take care of. The second required traveling far via train, and since Wayne was a delicate flower that feared leaving the greenhouse that was Londan and encountering evil gods left and right, he entrusted the case to Mona.

As for himself, he focused on magic.

Well, he was studying the pairing of magical girls and stockings in his bedroom.

After several days of sulking, Vera had rekindled her spirit of throwing herself at him. During the day, she studied dragonslaying swordsmanship with Valkyrie; during the night, she complained about Wayne living too far from the gym, and not wanting to make the long journey home, she stayed the night.

Remembering their agreement from days ago, she went to Wayne’s bedroom to try on stockings. He always supported such an endeavor with all his tentacles. After the tutoring session, he brought Senior Kristen along.

Vera pouted in dissatisfaction but said nothing.

He opened his closet to reveal two full boxes of stockings. Vera’s jaw dropped, and Kristen’s eyes widened. Why would he have so many women’s garments in his closet? They pictured him wearing stockings. It was so amusing that they laughed out loud.

“Don’t take it the wrong way. As a designer of stockings, I frequently inspect the manufacturer’s products. It’s an important part of customer service that can’t be skipped,” Wayne explained with a straight face.

The two magical girls nodded in understanding and praised him for his professionalism. They had been too shortsighted.

“Vera, this is yours. And Kristen, if you will.”

Vera took the stockings and sat on the bed to put them on immediately. Kristen hesitated. “Me too?”

“If you’re willing to help with quality check. Afterward, you’ll get to keep the stockings, and I’ll pay you.”

“Same for me!”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll pay you double.” Wayne glanced at Vera before turning to Kristen with expectation. “The maids at home don’t have the right body shape to try stockings on, so I can only ask friends like you for help.”

Kristen found it hard to refuse. She was just about to say that she didn’t need the salary when Vera spoke up first. To not embarrass her, she accepted the payment, too.

With the support of Vera the Intellectual Devourer, Kristen became Quality Inspector Number Two.

She politely returned to her room to put on the samples. Then, following Wayne’s request, she and Vera struck several poses that highlighted their figures. Although it was embarrassing, it was already too late to say no now.

Both women wore long skirts. Wayne didn’t ask them to lift the hems. It was too much and would certainly scare Kristen off. Start slow in the beginning. After she had gotten used to the process, he would give them each a sample short skirt to match the stockings.

Five minutes later, he put down his sketch book, thanking the two models for their services. To show his respect, he would treat them to a feast tomorrow.

Under his regretful gaze, Vera and Kristen left his bedroom, but not without taking the samples they had just inspected.

***

Then came September third. As Wayne put on Valkyrie and practiced swordsmanship in the back garden, the hexagram in his body suddenly connected and started taking shape. He hurriedly stopped swinging the sword to carefully sense the change to his hexagram, trying to find the pattern to stabilize it completely.

It remained stable for twelve seconds this time, and he felt good for the full duration. But then blond hair tickled his nose and made him sneeze, breaking the precarious balance.

“Wayne, just now...” Valkyrie said apologetically.

“It’s not on you. It came too suddenly.”

Wayne removed the armor. Based on the experience of his hexagram’s formation in the past few days, he summarized one pattern: the less he cared about it and the more he concentrated on something else, the easier the hexagram formed.

“Master’s right. I shouldn’t stress myself out. I should go out more and relax.” Wayne muttered, putting the armor pieces into the suitcase. He planned to head to Cambrook County first thing tomorrow morning. The round trip would take eight hours. He would leave in the morning and return at night, without skipping Senior Kristen’s stockings—tutoring session.

Perfect!

His archdeacon ID had already been issued with a magical anti-counterfeiting seal exclusive to the Church of Nature. As a minor manager, he had been away from his post for too long. It was time to make an appearance and introduce himself.

It would also be a relaxing time to check out the specialties of the university campus.

“The next time it takes shape, the hexagram will stabilize. I’m certain of it...”

Wayne looked at his hands. During those twelve seconds, he was filled with power, and the Book of Greed was hungrier than usual.