Chapter 714
I had a lot of fun
Now that she had acquired a certain degree of knowledge about spirits, Alistair could easily confirm—this trading model could indeed be recognized by Market Supervisors.
This was essentially asking a Ritualist to set up a ritual for oneself, using one’s own provided materials. And to ensure that the Ritualist wouldn’t use precious ritual materials without completing the ritual, a deposit was collected…
But in reality, this was the Ritualist using the deposit to purchase the “right to perform the ritual” for practice.
This truly exploited a loophole in the Church’s existing rules.
Given the dignity of the spirits, even if they figured it out, they wouldn’t become enraged and go back on their word… At most, they would just patch the rules to prohibit such “deposit-based transactions” in the future.
Alistair conveyed these thoughts silently to Eivass on the other side—but Eivass had already become quiet, with no response.
She could only feel a silent and warm sensation from the other side, like closing one’s eyes and embracing the sun.
…Never mind, it seemed he had fallen asleep.
Alistair shook her head with some regret.
She would go over to his place again tonight.
“And then what?”
She opened her eyes and pressed Paul, “How did your work proceed?”
“I think…”
Dimit’s spirit revived.
“You shut up,” Alistair interrupted him crisply and turned to Paul, “You speak.”
“You must have guessed… we poured the high-concentration preserving liquid from the specimen barrels, along with the slave corpses preserved within, into the sea.”
Paul replied respectfully.
“I did guess that,” Alistair nodded. “But even if they are concentrated… how much preservative would you need to pollute the sea life under the ocean’s dilution and self-purification? Didn’t you first simulate a biosphere in an experimental pond and test it there?”
“All of that has already been done.”
Paul nodded. “We confirmed it was possible—what we needed to test was the extent to which the ocean would eventually dilute them, considering the changes in current distance and time, as well as the spontaneous migration of marine life.”
“Ocean currents?”
Alistair said subconsciously, then suddenly realized something.
Her eyes widened slightly. “Wait, I remember… the sea route from the Church to Star Antimony…”
“That’s right, the ocean currents in this region flow from north to south. That means these ‘nooses’ will eventually flow back into the coastal waters north of Star Antimony. And as long as this potion is diluted to a certain extent, it is harmless to the body—therefore, the experiment was absolutely secret. If no one fell ill as a result, the experiment would never be discovered.”
“And because this potion’s components could not exist in the natural environment, and because these fishermen and fish schools couldn’t come into contact with them under the ban of this potion…”
“So, all we need to do is regularly check the bodies of coastal fishermen for the components of ‘nooses’ and periodically draw samples of fish caught at different distances from the open sea to measure their content, thereby obtaining a series of quite detailed data.”
Paul said softly.
Only then did Dimit fully grasp the entire picture of this experiment.
“Wait…?”
He looked at his partner in disbelief. “You mean, they will eventually flow to us?”
“Of course,” Paul nodded. “If it flowed to other countries, how could we conduct regular tests?”
“Didn’t you say it’s a weapon? Why would Star Antimony’s weapons be used to harm Star Antimony people first…?”
Dimit found this incomprehensible. “The Spirit Tower isn’t far from the fishing grounds, is it? Aren’t you quite familiar with them…?”
Paul wanted to explain, but he opened his mouth, then sighed and chose to remain silent.
Alistair let out a cold laugh from the side. “Star Antimony people’s weapons have harmed Star Antimony people more than once. It’s just that you scholars in the towers rarely come into contact with the real facts.”
“For example… Armed Gargoyles, you’ve heard of them.”
The black-haired noble young lady said temptingly.
“I know, they are the creations of Albert Lore!”
Dimit was quite proud of the achievements of his friend and senior student. “They are mass-produced weapons that are fearless of dispelling and fight autonomously! If they had appeared earlier and been mass-produced earlier… those Avalon Gryphons would surely have had a hard time against them!”
“Useless.”
Paul suddenly poured cold water on his enthusiasm. “They can’t catch up to Gryphons.”
“Uh…”
Dimit also hesitated. After thinking about it, it seemed to be true.
“Then do you know,” Alistair said lightly, “how much energy the Armed Gargoyles require for actual combat?”
“…Energy?”
Dimit was stunned. Even Paul looked up with some curiosity.
Clearly, they had never considered such a thing—for the various necromantic products in the laboratory, they remained dormant and continuously charged when not needed. The lack of energy was a rather unfamiliar concept.
“Mass-produced weapons that require continuous combat. How much time would they have for charging? And how troublesome would it be to maintain their logistical support during overseas operations… do you know?”
“…Overseas?”
Dimit tilted his head, not quite understanding. “Why would we need to go overseas? We Star Antimony don’t have overseas territories.”
Paul’s pupils, however, contracted—he had clearly understood Alistair’s meaning.
Alistair glanced at him, the corners of her mouth curving up slightly.
“You wicked thing.”
She pointed at Paul from afar, implying, “To understand so quickly… you must have guessed it long ago.”
“Guess what?”
“…Armed Gargoyles are autonomous weapons meant for invasion, not defense.”
Paul was silent for a moment, then replied, “Just as I said—they can’t catch up to Gryphons.”
As defensive weapons, their slow movement, insufficient reaction speed, and tendency to cause friendly fire made them completely unsatisfactory.
But as offensive weapons…
…If so?
“They cannot use charging piles for energy,” Paul quickly deduced. “The charging piles of the Spirit Tower are due to our great ritual underground. If temporary charging piles were to be set up outside, it would require the full mana of at least one Third Tier Ritualist for a standard launcher that could accommodate twelve Armed Gargoyles…”
“…So, they would use other methods to charge?”
“Other methods…”
Hearing this, Dimit also reacted. “Eating people…?”
His expression immediately became stern, and he frowned deeply. His previously cheerful expression also turned silent.
“…The military can indeed do such things.”
Paul was also silent for a moment, then took a deep breath. “I think I know when they did the experiments. They tested it before…”
“Tested?” Dimit asked.
“The tests for the Armed Gargoyles were last year. At that time, our corpse quota was reduced, so I went to the military to ask for newly executed death row inmates.”
Paul explained, “Generally speaking, these death row inmates should have had their blood drained, or died by hanging or shooting, but their internal organs were mostly fresh and intact. However, when I took the professor’s list to ask for them repeatedly, they grudgingly gave me only a few carts of rotten meat… many of which bore traces of machine gun fire.”
“Ah!”
Dimit also remembered. “We had been studying corpse splicing and beautification in advance during that time… so that’s why!”
“I actually guessed back then that it was related to the Armed Gargoyles. Because the military wouldn’t just look at the effects in the testing field; they would definitely re-test it themselves after taking it back. At that time, I saw some corpses with bite marks… I thought they were testing the Armed Gargoyles’ melee combat capabilities.”
Paul frowned deeply. “So, back then, they were testing… the Gargoyles’ devouring ability.”
Necromancers, generally speaking, would not allow their creations to devour corpses.
The amount of Twilight Force each undead unit could withstand was calculated precisely. The saying “piling up corpses is forbidden” implied that once undead began to devour other corpses, they would easily go mad or lose control.
Dimit blurted out, “Fortunately, they didn’t have time to invade. This is too hateful! If they had attacked, would we have to take the blame for the military too!”
“…I need to tell my mentor.”
Paul said this, but subconsciously looked up at Alistair.
Only now did he remember that they were prisoners detained by Alistair.
At this moment, the room door was suddenly knocked.
A shadow appeared from a corner that none of them had noticed—it was the butler who had brought them here earlier.
So he had been here all along, but they simply hadn’t seen him!
“Hello…”
A slow voice sounded.
Outside the door was Professor Rasimi.
He nodded slightly and bowed politely to the Honey Badger, “My students… may have stumbled in here by mistake. May I take them away?”
“—Professor Rasimi, is it?”
At this moment, Alistair stood up from the sofa and walked over.
Professor Rasimi noticed Alistair’s pupils, then lowered his gaze and noticed the black cross necklace she wore. His pupils contracted slightly.
Immediately after, he bowed slightly and gave Alistair a proper and respectful salute. “Yes, Miss. My name is Odval Rasimi.”
“I am Alistair Crowley.”
Alistair performed an elegant curtsey, then smiled. “Take them away.
“—I had a lot of fun.”
(End of this chapter)
