Westminster Bank

Chapter 21: Chapter 18: Kill Bill

November 18th, 1987. 7:34 PM.

Inner London. Westminster Bank District, Buckingham Palace. A tunnel in Freya’s bedroom leading to an unknown collection room.

"What’s your name, brother? You look a little familiar."

Jack was just as easygoing as he looked.

"Baron Constantin."

"Oh, the wanted fugitive... So you’re here to convince your fiancée you didn’t kill her brother, huh? You’re too handsome to be the type to kill someone over relationship problems..."

The casual way Jack stated his purpose made Baron shoot him a surprised glance. Perhaps this two-meter-tall, muscular brute wasn’t as dumb as he looked.

As they walked on, the tunnel’s darkness grew deeper, and it seemed they would have to feel their way forward.

"It’d be nice to have a light," Jack said casually.

Then, a light flared up from behind him.

Jack turned around to see flames encircling Baron, burning but not hot.

"A Wizard? Wandless Witchcraft, a Silver Mage?"

"A Knight," Baron said flatly.

"Contract or Faith? Oh, I almost forgot. The Authority of a Holy Cross Association Faith Knight, the Eight Virtues, is fixed. Yours must be the Contract Knight’s Promise."

The Knight Profession has two branches:

One is the Contract Knight, who, through a contract, draws upon an Authority called Promise from another party;

The other is a specialty of the Holy Cross Association: the Faith Knight, baptized in faith, who reveres the Eight Virtues and possesses an additional Secret Silver Heart and a Double Heartbeat in their right breast.

"Brother, how come you have Golden Eyes? They look just like a Dragon’s. Holy crap, brother, don’t tell me you made a Contract with a pure-blooded member of the Dragon Race?"

Jack chattered away beside him, constantly sizing Baron up with a solemn expression, like an artist beholding the Mona Lisa:

"Also, brother, when you use Promise, why does a flaming Cross Scar suddenly appear on your right cheek... Isn’t that a little too cool?"

’A Cross Scar?’

Baron subconsciously touched his right cheek.

Indeed, the wound Bill had cut into him was still there on his right cheek, completely intact. It hadn’t healed along with the damage to Baron’s Spiritual Sense.

’What’s going on?’ ƒreewebɳovel.com

Baron frowned. He faintly sensed that something was wrong, but he couldn’t pinpoint the source of this strange feeling.

"Breaking out of prison is one thing, but I heard you even robbed a Westminster holding carriage. You’ve got guts, brother. That on your index finger must be the Holding Ring, right? Let me see... Holy crap! An S Level red Gentiana Pattern?"

In the firelight, Jack’s expression suddenly turned to one of terror.

Baron was confused. "Isn’t it just an ordinary Westminster Holding Ring?"

"Ordinary?"

Jack’s expression was exaggerated, as if he’d just heard the funniest joke in the world.

He went to clap Baron on the shoulder, but seeing the roaring flames, he opted to pick his nose instead.

"A Gentiana Pattern stone marks it as the best kind of Alchemy Holding Ring. Only S Level Westminster Commissioners are issued one..."

"Let me put it this way. I’m a D Level Commissioner, and this is my Holding Ring. The stone is only this big—0.1 carats. If I get demoted to F Level, it’ll probably only be 0.03 carats."

Jack held up the iron ring on his index finger. By the firelight, Baron could finally see that it wasn’t an ordinary iron band, but a sturdy ring with a black stone in the center, much smaller than the one on his own Gentiana Pattern Ring.

He felt a vague sense of unease. "What’s going to happen to me for stealing this ring?"

"Oh, that’s nothing. I remember you’re under the Time Death Judgment, right, brother? By the time that S Level Commissioner comes looking to settle the score, your soul might already be on its way to Hell... We’re here."

Just as Baron was about to complain about why his soul was going to Hell instead of the Celestial Kingdom, Jack’s words drew his attention to what was ahead.

An old oak panel... They seemed to be inside some kind of cabinet.

Jack pushed the panel open, and the view before them opened up dramatically.

The marble floor was smooth, the crystal chandeliers hung high and wide, and the brass-framed, colored windows were bright. Gold and silver foil cascaded from the ceiling down the walls. When the chandeliers were lit, the room was bathed in a light that flowed like quicksilver.

It was as magnificent and exquisite as a palace—or rather, it was a palace.

However, what drew their eyes was not the room’s furnishings, a masterpiece of architecture that would astound experts from any era, but the glass display cases standing tall like Roman columns.

According to Jack’s intuition, these were all at least C Level Taboo Items.

"The Destiny Master didn’t lie! My Destiny really is in Freya’s bedroom! This is her private collection room for Taboo Items!"

Jack pressed his face against one of the display cases. Beneath the glass was a horn made of white bone. Jack said it was an A Level Taboo Object, the Doomsday Horn, which could plunge an enemy into a brief apocalyptic illusion when blown.

Baron currently had no interest in Taboo Items, but he noticed that within this lavishly decorated palace, there was also a living room-like arrangement with a sofa, table, and chairs. Curious, he walked over.

On the table lay a strangely carved wooden stick, its tip adorned with a ruby.

"Don’t touch it!"

Baron subconsciously reached for it but was hastily stopped by Jack. "That’s a Wizard’s Staff that has already bonded with its owner. If anyone else touches it, the Wizard will know immediately..."

He crouched down to examine the Magic Staff. "A Fire Element staff... a rare attribute... The Lancelots are a Knight Clan. Only their second daughter, Freya, is a Wizard..."

While Jack was analyzing the Magic Staff, Baron’s gaze fell upon a pile of newspapers stacked in a corner.

’In a hall so polished, carved, and noble that it seemed even a speck of dust wouldn’t dare to settle, there was a stack of old, worn-out newspapers?’

His interest piqued, Baron went over and flipped through them. He found that most of the articles were about Taboo Items. One piece of news from several decades ago caught his attention.

[Mysterious Intruder Breaches Buckingham Palace’s Taboo Corridor! Insider Reveals Suspected Theft of an S Level Taboo Item!]

[Taboo Item Stolen! The Lancelot Clan Initially Suspects a Commissioner under the Westminster People’s Bank Was Responsible...]

[Westminster Bank Vice President Personally Denies Allegations: Westminster Commissioners Possess the Utmost Social Credibility! They Only Contain, Never Steal!]

"Brother Constantine, why did you suddenly roll your eyes at me?" Jack asked, scratching his head.

"My eyes were dry," Baron said offhandedly. He flipped through the newspaper again, and his gaze stopped on another headline.

[The Lancelot Clan has Specially Hired Lankao, Professor of Mental Alchemy at London Wizard University, with the Aim of Having Miss Freya Switch Her Studies to Witchcraft...]

Lankao... Baron felt like he had heard that name somewhere before.

Just then, amidst the pile of newspapers, he suddenly discovered a ceramic fragment. Unlike the smooth, gentle texture of ordinary porcelain, it felt rough and uneven to the touch.

Examining it closely under the light, he could see fine, gold-dust-like patterns on its surface.

"A fragment of the S Level Taboo Object, the Dagda Cauldron. It’s the cauldron of the Fertility God from Celtic Mythology, said to be able to bring the dead back to life."

Jack’s words startled Baron, but Jack paid him no mind, instead continuing to stare at the fragment in Baron’s hand:

"Because this fragment is part of an S Level Taboo Object, its Authority allows it to make someone who has died within the last twelve hours recount the truth of their death... The price is that the user will randomly lose one of their senses."

’Make the dead speak...’ Baron silently pocketed the fragment. He thought of the three bodies at Lady Eleanor’s home. ’Whether it’s useful or not, I’ll take it for now.’

But there was one thing he still didn’t understand.

"None of these Taboo Items have any descriptions. How do you know their Authorities and their prices?" Baron couldn’t help but ask.

For once, Jack didn’t answer directly. He just sighed and said it was a Westminster secret. "If I leak it, I’ll never find a job again in my life."

He then added, "But Brother Constantine, seeing as you can use an S Level Commissioner’s Holding Ring, you might just have a destiny with my Westminster.

I’ll make an executive decision. As long as we escape successfully this time, I’ll recommend you to my manager immediately. Even if you’re executed by the Judgment later, I promise to come to your gravestone every year and have a drink with you!"

’What damn good is offering me a drink when I’m dead?’ But the word "escape"... A thought stirred in Baron’s mind, just as he suddenly heard the sound of numerous, hurried footsteps approaching from all around.

The hall doors were violently thrown open. Outside the windows, silvery glints surrounded them from all directions. That light came not from fire or lamps, but from the eyes of lions and Knights.

The two of them were surrounded.

The Knight in the lead had brilliant silver hair. His features were handsome, and his brows were as sharp as newly-quenched iron.

The Knight drew his sword on Baron. "The suspect in the murder of Demon Hunter Bill Frank at Buckingham Palace has been located. Confirmed to be the fugitive prisoner, Baron Constantin."

’Killed Bill!? What am I being framed for now!?’

’And why does the killer have to be me? There’s still—’

As if suddenly understanding something, Baron’s head snapped around.

That bastard Jack was long gone.

The corner of his mouth twitched. He drew two pistols from his coat, crossing them with a bitter smile.

"If I said this was all a misunderstanding, including the prison break, would you believe me?"

The sound of the Knights drawing their swords was a single, continuous noise, like a crack of thunder.

Baron sighed, fired a shot toward the ceiling to distract them, then turned and scrambled back into the secret passage in the cabinet!

Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing was the best option!