Myths Reawakened

The car door opened. The soldiers, armed to the teeth and dressed in SS uniforms, rushed through the hotel door with a military official leading the way.

“They aren’t here for us, are they?” Wayne made a face in confusion. “I remember the Prussian intelligence service being terrible at their job. Has that been retconned?”

He still didn’t believe that he had been exposed. Just in case, he decided to put on an act.

“Someone’s here to check on us. You two, undress and get into the blanket.”

Two minutes later, Wayne lay in the bed with his arms around his two secretaries. Strewn clothes covered the floor, and the two women’s hair was tousled, like they had been forced to work overtime by their immoral boss last night.

Bam, bam, bam!

There was a quick knock on the door. The soldiers shouted that they were conducting an inspection and ordered the inhabitants to open up. Woken by the violent knocking, a few patrons yanked the doors open to snap at the source of the noise for bothering them before the day broke. They needed to go to work later!

As soon as they saw the SS uniform, though, they closed the door and pretended that nothing had happened.

The SS was on duty. Everyone stayed away!

During this era—no, in any era—the personal army of the ruling party was always intimidating.

“I’m coming, I’m coming! Disturbing people this early... Since when has the country become like this...?”

Wayne opened the door, bleary-eyed. He jumped when he saw the icy faces outside. “Sirs, what could I do for you?”

“This is an inspection. Where’s your ID? Why did you come to Berlo?” The leading officer had a steely look that made it seem like he was born without the ability to smile.

“Visiting family and checking the business environment...” Wayne gave him the rehearsed story.

The officer took his ID and frowned deeply, comparing Wayne’s face with the photo. He said icily, “There are two ladies with you, according to the room registration.”

“Yes, sir.”

The officer led two subordinates inside. They fell silent when they saw the messy bedroom and the two women who had dressed themselves, but hadn’t had the time to sort out their hair. A popular man invited the resentment of their fellow men, no matter where they were!

There might be exceptions in Londan, under certain circumstances.

The officer checked Ottilia’s and Regina’s IDs and asked a few questions for confirmation. Afterwards, he left with his subordinates and knocked on the other doors. It took one hour for them to finish their inspection, and they finally left when the day broke.

“Pack up. We can’t stay here.” Wayne watched the convoy drive away from the window. Though they called this a routine inspection, they had knocked on his door first. He didn’t believe it to be a coincidence. Inspecting the other rooms was a cover that revealed what they were covering.

Ottilia and Regina wordlessly packed their luggage before hiding under Wayne’s Shadow Cloak. The wind blew the door to their room open, and the three vanished into thin air.

Five minutes later, a few more officers appeared. The leading man had a stiff face and a dark, vicious expression. The stiff, awkward appearance gave off an uncanny valley effect.

Looking at the empty room, he clutched his leather gloves. “Withdraw. We continue the investigation.”

***

“How did I get exposed? It doesn’t make sense...”

On the streets, Wayne walked around aimlessly with his secretaries. All three of them had put on different faces.

Hearing him, Ottilia suggested, “Boss, have Derrida and Hestia been exposed?”

“What does that have to do with me? We didn’t come together, and we aren’t using the same batch of fake IDs. Besides, they aren’t going to expose me.”

Wayne didn’t understand. “If we’d used the same batch of IDs, I’d buy it. This is Prussia, with vessels for demon lords. The local clergy of the Church of Heavenly Father can’t be trusted. If we’re exposed so soon after the IDs were issued...”

He shook his head in resignation. That might indeed be the problem. Before they set out, Derrida had offered him a fake ID that the Papal State had helped prepare. For them to falsify Prussian IDs, they had to have done it through the local church in Prussia. Perhaps they were already exposed then.

The Papal State wasn’t careless, but they were too prideful.

Nothing he could say would change the situation. “Come on, let’s head to the church to find the two bastards. I will not let this slide if they don’t give me a Sacred Lance of Heaven as compensation.”

“Boss, they are exposed. Should we find them now?”

“We’ve been exposed, too.”

***

Chapel, Berlo.

After the third time they disguised themselves, Derrida and Hestia exchanged a grave look.

“We’re exposed,” Derrida said. “The clergy here cannot be trusted. We’re on our own.”

They arrived in the afternoon yesterday, according to plan, lying low and not alerting anyone to their presence. However, the church they were staying at saw a sudden inspection that was clearly meant for them. They had to abandon their identities and put on new faces.

“Can we follow the same plan?”

“We can after some modification. However, we’ll need new identities...”

Derrida frowned in consideration. “Let’s think another way. Since we’ve been made, we might as well stop hiding and openly draw attention so that Wayne can investigate in the dark. He’s been staying in hiding, so he hasn’t been compromised.”

That was when Wayne traced their scents to them.

“That won’t be viable. I was made, too.”

He shrugged, giving the two angels’ new appearances a once-over. If their original tall, attractive looks were considered a ten like Wayne’s, their disguises were still an eight.

Is this how you make yourselves hideous? Aren’t you supposed to be character actors? Couldn’t you put aside your idol mentality?

Wayne turned to Hestia. Her face was an eight, but her figure was still a ten, and she would continue to make many heads turn when she was in public.

He didn’t get it. Wasn’t Heaven’s standards for beauty supposed to be different? Or did Hestia see humans’ eight and ten both as zero?

Had Hestia believed herself to be hideous since her awakening?

Wayne cocked his head. That would make sense. All angels were hung up on looks. Before they reincarnated, they followed the standard of beauty of Heaven, and after their reincarnation, they adapted to the human standard. They wouldn’t allow themselves to be uglier than humans. They were proud creatures in their bones.

Hesione/Mona, Archibald, Derrida, Hestia, and even tanker Kael were top-tier in looks. After their awakenings, their standard of beauty gradually became more in line with that of Heaven, so humans looked like two-legged freaks in their eyes.

Wayne decided to ask Hesione once he returned to Londan whether she struggled so much every time because she found him hideous. If so, he also had a form that was more in line with Heaven’s aesthetics.

“You’ve been made as well, Wayne?” Derrida asked in surprise.

“Thanks to you...” Wayne shared his speculation. He continued in confusion, “I’ve used a new ID with a different identity and name. Even if I’ve been exposed, it should’ve taken longer for them to find me.”

It couldn’t be that Prussia, with its advanced technology, had already installed surveillance cameras on the streets with a facial recognition system, right?

They shared a look.

“Since we’re exposed, we should modify our plan,” Hestia said. “There are many pawns of demons in Berlo. The church’s territory has already fallen under the demons’ control. Let’s split up and confirm information as quickly as we can. Then we return to the Papal State.”

Wayne shook his head. Doing that would be akin to giving themselves away. “The information we received has all come from the local clergy. Since they have been enthralled, it means that ambushes will await us at the locations we’re supposed to investigate.”

“Won’t that be better?” Hestia smiled. “Then we’ll see what surprises they have in store for us.”

You’re right!

Wayne nodded. He could already guess what the surprises would be. Based on the Prussian people’s conservative tendency, the surprises would have to be demon vessels, which fell under their investigation.

“But then we won’t be able to look deeper and collect more information.” Derrida turned to Wayne thoughtfully. “How about Hestia and I venture through the traps while you stay in the dark?”

“That’ll work.” Wayne nodded. There were still a few research institutes waiting for him to visit tonight. The new plan was perfectly in line with what he wanted.

“By the way, have you fixed your incomplete Philosopher’s Stone?”

“No, but I’ll soon fix it.”

“Then Hestia and I will set out a few days later, making sure that we can create a good opening for you to infiltrate the demons’ ranks.”

“If that’s the plan, the stone’s already fixed. Waiting could introduce complications. You and Lust incarnate could set out tonight.”

“...” x2

“I think the plan will work.” Wayne gave the go-ahead without hesitation. “We have the brawn and the brain, as well as beauty and lust. That’s decided then.”

Derrida glanced at Hestia. “Makes sense.”

“Bastard, why are you looking at me?” Hestia raged. “Do you take me as Lust?!”

“Wayne said it too—”

“Shut up!”

The three of them discussed the actual execution of the plan. Derrida unfolded a map and pointed at different parts, soon finalizing a detailed plan.

“Based on what we’ve learned, these are places where the vessels are most likely to be found. Tonight, I’ll go with Lust... with Hestia...”

“Failure is to be expected. Lust incarnate and I will try our best to make a ruckus so that you can collect evidence. Don’t worry about us. We can take on any enemies as long as no demon lord descends.”

“Derrida...” Wayne made a face.

“What?”

“Don’t you know that you often say things that’ll lead to total party kills?” Wayne couldn’t believe him. He kept raising collective death flags for all of them. He wasn’t just an unhelpful teammate, but a party-killing machine.

“Is that so? Aren’t you thinking too much?”

“I hope you’re right. Good luck.”

Wayne waved at them and walked away. The two reincarnated angels were such bad omens that the chapel seemed to be permeated with misfortune. This wasn’t a place he should be staying at, or the misfortune could spread to him.

“Boss, would they be alright?” Regina turned back to look at the chapel worriedly.

“They should be,” Ottilia said uncertainly.

“Then they are!” Wayne said.

Seeing the SS members growing in number on the streets like they were forming an encirclement, however, he had a foreboding feeling. “Are they after us again...? Does Prussia really have a surveillance network like Skynet?”

“Come on. We should be heading to the research institute yesterday. The most dangerous place is the safest place. We’ll preserve our energy to pull a great heist tonight.” Wayne led his secretaries to a corner, going down to the sewer instead.

He would like to see whether there were screws and tinkers wrapped in parchment paper in the sewers[1].

1. A part of the Qingdao sewers was built by Germans, and there’s a belief that the drainage system there works so well thanks to German conscientiousness. A few years ago, a story about finding screws wrapped in parchment paper that were as good as new in the sewers was popularized in China, reinforcing the stereotypes of German people. ☜