Death Notice

The baron and Tony’s explanation regarding the plague was still vague during their discussion. Qin Lun was very smart about it and did not continue that line of questioning. Both sides deliberately neglected Little Miller, the origin of the plague.

“Dr. Stein, now that you have obtained our approval and learned the true history, you are now a preparatory exorcist. As long as we inform the Exorcist Organization, you can become a formal exorcist.” Baron Albert smiled. “There is one last thing you need to do. Please sign the Exorcist’s Oath.”

Following Baron Albert’s words, Tony took out a thick book that was as big as one of the bookshelves’ panels. The book was hollow inside, a simple and unadorned brass scroll rested within.

Tony pulled open the scroll, placed it in front of Qin Lun, and handed him a quill pen.

Qin Lun skimmed through the scroll’s content first. The content could be divided into two parts. The first part had to do with the responsibilities and duties of an exorcist. It was pretty much the same as what Baron Albert had just told him. It requested that all exorcists make exterminating evil organisms and protecting the human world their goal. The latter portion contained the signatures of many exorcists.

Most of the signatures were from the Albert Family; the rest were from outsiders. Qin Lun understood that they should be the names of the local exorcists.

Qin Lun signed the name “Wellington Stein” without any mental burden. Both the baron and Tony let out a breath of relief when they saw him sign. The agreement was not just a simple parchment, it contained the protective powers that the Believers had left behind. Anyone that signed their name was restricted by the oath.

After he finished signing his name, a strange expression showed on Qin Lun’s face. He had actually received a notice from the Death Notice.

“Apostle 70053, you have used your identity from the current storyline to sign this world’s Great~ Magic Contract and have received direct entry to this world’s ‘Double Controversy’. You have satisfied line 100 of the Shattered Laws, therefore, opening the World Plot Mission Mode and obtaining the permission to plunder this world’s origin!”

“Notice: Apostle 70053 – Newcomer Mission Content Change! The mission of saving Steven Albert has been changed to ‘Exploration of the Satellite-level World’s Storyline’. Mission Content: Obtain the truth about Steven Albert and find his whereabouts to increase the mission completion rate.”

“Mission Reward will be changed to One Fused Shattered Law Crystal and 2000 Shattered Crystals. The penalty for failure of the mission will be a thirty point deduction of Soul Vitality.”

“Notice: Apostle 70053 has obtained Satellite-level World Storyline and has satisfied line 788 of the Shattered Laws, opening World Exploration Degree Function. Death Notice has started sorting relevant memories and obtaining the present World Exploration Degree Progress…”

Satellite-level World Storyline: Historical scenarios of some of this world’s smaller regions require the activating condition, changing the region’s history, to be met.

World Exploration Degree: Some of the apostle’s actions may obtain the world’s secret and indirectly and directly influence the development of the world’s history, which help Shattered Starry Sky from plundering the world’s origin. The greater the degree of world exploration is, the more one can obtain from the origin.

The reward is independent of the otherworld mission. Shattered Starry Sky will provide the appropriate reward according to the degree of world exploration.

“Notice: Death Notice has completed analyzing and sorting the apostle’s relevant memories.

……Du du, Death Notice Reminder: The analysis of relevant memories the apostle has acquired is very likely to promote the world’s storyline quality. Would you like to report to Shattered Starry Sky with your soul imprint…”

“Notice: Successfully reported! Apostle 70053, the current analysis of the basic information is not sufficient. The possibility of promoting to a planet-level world storyline is 40%. The possibility of promoting to a star-level world storyline is 5%.

…Temporarily shelving promotion of the world’s storyline quality, current degree of world exploration is 0.001%, awaiting for the apostle to provide follow up information.”

“Special notice from Shattered Starry Sky: An apostle’s first star-level world storyline will have the sure probability of activating the storyline’s gold-level evaluation. Please be mindful!”

Baron Albert and Tony shared a smile when they saw Qin Lun sitting blankly. They thought that the doctor had a keen intuition and had immediately felt the magic of the oath.

Tony walked two steps closer, planning to take back the exorcist oath scroll. Qin Lun’s eyes flashed, and he came back to his senses. He quickly glanced at the bottom of the scroll; his eyes narrowed slightly. He noticed that there were five names that should be there but weren’t.

After the completion of the oath’s signing, Qin Lun discovered that Baron Albert and Tony’s attitudes were much warmer than their politeness from before.

“Hehe, Dr. Stein, congratulations on becoming one of our members. Let us return now. In two days, we will need to prepare to enter Great Maize Forest once Odia’s other exorcists arrive.” Baron Albert handed his wine cup to Tony and stated with a smile.

This secondary fortress contained a great amount of information related to the exorcists. Besides a couple female servants, specially chosen to tidy up the place, no other servants entered. The wine cups they used had to be brought back to the main castle for the servants to wash.

“Let me do it. I am very thankful to you two for showing me the gateway to such a world, allowing my life to become even more wonderful. And also for letting the Stein Family share in the honor of being an exorcist.” Qin Lun hurriedly took the wine cups from Baron Albert and Tony.

Baron Albert and Tony did not reject Qin Lun’s politeness. In their eyes, this was the humble manner a younger generation exorcist should have.

“Oh right, is this the first generation Baron Albert?” Before the three of them left, Qin Lun suddenly pointed at the portrait of the tall knight.

“Yes, he is our Albert Family’s exorcist ancestor, the first generation Baron Albert, Lorenzo Albert.” A trace of pride flashed through the baron’s face. “Below is a phrase that he said after being given the mission to protect Odia. It is the proudful motto of our family.”

“A millennium of duty, a millennium of guarding, a millennium of honor!” Qin Lun smiled and nodded, “He truly was a great knight.”

After they returned to the main castle, a strange smile floated upon Qin Lun’s face as he watched Baron Albert and Tony leave. He glanced at the wine cups in his hands and quickly headed for his room.

On the way back to his room, Qin Lun once again met another member of the Albert Family in the corridor. However, this time, it was truly by chance and not because the other was waiting for him. She was likely just passing by.

“Dr. Stein!” Laura curtsied and nodded at Qin Lun. “It looks like you have become a member of the exorcists.”

“Yes, beautiful Miss Laura. I did not expect a chance meeting with a noble family would allow me to touch upon such a mysterious world.” Qin Lun held the wine cup behind his back and smiled, returning her a nod as a greeting.

“There is no such thing as coincidence in this world. There is only the inevitable.” A trace of helplessness flashed through her eyes, leaving behind a strange line before rushing off.

“There is no such thing as coincidence in this world, only the inevitable?”

Watching Laura’s leaving figure, a strange light flashed through Qin Lun’s eyes. Of the five names he believed should be on the oath scroll but were not, Laura Albert was one.

The other four names were Miller Albert, Elizabeth Albert, Steven Albert, and… Mary Albert!

The reason for Steven’s children, Miller Albert and Elizabeth Albert, not being on the list might be because of age, not yet old enough to become exorcists. Laura Albert was a noble lady. Her weak appearance and lack of battle strength could be a possibility for her inability to become an exorcist.

Then what about Steven Albert? As Tony’s older brother and the baron heir, why did he not become an exorcist? …In addition to him, that Mary Albert, who no one ever mentions, who was she?

From the looks of the gravestone Qin Lun had seen in the Albert Family’s cemetery, Mary Albert could very likely be that white figure he couldn’t determine to be a human or ghost.

At that time, Qin Lun’s time was limited, so he was unable to dig open Mary’s grave to check. However, from the death date on the gravestone, Mary was born in 1698 and died in 1732, while Steven was born in 1694 and died in 1732. There was a four year difference between the two. One was thirty-eight years old, while the other was thirty-four. And they both died in the same year.

From the two’s age, if they weren’t siblings, then they were a couple. If they were siblings, the whole Odia Town would have known about her and have had an impression of Mary, who died the same year as Steven.

Since Odia Town did not have any impression of Mary’s death, it either meant that the Albert Family had deliberately concealed it or that Mary’s presence was very weak. Qin Lun inferred that Mary was surely Steven’s wife, and her presence was very low-key. Perhaps she had signed another exorcist scroll, which would conform to common sense.

Qin Lun pushed open the door and entered his room. He raised the two wine cups in his hand and faintly smiled.

Qin Lun had Frank go to his room and bring him his medical box during Little Miller’s first treatment. When he opened the medical box, he was surprised to find that the trap he had carefully set showed a rather surprising change.

Fingerprints appeared on some of the test tubes. Based on their size, they were an adult’s fingerprints.. Someone from the castle had entered his room and examined his medical box.

Although Qin Lun obtained a fingerprint, he did not know whose fingerprint it was for the time being. Even though he needed to eat and drink with the Albert Family every day, he was unable to obtain their fingerprints to use as a comparison. If he rashly asked a servant for their teacups and silverware, it would arouse their suspicion.

But the chance to enter the exorcist’s secondary fortress allowed him to get ahold of the wine cups the baron and Tony used. He could now compare their fingerprints to the ones on the test tubes.

However, the results of the comparison made Qin Lun faintly frown…