69novels Chapter 399: Prophecy as Conviction
Chapter 399: Prophecy as Conviction
“Master Mentor, I’d trouble you to come with me to the Langton family estate…”
The Pope suppressed his fury, speaking to Loren as calmly as he could. Loren could see that, right now, the man wanted to kill someone.
“Let’s go. I want to know who the real culprit is too. What I hate most is being threatened and framed.”
Loren subtly hinted at the Pope, urging him to go harder when the time came.
The Pope was already holding back his anger, and Loren’s reminder only made him more extreme. If something happened to Loren here, it would be a sign of his incompetence. He had been Pope for so long, just one step away from becoming an Angel—he didn’t want anything to go wrong at this critical moment. If Loren met with an accident, the Angel’s path would be closed to him forever.
The Pope rushed to the Langton family mansion in a furious hurry. Without a word, he kicked the front gate flying. Even Loren hadn’t expected the Pope to be this violent.
Seeing who had arrived, the mansion’s guards silently slipped into the corners. Neither Loren nor the Pope was someone they could afford to provoke. Even if the Langton family had treated them well, it wasn’t worth losing their lives over.
Such a commotion couldn’t go unnoticed inside. Soon, many armed figures rushed out—most of them were Mages. A single glance told Loren they were no pushovers. In fact, this group could probably annihilate the Gedlan Kingdom.
“A mid-tier noble family like the Langtons dares to stockpile this many soldiers? Are they planning a rebellion?”
Loren showed no fear, stepping forward to meet them, immediately slapping them with a heavy accusation.The Pope followed behind Loren, making his stance clear—Loren’s status was above his own.
The accusation caught them off guard. At their level, they certainly recognized both Loren and the Pope, so panic was inevitable.
Just then, a middle-aged man stepped forward to smooth things over:
“Master Mentor jokes. These are all guests of the Langton family. The Langtons have always been loyal to the Bountiful Church and are willing to provide resources for Bountiful Mages. It’s all for the Church’s sake.”
“And who the hell are you?”
Judging by how those Mages treated him, the man was clearly high-ranking. But Loren still didn’t give him an ounce of respect.
“I am the son of the current Langton family head. My name is Lynus. I’ve long heard of your reputation, Master Mentor. May I ask what brings you to our humble home?”
Even after Loren’s rudeness, Lynus remained utterly deferential.
“Your Holiness, please explain the situation.”
Loren stepped back, letting the Pope take the lead.
His meaning was clear—he was turning a private matter into a public one. It wasn’t that the Langton family was targeting him, Loren—it was that they were betraying the Bountiful Church.
“Master Mentor has recently been threatened. Someone even kidnapped his friends. The Langton family is currently our prime suspect. The culprits were all wearing your family’s invisibility cloaks.”
With that, the Pope threw a black robe to the ground.
Lynus didn’t bother to inspect it. Since the Pope brought it up, it had to be genuine. There was no need to check.
“That is indeed our family’s craftsmanship. But can you be sure it was us? We do sell these cloaks. Not many, but enough—someone else could have bought them. Of course, this is also a failure of our oversight. We’ll compensate you…”
His rhetoric was masterful. He pinned a minor crime on himself to wash away the major one.
“Spare me the bullshit. Those people were sent by you, weren’t they?”
Loren kept pushing, giving Lynus no room to maneuver.
By now, Lynus’s smile had frozen:
“Do you have any evidence?”
Loren honestly didn’t. And he couldn’t reveal how he’d gotten what he had. But he had his ways:
“I foresaw it. That good enough?”
“…!”
Lynus’s smile vanished completely. He found Loren’s words utterly unreasonable, but he had no way to refute them.
Loren’s reputation as a Prophet had long been established. His foresight had helped the Church more than once. So now, Lynus was stuck.
“Alright. I’ll give you a chance. Hand over the perpetrators. Get rid of them, and I’ll let bygones be bygones. But if I find them myself, things will be different.”
This was Loren’s final offer. If the Langton family was willing to hand over everyone involved in this, Loren would spare the rest. Once he used his own methods, nothing they did would matter.
“We’d love to help you, but we really don’t know anything. From now on, we’ll fully assist your investigation.”
Lynus was still dancing around, shifting from suspect to investigative partner in a few words.
“Oh? Then you don’t mind if I search the place?”
“Of course not.”
Lynus’s expression was relaxed, as if he truly had nothing to fear.
But that was a lie. He knew perfectly well that even if Loren found nothing, just stubbornly clinging to his prophecy could cause them serious trouble.
“Fine. Then let’s go search.”
Loren didn’t actually expect to find anything. Given how cautious that young man was, no evidence would be left here. In fact, Loren suspected the Attendant who had tipped him off yesterday had already been dealt with.
But that didn’t matter. If he couldn’t find evidence, he could always forge it.
Without another word, Loren headed toward the young man’s quarters from yesterday. The Pope and Lynus followed behind.
“This is my son, Theodore’s, residence. He’s an outstanding young man—excellent in magic, literature, and the arts alike.”
Arriving at Theodore’s place, Lynus introduced him to Loren.
“Oh? So the culprit from my prophecy is your son.”
“!”
This time, Lynus panicked completely. He knew Loren was about to leverage his prophecy.
Loren ignored Lynus and walked straight in. A few Attendants led him to where Theodore was. None of them were the one Loren had met yesterday.
“Master Mentor? What brings you here?”
Theodore was sitting at his desk, reading a poetry collection, looking cultured and refined—as if he had nothing to do with any of this.
“Was it you who ordered my friends kidnapped and threatened me?”
“What are you talking about?”
Faced with Loren’s accusation, Theodore looked completely innocent. So Loren grabbed him by the hair, yanked his head down hard, and drove his knee up. A brutal knee strike smashed into Theodore’s nose. It broke instantly, blood spraying everywhere.