"So...what were your gains after using your family as bait?" Mir said with a grunt, backing down from a fight, but still pretty pissed.

"Well, not much, to be honest. The investigator was unbelievably good at hiding his working method. You couldn't even trace him once he left the neighborhood. Even in the crime scene here, he has left no clues for us to decipher...except one; that he was helped by an entity during this mission who could be on par with Sunbreaker himself in terms of power. Of course, we already had an inkling of that due to his history. But seeing the result of that manifest into our world was still quite a shock for the Church."

"Manifest? How did it manifest here?" Mir's horror continued to grow with the length of their conversation.

"The entity must have interfered with an element belonging to our world, our domain. Its interference wasn't tolerated by the physical rules of the world, which generated a powerful, destructive outburst. Think of it as a person throwing a piece of sodium in water. Boom, boom, Zaaap! Lightning bolts will come to crush such interferences immediately. Otherwise, gods like Sunbreaker, Doomhorn, and Lightbane would be running around throwing their divine powers at everything, completely destroying the world in the process."

Mir wasn't quite convinced by the explanation. But he chose to focus on something more important for the moment.

"Okay, but what about that Deacon from your Church who tried to test me? How did you deal with him?"

Murray flashed him a ghastly smile. "Have you not figured it out yet? Do you think anyone working for the Church would be trying to test you when they know all of this is a trap? A Deacon may not be told about the plan, but nobody's blind, or deaf, or a solitary soldier without connections throughout the system."

Eyes growing wide, Mir's thoughts raced, struggling to find the answer Murray was hinting at.

"You're saying that he isn't from the Church...No, that couldn't be plausible... Wait, he's a mole for the Ravensworth Family?"

"Not a mole," Murray shook his as if disappointed by his lackluster guesswork.

"He belongs to it. He's a son of one of the less successful members, trying his best to curry favors with his influential uncles. He chose to sacrifice the interests of those who favored him when nobody would, betraying the Church like that. But I guess he cannot be blamed for that. The influence of blood relation isn't something the Church's meager resources can overtake."

"And what does that mean for him? The Church won't tolerate an open betrayal, right?" Mir asked anxiously.

"Open betrayal? How are you going to prove that? By informing the Church that he advised you to take the diary with you to the Sacred Ground? Do you think that will be enough to justify his expulsion? It'll just warn the spies of the Ravensworth family that the Church is already on their back, pulling strings and observing the chess pieces they've been hiding."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Mir opened his mouth to retort, but found himself unable to. Indeed, proving that the Deacon had tipped off the investigator about the existence of the diary in this house might be impossible if the Church didn't want to show its hand so soon into this complex game.

"Then what do we do? We can't just sit here waiting for them to attack us again! Either you need to surrender the diary, or find out a permanent solution to get them off our back. Dad, Mum, and Murin could've died last night!"

Murray stood up slowly and walked over to him, just to pat him on the head. After a dozen-second-long contemplation, he said,

"Then we need to be better baits. Me and you, the two of us against the forces of the Ravensworth Family. We'll become baits so delicious that they'll send a horde to chase after us. From that horde, we'll trap them one by one for the Church to pick off, and let just one leave to relay the message that our diary is not actually what they're looking for."

"...You're insane! That's never gonna work! Even without considering how risky that plan is, did you not think of the wrath of a Family that can potentially reach the Circle of Lords? They'd never tolerate that insult!"

Murray began to holler like a madman upon hearing Mir's panicked denial.

"That's an appropriate reaction for someone who has no idea about the political maneuvers taking place in the Circle of Commonwealth right now. You know what, let's play another game of guesswork to educate you, little bro. Come on, tell me what the Church of Sunbreaker seeks the most right now, politically speaking?"

Mir didn't have to think for long. News networks and tabloid writers had written about this topic frequently in recent times.

"Influence. Power and influence in every corner of the Empire, in each of the hundred nations."

"Exactly. And do you think it's possible to accomplish this task with their current system? Their current manpower, influence, or alliances fall far too short to do that. There are dozens of Churches worshipping different gods all across the empire. The Church of Sunbreaker might be one of the bigwigs in this field, but they have plenty of competition. So don't you think it's obvious whose door the Church will turn to for help?"

"The well-established families, clans, and local powers..." Mir trailed off, suddenly finding a contradictory plot.

"Doesn't that mean the Church needs to bootlick and assist the existences like the Ravensworth Family? Why would they sabotage them, then?"

Murray shook his head once more, implying that his line of thinking was wrong.

"Bootlicking and assisting isn't the style of the Church of Sunbreaker, Mir. We fight for our cause proudly, domineeringly. Trying to curry favors with these families to gain their goodwill might be a weakling's scheme, not ours. We'll force them to curry favors with us, instead! That way, we can talk like equals!"

Mir noticed the not-so-subtle change in his brother's tone. Why did it feel like Murray was trying too hard? He knew his older brother to know when he was putting up an act...and the current Murray sure seemed like someone acting out a patriot's role in theater.

Who was this display for? Not Mir, certainly.

Glancing at the locked front door imperceptibly, Mir suddenly had an urge to hit someone. But he controlled himself and interrupted Murray's passionate act.

"I figured it out, I think. The Church is using itself as a double-edged sword. If the Ravensworth family keeps trying to snatch this artifact from us in secret, they'll be cut. If the Ravensworth Family tries to fight for it openly, they'll still be cut. If they even back off from the pursuit of the real artifact, they'll still be incurring losses. But if the Ravensworth Family decides to use this chance to form an alliance with the Church of Sunbreaker through which they can eventually get their hands on the real artifact when it's discovered...only then can they come out unscathed."

Murray's laugh faded as he began to nod appreciatively.

"There's one more aspect you've ignored in this whole scheme," he added after Mir.

"Our roles in this conflict became determined the moment I found this diary in a Sacred Ground. The game began that very moment. We can no longer back out now unless we want to become a troublesome chess-piece that needs to be eliminated. We can only immerse ourselves fully in our roles, embracing the arrangement of destiny. I, Murray, am more than willing to become a chess-piece in this game because that is all I'm worth right now; nothing more than a weak bait. The question is, are you?"