Chapter 129: Interlude: Garden of Whispers
The Caribbean Sea, which borders three countries on the eastern side of the continent of Columbia, was known as the most dangerous sea in the world.
It was not unusual for news of ships disappearing day after day to be reported in the newspapers, so gaining such notoriety was not surprising.
Indeed, maritime incidents in the Caribbean Sea were a favourite topic for magazine journalists.
It was an easy pick.
As the publication date approached and there was nothing to fill the pages, the editor instructed a reporter at leisure to write a special feature on disappearances in the Caribbean Sea.
The reporter then searched through the recently disappeared ship list and found a captain living near highly-rated restaurants in the area. They would then travel there, enjoy their business trip expenses, and submit an article to the editorial department by simply changing the names of the ships and cargo from their previous Caribbean Sea article.
Thanks to such practices by the editorial department and reporters, a magazine that was once mocked as Monthly Caribbean Sea by competitors now cleverly retaliated by publishing a special feature on Misunderstandings about Caribbean Sea Disappearances.
The article explained that there were two reasons why the Caribbean Sea was misunderstood as the most dangerous sea:
One was its accessibility.
Places like the infamous Plague of Sargasso were never approached by people in the first place. The sight of gigantic tentacles that seemed to reach the sky could be seen even hundreds of kilometers away.
This meant that people naturally avoided the area, thus preventing accidents.
The other reason was frequency.
The Caribbean Sea was the busiest sea in the world.
Due to the Sierra Madre mountain range crossing the continent, most trade between the eastern and central parts of the continent was conducted by sea, making the Caribbean Sea the center of it all.
With many ships coming and going, it was natural that many accidents occurred.
The person who wrote the article was a freelance journalist famous for his accurate information gathering and sharp insights into the backgrounds of various incidents. Thanks to his articles, magazine journalists were unable to write Caribbean Sea disappearance specials and accompanying restaurant exploration articles for some time.
Amidst the laughter and dismissal of this incident, some sharp individuals could smell a conspiracy behind the scenes.
The article the journalist had originally been preparing was about Collusion between Caribbean Sea Pirates and Top Officials, and the Emerging Cult Behind Them.
However, he suddenly changed course and wrote an article claiming that the Caribbean Sea was safer than people thought.
Something seemed off, and acquaintances who contacted him found out that his house had recently been destroyed in a gas explosion.
They were fearful.
The journalists closest friend was no exception.
However, his reasons were different from others.
The journalist had entrusted his friend with the material he had gathered to escape the threats of the cult.
But it had disappeared from his room on the day he had promised to sell it to the cult members.
Who could have stolen it?
Did his friend realize his intentions and secretly came to take it?
Or did the cultists invade his room because they didnt want to pay?
In a caf terrace a few kilometers away from where he was panicking, the Hound Mars was drinking beer with ice, using the acquired material as a coaster.
Mars was an expert in gathering information and tracking, like other Cinepecus trackers.
Cinepecus enjoyed rumors, fame, and gossip.
He gave his followers the right to enjoy walks in his garden, the Garden of Whispers.
It echoed with whispers collected from all over the world.
Mars usually collected information and traced its origins through there.
But sometimes, it was more efficient to infiltrate the scene directly to get information.
The amount of information available in the garden was too vast, and it was difficult to distinguish between whispers and chatter.
The former meant valuable information or facts, while the latter meant worthless information or lies.
Chatter is a waste of life.
Mars turned his mentors words into a maxim and considered silence a virtue.
He sipped his beer, each sip adding information under the warm sunlight. There was no way he would utter a single useless word.
Mars noted several things from the information the journalist had investigated:
An island suspected to be the cults headquarters.
Key members of the cult identified as senior officials.
And the channels they used to communicate with the outside world.
After reading through all the documents, Mars entered the Garden of Whispers.
He closed his eyes and sent his mind there.
He debated the information he obtained from the journalists materials.
Most of it was factual.
He was indeed a competent journalist.
Mars thought he should read the articles he had written when he had time.
His actions were more hurried than usual.
There was a reason for that.
The master of the Vergsong Merchant Union, whom he serves, had been exposed to a conspiracy of the pirates.
It hadnt been long since it happened.
Tracking down the betrayer of the company, Pierre Mopasan, was difficult.
Pierre was the brother of Gerald Vergsong, the former owner of the company.
He was also the co-founder and vice president of the company.
He knew Marss existence, his abilities, and how he worked.
He was more adept at avoiding pursuit than anyone.
He used aliases instead of his real name.
It was different names for each contact.
It worked very effectively against the sorcerers of Cinepecus.
Tracking his movements in the Garden of Whispers became many times more difficult.
But a few days ago, Mars happened to catch a snippet of conversation in the garden.
Welcome, Mr. Pierre.
Rouagel.
It was a brief conversation that took place on Pirate Island Freeport.
Rouagel.
That was the alias Pierre was using alongside the pirates.
Thanks to that, Mars could access some information he didnt know before.
One of them was the conspiracy against his master.
He used the journalists research to find a route and infiltrated the island where the pirates headquarters were located. Being a sorcerer, he could neutralize some of the devices prepared by the pirates.
The island was named Genoa.
After Pierre was accused of embezzlement, fraud, and attempted murder, the companys audit team focused intensively on his wrongdoing.
This island was also on that list.
However, this island was assigned a lower priority for investigation by the audit team.
It was because this island was in a hard-to-reach area of the sea, and at first glance, it looked like a remote area covered with mangroves and tropical rainforests.
The audit team judged that it was unlikely that the materials and funds he embezzled would flow into such a place.
But that was a mistake.
Amidst the dense jungle, the pirates had erected towering structures.
They were things Mars had never seen before.
Small trains raced along tracks that undulated up and down.
Circular steel structures, tens of meters in diameter, rotated with seats for people.
Swings hung on chains swayed back and forth.
You couldnt see these things from outside the island
There was no doubt that the power of magic was involved.
Mars mingled among the workers and made his way in.
There was a sign at the entrance that read Wonder Island.
In addition to those things, many buildings were being constructed here and there on Wonder Island.
Even so, the purpose of those buildings could not be determined no matter how much you looked at them.
Mars, who had been pretending to work, spotted ratmen prowling around the construction site, and gathering the site supervisors.
There are only a few roller coasters in the world that use centrifugal force! And the rotating wheels were designed by me! Zap Zap!
Unlike ordinary ratmen, he spoke very fluently.
Moreover, he was wearing a white gown and protective goggles with dark lenses over his eyes.
Most notably, his head was striking.
His skull was wide open, covered not with skin but with a transparent glass tube.
A massive, pink, convoluted brain was exposed.
Mars recognized him as one of the leaders of the cult from the files.
Then, as he turned around, the person behind him became visible.
He wasnt talking to the site supervisors.
He was shouting before a girl with rabbit ears.
She had the appearance and status worthy of being addressed by a cult leader with honorifics.
He could only think of one person.
The cult leader.
Then it happened.
The blaring sound of sirens shook the entire island.
As the workers panicked, a cult mage approached and reported to the cult leader.
Intruders! Traces found at the Florenland gate leading into the island!
The girl with rabbit ears screamed in anger, and the ratman beside her looked embarrassed.
The workers followed the mages instructions and returned to their lodgings.
Taking advantage of the lax surveillance, Mars quietly slipped away from the crowd.
He hid his body in a secluded spot and closed his eyes.
He wasnt worried about finding a way out.
He had a perfect escape plan.
But he couldnt just leave without gaining anything.
He attempted to access the Garden of Whisper as a test.
The attempt was successful.
Various sounds gathered around him, centered on the island.
Sounds that couldnt be heard from the outside were audible within the island.
He ignored everything else.
He focused solely on the conspiracy surrounding Vergsong.
Intruders are somewhere here!
Chase him!
Is there someone who can detect the use of magic?
Shortly after he accessed the garden, trackers began to converge nearby.
Mars organized the gathered information in his mind and employed a prepared method.
I will erase my name.
Cinepecus mages had to conceal their names for life.
If someone recognized their existence and called their name, they could hear where the sound came from, even if they were on the opposite side of the world.
Therefore, they only told their names to very few people and strictly advised against mentioning it carelessly.
They were destined to be socially isolated, eavesdropping on rumors and wandering through alleys.
Using too many aliases was also not allowed, as it could replace their real name.
So, it was easier for them to give up living by communicating with others and just live.
For them, the ritual of erasing their name meant the extinction of their existence.
It was throwing oneself into the Garden of Whispers without leaving anything behind.
A person who used to wander without a name vanished without a trace.
But Mars wasnt worried.
His master performed a ritual periodically, as agreed upon, calling his name.
When she calls his name, he could finally become Mars again.
Through that ritual, he could regain his identity amidst the flood of information and choose to return to this world.
The next ritual is in a few days. I can stop the conspiracy.
He found enough clues in the information he just acquired.
He activated the magic to erase his name.
Here!
Traces over here!
The mages pinpointed a bush and rushed to surround it.
But when they soaked the bush, there was no one there.
I cant believe they would allow an intrusion onto the main island. Its fortunate that weve been preparing countermeasures since the data was stolen.
Lele Rohe, also known as the High Priestess of the Voodoo, asked the mage next to her.
What do you think?
He was one of the Cinepecus mages under the control of Voodoo.
He confidently nodded his head.
We succeeded.
They spread this fake plan across the island from the moment they heard that someone suspected of being the Hound, Mars, had stolen data.
They held fake meetings, issued fake orders, and whispered fake rumors.
Voodoo was a union of magicians.
They collected more magic than anywhere else in the world and researched how to use it.
On the other hand, they also found many ways to neutralize the opponents abilities.
They prevented the spread of information outside by opening gateways to the Abyss throughout the island or spreading rumors in the Garden of Whispers.
Lele Rohe laughed, wondering what results the fake news would bring.
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