"Fury’s" detective ability immediately began to focus on chemical processing.
Then... Ronald was quite helpless.
There were too many people, and the situation was not good!
The spot where the two of them were now above just happened to be an internal theater in the Oak Theater. The performance on stage seemed to have reached its climax, causing intense emotional fluctuations among the audience and the actors.
Trying to single out the enemy who stole the Saint’s relic from this crowd was as difficult as trying to find a stormy petrel flying through the sky on a stormy sea night.
And according to what Martha had said before.
What she had actually guaranteed was that the Sword of Saint Catherine was above their heads, not that the enemy was definitely up there. Considering the detour the enemy took through the sewer, it wasn’t unreasonable to consider this situation a trap set by the opponent.
Feeling the change in Ronald in front of her, Martha immediately whispered:
Ronald stared at the manhole cover above, then explained to the nun behind him:
"It’s complicated up there, we can’t trace the enemy in a short time."
Martha frowned tightly, then quickly voiced her thoughts:
"Mr. Ronald, can we find the relic of the Saint and then leave immediately? The investigators in the Riverside District should all recognize you, so it should go smoothly, right?"
Find the Saint’s relic and leave immediately.
Martha’s suggestion had no real issues; after all, this was their purpose for coming here.
However, in practice.
Things were not going to be as easy as the nun thought, with the enemy’s calculations and the interference of ordinary people in the theater, making their actions extremely difficult.
"I’ll go up first and take a look, you wait here."
Having decided to help, and with the trial of the "Heavenly Chapter" still upon him, Ronald had no intention of quitting halfway.
After making sure he knew what the Saint’s relic looked like and instructing Martha, who lacked combat ability, to wait quietly here, Ronald climbed alone toward the manhole cover overhead.
"Fury’s" power was monitoring the stream of people right above.
Seizing a moment when no one was paying attention to the sewer, Ronald lifted the heavy cover with one move and leapt out.
He then agilely replaced the cover and looked around.
With these swift and decisive moves, no one noticed Ronald emerging at the edge of an internal pathway in the Oak Theater.
He gently dusted off his clothes, then his gaze immediately moved to an adjacent theater where a performance was going on.
A common theater showed no signs of being out of the ordinary.
It seemed no different from other areas inside the Oak Theater.
Moreover, what pleased Ronald was that this place was far from where Eloise was in "Room 37," so he probably wouldn’t encounter any overly dramatic developments today.
Next was to retrieve the Saint’s relic in this theater.
And then figure out a way to slip away, and all would be well!
That’s what Ronald thought.
But reality didn’t seem to want him to have too easy a time today.
After slipping past the ticket-checking staff at the entrance and into the theater, he had only reached the middle of the audience area when his casual stride suddenly halted.
He had thought the enemy would be hiding among the densely packed audience.
He would then utilize his excellent observational skills to find and retrieve the Sword of Saint Catherine.
But all that came to an end right there.
Because at that moment, Ronald’s attention was drawn to the program on stage.
A man dressed in a handsome knight’s costume stepped onto the stage, then brandishing the sword in his hand, he struck down the actor playing the villain.
"Koluse, you damned tyrant who oppresses the people."
"Today is the day you pay for everything!"
Immediately after, the fallen actor began exchanging lines with the protagonist dressed as a knight.
Indeed, both of their performances were splendid.
However, Ronald’s attention was not on the play these two were performing.
— The reason was simple.
— The sword in the hands of the male lead.
The sword, dark and inscrutable as the night sky, was connected to its hilt by an elegant guard made of several black roses. Extraneous parts even extended backward, protecting some of the fingers, giving the sword an exceptionally beautiful appearance.
Ronald recognized it.
Wasn’t this the very image of the sword of Saint Catherine, as described by Martha!
To find a relic of the Saint in the hands of this actor—could it be the enemy...
He had encountered serious trouble!
Ronald’s mind raced as he immediately realized the trap he had stepped into.
The enemy’s method was not an ordinary mystic spell, but rather they used the power of the Saint’s relic to create an absolute killing advantage!
The abilities of Saint Catherine’s Sword had been mentioned before.
After defeating the enemy, it would automatically cast a psychological suggestion over the surrounding crowd.
In the densely populated setting of a theater performance , if ordinary people were to be controlled by the powers of the Saint’s relic and then start attacking...
How should a normal Caster of mystic arts respond?
Casting a spell to display overwhelming power would be obstructed by the problem of "world alienation" looming overhead.
But without using spells...
Without the enhancement of a Caster’s mystic abilities, could an ordinary one stand against hundreds of regular people? Even if one’s spells granted formidable physical strength, it would probably be inconvenient to display it too much.
Suddenly, a barely perceptible breeze blew through the theater.
Mixed within it was an even more elusive magic power.
When this magical breeze reached Ronald, the [Angel’s Protection] Spell that was constantly in effect immediately activated, and a soft white light began to surface.
This phenomenon couldn’t be seen by the ordinary people in the theater.
Ronald frowned, and before anyone could notice the disturbance on him, he actively dispelled the spell.
Fortunately, the magical fluctuations from Saint Catherine’s Sword quickly dissipated within the theater.
It seemed there was no need for Ronald to consistently be vigilant against the opponent’s interference.
What followed next...
Was largely as Ronald had anticipated.
The male actor, who a second before stood performing on stage, suddenly stopped his performance and then raised the treasured sword pointing towards Ronald’s location.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this man has disrupted our sacred performance! Will you forgive him?"
"How could we let this guy off!"
With a few voices taking the lead from the audience, one after another turned to look at Ronald. The shouts became progressively more aggressive.
It took only three or four breaths of time.
The audience’s eyes, previously immersed in the performance, now turned murderous and frenzied, the shouting and cries to fight blending into a continuous chorus.
Faced with the situation before him, Ronald sighed helplessly.
Clearly, he had encountered trouble.