Eldritch Horror Theatre

An unremarkable lantern, bearing quite a few signs of wear.

Without a word, Fu Qian examined the special prize in his hand.

A black metal frame, a glass belly, and the smell of kerosene.

It was so overwhelmingly ordinary that he couldn’t find a single special trait.

Which was exactly why leaving it tossed in a corner hadn’t felt out of place at all.

The Order’s entire posture was exactly the same.

Olinter clearly hadn’t been lying. There really were no hidden ambushes around, nor did it even feel like anyone was secretly watching.

Everything painted the picture of a scheme abandoned after days of fruitless waiting, leaving Olinter behind to keep a lonely watch.

Yet all these overlapping signs shared one very consistent goal—to improve the visitor experience, doing everything possible to keep him from immediately turning around and leaving.

Right up until his very presence ignited one of the lanterns.”Don’t be nervous, but do make sure you hold it steady.”

Olinter had clearly misinterpreted Fu Qian’s current movements.

”It seems you’ve already felt your connection to it. That’s right—it is a resonance governed by the Stars.”

”You now share radiance and life with this lantern. It will extinguish upon your death, and vice versa.”

His current posture perfectly demonstrated what it meant to shift from subservient to arrogant.

The instant the lantern flared to life, Olinter looked like a hunter who had been holding his breath, finally watching his prey step into the trap. Excitement seemed to radiate from every strand of his hair.

”But rest assured, I wasn’t lying earlier. Until I send a signal, the Saints have no idea what is happening here.”

”Even if chaos breaks out outside, they won’t just casually rush over.”

’Was he really taking it this far?’

Cupping the lantern in his hand, Fu Qian gave a slight nod as he looked at Olinter.

”Doesn’t that put you in a very dangerous position?”

”If it wasn’t dangerous, how could we have reached this very moment?”

The man admitted it without a shred of hesitation, making no attempt to hide his glee.

”You are arrogant, but you aren’t stupid. Over these past few days, I’ve replayed the events of that night in my head countless times.”

”In just a few words, you played a whole group of people like fools. Even though they were the victims, they turned right around and thanked you.”

”To trap someone like you, how could I succeed without the resolve to sacrifice everything? Not to mention, even though I firmly believed you would come, I had no idea what your goal was, which meant I couldn’t set up a targeted ambush. But now...”

Olinter pointed at the lantern on the table.

”You can certainly try to kill me. It’s very simple—just extinguish this lantern.”

His earlier intuition had been spot on. That invisible, throbbing pulse really did contain the resonance of life—it just belonged to this Quasi-Saint.

The power of love truly was magnificent. Merely the fallout of a shattered romance had pushed a young man with a boundless future to completely disregard his own life and death.

”Entering the game as a piece, winning against the heavens by half a piece—the Boon-Receiver of the Stars truly has a well-deserved reputation!”

Matching the man’s impassioned fervor, Fu Qian played along perfectly. He sighed in deep admiration and began solemnly analyzing the current situation.

”Let me think. There is still something strange about all of this. This trap was clearly meant for me, yet you were the one who fell into it first... Do you have to place an active example here to trigger the next one?”

”It’s not that you’re sitting in a cage, but rather that the very space around you is the cage?”

”This unnatural shadow... on the surface, it looks like a small lantern with limited effect, but in reality, this shadow is formed by the lantern itself, isn’t it?”

”Going by that logic, if I really had just peeked through the door and walked away, would you have grabbed both lanterns and chased right after me?”

...

As the saying went, silence was an admission of guilt.

Following Fu Qian’s breakdown, the death-defying Brother Olinter remained silently ’admitting’ for about five solid seconds.

”I am incredibly glad I managed to convince those idiots. If I hadn’t pushed this to the absolute limit, I never would have been able to make you stay.”

A moment later, he spoke slowly, managing to praise himself while acknowledging his opponent’s wit.

”To figure it out that quickly... I almost can’t believe you haven’t seen this trick before. But the problem is, if you had seen it before, you never would have fallen for it.”

”That’s right, your guesses were spot on. As a taboo-level commandment, triggering the Heart Flame is normally extremely harsh and takes a very long time.”

”But with a pre-existing fire-seed, it becomes much simpler.”

Pointing at his own lantern, Olinter spoke with the casual fearlessness of a man who had nothing left to lose.

”But whether you believe me or not, the fire-seed loses all meaning the moment it helps ignite the flame.”

”You are more than welcome to try killing me. Extinguish this lantern and see if it helps you break free. Though, of course, don’t expect me to go down without a fight.”

”Why would I? I believe Your Excellency’s warning comes straight from the heart. Not to mention, my visit today was meant to be entirely peaceful.”

Fu Qian merely waved his hand, signaling for the other man to relax, while his train of thought flowed on seamlessly.

”However, going by your logic, I’m guessing it wouldn’t matter to you at all if I just snatched this lantern and ran away?”

”Exactly. Given this setup, the chances of you killing me and running off with the lantern were already quite high to begin with.”

Olinter let out a bizarre chuckle.

”But the singular purpose of this trap was simply to hand you this gift. You will forever carry a special, inescapable weakness.”

”You can choose to hide it, carry it with you, or find loyal guards to watch over it... I’m actually looking forward to seeing what you choose. But no matter what, it will stay with you forever. And every single day, at one specific moment, the Hunters of The Order will be able to sniff out its scent.”

’Just as I thought. It feels like I’ve accidentally acquired a lich’s Phylactery.’

’The biggest problem is that this thing clearly only brings me harm with absolutely zero benefits.’

’If it breaks, it kills the main body. But if the main body dies, there is a very high chance this thing won’t be able to revive me.’

Fu Qian complained internally for a moment, then naturally pressed on with his questions.

”Does this specific moment happen to be sunrise?”

”...You even figured that out?”

Even though Olinter had already drastically raised his estimation of Fu Qian, he clearly still couldn’t hide his shock.

”How could you possibly know that!”

”The ignorant are so arrogant.”

Fu Qian scoffed coldly, skillfully deploying the parallel Three-Stage Questioning he had learned from Harriet.

”Did you really think your group was the only one to receive the grace of the Stars? Did you think the world as you see it is all there is?”

He pointed at his own eyes.

”Why do you think these eyes are this color?”

Of course, that final question was simply far too difficult. It was highly likely Olinter could spend his entire life pondering and still never find the answer.

”As Children of the Stars, you will never truly know how my people view your kind.”

Flashing a perfectly elegant yet mocking smile, Fu Qian slowly shook his head.

”But relax, I am not as extreme as they are. From where I stand, the Hunters of The Order are at least mildly interesting.”