Myths Reawakened

“You’re too naive, girl. You don’t understand the world at all...”

Wayne bade farewell to Lily, watching the elegant blonde woman in a white dress disappear. He closed the door and shook his head.

Lily had crafted a detailed strategy for him about how to capture the young lady’s heart, how to change Auston’s attitude, and how to get into the inner circle of the Lando family. If there were no supernatural power in this world, the three-step plan would be highly feasible.

Unfortunately, Lily didn’t know the truth about the world.

He couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. It was understandable for ordinary people not to know the real world, but the higher-ups in Franc had to know. And even with the knowledge of how dangerous the world was, they sent ignorant agents on a mission, making them challenge supernatural forces as their ordinary selves.

He also felt relieved for her. If she had approached Auston and tried to become his lover, she was most likely going to end up in a cement barrel and dumped into the river. The Lando family was part of the magical world. It would be easy for Auston to investigate her. He didn’t even have to resort to torture; putting mushrooms into her mouth would make her confess everything.

Wayne considered his and Lily’s levels at the intelligence agency. It was obvious that they were nothing but cannon fodder.

He even suspected that the original Wayne had found out the truth of the world, which explained all his bizarre actions and slacker way of living his life, completely unlike an intelligence agent. As for where he learned the truth of the world...

His brows jumped up, remembering the followers of Death. It seemed that he was more deeply involved with the Goddess of Death than he thought.

“Forget it. Why think so much? It would be a waste not to train on such a beautiful night.”

He slumped down on the sofa and grasped the antique silver coin in his hand as he started training. The coin was lent to him by Planck and could be reclaimed at any time. This was a rare opportunity, and nothing was more important than seizing it to light up his hexagram. Compared to that, everything else could be put aside.

“Wait, one thing can’t be postponed...”

Wayne pursed his lips. He had been attacked twice on the cruise ship: the asylum director was supposed to intimidate him, and the female star was supposed to seduce him. Auston was the mastermind behind both.

If he hadn’t been well-connected and had friends all around the world, he wouldn’t be able to shrug off the attacks. Any other mage apprentice would’ve fallen for both and died without knowing what happened.

Besides, based on what Planck and Lily said, the two of them knew about the voyage in advance, having been waiting for him to walk into their trap like hunters. This meant that the White Glove Society’s invitation was also sent by Auston.

He wondered what other arrangements would await him on Dragon Heart Island.

“Mr. CEO, you’ve caught my attention!”

Revenge was best served cold. The optimal course of action was to be patient when weak, but the more he thought about it, the more furious he felt. He had backed down several times already. Perhaps it was time to strike back.

What a predicament. If he was going to rely solely on his own abilities, he had no choice but to endure. Unless...

He thought of Shadow Nightmare.

“Should I transform into the Death Knight and visit his place to unleash hell?”

He imagined stomping on Auston and grinding him into the ground. A hearty laugh escaped his lips. On second thought, though, Master and Veronica would be dragged into the mess as well, so he reluctantly gave up on the idea.

“I don’t want to get Master and Veronica involved, and he doesn’t, either. It seems that the guy is still decent in this regard.”

He cursed under his breath. He, a Death Knight, couldn’t deal with the troubling old pretty boy. What a humiliation.

Unbeknownst to him, the old pretty boy was equally frustrated. Auston had just called Veryl and heard the butler address him as Mr. Lando. In a fit of rage, he smashed the phone.

***

The next day, when the serving staff delivered the meal cart, Wallace invited himself in and grabbed Wayne’s hand, begging him to save the day. Help him out, and Wayne would be his big brother from today on!

While not Wallace’s exact words, that was the gist of what he said. The cruise was arriving at its destination in two days, so they had a tight schedule. If they didn’t shoot the third male lead’s scenes now, the budget would go over, and the production company would be unhappy, which would affect the investment he could secure for his next movie.

Wallace really wanted to replace the third male lead and even prepared to shave his beard to take the job on himself, but Lily disapproved. She insisted that Wayne had to play the role.

“I’m busy, Wallace. I warned you yesterday that I’d call security if you bother me again.”

“But Lily told me that she discussed the issue with you yesterday.” Wallace grabbed Wayne and babbled, “The sex scene can be deleted. Whether the kiss is faked is up to you. The script is modified to change the third male lead’s character. You’re no longer a pervert, but the female lead’s ex-boyfriend. You die tragically for love at the hands of the monster...”

In short, the third male lead had become a good character whose sacrifice would pull at the heartstrings, especially for girls with romantic fantasies.

Wayne nodded. As expected, this was part of the strategy Liliy had designed for him. On the day of the movie premiere, he’d invite Veronica to the cinema, and she’d cry her eyes out.

That would be fun!

He thought for a couple of seconds and agreed to play the role. Wallace promised that it wouldn’t take up too much of his time. The scenes on the cruise ship would be completed within half a day, and there were even fewer scenes on Dragon Heart Island. He only had to pose for a few shots; a stunt double would shoot the scene where he got trampled to death by the prop gorilla for him.

Wayne’s filming schedule was from ten in the morning to two in the afternoon, ending right before afternoon tea time. The third male lead didn’t have a lot of lines. Most of his scenes were with the female lead, and since the sex scene had been cut, and his character changed into a nice guy, he seemed like a simp.

He didn’t mind being a simp since he actually got the girl at the end of the movie. Unlike the second male lead, her cameraman boyfriend in the story, he actually had a kissing scene with the female lead.

Lily had asked if Wayne wanted to kiss for real for the scene, but Wayne firmly refused. If Lily were just an ordinary star, he wouldn’t mind shooting a sex scene with her, much less a kiss scene. After learning about her being a doomed cannon fodder, though, he couldn’t bring himself to take advantage of her.

She didn’t insist. They had a staged kiss on the cruise ship, and that was Wayne’s last shoot until they reached the island.

At three o’clock in the morning on August eighth, Wayne filled up his life essence and lit up the six points of his hexagram. His soul resonated with infinite satisfaction.

On August tenth, the Polaris arrived at Dragon Heart Island in the North Sea.

Looking down from above, the island was shaped like a heart. Disregarding the uninhabited small islands scattered around it, it covered an area of about six hundred square kilometers. One side of the island was all mountainous landscapes and dense forests, while the other was flat terrain with a natural harbor. It was decent enough to act as a supply line for the coastal area, but not enough to serve as a military base.

In comparison, the archipelago two hundred nautical miles away would make a better naval port.

Anyhow, the geographical location of the Dragon Heart Island ensured that it would have a thriving fishing industry. Capitalists took advantage of the natural fishing grounds and hardworking islanders to earn massive surplus value.

Over the past two years, capitalists had set their eyes on the island’s primitive jungles, planning to develop them for tourism, but they had to postpone the plan due to continuous economic depression.

Wayne stepped onto the deck and parted ways with the production team. With his invitation, he found the driver here to pick him up and headed to his destination: the Bart Estate.

The estate was located on the volcanic cliffs of Crescent Bay on Dragon Heart Island, belonging to the wealthy local family, the Barts. The deceased, Myron Bart, drowned a month ago. The police investigated and concluded that it was an accidental drowning with no possibility of murder, but Myron’s wife, Marina, disagreed. She contacted the White Glove Society and requested professional detectives to reinvestigate his husband’s death. She believed he had been murdered, and the killer was a member of the family.

It was a classic case of homicide involving property inheritance, seen in any era and any cultural background.

Wayne sat in the back. On his left was the coastline and the fishing boats, and on his right were the houses of varying heights. Suddenly, he spotted a church. He got curious and struck up a conversation with the driver.

The church looked similar to a Church of Heavenly Father, but there was a strange five-pointed star. It was not one of the traditional faiths he knew. Due to the Geocentrism Sect, he had come to detest those strange religions, always feeling that they were backed by evil gods and would organize a group sacrifice any day.

“That’s the Sea God Order. The islanders worship the Sea God, and before each voyage, they pray to the Sea God for protection from storms and for safe, bountiful returns...”

The driver described the standard faith on Dragon Heart Island, speaking quite respectfully of the Sea God. Although he wasn’t a believer himself, most of his relatives and friends worked for fishing companies, so he’d been influenced by them to believe the god a little.

It sounded like a simple, unpretentious faith that Wayne could approve of. He inquired about whether the Sea God Order distributed eggs or engaged in sacrificial practices. The driver thought for a moment. As far as he knew, the Sea God was a peaceful and selfless god who never demanded anything from their followers. The simple faith emphasized sincerity, which was enough for a wish to be granted. The devout followers only had to return to the church to pay tribute once they came back safely from the sea.

The tribute was simple, too. There was a pool in the center of the church, connected to the sea. Each seafarer would release a fish into the pool, symbolizing their rebirth after facing death.

Wayne didn’t notice any problems. It did sound like a simple, pure faith. Still, he noted down the name of the religious organization. His active imagination highlighted to him the fishing company that the deceased operated. This could be a case of malicious retaliation against Myron.

Forty minutes later, the car arrived at Bart Estate. The four-story main house was built on the edge of a cliff, facing the sea on one side with quite a spectacular view. Having seen his share of luxury mansions, the Bart Estate was only average to him. Compared to the Lando family’s grand estate, it was like a small ranch in the countryside.

Nothing special!

The car passed through tall iron gates with double doors. Wayne asked to be dropped off. He wanted to check the garden pool where the deceased had drowned. It had been a month, so the clues were certainly gone. Still, familiarizing himself with the scene was better than not doing anything.

The driver agreed and praised him for his professionalism, stopping the car at the scene of death and waiting quietly while smoking.

Bart Estate’s main house was quite ordinary, but the estate did have an expansive lawn and garden. The estate grounds were quite vast, and so the pool wasn’t so much a pool but a small artificial lake, bigger than he had expected.

He walked around the lake halfway. With his excellent vision, he confirmed that the deepest part of the artificial lake was less than three meters. Assuming the deceased could swim, the possibility of accidental drowning was indeed low. But it wasn’t impossible. According to the driver, the deceased had drunk a lot. In a drunken state, even a bowl of tomato soup could kill by suffocation, never mind an artificial lake.

A taller woman and a shorter girl approached him then. He looked closely and observed their clothing and appearance.

The girl on the left was around 1.6 meters tall and eighteen years old, wearing a neat black and white maid outfit that hung on her frame; she appeared to be less than a hundred pounds. The lady on the right had a cold demeanor and was nearly 1.8 meters tall, almost as tall as Wayne. Wearing a black dress, she had a pronounced straight nose, prominent cheekbones, and a square, sculpted jawline, her features angular. She also had an interesting gait. Unlike the elegance of noble ladies, her presence was bolder and sharper, each step deliberate like a professional model.

“Who are you?” The woman stopped and looked coldly at Wayne.

“I’m Wayne, a detective from Londan. Here at the invitation of Mrs. Marina Bart.”

“Greetings, Detective Wayne. I’m Marina Bart.”

“Pleased to make your acquaintance, Mrs. Bart.”

Wayne exchanged a few words with Marina. Perhaps because of her recent loss of her husband, her expression remained cold throughout. Seeing that Wayne wanted to discuss the case, she had her maid accompany him to continue his walk around the lake.

“Your mistress doesn’t seem very happy. She must really love her husband.” Wayne glanced at the shorter maid and realized that the girl was quite pretty. He offered her a hand cheerfully. “I’m Wayne. What’s your name?”

“Olga.”

Like mistress, like maid. Olga also had a cold expression, acting quiet and taciturn in response to Wayne’s friendliness.

“Alright, Olga. Without beating around the bush, can you tell me the exact location where Mr. Bart died?” Wayne asked, pointing at the lake.

“Master didn’t die in the lake. He didn’t drown, but shot himself in the study.”

He paused. “If it was suicide, why claim that he drowned after drinking?”

“Because his manner of death isn’t elegant.”

“And drowning while drunk is?”

“Yes.” Olga nodded seriously and gave a simple explanation. “It happened at night. There was red wine, a lake, the moon, and a nobleman who loved reciting poetry.”

(눈_눈)

Holy crap, how fricking romantic!

Wayne thought of a certain poet who was said to have died the same way. After getting drunk, he tried to fish for the moon and ended up drowning[1]. Thinking of it that way, it was as romantic as it went.

He shook his head speechlessly. Understandable. The deceased was a nobleman-turned-capitalist who had hailed from old money. They fabricated a dignified cause of death for the sake of their family’s reputation.

Still, it made a detective’s work harder!

“Olga, can you take me to the study?”

“This way.” Olga was cold. If Wayne didn’t say anything, she would remain silent. However, she was cooperative, answering every question in detail as long as it was relevant to the investigation.

“Besides the mistress, the young master also hired a detective. He arrived a week ago.”

“Oh? What’s his name?”

“Kael Poirot, a famous detective from Londan.”

...Poirot? That’s straight out of an Agatha Christie story!

1. A reference to the famous Chinese poet, Li Bai. ☜