Chapter 1816: Summer in Fools' Village (28)_1

Besides Constantine opting to set up a branch of the Forgotten Bookstore in Gotham, Master of the Dark Night, Jim, had also reopened the Forgotten Bar in Gotham's inside world as the base for his team in the magic academy.

The Master of the Dark Night's team isn't fully-formed yet, but there are already a few regular members like Dead Man Brand, Baboon Detective Bobo, Black Orchid Susan, Lady Shangdu, Vampire Bennett and so on. Jim is still actively recruiting others like the Swamp Creature, Dr. Mist etc, and has even engaged Wonder Woman.

Jim was cleaning glasses at the bar counter, Baboon Detective sitting in the back with a pipe. His legs were crossed, hands resting in between. He was swinging his hairy legs, asking in a low tone akin to a primate's roar: "Are you still fussing over recruiting?"

"How could I not be worried?" Jim kept cleaning his gleaming glass, saying: "Perhaps you think we should be happy about having the magical defense network for Earth easily established. I've dealt with these mages on for years. You don't think they would genuinely be happy about this, do you?"

"I've always taken a pessimistic view of the human race," the Baboon sighed. That act was somewhat comical. Not that there was any comedy in the serious expression of a detective baboon with a hat, monocle, and smoking a pipe, but that sigh was quite stressful to hear.

We've always argued over this topic. Jim too let out a soft sigh while slightly lowering his head, his finger tracing the bottom of the glass, saying: "I thought you were too pessimistic. Having endured and evolved up until now, humans have their strengths, but now I too must admit that luck plays a big part."

"Let's have a drink, old friend." Dead Man Brand laid an arm on the bar, saying: "Alcohol will smooth out your furrowed brow, pouring out your heart to friends even more so. We all know the pressure you've been under recently, not going to talk to us about it?"

"I just... I just don't want to – with all this pessimism – dishearten the team we've just established." Jim took a deep breath and said, "Ever since the Vampire invasion, there hasn't been any good news. But the news recently got worse."

Bennett, standing by the door, turned his head and stepped over the threshold, saying: "Even Constantine has stepped back into the sunshine. What nightmares can we not get rid of?"

Jim stood still for a while before answering: "That Green Lantern called Hal thinks I'm a decent man, eligible to be the caretaker of the Magical Defense Network. So, he gave me the power to calibrate the Green Lantern Energy Protective Shield. Initially, I found many gaps in its structure."

The Baboon Detective's brow furrowed and asked: "Is it because we made mistake in the setup or is it a technical limitation?"

Jim shook his head and said, "No, someone sabotaged the structure. They must have thought that I would leave all the grunt work for the supreme mages and the Green Lanterns. They probably didn't anticipate that I would inspect it. The loopholes are obvious and not hidden at all."

"For who?" Bennett asked, sensing something.

Acknowledging Bennett's intuition, Jim clarified, "Demons or Angels, or similar powerful beings, definitely not human. But we all know that only human mages participated in the establishment of the Magical Defense Network."

A sigh escaped the Baboon Detective. "That's why I believe Stephen Strange's story about uniting all human mages to keep those monsters out was nothing but a fairy tale," he remarked, "if just one person falters, it will be our downfall."

Unable to control his expression of grief any longer, Jim slammed his glass on the counter exclaiming, "I won't be upset about young people with wobbly determinations, but those who had the capacity to sabotage the Magical Defense Network must be Grand Mages. They've lived longer than everyone, they should be more resolute than anyone."

"We fought off the vampire invasion together, saved London, and humanity, we were even fortunate enough to negotiate with the Devils on equal terms. But in less than a year, they've forgotten it all!"

"Humans are always forgetful." Bennett lowered his gaze, "Not much time had passed between Jesus' salvation and Judas accepting the silver coins."

"So, that's why you're in a rush to gather recruits." Black Orchid, leaning against the rear door with her arms folded, casually said, "Do you want to kill them?"

"I don't know." Jim held the glass in a tight grip and shook his head, "I don't know if the Magic realm can bear another massacre, or if I can do it, they used to be our comrades."

"Not anymore." Dead Man Brand sighed. The atmosphere sobered.

"Click!"

A crisp sound came from outside the door. Jim looked towards it. Through the window, he could see the signpost of the mailbox outside was up. He collected his thoughts, and asked with a puzzled expression: "Got mail? Who filled our address as the place of billing?"

"Stop joking, Jim." Lady Shangdu came downstairs from the second floor. "The postman who delivers bills can't come here. It might be from one of our old friends."

Bennett, who was closest to the door, went out and lowered the flag of the mailbox. He opened the door of the mailbox and found a beautifully wrapped letter.

Bennett could not recognize the pattern on the wax seal so he promptly handed the letter to Jim. He traced the embossed pattern on the seal and said: "It's a letter from the Rodriguez Manor. Why didn't Shiller call me directly?"

Jim took a letter opener from under the countertop. He gently cut open the wax seal and pulled out the letter. Astonished at the contents, he exclaimed with a start: "Oh, it's an invitation."

The mood of Jim finally livened up a bit, as he opened the invitation and said, "Shiller hasn't hosted a banquet for several years. I attended one when he was living in Maryland State, and the delicious food left a deep impression on me."

Instinctively, Jim licked his lips recalling the taste of the food. He laughed and opened the letter which was beautifully written in calligraphy:

"Through me, you enter into the city of pain; through me, you enter into the eternal pit of sorrow; through me, you enter into the crowd of endless despair. Recording the ten millionth grand victory of the human race, please honor us with your presence on Tuesday afternoon…"

Jim felt a bit puzzled. The gorilla detective leaned over and read the sentences on the letter then said, "An anticipation-worthy rendition of divine comedy."

"You read Dante?"

"Your current expression can be considered as discriminatory. Do you think that gorillas can't read? When I was in the circus, I snuck into several Tuesday afternoon book clubs of the rich. They didn't like Dante, but I thought there was a necessity to form a club for it."

"So, which sentence do you like the most?"

"This beast... it feels hungrier after a full meal than before." The gorilla detective pointed out a finger and stated: "This reveals a great truth about humans, just like what you are troubled with now."

"When you are in hardship and close to death, you unite with the greatest will to survive, even devils would be devoured by you. But when the crisis passes and everything gets better, a voracious desire swells from your stomachs and hearts. Not to devour enemies, but to prey on each other. Not because you are hungry, but because you want to lord over everyone else."

All eyes in the room were on this gorilla. But the gorilla detective didn't feel shy or retreat, he just profoundly said: "When you consider me as a monster, I merely find it laughable. Because from a bystander's point of view, the way you open up your grotesque mouths to rip off a piece of flesh from each other, I already knew who the real monsters are."

Jim was unable to refute, but it stirred up his emotions. His fingertips turned white as he held the invitation and said, "Long ago, Shiller never participated in any social activities of the magic realm. People thought he was an oddball, living outside the mainstream society."

"He once mentioned to me about having witnessed the collapse of a much grander kingdom in his dreams, hence he didn't worry about the direction the magic realm would go. That seemed too insignificant to him to mention."

"Indeed." Lady Shangdu spoke, "If you had experienced the collapse of dynasties, you would understand that humans keep repeating their mistakes because they are such fools."

"Heh, it seems just right that we moved to Gotham ('Village of fools' in English)," Dead Man laughed darkly.

"Alright, now we decide who will attend the banquet and who will stay home to look after things. We have plenty of stuff to busy with here."

"He only invited you, so…"

"No offense, but he did not write down my name, yet he sent the letter here, meaning he has invited all of us." Jim waving the invitation in his hand stated, "I'm not sure if there will be a dance, so it's best to bring a female companion."

"I'll go with you." Lady Shangdu walked from the stairs to the front of the bar, bent over and used her forearm to prop herself up on the table, with one hand on cheek, she said, "I kind of miss that blue-eyed lad. His previous ruckus scared me a bit, but it just proves he's young, strong, and full of energy. He would make a good ride."

"I'll go as well," Bennett spoke, "I guess Constantine will be there, I haven't asked him yet why he was looking for me last time."

Black Orchid yawned and said, "I'm not much interested in dances, but I haven't had a good meal in a long time due to this damn heat."

"Anyone else going? If not, then it's settled." Jim finally returned his glass to the shelf, stretched his wrist and said, "I remember bringing my costume from Maya's Carnival here, I should go shave and suit up."

Jim hurried upstairs. Bennett was a little confused, and Jim turned back to explain to him, "Trust me, it's important to look formal. Shiller's banquets are usually worth all the careful preparation."

Lady Shangdu flicked her hair, stroked her wrist and said, "Let me see where I kept the pearl bracelet Vivian gave me last time…"

In the kitchen of Rodriguez Manor, Pamela opened the door of the walk-in refrigerator and stared wide-eyed at the piles of meat stored inside. She exclaimed in shock, "Did you hunt down all the deer in New Jersey State?!"

"Those are the ingredients stocked up for the banquet," Shiller, picking out vegetables from the rack nearby, told her, "And it's only half of it. The other half of the main course ingredients is still in the basement."

Pamela's body visibly stiffened. Her heart rate shot up at an alarming pace. In a trembling voice, she asked, "Then may I... have the honor of witnessing the processing of the other half of the ingredients?"

"Of course, miss. My pleasure."