17. The Painter’s Painting

Siles listened to the voice in his mind with shock and uncertainty.

It was a real person’s voice, youthful and light, as if belonging to a young boy. The voice lacked distinct emotion, merely enunciating with instinct, making Siles feel its owner might be very young.

But what truly unsettled him was the content of the message.

Calling him the Secret Keeper and demanding a check? What did it mean? Why now?

The next moment, Siles’s gaze fixed on the strikingly handsome Knight Commander before him. Banyan waited patiently for his response, neither impatient nor agitated, as if—frozen.

…Yes, as if time itself had frozen.

A premonition slowly rose in Siles’s heart. He glanced out the window, noticing that the bustling street outside had fallen silent, with people’s movements and voices halted. The world was still.

It was waiting for his check.

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Fkzlp nzsple bkp lulp caklqzu, qsankdt bkxplzq vs nyzx esod.

G nblnj—ulp, y nblnj.

On Wednesday, at the book vendors’ market, after seeing Merchant Lamir’s name, he felt a vague sensation.

He could make a check for anyone present.

That afternoon, in Room 666 at the Historical Society, after taking the potion and entering brief ritual time, that sensation intensified. He even felt he could designate any Revelator there for a check.

But those were… impulses he could choose to act on or suppress.

It was a compulsion. He could make a check for others, but it wasn’t mandatory—for him or those under his gaze.

He could let their fates proceed as destined or intervene, using the die’s check to possibly alter or shift their destiny.

But now, he had no choice.

When Knight Commander Banyan questioned him, the world froze—a mandatory check, with neither Siles nor Banyan having any choice.

…What was the check’s purpose? Its outcome?

Siles narrowed his eyes, studying Banyan, then suddenly understood. The check determined whether Banyan would detect Siles’s lie. That was why a psychology check was needed.

A psychology check could reveal a target’s emotions, probe their mental state, and confirm if they spoke the truth.

Siles hadn’t seen the heretic Hamlin near Logan Market. It was a fabrication, though he knew Hamlin was likely in some corner of the Old City.

He had lied.

Whether Banyan would see through this lie wasn’t up to Banyan or Siles but depended on the check’s result—the die’s roll.

…In the game, stats decided fate; but in reality, Siles was quietly shocked that a tiny die could determine destiny. It was unbelievable.

From another angle, Siles held dual identities.

The first was Siles Noel, an ordinary novice Revelator, soon to be a Lamifa University professor of literary history. He seemed to have spotted the heretic and mustered the courage to report it to the church.

The second was Siles He Jiayin Noel, the transmigrated Secret Keeper from Earth. With an omniscient view, he knew the before and after of the heretic’s events and partial truths, observing the scenario’s direction and story with a god’s perspective.

The first identity triggered this check; the second determined its outcome.

…Siles thought with a wry smile, what did this mean? He was his own alias? The Secret Keeper was himself?

The turn of events was unexpected—he hadn’t anticipated that his trip’s outcome would hinge on a die roll!

But perhaps it was logical.

After all, Knight Commander Banyan was one of the character cards from his tabletop game. And he was the first game character Siles encountered in Feishier.

A realization dawned in Siles’s heart.

Perhaps, if he intervened in the heretic’s events and met those game characters, such checks would inevitably occur.

He—in a sense—would shape this event, even the world’s course.

He would be the world’s Secret Keeper.

He would know the hidden truths, guard all secrets. He would—steer fate.

Siles stared dazedly at the curious face before him, giving a bitter smile.

What a… colossal responsibility and burden.

As an outsider, Siles didn’t know how his intervention would change this world. He barely understood its essence.

Yet, he was thrust into this position.

Though now it was just a simple check, and Siles hoped Banyan would believe him, he glimpsed countless future events that might arise from this die’s roll.

He took a deep breath, flicked his wrist, and tossed the die into the air.

【Psychology: 70/96, Critical Failure.】

【Banyan unquestioningly trusts the man before him, partly due to Bishop Grovner’s words, and partly because he believes this calm, composed man couldn’t lie about this—though he indeed did.】

The moment the die landed in Siles’s hand, it vanished like water merging into the sea. But Siles knew the mysterious die had fused with him.

Before he could process this, he felt immense relief at the die’s roll.

Banyan’s psychology stat was 70! Such a high value befitted a Church Knight Commander. It seemed even higher than the character card Siles remembered—real-world characters were more vivid.

Yet, he rolled a critical failure (96-100), so Banyan believed Siles without suspicion.

Normally, as the Church Knight Commander, even if inclined to trust Siles, Banyan should have been cautious about the heretic matter.

But due to various reasons, he—unfortunately or fortunately—fully believed Siles.

After the die merged into Siles’s hand, the world resumed. Siles paused, then recounted spotting the heretic Hamlin near Logan Market.

Banyan nodded earnestly.

He asked for Siles’s contact details to follow up. If Siles’s lead proved accurate, he could receive a substantial civic reward.

Siles didn’t hesitate, giving 13 Milford Street as his address, then adding, “But I’ll soon move to Lamifa University’s staff dormitory. I’ll be teaching there after the semester starts.”

“You’re a professor?” Banyan said, surprised.

Siles nodded. “Silent Era literary history—my research field.”

Banyan hesitated, then said kindly, “Professor Noel, if you need anything for your research, come to the cathedral. We have many archives and texts.”

Siles smiled faintly, thanking his kindness.

Banyan bid farewell, changed into casual clothes, likely to investigate near Logan Market.

With a complex mood, Siles watched him leave, unsure if he wanted Banyan to find the heretic now. Perhaps he should, but finding Hamlin wasn’t the end.

Siles rubbed his brow, then left the Central Cathedral.

The ordeal hadn’t taken long but drained his energy. He wandered the neighborhood, ending up at Atherton Central Square.

There, he saw the lean young man with gold-rimmed glasses and a canvas again.

Still at the square’s edge, he held a pencil, focused on sketching.

Roughly counting, this was Siles’s third encounter with this likely Revelator painter.

Siles didn’t want to disturb him, but as he noticed him, his gaze flicked to the canvas. Then, he paused slightly.

The painting wasn’t, as he’d imagined, a sketch of the square’s crowd.