Lumian observed attentively, and went through the entire process of his "getting acquainted" with Leah and the others, until both parties arrived outside the church of the "Eternal Sun".
He initially confirmed that the three outsiders really did not "recognize" him and were completely unprepared for the corresponding "prank".
Has time really gone back... Lumian was a little dazed for a moment.
"We've been here, and there was no one." Valentine looked at the magnificent building half-dissolved into the night in front of him and said the line "reserved".
Lumian calmed himself down and stopped following the procedure.
He said directly:
"That's because the curé doesn't want to pay any attention to you."
He intended to leave the impression of "joking but not bad" in the eyes of these three outsiders who were suspected to be official Beyonders.
"You mean, the priest is inside the church, but he doesn't respond to the knock on the door because of something?" Leah thought of several possibilities.
Lumian smiled:
"It's not appropriate to have an affair in a church and be seen by others."
After saying this, he instinctively muttered in his heart: What a pity, I won’t be able to hear the classic line “You have disrupted the actions of the Holy Church” this time.
Of course, after getting to know Mrs. Pualis better, he felt that in a sense, what the parish priest said was not completely unreasonable.
Is it not allowed that the parish priest could be like the protagonist of Aurore's undercover novels, who, in order to complete an important mission, was willing to endure temporary humiliation and sell his body in order to infiltrate the evil forces represented by Madame Puaris
"Having an affair in the church?" Valentine changed his indifferent attitude and asked urgently.
Lumian spread his hands:
“What’s the problem? This is a daily routine for the parish priest.
"You don't have to get so excited. Isn't there a saying that goes 'It's the same from ancient times to the present, men always cheat on their wives'?"
"But this is in church!" Valentine snapped.
Lumian thought about it and asked curiously:
"So, as long as clergy don't have affairs in the church, it's acceptable?"
"This is blasphemy against God!" Valentine looked like he was about to explode.
Ryan patted his shoulder and motioned for him to calm down.
At the same time, the calmest stranger asked Lumian:
"Do you know who the curé is having an affair with tonight?"
Lumian shook his head.
"There are too many possibilities. His mistresses, just the ones I know, include Madame Puaris, Madame Bene, Philippa Guillaume, Sybil Berry..."
"Madaina Bene, has the same last name as the parish priest?" Leah grasped this point keenly.
Lumian nodded:
"She and the curé are cousins, two generations removed."
"…" Valentine was stunned for a few seconds, then gritted his teeth and said, "Is Guillaume Bennet a servant of God or a servant of the devil?"
Is this the only line you know? I didn't see you blow his head off... Lumian deliberately defended the parish priest:
"It's nothing, there's a saying in the Darriege area, 'Cousins from afar can sleep together.'"
"Why do you speak so many clichés?" Leah couldn't help laughing, and the silver bells above her head jingled.
Lumian spread his hands again:
“That’s how it is in the country.”
At this time, Ryan asked thoughtfully:
“How do you know we’re not from the Darriege area
"Otherwise, you wouldn't say 'There's a saying in the Darriege region.'"
You told me this yourself... Lumian spoke too quickly and took what happened "before" as information he already knew.
He had to make up an excuse:
"You don't look like a native of Dareb."
He then pointed to the road leading to the village:
"I have found the parish priest for you. Now I have to go home."
"I thought you would follow us in." Leah glanced at him and said with a smile.
"I dare not offend the parish priest." Lumian said casually, "The villager who informed on me last time has been missing for a long time."
Without waiting for Ryan and the others to respond, he waved his hand and ran to the other side of the square, saying as he ran:
"Remember to keep my secret, my cabbages!"
… …
The red moon was obscured by clouds, and Lumian walked along a country road sprinkled with starlight.
He put his hands in his pockets and thought about what had happened recently.
When they were almost home, Lumian stopped and looked up at the roof of the semi-underground two-story building.
Sure enough, Aurora, wearing a blue light dress, was sitting there, hugging her knees, quietly looking at the starry sky.
In the night, her figure was lonely and distant.
It really repeats... Is it possible that what happened before was real and now I am dreaming? Lumian just had a new guess when he suddenly discovered the difference between the two March 29th:
He didn't see the lady who gave him the Wands and taught him mystical knowledge in the old tavern today.
This made him a little confused about whether he was dreaming or not.
I'll go and confirm it tomorrow... Lumian gathered his thoughts, walked to the house, and pushed the door open.
Just like "last time", he used the ladder on the second floor to climb up to the roof, walked briskly to Auror's side, and sat down.
"What's so good about this?" Lumian said deliberately.
Aurore turned her head and sighed. Just as she was about to speak, Lumian added:
"I mean, what does looking at the stars mean to you?"
Aurore looked him up and down.
"So direct today?"
She then looked up at the starry sky again and said in a quiet voice:
“You know, I’m not from Cordu or Darriege.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of a saying, that the place you can’t go back to is your hometown…”
Lumian wasn't kidding and looked up at the starry sky.
After Aurore flew into her bedroom and wrote a letter to her pen pal, Lumian did not reveal that he had become a Beyonder. He returned to the second floor along the same route and talked with his sister about the pen pal.
Then he closed the door for Aurore and went back to his bedroom.
Looking at the bed covered with a white four-piece set, Lumian suddenly had an idea and walked over and lifted the pillow.
There is a card lying quietly under the pillow, representing the Tarot Minor Arcana card of "Seven of Wands"!
Looking at the man with a resolute face, wearing green clothes and holding a scepter to resist the enemy's attacks, Lumian immediately thought of the lady's interpretation of this card:
"Crisis, challenge, confrontation, courage..."
The more Lumian thought about it, the more he felt that these four words truly revealed his current situation.
Before drawing the cards, he was most likely already in crisis and facing challenges!
What I need to do next is to muster up the courage to confront the problem? Wait, isn't time already going backwards? I haven't even met that lady yet, and I haven't drawn a card yet, so why is it here? Lumian was startled, and he was no longer sure about his previous guess.
All kinds of thoughts and inferences quickly popped up in his mind, like bubbles gurgling in boiling water.
This made Lumian's head ache and he felt like he was going crazy.
In the end, he temporarily made the lady and the items she gave him an "exception" to prevent his thoughts from exploding.
Considering the mystery and uniqueness displayed by that lady, it is relatively normal that she is not affected when time goes back!
If I can find her tomorrow and she still recognizes me, then my deduction is correct... Lumian exhaled, feeling mentally exhausted.
He went to the bathroom, washed up briefly, and went to bed early.
… …
Lumian woke up in the familiar, light gray mist, turned over and sat up, and saw the wooden table and the tilted chair in front of the window.
He came to this special dream again.
After discovering that the Wands card was still there, he knew he could definitely still enter.
Lumian subconsciously touched the inside pocket of his clothes, and his expression suddenly froze.
The gold coins are gone!
All those gold coins are gone!
Lumian quickly jumped off the bed, searched all over his body, and looked for the place where he had just lain, but still couldn't find the money he had collected with great effort.
1 Cope's copper coins are not even there!
"Is time going backwards here too?" Lumian suddenly had this guess.
He looked around and didn't see the shotgun, axe and steel fork that should have been there.
Lumian calmed himself down, left the bedroom, walked through the corridor and came to the first floor.
The nearly two-meter-long steel fork and the iron-black hand axe were intact and placed in their original positions, just as they were when Lumian first explored the dream ruins.
Likewise, the barrel of corn oil had not yet been placed next to the stove.
As for the shotgun, Lumian searched everywhere but couldn't find it.
He was increasingly inclined to think that time was flowing backwards here.
“Let’s go to the ruins and see if those two monsters are still there…” Lumian muttered to himself silently, picked up his axe, opened the door and walked out.
Before long, he crossed the cracked, overgrown wilderness and reached the edge of the ruins.
Unlike the first time he explored this place, as a "hunter", he found many traces of living creatures with just a casual glance.
When he concentrated, he could distinguish two creatures that frequently appeared here. The shallow footprints of one of them went around to the back of the half-collapsed house due to the fire.
If I had such extraordinary abilities before, how could I have almost been ambushed during my first exploration? Lumian entered the building with an axe in hand.
He ran straight to his "destination" and arrived in front of the broken clay jar.
A hint of gold shone through it.
Lumian rolled down his back and picked up the gold Louis.
It was the same color as when Lumian first picked it up.
Indeed, time has gone back, and with very few exceptions, everything has returned to its "original" state... Lumian sighed.
Suddenly, he took two quick steps forward, twisted his waist, and half turned his body to the right.
Along with this forceful movement, the axe in his hand chopped out.
As the skinless, bloody monster pounced from the roof, it lost sight of its target and was greeted by an axe.
puff!
Its head flew off, and its headless body fell heavily to the ground amidst the spilling blood and pus.
PS: I revised two places. When I wrote the last cycle, I was thinking of a vague date, so I just wrote the beginning of April in general. Now that I have determined the specific date, I think March 29th is more aesthetically pleasing. No, there is a slight error anyway, so I added the beginning of April to the end of March. Actually, if I really want to make it up, I can find a reasonable reason to pull it back, but there is no need to do so.