Staring at the sheepfold with only haystacks and feces left, Ryan frowned and said, "The underground altar was repaired so quickly?"
He suspected that the three sheep were taken away for sacrifice.
"Those followers of the evil god may possess some special abilities." Valentine responded with a look of disgust.
Listening to their discussion, Lumian suddenly recalled the sound of a sheep bleating that he vaguely heard last night.
Could it be that the sound made when one of them was sacrificed? With such doubts, he told Ryan and Valentine about his guess.
"It's unlikely." Ryan shook his head. "The church is several hundred meters away from your home, and the altar is underground."
What he meant was that even if the "Hunter" enhanced his hearing, there was no way he could pick up the sound coming from under the church.
Lumian himself thought so too, but that couldn't explain why he heard the sheep's cry. Moreover, at the same time, he felt an obvious burning sensation in his chest and the black thorn symbol was half-activated.
This can't be faked!
Burning sensation... Lumian's heart moved, and he remembered something the mysterious lady had said:
Pray to Yourself… The Principle of Proximity…
Thinking back to the ritual of praying for the Dancer's power, the black thorn symbol on his chest also stood out, and he suddenly had a new guess:
He could hear the bleating of sheep during sacrifices, which stemmed from a mystical connection!
To put it simply, when the parish priest and others performed the ceremony and prayed to the hidden being, because of the principle of proximity, they also pointed to the pollution in Lumian's body and half-activated the black thorn symbol. That's why Lumian could faintly hear the cry of a sheep from such a long distance.
Since he did not respond and did not know how to respond, after all, the pollution was sealed by the owner of the blue-black pattern. The ritual of the parish priest and his companions finally "connected" with the hidden existence.
By the time the ceremony was over, the burning sensation in Lumian's chest naturally subsided.
It seems that there was no invisible, strange force that invaded Aurore's room last night. It was simply that the abnormality in me was half-triggered by the ritual of the parish priest... Lumian probably figured out the cause and effect.
At this time, Ryan reminded his companions:
“It seems that our exploration of the church’s underground has caused the parish priest and his men to have a strong sense of crisis. They have tried to repair the altar and prayed for strength in advance.
"We have to be extra careful from now on and not think that the situation will become dangerous only when Lent approaches."
"If we weren't worried about the restart, we would have dealt with them long ago!" Valentine said hatefully.
Then, he added sullenly:
"Can you please stop calling that evil god's servant the parish priest? He is not worthy!"
Why did he become a parish priest when he was not worthy of it? Lumian did not dare to speak out what was in his mind.
He was not afraid this time, but mainly wanted to maintain his image in Valentine's eyes. After all, he might have to persuade this fanatical believer to do something, such as using suicide to verify the nature of the cycle.
Ryan nodded: "Let's hurry up and visit Mrs. Pualis to replenish food and water, and try not to go out if possible."
Lumian said nothing more, turned around and left the back door of shepherd Pierre Berry's house, and walked towards the hill where the castle was.
Passing through the colorful garden, they came to the gate that was only half open, and said to the male servant in a red coat and white trousers, "We have something to see Mrs. Pualis."
"Wait a moment." The butler glanced at Ryan and Valentine, turned around hurriedly, and disappeared at the door.
Not long after, the "midwife" in a gray and white dress came out.
Compared to last time, her face looked even more pale, and her eyes were so dull that it was chilling.
If Lumian hadn't told Ryan and Valentine in advance that the "midwife" was not "dead", they would definitely be shocked now.
They had seen many cases of the dead turning into zombies. The "Sun Priest" was specialized in dealing with such matters. There were at least dozens of similar creatures purified by Valentine. However, the fact that humans who had been chopped into pieces could still restore their original appearance and were closer to living people than corpses was something they could not understand now.
The "midwife" opened her mouth and said in a completely flat tone: "Madam doesn't want to see you. Please go back."
"We have something very important to discuss." Lumian did not shy away from asking directly, "Isn't Madam Pualis worried that the person underground will ruin her subsequent arrangements?"
The "midwife" maintained her previous tone: "Madam said that it would not affect her."
Hearing this, Lumian felt a chill all over his body.
This means that it will be difficult for them to get help from the powerful Lady Pualis in the future.
Lumian smiled, without any sign of frustration or dejection. He looked at the "midwife" and said, "But we might explore the tomb."
What he meant was that during the exploration process, no matter which side had problems, the cycle could be restarted in advance. The "midwife"'s expression did not change, still as stiff and dull:
"You can try, but the result will only disappoint you."
What does that mean? Lumian couldn't understand what Mrs. Pualis wanted to say.
Did she mean that we could explore and she would provide some help at the critical moment, but we should not find any valuable clues? The more Lumian thought about it, the more he felt that Mrs. Pualis should not mean what he speculated, otherwise she would not directly reject the request for a meeting through the "midwife".
Without waiting for Lumian to think of other possibilities, Ryan asked carefully:
"Mrs. Pualis wants to tell us who or which people in the tomb can easily control us and successfully prevent us from investigating without triggering the cycle?"
"Yes." The "midwife" nodded slowly, turned around and walked into the depths of the castle.
Lumian, Valentine and Ryan looked at each other and left with some helplessness.
Their next destination is the Old Tavern, where they can buy a lot of ingredients and barrels of cheap wine.
Compared to water which is easy to spoil, wine is easier to store and as long as the alcohol content is not high, it can be used to replenish water later.
After entering the old tavern, Lumian immediately looked around but did not see the mysterious lady.
He looked away with a slight sense of disappointment, walked all the way to the bar, and told the owner, Maurice Bennet, what he wanted to buy.
While Ryan and Valentine were carrying the barrels out, Lumian asked in a low voice:
"Where's the other lady?"
Maurice, Bene shook his head:
"I don't know. Maybe she's in her room, maybe she's somewhere else in the village, maybe she's gone to Liège. Anyway, she's paid the rent until the 9th, and she can do whatever she wants."
Number 9? Twelfth Night? Lumian nodded thoughtfully.
April 9th was the so-called "Twelfth Night" calculated by him and Aurore.
This also means that March 29th is indeed the first day of the cycle.
And if Ryan and the other three outsiders did not happen to enter Cordu Village on the first day of a cycle, it means that as long as outsiders break into this area, the cycle will immediately restart and start on March 29th.
"Oops." Lumian slapped his head and said to the tavern owner Morris Bene, "My stomach is not feeling well. I'm going to the bathroom of the Lower Alliance. Tell them to wait for me."
Morris Bene had a look on his face that said, "What bad things are you planning to do again?" He said, "Don't mess with me!"
The downside of having a bad reputation reappeared... Lumian laughed and said, "Don't worry, I really just borrowed the bathroom from the alliance!"
As he spoke, he waved his hand and ran to the staircase entrance.
He did want to borrow the bathroom, but the one upstairs.
Maurice Bene glanced at his back and muttered, "Spring is here and this bastard is in heat..."
His voice was just loud enough for Lumian to hear.
After going up to the second floor, Lumian came to the opposite side of the alliance washroom and stood in front of the mysterious lady's room.
Knock, knock, knock. He knocked on the door.
No one responded.
Seeing that there was no Do Not Disturb sign on the door handle, Lumian knocked twice more, each time louder than the last.
Unfortunately, the mysterious lady never showed up.
Lumian thought about it, took out a piece of thin wire, and pried at the keyhole a few times.
The door creaked open, and the room was empty, with no one inside.
The quilt on the bed was neatly folded, as if no one had lived there for some time.
Lumian exhaled silently and closed the door without trying to enter.
In the afternoon, the siblings gathered in Aurore's bedroom under the pretext of teaching Lumian the Hermes language and urgently improving his strength.
Lumian lowered his voice and told his sister the key points of his exploration experience in the Dream Ruins last night. At the end, he asked, "Do you have anything to add? About hunting fire monsters."
Even though he was well prepared and had the abilities of "Fallen Mercury" and "Invisibility", he still didn't have much confidence in hunting down the fire monster.
That is a sequence of qualitative changes in the “Hunter” path!
Aurore laughed. "You've thought of everything. The only thing I can add is..."
She raised her hands, clenched them into fists, and shook them gently:
"come on!"
“…” Lumian was defeated by his sister’s willingness to joke at this time.
But his inner tension was also eased a lot.
Aurore then continued: "The rest is just some unoriginal words:
"Be careful, be careful, be careful."
She then sighed:
"It's a pity that the mysterious lady is not here, otherwise I can make some simple, auxiliary spells. Together with the 'Integrity Brooch', I will let you take it into your dream."
“Yeah.” Although Lumian was disappointed, he was not depressed, and he had no intention of giving up the action.
At about nine fifty in the evening, Lumian left Aurore's bedroom and headed for the bathroom.
He planned to empty his stomach before going on duty.
Under the crimson moonlight, the bathroom was dark, with only the area where the toilet was clear.
Lumian moved closer and unbuckled his belt.
The shadow on the wall behind him suddenly squirmed and transformed into a figure holding an axe high!