Inside the semi-underground two-story building, Lumian and Aurore ate their late lunch in silence.
The mutton, which should have been tender, seemed tasteless in their mouths.
After barely filling his stomach, Lumian was about to clear the dishes when he suddenly heard a tinkling sound coming from afar.
"Liya and the others?" He turned around and looked towards the door.
Aurore also noticed it, put down the knife and fork in her hand, and looked up towards the door.
Not long after, their doorbell rang.
Lumian did not hesitate. He stood up from his seat, walked to the door, and examined the visitor outside through the peephole.
Those were indeed the three outsiders, Leah and the other two.
What was different from their previous separation was that Valentine finally changed his clothes - he had set himself on fire when he was affected by the aura of the "Sufferer", and although his physical injuries were healed by Mrs. Pualis, the burnt clothes could not be restored to their original state.
Lumian opened the door and said with a warm smile:
'My cabbages, do you miss me so soon
"Hey, you know how to change clothes?"
Valentine no longer wore a white vest with a blue tweed jacket, but a yellow vest with a black suit, and the pants were still dark; Leah's white cashmere skirt had a white flower on her abdomen and wrist, one large and two small, covering the damage.
As for Ryan, Lumian could not see that he had changed his clothes, nor could he find any signs of previous injuries. He suspected that this guy had prepared at least two sets of the same clothes.
"We have gained something from those two things." Ryan answered calmly, signaling with his eyes to go in and talk later.
Lumian turned around to ask his sister's opinion, opened the door completely, and invited the three official investigators in.
This was the first time Ryan and his friends met Aurora, and they greeted each other politely.
"The constellations are about to change, and the villagers will usher in good luck. Initial confirmation is that the parish priest asked someone to broadcast the news."
After sitting down at the dining table, Ryan went straight to the point without saying anything, "But I don't think it's that simple. This method and rhetoric are very similar to the style of a country witch. Normally, the parish priest would not be able to think of it."
A country witch refers to someone who works part-time as a predictor of good and bad luck in small towns and villages.
Aurore nodded thoughtfully:
“Is it influenced by the dead wizard
“Well, this is a rhetoric to lure the villagers into secretly worshipping the evil god.
"The villagers believed it so easily?" Valentine was very angry.
He looked as if he was wondering how could the people in Koldu Village be so stupid.
It’s because believing in “eternal bravery” cannot help them escape poverty.
And she had to be bullied by the parish priest and the marshal from time to time... O'Meng'er did not say this complaint out loud, for she was afraid that Valentine would kill her.
She could even imagine that when some villagers were bewitched and started doing things to worship evil gods, they would more or less get some benefits from the parish priest and his followers, for example, the offerings to the "Eternal Sun" could be reduced by half, or they would no longer be bullied by Pons and Bene, and they could also use the name of this villain to scare the annoying neighbors. In short, they would truly feel that their "luck" had changed and their lives had hope, so their faith would become more sincere.
Of course, this does not make Aurore feel that what the villagers did was right. After all, the government and the church mainly want money, while the cult wants lives.
No one answered Valentine's question, only Lumian made a "kind" suggestion:
"You need to ask them in person and do an in-depth investigation into why beliefs change so easily.
“If you really find the answer, I think the Holy Father will appreciate you.
The Holy See is a title for His Holiness the Pope of the Church of the Eternal Sun. The highest leaders of many churches can also be called that. Lumian didn't understand it at first, but he found out after reading the reference materials bought by Aurore.
Valentine was silent, but vaguely moved.
Aurore looked at Ryan and changed the subject:
"Has the whereabouts of Sybil's husband Jean Maury been found?"
Ryan glanced sideways at Leah and motioned for her to speak.
Liya nodded and said, “We sneaked into Jean Mori’s house and took away an item that belonged to him.
"With the help of this item, I performed a dream divination."
Dream divination... Aurora nodded slightly, not surprised at all.
When Lumian described the castle exploration yesterday, she had already guessed their respective paths and approximate sequences based on the performance of the three official investigators:
Obviously, Leah belongs to the more common "Fortune Teller" path of Intis, and she is not a Sequence 9 "Fortune Teller" or Sequence 8 "Clown", but at least a Sequence 7 "Magician". This can be inferred from her extraordinary abilities such as "Paper Doll Substitute" and "Damage Transfer", as well as her expertise in divination and acrobatic skills.
What Omener was not sure about was whether Leah had reached Sequence 6, because she didn't know much about the subsequent situation of this path.
Valentine belongs to the main path of "Sun" controlled by the "Eternal Sun" Church. Similarly, he definitely has more than just Sequence 9 "Singer" and Sequence 8 "Prayer of Light". Aurore inferred from "Summoning Holy Light", "Making Holy Water", "Solar Aura", etc. that he is a Sequence 7 "Sun Priest", and should not have reached Sequence 6 "Notary", and has not demonstrated the corresponding abilities.
Ryan's extraordinary abilities are not the common type in Intis, he should be a "warrior".
This path is mainly controlled by the "God of War" Church of the northern Feysac Empire, but in the past five or six years, many extraordinary people and extraordinary creatures of the "Warrior" path have appeared in various countries.
In the Curly Buddha Research Society, there are several members who have chosen this path either actively or passively.
As far as Aurore knew, this was also called the "Giant" path. Sequence 9 was the "Warrior", Sequence 8 was the "Fighter", Sequence 7 was the "Weapon Master", and Sequence 6 was a qualitative change from the previous levels, called the "Dawn Knights". They possessed the same power as giants and could create "morning light" in a certain area around them, eliminating hallucinations and negative and evil energies.
They can also condense a full body armor called "Dawn" on their body surface and weapons they are good at using. Among them, the most powerful is the two-handed giant sword "Sword of Dawn". Using the "Sword of Dawn", they can launch the most powerful attack in this sequence - "Storm of Light", which can destroy the human body, eliminate wronged souls, and even traumatize evil spirits.
Based on Jiaen's performance, Aurore believed that he was a Sequence 6 "Knight of the Dawn", but he should not have become a Sequence 5 "Guardian" yet.
Aurore originally felt that these three official investigators were no worse than herself, but now she found that each one was more powerful than the other. If she wasn't prepared, she wouldn't be able to defeat any of them in a one-on-one fight.
You should know that in the official classification, Sequence 9 and Sequence 8 are considered low-sequence, they just have some special abilities compared to ordinary people, but their flaws are also obvious. Sequence 7 to Sequence 5 are mid-sequence, they begin to possess powers beyond the ordinary.
Sequence 4 and above belong to the demigod realm and are truly high sequences.
According to some members of the Curly-haired Buddhist Research Society who were lurking in the official organization, when dealing with ordinary supernatural events, a three-person team consisting of a mid-sequence and two low-sequence people would usually conduct the first wave of investigations, and higher-end forces would be deployed later depending on the situation. However, this time, in response to the anomaly in Cordu Village, the Intis officials sent three mid-sequence people at once, which shows that they took it very seriously.
But even such a joint investigation team does not seem to be enough in Koldu Village.
Aurore had already shared this information with Lumian, and now the siblings were listening quietly to Leah continue her story.
"In the dream divination, I saw the shepherd Pierre Berry. He came out with several nails wrapped around his hair and stuffed them into the haystack." Leah described the scene she saw in the simplest words.
Haystacks... nails and hair... Lumian instantly recalled what he had discovered under the guidance of the three sheep.
He also found some nails entangled in hair in the haystack in the Berry family's sheep pen.
He frowned and said:
"Those are Jean-Maury's nails and hair
"He was murdered by the shepherd, Pierre Berry, in Berry's house?"
Aurore and Ruo nodded:
"Originally, this custom of hiding nails and hair outside the house to avoid affecting the family's horoscope and luck was limited to family members with bad reputations or those who were killed in vain, or those who were murdered by relatives. But because Jean Morrie was killed while shepherding his sheep, Pierre Berry was still cautious and cut off his nails and took some of his hair and hid them in the haystack outside the house?"
"No wonder there was one before... I'm afraid it was from the last victim.
How many people have you killed in secret?" Lumian suddenly sneered.
And you still want to avoid affecting your own horoscope and luck?"
"Stupid!" Valentine cursed.
He, Ryan and Leah had previously learned from Lumian about the three sheep, the haystack and the corresponding folk customs.
After discussing for a while, they decided not to make any other attempts for the time being. After observing the reactions of the parish priest and others, Leah and the others told Lumian and Aurore and returned to the old tavern.
The brother and sister did not mention the speculation they had made at noon, fearing that it would affect the official investigators' determination to break the cycle from the inside. After all, they might just be affected and could hope to break away with the help of outside forces.
After clearing the table and helping to wash the dining table, Lumian returned to his room and lay down on the bed.
With mixed emotions and many thoughts, he couldn't fall asleep for a long time. Only after doing some preliminary meditation did he slowly calm down and fall into a deep sleep.
In the room filled with a faint gray mist, Lumian opened his eyes and sat up.
He lowered his head and looked at his chest, his sight seemed to penetrate the gray cotton shirt and the barrier of flesh and blood, and saw the black thorn symbol and the blue-black pattern.
Is this the source and cause of the cycle? Lumian muttered to himself silently.
The black thorn symbol is the root of the problem, while the blue-black pattern brings the blessing of that great being, allowing Koldu Village to still be saved.
And all this can be traced back to nearly six years ago.
Lumian remembered it very clearly. At that time, he was still wandering, barely surviving by relying on his young age, which made him easily looked down upon, and his ruthlessness beyond his age.
Then, one day, he met the dying old man.
Maybe it was because he just had some accumulation and he was floating, or maybe it was because of the old man
This reminded him of his only relative, his grandfather who raised him until he was in his early teens but unfortunately passed away. Lumian decided to give him some help.
Although he failed to save the old man's life in the end, Lumian still sent him to the crematorium and buried him in a free cemetery.
The blue-black symbol was what he found on the old man's body during this process. Since then, he often dreamed of a large area of gray fog.
His luck was getting worse and worse, and he began to have trouble finding enough food. Fortunately, not long after, he met Aurora.
PS: For the third update, I would like to thank all the Silver Alliance members who have given rewards before, and also, please give me your monthly votes~ Well, the first update will be at 00:05 tomorrow.