"What was the result?"
"They don't know that Sir Lykins Prisher is the chosen one, but you are right. Prisher did appear at this occasion as a ring wizard from the Apner Library. The probability that he is an academic spy is almost 100%."
The purple-eyed girl took a sip of her wine. After each special divination, her mental state was not very good:
"What they were talking about was related to the Chosen One. Some time ago, you read the materials that the Apner Library sold to Old John, and learned that the Chosen One's ceremony needs to be performed on the water. In fact, this is not accurate. The Apner Library omitted a sentence—the ceremony was placed on the water. This is indeed the original text of the poem fragment, but the original text is actually 'the ceremony was placed on the island on the water'."
"Island in the middle of the lake?"
Xia De asked in surprise, and then felt that this request was normal.
"Yes."
Luvia nodded slowly:
"The role played by the Apna Library in this incident is quite confusing. They had the fragments of the poem but did not report it to the church immediately. They sold the fragments to other organizations but lacked important information. Miss Pavlo did not trust them very much either. Among the three groups just now, the people from the Truth Society seemed to be normal people."
"What are they talking about? Just the poetry?"
"The Apna Library seems to have more information. They invite the Society of Truth to cooperate with them to find the Chosen One. This Chosen One Ceremony is very different from the previous three. Within the scope of the Chosen One Ceremony, any ring sorcerer will gain enlightenment of wisdom. The library is coveting this."
The girl with purple eyes counted on her fingers:
"The Apna Library wants to cooperate with the Truth Society. The Pantanal Voodoo Society is a hired helper of the Truth Society. The Voodoo Society is also seeking knowledge about the Sealing Ceremony from the Library, and the Library wants to seek the most authentic map of the Pantanal region from the Voodoo Society. The leader of the three organizations is the Truth Society. You may not believe it, but Miss Pavo actually wanted to dissuade the Apna Library and the Voodoo Society."
She paused.
"They were very evasive when talking about things. I can only confirm that the Pantanal Voodoo Society has a big operation in the Everglades, and this operation requires the help of the Apuna Library. The Truth Society is helping the two organizations get to know each other, but it also has its own needs."
This relationship is really complicated, Xia De frowned;
"I will inform the witches about the matter in the Great Swamp. They may be interested in handling it. Let's talk about the Chosen One first. At present, the Chosen One's ceremony is basically clear. It involves five Wise Pyroxenes and the location is the island in the middle of the lake. There are probably some details of the ceremony that need to be clarified. We can use coins to confirm it when the time comes."
He tapped the table:
"I will be in frequent contact with Sir Prisha recently to confirm his position and whether there are other people behind him. I will complete this task before one party controls all five pyroxenes at the same time. Luvia, please use the Prophet Association to confirm the current collection of pyroxenes."
Shade couldn't guarantee that he knew all the information. For example, when he was in Midhill Castle, he thought Mr. Bernhardt had collected 5 relics related to the species, but in fact, when the final summoning ceremony was held, the vampires already had 9 of them.
"No problem, I will confirm this. But so far, at least the news from the church passed on by Yin Luna shows that the church only knows about two. Although the Sin Potion and the Human Body Puzzle have not been completed yet, you are right, there may be other keepers who have appeared, but we don't know about them."
The girl with purple eyes looked at Xia De with some melancholy:
"What will happen this time? An ancient evil being unsealed? An ancient creature from the warp being summoned? Or a deity descending from the sky?"
"Look at what I'm doing, how should I know?"
Shade said immediately, and Luvia shook her head:
"I won't bother you with your business here. I'm afraid you'll be busy again in the next period of time, and it's exam week..."
She walked straight to the stairs without even looking back.
Soon after Luvia left, Shad also got up and returned to the first floor. Dorothy and Princess Margaret were still chatting downstairs, and they were very happy.
Knowing that Shade had finished dealing with the matter on the second floor and was going to the fourth floor to investigate the "Victor Box", the two ladies asked Shade to act as soon as possible. Although they meant that they were afraid that the "craftsman" selling the box would escape, Shade always thought that they were disgusted with him for interrupting the conversation between the girls.
So, at 3:50 in the afternoon, Xia De finally climbed the stairs to the fourth floor.
Compared to the hustle and bustle downstairs, the accommodation areas on the third and fourth floors of the Three Cats Hotel were obviously much quieter. It was Monday afternoon, and most of the guests staying in the hotel would not stay in the cramped rooms.
When Xia De arrived at the fourth floor, the corridor was empty and the doors of the rooms on both sides were closed.
The hotel arranged for someone to clean the corridor every morning. Because it snowed all day, there were some muddy footprints on the floor. The walls on both sides of the corridor had obvious signs of oxidation and yellowing, but fortunately the wall paint was intact.
This kind of hotel will not hang oil paintings on the walls to show artistic aesthetics, because the paintings will be stolen the next day. No odor and no rats are the most important things that hotels in this era can show their value, and the Three Cats Hotel does this very well.
"Room 413 on the fourth floor."
Thinking about the address he had learned from the spice merchant in the morning, Shade walked forward, looking at the wooden doorplates nailed on the door panels on both sides. The inn's infrastructure was pretty good, with an old brass gas lamp in the style of a "cat carrying an oil lamp" on each side of the door.
Room 413 is located on the east side of the middle of the fourth floor, and looks just like any other room. When Shade walked towards the room, he wanted to stop at the door to pretend to tie his shoelaces, but then he remembered that the boots he was wearing today did not have shoelaces.
So, he put his right hand into his pocket and fiddled with the coins in his pocket. When he was three steps away from reaching the front of Room 413, a small copper coin of 1 penny slipped out of his pocket, rolled forward, and happened to stop at the door of Room 413.
"It's just bad luck."
Shade said, shaking his head, taking two quick steps and then bending down and reaching out his hand towards the coin lying on the ground.
Maintain normal movements without any abnormalities.
"What's wrong?"
The cat is looking at you.
"What?"
The gas lamp at the door of room 413, the brass cat is watching you.
Xia De didn't ask any further questions. He picked up the coin and continued walking forward.
The gaslight cat has returned to normal and is no longer staring at you.
Hearing the voice, Xia De did not stop, but walked a few dozen steps before turning around and looking at the door of Room 413 in the distance:
"Interesting, how does that cat 'see' me? Is it just the eyes that can move, or is it..."
The whole body can move.
"A summoned creature? Or perhaps an animated metal lifeform."
I can only observe, I can't analyze for you.
Xia De pursed his lips and nodded, then took out the moonstone ring from his pocket and put it on his right hand. He kissed the ring and walked quickly to Room 413. When he saw the cat carrying the lamp and its tail trembling, Xia De stretched out the finger with the ring on it:
"confusion!"
In the bright yellow moonlight, the trembling brass cat froze and stopped moving. Although Xia De didn't know what it was, at least Huang Yue's magic was indeed effective.
In fact, when the cat moves, ordinary people should not be able to observe it. Shade has only come into contact with this kind of protective measure in Witch's Reverberation. This is a more classical method.
To be on the safe side, Shade did not touch the lamp on the wall. He waited for a while, and when he saw that the door did not open, he knew that his spellcasting had not been noticed by the owner of the brass cat.
"Do you think there is anyone inside the door?"
Xia De asked in his heart, and of course got no answer.
He had basically determined that the person living here was a ring sorcerer who mastered extraordinary alchemy skills. Although he didn't know the specific ring level of the other party, it would definitely be impolite to come alone.
Even if he bypassed the surveillance of the cat at the door, it didn't mean that the other party was weaker than him. He thought about calling the two girls up and the three ring warlocks to the door. Even if the other party was higher than their level, they would definitely not have the courage to take action in such a place.
"Or Dorothy, come in with me, and Princess Margaret will lie in wait at the staircase, and if anything happens, go to the church."
He made plans in his mind and temporarily left the fourth floor and went downstairs again.
When I returned to the first floor, it was still so lively. As the evening approached, more people came to the Three Cats Inn in the snow.
Dorothy and Princess Margaret were still sitting against the wall, listening to the minstrel. The minstrel was not there when Shad went upstairs, but the middle-aged man who played the lute and wore a red silk waistcoat over a white shirt must have just arrived.
The story he was playing and singing was a local Tobysk folk song called "The Butterfly and the Flower Girl". This folk song was not very famous and was probably the song used to practice the voice and tune the voice at the beginning of today's performance.
Everything seemed normal when Dorothy and Princess Margaret were seen on the second-floor patio. But when Shad actually came down to the first floor from the second floor, he saw a pale-skinned man sitting at the table.
He had messy short blond hair and bags under his eyes, as if he had not gotten enough sleep for many years. He was wearing a black winter coat and a pair of leather boots decorated with thin brass chains.
Neither Dorothy nor Princess Margaret liked sharing a table with strangers, but the pale-faced man insisted on sitting there, looking a little tired as he said something to the ladies.