Dorothy returned to Quill Street to pack her clothes, which would not take too long, as Leithia had already stored their daily clothes in St. Teresa's Square. Number 6 St. Teresa's Square had few other advantages, but it was large and had a lot of space.
Shad left little Mia at home, but he did not return to the Three Cats Inn. Instead, he took a carriage to Roentgen Avenue in the eastern district of Tobysk, where he met Dr. Schneider in the psychological clinic, who had just seen the last guest of the afternoon and was about to go to dinner.
"demon?"
In the study room on the third floor of the psychological clinic, after listening to Shade's story about "Victor Box and the Devil", the doctor repeated in disbelief:
"Here? In Tobesk?"
He pointed to his feet:
"Is there such a thing?"
"Yes, demon."
Xia De nodded and told the doctor not to ask someone to prepare tea. He would not stay here for long.
"I am sure that it is indeed an evil demon from the Third Age, but it does not seem to be particularly powerful..."
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been forced away directly. Compared to the Fire Demon sealed in Mount Xikar, the demon this time was really weak:
"Of course, it is also possible that the other party is not good at fighting."
Dr. Schneider stroked his chin in thought, unable to believe that such a good thing could happen. Shade took out the cloth toy of the couch from his pocket, restored it to its original shape, and placed it on the side of the sofa:
"Look~"
He took out the holy water bottle again and placed it on the bench. Seeing that the holy water in the bottle was boiling almost immediately, Dr. Schneider frowned deeply:
"Which holy water is this?"
"Number four."
"Did you buy it from Father Augustus? I also bought a batch recently. I don't know where the old priest got the supply channel from."
The doctor muttered to himself, and asked Shad to wait a moment. He left the room and returned soon with a pepper and salt shaker.
The pepper pot was small, and pepper was a very expensive spice after all. The doctor twisted the lid and tapped it twice against the bench, pouring out some black powder from the tiny holes on the lid.
The salt shaker was large, and the doctor scooped out a spoonful with a small steel spoon, then used the bottom of the spoon to spread it evenly on the surface of the bench.
Xia De and the doctor who was kneeling on one knee looked at the salt together. In just a few dozen seconds, the white fine salt began to turn black. As a strange smell spread, Xia De held his breath, but Dr. Schneider carefully stretched his head and waved his right palm in front of his nose, letting the smell float into his nasal cavity:
"It is indeed the stench of a demon. Although I can't be 100% sure, I have a rough guess as to who it is."
He straightened up, and after Shade's consent, he threw out the black fire demon flame from his hand, burning the entire chair directly. There was no smoke, but there were some bumpy black crystals on the ground after the burning, which were collected by the doctor.
Any item that retains the power of evil spirits or demons is extremely dangerous, even more dangerous than relics, so it must be destroyed in a timely manner.
"The demon of proliferation - Fanni. It relies on spreading desire to make itself stronger. It signs contracts with mortals with weak binding force. It relies on the contracts to ferment its desires and become stronger and stronger."
Dr. Schneider said that the complexion was not easy:
"Although it cannot be compared to the fighting power of the arsonist Sophix we encountered before, this evil spirit that survives on human hearts and desires is more difficult to deal with. It is the same type of evil spirit as the Human Pus we encountered before. Of course, the Human Pus is older and more powerful than it."
"So, are there any famous stories about the proliferating demons in the past eras?"
Shade asked, and Dr. Schneider shook his head:
"It is not keen on wreaking havoc. Instead, it disguises itself as a humanoid creature and is active in cities and the countryside. It relies on spreading and multiplying desires to corrupt originally pure souls. In its last appearance, in the middle of the Fifth Era, it even corrupted an entire human city-state and created tens of thousands of demon servants. Shade, don't think it is weak. Evil spirits that can spread desires and use them as the source of power are often the most powerful demons."
"Can you handle it?"
Xia De asked again, and Dr. Schneider hummed and nodded confidently:
"Of course it's no problem to deal with it. From your description, Fanni should have broken free from the seal in the last hundred years, and its power is still a little weak. High-level demons will not use methods such as copying coin boxes. The efficiency is too low. Powerful demons either choose so-called "heroes" to corrupt, or plan a conspiracy that can plunder the souls of at least tens of thousands of people at one time. Since it did this, it means that its power has weakened to a certain limit."
The doctor paced around the room a few times with his hands behind his back:
"Since you came to see me at dinner time instead of in the evening, it means you have other things to do in the evening. I will go to room 413 of the Three Cats Hotel by myself to check the situation. Don't worry about me. It would be a good thing if Fanni really didn't leave."
When it comes to fighting the devil, this middle-aged psychiatrist seems particularly confident:
"If the items left by the demon are not absolutely safe, I will not share them with you. I will destroy most of the items and only keep a few for tracking. As long as the demon has not left Tobesk, I will be able to find it within a week. If we are lucky, we will set out to hunt the demon this weekend and we must not let it get away."
"Doctor, besides me, there are two other girls being targeted by the demon. Do you have any means of protection against the demon? Anything effective in the short term will do. Fanni has been injured and her condition should be even worse now."
The safety of Dorothy and Leicia was guaranteed, with Princess Margaret being the main concern.
"Fanni is injured?"
Dr. Schneider asked curiously, wanting to know how Shade did it. So Shade hooked out the badge hanging around his neck. The badge had just emerged halfway from the collar when the doctor, who had sat back on the sofa, stood up and flipped behind the sofa neatly:
"Okay, okay, no need to take it out. Just seeing that badge makes me feel like I'm being burned by the midday sun in midsummer."
The doctor said with some concern:
"Is this a divine item from the Five Gods Church?"
He was very surprised:
"I've only heard of this level of divine items. Even a regional bishop may not have one. The divine items enshrined in the Holy See all year round may not be stronger than this. If Fanni is stupid enough to touch you directly, he may be seriously injured by this thing. In fact, this thing itself can protect against demons."
The doctor reminded, but now the bone badge made by Father Augustus has been integrated with the "Witch Detection" badge. If Shad gives this to Princess Margaret, as soon as Miss Sylvia appears, the princess will first be burned, and then immediately guess that there is something wrong with the dishonest detective.
“Is there any other way?”
Xia De asked, and the doctor thought for a moment:
"I can give you an alchemical item that I made myself. It's not very effective against powerful evil spirits like Human Pus and Arsonist, but it should be somewhat effective against the proliferating demons this time."
The so-called "alchemical item" is a black cloth strip, which seems to be made of linen. Although it is black, if you look closely, you can see some dark rune marks in the black. This is an alchemical item made by Dr. Schneider himself using printing and dyeing technology. As a correspondence student of the Mechanical College, he must master the knowledge of forging, chemistry, printing and dyeing, metal cutting, heraldry, etc.
In addition to the cloth strip in the box, the doctor also gave Shad a wooden key.
"Time Key?"
Shade asked in surprise.
"I got this as payment from someone on the black market a few days ago. You're the only one in our group who can use it. It's the fee for your intelligence on the demon. We'll discuss the spoils after we find the demon."
Xia De thought for a moment and put the key in his pocket:
"I should be at home these days, doctor. Tell me immediately when you find the demon. Don't delay this matter."
"Don't worry, I'm more anxious than you."
The doctor smiled, and he and Shade separated at the intersection of Roentgen Street and took different carriages to their respective destinations. Although Dr. Schneider's luck was not particularly good, Shade believed in his ability to capture demons.
When Shad rushed back home from the east of the city, the blonde girl had already returned with her clothes. When Shad came to the second floor, she was humming a light tune while cooking in the kitchen.
Hearing Shad's footsteps, the cat, who was squatting on the dining table watching Dorothy cook, ran to the door, but soon returned to the kitchen.
Leisia's carriage will soon come to pick up Shad, so the two had dinner together at home. At the table, Shad told Dorothy that the problem of the devil should be solved soon, and he was very confident about it. The blonde girl didn't care much about it, but asked about the time key in Shad's hand and what era it corresponded to this time.
"This is definitely a key from the Fifth Epoch. The person who sold it said that it corresponds to the early Fifth Epoch, probably around the year 1000. I'm not interested in knowing the exact time, after all, you know everything after using it once."
He poked Xiaomia's back with the key. After the key touched the cat, Shad turned it a little, causing the cat to meow twice in dissatisfaction, probably complaining that Shad had disturbed it while eating again.
Winter nights always come early, and when the gas lights in St. Teresa's Square came on, the snow had stopped. Dorothy personally prepared clothes for Shad and asked him to go out as soon as possible so as not to keep Leisia waiting too long.
This urging made the stranger feel very strange, but he still set out at about half past six and waited for the carriage sent by Leicia at the corner of Hunter Street. The carriage took him directly to the side door of Queen Maria Opera House.
The servant who had been waiting for a long time led Shade to the private room which was only available to the royal family members through the hidden staircase on the side. When Shade arrived, tea, snacks and fruits were already prepared in the private room, but Leicia had not arrived yet.