At some point, a gurgling sound was heard from beneath the frozen lake. Along with the sound, the whispering element quickly spread along the ice surface to the entire lake.
The two witches ignored the "little joke" and stood in front of Shade. Dark clouds floated from nowhere, covering the three moons. As darkness fell, the ice surface broke, and the lake water below was black. In the lake water that seemed to have turned into ink, a short figure who merged with the black shadow and whose specific appearance could not be seen appeared on the lake:
“Very interesting.”
Although the voice was hoarse, it could be recognized as that of a boy of about eleven or twelve years old. However, even though it was a child, it exuded full of malice, and even the voice could make people feel instinctively uncomfortable:
"I didn't expect that in this modern era when the Fifth Epoch has long gone, I would be able to see two great witches at the same time."
It hummed:
"I know what you want from me. You women are always like this. You take what you want without caring about what others think."
It seems to have a deep grudge against the witches:
"However, I am very interested in the witches' malicious jokes. Since you have found and pleased me, I will naturally give you a test: Now, there is a malicious thing lurking in this city. Yes, an evil demon from the Third Age. Don't tell me you don't even know this."
None of the three spoke.
"Find it, beat it, any way of beating it is allowed, even playing cards. Complete the test, and any one of you tells a joke into a glass of water, and I will appear."
After saying that, he dived directly into the lake. It seemed that he really didn't want to talk to the witches.
Then the dark clouds covering the moon in the sky dissipated, and the whispering elements and the ink color gradually shrank towards the center of the lake until they disappeared. There were pieces of ice floating on the lake, which meant that the boy just now was not an illusion.
"A demon."
Miss Carina looked at Shade, who nodded immediately:
"No problem, leave it to me. There will be results by the end of this week... I promise."
Perhaps because of the two witches following them, the matter went unusually smoothly. The three of them then left Regent's Park and returned to the carriage. Miss Carina was going back to the manor outside the city, and Miss Sylvia was going back to take care of Princess Margaret, so the carriage first sent Shade back to St. Teresa's Square.
After the carriage stopped in front of number six, Miss Carina, who was sitting next to Shad, kissed Shad on the cheek, said goodbye to him softly, and then glanced at Miss Sylvia. It seemed that she had not forgotten the little "joke" in Regent's Park just now.
Thus, the relatively leisurely Tuesday passed by, and early the next morning, Shad came to the Prophet's Association with Mia in his arms, and again met with Luvia alone on the pretext of fortune-telling about the "cat".
He was already a frequent visitor to the Prophet's Association, and everyone here knew him. Even when they saw Shade coming with the cat, the receptionists at the front desk would take out the divination registration form in advance and fill in the rest of the form for him except for his signature.
More than half a week had passed since Shade signed the contract for Genesis Knowledge. During this period, the Prophet Association had used various means to "leak" the news that Shade would get the card from unofficial channels. As for the reason, it was certainly not that Shade exchanged the gem given by the Duchess for a Rhodes card, but to thank Shade for his contribution to the Prophet Association.
No one knew the specific content of his "contribution", but there were many different opinions. In short, Shade had received congratulations from people at the Prophet's Association that morning.
Most of the guests who showed up at the Prophet's Association so early were veteran Rhodes players who could play cards for a day in the Association, and they were naturally well-informed. Shade even met Mr. Luwaz Bersong, whom he met while playing cards at the Lake View Manor banquet, a middle-aged gentleman in his thirties who married the 45-year-old Baron Lianna Pompey.
The two chatted for a while, and Mr. Belson did not hide his admiration for Shade. He warmly invited Shade to go to the Prophet Association or the Rhodes Card Club to play a few games of cards with the people after he got the founding knowledge. No local card players would refuse such an opportunity.
The weather is pretty good today. The morning fog is unexpectedly thin, and the sunlight can shine on the floor of the divination room.
When Shade and Luvia pushed the door open and entered the room, Shade, who was holding the cat, yawned. Luvia closed the door holding her crystal ball and asked with a smile:
"Didn't you get enough rest last night?"
"Yes, I don't go to bed until three o'clock."
The purple-eyed girl calculated the time;
"You didn't read until midnight, did you? Even if you want to take the advanced exam, it shouldn't be that hard given your progress."
"No, no, the only time I touched a pen last night was at about nine o'clock, when I spent half an hour writing the commission report for the commission I received on Monday."
"What did you do after that?"
Luvia continued to ask, and Shad opened his mouth. The soft bed in the dim bedroom, the messy golden hair and the gentle girl flashed before his eyes.
"Dorothy was at your place last night?"
Luvia immediately understood Shade's expression and asked teasingly.
"Yes, she has been staying at my place for the last half week to a week because of the demon thing."
Luvia raised her eyebrows:
"Demons? Those evil spirits from the Third Age?"
"That happened after I separated from you at the Three Cats Inn on Monday. It was originally a simple commission, but now there are some problems, so I came to find you. Sit down and talk slowly. This is even related to the test of the 'Secret Keeper'."
The whole story is not long, but because it involves demons and witches, Shade tells it in more detail.
While Shade was talking, Luvia kept frowning, and only nodded slightly when he finished:
"Although I don't know why you are so confident in 'fighting the devil', but since you have made a promise, I won't ask any more questions."
She caught Shad's hand, which was caressing Mia:
"If you need my or Yin Luna's help, be sure to tell us. The evil spirits of the Third Epoch are definitely not joking, even if they are injured and weak."
"Don't worry, this is the only thing I am confident about."
This confidence came from the doctor's past experience of easily defeating the Balrog in Mount Sikar in the autumn.
Luvia was still a little worried, but she didn't say anything more:
"If you can really complete this test within this week, then you and Yin Luna will have a total of three pyroxenes in your hands. Professors from the three major colleges have entered the city, and I think the peaceful days are coming to an end. The story of the fourth chosen one has entered the second half of the chapter, and things are going to get chaotic here again."
"Now we still have to see what attitude Sir Prisha has."
Shade nodded:
"Today is Wednesday, the fourth day of the Sleeping Moon. I will try to find out what Sir Prisha has to say within ten days. Next weekend or the week after, we will launch the final action against the Chosen Ceremony. Past experience tells me that at the end of the Chosen Ceremony, something big will happen. I don't want any ancient evil objects or level 0 relics to appear in Tobesk."
"Balance attracted the evil god, darkness caused the Coldwater Harbor tsunami and the darkness of Tobesk, and death caused the reversal of life and death and gave birth to the undead. I don't know what this knowledge and wisdom will lead to."
Luvia seemed a little lazy. After sighing slightly, she mentioned another thing:
"You and Dorothy should be safe. Also... I had a strange dream recently."
"What dream?"
"The dream was very confusing. I only remember a few details. The sky was dim yellow and black, just like an overturned oil painting palette. There was a fire burning around, and half of Miss Pavo's body had been petrified. Yes, that was the vice president of the Truth Society."
Purple eyes stared at the crystal ball, showing a worried look:
"She was sitting in the center of the fire, leaning against a big rock. Her left arm was gone, and half of her face was covered in blood. She gave me the angel-level relic, the Smallwell Codex. Not just handing it over to me, but completely transferring ownership of it. She seemed to want to tell me more, but she died before she could finish her words. Her last words were blessings for me, but my memory in the dream is vague, and I don't remember what she told me..."
She looked up at Shade:
"That scene is very real. It's a really strange dream. I originally thought it was a prophetic dream of the chosen one of knowledge and wisdom, but the scene in that dream seems to happen in the very distant future. I wonder if this foreshadows something?"
Xia De did not express his opinion, but had more guesses in his mind. Luvia looked at the air in front of her, and the scene in the dream still did not leave her mind.
After bidding farewell to Luvia, Shad sent the completed commission report to Sir Cameron. Today was Wednesday, and Sir Cameron was checking the accounts at his cigarette factory—everyone needed to check the accounts at the end of the year. He was quite surprised that Shad had found the murderer in such a short time. In the report, Shad only mentioned the spice merchant and the real owner of the box who once lived in the Three Cats Inn, but now he had left and could not be found.
This can be considered as completing the commission. Although the degree of completion is not high, after Dorothy helped to polish it last night, the more than ten-page report looked very presentable. At least Sir Cameron praised it after reading it.
Sir Cameron was even happier when he heard that the female writer Dorothy Louisa had been following Shad's investigation and would most likely write a story about the box.
He even wanted to invite Shade to have lunch and discuss the box in more detail.
But Shad had already promised Dorothy to go home for dinner, so he claimed to have other things to do and declined Sir Cameron's kindness.