Shard spent the remaining hour of the morning learning the basics of photography, with a focus on developing film in the darkroom. At 11:50 a.m., he called a carriage to carry the equipment and returned home with Dorothy.
But after moving the camera to the door of number 6 St. Teresa's Square, Shard did not open the door immediately. Instead, he smiled and suggested to Dorothy:
"Let me take a picture of you here."
He pointed to the door of his house:
"You were standing on the steps, holding your purse in front of you with your hands hanging down in front of you."
"Oh, that won't do. I didn't put on my makeup properly. Besides, there are so many people walking here, don't get in the way of others."
The blonde said with a blush, but she was already somewhat moved. In fact, there were not many people in St. Teresa's Square at noon, at least not in front of Shade's house.
Unable to resist Shad's persuasion, Dorothy finally agreed to Shad's suggestion:
"I'll go in first. Call me after you've adjusted the camera..."
So Shade spent more than ten minutes setting up the camera and spotlight on the winter street where there was not much traffic, with his back to the people walking and the four-wheeled taxi passing slowly. Since he had no assistant, he not only had to hold the spotlight himself, but also operated the camera himself. After everything was ready, he knocked on his door, and then the blonde girl who seemed to have applied light powder came out holding Mia who was obviously reluctant.
"Meow~"
It barked at Shad, and the sound sounded like it was asking for help.
Dorothy didn't care about that. She gathered her hair, held Little Mia in one hand, and held the hat on her head with the other hand shyly. She tilted her head slightly, looked at the camera with her green eyes, and her expression was quite immature and slightly excited.
"Are you ready? Please look at the camera!"
This sentence is said to the cat.
"Three, two, one!"
Peng!
As the flash lights flashed and the smoke drifted toward the sky shrouded in gray fog, Dorothy's expression as she stood on the steps of the Shad family's house holding Mia was permanently recorded.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith, neighbors who happened to be returning from their trip, saw Shad taking photos of Dorothy. They greeted Shad and returned to their home, but Shad, with his excellent hearing, still heard Mrs. Smith's complaints from inside the door:
"When you were young, you didn't have the atmosphere of Hamilton next door."
Dorothy also heard their voices, blushed, took out the key and opened the door, leaving Shad alone outside the door to pack up his photographic equipment. His basement was large enough to hold all these things.
When I had lunch with Dorothy in Tobesk, Dorothy was in a very good mood. She found out that Shad wanted to take a photo of a stone statue in the Randall Valley, and that Shad was working with Luvia:
"You don't have to go home tonight. Stay with Luvia in the Randall Valley."
The writer said softly, pointing at Mia:
"If you want to take the cat with you, you can. If you don't want to take it with you, leave it in my care."
So Mia, after having a full lunch, left with Dorothy.
At 2pm, Shade and Luvia met at the Forgotten Church on time. Because they couldn't reveal any information about the church, Shade used magic to reduce the light inside the church when taking photos, making the background of the stone statue completely dark.
When everything was ready, the photo he took only showed the stone statue of the middle-aged man and part of the bench it sat on. Even the statue was not particularly clear. But this was just right, after all, he didn't want to cause any more trouble because of the statue while he was looking for clues.
It will take some time to develop this photo. If Xia De does it himself, he can directly control the temperature for the final drying, so it will only take twenty minutes to finish.
The basement at home was the best darkroom, and he had prepared all the chemical materials for developing photos. But he did not start these tasks immediately, but just moved the camera back and then returned to the Randall River Valley:
"Luvia, I'll develop the photos when I get back. Let's go around the city together this afternoon."
"Aren't you anxious to find Mr. Thomas Granger?"
Luvia asked curiously, and before Shade could answer, she naturally took his hand.
The urban area of Randall Valley City is only about two-thirds of Tobisk, but if the suburbs and the mountains in the northeast are included, the total area designated as the "Randall Valley Region" is actually no smaller than Tobisk.
After Luvia arrived, she had been busy with the Prophet Association and the work assigned to her by the academy, and had no time to rest properly. This afternoon, she was invited by Shade, so she had time to enjoy the winter scenery of the strange southern city.
The two first visited the city museum in the city - the ticket price was quite shocking, but at least the exhibition was interesting enough. There is a special "Stone Man Hall" in the museum to display stone man statues found during local archaeological excavations. Stone men are the most common artifacts unearthed in the Randall River Valley. This is the "Earth Center" in the mystical cognition, and there has been a tradition of worshiping the earth and stone since ancient times.
After the museum was the Wilde Opera House. Shad greeted Miss Lathers in advance and bought two tickets for the evening show. Then he took Luvia to visit the backstage of the opera house. They met Miss Bernardine again, but somehow the witch was a little embarrassed when facing Luvia. She probably hadn't forgotten the accident caused by drinking the essence in the pink bottle at the St. Perri cemetery.
After borrowing a horse from the opera house, Shad rode Luvia out of the city again. Following the route they took when they were looking for St. Perri's Cemetery last time, they first came to the Green Grass Farm owned by Miss Benanis, and then set out from the farm into the Eldron Creek.
Luvia also liked the scenery of the snowy creek forest. The purple-eyed girl, wearing a brown cloak and brown boots with laces, walked in front, and the knight in a black coat led the horse behind. They walked together in the snowy forest, leaving two sets of adjacent footprints and horse hoof prints. When Luvia talked and laughed with Shade, she turned her head from time to time to look at his face, hoping that time could stop that afternoon.
When the sun sets, the white snow is dyed orange. The horse is tied to a tree, and Shade and Luvia stand on the branch of a tall Randalls pine, looking at the setting sun in the west. Half of the sun is already hidden under the city, and the remaining half of the sun dyes the city located on the river valley plain golden. Shade unconsciously thinks of the half-moon in death, which also spreads its glow to the calm water.
But then, he realized that this idea was abnormal. Putting death and the Randall River Valley together always gave the impression that the city was about to be destroyed.
After getting down from the tree, Shad was ready to ride a horse and take Luvia back to the city. Luvia, who didn't know what she was thinking of, gently pushed Shad, pressed him against the tree, and then kissed him passionately.
Xia De did not resist, but hugged Luvia to feel her passion. However, he suddenly heard a cry of "Ang~", followed by the sound of four hooves stepping on the snow happily.
Luvia also heard the sound and thought that a wild boar or a villager's lost goat had run into the area.
He turned around to drive away the wild animal that was running towards him, but when he turned around, he saw a small golden-horned animal with pure white fur running towards him happily in the sunset.
"unicorn?!"
The little beast ran very fast in the snow. After it came to Shade's side, it excitedly poked the back of his right hand with its horn, and then ran around him and the tree.
"Is it the same one from last time?"
Xia De asked in his heart, and then heard "her" smile:
Of course, you should be able to guess it by looking at the performance.
So he stretched out his hand, and the unicorn stopped obediently to accept his touch. Luvia looked at this scene strangely. She had heard about the unicorn from Shade, but seeing it with her own eyes still felt incredible:
"Even I am a little doubtful now, what gender you are."
"Don't you know best what gender I am?"
Shade said casually, and when he realized what he had said, Luvia slapped him with a red face. Then, the purple-eyed girl also wanted to reach out and touch the unicorn. Miss Benanis was right, most girls had dreamed of this rare and beautiful creature.
It was obvious that the little beast was somewhat reluctant, but Luvia still touched it.
"I think we have to postpone our plan to return to the city. We can't leave it here alone. The elf girl who is responsible for taking care of it should be able to come soon."
Considering that it took the other party most of the day to realize the unicorn was missing last time, "quickly" is not an accurate adjective.
"Of course. Who needs to go to the opera when there's a unicorn? Oh, what a pity I didn't bring my camera, or I would have taken a picture with it."
"Then let's camp here... Why did you run away from St. Byrons again? There are so many bad guys. What would you do if it wasn't me you met?"
The second half of the sentence is in ancient Elvish.
Luvia agreed with Shade's suggestion. Besides, she just regarded today as a date with Shade, so it didn't matter where they went.
Although he had not prepared to camp in the wild, Shade had enough supplies. He inserted a wooden fence on the snow, then lit a bonfire and set up a tent, and the simple camp was ready.
Luvia took over the task of making dinner, and the pure white little beast lay down beside the campfire at Shad's request, looking at the pot in front of Luvia with its azure eyes. It looked very similar to little Mia.
"The ancient goddess, Mother Earth, is responsible for the earth, the foundation, the four seasons, and memory. I hope the earth can remember this moment..."
Luvia, who believed in fate, prayed to the ancient gods, but she didn't know that the shadow behind her was also looking at the man beside her.