The door opened, and a girl with the same curly brown long hair walked in. She was tall, wearing a white women's shirt with a black formal uniform, a pen in her pocket, a black narrow skirt without any decoration, and high-heeled black leather shoes.
She looked to be about 24 or 25 years old, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and her hair was meticulously combed and hung down behind her. Although she looked very young, she had a strong sense of maturity.
"You usually call me by my last name, so just call her Haley."
Miss Aurora said, motioning her niece to come over:
"Hayley, this way. Sylvia and Benannis, you've met them four or five times before, so I won't introduce them. This is Miss Siris Lathers, the deputy head of the Golden Dawn, which is under the parliament."
"Hello."
The young girl bowed and greeted her, and Miss Lathers quickly stood up to say that there was no need to be so polite.
"This is Miss Luvia Annette, our good friend."
"Hello."
She bowed to Luvia again, and Luvia nodded back, also very curious about her.
"As for this handsome young gentleman."
Miss Aurora emphasized the word "Sir", causing the ladies on the sofa to smile:
"He is our... very important person. Yes, the one I have repeatedly mentioned to you."
Then the young lady Hayley Aurora wanted to bend down and bow to Shade again. Shade was closer to her and reached out to help her:
"You don't have to be so polite."
Miss Hayley Aurora straightened up, but Shade noticed that her ears were completely red. She looked quite serious and mature, but her blushing face was unexpectedly funny.
"Xia De, don't be fooled by her serious appearance. She used to be slightly autistic and didn't dare to talk to others. That's why I let her get involved in my business and practice her social skills."
Miss Aurora smiled and said:
"It's much better now. It's okay to talk to strangers, but I don't know why, she still gets a little nervous when talking to people I know but she doesn't. As for dressing like this, it's not because the Aurora family is very strict with girls, nor is it because little Haley has a problem with her aesthetics. It's because she doesn't want people to talk to her. When she's at home, she likes to lock herself in the bedroom, curled up in the quilt with a book..."
"aunt!"
The young girl finally couldn't help interrupting her, glanced at Xia De secretly, and then her face turned red again.
Although Shad planned to go home after lunch at Miss Benanis's estate in the morning, it was actually 2:30 in the afternoon when he said goodbye to the ladies and returned to the basement of his home from the Forgotten Church.
I thought I had to go to Dorothy's apartment on Quill Pen Street to pick up Mia. Unexpectedly, as soon as I walked out of the basement, I heard the familiar footsteps of a cat on the stairs:
"Oh, Mia!"
Shade walked quickly to the entrance hall, facing the staircase, opened his arms and happily caught the cat that jumped directly at him from the stairs. Mia enthusiastically "bumped" into Shade's chest, and then meowed to express her dissatisfaction.
"We came here after breakfast."
Dorothy's voice came from the corner of the upper staircase:
"Luckily, you've let it stay overnight at my place before, so it's relatively well behaved. But it's become a little depressed since lunch."
The blonde girl also hurried downstairs, looking at Shade with concern in her green eyes:
"Shad, what happened? When Miss Sylvia and Mia knocked on the door of my apartment building in the middle of the night yesterday, I was scared."
She hugged Shad and then went upstairs with Shad, who was holding the cat.
Xia De did not lie. After sitting down on the sofa, he told the story that in order to fight a strong enemy, he drank some unknown liquid, which caused him to have a fever all night.
Because Dorothy didn't know that Shade was actually facing the shadow of the evil god, she was not as worried about it as the ladies in Randall Valley. However, she was also puzzled as to how Shade, who had such a strong physique, could suddenly have a fever, and how the fever subsided so quickly.
Because I couldn't figure it out, I could only attribute it to the fact that Shade was hit by some unknown curse.
Dorothy was glad that Shad had no intention of going to Randall Valley again that day. She had been writing all day in her study on the second floor, and now that Shad had returned she thought she would go out with him.
And Shad happened to have something to do at the Dawn Church to see Father Augustus, so Dorothy could go with him. Of course, Shad's cat, who hadn't seen him all day, seemed to be worried that he would not see Shad for a long time again, so he insisted on going out with him this time.
Xia De felt that he already knew how to motivate the cat to go out.
Unlike Randall Valley, where the entire city is now in turmoil and a little panic, Tobesk has been peaceful and harmonious since the beginning of this year. It is even said that the crime rate is much lower, so much so that Shade's business since 1854 has been less than double digits.
There weren't many people in the church at dawn on Wednesday afternoon, and Father Augustus didn't have anything to do at this time. When he heard that Shade was looking for him, he knew what Shade was here for.
So he took a temporary leave from the church, and then took Shad and Dorothy away from Dawn Square and came to his potion workshop in the basement on the street opposite the Dawn Church.
"Speaking of which, Priest, Luvia and I were in the Randall River Valley. We went to the local Dawn Church and inquired about the news of Father Morpheus you mentioned."
While Reverend Augustus was taking out his key to open the door, Shad explained to Dorothy that he had made a bet and lost 10 pence.
The priest asked curiously:
"Have you seen him? When I was young, after returning to us from a business trip in Randall Valley, we rarely kept in touch because of the long distance and the inconvenience of sending letters. How is Murphys' health? You are not going to tell me bad news, are you?"
He was even a little worried.
"We didn't see him, but Father Murphys is doing well now. He has become the local bishop."
The three of them entered the basement with a special smell of magic potion. The priest was a little surprised:
"You've become a bishop? That's really good."
"He went to the hospital to visit patients. There was a plague in the area, so Luvia and I didn't see him. I may be busy for a while, but I will visit him again."
Shade said, and Dorothy asked curiously:
"Priest, you actually made a bet with others? What did you bet on? Can you tell me?"
"Why are you all so curious about this?"
The priest said dissatisfiedly:
"It's not a big deal, just a joke between friends. Otherwise, even if the shipping fee is more than 10 shillings, I would have sent the 10 pence long ago."
He was about to speak, but changed his mind:
"Young people, excessive curiosity is not a good thing. I want to teach you a lesson this time, so I won't tell you anything and let Xia De find out for himself. When Xia De really finds out and realizes how boring this is, you will regret the energy and time you have wasted on this."
But after he said this, Shad and Dorothy became even more interested in it.
Last Monday, Shad got the angel's finger bone from the haunted Watson Manor. Because of the devil's "teaching Oxenfort a lesson", he returned the finger bone to Priest Augustus, and then asked the priest to make a weapon that looked good but was actually useless to cover up Shad's behavior from the devil.
At that time, the priest said that it could be completed in a week. Now that Shade has come, the weapon can naturally be given to him.
"That's it. I'm good at making potions, not ironwork, so I asked Old John to help me design the exterior, and there are also mechanical designs inside."
While Dorothy was holding Mia and observing Priest Augustus's high-temperature calcination furnace, the priest handed the black iron box to Shad.
After Xia De opened it, he saw a dark silver hilt, which had a very metallic texture.
There is a groove in the center of the hilt, and two familiar-looking but definitely not genuine finger bones are inlaid crosswise in the groove. In addition, there is an elderflower pattern on the hilt, which looks quite gorgeous.
"Why is there only the hilt?"
Shade asked curiously.
"Because it's a mechanical retractable sword, the blade is divided into four sections inside the hilt."
The priest said, taking it out, patting the bottom of the hilt, and then swinging it violently. With a sound of "kacha", a section of the sword body sprang out from the head of the hilt. Now it can be regarded as a dagger with an exaggerated hilt size:
"And then this."
Augustus shook his arm again, and another section of the sword appeared, turning into a short sword. He shook it a third time, and the third section of the sword appeared. He shook it a final time, and it truly became a long sword. The sword was the normal color of steel, and there were grooves in the center of both sides of the sword, similar to bloodletting, and ancient runes about death and life were written on both sides of the grooves.
As the priest swung the sword, Shade could even see the flickering runes, turning the sword into gold:
The priest introduced:
"Pure steel sword. Tap the bottom to release the blade. If you want to retract it, press the bottom of the hilt against the ground or wall to push the blade back. You don't have to worry about the four sections of the sword being loosely connected or retracting on their own during a fight. Not only did I use a bonding spell, but I also specially refined a special metal curing liquid to prevent metal fatigue at the joints. However, you're just using it for show and to deal with a fight, so don't expect it to really play a big role... It can indeed fight against undeath to a certain extent, and it's no problem to deceive your opponent."