When he returned home for breakfast, Xia De opened the letter that Miss Gold had sent this month on the dining table and read it while eating.
Last month, Miss Gold wrote to him saying that she was ill again. When Xia De wrote back, he also expressed his concern for her health. In this letter, Miss Gold admitted that she was probably ill from overwork. After all, she had been busy since she returned to the small town where her declining family lived last summer. Fortunately, she has recovered a little now.
In this month's letter, in addition to caring about Mia again and reminding Shade that spring is the estrus season for cats, Gold also mentioned the "little things" that were mailed along with the letter. The original text of the letter reads:
I found some interesting items in my ancestral home. They may be valuable, but they may also be worthless. What I lack now is not pounds, but time, so I give these to you as a souvenir. Thank you again for taking care of Mia, please don't be polite to me.
So out of curiosity, after dinner, Shade opened the heavy box. He originally thought that it was a rusty gold cup or an antique photo frame that was about to fall apart that Miss Gold had found in her ancestral home. But when he used a crowbar to open the box, he found that he had guessed wrong:
"I was wondering why it's so heavy."
The wooden box was padded with straw, and wrapped in the straw was a golden rectangular metal box. The four sides of the rectangular box were decorated with patterns of "smiling sun pattern", "sword and shield", "golden cat", and "woman's face surrounded by curved patterns". There was no pattern on the bottom of the box, but on the top was a prayer praising the sun written in dense small characters.
"It doesn't look like solid gold."
Xia De reached out and knocked on it, then laughed at his own fantasy. The words used on the box were something Xia De had never seen in any written book.
"What on earth is that?"
I put my palm against the box and touched it carefully. The coldness of the metal was very obvious, but there was no reaction at all.
The six sides of the entire rectangular box fit together tightly, and it is unclear how to open it. It is even larger than the "God's Gift Box".
Xia De checked it carefully, and finally, with "her" guidance, he saw that on the side with the "sword and shield" pattern among the four sides, there was a pressable position in the center of the metal shield pattern decorated with a sun pattern.
After gently pressing, the box actually made a sound of hinges moving. Shade immediately stepped back with Mia, who was looking around curiously, and was surprised to see that the box actually slowly opened automatically, with the four sides connected to the hinges, slowly falling in four directions, and the top was connected to the "sun pattern" side.
When the four sides fell completely, what appeared in the middle of the box was a set of stacked golden metal armor.
The complete set of armor includes a helmet, breastplate, hand armor, skirt armor, leg armor, long sword and a small hand shield, and of course, there are also some laces and chains connecting the parts.
These metal parts are supported by metal rods. In the unfolded box, they are arranged together to form a majestic golden lion, or a big cat. Even the tail is made of chains. If the parts of the armor were not so obvious, Shade would have thought it was a cat-shaped metal ornament:
"Oh, this is really beautiful... Angelic Level (Level 1) Relic Golden Holy Wardrobe (Chapter 727)?"
Xia De immediately thought of that rather famous relic, but that relic was kept in the Creation Church, and its appearance was not like that.
He touched the metal armor again, and after confirming that it was indeed an ordinary object, he pulled out Mia who was trying to get in.
"Why would there be such an item in Miss Goder's house?"
Xia De thought in surprise, but he liked this gift very much. Although he didn't know how to deal with this gift, he still liked it very much:
"It seems that I need to learn more about armor maintenance in the future... I wonder if Miss Carina's maids know this."
He smiled and stroked the armor. Without letting the big cat shape fall apart, he picked up the tiger-faced helmet that formed the cat's head and put it on his head. He then unexpectedly found that the size was just right:
"roar!"
He then yelled at Mia, and the cat looked up at him and continued to walk around the unfolded box.
So Shade took off his helmet and planned to close the box and put it away. He would find a suitable place for it when he had time. He was also very glad that no one else saw what happened just now.
"However, this should be considered decorative armor."
Because he had been in contact with many cold weapons, Xia De easily came to the conclusion. When he wrote back to Miss Gold, Xia De not only thanked her for this special gift, but also stated in the letter that he would take Mia to visit her in the town at the end of this windy month, or at the beginning of next month, April.
He had planned this trip since last year, and seeing that things in the Randall Valley were almost over, he arranged a long-distance trip for himself in the spring. This was one of the rare long-distance trips that a stranger would arrange after coming to this world, not for any major event, but simply to relax.
"When the time comes, do you want to take others with you on the trip?"
This is the only worry for the journey ahead.
After going out and putting the letter into the mailbox, Shad took the black metal dagger that the devil gave him last night and went to the Schneider Psychological Clinic on Roentgen Avenue in the eastern district of Tobesk.
Of course, after he called the carriage at the door of his house, he did not forget to bring the magician's escape box with him. When Dr. Schneider in the clinic heard that Shade had arrived with a big guy, he realized that he finally had time to act.
"Friday night."
The magician's escape box was temporarily placed in the doctor's bedroom on the top floor of the clinic. Shade informed the doctor of what happened last night in the reception room on the second floor used for weekly meetings:
"Since Oxenfurt asked me to meet him on Friday night, it must be because he didn't just want me to get the card. I think it's time to deal with Goethe. This matter has been delayed for so long, it's time to have an end."
"Friday night? No problem, but are you going to go to Oxenfurt Manor with me, or do you have other plans?"
The doctor asked hesitantly.
"You can't go with me, or the demon will most likely refuse to show himself."
Shade took out his Rhodes deck:
"I'll put this card here with you on Friday morning."
He drew out the Genesis Darkness:
"Doctor, you need to stare at this card all night long. Once you find that this card has disappeared, immediately enter the magician's escape box."
Although the Ringmaster has other ways to communicate remotely, it does not rule out the use of puzzles, seals, relics, and other dimensions to block remote communications. And Shade can unconditionally draw balance, darkness, death, and knowledge at any time and any place, which has a very high priority, so using this card as a code agreed with the doctor is the most appropriate.
"That's no problem, but are you going to bring the Demon Hunting Seal and the Night Watch with you to the manor? If not, I'm afraid you'll be in danger."
The doctor asked again, and Xia De thought about it and shook his head slightly:
"It's better to be cautious. I won't carry them myself, but I will arrange for others to carry them outside the manor, ready to rush in to rescue me at any time. I have some powerful friends in the Randall Valley."
"That makes me feel relieved. It's better to be cautious when dealing with demons."
The doctor nodded and took the dagger in the scabbard that Shade brought. The scabbard was an ordinary item that Shade found himself, and the relic was only the black dagger itself.
“So that’s it.
The Soul-Sucking Blade, a Keeper-level relic, is actually very close to the Sage-level. It is comparable to the most dangerous Keeper-level relic, the Keeper's Eye, which is the measure of the Keeper-level. The characteristic is that as long as the blade of the dagger is fully inserted into the body of an individual, the soul of the individual can be sucked into the dagger. "
The doctor pointed to the location of the knife handle:
"Depending on the souls absorbed, different faces will appear here and will grant different abilities to this weapon. However, the upper limit of absorption is three souls. If it exceeds this limit, the relic itself will go out of control and devour the soul of the user, allowing this sword to gain the ability to move freely. To some extent, it resurrects the ancient evil spirit - the Soul Sucker. Of course, sorcerers above the middle ring have a certain resistance to this kind of absorption, but if they are hit, they will still cause great damage to the soul in a short period of time."
At this moment, there is no soul on the hilt, which means that the knife now only has the most basic soul-absorbing ability.
"As for Stone Oxenfurt, you mentioned, even though he has become a demon, he is still not a ring sorcerer, and there is no life ring in his soul. Therefore, if he is seriously injured by the weapon you prepared to deal with the undead, and then attacked by this dagger, there is a high probability that his soul will be directly sucked away."
"Devil, you want to take Oxenfurt's soul through my hands?"
Shade guessed, but the doctor sneered and put the dagger back into the sheath:
"Of course not. The devil doesn't need to rely on anyone else to collect the souls of mortals who have signed a contract with it. Goethe is trying to be wary of you and confuse you, making you think that he wants to use you to absorb Oxenfurt's soul. In other words, he wants you to think that if you kill Oxenfurt with a dagger and then escape with the dagger, you can stop his next plot. No matter what you think, as long as you focus on this dagger, you have already lost."