If the decisive battle was not imminent, Shad would be willing to bring Luvia here to see the scenery, or even sit around the lights at night to talk about plans for the future and their respective ideals in life.
Do you really just want to talk about your ideal life with her here
"Oh, don't disturb my thoughts with such things when I am sighing."
Shade grumbled quietly in his heart and prepared to leave. He had to prepare for his visit to Oxenfurt Manor on Friday night, and maybe by the time he dealt with the demon, the Chosen One Ceremony would have begun.
Someone is coming.
"She" suddenly said in Xia De's ear. Xia De listened attentively but heard nothing.
It's not a human, but the traces of elements on its body are obvious, so it's not a stranger.
"Where is the other party?"
You don't have to move, she's coming.
As he spoke, a cloud of black smoke, made up of mosquitoes, flew up from the hole where the ladder was set up. On the highest floor of the watchtower, the black smoke formed the expressionless maid of Madam Hela Ossenfurt, who was wearing an old-fashioned yellow maid's dress.
Shade discussed the old housekeeper and maid of Oxenfurt Manor with Dr. Schneider, and the doctor believed that they were all lower-level demons, used by the Stone Mirror Demon to monitor the movements of the manor. The "lower-level demons" here refer to the alien demons themselves, not the ancient evil spirits of the Third Age.
"Um... hello."
Xia De raised his eyebrows in surprise:
"Did Oxenfurt send you to find me, or did the devil behind you send you to find me... It can't be Hela Oxenfurt who sent you, right?"
He couldn't understand why he met the other person here.
“Master Oxenfurt sent me to inform you of the time to visit the manor on Friday evening, no later than 7:30 p.m.
Xia De frowned slightly:
"Is he so worried that I'll break my promise? Don't worry, I'll be there on time."
"Besides, I have something to ask you."
The maid put her hands together in front of her body, which is a very common action for Tifa. It looks natural and elegant when Tifa does it, but it looks weird when the maid in front of me does it:
"To be precise, my butler and I decided to come to you before Friday."
"You guys? What's going on?"
Shade asked casually, placing a hand on the fence.
"We hope that you can liberate us."
She still had no expression on her face.
"What's the meaning?"
"We are no one's subordinates. The Devil Who Must Not Be Named, induced Stone Oxenfurt to use a ritual to summon us and bind us to guard his estate and his wife. We are tired of this work, so we hope you can free us."
Although people often say that you can't trust demons easily, this incident actually sounds like it's true:
"It sounds funny that demons can be bound by humans."
"You should understand that sometimes humans are scarier than demons."
Xia De agreed with the last sentence:
"So, you're using this opportunity to tell me this? I find it hard to believe you, but I'm curious, what do you want me to do? Kill Oxenfurt?"
"No, the restraints will not be undone so easily. You have to make him admit with his own mouth that we are free."
This doesn't sound very difficult, and Xia De immediately thought of many ways:
"To be honest, I don't have any grudges against you. If what you said is true, I do sympathize with you. But why should I do this? You are also demons. Maybe not as old as that guy, nor as evil as that guy, but you are still demons after all."
Xia De placed his hands on the fence, turned his back to the maid and looked at the sunset. He was not worried about being attacked from behind, as "she" was always helping Xia De watch his back.
“I understand that there is a price to pay for your freedom, and that’s only fair.
Because of the constraints of the contract, we cannot give you important information about the evil being and Stone Oxenfurt, but there is something we can tell you - Stone Oxenfurt took back the ring, medallion and sapphire earrings from you. This is part of the contract between him and the ancient evil being. With these three items that he would never find on his own, he can, to a certain extent, get rid of the constraints of the evil being and gain greater power. "
Stone Oxenfurt really wanted to rebel against Goethe.
Shade nodded, and the maid continued to speak in the wind at the top of the tower. "She" reminded Shade that the maid didn't even open her mouth:
"The true content of Stone Oxenfurt's contract with the evil existence lies in the heart. If you want to completely destroy Oxenfurt, you have to pay attention to the heart."
Xia De frowned slightly. This was indeed quite useful information. At least, it could provide him with ideas for the next step when he encountered difficulties:
"Is that all?"
The maid nodded slightly:
"When we are free, we will be able to give you more information."
"Well, I can't promise to do anything, but I can promise you that if there is a chance, I can try to get Stone Oxenfurt to give you freedom. Although I won't sign any contract with you, this is my promise. I am a very honest person."
Xia De said, turning around and holding out his hand. The maid hesitated for a moment, then also held out her hand and shook his hand. Xia De actually didn't promise anything. He decided to wait until Friday night to see what happened and then decide what to do.
"I have another question."
Shade looked at her and asked:
"You are telling me this here. Aren't you really afraid of being discovered by it?"
"It's busy with other things right now. Besides, even though I'm not as strong as it, I'm still a demon."
The maid said, pointing to the large lake:
"I know what you are looking for here. It was once sealed here. But when it broke free from the seal, it destroyed most of the things. If you want some clues, go to the lake. Maybe there are some things at the bottom of the lake that it has not noticed."
After saying that, she bowed slightly to Xia De, then turned into black smoke made up of mosquitoes again and flew towards the distant sky with a brilliant sunset.
"Going into the water again? It's winter now."
Xia De covered his forehead and complained softly. Then, in the setting sun, dancing red butterflies flew out of his body one by one, until his entire body turned into a swarm of butterflies and flew towards the red lake below.
Of course, after getting ashore, he did not forget to come back and close the door.
(Little Mia is running...)
"Is this what you found?"
Early Thursday morning, Benanis Manor, Randall Valley, Carsonrick United Kingdom.
Xia De stroked Mia and sat at the breakfast table. The long table was very lively. Except for Luvia who was called by the Prophet Association to help, and Margaret who was busy preparing for the banquet tonight, everyone was there, even Yin Luna. And it was Yin Luna who asked the question just now. She thanked the maid who brought her scrambled eggs and continued to talk with Xia De.
"Yes, I swam at the bottom of the lake for four hours last night! When I got ashore, it was almost ten o'clock in the evening!"
Shade said as he drank the hot soup. Miss Aurora, who was sitting opposite him and cutting bacon with a knife, smiled and said:
"If Miss Anat was here, she would definitely tell on you."
"So I'm going to say it while she's not around."
Shade said, shooing aside the cat that was sniffing around on the table, and continued talking, pointing at the pieces of gravel he had taken out.
There are three stones in total, the smaller one is about the size of a palm, the back is quite rough, and it looks like it was peeled off from something bigger, while the front is a smooth surface with a ring embedded in the center, with indentations and runes radiating outward from the ring.
Of course, since there is only a palm-sized piece left, we can only roughly judge that this is one of the cores of the seal:
"If I hadn't sensed the whispering element at that time, I wouldn't have been able to find these pieces of rubble."
As he spoke, he asked the maid for a clean knife, and then he lifted the ring out of the stone.
The ring is made of black iron, and the face is made of a darker, simple black iron. The face is rectangular, slightly convex around and concave inside, but the pattern inside the rectangle is convex.
The pattern was an ancient Third Age rune.
"Secret Keeper-level relic, Demon Hunting Seal."
Shade revealed the name of the relic:
"The symbol of demon hunters in the Third Age. The seal itself and the pattern printed on it can cause great damage to demons. But correspondingly, holding the seal will increase the probability of encountering demons. Moreover, if the demon hunting seal has not been held by a ring warlock for a long time, once it is held again, there is a high probability that they will immediately encounter demons."
Xia De played with the ring in his hand:
"Of course, since I've been in frequent contact with demons recently, the negative properties of the ring have not yet come into play."
"As I recall, you already have one."
Sitting next to Miss Benanis was Miss Carina, the red-haired duchess who got up the latest today. According to her, her birth and the struggles of her ancestors had determined that she didn't need to get up too early.
"Yes, I got it from an ophthalmologist in Tobesk. Tifa was with me at the time, acting as my detective assistant. After I got my ring, we immediately encountered the low-level demon 'Servant of Secrets' from the Dark Realm."
Shad nodded. That was one of the commissions left by Detective Sparrow. Along with the ring, he also got clues about the night watchman on Mount Sikar.
The black-haired maid smiled when she heard Shade mention her name, and Miss Sylvia, who also had beautiful black hair, waved her hand and let the stone that had lost the ring fly towards her:
"Let me see this. You said this is a sealing ritual set up by the ring sorcerer when the ancient Stonewell Kingdom was destroyed? I didn't expect that there are such powerful sealing masters in this era."