According to the original plan, after Shade had a short rest, the group set out to leave the camp. Dorothy was not good at riding horses, so Shade rode her on horseback, while Tifa and the other two maids rode the other three horses.
The group spent a rather leisurely afternoon in the suburbs in early spring. Dorothy, who was not good at riding horses, took Shad to a deserted country dirt road and invited him to a horse race, and agreed that the loser would agree to a request from the winner.
No matter how stupid the stranger was, he knew that he could never win this kind of race without her reminder. Sure enough, when Dorothy crossed the finish line first, the wish she made in Shad's ear was:
"Knight, I will stay at your house tonight."
In addition to horse riding, they also found a piece of woods that did not belong to anyone nearby, had a picnic near a stream, and drank afternoon tea. The maids were invited by Shade, and after preparing tea sets and snacks, they all sat on the tablecloth.
Dorothy was in high spirits and invited them to talk about their stories and how they became Miss Carina's maids and followers. She also talked about her life as a single person after graduating from a women's college and before becoming a famous writer.
It was then that Shad learned that after Dorothy graduated and moved out of Louisa's house, she had lived in a slightly difficult period because of no income. If the current landlady had not been willing to reduce the rent so that she could continue to live there, she would have moved out of the apartment on Quill Pen Street long ago.
This is why Dorothy, even though she has made a lot of money from Hamilton Detective Stories, still doesn’t think about moving to a better place. In her words:
"I won't move out of there unless I get married. Oh, even if I get married, I will continue to rent it and go there to have tea with my friends on weekdays, or store some non-essential items."
When he said this, he glanced at Xia De, and the maids all smiled.
The lazy cat was not happy about being taken out of the house and the tent, but with a snack for afternoon tea, he was willing to walk on the tablecloth, but still resisted going near the stream.
Shade talked to the girls about his plan to visit Miss Mia Gold, and Tifa asked curiously:
"By the way, what does Miss Godd look like?"
Although Xia De and the distant lady had maintained correspondence for more than half a year, he still had no idea what Miss Gold looked like.
"I did mail a photo of me and Mia to that lady."
He said, and Dorothy joked:
"Maybe the lady saw your photo and decided to let Mia stay with you for a while. This way, she has a reason to continue to develop her 'pen pal' relationship with you."
This joke amused everyone except Shad, but it also gave Shad a great revelation. He had always suspected that there was something wrong with the commission left by Detective Sparrow. Now that he was about to go to that remote town far away, he would naturally have an answer soon. But if this trip failed due to some reasons, he could ask for Miss Gold's photo to determine whether she was normal.
"But how am I supposed to ask for a picture of a single heir to an ancient family for no reason?"
Xia De was troubled again.
Winter came and went quickly. Although it was still early spring, the wind in the countryside outside the city was already warm. Shade chatted with the girls about their lives. Even the maids were willing to reveal their troubles to Shade.
Dorothy seemed to be intentionally directing the topic to Tifa, so Tifa satisfied Dorothy's curiosity. While the five people and a cat were eating jam sandwich cookies, the black-haired maid said:
"Miss knows most of what happened between me and Shade."
The blonde girl smiled, while the other two maids, Miss Rachel Draven and Miss Courtney Michelle, giggled.
"What exactly did you do?"
Dorothy asked again, pushing Shad to get him further away, and then letting Tifa whisper the answer in her ear, something that even Lecia didn't know.
So, Tifa blushed and whispered a few words in her ear. Dorothy's face, which was lightly made up, also showed a faint blush. She bit her lips and let Tifa continue to talk while looking at Shade, which made Shade want to dive into the stream in front of him and hide under the water to avoid those eyes.
Leisurely time always passes quickly. When the sun sets, the brilliant sunset illuminates the five people by the stream, and each of them is shrouded in a layer of golden glow.
Before leaving, Xia De took out the camera from the basement as a toy. Seeing the beautiful scenery, he invited the girls to take a group photo together.
Time-lapse photography technology already existed in this era, but the second-hand equipment that Shad bought from the Steambird Daily newspaper did not have such a function. Fortunately, the ring wizard also had the skills of a ring wizard. Shad asked Tifa to hold Mia, and the four girls stood in position together, while Shad prepared alone behind the camera. He pressed the button of the flashlight and pressed the shutter of the camera at the same time.
Then he put down everything in his hands and came to the girls:
“Get ready!”
He said, and then touched the immortal ring on his finger:
"Breath of Time!"
As the gray airflow was inhaled into the nasal cavity, the state of the camera and the flash was accurately restored to the moment when the photo was taken dozens of seconds ago.
As the lights flickered again, the five people and the cat were projected onto the film together.
Afterwards, they returned to the "Edward III Arena" to meet up with the other maids, and then took a carriage back to Carina Manor.
The Duchess had returned by now. She was a little dissatisfied with Tifa for returning so late, but when she saw that she brought Shade with her, her dissatisfaction disappeared.
Shad and Dorothy had dinner at the Duke's manor, and after dinner Shad talked with the witch in the study about the future negotiations between the two countries. Although the witch wanted Shad to stay tonight so that he could go directly to the arena tomorrow morning, Shad still wanted to go home.
By the time the carriage took them to St. Teresa's Square, it was already eight o'clock that evening. Considering that there would be a physically demanding event like horse racing tomorrow, Shade did not plan any evening activities. Although Dorothy did not participate in the competition today, she was also a little tired. So after washing up, the two locked Mia in the closet and went back to the bedroom to rest.
Just an hour later, around nine o'clock in the evening, Xia De, who was lying flat on the bed hugging the blonde girl's slender waist, heard the sound of a door opening downstairs. Soon, the purple-eyed girl appeared at the bedroom door.
She obviously didn't expect Dorothy to be there tonight. She thought Dorothy would not stay overnight because Shad had to compete tomorrow. When she looked at the scene in the bedroom without lights on, she happened to meet Dorothy's eyes, with her long golden hair draped over her snow-white shoulders.
"Good evening, Lu-Luvia!"
The writer felt a little exhausted, but she still greeted politely and intermittently.
"Um... need help?"
The purple-eyed girl asked with a slightly red face. After getting a definite answer, she walked into the bedroom and joined the two intertwined figures.
(Little Mia is running...)
"So, did you guys also know that Shade is going to be competing all day today?"
At the dining table on Tuesday morning, the Duchess, who had come into town early for a meeting, spoke sternly to the two girls who looked very good.
A sumptuous breakfast was prepared by the maids, and Shade and Mia sat opposite the witch.
"I thought he went home and rested yesterday."
The witch added that what really made her angry was that Shad refused to stay at her manor last night, and the surprise she saw on the bed in her bedroom when she arrived at No. 6 St. Teresa's Square this morning.
"This shouldn't have any effect on Shade, Carina. You should trust our knights."
Luvia said, patting Shade on the shoulder:
"When you woke up this morning, didn't you see that he was still quite energetic?"
So the witch blushed and stopped "scolding":
"Even if it doesn't affect you, you can't... Did you know about the assassination of Earl Lewis yesterday, Shade? Come to think of it, it wasn't you..."
Today's event is horse racing, and the schedule is still divided into morning and afternoon. In the morning, all the players set off together, starting from the "Edward III Arena", and run a long-distance cross-country horse race along the pre-planned track. It is expected to take at least an hour to complete the whole course, and the finish line is also in the Edward III Arena.
Because it is a horse race around the surrounding area, you can watch the race with a telescope from a high place in the arena to know the leading players at every moment. For contestants like Shade, this event is not only a test of their own riding skills, but also the endurance of the horse and their own ability to recognize the road.
Although the course is a dirt road in the countryside rather than a completely wild one, and road signs and ribbons are placed at every fork in the road to indicate the direction, there are still runners who run in the wrong direction every year. Last year, someone even rushed all the way to the city of Tobesk, and by the time he was reminded, he was almost at Silver Cross Avenue.
Because horses were involved, some issues arose before the race even started.
During the preparation stage, when Shad was checking the horse gear in the stable outside the tent, he heard the news that the horse of Baron Ordu from Lyon County suddenly had diarrhea and was now unable to move.
"It happens every year. Some of the horses of the favorites will have various unexpected conditions before the race. Last year, before the race, a horse was walking on the road and suddenly foamed at the mouth and died."
The middle-aged groom with a scar on his left eye said to Xia De, and Xia De asked:
"Is there no one who cares about this kind of thing?"
"Of course someone will investigate later, but the game will be over by then, right?"
The groom continued to comb the hair of the bay horse that was said to have the bloodline of the "Ulduar Mountain Wild Horse". This was specially prepared by Miss Carina for Shade:
"But you don't have to worry about this. With the Duke behind you, no one would dare to use this method against you."
The middle-aged groom said with a smile, and then lowered his voice a little:
"Usually only outsiders will have bad luck. This is considered a 'tradition' of the festival and the competition."