After saying goodbye to Old John, they definitely couldn't take Mia with them for the upcoming group operation, so Shad and Priest Augustus returned to No. 6 St. Teresa's Square together, then they went to have dinner and then went to Tobysk Railway Station in the north of the city together.
The priest had changed out of his usual clerical robes, while Shad was still dressed in his usual black coat.
As the sun set, the five people who came with a mission and a secret met at the entrance of Tobysk Railway Station. After looking at each other, they split into two groups and entered the railway station.
The light at the street corner quickly dimmed, making the shadows of the people passing by lengthen. In the dim sunset, the gas street lamps flickered a few times, and then quickly lit up from far to near, outlining the vertical and horizontal interweaving of the interior of the Northern Pearl under the night sky.
Trains come in and out one after another, and dusty travelers pass by strangers. Although they may never meet again in their lifetime, they still don't know how to cherish the miracle of meeting at this moment. The patrolling police officers walked around the station, but no one noticed the two ladies sitting on the bench on the far west side of the platform and the three men waiting at the edge of the platform.
The night was gradually getting deeper. The spring night was not very cold, but rather very gentle. It was just that the dust in the train station was a bit thick and the smell was unbearable, but these made the scene more realistic.
The dim yellow gas lamp illuminated the five people waiting. The slowly passing trains blew the corners of the three men's clothes. However, they, standing at the end of the platform, did not participate in the joys and sorrows of the travelers who were preparing to leave the station.
The steam locomotive that had just started was not going very fast. The levers that transmitted the power on the wheels made rhythmic sounds, and the whistle blew long and hard, as if it could make the land where people had lived for generations tremble.
Bill Schneider, wearing a brown coat and a black hat, looked at the train passing by. After the last car passed, he looked down at his silver pocket watch. The sound of the watch cover closing made the two people beside him and the two ladies sitting on the bench behind him look at him.
"It's seven o'clock, and there is still an hour. According to the requirements of the academy, I can now tell you the information about the relic and the trouble we may encounter."
He spoke softly, and led Shade and Father Augustus to the bench. Dorothy, who was wearing a black gauze dress, and Luvia, who was dressed in men's clothes, stood up to let Dr. Schneider sit down. Luvia had short hair that was tied into a short ponytail, which made her look more neutral.
The doctor opened the briefcase and confirmed that the Silencing Spell was still in effect before speaking briefly:
"The target of tonight's delivery is the remains of the Nameless One, an angel-level relic. The coffin is a specially made storage container for the academy. The first requirement of the mission is that the coffin must not be opened under any circumstances."
He passed the black and white photo of the coffin to the four people for review, and then continued:
"The earliest existing record of the remains of the Nameless One comes from a stone tablet from the Third Age, and its original origin is in the early Second Age. The relic was lost in the late Fifth Age, and it is suspected to be used as a seal of some kind of confrontation. About three years ago, the archaeological team of Saint Byrons discovered its traces in the New World, and successfully obtained it half a year ago, and completed containment a month ago. Passing through Tobesk, it is part of the containment procedures. What we need to do is to preserve the coffin until the next sunrise."
He paused and said to the crowd:
"I have rented a carriage and a warehouse in Tobesk West. We need to stay there for one night."
Tobisk West is the industrial area of Tobisk, where most steam factories and warehouses are concentrated.
"What is our enemy?"
Luvia asked.
"Two parts. One part comes from the characteristics of the relic. We cannot know all the characteristics of the relic itself. What we can know is that after nightfall, the relic itself will be in a relatively active state. During this period, its power may break through the constraints of the coffin, causing spatial dislocation and attracting monsters that humans cannot understand."
"Just kill the monsters?"
"No, we need to sprinkle salt on the coffin to strengthen the seal."
"That sounds like a weird superstition."
Father Augustus whispered.
"The other part of the enemy came from the New World. In addition to the academy, other people also found the remains. They didn't dare to directly fight the professors of the academy in the New World, nor did they dare to fight the academy's support fleet at sea. But after entering the heartland of the civilization of the Old World, the academy was constrained, which gave those ring sorcerers an opportunity."
The doctor handed this information to the other four people:
"But don't worry too much. The power of the academy cannot directly affect Tobesk. It is also difficult for those ring wizards from the New World to act in Tobesk. After all, this is the most important parish of the Five Gods Church. Therefore, the academy only recruited our ring wizard team to participate in the operation. This represents the academy's trust in us."
Dr. Schneider is optimistic:
"The enemies this time do not belong to the same organization. They may come together, but they may also be alone. After entering the northern territory of the Old World, Tobesk is the last place where they may succeed, so there is still some pressure tonight."
He let everyone look at the information, and after five people signed the documents respectively, the doctor passed the documents to the college through the pages of poetry manuscripts he carried with him to prove the formality of the process.
The next step was to wait. As the fortune teller in the team, Luvia also performed a divination for tonight's operation. Since it was related to the angel-level relic, the results were quite confusing and difficult to interpret, but at least she thought it was not bad news.
At 7:50 pm, three loud gunshots were heard from the east of the train station. Xia De turned and looked in that direction, but seeing that no one else was paying attention, he pretended not to hear it either.
For tonight's action, he not only brought the black time key, but also the night watchman. The long sword was not easy to hide, so Shade wrapped the scabbard in cloth and carried it with him as a long stick.
He was not worried about Mia because he could not go home overnight. Leicia had agreed to take care of the cat tonight. Dorothy had just given Shad a hint that Her Royal Highness had already met Mia at No. 6 St. Teresa's Square and successfully used Shad's coat to bring the unhappy cat to the Yodel Palace.
"Attention, the train has arrived early!"
The noise in the distance attracted the attention of Dr. Schneider. He raised his right hand and spoke. Then Father Augustus and the two ladies went to different directions to be on guard. Shade, who had the highest rank in the team, and the doctor continued to stand on the platform.
Soon, the whistling train stopped with smoke billowing, and white steam rushed up to the platform from the bottom of the carriage. This was a freight train, so there were not many people waiting at the station. In the steam, the door of the first carriage was pushed open from the inside. The huge carriage was quite empty, with only a wooden box placed in the middle of the carriage. Six ring sorcerers who seemed to be sleep-deprived surrounded the wooden box and looked at the platform with great vigilance.
They were all middle ring, and two of them were even eighth ring. Xia De was not sure who these people were, but they were definitely not correspondence students.
The people in the carriage nodded to the doctor, so the doctor boarded the carriage first to confirm his identity. After a while, he made a gesture to Xia De below, so Xia De also entered the carriage smoothly.
"Finally confirm the cargo information."
The bald man wearing a black hat, who was the leader of the group, said, he was tall and very strong. The two lowest-ranked five-ring warlocks opened the lid of the wooden box that was not sealed. After the lid was opened, there was hay inside. After the hay was pushed aside, a metallic black coffin was revealed.
The hand-held candles, the kerosene lamps, and the dim lights on the platform outside the carriage illuminated it. Although the light was weak, the extremely smooth black metal could reflect a very conspicuous light. The coffin lid could even be used as a mirror. In short, this was a polished, high-end coffin.
Doctor Schneider certainly didn't know what Shade thought of the thing in front of him, so he winked at Shade, and Shade, who had the strongest sense, reached out and touched the surface of the coffin. Although this coffin and the coffin on the central island of Green Lake were both made of black metal, the feeling after touching it was completely different.
Bang~bang~bang~
Even without closing his eyes, the Heart of Stone was automatically triggered at this moment, allowing Shade to feel the sound of his heartbeat, which was more obvious than the noisy sound on the platform. At the same time, he could not perceive any elements before, but he immediately sensed the whisper after contact.
It should be fine.
"She" said gently, so Xia De nodded, and the doctor came to the head of the coffin. After pushing away the weeds, he used the kerosene lamp beside him to see more than 30 densely packed slots on the surface of the coffin, but at this time only seven of the slots contained diamond-shaped gray crystals.
He picked one out and threw it to the bald man in the hat, who let out a long sigh:
"It's finally over. I won't accept this kind of mission again next time."
Each time a different team received the coffin, they had to take out one of the crystals and give it to the previous team. This was part of the reception ceremony, but Shade did not feel any changes to the coffin after the crystal left.
The bald man took a step back from the coffin and threw the gray cloth salt bag tied with a string in his pocket to the doctor:
"Keep it for yourselves. Don't use coarse salt. Use refined salt. There's no need to save this money."
After that, he did not say anything more to Shade and the doctor, but smiled and called his companions to jump off the carriage and leave. From their conversation, it seemed that they wanted to stay in the local area for a few days to do some sightseeing, and they rarely came to Tobesk.
After the group had gone far away, Shade closed the lid of the wooden box to cover the polished black coffin. The doctor waved his hand to the distance, signaling the priest Augustus who was on guard outside to find the porters who had been found in advance.
In fact, even Xia De could lift the coffin by himself, but now the workers in other carriages are unloading goods. If he walks out carrying a coffin, it would be equivalent to delivering the goods directly to the church.
There was no difficulty in getting the box and the coffin out of the station; the carriage hired by the doctor was parked outside the station.
Speaking of which, the style of the carriage was also familiar to Shade. On the first day he came to this world, the corpse carriers used a similar style of carriage to carry away Detective Sparrow's body, but this time the carriage did not have the holy emblem of the Church of Creation and Destruction hanging on it.
The coffin was placed in a narrow and closed carriage, but there was no driver in the carriage. For safety and security reasons, Dr. Schneider drove it himself. The driver's seat was wide enough for two people, and Father Augustus sat next to him.
Shad and Dorothy entered the carriage together. Because there was a coffin inside, there was no room for them on the sides, so they stayed at the back of the carriage.
In order to prevent the five people from being tied together because they were too concentrated when they encountered danger, Luvia did not get on the carriage. She would follow the carriage from a distance shortly after it left. In this way, no matter what happened, she could support the four people.
Of course, Luvia didn't just run after the carriage. She borrowed the bone whistle from Yin Luna that could call the skeleton horse that could move on any terrain. The bone whistle was originally only used by Yin Luna herself, but after she gained wisdom in the Pantanal and modified the bone whistle, she could also lend it out for a short period of time.
Thaumaturgy will call upon the power of shadow and death to hide Luvia's whereabouts in the darkness of night. This highly maneuverable mount will be very helpful for tonight's operations.
"See you later then!"
Shade waved to the purple-eyed girl, and Luvia turned and left. After everything was ready, Schneider told them to hold on to the carriage, and the carriage carrying the four people and the coffin set off. Shade and Dorothy held onto the side of the carriage, and looked back through the rear door of the carriage, which was not closed, watching the night and the street scene receding, while Dr. Schneider, who was sitting in the front coachman's seat, looked around very vigilantly.
Under the night sky, Tobysk is more peaceful and tranquil than ever. It seems to be just another ordinary night in the city. The arrival of spring has made people's nightlife last longer than usual, but as the night gets darker, there are almost no pedestrians on the road.
The fog in Tobesk tonight was thicker than the previous few days. The carriages running on the streets were like ghosts in the fog. The starry sky was obscured by the fog, but three moons could still be seen. Today was the waning moon phase for March, which was suitable for performing mind-body healing spells. Of course, although the moon phase cycle had an impact on Shade, a ring sorcerer with the "moon" as the core system, Shade had only ever felt the moon phase's enhancement of himself, and had never felt the suppression of certain spellcasting abilities by different moon phases.
"By the way, Dorothy, did you know that there will be an eclipse of the moon at the end of this month?"
Although the atmosphere was tense, Xia De still felt that it was a bit strange not to speak. So, while his eyes were still looking behind him, his mouth was already open.
The carriage was very small, and although there was a strange smell inside, the scent of Dorothy's perfume could also penetrate into Shade's nose. The perfume used by the writer was very high-end. Although Shade couldn't tell the name, he could feel that it was very similar to the perfume of Leicia.
"Lunar eclipse? Yes, I heard it from 'her'. For astronomical phenomena such as lunar eclipses and solar eclipses, the Church must communicate with the Kingdom in advance to prevent any attempt to disrupt social order due to astronomical phenomena."
Although she lowered her voice, Dorothy was still worried about being heard by the doctor and the priest, so she did not mention Leithia's name directly. She moved a little closer to Shad, and noticed that Shad's nose moved a few times, and a smile appeared on her face.
"It's like this. I plan to learn a powerful magic called the Black Moon Symbol during the lunar eclipse. The book says that during the lunar eclipse, except for a few moon magics related to destruction and ending, such as the Black Moon Symbol, most moon magics will be suppressed. This is the low point of power for a ring wizard like me. I really hope that I can stay at home safely on that day."
The writer turned her green eyes towards him slightly:
"Generally speaking, that means you will definitely not be at home that day. Speaking of which, the last Red Butterfly Day was the closing day of the City Equestrian Competition, which was the third day of this month. 21 days later is around the end of this month, so why not postpone it to the day of the lunar eclipse..."
Beginning with the phrase "The Day of the Scarlet Butterfly," Dorothy's voice dropped to a whisper:
"Lecia and I are very curious, when you are at your weakest, can we 'defeat' you... Oh, Lecia, don't laugh, don't you think so too?"
It seems that she is using her new power to communicate with Leicia at any time.
For some reason, "she" beside Xia De's ear chuckled softly, like a gentle breeze in the long night, which made Xia De's mind more focused:
"Dorothy, to be honest, I don't think the lunar eclipse has much impact on me. However, the people I know in the Randall Valley, and a nun with an eye patch, all think that the lunar eclipse is very important to me... The Red Butterfly Day is of course no problem, but the specific date of the lunar eclipse cannot be determined yet. Luvia told me that it will take a few days to confirm... Oh, why are we talking about this now? We are on a mission now."
Dorothy laughed again when she heard what Shad said. But just as she smiled, the two people who were close to the coffin saw that the scene outside the carriage suddenly changed from a nighttime street scene in the city to a dim moonlit path in the forest.
The entire transition process was incredibly smooth, as if the street really connected to the forest.
"Doctor, the scene has changed!"
Shade hurriedly reminded Dorothy and threw the bag of salt to her. The doctor's steady voice sounded from the front:
"The power of the relic has leaked. According to the information provided by the academy, we are now in Tobesk and the forest at the same time, in a state of spatial overlap. I will slow down now to prevent myself from hitting the wall. You should solve the problem as soon as possible."