The dawn sunlight penetrated the thick fog that shrouded the Pearl of the North and shone on the city that was about to wake up.
On the Tyrare River that runs through Tobesk, small boats carrying cargo quietly follow the current from upstream to downstream. The cable-stayed Disk Bridge can be seen not far away, and it is only a 30-minute walk from St. Teresa’s Square.
Workers ready to go to work have appeared on the small dock by the river. On another ship in the distance, the sailors who have just woken up are preparing to clean the deck before breakfast at the urging of the captain.
No one noticed that the fog around the inconspicuous cargo boat was thicker than the fog in other areas. That was because the golden holy grail next to the metal black coffin placed on the deck was constantly producing fog.
This Holy Grail, obtained from the island in the middle of Green Lake after purifying the earth, has the power to produce fog. The fog produced from the Holy Grail has properties very similar to those of the fog on the island.
Although the fog was not very thick, it was difficult to penetrate. Moreover, within the range of the fog, most spatial forces would be disturbed.
Dr. Schneider, who hadn't slept all night, stood on the deck and looked at the scenery on both sides of the river. The alert expression on his face did not disappear. On the coffin beside him, the silver cat pushed away the orange and white cat countless times. Mia showed an aggrieved expression on her face, as if she didn't know why Shade hated her.
"Shad, stop bullying your cat."
"First, I didn't bully it. Second, it's not my cat."
The silver cat spoke to Dorothy, and the writer smiled and continued to draw the two cats "fighting" in pencil in her notebook. Although she could use a camera or her own magic, she preferred the feeling of drawing with her own hands.
She said this on purpose, because the way Shade complained after turning into a cat really moved her heart. If she didn't want to finish the painting as soon as possible, she would have wanted to keep petting the cat like she did in the pumpkin carriage during the transfer two hours ago.
"That's why I didn't want to tell anyone that I learned Transfiguration. Oh, Mia, I know it's almost time for breakfast, I won't forget it!"
The silver cat continued to complain, but the indifference and emptiness in his heart caused by the contact of his eyes with the "nothingness" had improved a lot. The relic failed to erase Shade because the divine status in Shade was far higher than it. But facing the characteristics of the relic head-on, Shade could not be unaffected at all.
He would have to go home and sleep for four hours, using the "Moon Dream" to clear the last bit of discomfort in his heart.
Father Augustus yawned as he walked out of the cabin. He couldn't help but smile when he heard the voice of the silver cat on the coffin, but he wanted to say something else:
"Bill, I've slowed down the ship. Do we need to put away Shad's Holy Grail? I'm worried that the people arranged by the academy to receive the goods won't be able to find us."
"No need to put it away. I just contacted the academy, and they will send someone very reliable to pick it up. Besides, the reward for this mission has been increased, and the academy didn't expect that the relic would almost break through containment."
The doctor said, stretching towards the first rays of morning sun, and the good news of salary increase made everyone smile.
However, Luvia had the faintest smile on her face. She stood on the other side of the coffin, first looking down at the black staff in her hand, and then at the silver cat that Shad had transformed into.
Although it was her first time seeing and using this relic, she felt strangely familiar with the Staff of Yggdrasil. It was as if she had been using this staff for a long time. The "Sunshine Gun" attack just now was not her magic, but a magic she performed with Yin Luna's "Sunshine Gun Brooch". However, even Shade didn't know that this relic could even enhance the effects of alchemical items.
"Although I've already praised you a little while ago, your Transfiguration skills are indeed amazing."
The purple-eyed girl said to Shade, seeing the two "cats" playing, and after holding the staff tightly, her depressed mood was obviously much better. She also reached out and touched Shade's cat, and then as expected, she heard Shade's complaints again.
"Although we all knew that you would gain cat-related abilities sooner or later, I didn't expect that the first thing you gained was the ability to turn yourself into a cat. I originally thought that it would be to turn your cat into a human."
"Oh, Luvia, what do you think I am?"
Shade said, and the other four smiled.
"Where did you get this staff? We originally thought that the only weapon you used was the sword."
Luvia asked again, asking quite generously. Shade had already prepared the answer, so he pushed Mia who was still trying to get closer and said:
"I can't tell you that for now, but it's related to my Time Key adventure."
He wasn't lying, but it was clear that Luvia and the others had a different understanding of "time adventure" than what Shad had intended.
The purple-eyed girl nodded and didn't ask any more questions. The squatting silver cat looked at Luvia's silhouette and asked "her" in his heart:
"What was the 'Sunlight Gun' Luvia used to suppress the relics before leaving the warehouse? I even thought it was Yin Luna. The effect of that attack was very close to Yin Luna, but Luvia only has five rings."
Because she is the real owner of the staff.
"She" smiled gently, and then reminded:
Someone is coming, downstream, on the surface.
"There are people coming, on the water, downstream from us."
The silver cat spoke, and the doctor glanced at the pocket watch in his hand:
"The timing is perfect. Don't be nervous, they are sent by the academy. But they are probably not from the academy themselves, after all, we have to avoid being misunderstood by the church."
As they were talking, the others also saw a figure appearing on the water in the morning fog. They originally thought that there was also a team of people coming to receive the goods, but they didn't expect that there was only one person stepping on the water.
Looking more closely, the lady in the dark blue dress is not stepping on the water. Instead, every time she takes a step, ice appears under her feet to provide her with a place to stand.
As the team leader, Dr. Schneider immediately walked to the edge of the boat to greet the other party. Dorothy, who had put away her pencil, noticed a surprised expression on the silver cat's face.
"Xia De, what's wrong? Isn't the other party the receiver?"
She tried to keep her voice down and be more alert.
"The opponent has twelve... No, thirteen rings!"
As he said that, he raised his paw and kicked the night watchman down. Dorothy caught it and threw it neatly into the cabin, then asked in confusion:
"Thirteen rings?"
"Yes, my perception is very sharp. I am indeed the thirteenth ring."
The lady in the mist on the water surface turned into snowflakes and dissipated. Then the snowflakes condensed on the deck, revealing the figure of the lady.
She looked to be about the same age as Miss Carina—young in appearance, with black hair and teardrop-shaped sapphire earrings in each ear.
Compared to the slightly tired five members of the team, she looked very energetic. She even looked at the two cats on the coffin with a smile, and looked at the two cats one by one:
"Warm sun and gentle moon, I guess you are Danister's student, Mr. Hamilton who keeps a cat."
She said to the silver cat, and the Shade cat nodded and pushed Little Mia:
"Yes, ma'am, I wonder if you are..."
He actually already had the answer in his mind, but he just didn't dare to believe it.
"The Winter Choir, Elsa Iceberg. Of course, people often refer to me as 'The Winter Singer.'"
She said modestly, and now, except for the cat, the other four people hurriedly expressed their respect to the lady:
"Ma'am, I didn't expect you to be the one to pick up the goods."
This lady appeared at the end of the Battle of Randall Valley, fighting against the Bloodthirster Hermons together with Sister Develyn. However, the distance was too far, the sky was dark and there was a blizzard, so Shade could not see her face clearly. As for the surname "Esberg", it is the same as the surname of Duke Esberg of the Far North Garrison of the Third Legion of the Royal Army of Draerion. At the end of last autumn, one of Leicia's sisters married the son of Duke Esberg.
I just don't know if these two "Asperger's" are related.
The four members of the team all knew that the Winter Choir had a close relationship with St. Byron's Comprehensive College. After all, this was part of the college's general education, so it seemed reasonable for her to take over. However, the doctor still asked in awe:
"Ma'am, may I ask why the academy asked you to come here? I am not questioning the academy's decision."
"Your principal and librarian have been busy with other things recently. But for safety reasons, this dangerous relic must be monitored by the Thirteen Rings when it passes through the heart of the civilization of the Old World. I shouldn't have been there, but was waiting far away outside Tobesk, but the noise you made last night was too loud."
She looked up at the sky in the western part of Tobesk. Under the morning sun, the dark clouds had not completely dissipated:
“Although the relic has been controlled, in order to prevent similar situations from happening again, Saint Byrons asked me to come and check it out and temporarily be responsible for the next stop of the relic’s transportation.”
She walked to the coffin, and Shade jumped down neatly. The silver cat turned into a silver ball of light, and Shade's body recovered in the ball of light.
He also carried Mia down, and the black metal coffin shook slightly. Then, the lady in the dark blue dress put her hand on it and said to the five people after a moment:
"You have done well. The power of the relic has indeed been returned to the containment procedures."
She took a grey crystal from the coffin and handed it to Shade, then tapped the coffin twice, and a layer of ice rustled and froze the black coffin. The whispering element that was still slightly perceptible was completely calmed down.
The five of them finally breathed a sigh of relief, which meant that the mission was over. As for the mission rewards, they would be distributed uniformly by the academy later. At this moment, Xia De completely understood why the previous team had shown such a thankful expression when they received the goods at Tobesk Railway Station last night.
Although the mission lasted less than twelve hours, the night was no easier than those of Shade's adventures.
"Although you will definitely submit a report to your college about what happened before and after the relic went out of control last night, I still want to ask, to what extent did the remains in the coffin go out of control last night? Did it sit up? How did you deal with it?"
The doctor and the priest looked at each other, and then Shad coughed:
"For my part, I was the closest to it last night. After the power of the remains was affected by the prayers of an unknown eight-ring warlock, the coffin lid was blown away along with me and my cat. Then I noticed that the roof of the warehouse disappeared. Fortunately, there was white ash everywhere in the coffin, and the flying ash affected my vision, so I didn't see the whole picture of the thing in the coffin."
"Your academy deliberately filled it with a large amount of white ash to affect the sight of the remains... What happened next?"
The sorceress in the dark blue dress asked again.
"It sat up, yes. It sat up by holding onto the edge of the coffin, so the warehouse wall and the outside of the wall were affected. We were so worried at that time. If we were caught in sight, we might disappear too."
Xia De said, patting Mia's head:
“But fortunately it lay back down by itself. I’m not sure what happened, but it seemed like someone passed by the outside of the warehouse at that time.”
"Yes, someone passed by, a man with a long sword."
The doctor agreed that this was the excuse they came up with after discussion.
"is that so?"
The sorceress obviously didn't quite believe it, but Shade said:
"We'll go into detail in our report later, but the important thing to note right now is that everything is fine and the artifact is back in containment."
"That's true. Besides, you correspondence students at St. Byron's always have a lot of secrets."
Miss Asperger nodded and asked:
"What did that unknown Eighth Ring Warlock say when he caused the relic riot?"
Dorothy said:
"It's something like praising the non-existent nothingness."
Because she was worried that the coffin would riot again, she only said the first sentence.
The lady in the dark blue dress frowned slightly:
"This is different from what I thought. They probably don't want to rob the coffin, but they want to make the coffin go out of control inside Tobesk... You probably don't know what this is. The remains of the nameless angel-level relic. There is indeed a corpse lying in the coffin, but the corpse is alive and has a small amount of intelligence. Everything that is caught by its sight will be sent into nothingness.
Therefore, once the power of the relic breaks through the containment measures, it will cause large-scale changes in space... If you just want to snatch it away, you will never deliberately let it get out of control, which is not good for anyone... I will report this matter to Saint Byrons. Is someone trying to frame Saint Byrons? Oh, this has nothing to do with you. You have completed your mission very well."
She waved her hand and the black coffin wrapped in ice flew up. But before she left, she turned her head and looked at Xia De:
"I heard from Miss Danister, Mr. Hamilton, that you have something to talk to us about?"
She suddenly asked, and Xia De, who was still immersed in the information of the relic, was startled:
"Yes, I do want to..."
He wanted to ask whether the Impermanence of All Things·Space was in the other party's hands, but he didn't want to ask the leader of the Winter Choir directly, which would make his behavior extremely strange.
Seeing Shade hesitate, the sorceress nodded:
"I will take this coffin away as soon as possible. If you want to communicate with us, I will send someone to find you after a while."
As she spoke, she nodded to the five people in turn, then jumped lightly from the edge of the deck onto the water. Then she stepped on the ice under her feet, carrying the coffin, and left downstream in the morning mist.
Shade bent down, picked up the Holy Grail on the deck and put it away. The doctor yawned:
"This night is really long."
He waved to the other four people:
"It's already Friday morning, let's leave for now. I'll distribute this harvest to you at the meeting tomorrow afternoon. I have an appointment with a patient at nine this morning. He's an insomniac. I really hope he can be as tired as I am now... I have to return this boat soon."
The doctor had also prepared the boat in advance, as he had anticipated the possibility of moving it from the warehouse. Even if the boat was discovered, he still had a third plan to implement, as the doctor fully understood that any accident could happen.
"It's really interesting. Every time we had a group operation before, the doctor was the one who got in trouble. But this time, the doctor was actually intact."
Luvia seemed to have regained her normal composure and smiled before they each left.
Everyone else laughed, but the doctor looked thoughtful and turned to Shade.
"This shows that it was indeed the right decision to let Xia De join. Next time, why not..."
"Don't expect it to happen again anytime soon!"
Dorothy said immediately, looking toward the city which was gradually awakening from its slumber:
"This time it's exciting enough."