Yin Luna left after dinner that night, while Shade stayed in the manor. But when night fell and Shade and Miss Carina entered the bedroom, Tifa's eyes were still a little resentful.
When Shad woke up from his soft bed early Monday morning, he was ready to continue his investigation in the Green Lake area.
He took a carriage back to the city with Miss Carina who was going to the Yodel Palace. Before officially setting off, he did not forget the gift for this week.
To be honest, Shade had completely given up hope of taking out extraordinary items from God's gift box. But this week, he actually took out another relic.
"Hmm? Why does it feel so familiar? Yeah, it looks familiar too!"
What he took out of the box was a coin, made of black metal. On one side was a man in a robe ferrying people across the water, and on the other side were four lines of fine letters:
"Ghost iron money?"
He widened his eyes in surprise. This was the first time he had obtained a relic from God's gift box after the master key, half a year later. When he saw the coin, he immediately thought of what Resia and Dorothy did on Saturday night. He took a deep breath to calm himself, and then put the coin away.
This brings the number of special coins currently stored with Luvia to three.
Since coins are taken out, this week's task is also related to "coins". However, it does not require you to spend a fixed amount of coins, nor does it require you to make donations. Instead, you are required to fully record your daily expenses for at least two days of the week.
This was not difficult for Xia De, as he had the habit of keeping accounts. After all, if one lived alone and did not manage his wallet well, he would easily fall into an embarrassing situation.
After packing up his belongings and leaving the cat, which was unwilling to move, at home to watch over the house, Shad went to the Green Lake area again.
"Oh! It's raining!"
As soon as he came out of the back door of Green Lake Hotel, the damp smell in the air hit him in the face. He felt the rare chill in spring and heard the sound of rain falling.
Of course, among the toys that Xia De carried with him was an umbrella. When he opened the umbrella and entered the alley, he was very glad that the boots he wore today were waterproof.
He was a little worried about the boy John in the trash can, but the boy was not in the trash can at this time, and the puppy was nowhere to be seen. So Shad put food, a cotton coat, an umbrella and a piece of canvas to cover the rain in the trash can.
He planned to take this route home today and see if the boy had returned.
"When Carina comes here, let her arrange to send John to the Green Lake City Welfare Home..."
Although I know that welfare institutions in underdeveloped border industrial cities are likely to have their own tricks, having a house to live in and a bed to sleep in is at least better than settling in a garbage can. Among the homeless and beggars, the boy's living environment is also the worst.
Although there was no fog in the city during the rainy weather, the gloomy sky made the city even more lifeless. Walking from the alley to the street, apart from a horse-drawn carriage passing by on the opposite side of the road, there were only two pedestrians walking with umbrellas at the corner in the distance.
The rustling sound seemed to be the only sound in the city. This lonely and depressing environment made Xia De, who was already in a bad mood because of seeing the ghost iron coin a few minutes ago, even worse.
He walked into the Green Lake Hotel in the rain holding an umbrella, and as expected, there were not many guests on the first floor of the hotel on that rainy Monday morning.
Mr. Thorn Green and Miss Helena Green were not there, and the middle-aged waiter behind the counter was the hotel's waiter. He called over a young waiter who took the dripping umbrella from Shad's hand and brought him a dry towel.
After thanking him, Shad asked for a cup of hot tea, then walked to the table below the wall with a painting of Green Lake.
The lady with light brown hair was sitting there quietly, opening the newspaper and reading the news.
"Good morning, it's a bad day today."
Shade sat down opposite her, so the newspaper was moved away, revealing that delicate face. Megan Edwards smiled, and it was obvious that she was in a good mood to see Shade so early in the morning:
"Yes, it has been raining since last night. When I got off the carriage in my high heels, I wondered if I had put on the wrong shoes."
Xia De resisted the urge to look under the table to check if there was any mud on the other person's shoes, and thanked the fat maid who brought the teacup:
"You've been here for a long time? Why didn't you tell me you were coming in advance?"
"because... ... "
The newspaper was put down, and the witch placed one arm flat on the table in front of her. She leaned forward slightly to get her face closer to Shade:
“I believe we have such a tacit understanding.”
She blinked at Xia De, an attitude completely different from when they first met. It was obviously related to the fact that Xia De risked his life to save her after encountering the Mirror Man last time.
"Understanding? So, the investigation into Rotten-Eye Barry has yielded results? It's only been a day."
"Don't underestimate the influence of Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals in the local area. Although I don't come back often, my... yes, my industry has long attached its tentacles to the family's hometown."
"Your inheritance?"
Shade blinked:
"The mysterious controller behind Paradise Island Pharmaceuticals turns out to be you."
"This is nothing to brag about. Yes, it's not worth mentioning."
Megan shook her head slightly, and picked up the silver teaspoon in the teacup and stirred it slightly. At the same time, Shad felt the badge on his chest suddenly radiate heat, and the heat steadily increased until it reached a level that was almost tightly attached to Tifa.
There was no one walking around, and Megan just turned the spoon and looked at him with a smile.
It is indeed a witch's unique power. In her body, another soul is revealed. But if you want to determine the relationship between the two souls, you need to get in closer contact with her soul.
This was not the first time that Shade had encountered this situation. Leicia and Dorothy often did this, especially at night, so that everyone could feel involved. And this relatively easy soul transformation also meant that the lady's "injury" should have improved a bit.
"There is another thing that deserves more attention than Barry's rotten eyes."
Megan, or Audrey Edwards, obviously didn't know what Shade was feeling at the moment. She squinted her eyes slightly, listening to the sound of raindrops hitting the glass in the distance. On this spring morning that was a bit dull because of the rain, she enjoyed the feeling of having such a close conversation with a man she liked for the first time since she became a witch:
"Since we left Central Island last time, it seems that overnight, everyone knew about the Thirteenth Ring Hidden Mirror Man's appearance in the Green Lake area. The Five Gods Church, the three major colleges, the Prophet Association... If it weren't for the front page of the newspaper still being about the Pantanal border negotiations, I would even suspect that someone had written the whereabouts of the Hidden Mirror Man directly in the newspaper."
Shade laughed:
"This is a good thing. Cang Jingren will definitely keep a low profile recently, so the possibility of us encountering him again will be less. Oh, I did tell my teacher about him, but I don't know how the church knew about it. We shouldn't underestimate the Five Gods Church. They must have special intelligence channels."
The sorceress remained silent, watching Shade continue to turn the teaspoon:
"Not only is there the Thirteenth Ring Warlock of the Mirror Association, I also have other big news. After we separated last time, I was planning to investigate who the first Lord of Edwards, Klein Edwards, was, but someone gave the answer in advance."
Xia De raised his eyebrows, and seeing the lady opposite him with an expression of "ask me quickly", he took out the twenty-sided dice of his own destiny and placed it on the corner of the table, and then said:
"The real name of your ancestor is Laplace Klein Howard. More than two hundred years ago, he was a traitor to the Prophet's Association and a genuine thirteen-ring fortune teller."
"How do you know?"
The shaking of the teaspoon stopped abruptly. She asked in surprise amid the sound of rain outside the window:
"I just heard about it from a friend on Thursday night. Your source of information is so well-informed?"
"I have an acquaintance in the Prophet's Association... a very beautiful female fortune teller."
"Another sorceress~"
Then the brown-haired lady showed a teasing expression on her face. She had heard from Shad that he had trysts with different ladies, so she was not surprised that he had "good friends":
"In this way, our family's affairs have involved two thirteen-ring warlocks. I don't know whether I should feel sad or honored."
She sighed:
"Since you know so many things, do you know what's happening in the local area these days? The local church and the Prophet's Association have already sent people to the island, but of course they couldn't find out anything, just like what happened a hundred years ago. However, the church and the Prophet's Association will send people to this area in the future. The Green Lake area has already shown signs related to the Chosen One, and the church will send at least three Thirteenth Rings."
There were no thirteenth-ring warlocks stationed in Green Lake Parish originally. There were not many thirteenth-ring warlocks, and it was obvious that this place was not very important.
"The Prophet Association might send some extraordinary people, so we must land on the island again as soon as possible, otherwise we may not have another chance in the future."
Shade said, and the witch nodded:
"I'm still short of some of the materials I need. We'll leave tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. This is probably our last chance to get to the island easily. I hope two keys will be enough."
The first key was obtained from the blacksmith together with Shad, but Shad still didn't know which doors these keys corresponded to.