"I'm not unwell, I'm... Luvia, thank you for helping me last night..."
Dorothy pursed her lips and said this, and Shad knew very well that she must be communicating with Leicia in her heart, complaining about Her Royal Highness's behavior on Saturday night.
"Gift!"
"Meow!"
The mask was taken out of the gift box by Shade. It was a white cat mask that could cover the entire face and was fixed to the face by ropes.
Mia seemed to be frightened by the mask and jumped away from her goat milk bowl. But she soon realized that it was not a living creature, so she stretched out her paw and patted the mask twice.
“Ordinary items.”
Xia De shook his head and put the mask aside:
"As expected, we can't always expect to get relics like the Master Key, Ghost Iron Coin, etc."
Luvia looked at the mask and suddenly asked:
"Do you remember the result of my divination for you before you set out for Green Lake for the first time?" (Chapter 1581)
"Of course I remember, cat, twins."
Luvia thought for a moment:
"You've pretty much figured out what the twins mean. But what does the cat represent?"
"Deputy, will I be able to obtain the 'Cat Transformation Technique' after this?"
Shade asked, but then shook his head. Although his recent adventures had a lot to do with "cats", in fact, most of this was preparation for the "seven-day trip". In the Green Lake area, even if he didn't have the cat-transforming technique, it wouldn't cause him too much inconvenience in his movements.
"Yes, if your divination result was correct, what does the cat represent?"
So the time came to Tuesday, the day before the lunar eclipse, the 29th day of the Sowing Month.
When he arrived at Green Lake Hotel early in the morning, Shade learned from the newspaper that Miss Carina and her group would arrive in the city tomorrow night or the morning after tomorrow. This was just as planned, and the delegation did not encounter any attacks or accidents on the way.
Shad did not see Megan in the hotel early that morning, but she had someone deliver a letter to tell Shad to get ready to land on the island tomorrow, Wednesday, and other new news.
The news was the church's action. The church's new round of inspections on the central island of Green Lake had ended. Although they still hadn't found a way to enter another island, they had discovered a new feature of the island: the rituals set up on the island and the traces of large-scale destruction would disappear silently.
This meant that not only could the church's ring warlocks not be stationed on the island for a long time, they couldn't even set up rituals to monitor changes on the island.
Now the church team has basically withdrawn from the central island of Green Lake, and only deployed personnel and rituals on the normal lake surface to prevent anything from rushing out of the fog. Originally, the entire lake area should be under martial law, and even the villages around the lake should be evacuated. But now is the time for negotiations between the two countries, and almost the eyes of the world are watching here. If Green Lake is completely blocked, it will definitely cause a lot of trouble.
In addition, the Prophet Association believed that a full blockade was part of Laplace Klein Howard's plan, so the lake area was not under martial law, and Megan had found a way to get to the island.
The only thing they need to worry about now is that they might run into a small group of people from the church on the island tomorrow.
Although he did not see Megan this Tuesday, Shade received a letter from the Forlan brothers. Last week, Shade learned that the brothers were ring sorcerers belonging to the Rosicrucian Order, and that this organization absorbed some of the followers of the old god Eros.
This time they wrote to tell Shade that the true believers of the old god within the Rosicrucian Order had arrived in the Glass City, Mikaela Blast Furnace City, and would be able to meet Shade today.
Without further ado, Shad set out from the Green Lake Hotel and took a carriage through the border checkpoint to the city on the south shore of Green Lake. While passing through the checkpoint, he met Captain Rades and had a conversation with him.
"Duke Carina will be here soon. Our tasks these days have become much heavier."
"The mission of monitoring people crossing the border illegally?"
The captain shook his head.
"Of course not. It's a task of marching and queuing. The Duke or some other important person might come to inspect the barracks. My superior, Colonel Dewey, takes this very seriously. Look over there. Originally, there was a company of soldiers maintaining the order in the queue, but now there are only two squads left... Guess what the others are doing?"
Shade thought for a moment:
"Cleaning?"
Judging from Captain Rades's expression, he had obviously guessed right.
The place where the Forlan brothers met with Shad was the "Victory Carrier Hotel" in the center of Michaela Blast Furnace City. The location here was very good, and you could directly see the city hall and the winding Rhine River from the window.
In addition, Professor Boulanger, who helped Shad, also lives here, but he should still be investigating the north shore of Green Lake with his students.
The Victory Carrier Inn is located at a five-way intersection. The hotel protrudes toward the center of the intersection, presenting a triangular layout. When Shade paid the driver the fare and entered the inn with the parade passing by, the Fulan brothers were sitting at the table waiting for Shade:
"Mr. Watson, this way."
They asked Shad to sit down, and then Eric Foran handed Shad a note with three house numbers on it:
"We have to hurry to a meeting, so we won't go up with you."
He pointed upstairs:
"Mr. Richard, Mr. Upton, and Ms. Hope are all in their respective rooms. You can go to them separately, or just go to one or two of them. They are all from the Central Ring, and they are our most devout believers in the god of love. However, Mr. Upton has a weird personality. If you want to communicate with him later, please don't mind his offense. Oh, we said you are our friend, so you don't have to worry about your identity."
Xia De nodded to show that he understood, but asked another question:
"Would it be convenient for you to tell me how many people from the Rosicrucian Order came this time?"
The two brothers hesitated for a moment, and finally Charles spoke:
“We can’t say the exact number, but it’s definitely more than that.”
He held up three fingers:
"In addition, our president is here too. He is a twelve-ring warlock. He is in contact with the Orthodox Church now. He has discussed with us about proactively revealing our identities as Edwards' descendants."
This approach is very wise. It can protect the two Forlan brothers and prevent the Rosicrucian Order from completely losing its right to participate in this matter.
Xia De nodded:
"Okay. I'll go upstairs then... When are you guys free? There are things I want to talk to you about. No, not in the next two days. How about the weekend?"
The two brothers thought about it:
"It should be fine this weekend. We'll contact my aunt then."
"no problem."
Xia De nodded, said goodbye to the two brothers and went upstairs.
It should be said that the Glass City's industrial development is reflected in all aspects. Although the Green Lake Hotel run by the siblings Soren Green and Helena Green is the best hotel in Green Lake City, if compared with its counterparts in the Glass City, the interior decoration and living environment of the Green Lake Hotel are not the best.
The Victory Carrier Hotel was what Shad had in mind as a big city hotel, and it was of similar quality to the "Land of Plenty Inn" where Luvia stayed in the Randall Valley at the beginning of this year.
Not only is the decoration level first-rate, but the rooms reserved for wealthy guests on the upper floors are also quite luxurious.
Among the Rosicrucian ring sorcerers, the three followers of the god of love all lived on different floors. Mr. Upton and Ms. Hope, who were described as having "bad personalities", lived in ordinary rooms on the second floor, with house numbers 215 and 221 respectively, while Mr. Richard, the highest-ranking of the three, lived in the luxury suite No. 402 on the fourth floor.
Xia De chose to go to the fourth floor first. Perhaps because it was a weekday morning, the corridor on the fourth floor was so quiet that when Xia De knocked on the door of the fourth floor, he felt the knock was so abrupt.
Soon, footsteps were heard behind the door, and then a voice came from inside the door:
"Who is it?"
"Hello, is this Mr. Richard? I am the friend that Mr. Foran mentioned."
After he finished speaking, the door opened, and a short, gray-haired old man who looked to be in his fifties appeared behind the door. He frowned slightly, looked Xia De up and down, and then suddenly said:
"You are not loyal!"
"Sorry, what?"
Xia De blinked suspiciously, and the old man shook his head:
"You heard it clearly. I said: You are not loyal. Come in, and don't talk at the door."
"But didn't you just say that I..."
"Young man, don't be silly. In this day and age, how many people can be loyal to a love relationship for their entire lives? People's hearts are complicated and their emotions are changeable. Compared to other people I've met, you're not the worst type of man."
He said, motioning for Shad to follow him into the room.
The two sat down in the living room, but Mr. Richard did not prepare tea for Shade. Moreover, after sitting down, he did not give Shade a chance to speak, but handed Shade a picture album.
The album was the size of an ordinary book, but very thin, with only about a dozen pages, and six silver metal book rings were used to hold it together. This was not an ordinary item, it had a miraculous element, but the traces of the element were not very obvious, so it should be some kind of divine item.
"Look at each picture and tell me what you see."
Old Mr. Richard said, and seeing that Xia De was a little hesitant, he said:
"Every time I meet a ring sorcerer who is willing to sit down and talk, I will invite them to take my 'psychological test'. Each painting here is an abstract pattern, and you only need to tell me what they look like to you. The result of the test represents your views on love, marriage, and lovers. Please do this before our formal conversation begins."
This sounds a lot like the kind of test a stranger would take in his hometown.