Even so, Miss Higgins felt that the man in front of her would never leave with them. She couldn't explain the source of this inspiration, but she felt that this man was out of tune with them, this place, and even this world, just like an outsider who had entered their dreams.
"Will it be that easy this time?"
Xia De thought suspiciously, but there was no time this time, all the problems could only be solved next time.
Because he had wasted too much time in the Black Mist Camp, he only had three minutes left for this expedition. While the witch was resting to recover her strength, he also sat by the campfire and asked the boy who was secretly wiping the dagger:
"Can you tell me why you came here? The lady over there said that your country was destroyed, so you want to reverse it?"
The boy carefully hid the dagger back at his waist, glanced at the witch across the campfire, lowered his voice and nodded slightly:
"My father was the king, and I am the youngest prince of the kingdom. Because of a disaster, the entire country is gone, all the nobles, officials, people, livestock and land are gone. I want to turn back time and change this."
His wish is more difficult to achieve than Mrs. Miles's wish, but since Tree Father asked Shade to handle this matter, he can only think of a way. However, in this way, the boy may not have enough coins. Shade can't think of any way to reverse time and space. Fortunately, what Tree Father asked him to do was just to "help complete the transaction" instead of completing a specific transaction.
"What disaster destroyed your country?"
He asked again, and the boy's face froze. He hesitated for a while before saying:
"A meteorite, a meteorite hit my country, yes, that's it. My country has no protection from the Witch Emperor, it's just a city-state, and it's all destroyed."
Xia De looked at him suspiciously, then glanced at the witch. Although the latter was resting, she was also listening to the conversation here. She shook her head slightly, obviously understanding what Xia De meant. She had not heard of the recent news that a meteorite destroyed a country.
But the witch didn't want to bother with the boy, and Shade didn't have enough time left, nor did he have time to use words to persuade the boy to tell the truth.
Miss Higgins took the two relics out of the cloth package after she had rested. At the Black Mist Camp, they couldn't even compare the element fluctuations of the two items because of the power suppression from the entire world, but by the campfire, they could find that the whispering element of the cheaper Broken Sword was actually stronger than that of the conch.
The witch couldn't figure out how to use a broken sword to call the soul, so she reached out and picked up the conch, and said to Shade jokingly:
"Look, it's the conch again. In addition to the conch of missing, I have also heard of a conch that can tell the listener the answer to all the questions she wants to know."
"Are you sure that wasn't the whispering of some evil creature?"
Shade asked back, and then he really saw the red-haired witch, very carefully put the conch to her ear and made a listening gesture, just like she did at the market just now. But this time nothing happened, so she shook the conch doubtfully, as if to confirm whether it was broken, but no blood, screws or anything like that fell out, so she handed the conch to Mrs. Miles:
"Madam, please try to call your lover's name into the conch. If you feel any discomfort, please throw the conch to me immediately."
The old man was still in a bad mental state, so he forced himself to take the conch.
Both Shade and the Witch stood up and stood behind Mrs. Miles, and the boy looked over here cautiously.
Mrs. Miles took a few deep breaths to calm her agitation and grief, and then she said in a very steady and clear voice:
"Richard Knight Jackman."
Xia De's first reaction was that he had never heard of this name. He then looked around nervously. The witch Miss Higgins's attention was on the conch.
Nothing happened, at least the people around the campfire didn't notice anything strange happening.
So for safety's sake, the witch took the conch back from Mrs. Miles and sat down sullenly.
The silver-haired old woman comforted her, with no trace of loss on her wrinkled face:
"It's okay, we can keep trying. To be honest, I'm not ready if it's that easy to see him. Even miracles in stories require completing multiple tests. How can it be that easy for us to find those who didn't return home? I have patience, we can keep trying until I can't walk anymore."
"But I took such a big risk just now..."
Miss Higgins also knew that what Mrs. Miles said made sense, and looked at the broken sword again, probably thinking about trying it next.
But before she could do anything, she saw Shad stand up.
"You're rested, right? No, please don't go to the camp alone, it's dangerous."
The witch kindly reminded him, but Shade shook his head:
"I'm going over there."
He pointed in the direction he came from:
"It's hard to explain, but it's probably just... I'm going to be away for a while and will be back soon."
"What?"
The witch blinked her beautiful golden eyes suspiciously, and Shade did not continue to explain:
"I will try to find out the specific functions of the conch and the broken sword. You'd better not act rashly while I'm gone. I promise I will be back."
Then he threw his only coin to her:
"Keep it for me."
I got up and was about to leave the campfire. Twenty minutes passed in a very short time and white fog had already appeared.
Miss Higgins stood up and tried to grab his sleeve:
"Wait a minute, what do you mean? You can leave here?"
“I don’t have enough time.”
Shade smiled and waved to them, and the boy and old lady Myers also stood up to see him off:
"Anyway, I'm here to help you this time, please believe this. Also..."
He walked backwards into the black fog from which he came:
“Don’t spend the black coins in your hands carelessly. They are very strange. When I come back next time, I will bring you new news.”
As he spoke, his voice completely disappeared in the black fog. The witch even took the risk of walking over with a torch to take a few glances, but she did not see the figure of the strange man.
"What is he?"
As she sat down by the campfire again, she muttered softly, but Mrs. Miles was not worried at all. She stared at the fire in front of her with bright eyes:
"Maybe it's really someone sent by God to help us."
"Then why not a pretty girl, but a strange man?"
As he said this, he glanced at the boy who was trying to reduce his presence as much as possible.
The silver-haired old woman did not answer, but smiled and looked at the fire in front of her, as if she could see the lover who had separated from her more than fifty years ago.
The separation at that time seemed to have taken place at an intersection covered with weeds and flowers, and near a busy market.
(Little Mia is running...)
After returning from the past, Mia, who was waiting for Shade, immediately came over and meowed around Shade. After Shade picked up Mia, he quickly went downstairs. Sure enough, within a few minutes, Luvia came running over:
"Oh, Shade, just now..."
"It's me."
In this case, the person who was talking to Shade just now was indeed Luvia at this time. Although the "signal" of the Missing Conch was not good in the chaotic space-time area, it actually connected to the person Shade missed.
Now that she was here, Luvia listened to Shade's story of the past twenty minutes. She had little interest in the market and Shade's companions, but she was very interested in Miss Conch:
"I know this kind of relic exists in our time. But it's hard to get. I can think of a way. Maybe I can communicate with different times again."
She looked at Xia De with some excitement:
"If every time we need help, the Witch Emperors can appear like at the end of the Pantanal War, then you won't have to work so hard in the future."
Luvia came and left in a hurry. As for little Mia who stuck to Shad, when Shad asked it if it wanted to go out with him, the cat ran away.
After preparing lunch for Mia, Shade went to Green Lake City from the basement. Although he had let the inn owners know his identity, Shade still chose to leave the inn through the back door of the kitchen.
When he was leaving, Little John, the garbage can boy in the back alley, was also about to "go out" with his dog. The two sides greeted each other and then walked in different directions.
Shad did not immediately go to Michaela Blast Furnace City on the south shore of Green Lake to find the believers of the God of Love, but first went to the Kingfisher Tailor Shop on Royal Mail Street to find Grandma Natalie.
Granny Natalie, Mr. Edmund and old John, who runs the antique shop, are all members of the Guiding Light Hermitage. Shad just wanted to ask a few questions, and he didn't go to the lighthouse in Coldwater Harbor or the antique shop in Tobesk because those two places were too far away.
"Good morning, Granny Natalie."
"Good morning, Mr. Watson. I met Megan a few days ago, and she and you seem to have a good relationship. You see, I introduced her to answer your questions about the Central Island of Green Lake and the Edwards family. It turned out to be correct, right?"
When Shade first came, Natalie said that she and Megan had been friends for many years. She probably knew that Megan was a witch because she had reminded Shade not to mind if Megan was cold to him.
Xia De smiled and nodded:
"Your recommendation is indeed very good. I never thought I would meet such a... friend."
The old lady with a high profile gave him a meaningful look, but she didn't delve into the relationship between Xia De and Megan:
"Is it Edmund who comes to me this time to buy fish bones again?"
"No, no, I want to know about two relics. Oh, and there's also a strange coin, but that coin isn't a relic. I don't know the functions of any of the three items."