Because he had spent some time visiting Mrs. Lemaire in the north of the city, there was not much time left this morning. So, Shade spent the time before lunch in the sacrificial field. In addition to the cold weapon combat training with Sister Develyn, he also mentioned that he had seen "Desire" again, and introduced the divine art of the followers of the God of Love - the Thorn of the God of Love.
The spiritual sect was very good at using soul-related spells and magic, so Sister Defulin had many different views on magic from Shade. She also selected a few books for Shade on the pink crystal soul spells after the girls used the "Thorn of Eros" and asked Shade to take them back and teach them to the girls.
As for the three believers of the "God of Love" who specialize in "spirit, flesh, and desire", Shade feels that they are "magical", but Sister Defulin has a different opinion:
"The God of Love is also known as the 'Red Heart Lock'. Is love precious because it is rare, or is it really so important? The three remaining followers of the old god do not seem to have thought about this question. They are just superficial, trying to lock the feelings between people in their own ways. They have not touched the core of the soul."
Sister Defulin, who seemed to have no experience in love, said something that Shade could not easily comment on. He was not a master of soul spells, and did not have a deep understanding of the deep meaning that Sister Defulin wanted to express, but Shade was still stunned by the words in this sentence:
"Lock... love?"
Memories of his hometown suddenly popped into his head, and he thought of a story about how greed and desire led to destruction and despair. This story was very interesting because it reminded Shade of himself. However, he did not have a spell to lock love. Although he was also very greedy, he knew what love was, how to love others and himself, and he had never violated the wishes and expectations of any girl around him.
In fact, his efforts and struggles all along, not only for the ultimate goal of becoming a god, are also for the purpose of enabling his family to get along well and live a comfortable life in the future.
At this moment, the stranger felt as if he understood something. Sister Develyn did not give any instructions. She knew that the "Hero of Fire" she had chosen, Shade, who could always see clearly into his heart and was good at reflecting on his every step, would eventually figure it out.
Shade went to Cassandra Auction House in Midhill Castle with the nun to have lunch. When he followed the nun out of the sacrificial field, "she" was still whispering in Shade's ear, smiling and suggesting a possibility to the thoughtful stranger:
What would have happened if Sister Defulin had just stabbed the Thorn of Eros into her chest
"Oh, how can you slander this respectable nun?"
Xia De thought to himself, and secretly glanced at Sister Defulin's back, feeling that it was a mistake for him to have such thoughts.
Granny Cassandra, Sister Devlin, Grace, Helen, and Miss Swift will depart for the Green Lake area later this week. Granny Cassandra was so generous that she even borrowed a steam-powered airship from the Church of Creation.
Therefore, their travel time will be very short. As a large chain auction house native to the Kingdom of Delarion, the business power represented by Granny Cassandra openly supports Delarion.
During lunch, Grace and Helen informed Shade of their travel plans. As for the two of them leaving Midhill Castle and the Sikar Mountains in the short term, they relied on a clerical-level (level 4) relic, the Undead Wax Stone.
The original purpose of this wax stone was to leave a mark on the body, allowing one to achieve a certain degree of "immortality" for a period of time. In fact, the effect was only slightly better than Shade's "false immortality".
This relic allows the Red Butterfly girls to temporarily leave Midhill Castle. That's because after the Battle of Midhill Castle last year, they sent this relic into the temporarily sealed gap between life and death - they sealed the gap for two epochs, so naturally they have a way to get in again.
The power of the Unknown-level Relic infected the wax stone, causing it to briefly possess some of the characteristics of the narrow space. Although this directly caused the relic to lose control, this loss of control was nothing to the Angel-level Relic Red Butterfly Twins.
With this special wax stone, Grace and Helen could leave Middle Hill Castle for up to two months. But as a price, they would not be able to leave Middle Hill Castle through special means like they did this time for a long time afterwards.
After lunch, Shade chatted with Grace and Helen alone:
"You know the old god, the Golden Lord, right? The god of commerce and wealth?"
The Red Butterfly girls naturally nodded, but Xia De did not ask too many details:
"What is your greatest impression of this deity? Yes, just answer this question.
Grace, who was wearing a white gauze dress, answered first:
"He abides by contracts and agreements very well, so he has a very good reputation among the followers of this great man."
Then Helen in the black dress answered:
"It is difficult for us mortals to define a great person based on human definitions of kindness or malice. But what is certain is that this god of commerce and wealth will not refuse to make a deal with anyone who can offer a bargaining chip."
She was sure of this:
"A large part of our memories of the Fifth Era have been sealed, but I still remember that when I was alone after... strangling my sister to death and throwing her body into the pass of Mount Xikar, I came into contact with the followers of this great one and heard two different stories."
Helen held up the first finger:
"In order to let his elderly wife live past midnight and let their marriage cross the 60-year threshold, the man used his remaining life as a bargaining chip to extend his wife's short life. After the midnight bell rang, the elderly couple returned to their appearance when they first met at the age of 18 or 19, and after drinking fine wine together, they entered death together."
"It's a very romantic story. Mortals gave what they could, and the gods brought them miracles."
Xia De commented, and Helen held up a second finger:
"After the two died, a neighbor who was jealous of their happy marriage used his remaining life as a bargaining chip to revive the old woman and let her live alone in this world. So the deal was fulfilled. I saw with my own eyes that old woman with gray hair, who was almost 80 years old, kneeling in front of the grave and crying loudly. After all these years, I still remember that scene."
Helen was still a little sad when she said this, and Grace hugged her gently.
"this... ... "
Shade couldn't comment.
"Trading is ruthless. As long as the chips are sufficient and a way to trade can be found, the Golden Lord will not refuse any trade. It is fair and ruthless, and sometimes we have to be careful of the traps in the terms of the transaction. Helen and I respect and even fear such gods, so we have not made any transactions with this great one and their believers."
Grace said softly, and then asked tentatively:
"So sir, you have met in the past..."
Xia De nodded cautiously:
"You don't need to worry about this, I will take care of it."
"Then allow us to give you a piece of advice."
The girls said very seriously:
"Small wishes require chips as small as rice grains, and big wishes require chips as big as mountains. But if it is not necessary, please do not make any transactions. Transactions are just shortcuts. We could have realized our wishes with our own hands. We should never, ever pray to God for things that we can obtain on our own."
Two pairs of beautiful blue eyes looked at Shade together:
"Mortals should not expect to be rescued by gods. The only ones who can save us are ourselves and..."
They held hands together, and in the light of the fluttering red butterflies, they turned into girls of seventeen or eighteen years old. The girl in the black and white gauze dress stood up and gently kissed Xia De's cheek:
"... You who travel through time. May you be able to save everyone."
After lunch, I returned home. Because Xia De had prepared lunch for Mia before going out, the cat at home was taking a nap at this time. When he saw Xia De appear from the door, he just lay on the windowsill to bask in the sun and meowed lazily.
After Shad returned home, he found a letter that had been dropped into the hallway from the mail slot in front of his door. There was no stamp on the letter, and after opening it, he saw that it was a message from Dr. Schneider. He came to visit Shad in the morning and would take the train to Green Lake in the afternoon. Since Shad was not at home, he left a letter and asked him to wait at Green Lake.
This time, the "Labyrinth Demon-Yaru" is far less powerful than the "Stone Mirror Demon-Goethe", so the key is not how to win, but to find the opponent's hidden true body. The doctor has made three detailed plans for this, and will continue to make more plans and plans during the short train journey. He will arrive at Green Lake around Wednesday evening. If everything goes well, he will be able to solve the demon problem this weekend.
"The doctor is indeed a professional."
Since Laplace Klein Howard showed up on the night of the lunar eclipse last Wednesday, Shade's investigation of the Green Lake area has slowed down. Now that the witches have arrived at Green Lake, they have also made some moves, so Shade did not go to the Green Lake area to investigate as usual this afternoon, but dealt with some trivial matters at the beginning of the month in Tobesk, and in this leisurely afternoon, he finished writing a paper titled "Conjectures and Translations of Undeciphered Texts in the Early Fifth Epoch".
In the evening, he took Little Mia to see Dorothy. After they had a leisurely dinner together, he returned home alone and spent the night reading before going to bed.
Such occasional rest can relax the mind very well, so when Shad opened his eyes on Tuesday morning, he woke up earlier than the cat beside his pillow.
One day of leisure is enough, and the witches in the Green Lake area are also looking forward to Shade's reappearance. Therefore, this Tuesday, he returned to the Green Lake area. As for today's action plan, it is to deal with the things on the "task list" given by Miss Carina that he thinks he can handle.
The witch's task list is very long, and it is unknown what kind of future the witch of time has glimpsed. The simpler tasks, such as commissioning the blacksmith and asking the local detective to help find the cat, can be done by ordinary people. The more difficult tasks include but are not limited to dealing with some tricky relics, and even rushing into the church at night to steal the paintings on the wall.