"So, the second candidates are Rusty Edwards and Durrut Giles."
The cruise ship carrying the ladies and Shad approached the north shore of Green Lake. The church team was late again and "passed by" the group.
"I'm afraid so."
Xia De nodded slightly and asked the three witches on the deck:
"Rather than having Megan's ancestors merge the entire family and hold a ceremony for the Chosen One, I would rather have the two of them become the Chosen Ones... Luvia thinks so too."
Hearing the name of the purple-eyed fortune teller, Miss Benanis and Miss Sylvia nodded subconsciously. Although Luvia did not play a lot of combat power in the battle of Randall Valley, everyone knew that the female fortune teller was the one who had been providing information and direction to Shade. Facts also proved that her fortune telling ability was only slightly inferior to those of the world's top fortune tellers.
Margaret, Hillis, and Tifa also knew Luvia, and after hearing what Shade said, they knew that the matter had actually been decided. But only Megan and Audrey didn't understand what the name meant. Megan in the flesh and Audrey, whose color gradually changed from golden to translucent white, looked curiously at the changing expressions on their colleagues' faces:
"Luvia? It sounds like a lady. I wonder if this is..."
Miss Benanis and Miss Sylvia looked at each other and laughed, then looked at their common students. Margaret, who also found this matter very interesting, spoke up:
"That lady is a very capable fortune teller who lives in Tobesk. She is about my age. She is the one who guides Shade in his search for the Chosen One. She is also... the first girl to know Shade."
After a pause he added:
"She has beautiful eyes, that childlike look is rare."
The others nodded in agreement, and Shade continued:
"The day after tomorrow, which is Monday, Luvia will come here and you will be able to see her then."
Megan and Audrey understood this. The two sisters were actually one person. They were truly connected and knew what the other person was thinking. They could find an excuse that Carina was also a witch when she was suppressed by her, but if she was just an ordinary ring wizard, the two sisters should not be overwhelmed by the other party's momentum.
It was late at night. After the cruise ship returned to Green Lake, Miss Sylvia opened the portal and took Miss Benanis, Siris and a group of followers back to the city on the other side of the lake. Tifa took the maids back to see the Duchess. Shad was going back to Green Lake Hotel to meet the doctor, so Megan and Audrey arranged a carriage to take him back at the pier by the river in the city.
However, when saying goodbye to the two witches, Shade took the initiative to hug her, which was rare, and then whispered in Megan's ear, who was in control of the body:
"You just hit your grandmother, Gratoni Edwards, really hard."
"Even if we're family, I wouldn't... What did you say?"
The brown-haired witch broke free from Shade's embrace and looked at him in surprise. Shade pursed his lips and decided that since it was embarrassing, he might as well say it directly:
"Remember that your father was suspected to be an adopted son? Yes, he was indeed an adopted child. But in fact, he was created by your ancestors using the blood of your grandfather, Pride Edwards, and your grandfather's sister, Gratoni, through human transformation..."
Megan stared at him, as if she couldn't immediately understand what he said. Therefore, until Shad entered the Green Lake Hotel, he still found it difficult to forget the two minutes when the two of them stared at each other as if the air was frozen.
Fortunately, Megan and Audrey finally accepted this fact. However, she also wondered whether the uniqueness of the two sisters was also related to the special human transformation.
While thinking about these things, Shade climbed the stairs. When passing the second floor, he also looked at the rooms of Durrut Giles and Rust Edwards. After knowing the importance of Rust Edwards, whether to let her and Durrut Giles stay in this hotel together became a very important question. However, this matter can be discussed with the witches tomorrow. The Green Lake Hotel itself has a ritual set up by Megan and Audrey to protect the Green siblings. Tomorrow, Sunday, the witches will solve the safety problem of the two.
Arriving on the third floor, he knocked on the door and entered the doctor's room. The doctor with the bottle floating beside him handed the glass to Xia De:
"Come on, celebrate."
He seemed to have prepared the red wine long ago, and he had never thought that this demon hunting operation would fail. Of course, it turned out that at least this time, the doctor's plan really went well.
"Doctor, you acted very quickly. When the black cube created by the illusion appeared in the air, I almost thought that Yaru had come to the real world."
"Thanks to it, it's its illusion."
The doctor pointed at the bottle. Colorful smoke was swirling inside the bottle, and the blue "giant" hidden inside could not be seen:
"The demons in the maze are not very powerful. They probably didn't expect to encounter me. You attracted most of their attention, so we were able to have such a smooth journey."
He pointed at the bottle, and the bottle filled with smoke temporarily floated into the bedroom at the side, leaving the two of them with space for conversation.
Steam appeared behind the doctor, and then the Seventh Ring's Life Ring emerged. The Seventh Ring required the four spirit runes, and currently only lacked enlightenment, but this should not be a difficult task for the doctor:
"I'm still digesting Yaru's power. It will only take me a month or two to reach the eighth ring. Look at this."
He points to the "blasphemous maze":
"This is the most important gain this time. The ability to seal the black dragon that I showed you is because of this. Of course, I can only seal those weak and seriously injured enemies. Not everyone can do it."
"That makes sense. Doctor, if you encounter an enemy that is inconvenient to kill immediately in the future, your new skill will be very useful. However, I am looking forward to you obtaining the 'Space' spirit rune."
“I don’t have that kind of talent.”
The doctor said modestly, and a new black cube appeared in his hand. The surface of the cube seemed smooth, but when it fell into Xia De's hands, he felt it was extremely slippery.
"The demon's remains you asked for. This time the remains are not as powerful as the remains of the stone mirror, but they are equally dangerous. Whatever you plan to do with it, get rid of it as soon as possible. It's a pity that although Yaru is also a famous ancient evil demon, most of this guy's property and collections are in another dimension that none of us know about, so this time we won't get as much as last time."
The Stone Mirror Demon-Goethe left behind a rich "legacy" for the two of them, and Xia De still remembers it vividly. If it weren't for it, it would have been difficult for Xia De to collect all the "love tokens" for Karina later.
Although there was not much to gain, the doctor still got some demon materials and three relics. Those dangerous materials belonged to the doctor himself, and he didn't even dare to use most of them, so he could only destroy them properly.
The doctor wanted to let Shade take all three relics, but one of them was given to the doctor by Shade. It was the clerical-level relic, the Labyrinth Candle, which he had seen when he, Luvia, and Yin Luna broke into the underground ruins of Tobesk and defeated the "Silver Boy" on the night of the God's Descent last summer. This relic could help the doctor digest the power of the labyrinth.
There were two remaining relics, or three to be exact. Two of them were soul coins of clerk-level fanatics with a masked human face and the words "Faith, therefore valuable". This was currency that could be traded with demons, but trading would lead to one's own corruption. The last one was also recognized by Xia De. It was the master key of the poet-level relic that he had obtained from the gift box of God. The key itself was as long as Xia De's palm.
The last key was obtained last fall, when Luvia and Carina used it up in order to save Shad and his gang from death. The traveler's door was also used up, leaving a door leading to the cemetery of souls in the corridor on the third floor of Shad's house.
"I can understand that the demon carries labyrinth candles and soul coins, but what does it want to do with the master key?"
Xia De's fingers stroked the surface of the key and found that the only lock that could not be opened was the girls' heart lock.
"I don't know. I only gain the power of demons, not their memories. But it should be very important. Demons don't like to carry relics with them."
The doctor answered, and then asked another question:
"It's strange. I thought that when I destroyed it, the fortune teller you mentioned would stop me. I even planned to fight him once and for all, but he didn't show up in the end. Did he give up on Yaru?"
"Probably because the demon is not a member of the Edwards family. The fortune teller did appear when Edwards was in danger."
"Does he love his offspring or not?"
As he spoke, he took out another black cube. This time the surface of the cube was not flat at all. Various screaming and distorted faces kept appearing on the six sides of the cube:
"All the souls imprisoned by it are here. If it were the Third Age now, with this thing, I could probably find a demon to exchange for a country. Fortunately, the Third Age is over... If you can't deal with it, let the church worry about it."
"I'll take care of it."
Xia De said cautiously, and asked about the bottle again:
"Are you going to keep Greed's Reward with you forever? I see you two are working together happily."
"Who do you think I am, Detective? I said I would let it go after I dealt with things here. Of course I wouldn't lie."
The doctor said this very seriously, but Shade clearly remembered that at the beginning he said that after dealing with the maze demon - Yalu, he would let the bottle go.
Anyway, when Shad returned home, it was already ten o'clock that night. He came down from the attic yawning with Mia in his arms, and found that there was no one else at home. Luvia was packing her luggage for a business trip, and Leicia and Dorothy knew that Shad would not be back until late tonight, so they did not visit.
He climbed up to the third floor with the cat, turned on the gas light in the corridor, and then opened a crack leading to real death at the location of the soul cemetery.
The black cube that imprisoned countless souls was held in Shade's hand. It was very light, yet very heavy:
“I don’t know how many stories there are here.”
Thinking in his mind, he prepared to throw it towards the crack. Then, it flew from the corridor into the pale mudflat, and then fell silently into the calm waters in front of the mudflat.
There was no sound or splash, but the water surface, which was already filled with thousands of souls, seemed to have a few more unclear figures. They walked towards the half-sunken moon in the distance. Xia De watched the scene quietly outside the crack, listening to some faint voices whispering thanks in his ears.
He held the cat with squinting eyes, stood in the corridor, looking at the lonely silver half moon, letting the moonlight illuminate his face, and did not leave for a long time.