"No, no, of course I'd like to go to the opera. I'm just curious, although the curfew has been lifted next Saturday, aren't places where crowds gather like this regulated and open?"
The subsequent impact of the evil god's advent will certainly not disappear so easily, so Xia De is curious.
"It was the royal family who requested the opening. It seems to involve a conflict between the church and the royal family, but I don't know much about it. Anyway, Shad, do you accept the invitation?"
Miss Louisa asked again.
"Of course, I haven't been to the opera yet."
Xia De nodded, then asked suspiciously:
"You said you were going to the Queen Maria Opera House to do something. Would it be to collect relics again?"
"Where can I find so many relics for me to collect? Do you think they are things that I can just come across casually?"
Miss Louisa asked back with a smile, and then explained:
"I'm going to pick up some goods. I asked someone to bring back some sensitive items from outside. There won't be any accidents. Xia De, the number of relics recorded does not exceed five digits. We are not the ones chosen by fate. How can we often encounter relics?"
"Speaking of which, Ms. Louisa, did you know that an angel-level (level 1) relic went out of control in a town under Tobesk? This proves that the danger is actually very close to us."
Xia De had put Mia aside. A cat's body temperature is higher than that of humans. Holding it in summer is like holding a small stove. He now picked up the cup of water again.
"Speaking of relics getting out of control..."
The blonde writer glanced at Shade, her emerald eyes smiling:
"My friend Princess Leicia is in Coldwater Harbor right now. She wrote to tell me that Coldwater Harbor has also seen a terrible loss of control of relics. It is said that there are sage-level (level 2) relics with strong curses, which are a batch of mermaid statues."
“Ahem.”
Xia De, who was drinking water, choked:
"Any more news?"
"Lecia said that the first group of people who were cursed all died, but the last person did not die from the curse, but was shot."
Miss Louisa said as she observed Shad's expression. Shad lowered his head to wipe his mouth with a towel and didn't notice that she was looking at him.
"Are you interested in this? There is also some news. It is said that the church believes that the dock dispatcher who died from the gunshot is very valuable. Maybe the strange ritual he set up really attracted something, so they performed divination on the cause of his death."
Xia De nodded. He was carrying the twenty-sided dice of fate at the time and was not afraid of divination at all:
"I guess the divination should reveal something?"
"Because we are worried about the interference of the relic, we specially asked the fortune teller from the local Prophet Association to help this time. We also used a large-scale ceremony to assist, and even used a clerical-level relic to assist."
Miss Louisa said in a gentle voice.
The twenty-sided dice of fate can interfere with destiny, but there are other ways to clear the fog.
"So what was the final result?"
He asked.
Miss Louisa lowered her voice and said:
"The divination was very vague, but I still got a few important clues."
She glanced at Xia De's expression, put the pen in the gap of the notebook, and said while flicking her wrist:
"The murderer's visit to the dock dispatcher's home had a lot to do with the seemingly ineffective pentagram ritual."
It was indeed after Shad saw the blood on the ceiling that he decided to investigate.
"The murderer came from the ocean."
Shad did indeed crawl out of the sea.
"The murderer came from afar."
Shad did travel from faraway Tobysk to the city of Coldwater Harbor.
"The murderer used the power of the evil god."
Shade did use the "Underwater Breathing" spell from the God of the Drowned Deep Sea.
"Before the killer flew away, his body almost merged with the fish."
Shade did indeed travel through space while holding a fish.
He was very surprised that the divination was so accurate. Although he knew that the church still couldn't know it was him, he was still a little worried. Xia De hesitantly explored:
"So the church believes that the murderer of the last victim is..."
Miss Louisa smiled and shook her head:
"These details are not very clear, and divination is not 100% correct. The church only has guesses."
"Guess what?"
"The murderer is a terrifying fishman from the deep sea, favored by an evil god and summoned by a ritual."
Miss Louisa carefully observed Xia De's expression, and felt a little disappointed when she saw that Xia De had no expression.
At this time, Xia De had turned his head slightly to look at the window. Outside was the dim evening scenery, which made him involuntarily think of the vampire's words of sublimation.
"It turns out that this information can be pieced together to form such outrageous news."
Xia De sighed softly in his heart.
He had decided not to go to Coldwater Harbor anytime soon. As a detective from Tobesk, he thought it would be best if he didn't get involved with the trouble in the distant city.
Of course, the most important thing is that the sage-level relic is out of control and of no benefit to him. He would have to be crazy to travel thousands of miles to Coldwater Harbor just to put himself in danger.
Miss Louisa never mentioned the port city again. She just sighed casually that her friend Princess Leisia was very bored in Lengshui Port City. It would be great if some friends could visit her.
Unfortunately, Shade didn't have enough clues and didn't understand what the blond writer meant.
During the break, he also talked about the story of the two ghosts in the cemetery, which quickly diverted Miss Louisa's attention. She quietly listened to Shade's story about his experience in the cemetery in the rain, and then looked at the Moon Dance Festival:
"Shad, you know I'm going to serialize a collection of detective stories in the newspaper after the exam week. I've decided to use this story as the opening... Don't worry, the specific plot will not be exactly the same, and the old lady won't be able to see it."
With such a touching story, she easily put Princess Leia behind her mind for the time being.
Because of the curfew at night, Miss Louisa could not stay at Shade's place for long. After dinner, the blonde left, and before leaving, she reminded him to remember the exam next week.
Xia De took the opportunity to sort out his tax return documents at night. It was almost the end of the month, and he needed to file taxes with the Tobesk Tax Bureau. A legally operating detective agency could not evade taxes.
But five minutes after the blonde left, there was another knock on the downstairs door.
It was not yet dark, and Xia De had no idea who would visit him at this time.
After opening the door downstairs, the person I saw was Priest Augustus. The dim setting sun was behind him, giving the priest's body a layer of gold.
Behind him is the busy Saint Teresa Square, where pigeons are parked to be fed. Chad has always felt that the pigeons living in the square probably have a more comfortable life than Mia, who lives in the house:
"Priest? How do you find time to visit me? Come in."
With a cat peeking out from behind his legs, Shade warmly invited the priest in. When the two of them sat down beside the coffee table covered with account books and contracts, the priest looked very unhappy. He didn't even care about the obviously low temperature in Shade's house:
"Shad, do me a favor."
The priest came with a bottle wrapped in newspaper, with a straw rope tied to the outside of the newspaper and eventually extended upward to become a handle. Coincidentally, the page facing the outside of the newspaper was a photo of the mayor of Tobysk giving a public speech three days ago.
If Shade remembered correctly, that speech was related to the conscription this summer. Fortunately, the total war has stopped and the kingdom is no longer recruiting soldiers on a large scale. Shade does not have to worry about suddenly receiving a conscription notice one day and then going to the front line with his luggage.
"No, I'm an MI6 agent, a member of the Royal Army. The recruitment notice is of no use to me."
Thinking of this, my mood suddenly became very good.
The old priest with a bitter face tore off all the layers of newspapers on the outside of the bottle. Only then did Shad see that inside the dark glass bottle was a pure white cat that was smaller than Mia.
But no matter how small it was, it was squeezed into the bottle and its body was inevitably deformed. It was impossible to tell whether the cat inside was alive or dead. It was stuffed in the bottle with its eyes closed, motionless.
"Meow~"
The orange cat, which was originally lying on the sofa, suddenly jumped up. This cat has always been quite repulsive to its own kind. Shade heard about its vicious reputation in the pet store when he first went to pick it up. Later, after being taken to St. Teresa's Square for temporary residence, whenever Shade hugged other cats outside, he would definitely hear the "vicious" cry of the small orange cat when he returned home.
"I'm curious, priest, how did this cat get stuffed in there?"
Shade eyed the bottle filled with cats cautiously.
"Don't be ridiculous, Shade. You can definitely tell that this isn't a cat at all."
The priest grabbed the corked bottle and shook it vigorously a few times. Then the "white cat" melted in the bottle, turning into a large bottle of liquid that looked like milk.
Shade was greatly surprised. Although people joked that cats were liquid, what was happening before his eyes was a little too exaggerated. Mia stood on the sofa in horror, looking at the bottle, then at Father Augustus, and then she jumped behind Shade and hid.
The cat probably misunderstood something and thought that Father Augustus was the murderer.
"What is this? A relic?"
Shade comforted the timid cat, then reached out and touched the dark brown glass bottle, but felt no trace of the whispering element.
"How can I find a relic so easily? This is a potion, or rather, a precursor to a potion... Just think of it as a semi-finished product."
The old priest explained that seeing the liquid was about to turn into a cat again, he picked it up and shook it again:
"Magic potion - Cat in a bottle. Humans who drink it can turn into cats in a short period of time."
"Meow?"
The orange cat behind Shad poked its head out and looked at him, its pointed ears pricked up and its big amber eyes staring at the wine bottle.
"Priest, you can actually prepare this kind of potion?"
Shade asked in admiration.
"Of course not. What are you thinking? I'm only a second-level magician. Even in Saint Byrons, few people can make this kind of top-level potion that can change the body of a ring warlock. This is an expired potion I bought from the black market. I wanted to study it for my course report. But after I got it, I found that it was not only expired for at least thirty years, but also mixed with some terrible things."
The priest's face turned serious:
"Look carefully, is there something like black velvet in the white liquid?"
Xia De picked up the bottle and shook the liquid that was about to condense into a cat. He looked for a long time before seeing:
"Yes, indeed."
"This is a cursed mixture. This thing exists in the potion. I am worried that sooner or later this potion will give birth to something more terrible. So, I used some methods to perform an exorcism in the church."
Although Father Augustus is not a church ring sorcerer, as a senior clergyman, it is impossible that he does not know any exorcism skills.
“Does it work?”
"It works. When I first got this potion, at least one-fifth of the contents were black. I thought it was moldy at the time, until I found that it had a strange reaction when it came into contact with the holy emblem of our Lord. Then I realized it was a curse. But this is the best I can do. I remember Louisa said that you can also exorcise demons, so I wanted to ask you for help. If that doesn't work, I'll have to hand it over to the academy for processing."
He pointed at the bottle, and Mia the Cat and Shade looked at the contents with great interest. When the milky white liquid gradually formed the shape of a cat, it did not change in appearance like plasticine, but first began to shape its internal organs, which looked very disgusting.
"Exorcism? No problem."
Xia De looked around, stood up and picked up his coat from the hanger at the door. He held the bottle in his right hand and wrapped the coat around his right hand:
"Priest Augustus, please do not look directly at my hand. Silver Moon!"
The bright light shone through the black cloth, but because it was blocked, it was not dazzling.
"If the consumption is not too great, try a few more times."
The priest stroked his chin and suggested, and Shade nodded, and then the clothes in his hands continued to glow frequently. He didn't know what was considered okay, so he counted to twenty times before stopping.
Put the bottle in front of you and observe it. There is no trace of black in the white liquid, only some black solid sediments at the bottom of the bottle. They look very heavy and you have to shake the bottle hard to make them float, but they will not dissolve.
"Is this okay?"
He handed the bottle to the priest, who looked at it for a long time and finally smiled:
"Very good, that's it. The liquid on the top is the expired semi-finished potion, and the solid on the bottom is the curse combination. After I separate them, I can use them as precious spellcasting materials... I have some very good curse spells. Shade, thank you for your hard work."
"They are just small matters. Oh, priest, I actually have something to ask you. I want to try to prepare some joy potions and long sleep water next week. I need your guidance. Do you have time?"
"The practical content of the first-year Potions class? Of course, that's easy. Come find me at the church on Wednesday morning. It happens that Bishop Owen wants to talk to you."
As he said this, he stood up and prepared to say goodbye. Curfew was about to arrive, and he couldn't stay long.
"Wednesday, huh? Okay."
Shad stood up and Mia followed immediately.
Going downstairs with Father Augustus, the two talked about the exams next week and the Holy Prayer Festival.
The old priest was also troubled by the exam, and he was not complaining about the exam itself:
"I get a headache just thinking about exams. I'm already this old, and I still have to take exams. When I was young, I never thought there would be such a thing."
"So when you were young, how did you think you would spend your old age?"
Shade helped Father Augustus open the door, and the priest put his hat on his head:
"With some savings of my own, and with the help of the church, I can find a job in the government welfare department where I can get paid without working. It would be best if I could earn more than half a pound a week. I can have my own house in Tobesk, drink tea and read newspapers every day, and maybe keep a cat like you... Look, Shad, why do I feel that you have already achieved what I wanted of myself when I was young?"
At this point, the old priest laughed, patted Shad on the shoulder, and then walked out of the room.
The afterglow of the setting sun had reached the roof of the house across the square. The bright golden light in front of him made Shade squint his eyes subconsciously. As Priest Augustus walked away into the sunset, Shade stood at the door holding the door and looked at his back:
"It would be great if I could be as cool as Father Augustus when I get old."
When the priest was young, he envied Shad's current life, and the young Shad envied the old priest's life, which made Shad think more about life in a foreign land.
What thinking
Xia De closed the door gently, shutting out the sunlight and the square.
“Even in this world, having your own house is the most important symbol of a successful life.”