"Today is the tenth day since Darkness left Coldwater Harbor."
This was the sigh that Shad uttered as he read the newspaper on Friday morning. He basked in the early morning sun, ate breakfast and petted the cat in the sunshine, and then tried his best to imagine the efforts made by Darkness, who was hiding his identity, to successfully come to Tobesk.
After breakfast, the construction team arrived on time to continue the renovation. Xia De locked the door on the second floor. He originally wanted to go to the basement to organize his books, but he didn't expect that there would be guests visiting.
It was not the client who came, but Captain Rades, a friend of Shad. He stood in amazement at St. Teresa's Square, looking up at the workers working on the roof of No. 6, and hesitated to enter the house.
After watching Xia De moving a pile of books and sorting the bookcase through the first-floor window, he knocked on the window, meaning that he didn't know whether now was a good time to visit.
Captain Rades came here for two purposes. One was to tell Shad that he would take a steam train to the front on the first weekend of next month. The notice had been received, and the captain was packing his luggage and saying goodbye to his friends in Tobesk.
He will once again go to the southern front, which is the Windy Trail at the northern foot of Mount Sikar. As a brave Royal Army captain, he will guard the border and demonstrate his loyalty and bravery.
The second purpose of the captain's visit was to find something that Shad didn't find when he first went to his rented apartment.
The two talked in the living room on the first floor. Since the walls had just been painted, the furniture was still in the basement. Shade found two chairs for the two to sit on, and waited until the paint was dry before putting the furniture in place. The stylish furniture that Tifa helped to choose would make the living room look more formal:
"This is it. I found it among my old clothes when I was packing my luggage a few days ago."
The captain handed the amber-like pendant tied with a metal chain to Shade. He won the Gun of Kindness and this ornament by betting Rhodes cards with a stranger in the tavern of Windy Trail. The Gun of Kindness is a relic, so Shade once suspected that the ornament was also a relic.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find this thing last time, and Xia De has almost forgotten about it.
Unfortunately, this amber pendant is not a relic. It does not contain any elements, and if you touch it with your hands, you cannot find any patterns or carvings on the surface.
In other words, it's just an ordinary item.
"If both are relics, I'll be worried about Captain Rades' safety."
Although it was disappointing, it was understandable. Xia De was not the chosen one, and he did not have the luck to encounter relics often.
It happened that Shade had nothing to do today, so Captain Rades invited Shade to go with him to the Veterans Club in the western part of Tobesk. Although it was a Veterans Club, it was not a place where ordinary veterans could come.
Captain Rades introduced Shad to his friends, and Shad of course prepared plenty of business cards to distribute.
People had heard of the name "Ray Jed's Hamilton" and warmly invited him to come to the club often when he had time.
So, Xia De spent the whole Friday in the club, listening to the officers talk about interesting things at the front and complain to each other about their treatment after retirement.
It was only then that Shade learned that Prince Saxe, who broke into the Yodel Palace with a gun, had actually been assigned a military position in his early years.
But he was in charge of the New World Exploration and Development Corps of the Kingdom of Delarion, so he was not in Delarion all year round, and his forces mainly stayed in the New World. Now that Prince Sachs was secretly arrested, several other naval and army commanders in the New World would surely quickly eliminate dissidents in the corps to show their loyalty to the king.
Coincidentally, Captain Raddes' friend, Colonel Dallas Hopes, had also been to the New World.
Shade, who was very interested in that distant land, curiously asked him about the situation in the New World. Colonel Hopes sat on a red cushion, smoking a cigar, looking up and squinting his eyes as he recalled his past:
"There's actually not much difference between the New World and the Old World, except that there are more forests, more ruins, more minerals, and fewer humans. I've seen many amazing creatures there. Can you imagine a flying lizard?"
He showed off his knowledge to his friends:
"However, the New World is also dangerous. There are some areas that we are absolutely not allowed to approach. Our superiors will mark the route that cannot be deviated on the map before we lead the team out alone. In addition, every time we go on a long-distance expedition, the team must be accompanied by a priest from the Orthodox Church."
"Is it to relieve your anxiety?"
Shad asked.
"I guess so."
The colonel took a puff of the cigarette, then placed the Nosan cigar in a special metal cigar ashtray and let it extinguish naturally. Cigars are not ordinary tobacco. It takes at least two hours to smoke a Nosan cigar like the one in the colonel's hand.
At the same time, smoking cigars also requires special long wooden matches, metal cigar cutters and other tools. This is tobacco that only wealthy people in the upper class use.
"I'm actually a little afraid of the New World. There are a lot of, uh, strange things there. I once led a team to explore the direction of a newly discovered gold vein in an area where it's inconvenient to explain the location. The young men who were recruited from Keldinan County were as courageous and persevering as I was. But when we were camping at night, we saw a..."
He looked tense and didn't know what to say, and his face suddenly turned pale, so the others quickly used a little joke to divert the topic.
Shad now knew the reason why Ringwitches could not commit suicide, and he became more and more curious about Saint Byron's second ban on Ringwitches, which was that they could not travel to the New World.
(Mi Mia is running...)
Saturday came, and it was time for another group meeting. There was nothing much to say this week. Xia De was mainly repairing his house. He did not inform the academy about obtaining the spiritual rune, but thought about it in a few weeks.
However, Professor Garcia sent another message, saying that he was very satisfied with the final paper submitted by Xia De on the course "Closed Space", and invited Xia De to continue to take the advanced class of "Closed Space" in the fall to explore the mysteries of space.
It seems that Professor Garcia really admires Shad.
On Saturday night, I studied "The Mad Light Chasers" with Dorothy. Because Shad's house was being renovated, the class was held in Dorothy's rented apartment.
Shad heard from the blonde that Leicia would return to Tobesk next Tuesday. Because this was the princess's return to Carsenrick on behalf of the royal family, the royal guard and the team organized by the city hall would go to greet her, so Shad and Dorothy didn't have to go to the station to pick her up.
"But I haven't seen Leicia since last week. Don't you guys swap bodies often?"
Xia De asked curiously, holding the book.
"Unless it is necessary, we rarely disturb each other's lives. As for when it is necessary, it is only when one of us is in danger, or when Leicia wants to wander around the city."
Dorothy said, and then asked Shard:
"Why? Do you miss Leicia?"
"Of course... But I'd rather see her in person than in your body."
Shade said, and the blonde laughed:
"You don't have to be so cautious. I don't care about these things. Okay, Shade, the break is over, let's continue the course. "Tree Kiss" ended because of an accident. I don't believe that there will be any accidents in "Crazy Light Chaser". This will make me feel unfulfilled. Now, answer my question again, what is light?"
Xia De thought about it:
"Um...bond?"
"What kind of weird way of understanding this is?"
Dorothy asked curiously.
So Shad spent another half an hour, using a more localized narrative technique, telling the story of a super ancient hero who could turn into light and fight evil monsters.
This delayed the class time tonight, and when Dorothy was ready to go home, it was almost eleven o'clock in the evening. The gentlemanly stranger personally sent her back to Quill Pen Street.
When they parted at the foot of the apartment on Quill Pen Street, Shad received a kiss on the side of the cheek as a gift. This time he was sure that it was Dorothy who kissed him.