Carrying God's gift box, Shad immediately entered the manor with the support of Luvia, whose condition was getting worse and worse.
They did not see any sleeping maid in the courtyard, and no one appeared after they pushed open the door that was locked from the inside with difficulty.
Because it was pitch black everywhere, there was no difference between the inside of the building and the outdoors. Just be careful not to bump into the wall. Seeing no one appeared, Shade felt a little uneasy. Fortunately, the pendant he carried with him could detect the witches around. Even if the dark field hindered the effect of the pendant, at least it did not completely eliminate the effect.
According to the different heat emitted by the pendant in different positions, Shad brought Luvia to the third floor of the manor and stopped at the door of the manor's master bedroom. This is Miss Carina's bedroom. Only Tifa can enter and exit at will without permission. Shad has never been here before.
At this time, the two doors were tightly closed in the darkness. Xia De reached out to push them, but unexpectedly, the red-gold runes on the door flashed and pushed Xia De open.
Instead of being surprised, Xia De smiled:
"I knew that even though Miss Carina might not be in the manor, it was impossible for all the servants in the manor to fall asleep because of the expansion of darkness. Luvia, do you recognize the ritual on the door?"
Xia De turned around and asked. Luvia tried to open her eyes and shook her head.
"The ceremony doesn't matter, why don't you just knock on the door?"
"Oh, that makes sense. If anyone is still awake, we can just knock on the door."
Because the door would prevent him from being touched, Shade finally chose to shout a few times towards the door. After waiting for more than ten seconds, a faint voice came from behind the door. In the dark realm, the sound would also be swallowed by the darkness, so someone behind the door should also be shouting loudly:
"Is that Shad?"
"It's me, and I'm with my friends."
Shade recognized the distorted voice as Tifa's. It seemed that when the incident happened, Miss Carina did not take her away from the manor.
"Prove your identity."
The voice from inside the door said again.
"The last time we investigated the ophthalmologist together, I asked you to drip blood into my eyes while I was using the potion."
"Oh, it's really you."
Tifa carefully pushed open the right door of the double door of the bedroom from the inside, but only left a gap wide enough for Shad to enter sideways. Shad restored a mask from his pocket and handed it to Luvia, but the latter shook her head;
"No need. I think it's okay even if the witch knows what I look like."
Xia De entered the room first, and after confirming that the door was safe, he poked his head through the crack in the door and pulled Luvia in as well.
A not very strong light source appeared in the room for the first time in a long time. It was placed on the carpet in the middle of the bedroom. More than 30 girls in maid outfits were either lying on the desk or in groups of two or three on the carpet. They were sleeping soundly or talking in low voices in various parts of the room. The light source covered their bodies, causing their shadows to sway slightly.
This scene is quite visually impactful no matter from which angle you view it.
Tifa was still wearing her usual maid dress. From her perspective, Shad, whose whole body was emitting a faint silver moonlight, walked in with a glowing box on his back and a very elegant lady. This scene was even more impactful.
Tifa was not the only one who was not resting in the room. Besides her, there were four maids in maid skirts and three ladies in their respective casual skirts.
These seven ladies are also ring wizards around Miss Carina. Two are second-ring, one is third-ring, and the other four are middle-ring, but none of them exceeds Tifa's level.
At this time, five of the ring magicians sat in front of the only light source in the room, and some ashes were used to outline the ritual traces of the hexagram on the carpet. The remaining two stood in front of the door with Tifa to welcome Shad's arrival. Shad was also a frequent visitor to Miss Carina's manor, and the maids here all knew him.
"This is my friend, the fortune teller..."
"Luvia Anat."
Xia De originally wanted to say a pseudonym, but unexpectedly, Luvia said her real name herself.
Tifa smiled and nodded as she introduced herself, then arranged for the awake maid to wake up her sleeping companion and prepare hot tea for the two people who had come from afar.
"What's the situation now? Miss Carina isn't here?"
The door closed behind him, locking the darkness outside. There was a strong scent in the bedroom. Miss Carina probably liked to light incense in her bedroom.
"The young lady went out alone this morning before the darkness spread. When the incident happened, the manor itself could not resist for less than five minutes. During this time, I summoned the servants of the manor to hide in the mansion. Only five people did not return in time in the back garden. Now the male servants are in the kitchen on the first floor and should have fallen asleep. The other maids went to the restaurant on the second floor under the guidance of the housekeeper. I think they should also fall asleep. The people here are all maids responsible for taking care of the young lady, so I did not inform the young lady and brought them up. They are not asleep because of the influence of the relics, but because of too much mental pressure, so they must sleep frequently."
Tifa said softly.
Although Miss Carina hates men, some heavy physical work in the manor requires male servants, and if there is no male servant in the manor, it is easy for others to associate something, so there are male servants here, but they are not allowed to enter the second floor and above.
"Are you all right?"
Xia De asked with concern, and he lowered his voice to avoid waking up the others who were sleeping.
"It's okay for now. Miss has anticipated the worst, so she left this behind."
Tifa pointed to the light source behind her. It was a cylindrical kerosene lamp. Made of bronze metal, the main body was cylindrical and supported by three legs. The height of the kerosene lamp was about the height of Shade's chest. It was divided into five sections, each with a separate wick. The lampshade was made of glass, and there was a phoenix pattern on the metal that fixed the lampshade. There was also a very delicate bronze phoenix statue on the top of the lamp post.
This is a relic.
"The only positive feature of the Secret Keeper-level (Level 3) Phoenix Lamp is that it can continuously emit light and heat to illuminate the surroundings, and it will never go out. The negative feature is that if this lamp is not contained in a closed fire-resistant material, the probability of fire in the surrounding area will be greatly increased, and if the fire is not handled in time, some monsters that even the young lady finds troublesome will appear in the flames."
Tifa explained to Shade:
"It is precisely because it has only one pure characteristic that it can continue to shine in the dark area. However, the difference between the Phoenix Lamp and the dark area is still a bit too big. We must use rituals to assist in enhancing the light so that it covers a larger area. But as long as there are no new changes, these lights should be enough to keep us going until the end."
"Ms. Carina anticipated this situation? She is truly amazing."
Shade exclaimed quietly.
"No, in my opinion, it's remarkable that you were able to come here when the relic was out of control. The situation outside must be very bad, right?"
Tifa said, and Shade shook his head:
"This is not my credit. It is the friends I know who gave me the strength. Let's not talk about this anymore, Luvia. You stay here for a while. You can't follow me and move on. I will go on alone."
The purple-eyed girl who had already sat down looked at Xia De with regret, but what Xia De said was indeed the reality.
"Tifa, does Miss Carina have a map of the core area of the Dark Territory? I need to move on."
"Yes, I have it here. But I'm going with you, no, please don't call for a refusal."
She still had a peaceful expression on her face and looked up at Xia De:
"I am also worried about the young lady. She is probably in the center of the relic. Things happened suddenly, and I am not sure if the young lady is ready to deal with it. Since you want to go there, why not come with me. After all, I don't know what the situation is outside, and I need your help."
The way she said it made it sound like she needed Xia De to accompany her.
Shad knew that Tifa wanted to protect him, so he thought about it carefully and decided not to refuse. But before he left, he had one more thing:
"Is the Dark Box in the manor now?"
Although the extreme fear had passed, Shade also saw strength in the fear. But that was the power of courage, and for the sake of the Light Spirit Rune, it was necessary to try again.
"Yes, but I suggest you don't use it lightly."
She brought Shade to the bed in the bedroom. The master bedroom of the manor was very large, and the four-poster bed placed on two steps above the ground was even larger. However, the curtains were drawn to cover the bed, so Shade did not dare to explore it impolitely.
The light of the Phoenix Lamp only extended to the edge of the bed, but the light and darkness did not transition smoothly. The boundary between the two was very obvious, as if there was really a line dividing them.
The brass gear mechanism box is placed on the boundary between light and darkness, and the dividing line completely coincides with the central axis of the upper surface of the mechanism box.
This is the Dark Box that has not been seen for a long time.
"How did you bring it into Miss Carina's bedroom? Did you foresee my return?"
Shad asked, but Tifa shook her head, squatted down and carefully moved the box completely to the area covered by the light. Only then did Shad discover that there were disgusting black uneven stains on the large and small gears on the side of the box.
"We were able to escape here successfully because of this relic."
Tifa explained:
"The characteristic of the Dark Box itself is that by rotating the six gears according to certain rules, darkness can be released from the box in a controllable manner. Darkness is also different from darkness. When the darkness of the Dark Box covers us, the darkness of the Dark Realm will temporarily be unable to affect us."
Shade raised his eyebrows. This approach was very interesting. Before Shade set out, Father Augustus said that it was not necessarily light that defeated darkness, but he did not expect that darkness could actually fight against darkness.