"So what happened to Sister Matilda?"
Xia De continued to ask curiously while sitting on the sofa. The blind lady shook her head slightly:
"They continued to correspond, and Sister Matilda even thought about leaving her life behind and going to Tobesk when she was 45... She died about 15 years ago in a terrible accident."
Ms. Michelle had a somewhat sad expression on her face, and Shad was speechless for a moment.
"Yesterday, I met Mr. Rat Augustus again after more than 20 years, and learned that he had become a ring sorcerer in Zarathus."
"It's Byrons, you don't have to test me."
Shade interrupted, and Ms. Michelle nodded:
"I understand. He has become a student at St. Byron's College of Chemistry. I feel so sad for them. If only he had known this earlier... I told Father Augustus where Mother Matilda was buried. After he left us, he must have gone directly to the cemetery."
Shade sighed:
"So that's what happened. He never told us about this part of his life. Well, there is clear evidence that Father Augustus has met with an accident and is likely to die soon. So, I want to know if the divination you did yesterday pointed to other clues."
"I'm sorry, although I have some divination abilities, all I can see in him is death."
"Come to think of it, you are already the second fortune teller to predict the meaning of death for a priest."
Shade said, and Sister Matilda showed a slightly surprised expression:
"Doesn't that mean that Mr...."
"We, his friends, can only do our best to save him."
Shade stood up and prepared to leave. He didn't have that much time to waste. He had to find the last place where Priest Augustus disappeared before the effect of the Blood Echo faded.
"Please wait a moment, Mr. Watson. Although I cannot provide you with direct help, if you need anything, you can always come here to find me. In addition, I would like to do a divination for you."
"Divination?"
"Yes, our divination method is different from ordinary divination. We don't need any auxiliary tools. Instead, we use our eyes directly to capture the spirit."
She motioned for Xia De to sit down again, and then raised her hand to untie the cloth wrapped around his eyes. Xia De then realized that the other person was not blind at all, but had covered his eyes intentionally as a form of spiritual practice.
"A spiritual sect?"
He suddenly said softly, and Ms. Michelle stopped her hand and kept looking at Shade with her hand raised. Of course, because the strip of cloth was not completely taken off, it could not be considered as "looking".
"You know us?"
Although the spiritual sect is not a particularly secretive organization, it is not easy to guess its identity at once.
"I am the priest's friend in Tobesk. During the 'Darkness Descent' incident in Tobesk some time ago, I saw your people in the city."
"Yes, Sister Defulin did lead the team there in person."
Ms. Michelle nodded, lowered her head and completely untied the strip of cloth.
Seeing that she was about to look up at him, Xia De immediately sat up straight. Ms. Michelle looked up and opened her eyes. He didn't know if it was a psychological factor, but Xia De felt that her brown eyes were very beautiful.
"oh!"
Just one look at Shade and the nun from the spiritual order cried out in pain, covered her eyes and lowered her head.
"I'm sorry, what's going on?"
Xia De was a little overwhelmed, but Ms. Michelle just waved her hand and told him not to panic:
"Mr. Watson, the moonlight on you is so dazzling. It is so bright, so pure, and so dazzling. I shouldn't be so bold to peek at you so easily. I think it will be no problem for you to solve the problem of Reverend Augustus."
"Are you really okay? I have a potion that can heal your eyes. Would you like to try it?"
Shade took out the bright yellow eye drops prescribed by the ophthalmologist that he had not used up in the Dark Realm, but Ms. Michelle covered her eyes and politely refused. As a ring magic organization with special eye training methods, they would not lack potions for treating eye diseases.
Knowing that Shade was in a hurry, Ms. Michelle called another middle-aged nun from the "House of the Blind" to take Shade downstairs. This middle-aged nun was a third- or fourth-ring sorcerer. She was very surprised to see Ms. Michelle's condition, but she did not blame Shade for it.
Xia De almost understood what this so-called "House of the Blind" was. It should be a base of the "Spiritual Cult" in the local area, and Ms. Michelle was the leader of the base. Therefore, before leaving, he kindly told Ms. Michelle that the disappearance of Father Augustus would soon attract the attention of the church and the college.
If Xia De could find out this, the church and the college should also be able to find out this, so they need to prepare in advance.
The stranger was actually very interested in this organization, but the most important thing now was the matter of Priest Augustus. After bidding farewell to the Blind House, he left through the back door and continued to follow Priest Augustus's trail.
The priest first went to a flower shop at the corner of the alley to buy flowers. Shad spent 5 pence and learned from the flower shop that it was a bouquet of flowers to commemorate a friend.
After that, the priest got on the carriage again. Shade, who already knew the priest's destination, did not follow him on foot this time. He also got on a carriage and headed to the Midhill Fort Public Cemetery.
All the big cities in Draerion have public cemeteries planned by the city hall. This is also to facilitate municipal planning in the rapidly expanding cities in the steam age and to prevent the dead from occupying the land of the living.
As for the city of Midhill Fort, the city can only expand towards the northern plains, and it is basically impossible to expand towards the Sikar Mountains in the southwest. Therefore, the public cemetery of Midhill Fort is in the southwest of the city, which is actually at the foot of the Sikar Mountains.
Strictly speaking, it was already considered a mountainous area. But because the cemetery was built on the mountain, not only was the greening condition excellent, but there was even a canal that someone had openly dug through the cemetery, so the conditions of the cemetery here seemed to be better than those in Tobysk.
"If I fail to become a god in the end and die like a mortal, maybe it would be nice to be buried here."
Xia De was thinking about all sorts of things.
Somehow, when the carriage carrying Xia De arrived at the entrance of the cemetery, a thin layer of fog rose in the mountains and forests. Xikar Mountain was already high, and when Xia De looked up, he saw that the white fog had already covered the cemetery at the foot of the mountain from the mountainside.
This was not smog caused by the steam industry, but naturally formed fog. But when Xia De came down the mountain at noon, everything was normal in the forest.
"You are probably from out of town."
The driver who was giving Xia De change saw Xia De looking at the mountains in surprise, so he smiled and explained:
"Every autumn, thick fog always appears in Xikar Mountain from time to time. It can happen at night, morning, day, or evening, and the duration is uncertain. Everyone living in this city knows about this. Adults always like to use the ghosts in the white fog of Xikar Mountain to scare disobedient children."
While telling Shad a local story, the driver handed Shad the 7 pence he had found, but Shad just took a 1-penny coin, waved goodbye, and turned to look at the cemetery in the mist:
"If I remember correctly, after using the unfortunate man's long hair, the negative effect of being easily attracted to evil spirits is still on me..."