"Don't worry, what would I do in a place like that?"
Shade shrugged.
"The priest can only get out of this situation by himself, and all I can do is figure out how to help him get out of this situation."
Tomorrow is Saturday, and the four of them agree to temporarily change this week's study meeting to No. 6 St. Teresa's Square. The doctor then leaves first, and Dorothy stays to help Shad take care of the cat.
Luvia was not in a hurry to leave. She made a request to Shade:
"I participated in the astrology event held by the St. Byron's Astronomical College in the fall. This year's event was on a larger scale, and the college sent me a set of special stargazing equipment, but my apartment was not facing the right direction and was not big enough..."
In fact, it was not that the area was not big enough, but that the open space was not big enough. The fortune tellers could not just set up a telescope and a planetarium to observe the stars. They needed enough open space to draw the ritual array, and they needed space to place star maps and various professional instruments whose specific uses Shade did not know.
"It's okay. Go pick a room on the third floor. There's not even any furniture on the third floor. I use it as a place to practice rituals."
"Well, I think I'll borrow it for an autumn. Your house faces very well."
Luvia nodded, and Shade found a spare key for her and asked her to move the stargazing equipment over in the next few days so that she could come stargazing anytime in the future.
He asked Dorothy to look after Mia as he might not be back until very late, and then he went to the first floor with the letter of introduction from Miss Carina.
Luvia and Dorothy sat opposite each other on the sofa. Mia squatted on the coffee table, shaking her head left and right at the two girls, and finally jumped to the side of Dorothy, who was more familiar to her.
The blonde girl picked up the cat and asked the fortune teller who was playing with the key with a smile:
"How are you going to pay for the room? The prices in St. Teresa's Square are very high... You're not going to pay for it yourself, are you?"
She asked teasingly.
Luvia shook her head, her short brown hair rubbing against her shoulders:
"Shad won't charge me rent."
Dorothy smiled, but stopped joking:
"But aren't you worried that stargazing in this kind of 'haunted house' will affect your stargazing results?"
"Stargazing is different from divination. Although both are affected by the environment, stargazing is less affected. Besides, Xia De believes that there is no problem in his family now."
Luvia looked up at the ceiling.
"If there really is nothing wrong, why haven't I seen any living creatures in this house except Shad and Mia for the entire summer? Rats, spiders, flies, ants, nothing."
Dorothy said as she stroked Little Mia. The cat did not look very pleased with Dorothy's stroking skills.
The smile on Luvia's face faded:
"I used to think it was the underground part, but now I think about it, maybe the basement isn't the only problem. It looks like Shade doesn't plan to move out of here. Maybe only a special person like him can make this house look normal."
As he spoke, he stood up and planned to hire a carriage to transport his stargazing equipment. It would only take two or three trips to transport everything, but it would be very troublesome to assemble.
"Since you were observing the stars on the third floor, then the main factor that might have affected the results should be the anomaly on the third floor. By the way, what happened on the third floor of Xia De's house? I remember he mentioned it once."
Dorothy stood up and prepared to leave as well, because she wanted to go home to get the documents and materials she had written.
She wanted to carry Mia with her, but Mia was unwilling to go out with Shad most of the time, so she jumped out of Dorothy's arms and jumped onto the windowsill in the living room, basking in the autumn afternoon sun, ready to have a good sleep.
Dorothy knew that the cat did not want to go out, so she did not try to catch it. The two girls disappeared down the stairs, and a voice came from downstairs:
"I remember that someone seemed to have entered the third floor and never appeared again? Oh, this is very similar to what happened to Father Augustus."
"Meow~"
The cat on the second-floor windowsill stretched lazily, the sunlight shining on its fur. The cat, with its eyes narrowed and its front paws tucked in, the orange pattern on its back really seemed to be emitting golden light.
That is the glow of the sun.
(Mi Ya is taking a nap...)
On the other side, Shade once again passed through the statue of the ancient god in his basement and appeared in the abandoned tower in the mountains outside the city of Midhill Castle.
This time he didn't have to worry about being discovered, so he used "Raglai's Leap" to leave the basement. Afterwards, he didn't immediately follow the path he had taken to the city, but stood behind the abandoned tower and looked at the city stretching out at the foot of the mountain in the distance.
"Midhill Castle..."
The city was divided into grid-like blocks, and pedestrians and carriages moved at a constant speed like ants. The most conspicuous things in the city were the natural church in the city center, the factory near the foot of the mountain, and the railway that passed through Midhill Castle and then entered the mountain pass. This was the most important passage through the Rommel Mountains in the eastern part of the Old World.
"This doesn't look like a volcano at all."
Xia De muttered to himself, then turned and went down the mountain.
It was already afternoon, and like yesterday, there was a thin layer of mist in the forest. Although the mist did not particularly obstruct the view, it was still a nuisance for Shade as he moved through the pathless primeval forest.
Although it was a road he had walked before, it still took him almost the same amount of time to get down the mountain as it did the first time he walked yesterday.
First they passed a small village at the foot of the mountain, then passed through a smelting factory in the early days of the city's development, and finally found a carriage when they were close to the city, which took Shad to No. 15 Luffy Lane.
Miss Carina told Shad how to contact the spiritual order, but Shad thought that instead of rashly contacting a ringmaster he didn't know, it would be better to let someone he knew introduce him.
As a mutual aid association for the blind, the "Blind Home" is always open during the day. When Xia De visited again, Ms. Michelle was giving psychological counseling to a lady who came to seek help, so Xia De waited for nearly half an hour before he saw Ms. Michelle hurried over.
Normally, she covered her eyes with a linen cloth, but this did not affect her movements at all. Xia De guessed that maybe the linen cloth was actually transparent, or maybe she had some ability like "mind's eye".
But when Shad took out the letter written by Miss Carina and Miss Michelle removed the cloth in front of her eyes and read it, he realized that the nuns of the spiritual order were not really "blind".
"Witch? Mr. Watson, do you know a witch?"
Ms. Michelle frowned slightly and looked at Shad, who nodded. Of course, he did not forget to tell Miss Carina that his alias was John Watson:
"Yes, when I was in Tobesk, I did some things for an unidentified lady. Later I found out that 'that lady' was a witch. When she heard that I was coming to Midhill Castle to look for friends, 'that lady' had her servant give me a letter. I originally thought that I would not need it, but I did not expect that this kind of thing would happen to Priest Augustus just after I arrived in this city... Is this letter enough for the Order to provide some help?"
"Of course it's enough. The lady gave you a very high evaluation in the letter..."
Shad did not open the letter, so he did not know how Miss Carina praised him.
Knowing the attitude of the Witch Council towards men, Ms. Michelle was very hesitant about the letter. But since Shade had already taken out the letter, she had to pass it on.
Therefore, Ms. Michelle let Shad rest for a while in the Home for the Blind, and she went to personally hand over the letter to Sister Defuline, the leader of the order.
The spiritual order is a very interesting organization. Everyone in this organization is called Sister So-and-so or Brother So-and-so. Therefore, it is difficult to judge who the real leader is just by the title.
If Xia De had gone to the local witch first and then to the spiritual cult, he might have been able to go directly to the cult's real base and would have been treated with courtesy. But now with such an indirect introduction, he could only wait obediently, and he was not sure whether the eleventh-ringed Sister Defulin would be willing to see him.
That depends on whether Miss Carina has enough face.
After waiting from 2pm to 3pm, Ms. Michelle hurried back to the Blind House. She first apologized to Shade for making him wait for so long, and then asked him to get in the carriage and go with her to meet the leader of the spiritual order, Sister Defulin of the eleventh ring.
The Spiritual Order is a group of ring sorcerers outside the church. Its scale is larger than the Mercury Blood that Shade encountered, but far smaller than the Prophet Association. They did not fully cooperate with the Orthodox Church like the Prophet Association did, and even had some intentions of rejecting the Orthodox Church. Therefore, Shade, who only gained initial trust, was unable to go directly to the headquarters of the order to meet Sister Defulin.
The final meeting place was not the Blind House, but a club two blocks west of the Blind House, on the same street as the local Creation Church.
The club, which was well decorated and had a good facade, was called the "Disciple Club". It was difficult to judge the nature of the club from its name. Sister Defulin met Shade alone in the reception room on the third floor. When Shade opened the door, the first thing he saw was the nun's profile.
She looked to be in her twenties, with gray hair. Like the nuns Shade had seen in the dark realm, she wore a silver crown-shaped eye mask to cover her eyes. And the pattern on the silver crown was more complicated than any other nun Shade had seen on their faces.
She was wearing a more traditional grey and black skirt, which looked like a nun's uniform, and a black shawl made of what looked like silk over a black top. The shawl looked very thin, but when Shade sat down, he felt that it was made of gauze.
Anyone who saw this lady for the first time would have thought she was a strict nun.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Watson."
Her lips moved slightly, and she spoke in a calm and slow voice. Sister Devileen placed Miss Carina's letter on the table between them, just beside the teacup in front of her, as if she could see everything in front of her.
"Good evening, Sister Devereine. I am sorry to disturb you like this."
Xia De said politely, looking around the room. This was a reception room on the top floor of a high-end club in the city center, but the decoration style was surprisingly simple. At first glance, there were no valuable antique furniture or precious paintings. The interior style was mainly cold gray, which was in line with the temperament of the young nun in front of him.
"This should also be one of the local bases of the spiritual practice group."
Xia De judged in his heart.
"I have read the letter from the Seventh Witch, Mr. Watson. We have a good relationship with the parliament. Since the witch said that you are a very capable person, we are naturally willing to help you. Sister Michelle has already told me about your friend. So, what kind of help do you hope we can provide you?"
The nun asked softly. Even though her rank was far higher than Shade's, there was a natural humility in her tone. This was certainly not because she had glimpsed the secret of Shade's divinity. The nun should always speak like this.
Not only that, although she also spoke the Draerion language, her grammar was a bit strange. After thinking about it, Shade realized from the "Draerion Language Gift Pack" that the grammar she used was relatively ancient and not the grammar commonly used in modern times. This was a way of speaking that could only be heard in ancient noble families. Shade was very curious about her background before she became a ring wizard.
"I want to know more about the narrow space between life and death. Perhaps you can provide some information."
Xia De said without touching the tea on the table.
"Of course, if it can help you rescue your friend, that would be great."
"Also, may I ask if there has ever been a precedent of rescuing people who have fallen on the border between life and death?"
The nun nodded:
"The world of the dead and the world of the living should not overlap in any way. Those who should leave should leave forever. As for those who fell into the boundary between life and death, they should not have died but died unexpectedly, so there were indeed targeted rescues."
Shad looked at the other person, and he believed that Sister Defulin could sense his gaze.
"But we also respect death and keep it respectful, not disturbing those who are sleeping peacefully. Therefore, even within the cult, few people know about how to help the living who are unfortunate enough to enter the other world."
"May I ask what reward do I need to pay in order for the cult to help me rescue my friend?"
Shade inquired, even if he asked Miss Carina for help, he would pay her, so he naturally understood that no one would help him for no reason.
"No."
Sister Defulyn shook her head slightly.
"You don't want to help?"
"I mean, I don't need any reward. I am willing to help you on behalf of the cult."
Xia De was stunned:
"I'm sorry, but you're saying that you're willing to help me rescue Priest Augustus from that suspected Unknowable-level relic?"
"Yes."
The nun nodded.
This made Xia De feel a little embarrassed. He thought the nun wanted him to pay a price, which was why she repeatedly emphasized that the sect respected the laws of life and death.
"Excuse me, may I ask... um... why are you willing to help me? I thought you would at least let me help you do something, complete a difficult task, or even investigate a dangerous relic before you help me."
Sister Defulin showed a peaceful smile under the silver eye mask with fine patterns. She sat very elegantly with her two white hands clasped together on her legs. Even the princesses that Shad knew probably could not show such an elegant temperament.
"Priest Rat Augustus has a history with the predecessors of the order. Besides, helping a kind person to save another kind person is what should be done."
She had just kept her head slightly lowered, but now she raised her head, and the eyes behind the silver eye mask were facing Xia De:
"Mr. John Watson, please answer a question: If it were you, would you help someone you don't know but who is in urgent need of help?"
There is no need to think about this question. If Shad was not such a person, he would not turn around when the girl and her family were about to be taken away by the evil god, he would not resolutely roll the dice when the woman who lost her child sought help, and he would not appear here now... The last example is not appropriate because he and Priest Augustus are very familiar with each other.
"I will. As long as it doesn't cost me a lot, I am willing to help those kind people."
Xia De said seriously, and Sister Defulin smiled:
"So, the cult is also willing to help you. I don't want to say something profound, but this is a bond, and the cult believes that this bond of goodwill can make the world a better place."
At this moment, Shad's respect for the spiritual order reached its peak.