Dorothy was in such a bad state that Shad certainly couldn't let her return to the apartment on Quill Avenue so late, so in the end she stayed at Shad's place for the night, and Shad slept on the sofa.
Because the sofa was not big enough for Mia to lie next to the pillow, she lay on the soft back of the sofa... and then at 6:30 in the morning, she "accidentally" rolled up and hit Shad directly in the chest.
Xia De no longer remembered what he was dreaming about, but when he opened his eyes and sat up, he still remembered that his dream ended with Number 6 St. Teresa's Square collapsing and crushing him.
"Mia, why did you fall? So careless?"
Shade, who was sleepy, lifted the quilt from his body. He originally thought that Mia had fallen down accidentally, but after waking up, he realized the subtle time point of "six thirty" and looked at the cat suspiciously:
"Are you hungry again?"
The orange cat rubbed the back of Shade's hand, meowed, and trotted to the stairs. Although he couldn't sleep on the bed, the cat seemed to be in a good mood.
Dorothy went back without having breakfast with Shade. After officially being promoted to the fifth ring, she still had a lot of time to do. She also had to confirm what was going on with Leicia. In short, in addition to Hamilton's Detective Stories, Dorothy had more things to do in the next period of time.
So, Shade still ate alone with his cat this morning. But the first piece of news he saw after opening the newspaper at the dining table made him frown:
"There was a major earthquake in the Sikarshan area?"
He put down the spoon in his hand and unfolded the newspaper with both hands in disbelief:
"Yesterday evening? Oh, what happened there?"
He would not think this was just an earthquake.
So, after breakfast, I didn't go to Midhill Castle immediately, but calculated the working hours of the Prophet Association and went to the association to find Luvia.
Luvia continued to watch the stars at Shade's house from today, but Shade didn't want to talk to her about this:
"Have you seen the news?"
Holding the cat, Shade sat down in the divination room on the second floor of the association and handed the newspaper to Luvia. Luvia seemed to have not read the newspaper this morning, so she frowned immediately after seeing the news, then looked up and asked Shade:
"Shad, what did you do at Midhill Castle yesterday evening?"
"Huh? What does this have to do with me? I was busy helping Dorothy with the promotion ceremony yesterday and didn't go to Midhill Castle. Oh, Dorothy has become a fifth-ring sorcerer."
Xia De hurriedly clarified his relationship:
"It has nothing to do with you? That's new. But an earthquake at this time doesn't seem like a normal situation at all."
Luvia put down the newspaper in silence, took the crystal ball from the cabinet beside her, looked at it for a long time before saying:
"There must be something wrong in the narrow space between life and death. Although it cannot be said that the disaster has already begun, there must be an unexpected change."
"I'll go to Midhill Castle to check out the situation and wait until..."
"No, don't go today."
Luvia stopped Shade:
"I wrote to Iluna, asking her to find out the news from there through the church. The church has already taken the initiative to talk to her about the Midhill Castle, so there is ample reason to ask about the earthquake. Shade, you have other things to do in Tobesk."
Xia De suddenly became energetic:
"Is this a mission for me? Any clues about the new coin?"
"I and I will handle the coin issue. I found a small remnant of the Whispering Poem..."
"Meow!"
Because Shad touched the cat too hard, Mia screamed immediately.
"A fragment of a poem?"
"Yeah, is that weird?"
The purple-eyed girl frowned slightly:
"There are at least three digits of known extant fragments of the Whispering Cantos, so why can't I find one?"
"So how did you find it?"
Shade was very curious, but Luvia shook her head and didn't tell him the answer:
"Anyway, there is a fragment of the Whispering Poems in Tobesk, and no one except me has noticed it yet. To be exact, the fragment is on the base of a stone figurine discovered by archaeologists. The figurine is actually a handicraft made by the Witch Emperors of the Fifth Epoch."
She looked around and lowered her voice:
"It's about the same size as my crystal ball."
Luvia described it more specifically:
"The figurines are in the hands of a local collector."
As he spoke, he handed Shad a business card with Simiel Pasoro's name and address written on it, and his occupation was listed as writer.
"I'm going to find the collector and buy that antique?"
"No, no, no, he's dead."
The girl with purple eyes shook her head again:
"This old man lives alone, and his family just came to Tobesk, so the things in the house should not have been moved. What you need to do is sneak into this address."
She tapped the business card:
"Find the stone statue and record the information on the base. We just want to know what's written on it. There's no need to actually get it."
Xia De nodded and glanced at the address:
"No problem. I'll leave after I send Mia home and try to give you news before this evening. Luvia, I'm a professional at sneaking into other people's homes."
He said confidently that the new magic Silent Moonlight was especially suitable for Xia De to do infiltration missions.
"It's hard for me to imagine what you normally do."
Luvia shook her head:
"Let's meet at your house in the evening. I'll have Iluna come over as well, and we'll discuss the current progress of the third chosen one. It's been almost two weeks since you rescued Priest Augustus, and we've made almost no progress in our investigation."
"No problem, see you tonight then."
So Shade set out again.
Coincidentally, the deceased antique collector Mr. Simiel Pasoro lived on the same street as Miss Black, the sister of Miss White, whom Shad was looking for, who had already traveled to Midhill Castle.
The apartment buildings facing the street stood tall, with old architectural styles and walls, but the steam pipes and street vendors gave them a modern feel. When Shad stood on this street again, he couldn't help but sigh at the changes of the times. But before he could figure out whether he should use Raglan's jump to sneak in through the second-floor window when no one was paying attention, or find the back door of the apartment building to sneak in, a familiar four-wheeled carriage stopped beside Shad.
Xiade thought someone was getting off the bus at the intersection and he was blocking the way, so he walked towards the mailbox across the street. But as soon as he took a step, he saw the car window opened and Tifa's smiling face appeared in the window:
"Good morning, Shad."