Outside the window, in the night, was the garden of the Dawn Church. From the window, Shade could see a huge holy emblem of Mr. Dawn made of blooming flowers in the middle of the garden, illuminated by a circle of candles at the edge of the flower bed.
He took a deep breath of the air outside the window and said after a long while:
"I was there when the doctor used the Words of Ascension. The power was terrifying."
"Of course. Generally speaking, the use of the Word of Ascension requires large-scale rituals and potions to exert its strongest power. And even if it is used in a prepared manner, it will inevitably lead to a permanent decline in lifespan, a decline in strength, and a short-term decrease in mental resistance. There is even a saying that using the power of the Word of Ascension will make it more difficult to engrave spiritual runes. Bill used it with the mentality of dying this time. If it weren't for your spell, his situation would probably be even worse. Maybe the woman who confronted us at the time didn't expect him to be so crazy."
The priest sighed.
"So how many times has the doctor used the Words of Ascension?"
Xia De asked again, and got the answer that it was only the first time.
After asking about the doctor, he talked about the other two girls in the group:
"Is Miss Annatte at Miss Louisa's place now? Do you know Miss Louisa's address? I think I should go see them."
In fact, he was worried about the "Whispering Poems" and the "Thirteen Chosen Ones", and he wanted to see the purple-eyed fortune teller immediately.
"Won't we be able to see it tomorrow when we go see Bill?"
Although Father Augustus said this, he still gave the address and continued the previous topic:
"Last night, things were pretty good. Anat terminated the ritual in time, and you didn't collapse in front of the evil god's shadow. You even killed the 'Lady Lazoya' who saw our appearance."
The conversation went on until here, and finally came to the blow under the silver moon last night. Shade tried to decide what to say, but the old priest shook his head, with an expression that said, "I understand you."
"Everyone has their own secrets, just like I have secrets that I can't tell you, so if you don't want to explain, there's no need to explain. We will keep the secret for you, and no one will know that the person under the silver moon is you.
But I want to advise you, young man, that power has a price. I don't know what price you paid to do what you did last night, but don't be tempted by power. "
"Yes, sir."
Xia De answered seriously, and couldn't help asking:
"Since you mentioned that Madam Lazoya died, what about the Silver Eyes? Did the Mercury Blood perish because of this?"
He still remembered that the Silver Eyed One was protecting "Madam" Lasoya.
"The Silver Eyed One was seriously injured, and then he escaped from the church's encirclement before the Ten Ring Warlocks of this diocese arrived. I heard the news not long before you woke up. The church suspected that the Blood Spirit School that fled to the New World decades ago sent people to help them. Haha~ Another group of even crazier lunatics has arrived."
Shad had heard the two professors at St. Byrons talk about the Blood Spirit School, and the man who fired the gun under the grape arbor yesterday also mentioned it.
"But no one knows what we did, so we don't have to worry about being retaliated by Mercury Blood or the cultists who believe in the evil god Blood Feast. Let the church's ring sorcerers worry about this matter. The rest has nothing to do with us. The ritual to summon the evil god requires meeting many complex conditions, such as 'gluttony', 'night party', etc. There will be no more problems in the short term, which is good."
The old priest nodded, but there was still some worry on his face:
"However, there were more than one person who saw you kick last night. The church actually thought you were a 12th or even 13th ring warlock. This is really a headache. In the next few months, I'm afraid you have to be careful and don't let others link you two together. This kind of thing is hard to explain.
But you did a good job. You had a mask on your face, and the clothes on your body were not your own. You even remembered to use illusion to pull Silver Moon behind you to hide your figure. The church now calls you the 'Masked Man under Silver Moon', and also blames you for the headless body of the ring wizard in the garden maze. The church believes that you are a ring wizard who is proficient in the elements of Silver Moon miracles... Detective, have you wanted to do this for a long time? That's why you are so well prepared, even carrying the twenty-sided dice of fate, so that the church cannot predict your identity. "
When asking the last question, the old priest's tone became relaxed.
"No, it's just a coincidence."
Shade shook his head and said that everything that happened last night was just due to the good luck caused by the dice. Unless the attack of fate is rebounded again, this kind of thing will not happen again.
He stopped stroking Mia and looked at his hand in the dissatisfied look of the orange cat:
"The power I had last night... is indeed no longer usable, and I don't think I'll miss that power..."
The old priest showed an expression that said, "As expected."
Xia De actually felt guilty for deceiving his friend, but the path to divine sublimation must not be known to others. Becoming a god is tempting for everyone, and if this path is only for him, Xia De will not let anyone know this secret.
"It's good that you understand the price of power, but having power is definitely not a fault. The kick you delivered last night was quite impressive. I think after this incident, your understanding of your core spiritual runes will be even deeper. You may even have a chance to create magic of your own."
Father Augustus' tone was a little more cheerful, and he walked to the clothes rack in the room to get a coat for Shade (note):
"So last night's ending was actually pretty good. We worked together to stop the evil god, and our identities weren't exposed. You killed Madam Lazoya and experienced power, and the price was just one day of sleep. I really have to pray to our Lord Mr. Liming. This is really extremely lucky."
Of course, there are some flaws. Dr. Schneider failed to obtain the forged Philosopher's Stone, and he certainly could not get the high reward on "Madame Lazoya" who was killed by Shade, or even the relic ring.
But nothing is perfect. Now everyone is safe and sound, which is good enough.
Besides, he now had a more important goal than the gold pound and the ring, a more important goal than becoming very rich in this age of steam:
"Divinity... ... sublimated twelve times... ... became a god..."
The priest had no idea what Shade was thinking, and continued to talk to himself:
"Come to think of it, it was such a coincidence last night that the five of us all showed up there without any prior discussion."
"Yeah, what a coincidence."
This probably wasn't caused by his "luck". After all, it would have been better if the other people hadn't shown up.
"But Bill still has the worst luck."
The priest sighed, shaking his head.
"What does this mean, priest?"
Shade asked curiously.
"Just like before, if we all go together and one person gets injured, it's most likely Bill. If many people get injured, then the most serious one is most likely Bill. The fact that he met you and successfully got you to join our team is probably the luckiest thing that has happened to him this year. Oh, may God bless him."