Because of the busy wedding banquet on Tuesday night, Shade did almost nothing on Wednesday. But on Thursday, it was time to get back to work.
After getting up early in the morning, he used the manuscript pages in his hand to make an appointment with the librarian Miss Danister in the evening. Then, he caught Little Mia, who was walking around the house after breakfast and was full of energy. In the desperate struggle of this cat who was reluctant to go out, he took it to Huntington.
Yesterday, Shade had left a letter for Sister Defulin of Midhill Castle and agreed on a specific time to use the magician's escape box.
He showed up at the White River Valley Vineyard half an hour earlier than the agreed time of nine o'clock. In order to prevent the "escape ritual" from being affected by the ancient god statue, he even left the wine cellar and set up the ritual in the house of the vineyard.
The servants who stayed in the vineyard during the winter were not eligible to use the house, so there was a lot of space here. Although the old blood-sucking species who was responsible for guarding the warehouse during the winter didn't know what Shade was going to do, he still cooperated and provided him with help.
The first snow has arrived in Tobesk, while Huntington is still waiting for the early winter.
Little Mia, who came to Huntington for the first time, was obviously not interested in this strange place. However, the cats raised in the White River Valley Vineyard to catch mice soon annoyed it. After discovering that they were "plotting against Shade", the small orange cat "roared" for a long time with its fur puffed up, scaring the three Carsonrick native cats that were at least three times bigger than it and fled.
Xia De still doesn't understand why Xiaomia has such a strong deterrent effect on her peers.
It was nine o'clock. As the ritual array on the ground, which was completely different from contemporary mystical rituals and should have no effect, began to flicker, Sister Defulyn appeared in the light with her head lowered and her hands clasped together.
Using the relic magician's escape box should have caused a slight piercing sensation, but the nun's expression did not change. After "seeing" Shade holding the cat, she only greeted him softly, as if she was not traveling thousands of miles, but just visiting the neighbor next door.
After erasing the ritual array on the ground, Shade led the nun into the space behind the hidden wall in the underground wine cellar of the White River Valley Vineyard, touching the statue of the ancient god to establish a signpost. Because the nun had touched the statue in the abandoned tower in the mountains of Mount Sikar some time ago, the nun officially established the transmission channel from Midhill Castle to Huntington.
After getting horses from the stable, Sister Shad and Sister Defulin rode on each horse. Although it sounds dangerous for a blind person to ride a horse, Sister Defulin, who still had an eye patch on her face, was actually riding a horse.
Instead of going into the city, they headed straight to the west of the city from the White River Valley vineyards on the great plains east of the city.
Shad was originally worried that Sister Defulin was not good at riding, but the amazing horsemanship displayed by this blind nun even made Shad doubt whether people in this world learned "horsemanship" as a basic course like literacy.
It was a bit cloudy in Huntington today, but that didn't stop them from enjoying the scenery of the suburbs of this wine capital. When they got close to Lake Calak in the west of Huntington, which was marked on the map, Shade signaled to Sister Defulin that they could stop:
"Sister, the Lady of the Lake gave me a tip that we should bring an animal that is smart enough to give us directions. So I chose this place. Let's walk around here and try to forget our original purpose. Little Mia will probably lead the way for us soon."
The main reason is that there are no villages or towns nearby, so Sister Defulin doesn't have to worry about being seen even though she dresses so strangely.
"Meow?"
Hearing its name being mentioned, the cat lying on the horse's head looked at Shade. Funny to say, after Shade got off the horse, he originally put Mia on the saddle, but the cat probably thought the view on the saddle was not good, or simply thought it was not high enough, so it climbed onto the horse's head.
The black horse was not angry at all. It held Mia cat on its head very docilely, making the cat look like a cat-shaped "horse controller".
Sister Defulin led the horse and walked beside Shade. The two walked along the country road along the lake. The temperature in the early winter morning was not particularly low, but the cold wind could still be felt near the lake. In recent weeks, the temperature has been dropping every day. The lake was not frozen yet, but there were no fishermen nearby.
On one side of the country road is a large lake, and on the other side is wasteland of unknown use. In the distance, you can see a dead forest, which seems to be an orchard that was bought nearby.
As they walked and talked, Shad talked about the things he found in Tobesk about the fourth chosen one, and told the nun the clues about the "Secret Keeper" and the "Wise Pyroxene". He also asked the nun how she planned to deal with the "Evil of the Pantanal". This was a rare existence that could be burned as firewood by the First Fire, and the nun would not let it go.
"Although I am a high-level sorcerer and a chosen one, I am still somewhat inferior to the mysterious Pantanal region. The cult is in the process of acquiring a private hospital in Huntington City and developing it into a cult property. We will then send nuns from the cult to stay in the local area to conduct investigations. After one to two months of intelligence gathering, I will seek help from the Witch Council and go deep into the swamp with the Council's Great Witch to find the seal location of the evil creature."
Although this method is time-consuming, it is indeed quite cautious and appropriate. After Shade expressed his appreciation, the nun turned her head and "looked" to the west, which is the real location of the Pantanal Swamp:
"The spiritual order believes that all things have spirits. The blind nuns of the order can keenly perceive the world. The Pantanal Swamp is not as simple as we think. Even though I haven't gone deep into that area yet, I can still feel those terrifying existences."
Sister Defulin used the Dralion language, but it was an ancient grammar. Even if Shad understood it, he had to think for a while before he could comprehend it:
"You mean to say that the Pantanal region is as dangerous as Mount Sikar some time ago?"
"No."
The nun shook her head slightly, and Shade's gaze lingered on her silver-gray hair.
"It's much more dangerous than Mount Sikar."
“Ha~”
Shade sighed, but he was not surprised at all. Not only was he not surprised, he was not even worried at all. No matter how dangerous the Pantanal was, it had nothing to do with him. Although Huntington was near the swamp, it was not in the swamp area after all.
The two walked and talked, and time passed very quickly. Shade and the nun led the horse, and the winter wind in the countryside blew their clothes; the horse carried Little Mia, who squatted on the horse's head and looked around, looking at the unfamiliar scenery with cat eyes, and the cat's fur was blown low by the wind. It seemed that it enjoyed the feeling of the wind.
At 10:43 in the morning, when Shad asked Sister Defulin about her knowledge of the Truth Society, the cat suddenly turned its head and looked at the quiet lake in the distance. Then, as if it had discovered something, it called softly:
"Meow~"
Its voice was not obvious outdoors, and Shad did not hear it at first. It was only after "her" reminded him that he noticed the abnormality of the cat.
"What's wrong?"
Xia De immediately looked at the cat expectantly and reached out to take it off the horse's head. Unexpectedly, Xiaomia jumped onto the horse's back by herself and then jumped to the ground.
Shad was shocked at the time. Ever since he asked Little Mia to guard Grace and Helen during the Battle of Midhill Castle, he had never seen the cat's four little paws touch the ground outside.
The orange and white kitten raised its head, sniffed the air with its pink nose, looked back at Shade, and walked towards the river.
Sister Shade and Sister Defulin then led the horses down the river slope and found that the cat almost ran straight to the shore of Lake Carlek. This natural lake in the wetland area was surrounded by wet mud, and the cat, who always loved cleanliness, actually stepped directly on it, but did not leave any claw marks on the mud.
Just as Shad began to doubt again whether the cat was normal, he found that neither he, Sister Defulyn, nor even the two horses left any footprints on the mud.
The cat kept going deeper into the lake shore and finally entered the lake. But it did not enter the water. Instead, it stood on the lake and looked back, signaling Shade to follow.
There was not a ripple on the lake surface under the cat's paw. The orange cat looked very energetic and kept looking back, as if blaming Shade for walking too slowly.
"Yes, the element of miracle!"
There is a hidden road ahead.
she said in Shad's ear with a smile.
Xia De tried to stretch his feet out into the water, and sure enough, he found that there was an invisible solid road above the rippling waves.
However, he didn't know how wide the road on the water was and whether he could walk side by side with the nun.
Sister Defulin, as a knowledgeable high-level warlock, naturally knew how to deal with the current situation.
The slender fingers waved forward, and several stones emitting different lights fell irregularly onto the water surface. Most of them fell into the water, and a few "floating" on the water surface marked the location of the hidden road.
"Spell - Glowing Stone. Creates non-physical glowing stones. The stones can be maintained for a long time by consuming extra spirit when casting the spell. The caster can determine whether the target glowing stone is created by himself. In night exploration and ancient tomb excavation, it is often used to mark roads and judge heights, and sometimes also serves as weak light illumination."
Sister Develyn noticed Shad's surprise and explained quietly.
This should also be a basic spell, but it's a pity that there is no such spell in Shade's Pink Book. Although the list of basic spells in the Pink Book given by "Desire" is quite long, it is more... ...practical.