"What's this?"
The dim sunset on Tuesday evening shone on the living room on the second floor of No. 6 St. Teresa's Square. Although Tobesk did not snow like Huntington, the heavy fog in the city was still impressive.
The haze attenuated the sun's rays, so gas lamps provided supplemental lighting in the evening.
Priest Augustus, who was called here by Shad, sat on the sofa and took the small box handed to him by Shad. After opening it, he found a rough stone statue inside, which looked somewhat like the stone tools of the remains of primitive civilized tribes.
Father Augustus frowned, while Shade held little Mia, who was brought back from Luvia. The soft cat looked like it had had a good sleep this afternoon. Luvia said that the female fortune tellers from the Prophet Association had fed the cat a lot of food today, and the amount of food did not seem to reach the cat's limit at all.
"I went to see the Lady of the Lake this afternoon with Professor Kansas Drake of Huntington, and had a fight with the angel."
While the old priest was examining the statue in his hand, Shad introduced his afternoon itinerary.
"Hmm? What?"
Father Augustus, who was looking at the statue, was startled and turned to look at Shad in fear, looking him up and down, as if he was worried that the person in front of him was just a ghost.
"Oh, don't worry, the 'Lady of the Lake' showed mercy, so I'm fine. Not only was I not injured, I also obtained the last Spirit Rune of the Word of Ascension, and the feeling of the fourth Spirit Rune of the Fourth Ring. I had a very fulfilling afternoon today, and even helped an old professor get over the psychological trauma of the past."
Father Augustus was still somewhat worried:
"Fighting angels? Young man, why do you always go on such exciting adventures? Sometimes you need to stop and read a book at home, take on commissions, and stop wandering around all the time."
Father Augustus knew that the afternoon would definitely not be as relaxing as Shad said.
"Anyway, I got back safely. After returning to the professor's home, he wrote a reply to Professor Manning and asked me to help him check the room. I found a bunch of books that did not belong to the professor. Those books were left with him by his ring wizard friend. Most of them were related to the knowledge of the Pantanal Swamp. Although they were not very useful, they were at least very interesting.
I didn't find any other relics, but I did find this statue. But this wasn't given to him by the ring wizard friend. This is an antique that the professor bought from the local countryside when he was young. It is said that there is a primitive worship and belief in the 'Lady of the Lake' in the local area. But that was a thing of the old times, and now only the object is left as evidence. "
Xia De recalled what happened in the afternoon:
"Professor Drake didn't want to have anything to do with this matter anymore, so he gave me this statue. It has a very weak element of miracle on it, even weaker than the element of the holy emblem in the hand of the guest that Dr. Schneider and I met at the Three Cats Inn last week."
Shad took a sip from his teacup. Mia squirmed on Shad's legs like a yellow worm. Father Augustus observed the statue:
"It does have a very small element of miracle attached to it. I think the professor's successful visit to the Lady of the Lake in 1842 that you mentioned should also be related to this statue. It's very interesting. I think I know which angel He is."
The priest put the statuette back into the box. The statue was of no use to either of them, so Shad decided to keep it as his own collection to commemorate his adventure in Huntington.
"Which one?"
Shade asked in a low voice, and Father Augustus frowned and replied:
"Cherubim. Yes, the pronunciation of 'Cherubim' I said is very similar to the pronunciation of 'Lake of Cherubim' mentioned by Professor Drake, but what I said is a genuine Second Age term. I explored the knowledge of angels that I have mastered, and combined with the power attached to this small statue, I was able to confirm that the Lady of the Lake is the Cherubim created by the Ancient God's Secret Keeper."
"Angel of Wisdom?"
This is a very important symbol in mysticism. In many rituals, objects are needed to symbolize these angels to achieve the purpose of the ritual. Of course, the obscure knowledge does not record which god the "cherubim" belongs to. Now Shade understands:
"I remember it was mentioned in the basic ritual studies that there are five cherubim in total."
Xia De’s foundation in the first grade is quite solid.
Father Augustus nodded:
"The Ancient God's Secret Keeper created a total of nine cherubim, but modern ritual studies only mention five because..."
The priest frowned slightly, and his voice became a little hoarse. Shade knew that this was an old secret that should not be spread:
"When the ancient gods left, four angels followed them and five angels stayed in the mortal world. Among the cherubim who stayed behind, it is even said that some angels passed on their angelic bloodline to mortals, forming a unique family line. The cherubim you met, the Cherubim, is the most important cherubim. Although there is no ranking among the nine cherubim, you can assume that he is the first.
According to legend, he is the right hand of the Secret Keeper, responsible for writing the gospel that blesses mortals on behalf of God, and is the angel closest to the ancient gods. "
"But why did those five cherubim appear in our time? What is their mission?"
Shade asked curiously, this was also his fourth trial.
Father Augustus shook his head.
"Based on your description, I suspect that He is not complete. The power of the ancient angels is beyond our imagination. If the Cherubim is the complete body, anyone who has seen Him will immediately fall into madness. He will definitely not be as kind and amiable as you described. You yourself said that not only you and Professor Drake, but many people have seen the 'Lady of the Lake'."
The old priest sighed softly. He had just listened to Shade's complete story about Professor Drake and was quite moved by it:
"Too much knowledge and wisdom is poison to mortals. Even a thirteen-ring sorcerer will go crazy after seeing the true face of a cherubim."
Shade nodded. What he needed to do was to find a way to find out the answer to the final test. He knew very well that his friends would definitely not be able to answer this question.
Perhaps only God can give the answer to the question.
"Oh, priest, in fact, I came to you this time to give you this."
The hand that had been stroking Mia's back fur moved away, making the squinting cat a little dissatisfied. Xia De turned slightly, picked up the huge stone box on the floor beside the sofa, and carefully placed it on the coffee table.
After pushing open the stone box, Priest Augustus stood up in surprise and looked at the pure white bones inside. The holy white bones glowed slightly, and just by existing in this house, the phantom of charred feathers falling faintly appeared in the ordinary room:
"This is... ... "
The priest's voice was somewhat distorted.
"Yes, it is a gift from that angel. I don't know why a part of the remains of the original angel is in the hands of the Cherubim, but since He gave it to you, I brought it back."
"Detective, I didn't expect you would give me such a big surprise at the end of a boring day."
Father Augustus smiled and stroked the bones that radiated white light with his hands, which were slightly older than those of young people. Mia also stood on Shad's legs and stretched her head to look at the things in the box. When she found that they were bones, she lost interest.
"That's great, 19 pairs of ribs. Shade, I'm going to give you a gift in a few days."
The priest said solemnly:
"After fusing these bones, I can make more useful alchemical items and potions. Don't refuse, you deserve it. In addition, the quality of holy water will also be better. Although I can't directly mass-produce No. 3 holy water, the quality should be very close."
After saying this, he lowered his head again and stroked the bones in the stone box. His expression was somewhat similar to that of Xia De stroying Mia.
Shade leaned back slightly on the sofa, holding a teacup in one hand and stroking the soft cat with the other. In the glow of the setting sun, he vaguely saw the pair of charred wings flashing behind the Augustus priest in a thick robe. Squinting his eyes slightly, the body of the Augustus priest overlapped with a broken skeleton.
As his level increases, Shade can see more and more "real" images. Of course, this is also related to the fact that Priest Augustus is not on guard against Shade. Shade is very curious about why only Priest Augustus survived the accident many years ago, and why he even merged with the power of angels. The reason for his survival many years ago is the priest's biggest secret, which may even be more secret than his possession of angelic power.
Priest Augustus did not stay long. He left with the stone box with a smile on his face. By the way, he also asked what kind of ornaments Shad liked. He would probably be able to make a gift for Shad tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
Shade said goodbye to Priest Augustus at the door. The priest was holding a heavy stone box and was about to go find a carriage when he saw the carriage parked in front of Shade's house.
"See, I'm really lucky."
He turned around and spoke to Xia De.
Then, they saw Dorothy, wearing a black floral dress and a scarf, coming out of the carriage. The blonde girl blinked at the two men standing at the door and said jokingly:
"Shad, priest, are you welcoming me specially?"