Whispering Verse

On Sunday morning, while Dorothy was in a good mood and preparing breakfast in the kitchen, Shade, who had finished packing, took out the key and stood at the door of the side bed.

This time, little Mia didn't insist on following. The cat was now attracted by the smell of food in the kitchen, and probably didn't even notice that Shade was getting ready to leave.

"Dorothy, see you in three seconds."

He spoke to the blonde writer across the restaurant, and after the girl in the apron turned around and waved, Shade inserted the key in his hand into the keyhole of the door:

"The adventure is about to begin again. I don't know what the story will be this time - may the World Tree protect me in infinite time."

Click~

The door was opened, and the wriggling white mist seemed so familiar and intimate to Shade. He checked his belongings one last time and stepped inside.

[Outlander, you have stepped into the "corridor of time". 】

[Message from the ancient god "Father of the Infinite Tree": ]

[Fifth Age 4791 Autumn, Southern Continent, Worm Cave. 】

[Event: Butterfly Festival. 】

[Duration thirty minutes (1/3). 】

"Southern Continent? However, 4791. It has been 1767 years since I said goodbye to Miss Olanold in the Cadiz Library in the Valley of Death; there are still 386 years before I entered the Lost Lake and met the Witch Emperor. This is another era where there are no acquaintances. The Butterfly Festival does not sound like a festival to an evil god."

Shade thought in the white mist. So far, he had only encountered one evil god in the past, and that evil god left a really deep impression on him:

"Worm Cave. Although I'm not afraid of worms, but..."

[You have obtained additional information. 】

[The figure of the father of the infinite tree is watching you. 】

[The ancient god of time gives you a test. 】

[Help mortals complete the ritual of the old god-'Thousand-Eyed Phantom Butterfly', so that one of them can win the favor of his relatives. 】

[The Father of the Infinite Tree will give you rewards: thaumaturgy - Fiona's domestic servant, a true message - the mermaid. 】

"Um?"

The information reward about the mermaid race did not surprise Shade. He had obtained racial knowledge about elves and vampires before. What surprised him was the thaumaturgy. The thaumaturgy corresponded to the [Sloth] spirit rune. Although the specific effect was unknown, judging from the name of the thaumaturgy, it did not seem to be a combat ability.

"This is so great!"

Although there are maids who help clean the house every Saturday, on weekdays Shad still has to do tasks such as washing dishes, wiping tables, or cleaning up the desk that little Mia made. Fortunately, that cat sheds almost no hair, otherwise the daily cleaning work would be more troublesome.

If this thaumaturgy is really what he thought, it is a lost, "housekeeping" series of daily thaumaturgy from the fifth era, then it will be very useful to him.

The changes from the Fifth Era to the Sixth Era caused a lot of knowledge to disappear. In terms of thaumaturgy, most combat thaumaturgy has been preserved, while most of the private thaumaturgy created by the Witch Emperors to facilitate their own lives has been lost.

But for the ring magicians who live in relatively peaceful times, the thaumaturgy of the Witch Emperors is actually also very important.

"The festival of the Butterfly God. I don't know what kind of story I will encounter this time."

He took a step forward in the white mist, and as the thick white mist spread slowly around like a curtain, the rancid air choked Shade and almost suffocated him.

In fact, outsiders have smelled the stench of slum alleys more than once in this world, but the stench this time was ten times more disgusting than that smell.

All the white mist dissipated, and the moist and warm air mixed with the stench filled every part of the surrounding air and stuck to Shade's skin. This even gave Shade the urge to throw away all his clothes and jump into the water tank after returning home.

"Worm Cave."

I had a bad feeling in my heart, so I lit up the silver moonlight on my fingertips. Because he was worried about disturbing the things sleeping in the darkness, his light was very weak, but it also allowed him to see that he was in a long and narrow corridor. The corridor seemed to be drilled out by giant insects, and the whole corridor was not bright at all. It's not straight, and the inside is unusually rough.

Surrounded by stone gray rock walls, the rock walls are dotted with dense holes. As the moonlight came closer, Shade could almost see tiny multi-legged long worms squirming in every small hole:

"oh!"

At this moment, goosebumps appeared all over his body. Even though Shade was not afraid of bugs, he was already a little unbearable. Compared with the short-term life threats encountered every time after appearing in the past, this time's "spiritual threat" is more terrifying.

He was glad that he started this adventure at the very beginning of the day, when he was most energetic. If it was at night when he was a little tired, he couldn't guarantee what he would do at this time.

The appearance of Shade, a human being, also made other creatures living in the narrow cave passage agitated. When large and small colorful bugs crawled out from everywhere, including the top of the head, Shade was already running forward quickly.

He even felt that even when he faced the "fear" behind him in the Terror Fort, he had never run so fast. But fortunately, the tree father would not throw him too far away from the place where the incident occurred. After running in the winding and narrow corridor for less than twenty seconds, the end was already in front of him.

"Fortunately there is no fork in the road!"

Running quickly caused the ground to vibrate, causing bugs to fall from the top of their heads like rain. Of course, Shade would not let himself bathe in the "rain of insects". He gritted his teeth and transformed into a swarm of red butterflies and flew forward. Only a faint light could be seen at the end of the corridor, and he couldn't care what was there at this time. The red butterflies flapped their wings and rushed out like a stream of red light.

This was the first time he knew that if he concentrated very hard, he could actually make butterflies fly so fast.

However, the end of the tunnel was not flat ground at all. When the red butterflies flew out, Shade realized that there was no solid ground under his feet, and there was a huge downward cave outside the entrance.

So, under the gaze of the three people who had arrived at the bottom of the cave, a group of red butterflies shining with scarlet light flew out from one of the countless cave entrances around them. As the red butterflies slowly fell to the ground, Shade, who felt itchy all over his body, also walked out of the red butterflies.

The air here is much fresher than in the cave corridor just now. Looking up, the hole he just flew out of is two stories high from the open space at the bottom where he is currently stepping.

The insects did not follow from the end of the corridor, as if the insect swarm just now was all Shade's imagination. The current location is like the deepest part of an underground cave. The rough gray stone cliffs are surrounded by large and small cave entrances. The big one can allow a carriage to pass, while the small one is only as thick as a little finger.

Looking up, the skylight falls from the sky downwards, but it cannot illuminate the surrounding rock walls. Boundless darkness blocks the view all around. The surrounding rock walls continue to extend upwards, and the cave entrances of various sizes are also extending upwards. It is impossible to see clearly where the highest point is, but it is certain that the bugs living here are probably larger than this one. There are still more living people in the era.

The open space at the bottom is as big as a square, but it is unusually empty. The ground was fairly flat, and a huge round wooden table was placed in the center of the open space. The round table could almost be used as a stage.

The wooden table is not painted, so the wood grain is very visible on the surface. But Shade couldn't see any traces of connection, which meant that the entire table came from a tree. Shade couldn't imagine how huge that tree was.

The faint light at the end of the corridor that he just saw in the "Insect Rain" corridor was the beam of skylight that fell from the sky and illuminated the round table in the center of the empty space. In addition, there are some dim candles on the table. Each candle is made from a crooked white insect corpse and is placed on a wooden candlestick.

The light of the candle was not bright, but the edge of the skylight was enough to illuminate the three people sitting on the wooden stools at the table and Shade who walked out of the red butterfly.

It is worth mentioning that because the table was too big, the three people at the table did not choose to sit evenly. Instead, they moved stools and sat on the same side of the table.

While the three of them watched in surprise as the last red butterfly landed on Shade's shoulder, and then turned into red light and disappeared, Shade was also observing them.

There are two ladies and a gentleman, but only one of them is a witch.

It was a woman who looked to be in her forties, with long brown hair. On the basis of a simple bun, she had straightened out the hair pieces and stacked them one by one to create a bun-like effect. He also used several short hairpins shaped like pink petals as decoration to cover up the traces of the hairpins.

Of course, although she looks to be in her forties, thanks to the long lifespan of witches, she is probably close to a hundred years old.

Another woman looked to be in her thirties, her face was not delicate, but she had an inexplicable sense of compassion. Although she is not a witch, the jewelry on her body and the dagger placed on the table all reflect the elements. These are all alchemical items. She has long light brown hair, with a wreath on her head. Her long hair is gathered together, around the back of her neck, and in front of her left shoulder. The ends of her hair are tied up with green twigs.

What she was wearing was not a skirt, but a robe. Judging from the style, this is a very typical clergyman's robe.

As for the last gentleman, he is about thirty years old, and his brown eyes are particularly bright. His facial features are extremely three-dimensional and his eyebrows are slightly thicker. Even without a beard, you can tell that he is a quite mature gentleman. There was a small pink flower pinned in the breast pocket of his black jacket.

Wearing formal attire, there was a thick firecracker on the table in front of him. The black iron shell was imprinted with luminous runes, which were also alchemical items. He probably relied on this to finally get here.