Whispering Verse

This time the glass slipper landed in the attic of her home, and Dorothy, who was waiting for Shade to come back at home, heard a heavy sound coming from the attic.

After she climbed up to the attic with Little Mia, who followed curiously, she saw Shade lying on the floor like a drowning fish, with trembling hands bringing the pink essence bottle to his mouth:

"Oh, Shade, what's wrong with you!"

The teleportation function of "Cinderella" Mystery Lock not only consumes more souls the farther away it is, but also has the rule that the closer it is to midnight, the less souls it consumes. At this time, it was 11:53, which can be said to be the most unsuitable time of the day to use this magic trick.

Dorothy quickly understood Shade's predicament. After helping him sit up, she carefully fed him some pink essence. Of course, when Shade recovered, he asked Dorothy to print all the hundreds of pages of documents he had written down on film.

He didn't quite know what Lesia wanted to know, so he took down even the seemingly useless notes. Dorothy was a little unhappy that Lesia let Shade run around again, but she didn't say anything. Shade didn't know if she was in her heart at this time, and complained to Lesia through her communication with Lesia. this matter.

Afterwards, the two of them took Mia to have lunch together, and then went to Dr. Schneider's Clinic in the east of the city.

The weather was nice today. While sitting in the carriage, the writer sighed that spring came so quickly. It was already the nineteenth day of April. According to the climate in Tobesk, spring had come to its best time. Shade could even hear the sound of cats in heat on the street at night.

The blonde girl looked at the street scene outside the window and suddenly asked Shade:

"The last Red Butterfly Day was the closing of the City Riding Competition, which is the third day of this month. Calculating the time, next Friday will be that special celebration day again. Lesiya and I want to arrange something special There are only a few short months of activities every spring. If you miss it, it will be another year."

"No problem, but didn't you say on Thursday that it should be arranged on the night of the lunar eclipse? Next Friday is the 25th, but it may not be a lunar eclipse."

"Actually, it doesn't matter any day, as long as you are by my side."

She leaned into Shade's arms, her tone a little sentimental for some reason.

Everyone arrived at this group study meeting on time, and the doctor seemed to be in a good mood:

"The academy has distributed the rewards for our group mission. Coupled with the harvest we captured from the strange ring warlock, this mission is quite successful."

The five people sat down on the sofa, and the harvest that needed to be distributed was placed on the coffee table:

"Practical credits are added to us individually by the school. If you have any questions, you can check at any time. Because during the period when the relic was under our care, there was an out-of-control containment situation that was not our fault, but we took it back again, preventing the angel-level The disaster of relics getting out of control in the hinterland of civilization like Tobesk, so the academy has added a reward for us - everyone involved in the operation will be graded one level higher in the academic year evaluation at the end of this year."

Everyone smiled, but considering that [The Remains of the Nameless One] is a serious angel-level relic after all, this reward is justified.

"Of course, in addition to this, there are material rewards. The bonus has been increased by 3,000 pounds, and we can divide it equally in a while. Originally there was only one secret-keeper-level relic [Mind Mirror], but after discussion in the academy, more were given. A clerical relic.”

[Mind Mirror] It has been discussed long ago that the doctor would take it away, and then he would give other compensation to the four people. And that clerical relic was actually two coins. This time it’s not a metal disc, it’s a real coin:

"Clerical-level relic [Ghost Iron Coin]."

The doctor handed the coin in the bone box directly to Luvia. He knew that Luvia had been looking for this special coin.

The bone box is a containment device. The coin is about the same size as a 1 shilling coin and is made of black metal. The front side that Shade thought was a picture of a black-robed boatman rowing a boat on the river, and the reverse side was a densely packed vertical row of four rows of tadpole-shaped letters.

No one except Shade could recognize the ancient writing, and although there were many letters, after being translated, its meaning could be covered in one sentence:

[If you want to board the boat, please pay first. 】

"This kind of relic has two basic characteristics. One: if an iron coin is placed in the mouth of a corpse, the corpse will not rot for ten thousand years, and it is absolutely impossible for the corpse to be turned into an undead; second: the living person lies down and closes his eyes Eyes, by placing two coins on the left and right eyelids respectively, the body can be put into a state of suspended animation, and the soul can safely leave the body. As long as it returns within twenty minutes, this kind of soul leaving the body is almost harmless. And using the second When using the properties, two iron coins must be used together, and the coins must not be taken away during use.”

The doctor introduced the functions of this coin, and Shade looked at Priest August again. The priest nodded. He really knew the deeper effect of this relic:

"Although it is currently classified as clerical grade (Level 4), if you are not careful, this coin will cause a lot of trouble. Do not put the coin on the eyelids of the dead, otherwise it will use the corpse to call out very ancient and terrifying things. The undead are similar to those I encountered at Fort Midhill last fall; you cannot place coins in the eyes of a dying person, otherwise once that person dies, a door to true death will briefly open. Sucking in all souls within 100 feet. Yes, including souls protected by physical bodies."

Priest August wiped his pipe and sighed:

"Death is wonderful."

"I need these two coins."

Luvia said immediately, and both the doctor and Priest August nodded. Dorothy unexpectedly said:

"I have no objection, but can you lend me these two coins tonight? I want to experience the feeling of the soul leaving the body. I know that it can be done in other ways, but this is the separation of the soul after death. body."

Shade frowned and looked at Dorothy, but Dorothy didn't look at Shade.

"Luisa, this is actually nothing worth experiencing. The separation of body and soul is a very painful process. Even with the protection of relic properties, losing the body will make your soul extremely weak."

Priest August warned, but Dorothy shook her head:

"It's not an experiment, I just want to find inspiration for my story. I can feel the mood of the detective, the victim, and the innocent passer-by, but I can't feel the mood of the deceased. In detective novels, death is also very important. Yes. Don’t worry, I’ll let Shade and Luvia watch from the sidelines and nothing will go wrong.”

Shade looked at her suspiciously, suspecting that she still wanted to do experiments, experiments related to Lesia, but now he couldn't ask questions.

In addition to the two relics awarded by the academy, the ring warlocks who attacked everyone also left three relics. This may sound like a lot, but since they dared to attack the relics escorted by St. Byrons in Tobesk City, the attackers were certainly well prepared, so it was normal to have these gains.

The most important one was left by the eight-ring warlock who was killed by Luvia's petrification curse. It was a badge that could summon a winged light shield. The doctor has already identified it at Old John's place. This relic is quite amazing:

"Sage level (level 2), yes, sage level relic [Sacred Scroll]."

The doctor rubbed his hands and said:

"You heard it right, I originally thought it was only a keeper-level relic. This is a relic of the same level as the [God's Gift Box] that made a fuss in the city last summer when Shade joined our group."

The doctor pointed to the shield and wings badge on the table:

"The characteristic is quite simple. When activated, a shield is summoned. The shield can protect against physical attacks and energy attacks, and is also effective against curses, but only if the shield is opened when the curse is applied. The shield has an upper limit of endurance, and the upper limit is also related to the user. , the purer the mind, the stronger the shield. If there are spiritual runes such as 'angel', it can even increase the strength of the shield."

He handed the badge to everyone for inspection, and Shade touched the badge. The material looks like metal, but feels like top-grade jade. The front of the badge is curled up with wings, and the back is flat with fine ancient handwritten letters engraved on it:

【May I take care of you. 】

"In addition to summoning a shield, wearing a badge can enhance the effect of any blessing-type magic. At the same time, the wearer can also be reminded in advance when encountering an evil attack. Although this item is not particularly outstanding among sage-level relics, it is After all, it is a sage-level relic."

After everyone had seen the relic, the doctor said:

"Now that I have taken away the [Mind Mirror], I will not interfere with this relic. Sage-level relics cannot be circulated on the black market. It would be too wasteful to give it to the academy. Who knows whether we can still be so lucky and so easy You got a sage-level relic? Which of you wants it?"

The Doctor doesn't want this relic because it conflicts badly with his demonic powers. After the doctor, Shade also shook his head:

"I have very useful protective thaumaturgy, and there is not much need for this relic."

In addition to the [Seaton of Heaton], and because he has so many relics on his body, he has two high-level weapons. If it is not necessary, he should try to reduce the number of relics he carries.

"It is a shield-shaped relic, and it is also a sage-level relic. Although I am a little moved, my instinct tells me that this is not suitable for me."

Luvia also shook her head along with Shade:

"I trust my own instincts, so I'm not interested in it. Dorothy, do you have angels in your fairy tales? If so, wouldn't this suit you?"

She asked the blonde again, but Dorothy also shook her head:

"Louvia, there is a difference between religious stories and the popular fairy tales I study. Although there are characters like angels in popular fairy tales, it is a pity that there are no angels in my Words of Ascension and other stories involving thaumaturgy. .It’s not for me, at least not right now.”

Now that the other four people had expressed their opinions, Priest Augustus put down the pipe he was wiping:

"Then leave it to me. However, I don't have such a large sum of money now to give you the difference. What is Old John's valuation?"

The priest asked, and the doctor said it didn't matter:

"He refused to value the sage-level relics. He was worried that I would cause trouble and implicate him. Oh, Father John always thinks that I will definitely cause big trouble. The five of us can discuss the specific price, and There is no need to give us cash now. You can keep this relic first, and you can make up the difference later when you have the opportunity. Now, none of us have big expenses right away."