Whispering Verse

After Shade said goodbye to the witch, maid and little princess that evening, he did not stay for dinner in Green Lake City. Instead, he returned home and took little Mia and Dorothy to have dinner with him.

Because Luvia had to go stargazing in Saint Teresa Square some time ago, Dorothy rarely found opportunities to date Shad. Now that Luvia's stargazing is over, Miss Writer can come here often.

Since we had dinner together, she naturally stayed at home that night. Shade also tried the effect of [Love God's Thorn] with Dorothy. For the writers of the Five Rings, this thaumaturgy improved her more than Miss Carina and Tifa. During the experiment on the effects of thaumaturgy, Lesia's soul was also changed once, and she also tried this thaumaturgy.

Of course, she did not forget to ask Shade if he had seen Miss Carina in Green Lake, and asked about Agelina's situation. Although she usually treats Agelina a little harshly, Lesia really cares about her sister.

At night, her blond hair soaked in sweat was spread messily on the pillow. Dorothy, who was holding Shade's arm, closed her eyes and fell into a peaceful sleep. It's past midnight and it's time to sleep. But after returning from his dream at midnight, Shade opened his eyes and looked at the dark bedroom, but he still didn't close his eyes.

【what's on your mind? 】

"She" whispered softly, and pink light spots appeared in Shade's free left hand, and then formed the crystal spike:

"What would happen if I stabbed the [Spur of Cupid] into my heart?"

"She" smiled softly, neither supporting nor opposing. Shade brought the crystal close to his heart, but in the end the crystal disappeared and he did not seek the answer. After sighing softly, he turned around and lay on his side, hugging the soft girl, and then fell into the dream illuminated by the silver moon.

After spending the night tangled with blonde hair, time finally came to the Friday of the Green Lake City Dinner. Although the most important thing today was the banquet in the evening, Shade did not waste any time during the day.

After seeing off Dorothy after breakfast in the early morning, he took out the black time key, tossed it in his hand, and then touched the cat standing on the dining table.

Of course the cat knew this kind of key, and it meowed and wanted to follow Shade. When Shade picked it up, it rubbed it excitedly against Shade's hand, but then it was carried out of the house by Shade. .

The adventure of the Black Time Key is to challenge the few remaining evil creatures after the end of the [Past Life and Sixth Era]. Shade has no intention of doing such a thing so early in the morning. It is not too late to go before going to bed at night.

Today's itinerary was quite tense because it was lightly raining in Tobesk, so Shade specially took an umbrella. The bad weather naturally meant that there were not many customers at Old John's Pawn Shop. When Shade was closing his umbrella with his back to the door, he heard the old man behind the counter complain:

"I was wondering who the first customer would be today. Detective, good morning."

"Good morning, Father John. I'm the first guest. Is there anything wrong with me?"

"You are good at everything, but you are too stingy."

Just as being called "bad luck" by Dr. Schneider was embarrassing, being called "stingy" by Old John also made Shade feel quite bad.

Of course, he didn't come here early in the morning specifically to discuss his attitude toward money. After inserting the umbrella into the umbrella tube behind the door and carrying Mia to the counter, he took out the illusory book with "Conch", "Broken Sword" and "Black Coin" like yesterday:

"Look, among these three items, which one do you recognize?"

"This thaumaturgy of yours is quite interesting."

The old man said, holding on to his glasses, he took the book and looked at it carefully, then raised his eyebrows:

"Interesting, where did you see this thing?"

He pointed to the black coin with three drawings on it. On the coin was the position of the holder's head, and Shade wrote the corresponding content.

Shade shook his head and did not answer, so the old man did not continue to ask. Instead, he walked to the door of the store and hung a temporary break sign, and asked Shade to wait for a while on the first floor:

"You and your cat can just walk around the store. It will probably take me some time. That kind of relic coin has an extraordinary origin, and it will take me a long time."

"Relic?"

Shade raised his eyebrows. He clearly remembered the coins of the boy, old Mrs. Miles and the young witch Miss Higgins, but there was no whispering element.

"In other words, did that coin become a relic when the Fifth Era changed to the Sixth Era?"

Old John said he would have to wait longer, but he didn't expect that the wait would be a full hour. During this period, Shade took Mia and visited the first floor of the pawn shop, which was like a garbage dump, and then found that every item here was interesting.

For example, the "mechanical toothbrush based on steam power" is obviously a recent arrival, a new invention that only appeared in the newspapers last month. This kind of toothbrush is made of metal except for the bristles. The toothbrush shaft is hollow inside and needs to be filled with high-pressure steam every time it is used. When in use, through the buttons on the toothbrush, functions such as "heating cold water", "spraying hot and humid steam into the inner wall of the mouth", and "driving the toothbrush to automatically rotate" are realized.

Unfortunately, filling it with steam each time is too cumbersome and can easily burn your mouth. Therefore, this invention, which even outsiders have never heard of in their hometown, is currently only a prototype.

"Come to think of it, it seems like I've never cleaned your teeth before."

Shade looked at the cat standing on his shoulder, so the orange cat, which was still a baby even though it was already 1 year old, showed his shining teeth to threaten him.

When Old John was walking down the stairs holding a book, Shade and little Mia in his arms were looking at the round glass standing in front of the west wall of the first floor, between the clock and the antique cabinet. cylinder.

The glass cover is as tall as one person, and inside is an upright metal pole. The pole is connected with hundreds of densely packed metal butterflies filled with phosphorus powder using flexible metal wires. As long as the base is tightened, the metal rod will rotate in the glass cover, making the metal butterflies seem to be dancing.

This is a purely mechanical device, and the principle is very simple, similar to a large music box without sound. But because of its exquisite workmanship, it immediately attracted Shade and Xiao Mia.

"That one was collected last month. If you want it, I can sell it to you cheaper."

Old John said when he returned behind the counter, Shade was quite moved. His house is still quite empty now. If he buys this kind of decoration and puts it in the corner, it won’t take up any space at all. Moreover, this kind of device can easily be attached to rituals to perform illusions:

"We'll talk about this later. Are the coins confirmed?"

"Yes, a poet-level relic [Power of Existence]."

The old man nodded, reversed the direction of the big book in his hand, and showed a paragraph written in Fifth Era characters in front of Sha De:

"The risk level is the lowest, but it does not mean that the coin itself is worthless. Do you know the origin of this coin? This kind of coin is to strip the 'existence' itself of the living body and transform it into a coin. The pattern on the coin represents The identity of the owner of the coin. 'Existence' is a concept, that is to say, this coin represents an illusory concept. Its only known characteristic is that when carried on the body, it can resist the effect of 'erasing existence' . After losing control, the holder will be gradually forgotten by everyone."

"Eradicate existence? This kind of power is rare, right?"

"Yes, only ancient evil beings, great beings or angels are proficient in such methods. Among the thaumaturgy mastered by mortals, the more famous ones are 'Hand of the Void', 'Black Moon Talisman' and 'Death Finale' '."

Old John introduced:

"Although these are the currently known properties, this coin is very rare, and it is quite valuable research material. After all, we rarely see pure conceptual polymers, not to mention that this coin also represents 'existence' itself. Detective, although I'm not sure where you saw this kind of coin, if you can find it and sell it to me, I can exchange it for a sage-level (level 2) relic."

Shade recovered from the shock. The transaction at "Black Mist Camp" was indeed strange. Witch Higgins, Granny Miles and the boy happened to all have a large number of coins. It was indeed no coincidence:

"You may have forgotten that Luvia and I are also collecting special coins... What will happen if an individual loses a large amount of the power of existence?"

In other words, this time Shade's time adventure companions are actually using their own 'existence' to make deals with those weird things.

"Is there loss? It's very simple, forgotten. Not just forgotten by friends and family, but forgotten by the world."

Old John waved his hand as if to ward away invisible flies:

"It is equivalent to disappearing out of thin air. I am not an expert in this field. I can only say that we should try our best to prevent the loss of our existence. Although losing a part of our existence will not cause it to disappear immediately, it is certainly not a good thing. As for existence The added impact, I’m even less clear about. I’m interested in this kind of knowledge, but it’s not something you can study by reading a few books.”

Shade nodded, his expression quite solemn. Although the tree father did not ask him to ensure the safety of the three travelers, he still felt that he should find a way to protect the three people without making mistakes, so that the past story could end with a relatively perfect ending.

The Black Mist Camp obviously distorted part of the three people's cognition, making them think that the coins were brought by the outside world. And once Shade tells them the truth, the three of them will probably be more cautious when using the coin.

"I don't know Broken Sword and Conch. If you are not short of time, I can research it. If you are short of time, just ask other people."

Old John said again, and Shade was ready to take out his wallet to pay for the "appraisal" fee. But he turned to look at the huge glass jar that he and Mia were looking at just now, and asked with a satisfied expression on Old John's face:

"In addition to this, give me a set of oil painting frames and tools. How much does it cost in total?"

The gray-haired old man stretched out five fingers to compare, and Shade complained:

"Aren't you a believer in the God of Wealth?"

"Are you calling me a devil?"

Old John raised his eyebrows, and Shade asked unexpectedly:

"What does this have to do with demons? Demons also have beliefs?"

"I'm talking about ordinary demons, don't you know? Most of the demons who are alien creatures believe in the God of Wealth. I am a pure human being."

Shade blinked, feeling like he understood something. But in this way, all the strange things like the "greedy" chain and fair trade can be explained.