Whispering Verse

Unlike the Dawn Church in Tobesk, which occupies the entire Dawn Square, the Dawn Church in Midhill Fort is located on a street called "Santa Carla Avenue" in the southwest of the city. Although it is a street-facing building, the church still occupies a considerable area. It runs through the entire block, and in addition to the auditorium and office space, there are even separate gardens and courtyards.

The area of ​​this church is much larger than the Dawn Square in Tobesk. This is also related to the high land price in Tobesk.

Shade did not dare to enter the church to avoid being discovered. And there was no need for him to enter, because after approaching Santa Carla Avenue, he carefully took out the blood in the alley and dripped it into his eyes. When he looked at the door of Dawn Church, he could clearly see the movement trajectory of Priest Augustus composed of a bloody halo.

"At least at this time yesterday, nothing happened to Priest Augustus!"

Shade came to this conclusion.

There are more than one figure of Priest Augustus walking out from the door of Dawn Church, indicating that the old priest has passed by the door many times within 24 hours. Shade chose the darkest figure, that is, the figure furthest back in time to track.

Presumably because of the purpose for which the city was originally built, streets in Fort Midhill are generally wider. On both sides of the road, street trees and gas lamp poles alternate in sequence.

After Priest Augustus left the Dawn Church, he first walked for a while under the lamppost in front of the church, as if observing the advertisement about "Cassandra Auction House" on the lamppost, and then he walked eastward along the street. Go.

The priest probably had to do something informal, so he was leaning against the wall, trying not to draw attention to himself. Later, he actually walked to the corner of Santa Carla Avenue and Oak Street and got into the carriage.

"Um"

Looking at the figure of Priest Augustus floating in the air, if it was not the priest who got on the carriage, then it must be that the priest had learned the spell of flying into the air while remaining seated.

"Where is the priest going?"

Priests from the past 24 hours or more could ride in a carriage, but Shade could not, because he could not always watch what the priest was doing in the carriage.

Therefore, he could only follow the priest's figure floating in the air and sitting still on foot.

From the intersection of Oak Avenue and Santa Carla Avenue, head south, that is, toward the city's mountainous direction. After passing two intersections, the carriage turned into a small alley called Squirrel Lane.

This is a commercial street that specializes in mountain products, pine cones and leather products. It is extremely lively today.

After passing through Squirrel Lane, the carriage continued eastward. After reaching the street where the Fort Midhill Police Department was located, it turned south and then stopped.

It was already two forty in the afternoon, and Shade was glad that he did not follow the carriage all day.

The place where the carriage stopped was an alley called "Ruff Lane", which was similar to Quill Street where Dorothy lived. Although it was narrow, the streets were neat and all were rental apartments.

After getting off the carriage, Priest Augustus looked around, as if to determine if he had gone to the wrong place. Then he started walking into the alley.

"Did the priests disappear here? Is there any trace of the elements?"

【Not yet. 】

"OK."

Shade nodded and walked forward while looking at the street scene around him. The Town Hall of Fort Midhill seems to like planting trees. From the time he left the old tower to the present, there has never been a lack of trees in his sight.

The priest's destination was here. He stopped in front of the house with the house number "No. 15" in Rufu Lane.

Shade saw the figure of the priest reaching for the door, and then he walked in. But there was no figure of Priest Augustus leaving the door next, which meant that Shade couldn't go around here.

[Shadow's Blood Echo] The continuous figures seen appear approximately every five seconds, but if you concentrate and use extra energy, you can see more coherent movements of the visual figures. Therefore, Shade was certain that Priest August entered the house five seconds after knocking on the door.

In other words, this is a visit by appointment. Along the way, Shade didn't see the priest disguising himself, so Priest August used his true appearance to visit here.

"This thaumaturgy of mine is really terrifying. I am indeed the only Augustus priest who has evolved. Who do you want to visit secretly at Fort Midhill? I remember that the priest has no intention of contacting the local St. Byrons correspondence ring magician. , so, is it an acquaintance he met when he was young?"

But no matter what, after finding a place like this, Shade couldn't give up easily. He took out the wooden button the doctor gave him, rubbed the uneven texture on the surface, injected spirit into it to activate it, then climbed up the steps and knocked gently on the door.

After waiting quietly for a few seconds, footsteps came from the door. He opened his eyes slightly, but the door did not open immediately, and light footsteps stopped behind the door.

Shade knew there was someone behind the door, and the person behind the door knew there was someone outside. No one inside or outside the door spoke, but remained silent in tacit agreement.

And in this silence, the voice in the ear has given a hint:

[Foreigners, behind the door is the Ring Warlock. 】

Although the distance was very close, because there was a door between them, I could only barely tell that it was the Ring Warlock.

Shade was not surprised by this result. He now suspected that the disappearance of Priest Augustus was related to the person behind the door.

"Excuse me, who are you looking for?"

The middle-aged woman obviously had a local accent. In the silence inside and outside the door, she spoke first.

Shade frowned and canceled the effect of the doctor's button. Since the opponent is a ring warlock, there is no need to use this method:

"Hello, ma'am, I'm the author John Watson."

He said the same thing when he was in Coldwater Harbor, but he occasionally called himself "Detective" John Watson:

"Well, you don't have to open the door. Please tell me, is my friend, the priest Latter Augustus, here with you?"

"The old priest? He called here at three o'clock yesterday afternoon and left by the back door."

"Where is the back door?"

"Go left, enter the narrow alley, go straight, and then turn right."

said the voice.

"Okay, thank you very much."

Shade thanked him softly and wanted to leave here to confirm whether there was Priest Augustus at the back door of the house.

But the voice behind the door stopped him:

"Sir, are you, like Priest Augustus, one of us?"

Shade thought about it:

"If you mean the machinist who operates the steam metal wheel ring, I guess so."

He rashly exposed his identity as a ring warlock just because Shade needed to be in this city and at least know the location of the black market. When he was in Coldwater Port, Lesia, disguised as "Miss Princes", brought him into the circle of ring wizards in the port city, but he really had no friends here unless Dorothy had someone else. A princess with a soul connection.

"Did something happen to Priest Augustus?"

The female voice inside the door asked.

"Yes, he is missing. Excuse me, how did you know?"

"Because yesterday, I performed a divination for him."

The door was opened from the inside, and Shade saw the woman talking to him inside the door.

The woman looks to be in her forties and has long, dull yellow hair. She was wearing a dark blue-black dress that looked like a nun's robe, with a shawl of the same color draped over her shoulders.

She didn't look at Shade's face, because her eyes were wrapped with a dirty-looking linen strip.

"Yesterday's divination results seemed to indicate death, but the old priest didn't care at all. Just now I was still thinking about what that terrible omen meant, but now I probably understand."

She took a step to the side and made way for the door:

"Please come in."

Although her eyes were covered with cloth, she behaved like a person with normal vision:

“If you need help, Home for the Blind welcomes you.”

【Central. 】

"Excuse me for disturbing you."

Shade crossed the threshold and entered.

The "House of the Blind" seems to be a small-scale organization of ring magicians, and the reason why it is called this is because most of the people in it are blind.

After Shade entered the door, he realized that there was not only a woman in the house who opened the door. Through her introduction, Shade learned that this place was, on the surface, a care organization that provided assistance to the blind and disabled in Fort Midhill, and received financial support from the local city hall.

The interior of the house is very clean. To facilitate the walking of blind people, there are almost no clutter in the corridors and stairs. The woman led Shade from the first floor to the third floor, and finally stopped in a reception room.

During this period, Shade saw many blind people being helped to walk in the corridor, or talking to others. Moreover, he met at least three ring warlocks on the way up the stairs, but they were all of low levels. It seemed that this organization was not powerful.

"It's really lively here, but is this House of the Blind a small urban ring warlock organization?"

He secretly guessed.

The blind woman who led the way called herself "Ms. Michelle". Although her eyes were wrapped with cloth bands, she could walk completely unaffected.

After the two of them sat down, she also asked the normal servants in the home for the blind to bring hot tea for Shade. But out of caution, Shade did not drink any tea in the territory of a strange ring warlock.

"The relationship between Priest Lathe Augustus and us goes back more than twenty years. A long time ago, when the old priest was probably in his thirties, he came to this city. And met one of our nuns.”

Ms. Michelle introduced, sitting opposite Shade, her hands folded together on the knees of her dark silk skirt. When he mentioned "nun" and thought of "blindness", Shade suddenly thought of another organization, an organization he had encountered in the [Dark Realm].

"Priest Augustus in his thirties, and your nun"

Seeing that Shade didn't know what words to use to describe it, Ms. Michelle smiled:

"Yes, two souls were attracted to each other. I was only a teenager at the time and witnessed this love. But Priest Rat August had to return to Tobesk, and Sister Matilda had her own responsibilities , she is a ring magician, and priests are just ordinary people, even clergy of the Zhengshen Church."

Shade understood what she meant. This was a relationship that was destined to be fruitless. He just didn't expect that Priest Augustus had such a story when he was young.