“With this, my savings are close to 2300 pounds. It’s time to renovate the third floor. However, I still need to find reliable renovation workers—perhaps the Church can help.”
Putting Princess Angelina out of his mind, after breakfast, Xia De organized the documents Sparrow Detective had left behind. He planned to officially start dealing with the two commissions: “finding a doctor to cure eye disease” and “finding Miss White’s runaway sister” before Darkness arrived in Tobesk.
These two commissions were not urgent at all. Sparrow Detective had already found an ophthalmologist, and the runaway lady was actually having a quarrel with Miss White and hiding in her own apartment in Tobesk’s North District, completely out of danger.
After confirming his plans for the next week, Xia De left the lazy cat at home to guard the house, then took a carriage to Dawn Church. There weren’t many people in the church on Thursday morning, and Priest Augustus, who had suddenly become free after the Holy Prayer Festival, also had time to meet with Xia De.
Hearing that Xia De wanted to find a team to renovate his house, the Priest was happy to help. The church had a fixed renovation team they cooperated with, and the Priest directly gave Xia De their business card, telling him to contact them himself.
After Xia De took the business card and thanked him, he quietly asked the Priest another question:
“Priest, does the church have any outstanding methods for dealing with demons?”
“Demons?”
The Priest was startled.
“Not Alien demons, but those strange things, like Evil Spirits.”
Xia De explained, and Priest Augustus’s face immediately showed a look of horror:
“Xia De, what did you encounter? Quick, come with me to the main sanctuary to pray. If you are tainted by such things, there will definitely be big trouble.”
He tugged at Xia De’s sleeve, trying to pull him up, but Xia De quickly shook his head:
“No, no, I’m not so unlucky as to encounter such a rare evil creature. Priest, I just want to know how to deal with someone confirmed to be possessed by an Evil Spirit demon.”
“Do you care about the life of the possessed person?”
Seeing that Xia De was truly fine, the Priest asked.
“Not at all. It’s better if they die.”
“Then apply to the church and let the High-Ring Sorcerers deal with him.”
The Priest proposed a very practical solution.
“What if I want to deal with such an enemy myself?”
Xia De asked again.
“What exactly did you encounter?”
The Priest was quite worried, but seeing that Xia De refused to say, he still offered his advice:
“A person possessed by a demon, whether directly devoured or forming a symbiotic relationship, is not something a Low-Ring Sorcerer can easily deal with. But these strange things are extremely afraid of the power of the True Gods. Note, I’m not boasting; they are truly extremely afraid. So, if you can lure the opponent into the True Gods’ church, they will be greatly suppressed.”
However, in the temple of the Evil God, the lord of the scarlet spiral, the suppression Darkness experienced was almost no different from others, which indicates that the special damage effect against Evil Spirit demons is not possessed by all gods, but is unique to the True Gods.
“The church, I’ve noted it down. What else?”
Xia De took out his notepad and began to record. Seeing his serious demeanor, Priest Augustus continued:
“Also, divine spells and divine spell rituals have excellent effects against demons. If similar evil demons appear in the material world, even if the academy discovers them first, they will let the church handle it. This is because the church’s methods are more effective.”
“Divine spells.”
Xia De nodded again. So, Sunlight Gun could harm Darkness, not only because this power belonged to a true Chosen One, but also because it was a high-level divine spell excellent for combating Evil Spirits.
“Is there anything else besides that, like knowing the demon’s true name, or sprinkling them with fine salt?”
Xia De asked again, and the Priest immediately shook his head:
“Those are all wild imaginings of country bumpkins, ridiculous superstitions, even more ridiculous than using garlic against Vampires. Ring術士 learn true mysticism; they can’t believe those things. Some relics have miraculous effects against these terrifying things, but you can’t find those things…”
Priest Augustus frowned, as if deep in thought, and Xia De did not disturb him. After a full ten minutes of silence, the Priest quietly said:
“Since you’re unwilling to tell me what you encountered, I won’t force you. But I can make a very effective potion that can combat demons. I’ve named it ‘Weak Angel Potion’—it’s truly very effective. Xia De, do me a favor, and I can brew a bottle for you.”
“Of course, no problem.”
Xia De immediately nodded, but the name “Angel Potion” made him curious. Ring術士 are very rigorous in naming their potions; the registration and patent application for each potion undergo strict review, and there is no exaggeration in naming. Although Ring術士 are in the field of mysticism, the academic atmosphere is still very rigorous. So Xia De couldn’t imagine what kind of potion could be called “Angel Potion.”
“Priest, what do you need me to do? Investigate, kill, smuggle, steal, play cards—I can do all of these!”
“No, no, no, it’s not that exaggerated.”
The Old Priest immediately stopped Xia De from speaking further and motioned for him not to say such things in the church:
“I will provide the materials for the potion. You need to meet me at this location tonight at midnight. I need your help; it’s just a small matter.”
The Priest wrote down an address and handed it to Xia De. Xia De glanced at it and found that it was actually a rural cemetery in the north of the city. Although it wasn’t the one guarded by Corpus, it was also one of those unnamed rural cemeteries in small villages outside the city.
“Okay.”
Although he didn’t understand what he needed to do, Xia De still nodded:
“Do I need to prepare anything beforehand?”
“Are you afraid of corpses and ghosts?”
The Priest asked.
“Of course not. Compared to the things I’ve dealt with, what are ghosts?”
“That’s good. If all goes well, we can finish the work in two hours. Meet me at midnight, under the withered tree on Hanging Ghost Path outside the city. Oh, if it’s convenient, please bring your cat. Of course, you don’t have to.”
Xia De wasn’t too concerned about the request to bring his cat. What he cared more about was who would name a secluded path “Hanging Ghost Path.”
If possible, Xia De would absolutely not want to approach such a place at midnight.
Besides the methods provided by the Priest, there was actually another way to combat demons: using demons to fight demons. Although Xia De didn’t know how much power the demon on Schneider had, that demon was definitely much stronger than the demon on Darkness.
After all, even Xia De, with his sensitive soul, didn’t feel anything strange about the doctor when he met him.
However, the demon on Schneider was like a ticking time bomb, and Xia De wasn’t sure when it would explode. If he really dragged the doctor into this matter and it led to the demon on the doctor undergoing the next stage of change, Xia De would definitely feel guilty.
Therefore, after leaving Dawn Church, Xia De thought it over and still didn’t go to Doctor Schneider for advice. If possible, he even wanted to do everything he could to prevent Darkness from meeting the doctor.
However, Tobesk is so big, and the doctor’s profession doesn’t require him to run around like a Detective. Xia De very much hoped his worries were unnecessary.
After returning home, besides Dorothy visiting in the afternoon to deliver Leia’s message to Xia De, no other guests visited Saint Delan Square Six today.
The Golden-haired girl informed Xia De of the Princess’s train travel schedule, while Xia De expressed his distress over having no business recently.
“Although you have no business, haven’t you earned a lot recently? From Jialinna.”
Xia De felt that Dorothy said this on purpose and began to suspect whether the soul sitting across the tea table was Dorothy or Leia.
“I did earn a lot, but the Detective’s career hasn’t made much progress.”
He was unusually distressed and decided to think of other ways to advertise himself recently. Newspaper advertisements, after all, had a limited reach. The Outsider planned that perhaps he could distribute flyers or post small advertisements.
“Oh, Dorothy, speaking of which, Queen Diana’s birthday is at the end of the month. Miss Jialinna suggested I give this to the Queen, and I’d like to ask for your advice too.”
“A gift? What are you giving?”
Dorothy was very curious.
So Xia De got up and went to the study, then brought out the round pearl, half the size of a fist.
After it was placed on the table, the orange cat, which had been sniffing something in the kitchen, immediately ran over happily and then happily lay on it as if incubating an egg. The soft cat immediately became arc-shaped, but Xia De immediately picked it up.
“Oh~”
Looking at the perfectly round pearl, Dorothy, like all women who had seen it, let out a moan of admiration. She reached out to touch the pearl, as if to confirm whether it was Xia De’s illusion.
She widened her emerald eyes and looked at Xia De:
“This is the pearl you told me about the day you came back? I didn’t expect it to be so big.”
“Yes, and I’m sure it won’t be associated with merfolk. Merfolk pearls are golden and a size larger than this.”
Xia De tugged at his hair:
“Originally, I didn’t know about the Queen’s birthday, but Miss Jialinna said there had been some political turmoil in Tobesk recently and told me to hurry up and give a gift. So I wanted to ask you, what exactly happened recently? Wasn’t it just a Prince who was arrested?”
“Jialinna did quite well this time; this suggestion is very useful to you. Oh, my Detective, although your political sensitivity is high, you don’t know enough about the royal family. Every Prince and Princess who takes over government affairs will form deeply entrenched factions in Tobesk. This time, it’s a Prince, and a political group that’s going to have big trouble.”
Dorothy said. She knew most of what Leia knew:
“By saving the Queen, you have already declared your political leaning. This is a good opportunity. If you can win the Queen’s favor again, not to mention a knight title, next time, no matter what you do, you might be directly ennobled.”
