Watching Mr. Riddle eat, Xia De wasn't worried he would suddenly eat too much and upset his stomach; Gluttony's Feast had an excellent healing effect on digestive issues.
However, Mr. Riddle didn't eat all the food. After eating one-third, he asked Xia De for the wooden box again, gathered the remaining food onto a plate, and put it into the box, seemingly intending to save it for later.
After all, anyone would be fed up with eating biscuits for an unknown amount of time.
And tasting normal human food again made Mr. Riddle, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown, much more energetic. Coupled with Xia De's appearance, which gave him someone to talk to, this gentleman's mental state clearly improved significantly.
Before the gambling game resumed, Xia De again asked Mr. Riddle about the origin of the god summoned by this gambling table. The middle-aged man, who had been here for a long time, indeed provided the answer:
"This is a god's holy emblem."
He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his robe. Although there was still a bloody tinge in his eyes, at least his voice didn't tremble when he spoke.
Asking Xia De for paper and a pen, Mr. Riddle drew a complex pattern in Xia De's notebook. Perhaps because he hadn't written for a long time, his hand trembled slightly:
"Every time I fall into Sleep, I dream of this symbol, and I hear someone urging me to continue the gambling game, as if the moment I close my eyes, these corpses will whisper in my ears. I even have a premonition that even if I find other ways to leave Terror Castle, as long as I don't complete the gambling game, I will continuously hear this sound throughout my life until I return here and sit back at the table."
After drawing the holy emblem, Mr. Riddle returned the pen to Xia De, then bowed his head and closed his eyes to pray to Mr. Huan. Since he already knew that Mr. Huan was ouroboros, the circular holy emblem he finally drew on his chest was, as expected, an abstract representation of ouroboros.
Xia De looked at the "God of Gamblers" holy emblem in his notebook with a smile, thinking that with this, he could search for clues about this god in the sixth epoch.
Having prepared for another gamble with the god, Mr. Riddle took a few deep breaths and sat back down on the chair on one side of the square table. As the kerosene lamp and the rekindled candlelight swayed, the other half of the room was illuminated, causing the figure in the black robe to reappear.
Cracks reappeared on Xia De's body, while Mr. Riddle let out a painful groan. The air became somewhat viscous, and each breath required all the strength of his lungs to obtain oxygen. Although it looked humanoid, the space it occupied was much larger than it appeared.
"I found your story."
Xia De said softly behind Mr. Riddle, recounting the information he had seen:
"When you were 32 years old, you sailed with a fleet from the East Continent to the South Continent. During the voyage, you encountered a storm at sea, and in the storm, you encountered..."
Xia De paused, and Mr. Riddle, covering his head and bowing it, actually continued:
"A sea monster - an eight-legged sea demon!"
With the reminder, he also recalled this memory.
Mr. Riddle placed his hand on the third slot in front of him, and when he removed it, a third card indeed appeared. In the image on the card, Mr. Riddle clung to a wooden plank on the stormy sea, and behind him, dense tentacles emerged from beneath the surface, coiling around the ship and dragging it into the sea.
The gilded card's name was "Deep Sea Monster."
"But how did you survive this time?"
Xia De asked curiously. The data only stated that this gentleman was one of the few survivors of that accident:
"Could it be that the sea monster wasn't interested in you?"
The middle-aged man in the brown robe painfully clutched his head:
"At that time, I was carrying a wooden idol borrowed from a friend, an idol of the god of the scarlet spiral. I think that sea monster probably didn't want to offend the idol, so it let me go."
Upon hearing the familiar name, Xia De raised an eyebrow:
"Your life has truly been extraordinary."
"I just want to know more things, I want to write down the secrets of the world."
Mr. Riddle shook his head violently, as if trying to drive away something invisible. And in the slot opposite the table, light flickered, and the third card representing a Witch appeared.
Six grooves of different colors gathered light from the front of the six cards on the table to the center of the table. Three Witches jointly fought against undead, dragons, and a sea monster covered in tentacles.
With only four cards, it was still unclear which side had the upper hand, but with six targets in a chaotic battle, it was clearly Mr. Riddle's side that was at a disadvantage.
The real people corresponding to those three Witch cards were probably all Thirteenth-Order Witches like Miss Felianna.
"Sir, what else have I experienced?"
Mr. Riddle asked again. Seeing that the situation on the table was unfavorable, Xia De could only choose the most powerful creature mentioned in the information provided by Luvia:
"You once encountered a Demon!"
"A Demon?"
"Yes, a strange Evil Spirit left over from the third era. That was when you were twenty-five years old. Think carefully, Mr. Riddle, the inverted cross~"
"Cross?"
"Think carefully, the inverted cross you brought out of the ancient ruins. Stone, wrapped in chains."
"Oh, I remember!"
Mr. Riddle lowered his head to look at the table, then slowly placed his hand on the fourth slot. As Xia De showed a surprised expression, this gentleman added a lot of information Xia De didn't know:
"Many years ago, following an ancient legend, I obtained a stone inverted cross in ancient ruins excavated deep in the mountains of the West Continent. What happened later was truly terrifying... I forced myself to forget about it. So, I actually had this experience."
The information Xia De saw still only contained a few written records and a pencil sketch of an inverted cross:
"Mr. Riddle, if you once encountered a Demon, how did you survive?"
The answer might also help Xia De.
The middle-aged man hesitated and thought for a moment, then removed his hand from the slot.
The fourth card appeared. On the card face, Mr. Riddle was running out of an old house with a suitcase, his face filled with terror. Behind the dilapidated house's main door, which served as the background, a pair of scarlet eyes stared at him.
The gilded card's name was "Demons's Shadow." Seeing that this record was also true, Xia De became more suspicious of the record that this gentleman died at 62. It was already a Miracle that he had lived until now.
The middle-aged man in the brown robe seemed to fall into some kind of contemplation, and it was a long while before he spoke again:
"In the mansion, the inverted cross inserted into the ground awakened a sleeping terrifying Evil Demon! Yes! I once helped a Witch search for ancient material, and as compensation, she used a red-hot seal to leave an indelible mark on my body. That mark helped me repel the Demon! Seeing that it couldn't approach me for the time being, it left."
Saying that, he rolled up the sleeve of his right hand. On his right arm, a disgusting burn scar was revealed to Xia De.
At first glance, the mark looked like a scar, but upon closer inspection, it looked like several complex runes overlapped, with dense lines and charred flesh marks that made Xia De feel somewhat nauseous.
After obtaining the other party's consent, Xia De reached out and touched the scar. Upon contact with his finger, the voice in his ear immediately prompted Xia De that he felt an extremely faint whisper element.
"Extremely faint? The branding seal used by that Witch was a powerful anti-Demon relic! Otherwise, it's impossible for even the mark left by the seal to have such an effect!"
Xia De was startled and quickly used the notebook he carried to record this complex symbol as well. After returning to his own time, even if he couldn't find the relic seal corresponding to the brand in the sixth epoch, analyzing this symbol might provide an effective means to fight Demons.
This one gain alone was enough for this trip.
And in the brief moment of their conversation, in front of the black-robed god on the other side of the table, a fourth card also appeared in the rectangular slot. The card face naturally also depicted a Witch; the fourth Witch stood in a temple, holding a holy emblem with both hands and praying.
Judging from the roughly one-fifth of the holy emblem's pattern exposed on the card face, it was precisely the appearance of the dream holy emblem Mr. Riddle had drawn.
Black light flowed from the Demons's Shadow slot, along the thin grooves on the table, and through the overlapping grooves, converged with the other seven streams of light in the center of the table.
The chaotic brilliance grew stronger, and a strange darkness appeared above the Demons's Shadow. The Demon's form was that darkness, and its glowing scarlet eyes made it look humanoid.
Its body gradually overlapped with the surging tide of undead, and with the Demon's roar, the two completely merged. The Demon's size at least doubled, and it, along with the dragon and the sea monster, charged towards the central area of the table.
"Demons's Shadow and the Resurrection of the Dead interacted!"
Xia De thought to himself.
Although Mr. Riddle's side only had three monsters left, the Demon, whose form was darkness, was actually able to suppress the Witches in a one-against-two situation. It manipulated darkness, cooperating with the dragon's breath and the sea monster's tentacles, and almost immediately upon contact, it routed the Witches.
The great battle erupting above the table truly opened Xia De's eyes. The Witches of the fifth epoch manipulated flying light projectiles to create strange light and shadow, and the roars of the monsters almost shattered eardrums. Not only the light and sound effects, but also the air Vibration caused by the heat and even energy bursts, could be perfectly felt by Xia De and Mr. Riddle at the table.
It seemed that as the number of cards increased, the realism of these battles also intensified. For now, it only made Xia De and Mr. Riddle feel shocked, but once all twenty cards were complete, Xia De could hardly imagine what kind of situation would arise.
Half of this journey had already passed. Mr. Riddle was deep in thought, while Xia De refused to waste time. The addition of the Demons shifted the advantage of the battle to Mr. Riddle's side. Xia De seized this opportunity to reveal the remaining two pieces of information:
"Mr. Riddle, when you were thirty-five years old, during an expedition deep into an underground cave, you and your companions accidentally fell into a deep abyss. In the abyss, you discovered a locked door, and behind the door was a black one-handed sword that absorbed life force. Can you recall this event?"
Mr. Riddle covered his head and swayed a few times. After a painful groan, his hand went to the fifth slot. When he removed his hand, the card showed a terrifying black rune sword, locked in a dark room by several silver chains connected to the walls. An ancient metal door on one side of the dark room was ajar, revealing the light of a torch and Mr. Riddle's frightened face outside the crack.
Card Name - 【Cursed Sword】.
The phantom of the rune sword appeared above the card. The Demons's Shadow laughed as he picked up the sword and charged towards the Witch in front of him. A new Witch also joined the battle. Currently, Mr. Riddle's side was fighting three against five, and that terrifying magic sword seemed unable to offset the disadvantage in numbers.
"What else? What else have I experienced?"
The man, clutching his head, asked eagerly. He also knew that the current situation was unfavorable for his side. But the life experiences Xia De found for him were limited to these; he had no other choice:
"Mr. Riddle, when you were twenty-nine years old, during an investigation of a primitive tribe in the North Continent, you were chased by a cannibal tribe and got lost in the wilderness. You encountered an inn in the uninhabited wilderness and eventually discovered that the inn itself was a massive, terrifying cannibalistic creature."
The sixth card, the card face showed an abandoned inn, with a terrified Mr. Riddle standing behind a second-floor window, pounding on the glass with his right fist. Card Name - 【Cannibal House】.
This time, no new monster appeared above the card. Instead, on the side of the square table closer to Mr. Riddle, the phantom of a large house enveloped all the monsters summoned due to Mr. Riddle's life experiences.
This shadow brought new light. In these lights, the bodies of the demon, sea monster, and dragon became even larger. Not only that, their bodies could better resist the Witches' light projectiles, and when they attacked, strange lights would emerge from the three monsters, bringing special striking effects.
The black-robed great one remained motionless, with light flickering in the sixth slot in front of him. But the card that appeared this time was not a Witch; it was a gray stone altar.
The phantom of the altar appeared behind the five Witches, and the connecting light and shadow provided them with new power. At the same time, the light and shadow of the altar were also countering the phantom of 【Cannibal House】, mutually eroding each other's power.
The five Witches stood together, the light from their fingertips converging into one point. The dragon, demon, and sea monster charged simultaneously, wriggling tentacles providing protection, the dragon breathing fire to clear a path in the light, and the rune sword in the demon's hand being the most powerful weapon.
The lights finally collided with the monsters' bodies, and the strong wind caused by the energy collision almost blew Mr. Riddle off his chair at the table.
Xia De supported him from behind, looking at the temporarily halted battle. Three monsters against five Witches; in the current state, the great one's side clearly had the upper hand.
"Cough, cough~"
Mr. Riddle coughed loudly. The immense mental and physical pressure brought by gambling with the great one had already caused blood to seep from the corners of his mouth. By now, the gamble was halfway through, and seeing the strange light and shadow reflected on Mr. Riddle's weak face, Xia De fully understood why he was called a "Legendary Prophet."
Seeing that he was struggling, Xia De whispered:
"Mr. Riddle, let's stop here for this time. I need to leave, and when I return next time, I will bring you victory. If you really can't hold on, perhaps I can find a way to win outside of the gamble."
"No, no, I must win."
The weak man leaned on the table, his voice faint but his tone exceptionally firm:
"Do you know why I undertook so many adventures?"
A pulling sensation appeared in his body, indicating that the time was up.
"I don't know."
"To experience more things until my death, so that my presence in this world won't be meaningless."
The middle-aged man answered without hesitation. Even though he had lost part of his memory, he still remembered his true intention.
Leaning on the table, he stood up with Xia De's help. The candle across the table extinguished, and darkness fell once more.
"So, if you die because of these adventures, will you regret it?"
Xia De asked softly, trying to help him to the wall. The Outsider admired such people. Perhaps some might think that people like Mr. Riddle were mad, deliberately seeking death, but Xia De knew that this world could not do without such people.
"Of course I'll regret it, but I'll still do it. I don't want to boast about being an adventurous person; I just want to see more, learn more. Even if I already know what this means for me."
After a moment of hesitation, Xia De asked again:
"If you could survive indefinitely but die insane in your old age, would you still not regret it?"
Mr. Riddle turned to look at Xia De, his face pale and blood at the corner of his mouth, but his brown eyes held a very steady expression:
"As long as I gain Knowledge, then even if I end my life in madness, I will not regret it. I am just an ordinary person, without the power of a Witch. An opportunity like this to face a great one will not come a second time in my life. I want to challenge this great one, no matter the outcome, I will challenge him fairly. With my life, with my adventures, with all that I am."
Xia De nodded, letting him slowly lean against the wall and sit on the ground:
"Alright, I will help you win the gamble, in the way you desire. Mr. Riddle, do you know about all things are impermanent?"
He asked suddenly, the white mist already appearing behind him.
"I'm sorry, I don't know. But if I can get out alive, I will help you investigate. Even if you might just be my illusion, even if we might never meet again after leaving Terror Castle. But I will definitely help you investigate, that is my promise."
Facing Xia De's departure this time, Mr. Riddle was clearly more rational. He tried to stand up, but unfortunately failed:
"Sir, thank you for your help. May the Father of Infinite Trees and Mr. Huan bless you and me."
He said sincerely, looking as if experiencing Xia De's second arrival had made him even more determined.
"Aren't you curious about my origin?"
Xia De turned and walked into the white mist, then looked back at him one last time. Because he was leaving voluntarily this time, he wasn't forcibly pulled backward.
"Curious."
Mr. Riddle's figure, to Xia De, was already somewhat blurry:
"But it doesn't matter, I will figure it out one day—"
Xia De stumbled backward out of the bedroom door. He had just been walking forward, but suddenly found himself moving backward, the disorientation making him lose control of his steps and almost stepping on Mia, who was pacing by the door.
After steadying himself and bending down to pick up Mia, he turned to look at the moon outside the living room window:
So, Slitch Riddell researched and found the all things are impermanent card because of my guidance? Did he really fulfill his promise?
A month ago, in Saint Delan Square, when Luvia told him the story of all things are impermanent, Xia De never expected it to be a promise spanning five thousand years.
Although the third key, so far, had not brought Xia De more questions about this world, doing so many things that connected the past and the present always made Xia De feel that what he was doing was actually something that had long been destined.
The arrival of the Outsider seemed to have brought no change to this world.
【Is that so?】
She chuckled in his ear. She was always like that.
After sighing for a long time, he went to carry the god's gift box from the basement to the second floor. After washing his hands, he took out this week's gift from inside.
Perhaps last week's printed banknotes were too peculiar, making this week's item seem unremarkable. It was a brand new metal screwdriver, looking quite good, probably costing about 5 shillings in a city store.
"Sure enough, one can't count on this method to obtain special items."
This week's requirement was to drink a glass of milk for breakfast, which was no requirement at all for Xia De. He pushed open the living room window, intending to ventilate the room before bed. The late Summer night breeze was still slightly warm, but he could also feel a distinct coolness compared to mid-Summer.
"It's Monday, early morning, the 19th day of Flourishing Flower Month."
He murmured, looking at the night view. Summer was truly coming to an end.
