Carrying the god's gift box, Xia De, supporting Luvia, whose condition was worsening, immediately entered the manor.
In the courtyard, they didn't see any sleeping maids. After pushing open the door, which was locked from the inside, with difficulty, no one appeared.
Because it was pitch black everywhere, the inside of the building looked no different from the outdoors; one just had to be careful not to bump into walls. Seeing no one appear, Xia De felt a little uneasy. Fortunately, the pendant he carried could detect witches nearby. Even if the Darkness Domain hindered the pendant's function, it at least didn't make the function disappear completely.
Based on the varying heat emitted by the pendant at different locations, Xia De led Luvia to the third floor of the manor and stopped at the door of the manor's master bedroom. This was Miss Jialinna's bedroom; only Tifa could enter and exit freely without permission, and Xia De had never been in before.
At this moment, the two doors were tightly shut in the darkness. Xia De reached out to push, but unexpectedly, the crimson-gold Ling Runes on the door flashed, pushing Xia De away.
Instead of being surprised, Xia De smiled:
"I knew it. Even if Miss Jialinna might not be in the manor, it's impossible for all the manor's servants to fall into Sleep due to the expansion of darkness. Luvia, do you recognize the ritual on the door?"
Xia De turned to ask, Luvia struggled to open her eyes and looked, then shook her head:
"The ritual doesn't matter. Why don't you just knock on the door?"
"Oh, good point. If someone is still awake, we can just knock."
Because this door would prevent touching, Xia De finally chose to shout a few times into the door. After waiting for more than ten seconds, a faint sound came from behind the door. Inside the Darkness Domain, sounds would also be swallowed by darkness, so the person behind the door must have been shouting loudly:
"Is that Xia De?"
"It's me, and I have my friend with me."
Xia De recognized the somewhat distorted voice as Tifa's. It seemed that when the incident happened, Miss Jialinna hadn't taken her with her out of the manor.
"Prove your identity."
The voice from inside the door said again.
"Last time we investigated the ophthalmologist together, when I was using the potion, I had you drip blood into my eye."
"Oh, it really is you."
Tifa carefully pushed open the right side of the double bedroom door from the inside, leaving only a gap wide enough for Xia De to squeeze through sideways. Xia De restored a mask from his pocket and handed it to Luvia, but she shook her head:
"No need. I don't mind if a Witch knows what I look like."
Xia De went in first, and after confirming the door was safe, he poked his head out through the crack and pulled Luvia in as well.
Inside, a not-so-strong light source appeared after a long absence. The light source was placed on the carpet in the center of the bedroom. More than thirty young women in maid outfits were either 趴 on desks or lying in groups of two or three on the carpet, sleeping soundly or talking softly throughout the room. The light covered their bodies, making their shadows sway slightly.
This scene, from any angle, was quite visually impactful.
Tifa was still wearing her usual maid dress. From her perspective, Xia De, radiating a faint silver moonlight, entered carrying a glowing box and leading a very elegant lady, a scene even more visually striking.
Tifa was not the only one awake in the room. Besides her, there were four other maids in maid dresses and three ladies in their respective casual dresses.
These seven ladies were also Ring術士 around Miss Jialinna; two were Middle-Ring, one was Third-Ring, and the other four were all Middle-Ring, but none exceeded Tifa's level.
At this moment, five of the Ring術士 were sitting around the only light source in the room, with ritual markings of a hexagram outlined in Ashes on the carpet. The remaining two stood with Tifa at the door to welcome Xia De's arrival. Xia De was a frequent visitor to Miss Jialinna's manor, and the maids here all knew him.
"This is my friend, the Diviner..."
"Luvia Annett."
Xia De had originally intended to use a pseudonym, but unexpectedly, Luvia herself spoke her real name.
Tifa smiled and nodded, introducing herself, then arranged for the awake maids to rouse their sleeping companions and prepare hot tea for the two travelers.
"What's the situation now? Is Miss Jialinna not here?"
The door closed behind them, shutting the darkness outside. There was a strong fragrance in the bedroom; Miss Jialinna probably liked to burn incense in her bedroom.
"Before the darkness expanded this morning, Miss went out alone. When the incident happened, the manor itself resisted for less than five minutes. During that time, I gathered the manor's servants to take shelter in the mansion. Only five people in the back garden didn't make it back in time. Now, the male servants are in the kitchen on the first floor and should have fallen into Sleep. The other maids, led by the housekeeper, went to the dining room on the second floor, and I think they should have fallen asleep as well. The people here are all maids responsible for taking care of Miss personally, so I didn't notify Miss and brought them up here. They are not asleep due to the influence of a relic; it's because of too much mental stress, so they need to Sleep frequently."
Tifa said softly. Valley
Although Miss Jialinna disliked men, some heavy manual labor in the manor required male servants, and if there were no male servants at all in the manor, it would easily lead to speculation, so there were male servants here, but they were not allowed to enter the second floor and above.
"Are you all alright?"
Xia De asked with concern, also lowering his voice to avoid waking the others who were asleep.
"For now, we're fine. Miss foresaw the worst-case scenario, so she left this."
Tifa pointed to the light source behind her, which was a cylindrical kerosene lamp. It was made of bronze metal, with a cylindrical body supported by three feet at the bottom. The kerosene lamp's height reached about Xia De's chest, and it was divided into five sections, each with a separately glowing wick. The lampshade was made of glass, and the metal holding the lampshade had Phoenix patterns. At the very top of the lamp post was a lifelike bronze Phoenix statue.
This was a relic.
"Secret Keeper Level (Level 3) Phoenix Lamp. Its only positive characteristic is that it can continuously emit light and heat, illuminating its surroundings and never extinguishing. Its negative characteristic is that if this lamp is not contained within a sealed fire-resistant material, the probability of a fire occurring nearby will greatly increase, and once a fire is not dealt with in time, some monsters that even Miss finds troublesome will appear in the flames."
Tifa explained to Xia De:
"Precisely because it has only one pure characteristic, it can continue to emit light in the Darkness Domain. However, the difference between the Phoenix Lamp and the Darkness Domain is still too great, so a ritual must be used to enhance the light and make its coverage wider. But as long as no new changes occur, this light should be enough to sustain us until the matter is over."
"Miss Jialinna anticipated this situation beforehand? She truly is remarkable."
Xia De praised softly.
"No, in my opinion, your ability to come here amidst a relic out of control is what's remarkable. The situation outside must be very bad, right?"
Tifa said, Xia De shook his head:
"This isn't my credit; it's a friend I know who gave me strength. Let's not talk about this anymore, Luvia, you stay here for a while. You can't continue forward with me; I'll go on alone."
The purple-eyed girl, who had already sat down, looked at Xia De regretfully, but what Xia De said was indeed the reality.
"Tifa, does Miss Jialinna have a map of the core area of the Darkness Domain? I have something I need to continue forward for."
"Yes, I have it right here. But I'll go with you. No, please don't refuse."
She still wore a serene expression on her face, looking up at Xia De:
"I'm also very worried about Miss. She's probably in the central area of the relic. The incident happened suddenly, and I'm not sure if Miss was prepared to deal with it. Since you want to go there, why not go with me? After all, I don't know what the situation outside is like, and I need your help."
Her way of speaking made it sound like she needed Xia De to accompany her.
Xia De knew Tifa wanted to protect him, and after thinking carefully, he didn't refuse. But before setting off, he had one more thing to ask:
"Is the darkness box in the manor now?"
Although the extreme fear had passed, Xia De had also seen power in that fear. But that was the power of courage, and for the Ling Rune of Light, another attempt was necessary.
"It is, but I advise you not to use it lightly."
She led Xia De to the side of the bed in the bedroom. The master bedroom of the manor was enormous, and the four-poster bed, placed on a platform two steps higher than the floor, was even larger. However, the curtains were drawn, obscuring the situation on the bed, and Xia De didn't impolitely try to peek.
The light from the Phoenix Lamp only extended to the edge of the large bed, but light and darkness did not transition smoothly; their boundary was very clear, as if there truly was a line dividing them.
The brass gear mechanism box was placed exactly on the boundary line between light and darkness, with the dividing line perfectly coinciding with the central axis of the box's upper surface.
This was the long-unseen darkness box.
"How did you bring it into Miss Jialinna's bedroom? Did you foresee my return?"
Xia De asked, but Tifa shook her head, squatting down to carefully move the box completely into the area covered by the lamplight. Only then did Xia De notice that the large and small gears on the side of the box were covered with disgusting, uneven black stains.
"We were able to successfully escape here by utilizing this relic."
Tifa explained:
"The inherent characteristic of the darkness box is that by rotating the gears on its six faces according to certain rules, darkness can be controllably released from the box. Darkness and darkness are also different; when the darkness from the darkness box covers us, the darkness from the Darkness Domain temporarily cannot affect us."
Xia De raised an eyebrow; this approach was quite interesting. Priest Augustus had said before Xia De set off that light wasn't necessarily what defeated darkness, but he hadn't expected that darkness could actually counter darkness.
