Unlike the Dawn Church in Tobesk, which occupied the entire Dawn Square, the Dawn Church in Middlesburg was located on a street called Saint Carla Avenue in the southwest of the City.
Although it was a street-facing building, the church still occupied a considerable area.
Besides the auditorium and offices, it even had a separate garden and courtyard, spanning the entire block.
The area of this church was much larger than the Dawn Square in Tobesk, which was related to the expensive land prices in Tobesk.
Xia De didn't dare to enter the church, to avoid being discovered.
Moreover, he didn't need to enter, because after approaching Saint Carla Avenue, he carefully took out the Blood in the alley and dripped it into his eyes.
When he looked at the entrance of the Dawn Church again, he could clearly see the movement trajectory of Priest Augustus, composed of a bloody halo.
"At least at this time yesterday, Priest Augustus was still fine!"
Xia De came to this conclusion.
There was more than one figure of Priest Augustus walking out from the entrance of the Dawn Church, indicating that within 24 hours, the Old Priest had passed by the entrance multiple times.
Xia De chose the darkest figure, which was the latest one, to track.
Perhaps because of the original purpose of the City's construction, the streets in Middlesburg were generally wide.
On both sides of the road, street trees and gas lamp posts alternated.
After Priest Augustus left the Dawn Church, he first paced for a while under the lamp post at the church entrance, as if observing the advertisement for the Cassandra Auction House on the lamp post, then he walked east along the street.
The Priest was probably going to do something not so regular, so he kept close to the wall, trying not to attract attention.
Then, he actually got into a carriage when he walked to the intersection of Saint Carla Avenue and Oak Street.
"Hmm."
Looking at the floating figure of Priest Augustus in the air, if the Priest hadn't gotten into a carriage, then he must have learned a spell to fly in the air while maintaining a sitting posture.
"Where is the Priest going?"
The Priest from 24 hours or even more recently could take a carriage, but Xia De couldn't, because in the carriage he couldn't constantly watch what the Priest's figure was doing.
So, he could only walk, following the Priest's figure floating in the air, maintaining a sitting posture.
From the intersection of Oak Avenue and Saint Carla Avenue, he went south, which was towards the direction of the City leaning towards the mountains.
After passing two intersections, the carriage turned into a small alley called Squirrel Lane.
This was a commercial street specializing in mountain goods, pine cones, and leather products, and it was particularly lively today.
After passing through Squirrel Lane, the carriage continued east, and after reaching the street where the Middlesburg Police Department was located, it turned south and then stopped.
It was already 2:40 PM, and Xia De was glad he didn't have to follow the carriage all day.
The place where the carriage stopped was an alley called Lufu Lane, which was similar to Feather Pen Street where Dorothy lived, a street that, although narrow, was clean and full of rental apartments.
After Priest Augustus got off the carriage, he looked around, as if confirming whether he had gone to the wrong place.
Then, he started walking into the alley.
"Could the Priest have disappeared here? Are there any traces of elements?"
【Not yet.】
"Okay."
Xia De nodded, walking forward while observing the street scene around him.
The City Hall of Middlesburg seemed to love planting trees; since he left the old tower, trees had never been absent from his sight.
The Priest's destination was here; he stopped in front of the house with the number "15" on Lufu Lane.
Xia De saw the Priest's figure reaching out to knock on the door, and then he went inside.
But there was no figure of Priest Augustus leaving the door afterward, which meant Xia De couldn't bypass this place.
Xia De's Echo of Blood saw continuous figures appearing at a frequency of about one every five seconds, but if he concentrated and expended extra spirit, he could see the visible figures' actions more continuously.
Therefore, Xia De could be sure that Priest Augustus entered the house five seconds after knocking on the door.
In other words, this was a pre-arranged visit.
And Xia De hadn't seen the Priest disguise himself along the way, so Priest Augustus visited this place with his true appearance.
"My Miracle is truly terrifying, as expected of the only one that has evolved.
Priest Augustus in Middlesburg, who would he want to secretly visit?
I remember the Priest didn't intend to contact the local Saint Byron's Letter-based Ring術士, so, is it an acquaintance he knew when he was young?"
But no matter what, having found this place, Xia De couldn't give up easily.
He took out the wooden button the doctor gave him, rubbed the raised patterns on its surface, injected spirit to activate it, then stepped onto the steps and gently knocked on the door.
After waiting quietly for a few seconds, footsteps came from inside the door.
He widened his eyes slightly, but the door didn't open immediately; the light footsteps stopped behind the door.
Xia De knew there was someone behind the door, and the person behind the door also knew there was someone outside the door.
Neither the person inside nor outside spoke, but maintained a tacit silence.
And in this silence, the voice in his ear had already given a hint:
【Outsider, there is a Ring術士 behind the door.】
Although the distance was very close, due to being separated by a door, he could only barely determine that it was a Ring術士.
Xia De was not surprised by this result; he now highly suspected that Priest Augustus's disappearance was related to the person behind the door.
"Excuse me, who are you looking for?"
The middle-aged woman, clearly with a local accent, spoke first in the silence inside and outside the door.
Xia De frowned and canceled the effect of the doctor's button.
Since the other party was a Ring術士, there was no need to use such a method:
"Hello, Ms., I am the Writer, John Watson."
He said the same thing when he was in Coldwater Port, but occasionally he would also call himself "Detective" John Watson:
"It's like this, you don't need to open the door.
Please tell me, is my friend, Priest Latt Augustus, here with you?"
"That Old Priest?
He visited here yesterday afternoon at three o'clock, and then left through the back door."
"Where is the back door located?"
"Go left, go straight after entering the narrow alley, then turn right."
The voice said.
"Okay, thank you very much."
Xia De thanked softly, wanting to leave here to confirm if Priest Augustus's figure was at the back door of the house.
But the voice behind the door stopped him:
"Sir, may I ask if you, like Priest Augustus, are also 'us' kind of person?"
Xia De thought for a moment:
"If you mean a Mechanic who manipulates steam-metal rings, I think so."
He exposed his Ring術士 identity rashly only because Xia De needed to know the location of the black market in this City, at least.
When he was in Coldwater Port, Leia, disguised as "Princess," brought him into the Ring術士 circle of the port City, but he really had no friends here—unless Dorothy had other princesses connected by soul.
"Did something happen to Priest Augustus?"
The female voice inside the door asked.
"Yes, he's missing.
May I ask, how did you know?"
"Because yesterday, I performed a divination for him."
The door was opened from the inside, and Xia De saw the woman who had been talking to him.
The woman looked to be in her forties, with dull yellow long hair.
She was wearing a dark blue-black dress, like a nun's robe, with a matching colored shawl draped over her shoulders.
She didn't look at Xia De's face, because her eyes were wrapped with a somewhat dirty linen strip.
"Yesterday's divination result seemed to portend death, but the Old Priest didn't care at all.
Just now I was still wondering what that terrible premonition meant, and now I probably understand."
She moved a step aside, clearing the doorway:
"Please come in."
Although her eyes were covered with a cloth band, she acted like a person with normal vision:
"If you need help, the House of the Blind welcomes you."
【Middle-Ring.】
"Then I'll trouble you."
Xia De stepped over the threshold and walked in.
The House of the Blind seemed to be a small-scale Ring術士 organization, and the reason it was called that was because most of the people inside were blind.
After Xia De entered, he realized that the opening woman was not the only one in the house.
And under her introduction, Xia De learned that this place, on the surface, was a caring organization that provided help to blind disabled people in Middlesburg, supported financially by the local City Hall.
The inside of the house was very tidy; to facilitate the blind people's movement, there were almost no sundries in the corridors and staircases.
The woman led Xia De from the first floor to the third floor, and finally stopped in a reception room.
During this time, Xia De saw many blind people being helped to walk in the hallway or talking with others.
Moreover, he encountered at least three Ring術士 during his ascent, but their levels were all Low-Ring, so it seemed this organization was not strong.
"This place is really lively, but is this House of the Blind a City-level small Ring術士 organization?"
He secretly guessed.
The blind woman who led the way introduced herself as Ms. Michelle; although her eyes were wrapped with a cloth band, her walking was completely unaffected.
After the two sat down, she also called for a normal servant from the House of the Blind to bring hot tea to entertain Xia De.
But out of caution, Xia De did not drink any tea in the territory of unfamiliar Ring術士.
"The connection between Priest Latt Augustus and us goes back more than twenty years.
A long time ago, probably when the Old Priest was in his thirties, he came to this City and met one of our nuns."
Ms. Michelle introduced, sitting opposite Xia De, her hands folded on her knees, which rested on her dark silk skirt.
And when she mentioned "nun" and thought of "blindness," Xia De suddenly remembered another organization, an organization he had encountered in the Darkness Field.
"Priest Augustus in his thirties, and your nun... hmm..."
Seeing that Xia De didn't know what word to use to describe it, Ms. Michelle smiled:
"Yes, two souls attracted each other.
I was only a teenager back then and witnessed this love.
But Priest Latt Augustus still had to return to Tobesk, and Sister Matilda had her own responsibilities; she was a Ring術士, and the Priest was just an ordinary person, even a clergyman of the Orthodox Church."
Xia De understood what she meant; this was a relationship destined to have no result.
He just didn't expect that Priest Augustus had such a story in his youth.
