“So what happened to Sister Matilda later?”
Xia De sat on the sofa and continued to ask curiously, and the blind lady shook her head slightly:
“They continued to correspond by letter, and Sister Matilda even thought of laying down her burdens after she turned 45 and going to Tobesk… About 15 years ago, she passed away due to a terrible accident.”
Ms. Michelle’s face showed a somewhat sad expression, and Xia De was speechless for a moment.
“Yesterday, I saw Mr. Ratt Augustus again after more than twenty years, and learned that he had become a Ring術士 in Zaras.”
“It’s Saint Byron’s, you don’t need to test me.”
Xia De interrupted, and Ms. Michelle nodded:
“I understand. He has become a student at Saint Byron's Chemistry College. I truly feel sad for them. If only it could have been earlier… I told Priest Augustus the location where Sister Matilda was buried. After he left us, he should have gone directly to the cemetery.”
Xia De sighed:
“So that’s how it is. He never spoke of this past to us, his friends. The thing is, there is clear evidence that Priest Augustus encountered an accident, and it’s highly probable he will die soon. So, I wanted to know if the divination you performed yesterday pointed to any other clues.”
“I’m sorry, although I have some divination ability, all I can see on him is death.”
“Speaking of which, you are already the second Fortune Teller to divine ‘death’ for the Priest.”
Xia De said, and Sister Matilda showed a slightly surprised expression:
“Doesn’t that mean that gentleman…”
“We, his friends, can only do our best to save him.”
Xia De got up, ready to leave. He didn’t have that much time to waste. He had to find Priest Augustus’s final disappearance location before the Blood Echo effect faded.
“Please wait, Mr. Watson, although I cannot provide you with direct help, if you need anything, you can always come here to find me. Also, I would like to perform a divination for you.”
“Divination?”
“Yes, our method of divination is different from ordinary divination. We don’t need any auxiliary tools; instead, we directly use our eyes to capture spirituality.”
She motioned for Xia De to sit back down, then raised her hands and unwrapped the cloth strips around her eyes one by one. Only then did Xia De realize that the other party was not blind at all, but deliberately covered her eyes, which was a form of cultivation.
“Spiritual Cultivation Order?”
He suddenly whispered, and Ms. Michelle’s hands stopped, remaining in the raised position as she looked towards Xia De. Of course, since the cloth strips were not completely removed, this couldn't really be considered “looking.”
“You know us?”
Although the Spiritual Cultivation Order was not a particularly secret organization, it was not easy to guess it immediately.
“I am a friend of the Priest in Tobesk. During the ‘Darkness Descent’ incident in Tobesk some time ago, I saw your people in the City.”
“Yes, Sister Devlin did personally lead a team there.”
Ms. Michelle nodded, then lowered her head and completely unwrapped the cloth strips.
Seeing that she was about to look at him, Xia De immediately sat up straight in a proper posture. Ms. Michelle looked up and opened her eyes. Xia De felt that her brown eyes were very pretty, though he wasn’t sure if it was just a psychological effect.
“Oh!”
Just by looking at Xia De once, this nun from the Spiritual Cultivation Order cried out in pain, covering her eyes and lowering her head.
“I’m sorry, what’s wrong?”
Xia De was a bit at a loss, but Ms. Michelle just waved her hand, telling him not to panic:
“Mr. Watson, the Moonlight on you is truly dazzling. So radiant, so pure, so brilliant, I should not have been so bold as to easily peer at you. I think, for Priest Augustus’s matter, it will likely be no problem for you to resolve it.”
“Are you really okay? I have some eye drops that can treat eyes here, would you like to try them?”
Xia De took out the bright yellow eye drops prescribed by an ophthalmologist that he hadn’t used up in the Darkness Domain, but Ms. Michelle covered her eyes and politely refused. Organizations of Ring術士 like theirs, who have special eye cultivation methods, wouldn’t lack potions for treating eye ailments.
Knowing that Xia De was in a hurry, Ms. Michelle called another middle-aged nun from the House of the Blind to escort Xia De downstairs. This middle-aged nun was a Four Ring or Three Ring Ring術士 and was very surprised to see Ms. Michelle’s condition, but did not blame Xia De for it.
Xia De pretty much understood what this so-called “House of the Blind” was. It should be a local stronghold of the “Spiritual Cultivation Order,” and Ms. Michelle was the leader of the stronghold. Therefore, before leaving, he kindly told Ms. Michelle that Priest Augustus’s disappearance would soon attract the attention of the Church and the College.
If Xia De could investigate here, the Church and the College should also be able to find this place, so they needed to prepare in advance.
The Outsider was actually very interested in this organization, but currently, Priest Augustus’s matter was the most important. After bidding farewell to the House of the Blind, he left through the back door and continued to follow Priest Augustus’s trail.
The Priest first went to a flower shop at the alley entrance and bought flowers. Xia De spent 5 pennies and learned from the flower shop that it was a bouquet for mourning a friend.
After that, the Priest got into a carriage again. Xia De, who already knew the Priest’s destination, did not track him on foot this time. He also got into a carriage and headed to the Middlesburg Public cemetery.
Large Cities in Delarion all have public cemeteries planned by the City Hall. This is also to facilitate urban planning for Cities rapidly expanding in the Steam Age and to prevent the dead from occupying the land of the living.
As for Middlesburg, the City could only expand towards the northern plains; expanding towards Sicar Mountain in the southwest was basically impossible. Therefore, Middlesburg’s public cemetery is located in the southwest of the City, essentially at the foot of Sicar Mountain.
Strictly speaking, that already counted as a mountainous area. But because the cemetery was built against the mountain, not only were the greening conditions excellent, there was even a man-made canal flowing through the cemetery, so the conditions of the burial plots here seemed even better than in Tobesk.
“If I ultimately fail to become a god and, like a mortal, enter final death, perhaps being buried here wouldn’t be bad.”
Xia De thought about random things.
Somehow, when the carriage carried Xia De to the cemetery entrance, a thin layer of mist actually rose in the mountains. Sicar Mountain was already towering; when Xia De looked up, he only saw that the white mist had covered the cemetery from the mountainside down to the foot of the mountain.
This was not smog caused by steam industry, but naturally formed mist. Yet, when Xia De came down the mountain at noon, everything in the mountains was still normal.
“You must be an Outsider.”
The coachman, who was giving Xia De change, saw Xia De looking at the continuous mountains in surprise, so he smiled and explained:
“Every autumn, Sicar Mountain always experiences this kind of dense mountain fog from time to time. It can happen at night, in the morning, during the day, or in the evening, and the duration is also uncertain. Everyone living in this City knows about this, and adults always like to use the ghosts in the white mist of Sicar Mountain to scare disobedient children.”
After telling Xia De local stories, the coachman handed Xia De the 7 pennies in change, but Xia De only took a 1-penny coin, then waved goodbye to him and turned to look at the cemetery in the mist:
“If I remember correctly, the negative effect of easily attracting evil spirits after using the unfortunate's hair is still on me…”
