“The death outbreak will impact all three passages simultaneously.”
When the Priest spoke of this topic, he seemed quite worried:
“I am not a Church Ring術士, so I cannot obtain more specific information. From what is currently known, the local Natural Church believes that all three passages could have problems.”
The Natural Church was the first of the Five Gods Church to proselytize locally, and all the current seals on the gate at the foot of the mountain were primarily carried out by the Natural Church.
Even the Natural Church's physical location corresponds to the location of the gate in the Gap.
“All of them could have problems, huh?”
Xia De had no solution for such matters, but fortunately, it wasn't his responsibility.
The only thing he needed to do in this City was to gather enough intelligence, and once Luvia divined information about the third Chosen One, he would use the preliminary preparations to find the target in one fell swoop.
“The gate on the mountain top in the Gap is suppressed by an Ancient One, and the gate on the mountainside is unknown due to the Witch Emperors' concealment.
The Church also knows this information, but clearly not as much as I do.”
This wasn't because the Church was incompetent or Priest Augustus was too powerful; Xia De believed it was purely because the Priest's Grade 0 relic, which was suspected to be related to the “Initial Angel,” was too formidable.
Taking advantage of the fact that the dishes hadn't been served yet, Xia De expressed his thoughts:
“Priest, I've also met some friends in Middlesburg these past few days.
After dinner, we'll go to the House of the Blind; they are actually the local stronghold of the Spiritual Cultivation Order.”
“Spiritual Cultivation Order? You mean those who use eye patches… Oh, so the House of the Blind is the stronghold of that Order!”
The Priest said in surprise; he knew of the Spiritual Cultivation Order but evidently hadn't connected the two.
“You can give all the intelligence you have now and any intelligence you acquire in the future to the Spiritual Cultivation Order; the Order will surely find a way to inform the Church.”
“That's good, but it's best if I don't show my face.”
Priest Augustus shook his head, took out his pipe from his pocket, but then put it back after a moment's thought:
“I'll give you everything I know, and you can give it to the Spiritual Cultivation Order.
After all, I am a Priest of the Orthodox Church, so it's better not to actively contact them... However, are you sure you know the high-ranking members of the Order?”
“Yes, I met with the leader of the Order this morning, and when we rescued you, that Eleventh-Ring Sister provided a lot of help.”
Xia De nodded, and the Priest looked at him in surprise:
“Haven't you only been here for a week? Detective, you really make friends widely.”
“Let's not talk about that.”
Xia De shook his head, skipping the topic, not wanting to involve the Witch again because of the Spiritual Cultivation Order:
“inconceivable-grade relics are truly dangerous.”
He sighed softly, and the Priest wanted to speak, but the waiter pushed the dining cart in again.
After he left, the Priest continued:
“Actually, even the least dangerous Poet Grade (Grade 5) relics can cause us a lot of trouble.
Do you know the Poet Grade relic, the ‘Itching Curse’?”
“No, I don't.”
Xia De shook his head, looking very interested, so the Priest said:
“This is a relic that exists in the form of information, similar to a curse.
Specifically, the cursed person's back will be very itchy, and once someone sees him scratching, they will also feel itchy, thus continuously spreading the curse.
In the later stages, even if someone just mentions feeling their back itch, or even records this matter in a book, the curse will spread.”
“Oh, that sounds terrible.”
Xia De subtly rubbed his back against the chair back.
When the Priest mentioned this, he subconsciously thought about whether his back was itching, and then he really felt his back was a little itchy.
“Such a nasty curse is only Poet Grade?”
“Yes, because its characteristic is just itching.
And it's the kind of itching that can be comfortably relieved by just scratching... Detective, what are you doing?”
Xia De, who was quietly rubbing against the chair back, shook his head:
“Nothing. So how is this curse treated? You can't just endure an itchy back for life, can you?”
“No, you don't have to.
You just need to find the first person affected by the relic, then peel off the skin from their back and process it into leather using a tanning method; that way, the information will be preserved on that piece of human skin.
It's very regrettable that there are currently 193 known sources of the ‘Itching Curse,’ and these are just the ones known to the Church.”
The Priest shrugged:
“Even if you can't find the source, as long as two-thirds of the people infected with the curse regularly apply a special ointment, the contagious property of this relic will disappear, so the harm is indeed not great.
Oh, Ring術士 generally have varying degrees of resistance to Poet Grade relics, so this curse is ineffective against High-Ring Sorcerers.
Oh, and there's also the spell ‘Itching Curse’ developed based on this relic; this prank spell is ineffective against all Ring術士, but people who learn this spell are truly boring.”
Xia De, whose back was still a bit itchy, swore that he must quickly advance to High-Ring Sorcerer to prevent encountering such annoying, though not dangerous, curses in this perilous world.
The two agreed to meet again tomorrow.
The Priest would consider what Miracles Xia De's Ling Rune, True Death, could be associated with, and then, tonight, he would write down everything he currently knew about the Gap and the death outbreak.
However, the Priest also had Church work to do; these elderly clergy who had been summoned were already undergoing basic ritual training, so they wouldn't be able to meet Xia De frequently in Middlesburg going forward.
However, it could now be fully confirmed that the purpose of summoning Priest Augustus to Middlesburg was indeed for a large divine ritual.
And when the Priest took out his wallet to pay for the lavish dinner, Xia De, who was looking out the window at the scenery, suddenly remembered another matter:
“Oh, Priest, you owe the Doctor 3,000 pounds.”
Priest Augustus, who was counting out the tip, his hand trembled, almost dropping the coins he held in his palm:
“Huh?”
He looked at the young Detective opposite him in surprise, as if hoping he would say it was a joke.
Xia De reminded him:
“That's the fee for opening the door.
You know, while my friends can help for free, we can't expect them to pay for the tools, can we?”
“That's true.”
The Priest said tremblingly:
“It seems I need to save some money recently.”
Aside from his Ring術士 studies, Priest Augustus didn't have many expenses; he just habitually donated his money.
And this 3,000 pounds was no small sum; it seemed the Priest was already planning to consider selling potions in the local black market after returning to Tobesk.
“However, where did the Doctor get so much liquid capital? Why did he pay for it himself? Normally, shouldn't it be four people paying?”
The Priest thought of this again.
Xia De still remembered that the others had warned him never to tell this old man about their collective gambling:
“The Doctor made a lot of money from investments recently.”
He said vaguely.
“What investment allowed the Doctor to earn so much?”
The Priest was very curious, placing the tip under the cup.
The two stood up from their chairs, and the waiter led the way to see them out.
“It's related to a minor noble.”
Xia De's eyes drifted:
“And it's also related to foreigners.
Do you know the Principality of Set?”
“Yes, it's not far from here.”
The Priest nodded:
“So it's cross-border business.”
“You could say that, and there are quite a few foreigners too.
Specifically, it's related to some special wooden materials and ink.
It's said that this business has a huge impact.”
“The Doctor actually dared to get involved in such a thing? As far as I know, the risks of this kind of business are quite significant.”
Walking down the stairs, the Priest took out his pipe from his pocket.
“He received inside information and believes there's more than a 60% chance of this investment being profitable.”
“That's very good; it seems the Doctor really did make a lot, and Bill is truly lucky this time.”
The two spoke as they walked out of the restaurant, almost simultaneously looking up at the sea of stars above Sicar Mountain.
On the outskirts of Middlesburg, at the edge of the great mountain, this sea of stars was incredibly dazzling, incredibly brilliant.
(Mia running...)
Xia De did not return to Middlesburg City with the Priest but went directly into the mountain, returning to the dilapidated tower in the mountains.
It was eight o'clock in the evening when he returned to his home's basement through the dilapidated tower's basement.
Coming to the first floor and seeing the lights on in the hall, he knew Luvia, who was tinkering with the astrology equipment, hadn't left yet.
And when Xia De came to the second floor and caught the excited cat that pounced on him, he saw the seventeen-year-old girl was also there:
“Good evening, Luvia, good evening, Iluna.”
Xia De greeted them, seeing the two ladies sitting on the sofa playing chess.
This world had card games like rhode cards, and of course, board games too, just not as popular.
“Good evening, Xia De.
Did you see Priest Augustus?”
Luvia asked, her eyes fixed on the chessboard.
Xia De glanced at it, realizing he completely didn't understand this kind of chess, so he carried the excited cat, who wanted to leap up and rub his chin with her small head, into the bedroom to change into clothes to wear at home.
“Yes, I did.
Priest Augustus seems to be in very good condition, but Middlesburg has a big problem.
It might turn out to be an incident no less severe than the ‘Sea Return.’
I learned about the local customs and legends today; those stories are very interesting.”
“I thought you spent the whole day playing rhode cards in Middlesburg.
Don't those card players love to play cards in other places?”
The brown-haired girl asked; she was at a disadvantage on the chessboard now, as Luvia's chess skills were very high:
“However, why do you always encounter such dangerous things?”
“That's also been my question all along.”
Luvia said, picking up her white piece and kicking Iluna's largest soldier piece off the board, causing the latter to immediately cover her face:
“Lost again, Luvia, you didn't divine beforehand how I would play, did you?”
“I wouldn't do something so boring.”
Luvia stood up to go to the kitchen to prepare tea.
Priest Augustus was safe and sound, and Xia De was free in Middlesburg.
Therefore, tonight, the three of them were going to discuss the matter of the third Chosen One.
