"Mr. Barton, what's wrong? Do you need me to call someone?"
Xia De immediately stood up, wanting to approach him, but Joey Barton immediately waved his hand, preventing Xia De from coming over:
"I'm fine, I'm fine, don't call anyone. I just overused my eyes. This kind of strange talent can't be used frequently. Yes, the gifts of fate always come with other costs."
Although he said he was fine, he still covered his face with his palm, trembling all over.
Iluna, who was "quiet" beside him, did not get up like Xia De. Her eyes scanned the surroundings, then she gently hooked her right finger. The rhode cards, which were left on the coffee table, immediately flipped over automatically under the pull of the spell, and Xia De's gaze was drawn to the front of the card.
The front of the card only had white, black, and cool tones near the two colors. A humanoid figure, with its back to the outside of the card, stood in the center of the card. It was wearing a black hooded robe, and its exposed head was a skull with bone spurs on the back. Its right hand held a sharp scythe, and its left hand held a short, defiled dagger. Both hands were rotten flesh.
The background of the card was densely packed with spire-like tombstones, and there were faint, blurry white figures among the tombstones. Further in the background was a boundless body of water.
The tombstone at the feet of the figure in the center of the card was the clearest. The tombstone had bone-like patterns, which Xia De surprisingly deciphered to mean—
【World (Year 1 of the First Epoch to the Present)】
The top right corner of the front was marked with the number 6, and the top left corner was a small sun symbol. Between the two, in the center of the top of the card's front, a black vertical line was drawn in a white circle. This was the symbol of the Founding series.
At the very bottom of the card, there was a small blank space where two lines of small text were written:
【If this card is drawn and the total points exceed 21, choose one card from the used cards and exchange it with this card. The special effect of the chosen card is invalid.】
"Sun death! It really is Founding·Death!"
Xia De's eyes widened, and he subconsciously wanted to reach out, but immediately pulled his hand back.
Seeing Mr. Barton's hand about to move away from his face, Iluna lowered her eyelids, and her fair fingers flicked again. That Rhode Card immediately flipped back to face down, without even moving its position.
Xia De withdrew his gaze from the Rhode Card, suppressed the tremor in his heart, and asked Mr. Barton, whose eyes were really bleeding, across the coffee table with concern:
"Are you really alright?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine."
He painstakingly pulled out his handkerchief from his pocket with his thick fingers to wipe his eyes, an embarrassed expression on his face:
"The feeling just now was like directly seeing the sun. Oh, it seems I've really been using my eyes too much lately."
Wiping the blood flowing from his left eye with his left hand, as his vision recovered, he noticed the Rhode Card on the table and immediately retrieved it with his right hand:
"I apologize, I probably won't be able to continue your Diviner today."
The apology in his tone was very sincere.
"It's alright, as long as you're fine. After all, if I really knew this cat would naturally grow old in a few decades, I would be very sad. It's just a pet with a short lifespan after all."
As he spoke, Xia De even pretended to be sad and stroked Mia's head. The orange cat, looking around, raised its head and glanced at Xia De. Seeing that he was fine, it rubbed its head against that hand and continued to observe its surroundings.
"Actually, you don't have to be sad about the departure of your loved ones and close ones."
Joey Barton put down the handkerchief in his hand. Due to his "reverse growth" characteristic, his limbs and body proportions looked abnormal, but only his pair of black eyes were very spirited:
"Mortals will all die eventually. This is an inevitable stage of life. Normal birth, normal death, I have always believed that this is a Miracle bestowed upon mortals by the great one."
Combined with Joey Barton's identity as a "reverse growth person," his sigh truly stemmed from a profound understanding of life.
"Yes, every ordinary day we experience is perhaps a continuous Miracle."
Xia De also sighed with great emotion. As an Outsider, having experienced so much in this world, he understood even more how precious it was for ordinary people living in this world to live a peaceful life.
"Yes, yes."
Mr. Barton strongly agreed with Xia De's words:
"You mentioned you are a Writer. Oh, if you publish any works in the future, please be sure to let me know. Yes, an ordinary and mundane life, how precious it is! A normal birth, both parents present, normal growth, enjoying childhood, normal maturity, encountering love, and then—"
He took a deep breath, adjusting his expression:
"Please don't refuse, Mr. Watson, I must have a drink with you today."
As he spoke, he stood up from the sofa, but this only made Joey Barton's figure appear more peculiar.
He indeed had the height of a child, but his body was thin, while his limbs were unusually thick. In addition, he seemed to have difficulty coordinating his body, walking with a limp. But he still went to the desk, which was not illuminated by the gas lamp, and took out a bottle of red wine and three wine glasses from a mahogany wine cabinet on one side. After Miss "Agatha Holmes" stated that she did not drink, Xia De and Mr. Barton drank together.
After finishing the wine, the scheduled visit came to an end. To compensate for not being able to complete the Diviner this time, besides only charging half the fee, Xia De also received a promise that he could come again next Tuesday afternoon—Mr. Barton needed a week of rest, so he would not see any more scheduled guests this week.
Although Mr. Barton was only a Ring術士, he seemed to have a lot of authority in the Crow Club. He personally arranged for someone to escort Xia De and his "fiancée" to the door, and as Xia De held Iluna's hand, preparing to take a carriage at the street corner, a four-wheeled hansom cab smoothly stopped at the entrance of the Crow Club.
So, after the gentleman with the suitcase got out of the carriage, Xia De and Iluna left in that carriage. As the carriage slowly drove away, he glanced out the window and saw the servant opening the door bowing to the man entering.
Iluna threw out a silencing charm.
"The person just now was the one we fought in the Mechanical College forest in Mi Fort during the Fire Worship Festival banquet," Xia De said, and Iluna nodded:
"It's him. Although he disguised himself, my eyes won't mistake him. He entered the Crow Club? Is he also here for a Diviner?"
"Probably not. Joey Barton said he wouldn't receive guests this week, and the servant couldn't possibly defy his orders immediately. Moreover, when that man entered just now, he didn't show a Crow Club badge, and the person opening the door was very respectful to him. Interesting."
Xia De, holding the cat, tapped the armrest of the carriage seat with his left hand:
"My local friend told me that Joey Barton's experience of becoming a Ring術士 is still a mystery."
On the way there, Xia De had already informed Iluna of the information Sister Devlin had told him. The seventeen-year-old girl frowned slightly:
"So, Joey Barton, the reverse growth person, received funding from The Society of Truth for treatment and thus became a Ring術士?"
She knew more about The Society of Truth than Xia De did:
"Yes, this possibility is very high. The Society of Truth does like to do such things."
"Isn't The Society of Truth supposed to research forbidden Knowledge? How did it become an association for helping the disabled?"
"Do they help poor people with strange physical disabilities out of genuine kindness?"
Iluna snorted, probably not wanting to affect Xia De's mood, so she didn't say much more:
"This is quite interesting, The Society of Truth and Joey Barton. Xia De, when I return to the church later, I'll have the Ring術士 team of this parish investigate the location where the other party got into the carriage."
Iluna pointed to the coachman:
"I won't talk about the Crow Club for now, I'll just let the Church investigate the man's boarding location. After all, if Joey Barton hides, we won't be able to find him. After meeting him just now, I'm almost certain he's the person we're looking for. But if the Church finds Joey Barton, we must accept reality."
"It's alright. It's better for the Church to find the Chosen One than for The Society of Truth to control him. Besides, aren't you also a Chosen One found by the Church?"
Xia De said with a smile, and Iluna also smiled.
"But how will you explain the source of the information? You snuck out today."
He asked again, as the carriage turned at the street corner and entered the bustling area of Middelburg. Although this was also a large City, Mi Fort was still somewhat inferior to Tobesk, the Northern Pearl.
"That's not important. The Church completely trusts anything I say now. Even if I say I dreamed it, they'd believe it. After all, I'm the one chosen by the whispering chapters, the protagonist of the era."
After speaking, she looked at Xia De suspiciously again, hesitated for a moment, then asked the question she truly wanted to ask:
"I've been wanting to ask since we got into the carriage just now, Detective, why do you have the scent of our Diviner friend's perfume on you?"
Xia De slightly opened his mouth, and Iluna sighed, shaking her head to tell him not to speak:
"She's under so much pressure, it's good that someone accompanies her. Even if there's that dark door under your house, I'm still very worried that one day she'll collapse and lose control herself. She carries too many things, more than I do."
The doctor had said similar words.
"However..."
Her lips slightly moved, and the seventeen-year-old girl cautiously looked at Xia De, asking softly:
"Will you still dance with me in the future?"
"Of course, why not?"
"Then it's a deal. We'll walk together. You'll stay by my side, always, always, until the very end."
She murmured, looking into the void before her.
Xia De nodded, and as Iluna smiled, he turned to look at the streetscape passing by the window. Everyone has their own troubles, and even the protagonist of the era must face the trivialities of life.
Founding·Death has appeared, and the third Chosen One has been identified. It seems the story of Middelburg this autumn is about to reach its final page.
PS: Since Xia De has not yet obtained Founding·Death, this card is temporarily not included in the data section of rhode cards.
