When Shade opened his eyes on Monday morning, the first thing he heard was the sound of rain slapping against the bedroom window, and his mind was still recalling the party last night, as if his nose could still smell the perfume on the girls' hair.
.
Probably because of the dances at the banquet, he had a strange dream last night.
At the beginning of the dream, with the melodious saxophone playing in the background, he was playing Rhodes with someone whose appearance he couldn't see clearly. Then Miss Bayas got out of Shade's cards and casually played all of Shade's cards.
In the rain of cards falling from the sky like snowflakes, they pulled him to dance together. But as she danced, the girl with beautiful long brown hair suddenly changed into Mia.
It’s not Miss Mia Sang Gold, whom I haven’t met yet, but the lazy and timid Mia cat.
Shade realized that he was dancing with a giant cat, and was severely frightened in his dream. Then due to the weird reality, he immediately realized that he was in a dream.
Just after he realized this, he returned to the familiar field ridge in his dream and looked up at the huge silver moon disk above his head.
Because the experience in the dream was so exciting, I still had a headache after waking up.
He sat up from the bed, packed himself up, and planned a new day. The cat lying next to the pillow was awakened by Shade's movement. The small cat jumped up and looked around for a while, and then jumped on the quilt.
The two front paws were stretched forward, the front half of the body was pressed down, and the back half of the body was tilted up, making a stretching posture. Then it meowed at Shade and walked up and down on the quilt, as if it wanted Shade to get rid of him as soon as possible.
Breakfast is ready:
"Good morning, Mia..."
Then I immediately thought of the strange dream last night:
"As expected, you are the cutest if you maintain this figure."
he sighed.
"Meow?"
The cat was rubbing its little head on the back of Shade's hand.
Summer itself is the rainy season in Tobesk. The foggy city located in the northern part of the Old World is affected by the cold air blowing from the far north all year round. And because there are no tall mountains blocking it from the west coast to Tobesk, the weather from the ocean is blocked.
The warm air flow can reach the inland areas unimpeded and meet the northern cold current above Tobesk, resulting in the local rainy monsoon climate in summer.
After breakfast, Shade read the newspaper for a while. Seeing that the patter of rain outside showed no sign of stopping, he carried Mia and went out under an umbrella.
This orange cat rarely goes out on rainy days and remains huddled in Shade's arms throughout the trip.
When Shade knocked on the door of Quill Street and was led to her apartment by Miss Louisa, the cat relaxed a little and looked around at the slightly unfamiliar environment.
"Mr. Knight came to see me so early. What's the matter?"
Because it was raining today, Miss Louisa had no plans to go out. She wore home clothes and entertained Shade in the living room. The first sentence she spoke was teasing. Shade saw that the newspaper on the coffee table had been turned to the second page.
, above is a photo of him when he was awarded the medal.
Due to the limitations of printing and photography technology, the photo was not very clear. As long as Shade was not walking around in this suit, it would be basically impossible for strangers to identify Shade based only on the photo in the newspaper.
The king in the photo indeed looks taller than Shade.
"Do you need me to congratulate you? Although the knight class has disappeared for hundreds of years, and people today no longer think knights are nobles, this also means that you have taken a big step."
The blonde girl asked while preparing tea for Shade.
"It's me who needs to thank you, Miss Louisa. I heard from Miss Carina that it's Princess Lesia..."
"She just wanted to thank you for saving her mother."
Miss Louisa said, and then she made eye contact with the cat that Shade was holding. The small orange cat immediately meowed softly twice, which is how animals intimidate their enemies.
Shade then got down to business:
"I didn't come here specifically to say thank you today. I have something to ask you for help. I'm really sorry to say it."
He put the cat he was holding on the armrest of the sofa. The orange cat barked uneasily, swung its tail and patted Shade's arm. Shade looked at the cat and said to Miss Louisa, who had sat down opposite him.
:
"I'm going on a long trip today, and I'm not sure when I'll be back. It might be right away, or it might be in a day or two."
Shade didn't know if there was a waiting time for the teleportation of the statue of the ancient god [Primal Crack] in the basement, but because of the divination of the "Red Moon Witch", he believed that even if there was a gap in the use of the statue, it would not be too long.
"So, I want you to help me take care of this cat temporarily. Of course, it doesn't matter if you don't have time. Priest August said that the nuns at Dawn Church can also help take care of it, but after all, you are more reliable.
"
After saying that, he stretched out his hand and stroked Mia Cat's head. The orange cat squatted there and narrowed his eyes to receive the pat.
"Take care of the cat temporarily? Of course, no problem."
Miss Louisa thought for a moment, nodded, and said casually:
"This is not a big deal, but you have to come back as soon as possible. Although I know that you probably won't tell me your destination, you may encounter danger, right?"
"Of course, there are dangers in everything you do."
As he spoke, Shade took out another yellow envelope and placed it on the coffee table:
"In the envelope is the cost of taking care of Mia. There is no need to refuse. I originally accepted the client's money to take care of her."
Miss Louisa didn't care about the money. She looked at the detective who sighed at the cat:
"Xia De, if there is any danger, remember to come to me for help."
"Of course. I will come back as soon as possible, don't worry about me."
He touched Mia's head with some reluctance, stood up and prepared to leave. The orange cat noticed that Shade was leaving, and immediately took off his clothes and let him hold him.
But this time Shade didn't pick up the cat:
"Mia, I'll be back soon, can you stay here for a while?"
Mia definitely couldn't understand human speech, but she probably understood that Shade didn't intend to take it away. When Shade left Miss Louisa's apartment, the orange cat was held pitifully in the arms of the blonde female writer.
He watched Xia De walk away holding an umbrella.
"Meow~"
That cry of grievance could be heard far away despite the sound of rain. Miss Louisa hugged the orange cat and laughed, while Shade held the umbrella and turned around to take another look, waving to one person and one cat.
Only then did I really leave...
After finding someone to temporarily take care of Mia, Shade officially started planning to go out. Because he didn't know where he would end up, and because for safety, he first had to sort out his [relics] and choose the right ones to take with him.
[Earl's Left Eye] and [Other Face] will definitely be left at home, while [Gear of Kindness], [Pirate's Blood Money] and [Twenty-sided Dice of Destiny] will be brought with you. As for which one you can contact
Xia De thought about the page that came to the academy and took it with him in case of emergency.
In addition to the above items, the bag of unused frog legs and the brooch with the sacred emblem of the sun are also very important. As for the Rhodes card, Shade thought about it and decided to wear the card as well.
All the above items were packed in the suitcase. In addition, he also prepared an umbrella, a strong hemp rope and several sharp table knives, matches, candles and a whole piece of bacon.
Seeing that the box was not filled yet, I stuffed some warm clothes into it and felt relieved.
After making preparations, it was already ten o'clock in the morning. Lock the door downstairs from the inside, then go through the small door behind the stairs and enter the basement.
The life ring appears and the hidden wall disappears. After entering the circular hidden snow area, take out the white stone crystal from the small box placed by the wall.
Taking a deep breath to adjust himself, he approached the statue of the two-headed man and reached out to touch the statue:
"May the original rift protect me in the infinite space."
The thick white mist immediately surged in and enveloped Shade. He entered the world wrapped in white mist again, and then he heard the murmuring voice coming from his ears as expected:
[Outlander, you have entered the ‘space labyrinth’. 】
[Message from the ancient god "White Robe Guide":]
[Existing space road signs: 1.]
"Sacrifice this white stone crystal."
Without thinking, Shade immediately raised the white crystal in his hand upwards. As soon as he finished speaking, it disappeared silently into Shade's hands, as if it had merged into the thick fog.
As the white stone crystal disappeared, there was still only a wooden street sign representing "Saint Teresa Square" on the path in front of him.
[New information has been obtained and new spatial landmarks can be searched. Please choose a direction. 】
"direction?"
Shade stood in the fog and thought for a while:
"Can I only choose the direction? Can I choose the distance?"
[Information from this space: You can only vaguely specify the direction, and then this can be connected to a random statue of another ancient god ‘Primal Crack’. 】
He wasn't worried about meeting other statue users, but he was worried about another thing:
"The academy prohibits ring wizards from setting foot on the New World. What if I accidentally go to the New World?"
[The next statue of an ancient god that is randomly linked, the closer the distance, the greater the probability. The possibility of you running to the bottom of the sea is greater than the possibility of entering a new continent. 】
"Okay then, West."
Shade said casually that in fact, there was no difference between east, west, north and south to him. All he wanted was to try and see what kind of function this place could play.
[The ancient god-white-robed guide statue has accepted your sacrifice.]
[Randomly linking space road signs.]
[Link successful, existing space landmark: 2.]
A new road sign suddenly appeared on the trail in the white mist. It still looked like a dilapidated shape that had been ravaged by time for hundreds of years. The arrow on the road sign pointed to the west.
Shade walked over quickly and stood there with his suitcase, waiting for a moment to make sure nothing else happened. Then he reached out and touched the new road sign.