"I have always believed that resurrecting the dead will definitely bring disaster even if it succeeds."
Shade said while holding the wine glass, thinking of many things in the past:
"To put it more formally - what's the price? And isn't my grandfather, who was resurrected by him using demonic power, just as risky as his cats and dogs?"
"Because he firmly believes that his grandfather's heart is as strong as his own, and people who have shouldered responsibilities are trustworthy."
Mr. Asmon took advantage of the slight pause to turn over the ninth card, shook his head, put the 12 stars aside, and then told the ending of the story:
"It is not an easy task to retrieve a devoured soul. So he settled down in this town. With years of accumulated experience and a little bit of luck, from the essence of the demon sealed in his body,
I found that piece of soul.
The soul was successfully taken out, but the body of the young man's grandfather had long been destroyed. He did not want to use any means to create a body, so he planned to let his grandfather's soul appear in his own body. He would die as a result, and his grandfather would continue the seal.
The devil's duty. Until grandpa also wants to take a little rest and can find him again."
"this"
Shade opened his mouth slightly, without even drawing a card:
"Well, if I thought before that he just carried all this and walked for too long to have such a confused idea, now it is basically certain that he was influenced by the devil."
"The cats and dogs, like us now, both saw the error of this idea and the huge risks involved. But even if the cats and dogs stopped by, the grandfather's soul was eventually put into the body of the young man. So.
, the demon disguised as a soul resurrected in the young man’s body. There has never been any resurrection of the dead, and those who obtain the essence of demons must also be demons.”
"As expected. So this time it's a bad ending again? After the girl who had a crush on the young man, the middle-aged aristocratic lady who had a crush on each other, and sacrificed her own child for the sake of her family, now it is finally the turn of this traveler who has come a long way.
Died?"
Sean Asmon did not answer, and looked at Shade with his black eyes. Shade felt that half a minute had passed before he spoke:
"But at the last moment when the devil was about to succeed, the loyal cat pierced the young man's heart with his claws, and the loyal dog smashed the young man's head with his claws.
The devil's plan to invade the young man's body failed, and it returned to the young man's soul. But the young man was about to die, and the devil would resurrect because he had fulfilled his childhood wish. The cat and dog, which had been seriously injured in the fight,
He sacrificed his body and soul, burned his own existence, and used the power given to them by the youth to revive him from the brink of death."
A sigh came from a corner of the lively Snow Festival celebration, but no one could tell who was sighing.
"So when the young man opened his eyes again, the sealed demon was still in his body, and there were no traveling companions around him. There were only two handfuls of ashes in the shape of cats and dogs, dissipating little by little with the wind.
Shade pursed his lips and took a deep breath through his nose. He still did not draw a card, but turned his head to look in the direction of the lively bonfire. Although he had already known that there would definitely be sacrifices and deaths in the ending of this story, but really
After hearing the ending, even though it was such a good night, he still felt extremely melancholy:
"I originally thought that they could continue to accompany him for a long distance, but I didn't expect that they would leave so soon. I am a little disappointed now. Every story is always like this. I know that the story of the devil should be like this.
But doesn’t this mean something like tragedy for tragedy’s sake?”
"Mr. Watson, don't worry, the story is not over yet."
The corners of the demonologist's mouth curled up, and his black eyes stared at Shade's side face:
"When the young man raised his head and looked around, he saw that this was not a secluded and peaceful town, but the ruins of an ancient town standing on the scorched earth. Mummy bodies were scattered all over the ruins, and the suffocating and terrifying power was completely filthy.
this land.
And when he took the remains of the cat and dog corpses to the hill outside the ruined town, there was no statue of his grandfather there. There was only one tied to a cross, and the flesh and blood had been pecked by crows.
Eat clean bones.”
Shade turned his attention to him:
"So, this is all a devil's conspiracy?"
"In a dream in the future, a young man traveling alone dreamed of that town again.
His grandfather had indeed been here before, but the sinner who wanted to seize the demonic power was greedy for that powerful power. The resulting riot of evil spirits completely destroyed this place, and the sinner was eventually killed by the young grandfather.
, hanging on the hills outside the town.
In the past, there were no heroic feats here, only disasters caused by greedy people. But now, in the same place, the devil made another small temptation because of the fatigue of the young spirit and the confusion of the soul. Although it failed, it
You can continue to wait. After all, there will be more opportunities in the future.
As for the young man, he buried the cat and dog, just like he had buried many people and things. Then he picked up his luggage and continued walking into the distance in silence."
Sean Asmon raised his glass to Shade, and then drank the last sip of wine.
The story really ends here. This is already the seventh story. None of the first six stories have a good ending, but this time Shade still felt particularly sad about the story. He did not go to drink and remained silent.
It took me a long time to conclude;
"The young man who had carried the responsibility for too long wanted to find other ways to deal with the evil spirit, but in the end he fell into a trap and sacrificed his best friends.
Does this story want to tell us that if something can maintain the status quo, it is best not to interfere with it? Or does it mean that we should listen carefully to the opinions of our friends around us and not insist on having our own way?"
Shade asked, and Sean Asmon across the table still answered him in the tone of a snake spitting messages. Compared with the real devil sitting in this position just now, he looked like the rumored one.
of ancient evil spirits:
"These stories just want to tell us a simple truth: Be careful of the devil's conspiracy."
Shade nodded slowly:
"Yes, this is the point. But mortals always make mistakes. What will happen to that young man who has shouldered the responsibility since childhood? After losing his traveling companion, the young man will become lonely again. I believe he will continue to go
Go down, but he will die eventually, and all mortals are mortal. Without helpers, can he continue to seal demons for the rest of his life? Even if it is possible, what will happen after he dies? "
"That's a story for next time, Mr. Watson."
The demonologist asked softly, and Shade could only continue to sigh:
"Okay then. Mr. Asmon, I want to praise you. Your storytelling skills are even better than that of the detective novel writer from the North."
Sean Asmon did not comment on this, but stretched out his hand to signal Shade to continue drawing cards:
"Our game isn't over yet."
The tenth card was opened by Shade, and Sun 2 [Angel: Jakael who announced the doomsday] suddenly appeared in his hand, as if Mr. Asmon had calculated it, and the game was just in time after the story was told.
Ends the same.
"I win again."
Shade said, but there was no sense of excitement. The story had a lot of potential. The demonologist smiled and nodded, completely unaffected by his story.
So Shade took out his wallet, handed twenty 10-pound notes to Mr. Asmon, and then added the new cards to his deck. He was very happy that the other party did not ask why he took it with him when he went out.
Such a big sum of money.
But no matter what, with this Sun 2, the total number of Shade's special rule cards has officially reached 40. There are only 14 cards left to reach the goal of collecting a set of special card decks.
[Remove the Time, Chaos, Creation, Sun and Destiny of the founding series, and you actually only have nine cards with non-duplicate suits and points.]
"She" whispered in his ear, and the demonologist across the table picked up his notebook and stood up after collecting the banknotes:
"I'm going to take a look at the square on the west side again, Mr. Watson, see you next time. We look forward to meeting you unexpectedly in the next city."
After he nodded to Shade, he turned around and disappeared into the sea of people. Shade sat there and watched him leave, and then planned to go back:
"I always feel that my mood is getting heavier. As expected, you shouldn't listen to demon stories when you are in a bad mood. I originally thought that the news I heard from a real demon tonight would be the most disturbing thing, but I didn't expect to hear from a fake demonologist.
The stories I hear there are the ones that affect my mood the most.
After you go back, drink a cup of hot tea and go to bed, and think about those troublesome things tomorrow."
【Don’t forget your roses.】
"She" said with a smile.
"Yes, yes, that's why I said that I have a lot of troubles. And even if I bring the roses back, I can't go from room to room knocking on doors and delivering flowers like handing out flyers, otherwise the girls will think that I am
It's obviously the first snow day, but it hasn't snowed yet. I thought it would really snow tonight."
While chatting about indifferent things in his mind, he disappeared into the crowd in the square, leaving only a table with two wine glasses, a wine pot, a plate of peanuts, and a plate of fried beans waiting for the new arrival.
guest.
Seeing that everyone was gone, the pigeons tried to fly to the table but were chased away by the waiters who came to clear the table. Then they flapped their wings and flew over the cats squatting on the edge of the square under the night sky illuminated by the lights of the square.
and the top of the dog's head.
They squatted there together and looked at the colorful colors of the human world, but no one looked at the black dog and black cat. Darkness enveloped them, and light avoided them. Even the troubled and sad Shade did not notice that he was being
They watched.
"I just saw the great soul who liberated us from Oxenfurt in the Randall Valley. Do you want to say hello?"
The cat asked the dog. It was the voice of the Oxenfurt maid, and the voice that answered her was the housekeeper's voice. The dog scratched its face with its paw:
"I think it's not the time to disturb him yet. After all, it's not time to reveal the answer yet."
After saying that, they ran into the square together and followed the figure with the satchel slung across his body. In the satchel, the glass bottle gently bumped against the notebook, and colorful smoke flashed through it.