Part 5 THE RED PRIEST CHAPTER 69 The Footsteps of War
BECKLAND, the home of the furniture merchant Hampress.
Once again Audrey met Hwyn Lambeth, a member of the Convocation of the Psycho-Alchemical Society.
This old gentleman was still gentle and elegant, his all-white and thick hair was neatly combed, and his azure and deep eyes seemed to contain countless knowledge.
At the sight of him, Audrey’s eyes were first confused, and then suddenly, as if she had finally awakened from a long dream and recovered her lost memories.
And she felt no surprise or amazement at this, accepting it without any resistance, as if it was a very normal thing.
”Good afternoon, Mr. Lambeth.” Audrey greeted with etiquette so standard that she couldn’t pick out the slightest mistake.
Hwynn responded with a slight nod and a smile:
”Good afternoon, our girl.”
Over the course of several meetings over the past month or so, he had gradually channeled Audrey’s self-positioning as “the pride of the Psycho-Alchemy Society” and “the girl who matters most.”
Audrey glanced down at the diamond lapel pin in front of her, smiled and took a seat, waiting for Hwyn Lambeth to speak.
For the so-called hints and guidance, every time she was prepared, she was actually not affected by anything, at this time, when she heard Hwyn Lambeth’s address, she was very tempted to roll her eyes without regard to her image, etiquette, and without fear of being exposed, but in the end, she still held back and didn’t show any traces.
Hwyn Lambeth looked at Audrey for a few seconds and said with an unabated smile:
”You’ve done a good job during this time, as a reward, we’ve decided to give you the magic potion formula for ‘Dream Walker’.”
As he spoke, he took out a neatly folded piece of paper from his jacket pocket, placed it on the coffee table, and pushed it to the noble girl diagonally across from him.
Audrey pressed her hand against her skirt, rose slightly, took the piece of paper, and unfolded it in front of Hwyn Lambeth.
Her eyes fell first on the main material, then quickly slid to the ritual section:
”Main Material: one heart of a Dreamcatcher, one crystallized crystal of a Mind Phantom, or the complete brain of an adult Mind Dragon.”
……
”Ritual: Seek out a spirit world human-headed bird demon, make a pact with it, and then take one of its tail feathers and take a magic potion in an intense emotion of either joy or anger.”
As if sensing Audrey’s confusion, Hwyn Lambeth explained with a smile:
”The human-headed bird demon possesses the nightmare aspect of the ability to wake people up from their dreams, so the essence of the whole ritual is that when you are indulging in a dream and do not want to wake up, through an external force, you will be pulled out of it, or else you may permanently fall asleep, or lose control of yourself as a monster on the spot.”
Audrey nodded thoughtfully:
”Taking magic potions in the heat of the moment is also a way to get a restless sleep and a deeper dream?”
”Yes, you’ve grasped the key.” Hwyn Lambeth said with a smile, “If you don’t know much about the spirit world and can’t find a human-headed bird-demon, we can be of some assistance.”
If the essence of the ceremony is to let me wake up from a dream, then it may not need a human-headed bird demon ah, “Fool” Mr. Angel’s blessing can allow me to stay awake in the dream, and wake up when I want to wake up …… Audrey’s blue eyes slightly turned, revealing a little bit of expectant emotion said:
”I can try it myself first.”
”Okay.” Herwin was not too concerned about the young girl’s mindset of wanting to do an adventure.
He paused and turned to say:
”There’s one more thing for you to do this time, if you accomplish it well, we’ll provide all the materials for the ‘Dreamwalker’ magic potion.”
”What is it?” Audrey asked with little resistance, as she always did.
Hwyn Lambeth said with a slightly more serious expression:
”Figure out the attitudes of your father, Earl Hall, the current Duke Negan, Admiral Emilius, and other nobles towards a larger war.”
”War ……” Audrey repeated this often heard and slightly unfamiliar word, vaguely feeling a sense of ripples suddenly swirling under the surface of a calm lake.
……
”War …… “Above the gray fog, Klein listened to Ms. Justice’s prayer and fell into thought.
He couldn’t be sure whether the Psycho-Alchemists, or Hermes, or even Adam, who was hiding behind them, welcomed the war or opposed it.
As for whether King Rune, the Prime Minister, and some of the nobles and parliamentarians wanted war, the answer was relatively clear.
Last year, the “Hanged Man” had asked Ms. “Justice” a similar question, and her answer was that the king and the prime minister had a tendency to war, but chose to do a good job of internal change first, to rationalize the relationship between the various aspects.
Now, almost a year later, the various policies introduced at that time are basically on the right track.
In other words, it was time to open a war to reclaim the portion of Rune’s lost interests in East Byron!
Now is the era of change, the internal contradictions of the countries are intense, once the war opens, the extent is mostly uncontrollable …… Moreover, Adam, Amon and other angelic kings are returning one after another, or have already gotten the key items, or are seeking for a breakthrough, and the Mystic World is also a storm coming, the crisis is hidden ah… …Klein sighed for a while and returned to the real world.
The next day, according to the scheduled schedule, he first went to St. Samuel’s Church to say a prayer, donated a few dozen pounds of cash, and then came to 22 Pacefield Street, intending to participate in some of the affairs of the “Ruane Charity Scholarship Fund”.
As soon as he entered the door, Klein saw Miss Audrey Hall with a few foundation staff downstairs, towards the door.
This aristocratic girl was dressed very plainly today, her hair was simply pulled back, not wearing any accessories, her dress was light green in color, only the cuffs had a circle of ruffles, no lace or tassels.
”Good morning, Miss Audrey.” Crane familiarly removed his hat, curtsied, and nodded to the staffers, saying good morning.
Waiting for Audrey to respond, Klein casually asked:
”Where is this intended to go?”
He knew that Miss Justice’s main job at the foundation was to collect donations from the ladies and gentlemen of high society.
Audrey responded with a light smile:
”To visit various universities to care for those students I helped earlier.”
At that, she winked and her smile became a little more pronounced:
”Mr. Dantes, want to come along? Go and see the children, well, some of them are already young, who have had the chance to change their destinies because of your ideas and kindness.”
Although Klein didn’t expect to get anything in return from the “Rune Charity Scholarship Fund”, he sincerely hoped that it could help the target group, so he was still quite concerned about the actual progress and the real situation, and nodded with a smile after a slight hesitation:
”It’s an invitation that can’t be refused.”
Their party went out, choosing the trackless public carriage at Miss Audrey’s suggestion.
”You seem to be quite accustomed to it?” After getting into the carriage, Klein gentlemanly sat Miss Audrey down first, then sat across from her and asked with a smile.
Audrey looked at the nearby Foundation staff and said with a smile:
”It’s not like it’s the first time, it’s not possible that every time we go out I ride in my own carriage and they use public transportation, right?
Saying this, she slightly embarrassedly paused and said:
”The first time I rode in one of these carriages, I took out a £1 bill, and the lady who took the money told me to go down and buy some newspapers and come back.
”Well, it’s cleaner in here than I expected, and those smells in the air aren’t too unbearable.”
Klein said with a slight nod:
”Because the really poor people rarely even take this public transportation, they prefer to walk, and normally they don’t have to and can’t go too far.”
”You seem to be familiar with all this, Mr. Dantes?” Audrey asked this in front of the others even though she could guess why.
Klein smiled and said:
”Although I have not directly experienced it, I have seen too much.”
Audrey didn’t continue the topic and turned to the recipients who were going to confirm their studies and living situation this time.
Amidst the small talk, they arrived at the first stop of the visit, Birkeland Technical University.
Based on Audrey’s status and Dawn Dantes’ social connections, they met directly with the president of this newly formed university, a resident of 100 Birklund Street, Mr. Portland Mormont.
The old man, tall, rosy, and with a loud voice, spoke with his good neighbor, Dawn Dantes, and the distinguished Miss Audrey, of all that had happened since the formation of the school, complaining now and then of the Board of Higher Education.
Audrey and Klein listened with decent smiles and occasional assent.
At last they found an opportunity to offer to get down to work.
Portland was about to call his secretary in when he suddenly heard a knock on his office door.
”Come in.” This Mr. Principal responded in a loud voice.
The door to the room opened without making much noise and in came a young girl with black hair and brown pupils, she hadn’t done much to dress up, her face was on the skinny side and her features were fairly decent, she was just seventeen or eighteen years old.
Klein’s gaze that looked that way suddenly deepened a little, and then retracted.
That young girl didn’t expect there to be a guest in the principal’s office, and for a moment she was a bit nervous, scrambling to bow her head and say:
”Sorry.”
”It’s okay, they were just about to leave.” Portland said without much concern, “The items you were asked to make last week are already done?”
”Done.” The young girl passed through the door of the room and stood aside.
Portland Mormont then smiled at Dawn Dantes and Audrey:
”Her name is Melissa Moretti, she’s very talented in mechanics, I stumbled upon it and let her help out in my lab after school, but of course, she can only do odd jobs at the moment.”
”Not bad.” Klein complimented with the corners of his mouth turning up in an obvious smile.
Audrey glanced at him and laughed along:
”There are always some arrogant guys who say that women don’t have talent in the mechanical field, and this young lady proves them wrong.”
Portland chuckled and shook his head:
”There’s no need to pay attention to those remarks, well, I’ll have my secretary lead you to the recipients.”
Without lingering, Audrey and Klein left the office.
Once outside, Audrey gave Dawn Dantes another look, but said nothing.