Part 5. The Red Priests Chapter 67: Each One Grows Up
The former 36 Zotland Street, with its stuccoed ground floor, on which both windows on each floor were surrounded by closed bows to form a single unit, had the characteristics of a building from around 1300 in the fifth age, and was not so well lighted.
The rebuilt building, however, has a small porch sheltering the ground floor, flanked by 2-story high bay windows, with inter-window walls and decorative pilasters supporting thin stone beams in the fine detail of the window frames, and above the high bay windows is a daughter wall that carries the third story.
This was a three-story architectural style that had become popular only in the last few years.
In a trance, Leonard had the feeling that he was in the wrong place.
Stunned for ten seconds or so, he took the cane inlaid with silver-white metal and stepped into No. 36 Zoltan Street, then he picked up the stairs and rounded the corner, seeing a black door and a vertical signboard:
”Blackthorn Security.”
When he reached this place, it seemed to grow familiar to him, and quickening his pace, he pushed open the half-covered door.
The brown-haired girl who had placed the Tingen City Honest Newspaper upright on the table, blocking her face from view, heard the unmasked footsteps and shifted the paper, revealing a bare forehead, light brown eyes, and a pretty face.
”…… Good afternoon, Roxanne.” Leonard greeted with a slight hesitation.
Roxanne first showed a surprised expression, and then she sank into a face that was unusually cold:
”Good afternoon.
”Congratulations on avenging the captain, Klein and the others.”
Leonard opened his mouth, not knowing how to respond, even the action of lifting his hand to press down on his bowler hat was impossible because he didn’t like wearing hats.
He squeezed out a small smile and nodded his head in a very small range before stepping forward in silence, crossing over to Roxanne and preparing to walk through the door that separated the inside and outside of the partition.
Just as he was about to enter the office area, he suddenly heard Roxanne behind him speak in a rather small voice:
”Live well ……”
Leonard slowed his steps slightly and nodded heavily.
Arriving at the inner area, he caught sight of Frye standing in the doorway of the captain’s office.
This “corpse collector” still presents the pale color that hasn’t been exposed to the sun for a long time, black hair and blue eyes, high nose, thin lips, gloomy and dark temperament.
Leonard looked at the other party seriously for a few seconds, exhaled, and tried to smile suavely:
”Long time no see.”
”Good afternoon, long time no see.” Fry pointed down to the captain’s office, “I’ve received the telegram, I’m aware of your request and will have two members of the team follow you, and also, you’ll need to fill out a seal request form.”
Leonard smiled in slight consternation:
”You’re a captain now? You’re not as silent as you used to be ……”
Leonard had actually finished digesting the “Spiritualist” magic potion and could be promoted to Sequence 5 “Spirit Wizard”, but in order to steal the power of the “Eternal Sun” blood, he deliberately did not report it, and continued to pacify the area around Berkland. He continued to pacify the spirits in the area around Beckland, and finally, under his own efforts, he found the opportunity to come to Tingen.
”Right.” Fry nodded softly, “I actually don’t like to talk so much, but as captain, I have to.”
Leonard nodded slightly:
”When did you become captain? How come I haven’t heard anything about it ……”
”Recently.” Fry answered the question succinctly before explaining, “I became a ‘Gravedigger’ in Sequence 8 not long after you left, and I was finally promoted to ‘Psychic’ last month, and the captain before that just happened to transfer out. ”
”So soon ……” Leonard had already clenched his fist and smacked his head before the words left his mouth, “Look at my memory, I forgot that Klein had shared some of his experiences with the group.”
He lowered his right hand and turned to Frye and smiled:
”In that case, you still have time and space to improve, and you might be able to become a deacon in the future as well.”
Fry glanced at him and retracted his gaze, saying:
”I shouldn’t continue to seek promotion.”
”Why?” Leonard took a few steps and came to Fry’s side, asking with slight surprise.
Fry looked up at the ceiling and said in a calm, low voice:
”I want to stay here.
”Protect this place all the time.”
Leonard was silent for a moment, not responding.
He glanced from side to side, only to realize that the place had been remodeled considerably, but that there was something deeply unchanged.
Fry was similarly silent for a while before speaking:
”I’ll send two of my team to follow you.”
As he spoke, he headed for the bottom of the aisle, and Leonard subconsciously followed alongside.
Inside the office at the very bottom, the door to the room was open and several night watchmen were there playing cards and fighting evil.
Noticing the captain’s approach, they put down their poker and stood up.
Leonard swept through with a glance and saw two familiar faces, namely Luo Yao with smooth black hair and slender eyebrows and Xijia with white hair and black pupils.
At the same time, he also saw a few unfamiliar faces, and saw pennies, Sule and a playing card on the table.
For a moment, he was in a bit of a trance and his vision was a bit blurred.
……
The bottom cabin of the Future, in a small harbor with a fishing village, in the waters of the Rothschild Archipelago.
Frank Lee rolled up his cuffs and clasped his arms, scrutinizing the mushroom in front of him.
The mushroom, with its cap, was a meter and a half tall, and its white surface was covered with several distinctive red spots that resembled eyes, a nose, and a mouth.
In addition to these, its torso also protruded one spore after another, growing a thick and powerful white mycelium that looked like tentacles.
Frank looked up and down the giant mushroom a few times, and then looked around, looking at the wooden walls, floor, long or short or large or small mushrooms of all kinds, to the side of the “artisan” Sharf said:
”Good, this experiment has made progress again, this mushroom has a strong tendency to reproduce itself, and this will make it hungry, and urgently need to replenish the monster’s flesh and blood.
”And either roasting it, or boiling it, removes its activity and makes it less dangerous.
”Uh, how does it taste? Didn’t you just taste it? The offspring it reproduces will randomly appear to be beef-flavored, fish-flavored, wheat-flavored, and some of them are even full of full milk, and a single plant can satisfy the needs of one breakfast, you see, the crews don’t like to drink alcohol nowadays, and there are mushrooms that can be picked everywhere …… I’m thinking about it, sometimes, when you go to the wilderness, in order to fill up your stomach, you need to carry dry rations or hunt wild beasts, which is too much trouble; wouldn’t it save a lot of trouble if you could make mushrooms grow on yourself?”
”Artisan” Scharf had lost a lot of weight again than when he was in Byam, his eye sockets were deep-set, his gaze was dull, and he lacked a sense of spirituality.
Hearing Frank’s words, he didn’t know what he recalled, his body trembled slightly, silently squatted down, opened his mouth, and vomited.
”Is it alright? I know you’ve worked hard, and I do have to thank you for this period of time.” Frank sincerely said to the “artisan”, “If it wasn’t for you, this mushroom wouldn’t have such a strong tendency to reproduce itself, moreover, under the moonlight, its vitality will become exceptionally tenacious, able to purify itself, which can effectively eliminate the toxins accumulated by the devouring monsters. The only problem at the moment is that there is no moonlight in pure darkness, which is the next problem we need to solve.”
Without saying a word, Sharf finished spitting and then stood up violently, turning around and about to rush outside, but a thick, powerful white mycelium spread out, entangling and pulling him back.
”Put, give me back my magical item! I’m going to die with these mushrooms!” He cried out frantically, his voice getting lower and lower, his mouth seemingly gagged.
At this time, somewhere beyond the fishing village, a lime green vine retracted rapidly, as if growing backwards.
”Above the stars will be,” Gadelia stepped out from it, her eyes deep purple mixed with silver-white.
Her ears still echoed with the illusory murmurings of the “Hidden Sage”, but she was no longer terrified, and it was not as unbearable as it had been in the past. As far as she could see, there were countless roaming figures of indescribable shapes, a thick curtain as if they were shadows, and invisible lines of sight cast from nowhere.
Compared to the past, she was able to vaguely see the unknown existence hidden behind the curtain, and could already witness one moon after another of different colors high in the sky, which were blood red, silver white, dark brown, or dark blue, as if they were eyes watching the earth.
Kadriya’s mind buzzed for a moment, and she hurriedly withdrew her sight, not daring to look at it again.
She had already relied on analyzing the blood of the “Serpent of Destiny” to complete the ritual and obtain divinity, and had become an “Occultist”, the 4th sequence of the “Peeping Tom” pathway!
However, she remembers that the Queen once warned her:
Among all the Sequence 4s of the 22 Pathways, “Occultist” is the one that is most likely to encounter dangers, because one will often see things one shouldn’t see, hear voices one shouldn’t hear, and touch secrets one shouldn’t touch.
Therefore, in order to live a long life, an “occultist” must know how to restrain his curiosity and control his corresponding behavior.
Removing the heavy glasses clipped to her clothing, Gadelia set them on the bridge of her nose, but the things she saw in her eyes that did not belong to the real world did not disappear.
She quirked the corners of her mouth half in self-deprecation and half in satisfaction, realizing that this item could no longer seal her secret-seeking eyes.
She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them, the pair of eyes already ghostly black, no longer mysterious deep purple and silver-white.
Phew …… Gadelia breathed a sigh of relief and walked slowly towards the Future, as if she had just gotten off the ship and taken a walk.
She did not intend to spread the news that she had become a demigod, did not want to quickly become the fifth king of the sea, as far as she was concerned, this is one of the cards in the dangerous world, and will not be easily thrown out.
……
South District of the Bridge, Moonflower Street.
The carriage Emlyn was traveling in had just pulled into this street when he saw a blurry figure with slightly disheveled hair and a white shirt with a black vest protruding from the opposite seat, a young man who seemed like a disgruntled ghost.
”It’s been a long time, Mr. Maric.” Emlyn smiled without being alarmed at all.
Maric nodded with a small margin:
”I came to tell you that we are ready to discuss a specific plan of action.”