"So what happened to Sister Matilda afterward?"
Shard asked, sitting on the sofa with curiosity, as the blind lady shook her head slightly:
"They continued to correspond with each other afterwards. Grandma Matilda even thought about stepping down from her responsibilities when she turned 45 and heading to Tobesk... About 15 years ago, she passed away due to a terrible accident."
Ms. Michelle's face displayed a hint of sadness, leaving Shard at a loss for words as well.
"Yesterday, I t Mr. Augustus, whom I hadn't seen in over twenty years, and learned that he has beco a Circle Sorcerer of Zaras."
"It's Baylens, you need not test ."
Shard interjected, and Ms. Michelle nodded:
"I understand. He has beco a student at Saint Byrons Chemical Academy. It truly saddens
for them, if they could have only known earlier... I told Priest Augustus where Grandma Matilda was buried. After he left us, he must have gone straight to the cetery."
Shard sighed:
"I see, he never ntioned this part of his past to us, his friends. The thing is, there is clear evidence that Priest Augustus has been in an accident, and it's very likely that he will die soon. So, I want to know if the divination you perford yesterday pointed to any other clues."
"I'm sorry, although I possess so divination abilities, all I could see was death concerning him."
"Speaking of which, you're the second diviner to predict 'death' for the priest."
Shard comnted, and Sister Matilda looked surprised:
"Doesn't that an, that gentleman..."
"We, his friends, can only do our best to save him."
Shard stood up, ready to take leave; he didn't have much ti to waste. He had to find the final location of Priest Augustus's disappearance before the effects of the "Echo of Blood" waned.
"Please wait a mont, Mr. Watson, though I can't offer direct help, if you need anything, feel free to co here. Also, I'd like to perform a divination for you."
"Divination?"
"Yes, our way of divination is different from the usual one. We don't need any tools; we capture spirituality directly with our eyes."
She gestured for Shard to sit down again and then raised her hands, unwinding the bandages wrapped around her eyes. It was then Shard realized that she wasn't actually blind; she had deliberately covered her eyes, which was a thod of spiritual practice.
"Spiritual Practice Order?"
He suddenly spoke softly, and Ms. Michelle stopped with her hands raised, looking towards Shard, though of course, she couldn't truly "see" since the bandages were not completely removed.
"You know of us?"
Although the Spiritual Practice Order was not a particularly secretive organization, guessing it right away was not easy.
"I am a friend of the priest from Tobesk. During the 'Darkness Descends' incident in Tobesk a while back, I saw your people in the city."
"Yes, Sister Delphine did lead a team there in person."
Ms. Michelle nodded, lowering her head to completely remove the bandage.
Seeing that she was about to look up at him, Shard imdiately maintained a proper sitting posture. Ms. Michelle looked up and opened her eyes, and though Shard wasn't sure if it was psychological, he found her brown eyes extrely beautiful.
"Oh!"
But as soon as the nun of the Spiritual Practice Order caught sight of Shard, she cried out in pain and covered her eyes, bowing her head.
"Sorry, what's wrong?"
Shard was sowhat at a loss, but Ms. Michelle just waved her hand, signalling him not to panic:
"Mr. Watson, the moonlight emanating from you is truly dazzling. So bright, so pure, so blinding—I shouldn't have been so bold as to peep at you so carelessly. I think, with you handling Priest Augustus's matter, there will likely be no problems."
"Are you really alright? I have a potion here that can heal the eyes, would you like to try it?"
Shard took out the bright yellow eye dicine he hadn't used up in the Dark Realm, prescribed by an ophthalmologist, but Ms. Michelle politely declined with her eyes covered. Their organization, the Circle Sorcerer Organization, with a special thod of eye training, would not lack magic potions for treating eye diseases.
Knowing that Shard was in a hurry, Ms. Michelle then summoned another middle-aged nun from the House of the Blind to escort him downstairs. This middle-aged nun was a Circle Sorcerer of either Three Rings or Four Rings. Seeing Ms. Michelle's condition, she was quite astounded but did not bla Shard for it.
Shard also pretty much understood what this so-called "House of the Blind" was—it must be a local stronghold of the "Spiritual Practice Order," and Ms. Michelle was the leader of this stronghold. Thus, before leaving, he kindly inford Ms. Michelle that the disappearance of Priest Augustus would soon draw the attention of both the church and the academy.
If Shard could trace the matter to this point, the church and the academy should also be able to do so; therefore, they needed to prepare in advance.
The Outlander was actually quite interested in this organization, but now the matter of Priest Augustus was of utmost importance. After saying goodbye to the House of the Blind, he left through the back door, continuing to track Priest Augustus's trail.
The Priest had first gone to a flower shop at the alley entrance to buy flowers. Shard spent 5 pence and learned from the shop that it was a bouquet for paying respects to a friend.
Afterwards, the Priest had taken a carriage ride again. Now that Shard knew the Priest's destination, he did not pursue on foot again. Instead, he got on a carriage himself and headed for the Midshire Fort City public cetery.
The big cities of Draleon all had public ceteries planned by the city hall, also to facilitate civic planning for cities rapidly expanding in the Steam Age, preventing the dead from occupying the living's land.
As for Midshire Fort City, the city could only expand towards the northern plains. Expansion towards the Sicarl Mountain in the southwest was practically impossible. Hence, the public cetery for Midshire Fort City was located towards the southwest of the city, essentially at the foot of Sicarl Mountain.
Strictly speaking, this was already considered a mountainous area. But since the cetery was built along the mountainside, not only was the greenery in excellent condition, but there were even man-made water channels running through the cetery; therefore, the conditions here seed to be even better than those in Tobesk.
"If I can't beco a god in the end and step into Ultimate Death just like a re mortal, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to be buried here."
Shard was thinking about all manner of things.
Sohow, when the carriage brought Shard to the entrance of the cetery, a thin layer of fog had ford between the mountain woods. Sicarl Mountain was towering on its own, and as Shard looked up, he saw that the white mist had already covered the cetery at the mountain's base from halfway up the mountain.
This was not smog resulting from the steam industry, but naturally ford fog. But when Shard had descended from the mountain at noon, everything in the woods had been normal.
"You're probably from out of town."
The coachman, while giving Shard change, saw him staring in amazent at the mountain range and explained with a smile:
"Every autumn, Sicarl Mountain will occasionally have this kind of dense fog, which could happen at night, in the morning, during the day, or in the evening, and the duration is also unpredictable. Those who live in this city are all aware of it, and adults like to scare naughty children with tales of phantom monsters in the white fog of Sicarl Mountain."
As he shared local stories with Shard, the coachman handed over 7 pence in change, but Shard only took a 1 pence coin, waved goodbye to the man, and turned to look toward the cetery shrouded in mist:
"If I'm not mistaken, the negative effect of 'The Unlucky's Long Hair' that attracts evil spirits is still upon ..."
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