Whispering Verse

"I won't go upstairs."

Captain Rades followed Shade into the foyer, but did not even close the door, shutting out the Saint Teresa Square, which was also very lively today.

As the end of the year approaches, although there are no noisy circus performances in the central square of the city, there are obviously many more vendors.

The captain smiled and gave the visiting gift, the bottle of red wine, to Shade, and then mentioned in the foyer that he returned to Tobesk because of the award:

"The battle that sealed Mount Sikal in late autumn."

The middle-aged captain with a resolute face blinked at Shade. At that time, Shade sent him an amulet, which played a considerable role when he led the team to guard the stronghold in the heavy fog that night. , also made this ordinary person guess that maybe there really is so-called magic in this world:

"I performed meritorious service that time, and the church and my old friends in the city helped me with the operation, so I was qualified to return to Tobesk for the award."

He said with a smile, not showing the slightest hint of the embarrassment that Shade felt when he first met him in the summer.

"That's really good news. Will you return to Fort Midhill in the future? Or find a job in Tobesk?"

Shade asked while congratulating him. The captain shook his head regretfully:

"It's not easy to stay in Tobesk. It requires not only luck, but also..."

He pointed upward and showed a tacit expression along with Shade:

"Try your luck. If I can't move forward, I will retire in a few years."

He smiled again and shook his head:

"No matter what happens next, I want to enjoy this New Year's Eve first. Who can still look sad on such an important holiday?"

The middle-aged captain in a crisp military uniform stretched out his hand to Shade, and Shade held his hand:

"Happy New Year's Day, Mr. Hamilton."

"Happy New Year's Day, Captain Rades."

The captain smiled and nodded before saying goodbye and leaving. Shade stood at the door of his house, watching the captain walk away along the path cleared in the snow, and couldn't help feeling a little emotional.

The arrival of foreigners changed the fate of many people, but Captain Rades was the one who left the most profound impression on him.

He turned around and walked back into the room and closed the door. Only then did he notice that his cat was on the shoe cabinet, sniffing the bottle of wine that the captain had brought as a gift.

"Cats can't drink."

Shade hugged it and thought of another thing:

"Since 1853 is coming to an end, why don't you take advantage of the end of the year to give Mia a bath?"

"Meow~"

As if it knew what Shade was thinking, the cat jumped out of Shade's arms, jumped onto the shoe cabinet, and then ran towards the stairs.

Shade looked at Mia's agile figure with a smile, and then raised his right hand.

[That’s why you said that on purpose, right? 】

Amid "her" laughter, Shade's fist passed through the painted silver circle:

"Confining Halo!"

Five haloes flew towards the cat that was jumping up the stairs, one tied the cat's two front paws, one tied Mia's back paws, one tied the neck, one tied the body, and the last one tied the cat for some reason. It has a tail with [Metamorphosis Ring] and [Epidemic Doctor Ring], like a cat with a silver stripe on its tail.

"Meow~"

Shade walked up the stairs and "lifted" the immobile cat, then canceled the spell and hugged it again. The cat's claws didn't attack Shade, and the cat wasn't even angry. When Shade looked at it, the kitten raised its head slightly and looked at Shade pitifully with its big amber eyes. This made Shade feel a strange sense of guilt, as if he had done something to God. Big mistakes are the same.

"Last night, Luvia said that I have the 'Charming Technique of the Opposite Sex'. I think Mia is the one who has the 'Charming Technique of Human Beings'."

He cooed softly and decided to go to the kitchen to find some food for the cat as compensation for what happened just now.

"She" chuckled in Shade's ear. The soft cat lay calmly in Shade's arms with its eyes narrowed, looking contented.

Miss Carina's visit came later than Shade expected. It was still three minutes before three o'clock in the afternoon. Mia was lying comfortably on the window sill of the study taking a nap in the sun, while Shade was taking a nap in the sun. Read the "Secret of Agelessness" and want to learn some useful thaumaturgy from it.

The warmth of the pendant on his chest heralds the arrival of the witch. When she went downstairs and opened the door, the duchess, who was wearing a red dress and a sparkling diamond hair ornament on her head, frowned and said half-complainingly:

"Tomorrow is the New Year's Day. Don't you have any decorations at home? At least hang a garland of mistletoe on the door?"

This is a custom at the end of the year, which represents praying for peace and luck in the next year. It is said that the origin of this custom is related to the Natural Church in the Five Gods Church, and also to the Old God [White Holy Tree], but there are other theories.

"Tifa, arrange for someone to decorate No. 6 St. Teresa Square tomorrow. It doesn't have to be too fancy, at least it should have a festive atmosphere."

Miss Carina said to the black-haired maid who followed her out of the carriage, and the latter nodded slightly. Shade didn't object after thinking about it. He originally wanted to buy some ribbons to decorate the windows after dinner. Outsiders are interested in festivals in this world, but they are not very involved.

Miss Carina's visit this time was for the ice crystal that Shade brought back from the winter of 903 in the Fifth Epoch. Before that, both she and Tifa had heard Shad tell about two adventures in 903, and the most critical third adventure took place on the shores of the Pantanal Lake, so before taking out the ice crystal, Carina While the lady cast a spell to attach the freezing effect to it, Shade talked about the last section of the snow mountain.

Regarding the part involving the old god [Winter Maiden], because the stories of gods would have a great impact on mortals, Shade spoke briefly, but still told most of the matter. In order to prevent mistakes in details and cause problems in Miss Carina's next step of research, Shade even revealed that the ice crystal was spat out by him after kissing.

Hearing this, the duchess raised her eyebrows in surprise, while Tifa had a faint smile on her face.

"That's about it."

After finishing speaking, Shade held up the teacup while holding the cat, who was sleeping with his eyes narrowed:

"The ice crystals have been washed away by time, and a small part of the outer ice layer has disappeared, but it does not affect the letters inside the ice layer. I tried to look at the content against the light. The characters were very small, and they were not anything I recognized. The text...fortunately, I can understand it.”

"But I can't understand it."

The gas lamp has been turned on. Miss Carina holds the ice crystal and looks at the light. The ice crystal shines brightly under the light:

"I have never seen this kind of writing. I think it should be earlier than the Fifth Age."

"This kind of ancient rune has a very rich meaning. One rune can represent a lot of content. Different runes are connected together to form new meanings. I can confirm that what is recorded here is indeed Miss Chloe Yin's. The content of the path of the demigods. But the problem is that there is no specific ritual content involved. It just points out how she sharpened her soul and climbed the Silver Mountains under the guidance of the gods."

In a contemporary world where there are no righteous gods except the five righteous gods, it is very difficult to repeat this process.

"It doesn't matter. After all, even if I hold a promotion ceremony after the New Year's Day, I will only be in the 12th ring, which is still far away from the 13th ring. The content here is enough for reference. Shade, you probably don't understand, Rather than the specific ritual, what the witch gave you is the most critical information."

Looking at Shade with his golden eyes, he sighed slightly as if singing an opera:

"A knight loved by witches~"

"I am, oh, beautiful Duke, what can I do for you?"

Shade smiled and added, and Miss Carina was very satisfied with this:

"You find time to copy down the runes here and give me a translation."

"It's very simple, after the New Year's Day."

Shade nodded, and Miss Carina showed a teasing smile again:

"Keep the ice crystals yourself and don't let anyone else touch them. After all, it was given to you by a lady who has a good impression of you."

The ice crystal floated in the air in front of Shade. The sleeping cat immediately raised its body and tried to touch it. Then Shade gently placed the teacup in his hand on the cat's head. Of course, he controlled the intensity and kept his focus on his fingers.

"Meow!"

Holding the ice crystal, Shade smiled and put it in Xiao Mia's arms. Unexpectedly, the cat just complained and barked, without any other big reaction.

"I've dealt with it. As long as you don't put it in the fire or in a place with high temperature for a long time, it should be fine if it doesn't melt for a long time. In addition, I will teach you a very simple spell - Carina ’s Ice Spell. I improved the original [Ice Trick], and now it is like this.”

The red lips were slightly opened, and with the movement of exhalation, an extremely cold chill spread out from them.

The learning ritual of this spell is quite simple, you just need to first learn the basic spell [Call Water]. Shade had the blessing of the winter god and had no difficulty learning similar spells.

After learning the spell, he also demonstrated it to Miss Carina:

"look."

Gently blowing into the teacup in your hand, as the red tea in the teacup formed ice crystals, an ice crystal flower floated on the water.

"The control is really strong..."

She praised Shade, but this was actually the effect of Shade combining [Ice Curse] and [Flying Flower Curse]. There were flower petals in that cup of black tea. He twisted up the ice crystal flowers, turned them into toys and put them in his pocket for later use. They were very good materials for casting spells.

At the same time, the duchess waved to Tifa behind her, and Tifa took out a slender black cardboard box from the pocket of the maid's dress and gave it to the duke:

"Shad, I like the gift you gave me very much. This is a gift for you."

It was a pull-out cardboard box. After opening it, there was actually a tie inside.

Shade looked at the red-haired witch in surprise, who looked at him with a smile:

"Happy New Year's Day, my knight."

Although the tie is not particularly expensive, it is not a gift that can be given casually.