Whispering Verse

Compared to the rear of the church where Shade appeared just now, the main hall of the church is relatively well preserved. Even the long stone seats are still intact, at least half of them. The area here is very open, and when it is prosperous, it can accommodate at least a few hundred people to sit together and listen to the priest's sermons.

It's a pity that now, the surrounding windows are blocked by debris, short grass that still remains active in winter grows in the cracks of the bricks on the ground, and there is no trace of the Holy Emblem on the wall behind the pulpit. It is impossible to identify where this church belongs. A god from the past.

The wildness of nature and the majestic church are perfectly integrated. Everything in this world cannot withstand the power of time.

The only thing worth noting is the stone statue of a middle-aged man in a robe sitting on the first row of tables and chairs on the right side of the central aisle. The stone statue was very lifelike, with the details of the hair, the folds of the robe, and the wrinkles at the corners of the eyes completely consistent with the real person. The stone statue's eyes looked towards the empty wall of the church where the Holy Emblem should be hung, and Shade could even see relief and melancholy in his eyes.

The face of the stone statue is a typical southern Kasenlik look. If it weren't for the sufficient light here, Shade would even think it was a living person.

"Stone statue?"

He walked over, put his hand on the shoulder of the sitting statue, and then felt that he touched a thick layer of dust.

[Ordinary stone statue. 】

"Is it just a stone statue?"

【Yes. If you don't believe it, try breaking it. 】

Shade hesitated and did not do so. Although it is not difficult for [Breath of Time] to restore such an ordinary stone, since this stone statue is the only complete thing in this church, let it stay here.

After checking the place for a while, and sighing at the scenery, Shade came to the door of the main hall of the church. This is the door of the entire church. Although it is not blocked by debris, the double metal doors are locked together tightly.

"Did the last person who left with the lock on the inside lock himself in the church, or did he use the space maze to escape?"

He was thinking in his mind, and the door lock was meaningless to Shade. For him who had been promoted to the Central Ring, he just knocked on the metal door, and the lock popped open with a click, and even the hinges rattled. automatically fell to the snowy ground.

Squeak~

He bent down slightly and exerted force with his hands. With a harsh sound, the double-open metal door was pushed open a gap, allowing direct sunlight to come in. He walked out of the door sideways and stood on the platform above the steps of the church. He covered his eyebrows with his right hand and squinted his eyes as he looked around in surprise.

In Shade's imagination, since this abandoned church could still remain relatively intact with no traces of human activity, it must be in the mountains outside the Randall River Valley, or deep in the jungle.

But when I really came outside the door, I saw that outside the church was an abandoned courtyard covered with snow. In the center of the courtyard was a statue fountain with only its base left. And outside the courtyard, there are actually city streets.

A lively flow of people passed through the outside of this ancient abandoned church. Citizens dressed in Kasenlik's winter clothes continued their lives in the weather with fine snowflakes falling.

The street is not very wide, but it can still allow two carriages to pass each other. The gate of the church courtyard is a wrought iron gate common in church buildings. Across the street outside the gate is a three-story second-hand bookstore. The snow dyed the sloping roof silver, and ice hangings hung from the eaves on the first floor of the bookstore. A young man like an apprentice was holding a broom high and trying to knock them down.

Looking further into the sky, the city's bell tower, the side spire of the Orthodox Church, and the chimneys spewing black smoke into the sky are all clearly visible in the snow.

The boy selling newspapers passed by the church door without looking at it. The gentleman with a cane passed by in a hurry, but he just glanced at his pocket watch. The carriage drove past the entrance of the abandoned church, causing Shade to focus on the black curved arch gate at the entrance to the church courtyard. But then he realized that people on the street seemed not to notice this large church at all.

Not only did no one notice him, no one even cast a glance towards the deserted courtyard. Even pedestrians who are familiar with this neighborhood will never miss this place even once.

"It is unreasonable to have such a building in the city. The church will not allow the Old God Church to appear in the city. And even if the Orthodox Church allows it, it is unreasonable for homeless people not to occupy this place as a winter residence. People outside will not see it. Are you here? This exit is really interesting."

But the fact that the exit is in the city is also a good thing for Shade, at least it saves him time of running around.

He tried walking down the steps in front of the church and into the courtyard, but sure enough, no one noticed him. So Shade grabbed a handful of snow, kneaded it into a snowball, and threw it over the fence. The snowballs fell on the street and scattered. The man passing by with a black briefcase immediately looked at the snowballs on the ground, and then looked at it in confusion. All around, they seemed to be looking for which naughty child was throwing the snowballs.

But the "naughty child" was actually in the yard on the other side of the fence.

"It seems that you really can't see it."

Although he didn't understand the reason for this, Shade wanted to go out and take a look after all. In order to prevent himself from coming back, he tied a thin wire to the fence of the courtyard, then held one end of the thin wire, opened the fence door, and walked out.

When Shade's whole body came to the street outside, someone finally took a look at him, but they were not surprised at all, as if he had been standing in that position.

"When I walked out of the fence gate, I felt as if I had passed through a layer of water film. The power of space."

He was thinking in his mind, looked down at his hand, and found that the thread was broken. Then he turned around and looked behind him, only to find that there was a wall behind him.

Walk a little further and take a closer look. On both sides of the wall are the courtyard of the "Randall City Public Printing Plant" and the three-story building with the sign "Berkeley Botanical Exhibition Hall".

The house number of the building on the left is "11 Cherry Leaf Street", and the house number on the right is "12 Cherry Leaf Street". But the abandoned church that Shade walked out of just now has disappeared.

“This time it’s really”

He took a slight breath and pressed his hand on the wall, which was the outer wall of the "Berkeley Plant Exhibition Tube". When my hand touches the wall, I can't feel anything abnormal:

"Can you feel anything?"

[There are no traces of elements. It may take a specific method to reappear the courtyard just now. 】

Shade sighed, turned around and leaned against the wall, lowered his hat, and looked at the street in front of him:

"I was really careless this time. So, how should I go back?"

After checking it dozens of times until the apprentices in the second-hand bookstore opposite the wall began to notice him, Shade reluctantly left here and temporarily accepted the fact that the abandoned church had disappeared.

Without walking far, he crossed the street and entered the Terrence Secondhand Bookstore at "25 Cherry Leaf Lane" across the street. He walked through the bookshelves in the secondhand bookstore and picked out an old book with a missing title page, "The Story of Carsonrick Forest". ", intending to take it back to make a gift for Dorothy, and then walked towards the counter.

The person guarding the counter was an old gentleman wearing a wool vest, gray hair, and reading glasses. He was lowering his head, carefully repairing the torn parts of an old book with missing pages.

The old man quickly paid for Shade, and after Shade took back the change, he asked in Kassenric, which he was already quite proficient in:

"Sir, I am actually a writer from out of town."

As he spoke, he raised the book in his hand:

"I heard that there are many interesting rumors on this street. I wonder if you can tell me about them?"

"Interesting rumor?"

The old man's pronunciation of Kasenlik was not very standard. It was probably the accent of the Randall Valley. He raised his head and pushed up his reading glasses, looked at Shad with slightly cloudy eyes, and said somewhat casually:

"If you are not concerned about the rumors about the blacksmith who lives at the end of the street and the young waitress at the tavern, then I think what you want to hear is the story about the 'non-existent church'."

"It's actually true."

Shade thought in his mind and flicked the 1 pfennig small round coin in the change onto the table:

"Can you tell me more about it?"

"It's not a coherent story."

The old man ignored the coin, but continued to lower his head and deal with the old book in his hand:

"Every few years, someone claims to have seen an abandoned church on this street, yes, right across from this store. But no matter how much people check, there is no trace of the so-called church. Not even a trace of it. The priests from the nearby Peace Church came here to check, but obviously there were no results."

"That's an interesting rumor. Have you seen the so-called church?"

"Of course not. To be honest, I don't really believe in such rumors, but if it were written into a story, I think it would probably be interesting."

Shade smiled and nodded, as long as the church did not "randomly appear in any corner of the city", but was indeed on this street, but he couldn't see it.

"Oh, there is one more thing I want to ask you about."

He left another coin:

"Is there a local noble named 'Granger'?"

"It seems that you are indeed from another place, but the common language is so standard, it must be from Willondale. The reputation of the Earl of the River Valley, Earl Granger, cannot be unknown to anyone in the local area."

The old man said, still not caring about the coins.

"count?"

Shade was startled. In this case, he would have to disguise himself before he could send the two medals back.

"Excuse me, where is the manor of Earl Granger?"

"Want to buy a city map?"

The old man raised his head and asked with a smile, then pointed to the two coins:

"This cannot be included in the cost of information."