Throughout the day on Thursday, Shade, Miss Bayas and Miss Anat stayed at No. 6 Saint Teresa Square, constantly analyzing their plans over and over again, and using the large space in the basement to interact with each other. Practice thaumaturgy together.
Shad gained a lot from this process, because it was equivalent to him being taught how to fight by two girls.
It was only then that he realized that in the nearly one month since he came to this world, he seemed to have never had a chance to fight one-on-one with any unfamiliar ring warlock. The few battles that occurred were either with reliable friends around or with targeted contact using the properties of relics.
In the process of breaking into the ruins tonight, in addition to the dangers of the silver-eyed people and the ruins themselves, they will definitely come into contact with the ring warlocks of [Mercury Blood]. By then, it is very likely that Shade will experience the third A true ring warlock battle.
No one visited Saint Teresa Square during the day, but Miss Bayas had to go back to Blackstone Security Company and be on duty for two hours at noon. When I came back, I brought back some bad news:
“In the evening, the Zhengshen Church encircled and suppressed the cultists of [Lord of the Blood Feast], and our team was also arranged to take action.”
“What?”
Both Shade and Miss Anat stood up from their chairs. The protagonist of the evening operation was Miss Bayas. If she was not present, then the meaning of this operation would be meaningless.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, our team was not arranged to enter the banquet.”
As she spoke, Miss Bayas sat on the sofa closest to the “snowy” area:
“We were asked to guard the perimeter to ensure that no one would break in when the church was clearing out the cultists at the banquet. I have already asked for leave. The captain said that this matter is inherently dangerous, and it would be more in line with his ideas that I would not participate. ”
Miss Anat immediately checked her notebook:
“That’s okay. It doesn’t matter if we are missing you, but you must not be missing.”
Xia De breathed a sigh of relief and continued to think about the context of the entire plan with a frown.
Little Mia squatted on the sofa nearby, using her little paws to pick at the holy emblem that could use the disposable “sunshine gun”. No one paid attention to it. The orange cat gently fiddled with the holy symbol and twitched its nose slightly, as if it was sniffing something.
At five o’clock in the afternoon, the two ladies left Saint Teresa Square first and agreed to meet Shade at the hotel near the printing shop above the entrance to the ruins at seven o’clock.
Half an hour later, the sky was still very bright, and the carriage stopped at the downstairs of Shade’s house just at this time. After preparing enough cat food for little Mia, Shade met the maid Miss Tifa Servit in the carriage.
“Everything goes according to plan, you don’t have to do anything extra at the party, just follow the plan and leave.”
She handed the invitation to Chad, and the banquet was held at Count Maupassant’s mansion in the city. Count Maupassant is old and is recuperating in the family manor in the south. His son became a cultist who believes in the “Lord of the Blood Banquet” a few years ago. He is one of the organizers of tonight’s banquet.
The banquet invited many famous people in the city. On the surface, it was a “charity dinner” held by Maupassant to raise funds for the renovation of the Tobesk University District. In fact, all the invited guests are sacrifices to the evil god. As for Shade’s invitation, it was Miss Carina who obtained it through a special channel.
Since both the cultists and the Orthodox Church had many people at the banquet, in order to prevent their identity from being exposed, Shade temporarily gave all the relics to the maid Tifa for safekeeping, just like when he went to Yodel Palace. Miss Tifa Servit gave Shad a wad of banknotes to use in a charity auction.
“Is there anything I need to pay attention to?”
Xia De asked while looking through the invitations, and the carriage started slowly at this moment. The rain last night has not stopped yet, but the intensity of the rain is already very small and does not affect people’s normal travel.
“Don’t go to places not planned, especially the third floor. The third floor is basically full of cultists, including Mr. Lawrence, who is the body of the evil god, and he is also on the third floor. Anyone entering or exiting the third floor will be subject to the church and The attention of cultists.”
The maid lady said, Shade nodded and looked through the invitations with a serious expression.
“There is nothing else that needs attention, just follow the plan. The lady’s carriage is parked in the alley outside Maupassant Manor. She will come to rescue us if necessary. Remember, I will send you out after the matter is over. Manor. You must not wander around during the party.”
“No problem.”
Xia De nodded, but couldn’t help but ask again:
“Will Mr. Hog Rendell, the Thirteenth Ring Warlock of the Church of the Sun, the Sunshine Sword, also appear at the banquet?”
“Yes, after he used a special method to change his appearance, he attended the charity dinner as a representative of the church. But you will not meet him, don’t worry about that.”
Shade nodded again, and the maid whispered:
“Don’t be too nervous. I have been following the lady since I was fifteen years old. We have all experienced more dangerous situations. This kind of scene is actually not very dangerous.”
“What could be more dangerous than attending a dinner party prepared to sacrifice to the evil god?”
Xia De couldn’t help but ask.
“Two unknowable (level 0) relics went out of control together. That time, the council dispatched six great witches to suppress the accident. Even after that incident…”
She lowered her voice:
“A great witch died because of this.”
“If you have time, tell me this story next time.”
“Okay.”
The maid said softly, while Shade took a deep breath and turned to look at the rain outside the window:
“Tonight, it finally begins.”
This donation-themed dinner is actually a sacrificial ceremony for cultists. As for the theme of “donation”, no matter how you look at it, it has nothing to do with poor people like Shade. But the nobles and wealthy people in Tobesk seemed to like this kind of banquet very much.
By the time the carriage stopped at the door of Count Maupassant’s mansion, many people from other parts of the city had already arrived. At the entrance of the mansion, there were also people waiting for Xia De in advance.
Shad got off the carriage with the maid Miss Tifa, and five women immediately came over to greet them. Three of them were dressed as middle-aged ladies, and the other two were young maids.
The five people saluted the maid next to Shade very respectfully. In the hierarchy of the Witch Council, Miss Tifa Servitt probably belonged to the very upper echelon.
These are all members of the Witch Council under the jurisdiction of Miss Carina. The five of them were naturally magicians. Without even using Shade’s inner voice to identify them, the maid informed Shade about them:
“One with six rings, one with five rings, one with four rings, and two with three rings. Sorry, detective, the Orthodox Church is keeping a close eye on you tonight, so we can’t call in more people to protect you.”
In fact, it was beyond Sha De’s expectation to have so many people. After all, he had always thought that Miss Carina’s only helper was Miss Tifa Servit, because whatever the duchess wanted to do, she either asked the maid to do it or asked Shade to do it.
“I will not accompany you into the manor, and these people who protect you will not get too close to you. Try to act as natural as possible. Your excuse for coming today is to help the lady buy a piece of cake at the charity auction. Just a pen.”
That pen was used by the late Mr. Vicente Roberts, a well-known writer in the Kingdom of Delrayon. Mr. Roberts, who died in 1850, had a near-standing position in the literary world of Delrayon. No one can shake it for thirty years.
“Try not to use the Ring Warlock’s abilities. If you plan carefully, there will be no problems.”
The maid warned again, Shade nodded, and then joined the crowd and walked into the courtyard of the mansion.
Count Maupassant’s mansion is incomparable to Lake View Manor and the royal family’s manor outside the city, but the number of guests invited is not at all less than those two times.
During the banquet, the courtyard of the mansion and the entire first and second floors of the house were fully open. The courtyard and the first floor are used for lively banquets and some elegant banquet games, while various rooms on the second floor are used to hold small auctions, with proceeds from the auctions raising funds for the university district.
Every guest who comes to the banquet can get a sequence list of the auction.
It was only then that Shade learned that to attend this banquet, he would have to pay an “admission fee” of 10 pounds to the host of the banquet. These fees will nominally be donated to Tobesk’s university district, but in fact once the cultists succeed, all the proceeds tonight will be divided between them and [Mercury Blood].
The auction items were contributed by Count Maupassant and his friends, and there were even two Rhodes cards with special rules. But the auction order of these two cards was very low, and Shade must have left here by then.
“This is my first time attending a charity banquet.”
Outlanders are very curious about this place.
The servants in the courtyard have already placed dishes at the long table, and the guests are gradually arriving. Entering the building, the men in formal suits and the women in formal dresses were unaware of the turmoil hidden beneath the banquet. But Shade, who has a “very sensitive soul”, only wandered around the lobby on the first floor for a few times before he discovered at least 6 unfamiliar ring warlocks.
Shad took the glass from the tray in the hands of the servant beside him. The glass was filled with translucent yellow wine, which looked a bit like pear juice.
The time was not up yet, so he stood on the first floor for a while holding a glass and pretending. After calculating the time, I held the wine glass and walked through the crowd towards the second floor.
In this kind of social dinner, you can see guests gathering together and talking about things everywhere. There are even many people standing on the stairs talking about things. They will only go to the second floor to participate in the auction when they are interested in a certain auction item, and Xia De’s current performance is that he wants to participate in the auction.
The corridor on the second floor is paved with red carpet, and facing the large oil painting hanging at the top of the stairs is Count Maupassant himself.
There are almost people everywhere here, and the warm atmosphere is even more obvious than downstairs and in the courtyard.
Men in smart formal attire chatted with each other about the items they were interested in bidding on and compared their goals. Shade was tense, but his expression was relaxed. As I passed the stairs with the glass of wine, I heard the fat man use an outdated dirty joke to compare the patterns on a pair of metal vases that had just been auctioned.
The atmosphere of the banquet was extremely lively, the gas lamps were extremely bright, and people’s emotions were extremely high. People who know the truth are waiting for time, while people who don’t know the truth are still enjoying this peaceful night.