Whispering Poems

Chapter 3212 Fifth Era Year 5182

After returning home from St. Byrons, Shad continued to go out at night and came to Dr. Schneider's clinic in the east district of Tobesk.

His late visit startled the doctor, who thought something had happened again. He was relieved when he heard that he wanted him to help check if there was any demonic power left in the blood sample:
"Is this blood? How did it get contaminated like this? No, I'm pretty sure it's not caused by demonic power. What? A relic? Sorry, detective, I haven't seen any information about relics with similar properties."

Xia De was not disappointed. He felt relieved after confirming that he did not run into the devil as soon as he went out. This meant that the good luck shown on the card during the pre-holiday mission was still continuing.

By the time he returned home from the doctor's office with his crystal slippers, it was already late at night, and Carina and Luvia had even changed into their nightgowns:
"Are you going to go out again tonight?"

"I'm not going out. I'll go to the academy tomorrow morning. Danister has no plans to travel recently. The academy has started classes now, so she must be in the library."

As Shad spoke, he took off his coat and handed it to Tifa, and Luvia continued to ask:
"So are we going to activate the time key later?"

Shade originally planned to do this, but seeing the expressions of Luvia and Carina at this time, he thought it would be a good idea to start a new time journey tomorrow morning. Although using the key only took three seconds, he would definitely bring back a lot of questions when he came back:
"Tomorrow morning, I'm a little tired after climbing the mountain for so long today."

"Tired, aren't you?"

Carina blinked at him.

"That's why you need to have a good rest. How about you give me a massage later? I'm going to take a shower first. Wait for me."

Luvia and Karina both smiled reservedly, they were staying at home together tonight, the girls never felt that coming to Shad's place to rest was a reward for Shad, they generally thought it was a reward for themselves.

Shad's request for a massage was just an excuse, but after taking a shower, the considerate ladies really massaged his shoulders. But Shad's pajamas disappeared while they were being massaged. It was Karina who started the massage, and Luvia who started the massage.

So the time came to Tuesday. Xia De originally planned to open the key immediately after getting up in the morning. The door of the [Time Corridor] would allow him to know the content of the task half an hour in advance, but he had not tried it yet.

But after waking up with the red-haired witch and the fortune teller, they held him back and wouldn't let him leave. Tifa had heard voices in the bedroom and wanted to knock on the door to ask if breakfast was to be prepared immediately or later, but as soon as she reached the door she heard the sound of morning exercise starting.

So even though he woke up at 6:30, Shad was not able to leave the bedroom until 7:30. While Luvia and Carina were washing and dressing, he simply washed his face and brushed his teeth, then took the brand new key and entered the living room of Room 2 to prepare to leave.

The cat waiting for breakfast followed him, and Tifa came to see Shade off. Because they didn't know the situation of this mission, the cat must not be brought with them. Before the black-haired maid picked up the cat, she gave it a lucky kiss:
"Be careful. Did you kiss the lady like this this morning?"

She asked with a smile, and seeing that Xia De was a little embarrassed, her smile became more obvious:
"I'll wait for you to come back for breakfast, Master."

"Okay, I'll be back soon. Mia, I'll take you with me next time - may the World Tree protect me for an infinite amount of time."

With a click, the keyhole turned and Xia De stepped into the fog door in front of him.

[Stranger, you have officially entered the "Corridor of Time". ]

[Now, do you need to know the mission of the key in your hand? ]

The familiar endless glowing white mist filled the entire world. After not coming here for a long time, Shade felt very nostalgic. He walked towards the curved archway formed by slender tree trunks, vines, branches and green leaves in front of the white mist:
"Yes, tell me the mission."

[Message from the ancient god "Father of the Infinite Tree": ]

[Autumn of the Fifth Era 5182, Central Continent, Tombstone Wasteland.]

【Event: Grave digging.】

【Duration: 1 minutes → 3 minutes (/).】

[You have obtained additional information. 】

[The figure of the father of the infinite tree is watching you. 】

[The ancient god of time gives you a test. 】

[Assist mortals to learn the secrets of the old god - "King of Skeletons". ]

[The Father of the Infinite Tree will give you a reward: Miracle Spirit Rune - Jealousy. ]

"The Skeleton King?"

Xia De frowned slightly, and a certain image suddenly jumped out of his mind——

In death, a giant bone hand wearing a bright golden bracelet slowly stretched out from the darkness and slapped the calm water surface. The bone hand had seven fingers, and then another seven-fingered skeleton hand, also wearing a bracelet engraved with runes, stretched out towards him from the darkness.

This is not an illusion, but a memory. At the end of the story of "the narrow gap between life and death" and "the chosen one of death" at Midhill Castle in the autumn of 1853, Shad and Joey Barton had a final duel in death.

At that time, with the blessings of Iluna, Sister Devlin, Priest Augustus and others, he suppressed the first candidate, "the man against life", Joey Barton, in death. Barton then used the power of "Death", a card of the Impermanence of All Things, and summoned such an incarnation with the mark left in death by an old god related to death (Chapter 793).

Afterwards, of course Shade did not forget to find out to which one the power of the old god that appeared at that time belonged, so he learned about the old god [God of Tombs], and people generally called it the "King of Skeletons".

This old god was obviously a god of death. Its most well-known image was the one that Joey Barton summoned with the help of the Card of Impermanence when he was dying - a giant skeleton wearing a faded golden crown and three bright golden bracelets on each of his seven-bone hands.

This god still had many legends and stories in the Sixth Age. Although he had disappeared in the late Fifth Age, secret beliefs about him still existed in the era when foreigners lived.

Believers in this old god believed that as long as they wore three golden bracelets engraved with secret prayers on their left and right hands when they were buried, their souls would not go to nothingness after death, but would enter the kingdom of the tomb god and continue to live as immortal souls in the "City of the Dead".

This belief is mainly concentrated in the eastern part of the Old World, especially in the hilly area south of the Rommel Mountains. Because a large number of ordinary people who did not understand the mysticism carved ancient words from nowhere on bracelets and buried them with the bodies, an unexplained "undead disaster" broke out in that area about 300 years ago.

The disaster was quickly suppressed, and since then the eastern part of the Old Continent began to strictly promote the cremation system. This can be regarded as a huge impact of extraordinary events on the lives and traditional customs of ordinary people.

"But I remember that although this god left in the Fifth Era, he was a genuine evil god."

The evil god that had left the deepest impression on Shade in the previous time adventure was, of course, the blood-sucking god. Fortunately, [Duke of Bloodsucking Laoel] still existed in the Sixth Era, but [God of the Grave] was gone.

So even if this adventure involves this god, Shade doesn't have to worry about actually meeting him in the near future.

"The mission is to learn the secrets of the old gods. So what secrets do we need to learn to meet the mission requirements?"

Since this time he encountered this god, there was no need for Xia De to retreat and look for information. He already had enough knowledge about this god, and he wouldn't find anything even if he searched for another half an hour. If he had two or three days to prepare, he might be able to gain some information.

As for this reward——

"[Jealousy] is definitely a mortal sin. Treefather is really willing to give out any reward. It seems that my [Chain of Sins] will have one more rune. However, can [Jealousy] also be a miracle?"

He recalled that the spiritual rune rewards given by the Tree Father always seemed to be "miracles".

The frequency of this type of reward is not high. This is the 16th time adventure of ordinary keys, and the spirit rune is only the fourth time it has appeared. But if you think about it carefully, except for the very first [Echo], Xia Deke did not get the subsequent [Night] and [Tree].

"It is the year 5182, five years after I first met Miss Violet and Miss Schultz Theresa at Lost Lake, and two years after Theresa and I witnessed the birth of Miss Eliza at the Sunless Sea."

Thinking of this, he looked forward to this time adventure even more. He took a deep breath to adjust his mood, then continued to walk forward until he passed through the archway in the fog.

Then the white mist slowly spread around, and deep darkness appeared behind the white mist.

"Hmm? What stinks so bad?"

The world was spinning for a moment, which had never happened before. When Xia De came to his senses, he felt his back leaning against something very hard. He blinked his eyes and realized that the direction was a little wrong.

He was standing and walking just now, but now he was lying down. And not only was he lying down, he seemed to be in a closed space at the moment.

He quickly adjusted himself to the ups and downs and lefts and rights according to gravity, and then realized that he was lying on his back on a hard and rotten wooden board. Or rather, he was lying in a coffin in a tomb. The darkness he saw when he looked up was not the color of the sky, but thick soil. The stench he smelled was not the smell of the environment, but the smell of the tomb itself.

Although every time you travel to the past, you will never end up in a safe place, but this time lying directly in a grave is a bit too much:
"This dress is new. I'll have to trouble Tifa and the others to wash it."