Chapter 2408: Opera Invitation

Chapter 2408: Chapter 2408: Opera Invitation

After a peaceful night’s sleep, Tuesday came, and Shard appeared at Margaret’s Manor early that morning.

Because he arrived quite early, Margaret was still eating breakfast with Miss Sylvia, so she invited Shard and Mia to join them for another meal.

Margaret seemed particularly fond of sweets, with the taste of the dessert surpassing that of the main course. After hearing Shard talk about Carmen Eddington, she nodded in agreement:

"The matter of the invitation letter is easy. So, you’ll come to the banquet on Friday as well?"

"Of course."

Shard stroked Mia:

"I have a feeling that this might be the last grand banquet we can attend before the Moon Bay events conclude, so I hope to enjoy it."

"Looking at the current weather, even though it’s summer, I doubt the banquet can open the outdoor activity areas."

Miss Sylvia gazed out the window:

"Did Bella and Luviya mention when this fog might clear?"

She’s treating the two female diviners like "weather forecasters," but indeed, predicting the weather is a specialty of prophets.

"They said this fog is not only drifting from the ’Edge of Life and Death,’ but also contains other elements, which have yet to be analyzed."

Margaret immediately sighed:

"In just a few days, Moon Bay City’s Third Mental Hospital and ’Moon Bay Flower Sanitarium’ have been filled with people, and madmen seem to be everywhere in the city. Without this fog, the situation would be worse, likely stirring up unrest throughout the city. Fortunately, the light filtered through the thick fog is notably diminished, and the resulting skin disease can be slowly healed by applying a potion mixed with Holy Water No. 4."

"Alright, alright, I didn’t come here to bring you trouble early in the morning."

Shard interrupted Her Highness’s worries:

"Today is Tuesday, the week has just started. Margaret, besides Friday’s banquet, what else do you have to do in the coming days? Is there anything you need my help with?"

"Shard, my knight, you’re already busy enough.

I spend most of my time in Moon Bay on social engagements, countless meetings, conversations, and tours. I’ve grown accustomed to them; I wonder how my father got used to such a lifestyle."

She elegantly put down her knife and fork and looked at Shard:

"At Green Lake this year, I heard Princess Lecia say that you enjoy watching opera with her?"

Shard raised an eyebrow, almost asking "Which kind of opera watching are you talking about?":

"Yes."

"So do you have plans for tonight? If not, would you like to come with me to watch an opera at the Edington Opera House... If you’re busy, never mind, we’ll have time in the future."

Though she said this, even Miss Sylvia beside her chuckled:

"Shard, you should accompany her. You wouldn’t believe the amount of stress Margaret’s been under lately; if she weren’t a Circle Sorcerer and a Witch Apprentice with secret techniques to maintain her health, I’d wager her physiological cycle would be out of whack."

The Blonde Princess was already blushing.

Though the evening was set for an opera outing with Margaret, Shard didn’t waste the day’s time.

Now that The Chosen One’s identity is mostly confirmed, the most important task left is to decide whom to support as The Chosen One.

"That night, after ’helping’ Mrs. Jude in the barn and conversing with Mr. Albert, I inexplicably felt ’Guidance’ again. And Miss Les mentioned, the Sorrow of Blood scars on that vampire kind who died ten years ago all precisely avoided fatal areas at a scalpel level... That sword must be in Mr. Ptolemy Albert’s hand."

After exiting through the rear gate of Margaret’s Manor, Shard looked towards the direction of Spider Alley:

"From the beginning, Mr. Benhart suspected that sword was in the hands of his good friend. It seems Mr. Benhart noticed something."

He sighed but didn’t immediately head to Spider Alley, choosing to return to Belindel Manor first.

By sheer coincidence, as Shard returned, he ran into Iluna also visiting the manor.

She still carried Pale Justice with her, and when they ran into Emilia and Angelina, she handed the sword to the Elf Girl:

"You take it first, see if you can sense anything. Shard says your cold weapon fighting talent isn’t great, but you’ve learned a set of Elf Sword Dance in the Elven Ruins. Maybe the sword’s inherited techniques can help you."

Iluna knew Emilia was kind-hearted, which is why she dared to hand her the Angel-Level Relic.

The Elf Girl seemed overwhelmed with delight, compared to the "worldly-wise" Chosen of Balance Iluna, as this was one of the few Angel-Level Relics she’d encountered.

With the little Unicorn by their side, Shard wasn’t worried about the impact of the relic, so he and Iluna went to the estate’s study, where Luviya was already seated.

No one else came to disturb the meeting of the three, and after Shard sat down, he arranged the six coins he had brought from home on the table:

"[Pirate’s Blood Money], [Wrath of the Thunder God], [Egg of the King], two [Coin of Wisdom], and [Dragon Blood Coin]. Enough in quantity and quite diverse, with things developing to this point, I think there’s no need to economize."

Luviya nodded but didn’t rush into divination. Instead, she asked Iluna:

"How do you feel during this time in Moon Bay? What have you been busy with lately?"

The eighteen-year-old girl held her teacup, sipping the red tea:

"Moon Bay has become the seventh ’Land of Destiny,’ with relics increasing both inside the city and outside. Also, I have to regularly go outside the city or to the nearby islands and join the church’s squads to clear out the dragon nests set up by the [Dragon Feast Cult]. No one knows how they managed to create so many nests."

After a pause, she added:

"However, the travel allowance for coming to Moon Bay for business trips is really high... quite high."

Shard and Luviya laughed, and Shard continued to ask:

"Anything new from the church?"

"Yes, during the investigation of those cultists, the church has found definitive evidence proving they want to summon a god. Well, everyone actually already knows this."

She shook her head and looked at the snacks on the table after putting down her teacup. But considering her figure, she didn’t take any:

"Yesterday’s operation had a significant harvest. During the arrest, after killing a high priest from the [Dragon Feast Cult], the church’s Necromancy Squad learned before the spirit vanished that the location for the summoning is at the ancient ’Dragon Feast Sacrificial Ground.’

"Shard mentioned that the Church of the Five Great Deities seems unable to summon deities this time."

Luviya added, Iluna looked at Shard with surprise:

"Yes, Shard even knows this? So the church is under a lot of pressure this time, especially after the incident with the Dawn Church. I don’t know if those witches have told Shard, but the church wants to talk to you.

The fact that True Gods cannot temporarily come to the Material World is currently top secret among secrets. In our era, apart from those five True Gods, the remaining deities outside the Evil God faction might only be the ancient Moon Goddess behind the ’God Summoner.’

Actually, Iluna suspects the so-called ’ancient Moon Goddess’ might be Shard himself, especially since she and Luviya have never seen Shard sincerely pray to any deity. Shard also lacks holy emblems, divine statues, or religious texts. Sometimes they even feel Shard is an ’unbeliever,’ but since Shard doesn’t speak on it, they won’t bring up this matter.

"Has the church considered contacting believers of other evil gods? As far as I know, that deity devouring dragons has quite a few enemies."

Shard curiously asked again, Iluna immediately shook her head:

"Hostility towards cultists is one of the principles of the Church of the Five Gods. If trying to cooperate limitedly with cultists might shake the faith of some people, then calling upon evil gods to help the church would likely collapse the order. Helping people to rid themselves of cult influences and crushing the cult’s conspiracy is one of the fundamental reasons for the Church of the Five Gods’ existence.

Moreover, to my knowledge, the other deities in this era don’t have good relations with us either. Even if we took the risk to seek help, it wouldn’t yield any results."

"Shard, are you planning to communicate with the church?"

The girl with purple eyes asked curiously, but Shard refused without a second thought:

"I’m only Seventh Ring now; I won’t have any form of contact with the church. At most, I would let the witches or Iluna deliver a message, saying the ’God Summoner’ is ready anytime. Of course, this situation is indeed serious."

Seeing the worry on Shard’s face and recalling the results of last night’s divination with the witches, Luviya’s heart skipped a beat.

Just before she was about to speak, Iluna said lightly:

"It’s good like this too. I don’t support Shard directly contacting the church at this stage; at least until after reaching Twelve Rings. Yes, probably next year."

She smiled as she said this, and Shard didn’t forget to tell Iluna the good news:

"The recent Time Key has already ended, and I successfully acquired an Enlightenment Spirit Rune. Now I’m only missing the Ascension Words Rune and the Miracle. Regardless of the slowest situation, probably by the time the Chosen One of Light appears, I can obtain Miracle - Guidance."

"We’ve never worried about your situation."

The eighteen-year-old girl smiled brightly and then looked at the coins on the table:

"Before the divination, can I make a small request? Recently I’m learning an Arcane Technique related to Thunder, which might enhance my [Sunlight Gun]. Can I borrow the ’Wrath of the Thunder God’ for a while?"

"Of course you can."

Feeling she missed the topic, making it inappropriate to bring up ’Divine War’ and similar matters, Luviya handed the coin to Iluna:

"There are still five coins left; that’s enough. Shard, it’s up to you to decide what to divine.