Capítulo 1850: Chapter 1849: Fireside Night Talk

After the new space distortion appeared, it immediately launched an attack on Princess Lecia, who had already manifested the Ring of Fate behind her, while the parchment roll in her hand quickly began to burn:

“Sleeping Princess, Matchstick Girl.”

Two phantoms quickly became solid in the white mist, and the princess holding a spindle and the barefoot girl with a small basket appeared before Princess Lecia.

The Five-Ringed Ring of Fate slowly rotated behind her, corresponding Arcane Technique Spirit Runes flickering with extremely bright luster. Even Princess Lecia herself did not notice that her Ring of Fate completely overlapped with a similar but different phantom of a Ring of Fate, but the most important thing now was to defeat the enemy in front of her.

The space distortion drifted close to Princess Lecia, and the girl with the basket approached it. Behind Matchstick Girl, Princess Lecia took a deep breath and reached out to let the Sleeping Princess place her white lace-gloved hand atop hers.

The golden-haired Sleeping Princess transformed into a glow and entered Princess Lecia’s body; her attire quickly changed, her originally bright red dress gained decorations of sky-blue skirt trim, her long red hair showed gold highlights, her emerald eyes gained golden sparkles, and a golden spindle appeared in her hand.

Each Saturday taught by Shard imparted the power of the fairy tale, and both Princess and Miss Writer also felt much through Shard.

In the night fog, the space distortion did not make contact with Matchstick Girl but instead disappeared into thin air and appeared behind Princess Lecia, opening six arms attempting to embrace her. It did grab something, but in an instant, Princess Lecia and Matchstick Girl swapped positions, then the basket-toting girl became engulfed in flames, completely igniting the embedded spiritual body.

“Arcane Technique – Lullaby.”

The Spirit Rune [Slumber], already radiating light, burst forth with even more dazzling brilliance, as Princess Lecia let the spindle in her hand fall to the ground, forming a circular area centered on her feet, with a radius of twenty meters, entirely shrouded in a layer of gray mist. This mist mingled with the white fog, and the Draleon traditional nursery rhyme – Lullaby resonated, causing the struggling movements of the flame-ignited distorted spirit to slow a bit.

Yet it still stretched out one of its arms towards Princess Lecia, in an instant a soul curse made Princess Lecia’s movements stiffen briefly. Luckily, she lifted her hand to touch the Sage-Level Relic – [Saint’s Uncursing Stone] at her earlobe, then softly recited the Spell Words, Enlightenment – [Knight] glimmered, causing her shadow on the ground to grow longer.

In that shadow, a pitch-black figure on horseback leapt out, wielding a sword to slash at the burning spiritual body, briskly splitting it in two… the horse, somewhat resembled a cat.

Seeing the spellcasting succeed, Princess Lecia sighed in relief. She was nearly equivalent to two Five-Ring Sorcerers by herself, plus aided by Shard, she could maximize the use of fairy tale power without invoking Sublimation Incantation, thus surprising foes in this battle.

The battle seemed over, yet unexpectedly, mutation suddenly arose now. The burning basket-toting girl, unable to withstand the undead’s erosion, completely exploded, while Princess Lecia due to Arcane Technique backlash spat out a mouthful of blood. As the split burning distortion simultaneously swung an arm at the still-existing black knight, the knight was thus erased by the power of space.

Two halves of the body reapproached and fused together, flames still burning, six arms fully spread out, embracing toward Princess Lecia. The Red-Haired Princess, enduring a piercing headache, intended to spellcast again, when suddenly, from afar a familiar voice rang:

“Thunder Spear!”

White thunder streaked across the darkness, amid crackling roars, the thunder spear pierced through the white mist aimed at the Evil Spirit’s back.

The burning monster immediately vanished from its original spot, allowing the silvery thunder spear to fly directly toward Princess Lecia. Yet behind Princess Lecia, the distortion reappeared, six arms aimed at her enclosing inward.

In the oppressive white fog, the thunder spear’s explosion didn’t spread far. But the leaping electrical arcs still paralyzed the burning monster for a moment.

While in its front, pink crystals abruptly thrust from the smoke generated by the thunder spear explosion, directly impaling the distorted body, pinning it in place. Despite wielding chaotic space power, such a monster remained essentially a spiritual body, its greatest nemesis still Arcane Technique of soul power.

Through the smoke, Princess Lecia adorned with pink crystal trims on her skirt hem raised both hands high, pink crystal spikes piercing upward from the ground, sequentially fixing the distortion in place.

Simultaneously, with the dancing Red Butterfly appearing from afar, Shard and the doctor finally arrived. The roaring Flame Demon’s fire and the great sword slashing from the sky once more vanquished this entity not belonging to this world.

Having regrouped, Princess Lecia dismissed the sustaining Arcane Technique, stretched out her arms and embraced Shard, but Shard merely patted her back, then with the doctor, they looked up towards the window above.

Laplace Klein Howard still stood there, gazing down at the three.

“It’s alright, it’s alright.”

Shard gently comforted Princess Lecia, then signaled for her to let go:

“You all go ahead.”

The doctor looked at him somewhat surprised, seeing Shard’s serious expression, nodded. Princess Lecia, who had just reunited with Shard now tightly gripped Shard’s hand, unwilling to leave him alone, but Shard said:

“After that incident last time, didn’t you promise me? Follow my words, I’ll soon reunite with you all.”

“Last time” refers to when Dorothy attempted soul detachment with [Wraith Iron Coin], the adventurous acts of both. Subsequently, the whip Shard drew to separate them left an indelible memory on Princess Lecia.

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The princess’s body trembled briefly, then pursing her lips nodded, and with the doctor, departed along the path they had come before.

The man upstairs did not stop the two from leaving; he merely made a gesture of invitation to Shard from the window. Shard clasped the Night Watchman and stood still, waiting until the doctor and Lecia had indeed left before stepping out, appearing in the upstairs living room.

He was a bit tense originally, but when facing this man with a monocle up close, he realized something was off about him:

“Illusion?”

Laplace Klein Howard nodded:

“If I appeared directly in front of you, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind eliminating me immediately. Though you haven’t shown the strength of Thirteen Rings now, I’m a Diviner, I can see what is dangerous, and you’re even more dangerous than the rumors.”

He snapped his fingers, igniting the fireplace in the living room that hadn’t been lit in who knows how many years.

The leaping flames illuminated the profiles of the two men. The Diviner said to Shard:

“This is a good opportunity. I thought I’d have to wait until the end to talk to you, but surprisingly, we meet now. Even if you hadn’t shown up, I would’ve protected the Princess. That’s my sincerity.”

He proactively moved to the sofa next to the fireplace, while Shard asked:

“What do you want to talk about?”

“Some very interesting things. You must have many things you want to talk to me about too, right?”

Shard then walked over. The dirty sofa and coffee table were instantly cleaned by the Diviner, and they sat face-to-face on single sofas across the wooden coffee table. The Red Butterfly pendant belonging to Dorothy in Shard’s hand was dimming, indicating the doctor and Lecia had indeed left.

“What do you think about tonight’s events?”

Shard pointed upward, and the middle-aged man with the refined mustache but gray hair rested his hand on the back of the sofa:

“Green Lake Region, as the center position of unstable space in the Material World, has reached a certain limit in its unstable state. It’s easy to understand, no need to worry, it’s a natural phenomenon, one of the signs of the world heading toward Apocalypse. Neither you nor I can stop it; things will progressively get worse, and the situation at Green Lake will gradually occur all over the world.

Unless the Chosen of Space performs a ritual using the Ancient God’s power to temporarily suppress the situation in the Green Lake Region, it can be temporarily alleviated. Having experienced the Randall Valley incident, you should understand my meaning.”

He looked at Shard, who was frowning:

“I know what you’re thinking, but it has nothing to do with me. Moreover, if it weren’t for me repairing ancient rituals on this island to suppress space chaos during the past two hundred years, the disaster at Green Lake should have happened long ago. God Summoner, my goal is also to save this world.”

Shard looked at him:

“You’re trying to tell me you’re actually a good person, just misunderstood?”

The Diviner understood what he meant and could hear it was sarcasm:

“Are you Shard Hamilton?”

“Excuse me, what?”

“The Detective of Tobesk with Impermanence: Silver Moon, Balance, Darkness, Death, Knowledge, and Earth. I think you should know why I left the Prophet’s Society back then. Regarding the Impermanence Card, I’m probably the person who has studied it the deepest in this era. Since the Big City Player Rod Card Game in autumn 1853, I’ve been paying attention to that Detective. Because of Princess Lecia just now, I thought, could you be him?”

Shard asked:

“Since you knew about Shard Hamilton last year, why not meet him? Even if your real body can’t leave here easily, I think a clone or phantom shouldn’t be a problem.” 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The firelight shone on their profiles, the Diviner’s gaze was quite sharp:

“Because I am afraid.”

“Sorry, I still don’t understand.”

“Impermanence Cards, when I was young, I naively wanted to take them from the Society, but later realized why the Society wasn’t worried about them being stolen. Those cards can’t be obtained actively; it’s the cards that choose their master. So, Shard Hamilton, who has been chosen by six cards, what kind of person do you guess he is? Perhaps even the Prophet’s Society itself hasn’t understood this; they revere and fear that deck. But I understand, so I choose to peacefully wait here for the beginning of the Poem Chapter instead of stirring trouble.”