Lord of Mysteries: Yao Guang

One week later.

The last Tarot session in March came to an end, the light dissipated from the eyes, and the seagull crouching on a tavern sign opened its eyes.

Its eyes were very different from those of its kind, and were light and shimmering in color. There was a section of exposed bone at the end of its wings, and it looked as if it had lost its hair due to illness or a fight.

Esther used her long and slender beak to take care of the wing feathers that were blown by the sea breeze while thinking about what happened in the tarot meeting just now.

"The World" just told her that it had enough information about the investigation of "The Hermits of Destiny" and had handed over the pass used by that organization to "The Fool".

What Esther didn't know was that Klein contacted Magic Mirror Arrods through the telegraph machine and finally confirmed that it would be very beneficial for her to join this organization.

And Arrodes took this opportunity to tell her a bit of a story, for example, she and Amon had "known each other" as early as the Tingen period.

And Klein has been unable to verify it these days. The messenger lady told him that it is no longer possible to confirm the location of the "light" through the spirit world. Klein had to use the "world" to contact Esther. During the Tarot meeting, Conveyed this matter.

If it weren't for the fact that the light ball on the gray fog was not abnormal, but had become even brighter in the past few days, Klein would have been worried that Esther had fallen into some danger again.

Esther stretched her wings twice, flew up from the sign of the tavern, and scanned the bustling market under her wings. In the dock area not far away, a steam liner left the shore and slowly sailed toward the sea under the afternoon sun.

She did not stay in Dilis for too long, but came to a port city on the coast of the Sea of ​​​​Jianhai. It was not far from Dilis, but it was cleaner and did not have to have close contact with the official extraordinary people of Dilis.

"The World" said that he had sacrificed the tokens of the Destiny Hermits to Mr. Fool, and "lovers" could pray for them at any time. So Esther decided to find something to eat first, and then go back to decorate the ceremony place and take a look at what the token was.

The seagull flew to the window of a small cafe and tapped the glass with its beak, attracting the attention of the young female clerk inside.

The brown-haired, oval-faced girl walked into the kitchen and came out shortly after holding a small plate of French fries.

"Why are you here again? Hurry up and leave after eating, otherwise Levante will be angry again." The brown-haired girl put the plate on the outdoor coffee table and reached out to touch the seagull's head, but was struck by this The particularly humane seabird easily dodged.

The seagull let go of a silver coin in its paws, blinked innocently, and pushed the "meal money" towards the girl with its mouth.

The girl's lips immediately grinned, she quickly wiped the silver coin twice, stuffed it into the inside of her underwear, and hid it very tightly:

"Okay, for this reason, I don't care. I really don't know how there is such a smart seagull, and he actually knows how to pay. Did someone teach you?"

Esther also felt that she was too polite. She should imitate the real seagull more and fly away after grabbing other people's meals.

But she didn't want to eat other people's leftovers, and she didn't want to move around frequently in human form. Ever since she met Amon, who was parasitic on Galwen, Esther had always felt a strong sense of uneasiness.

Although her "spiritual intuition" gave no clear warning, out of caution, Esther spent most of her time parasitic on birds. The most inconspicuous thing close to the coastline and next to the port is of course the seagulls flying everywhere.

Esther couldn't hold back her playfulness.

Because Esther would squat outside the cafe morning and night, frequently grabbing French fries from customers, the attentive waiter soon noticed the seagull and also discovered that it had a rather strange physical feature - Qian Lian The eyes, the wings with exposed tip bones, and the beautiful pale golden feathers on the back of the head.

After trying to feed the seagull French fries for the first time and unexpectedly receiving silver coins, the girl no longer chased Esther away. Instead, she treated the seagull as an avian customer and gave her "tip" Hidden secretly from the boss or chef.

After finishing her fries on the outdoor coffee table, Esther chirped twice, alerting the waiter, and then spread her wings and flew away.

The figure of the seagull gradually rose up, and soon blended into the flock of birds hovering on the coastline, hiding its presence.

——

Esther hid her satchel in an abandoned empty house on the outskirts of the city.

During the two days she was active in the town, she heard or saw a lot of things as a bird, from the tavern owner's wife climbing into a guest's bed, to a seemingly harmonious couple secretly trying to meet their lover while cursing each other's death. , gangsters who came to the dock threatened the underground industry to hand over protection fees, sailors slept on the streets because they were drunk, and their wallets were taken away...

Seagulls are just seagulls and do not need to understand human behavior. Esther is just a seagull watching quietly.

What she learned naturally included the gossip about the family who used to live here and how they died miserably due to encountering evil spirits.

So Esther came here decisively and hid her satchel next to the flower garden behind the empty house. With the help of the messy grass and moved stones, she collected everything here so that she didn't have to drag it everywhere.

Esther also left a few spots of light here, letting the ring surround her bag, and used her "lucky" ability to protect her remaining belongings from being discovered.

Esther flew down on the stone, and then escaped from the parasitized seagull.

The abnormal features on the seagull quickly changed back to their original state. It still stood there blankly, blinking at Esther, and a laurel-colored light emerged from its eyes.

What now occupies this seagull and controls its body are the light spots in Esther's hair.

The "parasitism" ability of the light spots is more like a parody of Esther. Only on the creatures that have been parasitized by Esther for a long time, she can make the light spots stay for a short time, but because she does not have particularly organized wisdom, , these light spots can only execute some simple instructions.

Even after parasitizing organisms, they are unable to convey complex emotions and do not have any language ability to communicate. Only some of the instincts and perceptions that approximate those of animals show unconditional obedience and intimacy to Esther.

"Wait for me here. If you feel in danger, fly away."

Esther touched the seagull's head, and after the seagull pecked her finger to show her understanding, Esther picked up the stone, dug out the satchel hidden in the shallow pit below, and carried it again.

She walked directly to the dilapidated house that had been empty for a long time. When she arrived here the day before yesterday, Esther had inspected the situation of this "haunted house".

The ground and damaged furniture were covered with a layer of dust. No one had set foot here for at least several months. For fear of causing another disturbance in the spiritual world and attracting other Amon, Esther did not try any more divination.

She didn't quite believe that this place was haunted. It was more likely that the family had encountered extraordinary events, and the official extraordinary person had been late in arriving, and the whole family had died under unknown circumstances.

The site had obviously been treated. There were signs of objects being piled up and burned behind the house. There was a large amount of ash near the ground, making the soil almost thickened by a whole layer.

There are also traces of being burned by some kind of force inside the house, and there are scorched black patches everywhere. Although the residual influence has almost dissipated, Esther inferred from her feelings that this place had been cleaned by the "Eternal Blazing Sun Church". Fan.

This was one of the reasons why she concluded that something extraordinary had happened.

Her shoes stepped on the dust, but did not leave deep footprints. Before entering here, Esther would steal part of the "gravity" so that she would not leave too many traces.

She didn't want to ruin the desolate atmosphere here and let others discover too many abnormalities, so she didn't steal the dust directly.

There is a basement in this house, which is also the emptiest and most scorched place in the house. Nothing is left.

It was quite suitable for Esther to arrange the ceremony.

If there is really an "evil spirit" running out, Esther would rather catch it and study it - she really wants to try to see if it can parasitize a spirit body.

Esther stole the dust on the basement floor and quickly arranged the prayer ceremony. She once again bowed her head deeply in front of the wind-swept temple of the gods. She now knew why she had such a strong desire for the spirit world. of fear.

In addition to being affected by "Zoya", Esther's body is also prone to signs of collapse when approaching the spirit world. If it weren't for the "pale bone nail", she would have been in big trouble last time.

After the door to the spirit world closed, Esther raised her head again and picked up the eyeball-sized badge from the ground, which vaguely exuded spiritual light.

The front of the badge is engraved with the corresponding symbols of "destiny" and "hiddenness", which are combined together. The back is designed to be smoother, with small ancient Hermetic words engraved on it: "If you hold this object, you can join."

Following the method "The World" mentioned before, Esther poured spirituality into the badge, and the next moment, the badge in her hand erupted with strong spiritual light.

Esther's heart tightened, and she threw it out with her backhand, spreading her hands, ready to steal the impact of the explosion at any time.

This was just her instinctive reaction, and her "spiritual intuition" did not indicate any danger.

So Esther finally had to pick up the badge again.

The ancient Hermetic language behind it has changed to "9 o'clock in the evening on June 6, 1350, at the mouth of the Tasok River." It is not even April yet, and there is still a lot of time before the next meeting of this organization.

Esther touched her chin and thought about how she could help "The World" search for clues. Maybe she could ask for information about "The Blasphemer" and see how the people inside would react... It would be better if she could get information.

Esther completely failed to consider the possibility that this issue might cause collective panic, or in other words, she ignored the severe persecution this avenue suffered.

After putting away the token of the Destiny Hermitage, Esther began to write a letter to Klein again, informing him of her current situation as "briefly" as possible.

She didn't mention meeting the Amon clone.