Before leaving Lockburg, Ed went out of his way to thank Moira, thanking her for remembering to find someone to draw the star map for him in the midst of the chaos. Moira sat by the window and smiled at him, but even the sunlight couldn't add a little more color and warmth to her pale face.

Ed stopped talking, but Moira saw through his worries.

"Don't worry. She told him, "I'm going to live well." ”

Such a conversation seems to have been ...... in the past Ed was silent for a few moments, then bowed deeply. He saw exhaustion and confusion in her calm and almost empty eyes, but he also saw the tenacity beneath the confusion.

She is not a tree that stands tall in the sky, but she is also not a vine that grows by clinging. Even if the dead leaves are all gone, and only the jagged branches remain, the roots are still deeply rooted in the soil.

.

Beneath Lockburg, the once noisy city of Ten Thousand Springs is silent, except for the murmuring of water. Ed sat on the steps of Stoke Fountain Square for a few moments, until he realized that the few people who had hurried past it, almost without exception, had cast him almost horrified looks, and then remembered that this was also the place where the priest of the goddess of dawn uttered that ominous prophecy.

He stood up silently, knowing that he should return to Neo as soon as possible, but for some reason he still lingered.

He unconsciously walked to the door of the temple of the god of water. The gate was open, but unguarded, and in the empty hall there were two worshippers sitting cross-legged on the ground, motionless like stone sculptures. A young priest came in from behind as he looked at the statue of Ni'o, but as if he didn't know him, he just looked at him and left on his own.

There's someone else here - this recognition inexplicably reassures Ed. He walked down the long hallway into the backyard, still unhindered. The courtyard in early autumn is not bleak, but it is clearly a mess that has been left unattended for a long time. Thin vines grew madly across the white-stone paths, and rotting and blackened leaves were scattered around the flower beds. Ed walked aimlessly, looking up slightly startled.

He walked outside Brooke Xiuan's study.

It had been a long time since he had remembered the old priest with his strange blue-purple eyes. He had been filled with anger and guilt at his death, thinking that it was a crime committed by Sean Fletcher, but since Felicity, who had been summoned by Is, did not mention it, the old priest probably really died of old age and infirmity...... Now that I think about it, it can even be considered a kind of luck.

He should no longer disturb the peace of the deceased. But he took two steps and stepped back, reaching out to push the door.

The door is closed...... But not locked from the outside.

Ed stared at the closed door, almost creepy. He glanced left and right, suspecting that behind the lush vegetation, it was not that no one was staring at him, but he still knocked on the crack of the door, listened to the soft sound of the wooden bolt behind the door, and then pushed the door in.

Everything is still as it is here. For a moment, Ed almost thought he could see the white-haired priest sitting behind his desk and looking up at him.

He blinked, looking away. There was a faint musty smell in the enclosed room, which was unavoidable in the humid south, but beyond the musty smell, there seemed to be another thing that could not be said to be a taste or a feeling, wafting into the air as if it were nothing.

That's something he's just been exposed to...... It was the smell of Nia Meyer's deformed body, like nitrated leather.

Has Nia been here?...... What is he doing here?

With this question in mind, he carefully surveyed the room. Brooke's study is small and is a place he usually uses to receive private visitors. Rows of shelves are mostly books on his favorite plants, and on the walls are herbarium inlaid in frames......

Ed walked over to the table. The book on the table with a dark green cover was carefully wrapped in a copper corner, and the gold leaf that had fallen off was embedded with the title of the book that Ed had never heard of—"The Mirror in the Distance".

It doesn't sound like a sorcery book, but rather some kind of note or history......

Ed walked around to the other side of the table. He remembered how Brooke's death was described—he sat there, his head hanging quietly, one hand still resting on the book closed in front of him, as if he had been so exhausted after a long night of reading that he had fallen asleep before he knew it, and never woke up again.

Ed hesitated for a moment, then sat down slowly, scratching his fingertips and pressing his hand to the book in front of him.

This is impulsive and rude, it is nothing short of blasphemy against the dead, and it is extremely dangerous...... But at this moment, he couldn't help but want to know the answer.

The incantation was jerky and strange, and the blood from his fingertips dissipated into a cloud of blood mist before it could drip off, disappearing into the air and seeping into the heavy book cover under his fingers. A gust of wind came from nowhere, cold and sticky.

Ed looked up, and in a trance he heard some kind of very regular sound. In his eyes, everything in the room seemed to be immersed in water, twisted and shaky, dazzling in some places, and deep shadows in others.

He saw the door he had closed with his hand open again, and someone walked in, approaching step by step, the half-old white robe glowing with a rotten gray, but the indifferent face was unusually clear.

He heard what he was saying...... Or maybe that's not him. He tried so hard to distinguish that he couldn't make out a single word. The man standing at his desk suddenly reached out and pressed it to his face.

He broke free suddenly, tried to lean back, and sat down in his chair in a cold sweat. And in front of him, Icabold Beria's face was gloomy, and his eyes, which had never been able to distinguish emotions, stared at him coldly for a long time before he spoke.

"Remarkable. "I don't know where you learned it," he said...... But who gave you the audacity to use necromancy in the temple of the god of water?"

Ed didn't speak. His heart was still pounding, fast and heavy, and almost his whole body was shaking with it. He had to lower his eyes, a look of panic and guilt to hide his disbelief - he couldn't tell whether what he had just seen was past or present.

This is indeed necromancy...... Allows him to see what the deceased saw in the last moments before he died. So, before Brooke died...... Has Icabold been here?

What he saw and heard was so vague that it was like a dream. But he didn't have time to think about it now. The middle-aged pastor's eyes were as sharp as he had ever been, and he couldn't tell if it was because a hidden secret had been discovered, or because he was angry because of his audacity.

“...... How did you know I was here?"

It was a long time before he reluctantly asked.

"Have you tried to hide your whereabouts?" asked Icabard, rhetorically, "Besides, even if there is no one left here, it is never a place for trespassing. ”

He turned away, not giving Ed another chance to speak.

"Follow me. He said, "Sean wants to see you." ”

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