The Singels' home in Stonebug is located on the south side of Uptown, close to the city's liveliest Stoker Fountain Square, but relatively quiet. River Singal spent a lot of money to buy this house with the most beautiful rose garden in the city, but in the past two years, he has rarely returned. The stocky Dorian Ken had succeeded his father, meticulously keeping everything in order, showing no signs of desertion, but occasionally feeling a little lonely and sad as he walked through the empty corridors and courtyards every day.

When Ed Singall, dressed in a white robe, jumped out of a carriage and suddenly appeared in front of Dorian, the young butler was not happy for a long time when he was grabbed by the young master he had not seen for a long time and dragged into the room, and pleaded eagerly: "Help me drag the iron shell outside...... No, paladin, you can hold on for as long as you can! I'll be back as soon as I can!"

Dorian nodded blankly, and looked at Ed, who had hurriedly changed his clothes, as he ran away through the back door.

- Before he could ask Young Master Singhal what he wanted for lunch......

The lonely butler looked at Ed's distant back, and once again fell into the sadness that this season always tends to produce.

Ed was glad to see Dorian again, but at the moment, he really didn't have much time to care about the young butler's mood. On the way back to the temple, he was troubled for a while, and then he thought that he could use the vague and difficult reason of "I want to go home" to temporarily avoid the priests and paladins in the temple and squeeze out a little time to move freely.

Again as a "rich young master with nothing to do". Walking down the streets of Stonebuch unnoticed made him feel extremely relaxed. He was sure that even if the people here knew that "Ed Singal had become a saint", few would recognize him as Ed. Especially on a bustling street, who would pay attention to the hurried, ordinary black-haired young man in the shadows on the side of the street?

But having to put down the Staff of Eternity made him feel like something was missing in his hand, and his left hand always couldn't help but clench into a fist. Although it wasn't long before I had that cane...... And it may not really belong to him, but it feels like it has become an integral part of him.

He even began to worry that the slender cane he had hidden in his room would disappear when he returned...... Maybe he should have given the cane to Dorian for safekeeping...... No, maybe it should be wrapped up in something and brought out......

The pace slowed down unconsciously. Ed felt the urge to turn around and run back for a moment, but Guriam Street was already in sight.

After a moment's hesitation, Ed gave up his intention to go back. Keep moving forward.

Near the end of Gillium Street, there is a winding alley that leads to the famous Old Street Market in Stonebuch.

If he's going to the Old Street Market, Ed will definitely change into something a little more understated. Unless he wants to be stolen, there is not a single copper coin left. was even dragged into some stinking corner, and even the clothes that weren't worth much money were stripped away.

But this little alley, called Evening Primrose Alley, was a place under the management of certain forces that welcomed a rich young master like him, and could keep him - and his money bag safe, but ...... It was his first time here.

If Vala knew that he had run here alone......

There was a strange scent in the air, faintly dizzy. Ed tried not to squint his eyes forward, despite the time. There were hardly any people in the alleys, and most of the doors along the streets were lazily half-open and half-closed...... It's like the placket of the women who are occasionally seen leaning against the door.

When you accidentally see something. Ed blushed involuntarily.

Tess must have teased him ten thousand times for this, but he didn't feel at all a shame that he lacked certain experiences.

River once tried to bring him here, and persuaded him that some necessary communication had to take place in such a place...... For the first time in his life, and probably the only time in his life, Ed blackened his face at his father.

Vala never let her husband see her tears for him, but Ed did—a place where he could never forgive his father. As he grew older, he realized that he had to tolerate and forgive many things, and realized that his parents still loved each other and loved him dearly, no matter how much argument and hurt there were...... River's betrayal is still an old wound he can't talk to any of his friends.

Some things, once broken, never return to their original perfection. He could only pretend not to care.

But in the bottom of his heart, he swore to himself that if he could marry the woman he loved, he would never do anything to make her sad and cry.

He never imagined that he would one day come here on his own initiative...... I hope he can really get something.

At the first turn in the alley, a sign picked out in front of a shop showed a wood-carved pigeon with wings spreading, which looked a little black in the humid air.

Grey Dove - Ed looked up to confirm the name of the shop, and plunged headlong into the half-open wooden door.

He didn't have much time to spend here...... Hopefully, Dorian will succeed in holding down Lowell, the silent paladin, before he returns.

The light behind the door is dim, and the wooden ladder upwards is a passage that only allows one person to walk, and I don't know where it leads. Ed was standing at the foot of the wooden ladder hesitating which way to go, when a sleepy question floated above his head, "Did you go the wrong way or remember the wrong time, little one?"

Ed looked up, and a pale, emaciated black-haired woman poked her head out of the wooden ladder and squinted at him and smiled lazily. Her delicate countenance did not match the expression on her face at all, but it seemed to have a strange attraction.

Ed's cheeks, which had only cooled down a little, quickly became hot again, and he stumbled, "I'm looking for ...... Mogi, Mogi Ramsden......"

The woman's eyes widened, glanced at him lightly, and hooked her fingers at him.

"Come up. She said.

Ed honestly ran up the wooden ladder with his head down.

The woman dragged him to a door on the third floor, knocked lightly at a certain rhythm, and then turned away, without even saying a word to him.

In the open door, another woman, who was obviously no longer young, but still charming, raised an eyebrow at Ed and smiled, and while he was still in a daze, she reached out neatly and pulled him into the room, slamming the door shut.

But that's obviously all she's doing. The woman lazily fell back onto the soft couch by the window, not saying a word, not even a curious look.

Ed was a little overwhelmed. He had already followed the instructions on the note that had been thrown into his carriage...... And then? It's not going to be some kind of bad joke, is it?

But who would have known that the Sage who saw the name on the inscription would come alone and not surround the place with a team of paladins?

After hesitating, there was another knock on the door, and Ed turned around and watched as the woman jumped up and opened the door, welcoming the new guests, both in their movements and on their faces, but they were much more respectful.

She slipped out the door quietly. A familiar face appeared in front of him, and Ed unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

He didn't know what to call him here...... Baie Jan, the man who was no longer a paladin, still had a gloomy gaze and stepped aside with a cold face.

Behind him, a man of medium stature, with hair slightly reddened like Ante, but with a pair of sharp gray eyes, nodded slightly to Ed.

"First meeting...... I'm Telina Bofford. ”.

Ed had heard of Tellina of the Boford family, Duke of Kirk. As the youngest brother of the previous king, he was one of the closest people to the throne of Lutgar, but he suddenly withdrew from the final war, thus saving his life, his title, and most of his territory.

Despite the fact that her power and influence are clearly not as strong as before, Tyliner's arrogant and stubborn personality has not changed in the slightest. Less than two years after Ante's coronation, Teliner openly declared that the privileges granted to the Temple by His Majesty were disrespectful to other gods, and in the years since, he has almost spared no effort in attacking the growing power of the Temple, and Sean Fletcher has ignored the arrogance and arrogance of royal power, as well as Ante's "weak connivance...... He was not arrogant enough to accuse the Sage Felicity.

"However, it's just lip service, and you don't need to care. ”

When Browder mentions Tellina to Ed, he says it lightly.

And at this moment, Ed suspects that things may not be so simple.

It's just that if he had known that the person Bye had brought him to see would be Tyliner, he might have thought about it a little more...... Perhaps someone who could boldly throw a note into the Sage's carriage in the courtyard of Lockburg should have thought about it.

Whether or not Telina was just "talking", his disrespect for the Temple of Water and King Ante was well known, and as the Sage of the Water God, it was not easy to explain that he sneaked up to meet him, and once discovered.

- But even if he just came to see Baie, it wasn't something to explain to anyone.

Ed suppressed a wry smile in his heart, tried his best to face the strange royal family who did not know whether they were friends or foes, and said calmly: "I think you know what I am here for...... My lord. ”

"Of course, sir. Telina looked directly at Ed without respect, and his simple address to him was clearly meaningful—he did not recognize Ed as the Sage of the Water God.

There was a bitter taste in his mouth, but Ed knew that now was not the time to care.

"If there's anything you can say about Master Sean Fletcher, please let me know. He said straight to the point, and the earnest gaze was absolutely real in a sense.

"I appreciate your dedication to the truth. Tellina sat down slowly, straightening his already neat clothes, "But I don't know if you have the courage to accept the truth." ”.

(To be continued......)