A week later.

The last tarot meeting in March came to an end, the light dissipated from view, and the seagulls crouched on a tavern sign opened their eyes.

Its eyes are very different from those of its counterpart, pale and shimmering in color, and it has a bare skeleton at the end of its wings, which looks as if it has lost its hair from illness or fighting.

Esther used her slender beak to tending to her wings that had been blown by the sea breeze as she thought back to the Tarot meeting just now.

The "world" had just told her that the investigation of the "Destiny Hermit Society" had enough information, and that the pass used by that organization had been handed over to the "Fool".

What Ester didn't know was that it was Klein who contacted Magic Mirror Arodus via telegraph, and the result was finally confirmed, and it would be very advantageous for her to join the organization.

And Arodus took this opportunity to beat her up quite doggedly with some small reports, such as that she and Amon had "known" as early as the Tingen period.

And Klein couldn't verify it these days, Miss Messenger told him that there was no way to confirm the location of the "light" through the spirit world, and Klein had to contact Esther through the "world", and conveyed the matter at the tarot meeting.

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

Esther spread her wings twice and flew above the tavern's sign, her gaze sweeping over the bustling market beneath her wings. Not far away, in the docks, a steamer leaves the shore and heads slowly to the sea in the afternoon sun.

She didn't stay in Telisi for long, but came to a port city on the coast of the sea, not far from Telis, but more pure, without getting close to the official Extraordinaries of Telis.

The "World" says that he has sacrificed the token of the Hermit Society of Destiny to Mr. "Fool", and that the "lover" can pray for it at any time. So Esther decided to find something to eat first, and then go back to the ceremonial place to see what the token was.

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

The brown-haired, egg-faced teenage girl walked into the kitchen and came out with a small plate of fries.

"Why are you here again? Hurry up and leave after eating, or Lewin will be angry again when he sees it. The brown-haired girl put the plate on the coffee table in the open air and reached out to touch the seagull's head, but was easily dodged by this particularly human seabird.

The seagull let go of a silver coin in its paws, winked innocently, and pushed the "meal fee" in the direction of the girl with her beak.

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

"Well, for this sake, I don't care. I really don't know how there can be such a smart seagull, and he still knows how to pay, could it be that someone taught you? ”

Esther also felt that she was too polite, and that she should imitate the real seagull and fly away after snatching someone else's meal.

But she didn't want to eat other people's leftovers, and she didn't want to move around in human form too often, and Esther had always felt a strong sense of unease since she met Amun, who parasitized Calwin.

Although her "spiritual instincts" were not explicitly forewarned, out of caution, Esther spent most of her time parasitic on birds. And the most inconspicuous near the coastline and near the harbor is, of course, the seagulls flying everywhere.

Esther couldn't hold back her playfulness.

Because Esther would crouch outside the café morning and evening, grabbing customers' chips, the attentive waiter soon noticed the seagull and noticed that it had rather strange physical features—pale eyes, exposed wings with sharp bones, and a beautiful pale golden feather at the back of its head.

After the first attempt to feed the seagull fries and the unexpected silver coin, the girl no longer chases away Esther, but instead receives the seagull as a bird customer, and secretly hides the "tip" from the boss or the cook.

After mumping on the fries at the coffee table in the open air, Esther chirped twice to alert the waiter before spreading her wings and flying away.

The seagulls gradually rose up, and soon blended in with the flocks of birds hovering along the shoreline, hiding their presence.

——

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

During the two days she was in town, she heard or saw a lot of things as a bird, from the tavern's lady climbing onto a guest's bed, to the seemingly harmonious couple cursing each other for their deaths while having a tryst with their lover, to the hooligans at the docks threatening the underground industry to pay protection money, and the sailors sleeping on the streets because they were drunk, and having their wallets robbed......

Seagulls are just seagulls and don't need to understand human behavior, Esther just quietly watches in front of a bystander.

Naturally, what she learned also included gossip about the family who had lived here and who had died a tragic death because of an evil spirit.

So Esther came here and hid her satchel by the flowerbed at the back of the empty house, and with the help of the messy grass and the rocks she had brought in, she kept everything here and there, so that she didn't have to drag it around.

Esther also left a few dots of light here, allowing the ring to wrap around the satchel and use the "lucky" ability to protect her remaining belongings from being discovered.

Esther landed on the stone and broke away from the parasitic seagull.

The seagull's anomalous features quickly reverted back to its original form, and it still stood in place blankly, winking at Esther, a laurel-colored light emerging from under its eyes.

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

The "parasitic" ability of the points of light is more like a poor imitation of Esther, only in the creatures that have been parasitized by Esther for a long time, she can make the points of light stay for a short time, but because they do not have a particularly organized intelligence, these points of light can only perform some simple instructions.

Even after parasitizing living beings, they are unable to convey complex emotions and do not have any language skills to communicate. Only some of the instincts and perceptions that resemble animals show unconditional obedience and affection for Esther.

"Wait here for me, and fly away when you feel the danger."

Esther touched the seagull's head, and after the seagull pecked her fingers to show that she understood, Esther picked up the stone, took out the satchel hidden in the shallow pit below, and carried it again.

She walked straight to the dilapidated house, which had been empty for a long time, and Esther had surveyed the "haunted house" when she had arrived the day before.

The floor and the damaged furniture were covered in a layer of ash, and no one had set foot in it for at least several months, fearing that it would cause another disturbance in the spirit world and attract the other Amun, so Esther did not try any more divination.

She didn't believe in the haunting here, and it was more likely that the family had suffered an extraordinary event, and the official extraordinary person had belatedly arrived, and the family had died under unknown circumstances.

The site was clearly treated, with traces of accumulation and burning behind the house, and a large amount of ash near the ground, which had thickened the soil almost an entire layer.

The room was also scorched by some kind of force, and there were charred patches everywhere, although the residual effects had almost dissipated, but Esther deduced by her sense that it had been cleaned by the "Church of the Eternal Sun".

This is one of the reasons why she deduces that there has been an extraordinary event.

Her shoes were dusty, but they didn't leave many deep footprints, and Esther would steal some of the "gravity" before entering the place, so that she wouldn't leave too many traces.

She didn't want to spoil the desolate atmosphere and let others discover too many anomalies, so she didn't just steal the dust.

The room had a basement, and it was the emptiest and most visible place in the whole room, leaving nothing behind.

It's a good fit for Esther's ceremony.

If there really is an "evil spirit" running out, Esther would prefer to catch the other party and study it - she really wants to see if she can parasitic spirits.

Esther stole the dust from the basement floor, quickly set up the prayer ritual, and bowed her head deeply again in front of the wind-swept temple of the gods, now knowing why she had such a strong fear of the spirit world.

In addition to being influenced by "Zoya", Esther's body is also prone to signs of collapse when approaching the spirit realm, and if it weren't for the "pale bone nail", she would have gotten into big trouble last time.

When the door of the spirit realm closed, Esther raised her head again and picked up the eyeball-sized badge from the ground, which faintly radiated spiritual light.

The front of the badge is engraved with symbols corresponding to "fate" and "concealment", and the two are combined. The back is smoother, with a small Old Hermean inscription on it: "Hold this and join it." ”

According to the methods that "World" said before, Esther infused spirituality into this badge, and the next moment, a strong spiritual light erupted on the badge in her hand.

Esther's heart tightened, and she threw it out with her backhand, spreading her hands, ready to steal the blast at any moment.

It was just an instinctive reaction on her part, and the "spiritual intuition" did not portend any danger.

So Esther finally had to pick up the badge again.

The ancient Hermetic language behind it has changed to "June 6, 1350, at the mouth of the Tasok River at 9 p.m.", and it is not even April, and there is still a long way to go before the next meeting of the organization.

Esther touched her chin and wondered how she could help the "world" search for clues, maybe she could ask about the blasphemer and see how the people inside reacted...... It would be nice to have information.

Esther did not consider the possibility that this issue might cause a collective panic, or rather, ignored the vicious persecution of this pathway.

Putting away the token of the Hermit of Destiny, Esther began to write to Klein again, informing him as briefly as possible of her situation.

She didn't mention meeting the doppelganger of Amon.

(End of chapter)