Chapter 1387

"This relic, is it just a distraction?"

"It is also possible that it has to do with the contract between the devil and Osenfort. But whether it's a distraction or not, the relic is not important. What is important is that its behavior actually exposes how much it values Osenfort's soul."

The doctor thought for a moment and asked Xia De again:

"Are you sure you are prepared to immediately banish his soul after killing Stone Osenfort?" "Yes, triple insurance: the photo, the nun, and the guilty sinner; my helpers are all in place." The doctor then didn't ask any more:

"Friday night, you still carry this dagger, but don't use it lightly." "I understand; actually, this dagger has other uses for me here."

Xia De looked at the weapon lying on the table; after all, this is also a relic that can absorb a certain kind of energy. Once the current 【Blasphemous Cross】 collapses, there will be no need to rush to find the next weapon.

"That devil is really rich, being able to give away such things so casually." Xia De muttered another sentence, and the doctor looked at Xia De:

"After all, it is an ancient demon that has been active for a long time; it must have some valuable things in its hands. Oh, speaking of which, didn't it promise you that it would give you some things after you completed the commission? It would be better if you could get them yourself; if you can't get them, after I eliminate it, those things will all belong to you. Just like before, I only want the devil itself."

Xia De nodded, though in his heart he was thinking about whether to add a fourth layer of insurance to this matter. 【What do you want to do?】

"If Osenfort's soul is snatched away by a more powerful existence in advance, what will happen..."

Because he went to Dr. Schneider's place, it was already nearly eleven o'clock in the morning when Xia De arrived in Randall Valley.

He first went to the Abundant Earth Inn, but didn't find Ms. Marilyn Handel. Fortunately, she left a message for Xia De before leaving the inn; when Xia De found her in the abandoned house after the fire in Rat Alley in the West City, she was sending an evil spirit away.

That evil spirit had the appearance of disheveled hair; Xia De originally thought it was a woman, but after getting closer, he realized it was a young man.

He was roaring in front of the wall that had been burned black after the fire, his whole body emitting a miserable green light, and the entire house was shaking because of this. But Ms. Marilyn Handel and Joey Barton, who was standing beside her, both had expressionless looks.

Surging black mist appeared above their heads, and dense black chains stretched out from the black mist, locking the long-haired evil spirit until it was dragged into the mist.

The end of that black mist was the true destination of the soul.

Once everything was over, Ms. Handel turned to greet Xia De, and Xia De felt that the curse on her and Joey Barton had lightened by a very small degree:

"This skill looks truly amazing."

Although Xia De could also open a passage to true death, he had to let the soul walk in voluntarily, unlike what he just saw, being able to unconditionally send an evil spirit away directly.

Ms. Handel shook her head slightly:

"This is us atoning for our sins... Are you sure about the time of action?"

"Yes, the day after tomorrow, which is Friday night; the location is Osenfort Manor. Friday morning, I will leave this card with you." He displayed the 【Origin · Death】 that originally belonged to Joey Barton:

"Once this card disappears from your hands, you will enter the manor directly to find me. Of course, I will try my best to place the battlefield in the manor's courtyard rather than inside the building, to ensure you can arrive immediately."

"No problem."

Ms. Marilyn Handel and Joey Barton said together, and Xia De looked around again: "Speaking of which, what is going on here?"

This house had experienced a great fire; although the house itself was severely damaged, and even the stairs from the first floor to the second floor where they were currently located were broken, it should still be habitable if renovated slightly. When Xia De came over, he had also inquired with the children at the entrance of the alley; the fire was about two years ago.

"Two years ago, a great fire at night burned to death the seven members of the merchant's family who lived here. The man just now was the eldest son of the master of the house; he should have inherited the family

business. He was unwilling to leave like this, which is why he turned into an evil spirit."

Joey Barton explained; he knew what Xia De wanted to ask, so he reached out and sketched in front of him, and the illusion of the spirit body revealed the situation that night.

The white mist dissipated at Joey Barton's fingertips, and the phantom of Rat Alley at night appeared. Xia De heard slight footsteps, and then a group of masked people appeared in the scene; they directly opened the door with keys and then rushed in carrying oil barrels. Five or six minutes later, they quickly left through the door, and the great fire soon engulfed the house.

"The local police spent two weeks investigating and arresting the murderers after that; the ringleader was sentenced to death, and the others were all sentenced to life imprisonment. But there is evidence proving that after they stayed in prison for half a year, they were released on bail one after another for various bizarre reasons, and then changed their names and smuggled themselves into Deraerion. Among them, there were figures of big shots from Willondale."

Ms. Marilyn Handel said, and finally added:

"The soul's memory shows that this family had business conflicts with Stone Osenfort while they were alive." "I understand, removing stumbling blocks."

Xia De nodded and looked at this burned-out bedroom. The metal bed frame still remained, but it was already black. It seemed that Ms. Handel and Joey Barton had also conducted quite a lot of investigations into Stone Osenfort when Xia De didn't know. For example, the whereabouts of that group of people certainly couldn't be known by an evil spirit trapped here.

"From your perspective, what kind of person is Stone Osenfort?" Xia De asked curiously.

Ms. Handel replied:

"We have encountered souls in this city who were quite familiar with Osenfort. Osenfort is irritable, evil, and greedy, but he also deeply loves Hela Osenfort. This is a very ordinary person, just like most people, nothing special."

Hearing the adjective "ordinary," Xia De raised an eyebrow, but thinking about it carefully, he indeed had a dual nature just like most people. It's just that the evil side was simply too strong.

Bidding farewell to Ms. Handel, Xia De met Sister Devlin at the local Snake Heart Hospital at noon that day.

The Snake Heart Hospital belongs to a semi-official charitable organization that can basically be found throughout the Old Continent, surviving on donations raised by the 【Spirit Cultivation Sect】, donations from various places, and appropriations given by the authorities. And the hospital provides free services for women to give birth, or handles illnesses for women and children in slums, so it has a quite good reputation in the eyes of ordinary people.

And the Snake Heart Hospital in Randall Valley, like the Stonemason Association, is located in the Old City, and is even on the same street as the Peace Church, which Xia De thought was quite bold.

When Xia De met the nun wearing a silver eye patch, Miss Aurora happened to be there too. And her niece and apprentice, Miss Haley Aurora, acted as a maid, standing by to prepare tea for the two and waiting for orders at any time.

Seeing Xia De open the door and walk in, the witch with beautiful long brown wavy hair smiled and said:

"Since Xia De is here, he must have something to say to the nun. Then Haley and I will leave for a while; Xia De, we will wait for you downstairs, and we will go back to Bernice's manor for lunch in a while."

"No problem."

Xia De nodded and watched the witch and the girl, who still blushed a little when she saw Xia De, leave. Once the office door was closed, the nun standing in front of the window said in a quite flat tone:

"Xivi Aurora came here nominally for the sake of donating to the hospital, but actually brought the Council's order, or rather, a request."

"I haven't asked them yet, what does the Council think of the First Candidate—the Guardian this time? Although he was identified as male by the witches, at least it included Miss Lathers' father. And Miss Lathers is the deputy leader of the Golden Dawn Opera Troupe under the Council, so theoretically speaking, this Chosen One even has a direct connection with the Council."

With her back to the sunlight behind her, the shadow on Sister Devlin's face was interesting. She put her hands together in front of her and shook her head slightly at Xia De:

"The message brought by Xivi Aurora is that the Great Witches of the Council believe that if there is a chance, it is best to directly let Miss Lathers become the

Chosen One."

She paused:

"Of the four Chosen Ones who have appeared and survived so far, Balance and I are both women. Although Galina Cavendish didn't directly reveal it, she has been teaching Balance recently, but she still said that her relationship with Balance is not bad. So, the Witch Council believes that maintaining this state is the best."

"The Council doesn't trust the Guardian?" "Do you trust the Guardian?"

Sister Devlin asked calmly, and Xia De blinked:

"To be honest, I quite admire their behavior and their spirit of sacrifice. But their way of existence... In the basic course for first-year students at St. Byrons, it has already explained the particularity and independence of the soul, and while defining the soul with concepts, it explained the consequences caused by behaviors like soul fusion. I am very willing to trust them completely, but the high scores I got in my first year, and the current degree of distortion of the earth, make me maintain the most basic caution."

In other words, he trusts the Guardian, but doesn't trust that they can remain normal.

For a moment, Xia De seemed to see a smile on Sister Devlin's fair face, but Sister Devlin was very good at controlling her expressions:

"Luweiya once talked to me in the fire; she has the same view as me, that there might be a big problem with the Guardian."

"Then what does the Church think? When I saw Iluna last week, she skipped the meeting, so I don't know the current dynamics of the Church."