Chapter 431: Thirteen Sanctuaries

"Not bad, really not bad. Although this book is dangerous and looking at it too much may cause loss of control, dismantling a few chapters from it can completely compile a brand-new book that may allow Ringed Shushi to obtain spiritual runes. Look, here is the story of the ancient mermaids, the ancient war between mermaids and fish-men, the fusion and hostility of the three major beliefs in Cold Water Harbor..."

The old man flipped through the pages at will, and every page seemed to allow him to find new gains:

"In this way, my 【Examination of the Three Secret Sects of Cold Water Harbor】 can finally complete the last part of the content."

A smile appeared on his face, and then he looked up at Xia De:

"When I said it initially, all material gains belonged to you, and we shared knowledge. This thing you brought..."

He patted the book:

"The value is much greater than the information I provided to you. I want the ownership of this book; you can make some additional requests. The Light-Guiding Cultivation Society will not take advantage of you."

Xia De thought for a while:

"Mr. Edmund, I hope that if I need to view this book, I can view it at any time."

The old man nodded:

"A very reasonable request, you can come at any time."

He said:

"In addition, I also need the knowledge on this book, so I hope I can get the notes you have organized that have value. Of course, I will also assist you in translating the content of this book. I have learned some languages of aquatic intelligent species from friends."

When facing 【Desire】, Xia De was forced to read this book. In a normal state, he would not look at this kind of book that recorded the secrets of Evil Gods. And this book had no table of contents or summary. If he flipped through it carefully by himself, he didn't know when he would flip to it.

"This is very simple, but you have to come and see it yourself; I won't bother to mail letters to Tobesk."

Mr. Edmund nodded again.

"I only have these requests for the time being. If you feel that you have taken advantage of me, you must be cheaper when I come to buy things in the future."

Xia De said holding the cat. Now the cat raised by Mr. Edmund was lying at Xia De's feet, which made Mia very dissatisfied.

"Trading with you is much better than trading with John. If it were him, he wouldn't let me go without squeezing out the last bit of value from this book."

The old man said with a smile. Just then, the kettle on the fire stove began to whistle, and he got up to serve hot water and poured a cup of tea for Xia De.

"Speaking of which, Mr. Edmund, is it the Sixth Era now?"

Xia De asked again.

"Of course it is, what kind of question is this?"

The old man asked back in surprise. Xia De shook his head;

"Something happened a while ago that caused my sense of time to be disordered."

"This is a precursor to loss of control."

Mr. Edmund reminded. Xia De nodded and didn't explain:

"In addition, I also want to inquire about one thing from you. I remember you said last time that there was a rumor locally that a Grade 0 relic appeared in Cold Water Harbor in modern times?"

He didn't say the name 【Desire】 directly.

"Yes, I don't know much about the specific situation. I settled in Cold Water Harbor thirty years ago. At that time, there were such rumors among local Ringed Shushi, but no one could produce evidence. Later, the rumors subsided. Now, there are probably not many people who remember this."

Xia De nodded. Before coming to the lighthouse, he went swimming to the dark room under the Aurora Manor. As expected, just like the witch said last night, there was nothing left in the dark room. That Grade 0 relic had broken free from the seal and could be anywhere now.

He suddenly asked again:

"Then are Grade 0 relics all dangerous?"

Mr. Edmund considered it:

"Not necessarily dangerous, but definitely strange. Most Grade 0 relics possess the ability to directly cause Ringed Shushi to lose control, so there are very few records about them, and the church and the three major academies strictly control related information."

Xia De nodded and didn't say anything more. That thing calling itself 【Desire】 gave him great help, but he absolutely didn't want to see the other party again.

He planned to tell the local church about this in a while, and the signature would of course still be "God-Caller". Even if the local parish absolutely couldn't catch that thing, at least let the church understand that there was a troublesome Grade 0 relic active in the material world again.

This could also be considered Xia De's small contribution to the peace and stability of the world.

Xia De hoped that one day, he could find information about 【Desire】 in the St. Byrons library. But even if his relationship with Miss Danister was friendly, the librarian would not open information about Grade 0 relics to a low-level Ringed Shushi.

Mr. Edmund invited Xia De to stay for lunch, which was the fish he caught. The time for Miss Galina to ask him to appear was still far away, so Xia De agreed to the invitation.

The two processed those fish together and set up a rack for grilled fish outside the lighthouse. When eating, Xia De also gave Mia a piece of fish meat with the fish bones picked out, and the cat also ate very happily.

When Xia De was ready to say goodbye and leave, and said with a smile that he might come to disturb him from time to time, the old man suddenly asked:

"Are you interested in joining the Light-Guiding Cultivation Society?"

Looking at the expression, Mr. Edmund was not joking.

"This... do I need to shoulder any responsibilities?"

"Many responsibilities, the responsibility of inheriting civilization."

The old man's expression was very serious. Xia De shook his head:

"If you have anything you need me to do, you can give me a commission, but shouldering civilization is too heavy. I know that what you do is collect information about civilization, store, keep, and inherit it. I admire you very much, but I don't have this time now. Ten years, ten years later, Mr. Edmund, if I am not dead, even if I go to St. Byrons to be a teacher, you can invite me again. At that time, I will probably agree without hesitation."

The old man was not disappointed, but showed a smile:

"Besides the responsibilities you mentioned, we actually have more things to do, such as exploring and maintaining those ancient seals, collecting and managing relics like the church and the academy, and even since 1306 of the Sixth Era, we have been looking for the thirteen sanctuaries left by the ancient gods. The Cultivation Society believes that those are the last shelters prepared by the ancient gods for the lives on the day the world ends... Then it is settled, I will write to you in ten years."

Xia De was stunned. It was the first time he heard the saying of thirteen sanctuaries. Associating it with the content of the parchment he saw behind the hidden wall in his basement, it was not difficult to associate that the Light-Guiding Cultivation Society regarded the space behind the white fog door left by the thirteen ancient gods as sanctuaries.

"Sanctuary?"

"This cannot be told to you. Even if you agree to join the Cultivation Society immediately, it will take at least ten years for you to gradually come into contact with these secrets."

The old man said. Xia De shook his head regretfully:

"Then it is settled, looking forward to your letter in ten years."

He held the cat that started to feel sleepy after eating, waved to the old man who was guarding the lighthouse alone, and prepared to go home. Mr. Edmund stood under the lighthouse, watching his back go all the way away, and couldn't help but sigh:

"When the fire of civilization is about to go out, and more and more rumors about the end of the world surface, will we, who inherit the last ray of fire, add a new companion?"

(Little Mia is running...)

First go to the entrance of the Nature Church, ask someone to help send the letter about the Grade 0 relic 【Desire】 to the priest of the church, and then Xia De went to the Seven Brooms Tavern to inquire about the collection of coin-type relics. After regretting that there was no result, he did not stay in Cold Water Harbor for long, but returned home, preparing to take a bath and then go to see the witch.

Lei Qianya was expected to return to Tobesk in about a week. Xia De didn't need to stay in Cold Water Harbor for a long time, so Dorothy didn't need to come to help Xia De take care of the cat often. However, the blonde girl was still very interested in the detective records in the study, and would occasionally come to disturb him in the future, so although he couldn't see Dorothy today, there would be plenty of time to see her in St. Deran Square in the future.

Miss Galina's carriage stopped downstairs at 2:00 PM sharp. The maid who came to pick up Xia De was of course Miss Difa Servet.

Seeing Xia De holding the morning newspaper, after the carriage started slowly, she tilted her head slightly to look at the content of the newspaper:

"Is this the 【Steam Bird Daily】?"

"Yes, I am reading a novel serialized by a friend."

After Xia De turned over the newspaper in his hand, he displayed the layout of Dorothy's 【Hamilton Detective Story Collection】 to her:

"You probably haven't heard of it, this is..."

"I have heard of it, this is the most popular detective novel recently."

The maid's words surprised Xia De. Dorothy's novel had only been serialized for a week, and he didn't expect it to attract attention so quickly.

"The sales of 【Steam Bird Daily】 are already very large, and the newspaper specially gave up a very good layout for this detective novel. Plus the story itself is quite good... Is this written with you as the prototype?"

The maid was a little curious.

"Yes, but the degree of adaptation is very large."

Xia De opened the newspaper again, wanting to see how Dorothy described the grievances and hatreds spanning half a century without describing occultism and ghosts:

"I thought that people nowadays are still keen on ancient knight novels or modern court novels. For detective novels describing contemporary life, they shouldn't accept them so quickly."

"It's not that people don't accept it, but that there are no good stories to attract people. Most people's lives are very boring, and it is natural to want to find some fun in stories."

The black-haired maid said with a smile, and Xia De nodded. But for him, his life was much more interesting than the detective stories in the newspaper.

"Speaking of which... um... is Miss Galina angry?"

Hiding his face behind the newspaper, Xia De finally asked the question he had been wanting to ask.

"Angry? Sir, did you do anything to make the lady angry?"

Xia De peeked, and the maid had a smiling expression. She didn't know, but was asking knowingly. ===== CHAPTER 432 =====