At the sound of footsteps coming from the basement, the three people in the upstairs living room immediately rose to their feet.
Before long, Shade appeared at the top of the stairs with a grave expression. It was already six in the evening. Outside the living room windows, Saint Derain Square lay beneath the autumn sunset, but Shade had no time to admire the beautiful scene.
He caught the cat as it happily ran over, then gestured for everyone to sit down.
"I did go to Middlesburg."
Shade spoke bluntly. Since he had not returned all afternoon, Doctor, Dorothy, and Luvia had more or less guessed that this would be the outcome.
The four sat on the sofas and listened as Shade recounted his travels that day. The nuns of the House of the Blind had told him not to mention them to others, so Shade concealed the identity of the Ring Arcanist who had helped him. No one cared much about that detail.
"A Level 0 Relic?"
Everyone present understood what that meant, which only made them more fearful of its power.
"Doctor, that's only the local Ring Arcanists' guess. Whether it really is one remains hard to say."
"Even if it isn't Unknown Level, the Interstice between life and death definitely isn't a simple place."
Luvia frowned deeply.
"What do we do next?"
Whether it was an Unknown Level Relic or not, it was not something they could handle.
"I'm going to see a High-Ring Arcanist living in Tobesk later. She might have some ideas."
Both Luvia and Dorothy knew he meant Miss Galina. Since this was for the sake of saving Priest Augustus, Dorothy said nothing.
"Then I'll head back first and try to probe the Academy's progress in its investigation. If they don't know about this