Outlander, you had returned to the present time.
Shade staggered out of the White Mist Gate, braced himself against the wall, and gasped for breath. Never had he been so delighted to be illuminated by a gas lamp. He even wanted to write a poem praising gas lamps, before remembering that he had no such talent.
After leaving Eternal Night City, all the damage caused by that dreadful darkness vanished. In fact, because he had nearly melted into the darkness just now, Shade now felt an inexplicable familiarity even with an ordinary night. But the shortage of spirit had yet to be resolved. Fortunately, this was already the Sixth Epoch.
If the young ladies saw him drinking the pink essence from the Perfume Bottle, they might think he was secretly taking medicine and begin questioning his health. Thus, Shade made sure no one was around before taking a huge gulp from the completely full Perfume Bottle:
"Ah, I'm finally alive again!"
He was quite satisfied with that.
Sure enough, just as Shade put away the Perfume Bottle, Leisha and Dorothy returned with a group of maids, chatting and laughing. They did not notice anything unusual about him. Dorothy even said with a smile:
"Shade, we heard about your 'detective story.' I really should have gone with you just now. That was wonderful. It absolutely deserves to be written as a long story in two parts."
"Not bad, knight."
Leisha said reservedly as well. Once the two young ladies drew closer, Dorothy had intended to ask where Mia had gone, but then noticed that Shade's coat was missing. She suddenly sniffed suspiciously and caught an unfamiliar perfume scent on him that she had never smelled before.
It was not Miss Galina, not Tifa, not Angelina, and not even Queen Diana or