"Who is it?"
The attendants and maids instinctively shielded Margaret, while Shade stepped in front of her as well. But seeing that the old man had truly fallen, he crouched down to help him up. The old man had not fainted and was struggling to stand on his own, but even holding Shade's hand, he still could not rise.
"Oh, young man, I seem to have lost feeling in my right leg."
He spoke through a groan.
"Your right leg is still there. Is it numb? Can you feel this if I tap it?"
Shade patted the old man's right knee. Just as the old man again said that he could not feel anything, "she" gave him the answer.
Signs of petrification had appeared in his right leg.
"What?"
He was startled, but there had clearly been no signs of Mad Earth around the Stone Masons Association. After obtaining the old man's permission, Shade rolled up his trouser leg. His right leg had not turned to stone and was still flesh, but its color was markedly different from that of his hands and face.
Most likely the effects of Mad Earth, though the symptoms were very mild.
This was no trivial matter. The association's staff soon rushed over upon hearing the news and sent the old gentleman to the hospital.
Shade had initially assumed that the old man had come into contact with that black mud somewhere. All he had to do was find the location and purify it, perhaps even earning himself another Holy Grail. But the situation was worse than he had imagined. After parting with Margaret, he took a carriage alone to the Wilde Opera House. While chatting with the coachman on the way, the man told Shade of something similar:
"A little after two this afternoon,