The conversation about demons was quickly scattered by the wind and snow of midwinter. Bill Schneider, who would sooner or later have to face The First Evil Spirit in battle, still possessed confidence and courage. His noble soul guided him toward deeper darkness, while what concerned Shade most about the doctor's situation was—
"What exactly is the Demon King?"
Its level of power was probably at least comparable to Desire and Professor Wood, but as long as it was not a god, Shade should be able to defeat it with a drop of divinity—or at least drive it back and recover those two lost souls.
Yet his intuition kept reminding him that the truth behind what the doctor was pursuing was probably far more complicated than he had considered.
"Desire doesn't seem willing to answer that question either, but next time, I can find a way to make her answer."
As he thought this, a voice whispered by his ear:
Weren't you unwilling to actively seek it out?
"Yes, but I can guarantee that Mermaid will definitely appear before me again at some perfectly timed moment."
After the experiments in the city's eastern, southern, western, and northern districts had concluded, the final test site was not in Tobesk's Central District—the Academy was not about to make its correspondence Ring Arcanists take such enormous risks.
The carriage carried them through the Slums in the north of the city before eventually returning to the east side where they had set out. It then traveled along a small road through the outskirts until it arrived near Tobesk City Public Cemetery.
"Come to think of it, we still need to visit Detective Sparrow during this Year-End Festival. Remember to remind me."
Alright.
Shade was glad that the first experimental site had not been here.