Shade continued standing with his hands behind his back, watching the sea of clouds below the mountain. When the time was about right, he took out an ordinary-looking broken sword Doctor Schneider had given him.
He first placed the mirror on the snow surface at his feet, then fiercely drove the broken sword into its center. Amid the sound of shattering glass, darkness that seemed boundless seeped out from the mirror's cracks.
Before long, Doctor Schneider stepped out of that darkness.
"Good morning, Detective. Look, the weather here is wonderful."
"Good morning, Doctor. I hope you can find a more normal-looking means of long-distance teleportation."
The Doctor bent down to collect the Ritual Items from the ground, looking quite unconcerned.
"It's fine. Besides you, no one else would summon me anyway."
"Actually, I'm doing it for my own reputation."
The weather was indeed lovely, and neither Shade nor the Doctor had anything urgent to do that morning. Thus, the two leisurely climbed the steps of the Path of Atonement together, telling one another of recent events after the War of Fate.
Although Shade had returned home during the past few days, he had only stayed long enough to put away some items before leaving again. He did not know much about Tobesk, so the Doctor told him the news everyone had long expected.
"The first batch of conscripts from the Tobesk region this year has already boarded trains for the southern front. When the train departed yesterday, the families seeing them off supposedly nearly crushed the station. It has been many years since soldiers from the Tobesk region were deployed along the southern border."
The Doctor followed behind Shade through the archway at the end of the Path of Atonement. Ahead lay snow sparkling with Silver Light.
"But because of