The churches of the Three Great Churches were definitely on lockdown right now, so running over there now would be no different than walking right into a trap.
He therefore transformed his face into that of a passerby once more and found three errand runner kids in Cherwood Borough, having them separately deliver tip-off letters to the three churches reading: "An evil god has descended upon Empress Borough. Her name is Megose, and she is a pregnant woman carrying the child of the True Creator in her belly."
Before long, the Old Storm Dove appeared once again amidst howling winds and lightning. They first searched a circle around Empress Borough before rushing over to Cherwood Borough.
Tonight, the old doves of the Church of Storms definitely wouldn't be getting any sleep, at least.
Edward, on the other hand, found an inn to stay at in West Borough, listening to the white noise of wind and lightning drifting in from outside his window from time to time as he drifted off into a sweet dream.
Chapter 28: Clingy Megose
Over the next few days, Edward did not return to the villa in Empress Borough. Instead, he switched to a different inn in a different district every day, and Megose did not come looking for him again, either.
In the middle of all this, he went to Audrey's place once, roughly recounting the matter regarding Megose. Audrey was stunned at the time: after all this, the Blasphemer turning Backlund upside down was actually you.
And you did something like that back then, surprisingly just to report an evil god?
She subsequently substituted herself into the scenario: if Mr. Fool ever had a church one day and someone snuck over in the middle of the night to smash the glass, she would definitely think the other party was blaspheming the god as well, right?
Yet why was the scene she pictured in her mind Edward smashing glass?
Naturally, Edward had no idea that Audrey's train of thought at the time had stepped on a banana peel and slid further and further away. Carrying various materials, he arrived at an abandoned warehouse in Harbor Borough, preparing to summon his very own messenger.
After arranging the herbs and essential oils and lighting the candle symbolizing himself, the surroundings were instantly hazy with a fantastical atmosphere.
"What requirements should my messenger have?"
"Well, first of all, the speed has to be fast; sending letters has to place some importance on timeliness after all. Next, it needs to be able to communicate, otherwise it won't understand what I say and I won't understand what it says, which is rather absurd. Then, it needs to have a certain level of self-preservation ability, because I'll occasionally have it deliver some valuable items, and if that arouses the covetousness of other Spirit World Creatures, it should at least have the power to resist."
Having figured it out clearly, Edward took a step back and spoke in Ancient Hermes:
"I!
"I summon in my name:
"A spirit wandering amidst illusion, a friendly creature available to be ordered about, a powerful speedster skilled in communication."
The sound of a whistling wind rang out. A layer of silver-white stained the candle, and a bone-chilling cold quickly spread outward from the candle flame toward the surroundings. Then, the air before his eyes vaguely gained an extra layer of membrane, and a slender, silver-white otter-like creature crawled out from within the membrane.
It was here!
Just as Edward was about to speak, an indistinguishable shadow appeared behind that "otter," and it instantly looked as though it had suffered a great fright. Its figure abruptly turned blurry and vanished.
Everything returned to normal once more.
"What's the situation? Did it get scared away? What was that shadow?"
He waited in place for several full minutes, yet he didn't wait for that "otter" to change its mind, leaving him with no choice but to dismiss the summoning.
"The ritual shouldn't have any problems. It's just that the summoning process seems a little off; let's try again."
Edward thought about it and simplified the requirements:
I!
"I summon in my name:
"A spirit wandering amidst illusion, a friendly creature available to be ordered about, a speedster capable of communication."
With a hum, the candle flame violently expanded, and a warm aura radiated toward the surroundings. A small black paw appeared out of thin air from midair, but the shadow appeared once more, and that unknown Spirit World Creature exposing only a paw yanked its paw back with a swoosh and vanished.
"What the heck, what's going on?"
The wand hidden in Edward's sleeve slid into his hand, and he said to the shadow, "This Spirit World friend, I just want to find a messenger, so please be magnanimous and spare us."
The receding shadow grew clearer and clearer, and then the membrane in the air was torn open with a rip. A crow-like little bird, pitch-black all over, flew out, dragging a long afterimage as it flew a circle around Edward before landing on the shelf ahead.
"Huh?"
Edward suddenly discovered that the other party was biting down on a very familiar stick with its beak-no, that was his wand!
When did it take it?
The little black bird tilted its head upward, flicked the wand into midair, opened its mouth, and swallowed the wand, which was longer than its own body, in a single gulp.
"Holy shit, wait!"
Crunch, crunch-this was the sound of it chewing the wand.
Burp-this was the sound of it belching.
Plop-this was the sound of Edward's heart breaking.
This wand that had accompanied Edward for over three years had just been eaten in this baffling manner.
Even though he had never believed what Ollivander said when selling wands, after three years this wand had indeed long since grown comfortable to use; both its feel, weight, and proportion to his body had been deeply carved into his bones.
No wonder some people said that to a warlock, a wand was his lover and wife.
For a moment he wanted to cry without tears, yet he didn't dare to lose his temper at this unknown fellow. Although in theory the one he summoned was a "friendly creature," the fact that it could scare the other two away made it look anything but friendly-without a wand in hand, his combat power was less than that of a single goose.
He hesitated for a moment and asked, "Are you... also applying to be a messenger?"
The little black bird nodded, chattering away, and a voice whose gender could not be told randomly transmitted directly into his brain:
"Yes."
"Well, is your speed fast enough... There's no doubt about that. Communication is no problem either, and self-preservation... should be pretty good too."
Viewed this way, this little black bird actually seemed pretty great in every aspect.
Yet could this kind of voluntary delivery really be trusted?
Edward cleared his throat. "Ahem, well... If I summon other messengers again, will you scare them away?"
It nodded without the slightest hesitation.
Fine! You're frank!
You're amazing!
"Then are you willing to sign a contract and become my messenger?"
"Willing. But every time you summon me, you have to give me one of the sticks from just now to eat."
"What?"
Edward had even thought that it eating his wand was revenge for him pointing the wand at it earlier. Judging by this meaning, was it targeting the wand all along?
The scene of the wand being swallowed flashed through his mind once more-heartache!
Yet what was so delicious about that thing? Furthermore, one wand per time; the price was even more expensive than that Miss Christmas Tree lady, and he couldn't even specify the other end of the communication to pay for it (since other people didn't have any).
"I'm very sorry, I don't have that many wands, so I can only..."
The little black bird immediately replied, "Two times... one."
Oh, you could even bargain?
Edward immediately offered his own price: "Twenty times one."
It immediately spread its wings, stared at him angrily, and let out a loud screech: "No!"
"Fifteen times one?"
It still kept its wings spread in a threatening posture: "No!"
"Ten times?"
"..."
"Five times, one for every five times, or else you might as well go back."
The little black bird paced back and forth impatiently, flapping its wings from time to time, and finally glared fiercely at Edward with its black eyes: "Deal."
Edward took out the contract written in Ancient Hermes, signed his name on it, and then handed the quill to the other party. "Uh, can you write?"
It hopped forward and stepped its paw onto the signature area, leaving behind a bright red footprint. Subsequently, sickly green flames rapidly linked together into a patch, enveloping the parchment. A few seconds later, the parchment turned to ashes.
"The next time you summon me, I want my payment in advance."
"But you already ate one of mine just now!"
The little black bird ignored him. Its figure rapidly turned illusory and shrank back into the candle flame.
Edward let out a long sigh. Looking at his empty palm, a wave of bitterness suddenly welled up. The memories of losing his wand surfaced-was he now "widowed"?
"Sigh, I'm just summoning a messenger, how did I manage to lose a wand in the process? They didn't even leave behind any hope of repair."
Warlocks in Harry Potter could cast spells nonverbally and without a wand, but even the magic Dumbledore cast wandlessly would suffer a drastic drop in effectiveness. As for Edward, currently only his Summoning Charm and Banishing Charm were used quite well.
"Sigh, thinking more is of no use. Let's just use the wand confiscated from the black warlock earlier for now!"
Edward removed the Wall of Spirituality and put the remaining items on the ground into the leather pouch. At that moment, with a creak, the warehouse door was pushed open.
He was startled. Before setting up the ritual, he had cast a Repelling Charm on the warehouse. Anyone able to enter while ignoring the Repelling Charm was definitely a Beyonder!
He frantically reached out to grab the wand in the leather pouch, but his body abruptly stiffened, leaving him unable to move even a single finger.
The newcomer walked into the warehouse, their shadow gradually being elongated by the sunlight, enveloping him bit by bit.
That was...
Megose!
It was her again!
Yet it was daytime now. Didn't she only act at night previously? Wait, why did I harbor the misconception that she only acted at night?
"I've found you."
At this moment Megose's belly was a size larger yet. She gently stroked her belly with a doting smile on her face, walking closer step by step. "Why do you keep hiding from me?"
"Why!!"
Her voice abruptly turned sharp, and she irritably yanked down a large handful of hair, her expression turning incomparably ferocious.
"I... I have no idea."
Edward managed to force the words out. "Don't misunderstand. Whatever business you have with me, you can just say it now."
Megose was slightly stunned. "Business with you? I don't know either..." She stroked her belly. "It's the baby that wants to find you."
"It's the baby..."
Before you continue