Most of the buildings in the Morse Town follow the style of a hundred years ago, the most eye-catching being the black church with its pointed roof.
After getting the carriage ready, Klein and the others quickly devoured their lunch of bread, toast, bacon, butter, and coffee.
"Under the Purification of the Sealed Artifact '3-0782,' we can hold out for another two hours and thirty-five minutes." Kenley stood at the church entrance, took out a gold-cased pocket watch from the inside pocket of his tuxedo, glanced at it, and said, "I suggest we deal with those suspected haunting incidents first to prevent any potential escalation, before returning to the church to take turns guarding it and recover our strength."
Under normal circumstances, Sequence 9, Sequence 8, and Sequence 7 Beyonder are close to their limit need to stay away from the " Mutated Holy Emblem of the Sun " for 2 hours to fully recover. However, if they are not at their limit, or only want to recover part of their health, the recovery time will be at least 1 hour, depending on the situation.
"OK."
"I have no objection."
Klein and Leonard spoke at the same time.
"Which incident should we deal with first?" Kenley asked his companion for his opinion.
Leonard dropped his nonchalant attitude and said, "It was the old man living alone who heard heavy footsteps echoing inside the house."
"Why?" Kenley asked instinctively, and Klein waited with interest for the guy to explain.
Is this what they call a poet's intuition? He subtly made a sarcastic remark about the other person.
Leonard's gaze shifted from the short-statured Kenley's face to Klein's, then back again, and he chuckled softly.
"Because it's closest to the church."
"How did you know? It's not mentioned in the documents..." Klein blurted out.
Leonard chuckled and said, "During the meal, I went to the restroom, didn't I? On my way back, I met a novice pastor and we chatted for a bit. He told me that Noah's house was near the church. Hmm, Noah is the name of that old man who lives alone."
"As expected of Nighthawks for over three years, you're quite skilled at handling tasks..." Klein chuckled dryly, then turned to Kenley and said, "Then let's go to Noah's house first."
"Okay." Kenley had no objection to this.
And just one minute later, they arrived at Noah's house...
Noah was an old man with graying and thinning hair. In his youth, he lost his left hand forever in a war and had to leave the army, taking compensation and returning to his hometown.
At this moment, he opened the door, looked at the three strangers in front of him, then glanced at Syer, who had rushed over from the church, and said in a hoarse voice:
"Come in, I hope you can solve my problem. I heard you brought holy water, holy symbols, a silver dagger, and garlic? That's wonderful, I feel much more at ease. Please forgive my rambling, you must understand the state of an elderly person who hasn't been able to sleep peacefully for two nights in a row. Oh, goddess, I've been carrying this fear, and my mind has become hazy."
As soon as he entered the gate, Leonard suddenly straightened his back and began to scrutinize his surroundings with an almost tangible gaze.
Immediately afterwards, Klein sensed the chilling aura lingering in the room, the traces left behind by a ghost that had once roamed there.
"There were definitely unclean creatures here," Kenley said in a low voice, the last to notice the situation.
"Very weak." Leonard withdrew his gaze and spoke leisurely.
In all Sequence 8 records of the Church, the " Midnight Poet " is considered a highly Spirit Intuition "profession".
"Yes." Klein felt the warmth and purity naturally emanating from the Sealed Artifact "3-0782" rapidly dissolving the cold aura, and the other party was completely powerless to resist.
Just then, the townspeople who had been waiting for a while gathered at Noah's house, looking at Klein, Leonard, and Kenley with curious and expectant eyes.
"Ahem!" Leonard cleared his throat and said loudly, "With the goddess's protection, those unclean creatures will soon disappear and cause no trouble."
After saying that, he gestured to Klein to perform the " Purification ritual" for everyone.
"Why me?" Klein asked rhetorically with his eyes.
Of course, he didn't know if Leonard could understand his gaze.
Clearly, Leonard understood his meaning and lowered his voice, saying:
"You're a professional, especially when it comes to rituals."
Well, what can I do? I volunteered to help. Klein straightened his clothes and took the holy water, the holy symbol, the silver dagger, and the garlic from Leonard.
He first pinned the " Sacred Emblem of Darkness " to his chest, then broke open a garlic clove and threw them one by one into various corners.
"Huh, is garlic used like this when exorcising ghosts?"
"It's different from what's described in the newspaper..."
Will this even work?
The townspeople who had gathered around immediately started talking excitedly, both curious and thrilled, just like they were going to a circus.
It's no use! I was just going through the motions! Klein suddenly felt like he had become a " Clown," so he quickly closed his eyes, used his silver dagger to pick out the holy water, and sprinkled it on the ground.
He sprinkled the water as he walked around the house, muttering to himself:
" Evernight Goddess..."
" The Mother of Concealment... The Lady of Crimson..."
" The Empress of Misfortune and Horror..."
" Mistress of Repose and Silence..."
This classic charlatan act immediately stunned everyone, and the townspeople fell silent.
When a person enters a quiet state, it becomes easy to notice things that were previously overlooked.
"It feels very warm."
"It's like the Sun..."
"No, I seem to see a pure sky..."
"This is amazing... Is this the effect of holy water?"
"As expected of a priest sent by the Saint Selena Cathedral!"
Praise the goddess!
The townspeople discussed amongst themselves, their gazes toward Klein, Leonard, and Kenley gradually filled with awe. The homeowner Noah, visibly relaxed, no longer doubting whether the matter could be resolved.
This is all the effect of the Sealed Artifact "3-0782"... We don't actually need to do anything to exorcise ghosts, just stay in place for a minute... It's not tiring or troublesome... After Klein finished Purification the chilling aura throughout the house, he opened his eyes, put away his silver dagger, and solemnly and carefully drew Crimson Moon on his chest:
Praise the goddess!
"Praise be to the goddess!" the townspeople responded devoutly.
"There are still some things to take care of, but we need absolute silence," Leonard said with a smile, glancing around the room.
Having witnessed what "professionalism" meant, the townspeople didn't dare linger. At Priest Syer's urging, they retreated from Noah's house like a tide, and even the house's owner had to leave temporarily.
"Actually, I really want to get some sleep right now..." Noah muttered as he walked toward the church.
Leonard stepped forward, reached out, closed the door, and turned to Klein, saying:
"Could you Divination the cause of this incident?"
"No problem." Klein also wanted to try and see what he could Divination result from it.
I know it was Mr. Azik who did it... but his rank seems quite high, ha, someone who can live for 1300 or 1400 years certainly can't be of low rank... so my Divination will inevitably be affected... In this situation, without the help of that mysterious space above the Gray Fog, I don't even know what kind of revelation I can get... Klein took out the paper and pen he always carried and wrote down the " Divination statement":
"The cause of the Noah family haunting incident."
He took the paper, walked to the round table, sat down, closed his eyes, and leaned back in his chair.
In the hazy, dreamlike world, Klein suddenly saw a black mausoleum.
It resembles the pyramids, but it is upside down and embedded in the ground, almost buried.
Inside this ancient mausoleum, a thick black mist shrouded everything.
Klein suddenly awoke and opened his eyes.
"What did you find?" Kenley asked with concern.
Klein thought for a moment, then described in detail the revelation he had received in his dream without hiding anything, and concluded by saying:
"This is definitely not the style of mausoleums in the Northern Continent. I'm referring to the Fifth Era; in this respect, I'd consider myself a mediocre expert."
Leonard nodded as if deep in thought and said:
"That's the 'inverted pyramid' of the Southern Continent, signifying the transition from the human world to the Underworld. In the former Balam Empire and its branch Highland Kingdom, only the so-called descendants of the Death could build such a mausoleum for themselves."
"In a sense, this is the symbol of ' Death '."
"Yes, ghosts are definitely related to Death; this Divination result is undoubtedly correct."
Ignoring Leonard's mockery, Klein was lost in thought when an interesting idea came to him:
Is Mr. Azik a descendant of Death, or is his long life due to some kind of deal he made with Death?
According to the relevant chapters of " The Revelation of Evernight " and the internal records of the Nighthawks, Death is an evil deity who once unleashed a catastrophe on the Northern Continent at the end of the Fourth Age; that period is known as the "Pale Age."
Well, it is said that He later perished at the hands of the Seven Gods... The initial date of Ramde Castle is unknown, but it cannot be earlier than the "Pale Age".
If there is indeed a connection, then the fact that the mastermind living in the Red Chimney house took Mr. Azik's child's skull becomes something to investigate...
Of course, this could also be an excuse for the Northern Continent kingdoms to colonize the Southern Continent, since the latter mainly worships the Death...
Finding nothing else, the three Nighthawks did not stay long and soon left Noah's house to deal with two other suspected haunting incidents.
The same process yielded the same result: they quickly rid the town of the Death aura, but they did not find the source of it all.
Along the way, Leonard asked the townspeople if any strangers had come in the past few days, and received a negative answer.
Mr. Azik didn't come? He must have arrived secretly and left quietly, without anyone noticing... Indeed, he was cautious... He meant that if we didn't deal with it, those "ghosts" would disappear on their own that day? Tingen City thought about these things and Leonard Klein Kenley back to the entrance of Morse Cathedral.
They were able to withstand the " Mutated Holy Emblem of the Sun " for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
"We'll take turns guarding, changing every hour." Klein suppressed his excitement, glanced at the sky, and said, "Let's try to get back to Tingen City for dinner."
"No problem," Leonard glanced at Klein and chuckled softly, "But for safety, I suggest two people guarding the position while one rests, rotating shifts."
... Klein paused for a moment, his thoughts racing, and replied with a smile:
"Okay, but then we have to calculate the most reasonable rotation method: who rests first, then who, and last, how long to recover each time, and how much to recover. Hmm, I think we need to build an equation with unknowns to find the optimal solution and compare it with a single-guard operation... It would be best if we had an efficiency function... Let's assume the unknowns are..."
"Stop!" Leonard's emerald eyes were filled with confusion and fear. "In that case, let's have one person guard each spot. The one whose turn it is can stay inside the church; it's large enough. Of course, we'll let Priest Syer and the others go somewhere else to visit. The remaining two can guard outside the church to prevent anyone from approaching."
"That's my opinion too." Kenley found himself getting a headache whenever he heard about math problems.
"Alright," Klein nodded reluctantly.
If he couldn't convince his two teammates just now, then he could only try to trade with Leonard by saying that everyone has special abilities and secrets, giving up some information in exchange for Leonard's departure, just like last time.
Now, the problem is completely solved!