Mystery: The Silver Key

Chapter 52: Suggestions

At 10 a.m., Xi Ruien sat up in bed with a yawn. Just as she was about to go to the bathroom, she heard a noise coming from downstairs.

To take care of him, the only injured person in the family, Beth sent one of her servants over.

With a pained expression, Xirui lay back down on the bed. He was still seriously injured and shouldn't be anywhere outside the bed.

Fortunately, the servant Beth sent wasn't always home. She needed to go out to buy daily necessities, and she would return to Beth's house after preparing dinner in the evening, only to come back the next day.

He yawned out of boredom, propped himself up against the headboard, picked up a copy of the Tasok Daily that his servant had placed on the bedside table while he slept, and began to skim through it.

As soon as he unfolded the newspaper, he saw the most eye-catching headline: "Hurricane Admiral" Zillingus killed in Backlund!

The news article was short, briefly explaining the incident, time, and location. It seemed that the person who laid out the newspaper felt that adding even one more word would take up too much space.

Of course, it is more likely that the newspaper staff were warned by the "Lord of Storms" church not to publicize this matter, or that it is a church newspaper in itself.

His gaze drifted downwards to the less interesting news articles that took up more space.

.....

dong dong~

Around noon, there was a sudden knock on the door.

Sirion looked up at the doorway. His spiritual intuition had already determined who it was, or rather, since absorbing the power of the world in the painting, space no longer restricted his vision.

"The door's unlocked, come in."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Irving pushed open the door and entered.

The first thing he did after entering the room was to turn around and close the door, and then he also closed the window and drew the curtains.

Cyril flipped through the newspaper he'd already read once and casually asked, "You skipped class again?"

"..." Owen glanced back at him, somewhat speechless. "Is it possible that I don't have any classes?"

"It's only been a short time, and you, a student who doesn't need to attend classes, can't even remember the course schedule."

Ignoring his teasing, Sirion pointed to the desk in front of him: "I've already organized yesterday's haul; it's all extraordinary materials."

"I've already taken out the blood crystals from the Lava octopus. You can choose from the rest."

"You can have a 'craftsman' forge it into magical items, or you can sell it directly at the Extraordinary Gathering. Although they are not particularly rare materials, they are enough for you to buy the materials for the next sequence of potions."

"We can't use that extraordinary property from Zilingus, but we can't sell it for now either. We have to wait until this storm passes."

Owen turned to look at him in surprise: "I haven't even had a chance to tell you this news yet. How did you know that the powerful extraordinary being killed last night was 'Hurricane Admiral' Zilingus?"

Cyril raised the newspaper in his hand.

"Uh, okay, I forgot you read the newspaper too." Owen pouted, a hint of disappointment at not being able to share the news.

He paused, then added, "Keep the extraordinary characteristics of 'Hurricane Admiral' for yourself. There's no need to allocate them. They were originally given to you by that unknown powerful figure."

"By the way, do you know that guy from last night? Is he the legendary demigod?"

Cyril nodded with a strange expression: "I guess so. I do know him, but he doesn't know me."

Irving clicked his tongue, didn't ask any more questions, and turned to examine the iron boxes containing extraordinary materials on his desk.

"This is... the blood of a Lava octopus, plus the Lava octopus blood crystals you had. Could they have just happened to hunt down a Lava octopus?"

"This is a rose with a human face, and this one is... the heart of a lava behemoth?"

"I'll take these three items. Now I can try to prepare the materials for the 'Clown' potion."

Cyril nodded slightly, offering no objection, but asked curiously, "Have you finished digesting the 'Diviner's' potion?"

When the topic came up, Irving laughed heartily: "Haha, not yet, but soon."

"Last night's trip to the Mirror World accelerated my potion digestion progress by more than half. The remaining part should be completely digested by the end of this month."

"By the way, when are you planning to go to the Harvest Church? There's that healing potion you were promised that you need to fulfill."

"Um, I'm not rushing you, it's just that I feel inexplicably anxious and really want to fulfill this promise as soon as possible."

Cyril nodded slightly: "I know, this is the effect of the vow. I have already used the healing potion, but I did not fulfill my promise immediately, so your spirit began to urge you. Breaking your vow will be punished, and this can be considered a kind of spiritual intuition warning."

"But I didn't sign a contract, nor did I leave any oath?" Owen frowned slightly, still somewhat puzzled.

Cyril countered, "You made that promise in front of the Symbol of Life, didn't you?"

Irving nodded slightly.

Cyril chuckled softly: "That's right. Father Utravsky was a chosen one of God. The Earth Mother was your witness, and your promise became a binding oath."

After a brief pause, he added, "I'll be going to the Harvest Church tonight; it's inconvenient for me to go out during the day."

"...A god has testified to my words?" Owen's eyes widened, his expression one of utter disbelief.

While he wasn't exactly devout in his faith, he was absolutely sincere. Even though "Mother Earth" wasn't his faith, she was still a deity, a true god. The fact that such a being would bear witness to his words was the closest he had ever come to a god in his life.

Cyril remained calm. He actually thought this was quite normal, after all, there was a "Mother Earth" chosen by the gods and a vampire present.

Even if that vampire's current faith is only in the progenitor and not in the "Earth Mother Goddess," he can still be considered a recipient of the "Earth Mother Goddess's" divine favor.

.....

That night, Sirion told the truth about his promise to go to the Harvest Church to obtain the healing potion. Harvin did not stop him, but told him to be careful and especially not to wander off.

Without Owen, the "fortune teller," by his side, Cyril didn't dare to enter the Mirror World casually. It was easy to get lost, and the Mirror World itself harbored many dangerous creatures. The fact that he hadn't encountered any before was entirely due to luck and his proactive avoidance of danger through divination.

Fortunately, the Harvest Church was also in the South District of the Bridge, not too far away. Using his ability to "open doors," Cyril charged straight to the Daffodil Street where the Harvest Church was located.

In the church hall, illuminated by the dim candlelight, only the back of Father Utravsky could be seen as he sat praying at his desk.

The Harvest Church was truly desolate during this period.

He sighed inwardly, then stepped forward, but did not interrupt Father Utravsky's prayer. He waited until the priest finished before speaking:

"Father Utravsky, I have come to fulfill my previous promise."

Father Utravsky turned to the side, tilted his head slightly, and looked at him, speaking in a gentle tone:

"How do you plan to convince me to release that vampire?"

Why do I feel like you want me to fight you?

Cyril glanced suspiciously at Father Utravsky, then revealed the plan he had prepared beforehand:

I'm going to give you some advice.

Father Utravsky nodded slightly, as if listening attentively.

Seeing this, Sirion continued, "Father, your purpose in coming to Backlund is certainly to preach, but judging from the situation here, your progress seems less than ideal."

"In this situation, everyone who might be bathed in the Mother Goddess's light is precious, and the vampire in the basement is no exception."

"He may be a bit simple-minded and have some strange hobbies, but he's not a bad person at heart. Besides, he's a vampire, uh, a bloodlust. Don't you guys always like to reform this group?"

Father Utravsky neither nodded nor refused, but calmly said:

"Influence is not coercion, but rather helping them to understand and accept the teachings of the Mother Goddess. Forced choices are not true faith, and they also violate the teachings of the Mother Goddess."

Taking the opportunity, Sirion said, "So we should give him a chance to experience the teachings of the Mother Goddess. We can first release him from the basement and let him participate in the daily life of the church so that he can experience it firsthand."

"And with you here, I don't have to worry about him doing anything bad."