Miss Higgins was startled upon hearing the special pronoun "It," and the panic on her face beca more apparent. After hearing Shard’s words, she bit her lip, stood up, instructed Mrs. Miles not to turn back under any circumstances, and ca to the window beside Shard.
In her eyes, the outside was shrouded in black fog, obscuring the view of the vast camp, akin to an ant Empire. Shard took a deep breath to adjust his mindset, and then asked the outside:
"Could you please appear now and et with us? I am aware of your existence and know that you are waiting to witness the final story."
After saying this, he waited a few seconds, and seeing no response from outside, he changed his approach under Miss Higgins’s curious gaze:
"Great God of Wealth and Trade - Golden Sovereign, please allow the audacity to call upon you to co here for a transaction. May your holy na perpetually flow in the endless cycle of wealth, and may your shadow forever be in the sacred Gold."
As the words fell, Miss Higgins saw the fog covering the camp slowly begin to rotate without wind, gradually dissipating until she could see the scene in the shadowy camp under the tower.
What transpired next, she felt she would never forget for the rest of her life.
The shadows that seed spatially fixed just a mont ago all began to move. Countless black shadows silently departed from the booths or facilities they supposedly managed, rging into streams like droplets returning to the sea, heading toward the direction of the Bell Tower.
The process was remarkably brief due to the speed of the shadows. Once enough shadows gathered under the tower, the overlapping shadows slowly lifted into the air as if elevated by the arriving shadows, while beneath them spewed countless streams of black smoke.
The highest shadow eventually joined the others at the tower’s window, pausing at level with Shard and Miss Higgins. Continued ascent brought all overlapping shadows within the body of the highest shadow, while below, an imnse flow of shadows surged like a flood.
Instinctively, Miss Higgins took a small step back, and then accidentally discovered what seed like a new gold scar on Shard’s shoulder garnt.
Still, shadows continued to surge toward the tower, resembling waves rushing from all directions before finally being absorbed into the sky.
This scene unfolded silently as Shard furrowed his brow, eting the gaze of the highest shadow growing increasingly solid, like shadows piling into a spire or dark shadowy trees sprouting unceasingly. Miss Higgins, forced to avert her gaze, hid behind Shard to avoid injury, while Shard sensed a faint understanding of the spectacle before him.
"United as One..."
Just as he began to grasp the idea, suddenly, as if a segnt of ti had been snipped away, the process seed disjointed, and with the company only of vacated booths, every shadow, including one in the tower corner, rged at the tower’s exterior spot, once again engulfed by black fog before dispersing like vapor.
No longer the dark figure stood outside the window.
The golden robe lavishly adorned with various gemstones felt natural, not at all jarring. Each hand bore a silver ring, and golden hair symbolized the ceaseless flow of Wealth. Dark gold eyes were impossible for mortals to behold, and the glimr embodied identity and Power. The God of Wealth and Trade - Golden Sovereign appeared robustly as a middle-aged man before Shard.
Shattering assumptions, confird - this Deity had been here all along. Indeed, the camp harbored no shadows. For foreigners, every "person" in the camp was the sa being, any transaction undertaken a direct exchange with the God represented here.
"God."
Gold rifts already covered Shard sohow, bowing respectfully to the Deity outside. Raising his head, his gaze did not return outside but shifted to see the Deity now inside the Bell Tower standing near the fireplace, gazing at sleepy Mrs. Miles.
The Deity’s re presence affected the fundantal laws of the region irrespective of intent. Even Shard could not stare indefinitely at such a mighty God, and Miss Higgins was terrified.
Were it not for her minor acclimation to strange Power endemic to the Black Mist Camp, she might have already fainted.
She stayed behind Shard:
"Is this, is this..."
"No worries, I’ll handle it. This Deity likely waited all along for us, or rather for you all."
After greeting again, Shard and Miss Higgins returned to the fireside.
The God of Wealth and Trade cast his gaze upon Shard, who at that mont noticed the front of the God’s golden robe bearing a Golden Scales motif sewn with gold thread.
"Invited guest, you know I await them?"
The golden glimr of the Deity enveloped but did not fully illuminate the area, remaining within. Words appeared audibly to each present. Shard locked eyes with the calm, world-encompassing gaze:
"Indeed or otherwise, none of this would make sense. You lay here a while ago and arranged Demons as guides, ultimately waiting for this barter, didn’t you?"
He softly voiced his supposition:
"The soul of the long-deceased Richard Knight Jackman couldn’t be summoned by the conch or stay beyond brief moriae. So, this is your doing?"
The Deity praised Shard’s wisdom:
"Your eyes are sharper than anyone else’s. Those who discover Wealth and opportunities always possess such traits. Since you have uncovered the Truth here, you deserve a gift when all this has ended."
Shard softly expressed gratitude:
"So, about Mr. Richard Knight Jackman’s soul..."
The Deity looked kindly at the old woman staring blankly at the campfire before her:
"To humans, that was sothing that happened a long ti ago. A young man on the brink of Death on the battlefield, due to so coincidences and accidents, saw just before dying. He had his own story and desires, so I gave him the opportunity to make a trade."
Miss Higgins listened tremblingly, having thoughts but dared not speak them, luckily Shard spoke for her:
"He wished to fulfill his promise of returning to his Hotown to see his beloved?"
"Yes, but he lacked sufficient bargaining chips."
Though talking with Shard, the Deity continually gazed at the elderly person:
"While it’s a simple matter, without paying the appropriate price, he can’t obtain what he desires. Fairness is the principle of a trade, and none can go against it."
Shard offered no evaluation on this, the Deity’s view of the World differs from that of Mortals, this Deity rely insists on Fairness, which is far better than the Vampire God:
"Is even the value of his soul insufficient?"
"The desire he longs to fulfill isn’t rely returning to his Hotown, he also wishes to be Forever with his beloved girl. Hence, if he traded his soul, he would never realize his desire. I showed Compassion for his plight, inford him of this, and offered him advice."
Miss Higgins behind Shard understood again, thus hid herself better. Shard slightly frowned, also reaching an answer:
"You advised him to offer you a beautiful story?"
The Deity laughed and said:
"Indeed, as he didn’t have suitable trade chips, I told him how to acquire them.
The story of Richard Jackman and Sarah Miles was only just beginning at that ti. Ti is the most exquisite artist, even the most ordinary stone can be sculpted into priceless art in the hands of Ti. I inford him that I could fulfill his desire, but he would have to wait for many, many years, until the girl waiting for him also reaches the end of Life. Moreover, just the story is still not enough."
"What else did you demand?"
"Back then, that Mortal War eventually summoned the intervention of the Witches. A young girl unlawfully called upon the Demon Flas, she, of course, received her punishnt. As for the Knight’s soul, I required him to seal the Fla’s exit with himself, enduring the burn of the Fla, while waiting for Sarah Miles’ Death."
It seems, the Deity’s appearance around the battlefield back then wasn’t rely a coincidence. And the lightly ntioned ’call upon Demon Flas,’ was certainly not as simple as Dr. Schneider spitting out a burst of fire.
"Isn’t that..."
Miss Higgins couldn’t hold back her words, only speaking a few words before not daring to say more.
Shard completed the sentence for her:
"The longer Mrs. Miles lives, the longer Mr. Richard Jackman’s soul suffers in tornt?"
Such a cruel sentence was thus spoken, and the elderly person watching the campfire began trembling all over.
The Deity questioned Shard:
"Isn’t this better? The soul told , he preferred to et his lover a little later, and wished his lover to live longer in this World in his stead."
The young Witch behind Shard sighed softly but dared not voice her thoughts; Shard had no words either.
However, Shard still harbored nurous doubts. For instance, whether back then, the Deity inford the young Knight of the kind of Life his lover would lead. Whether the Deity back then ntioned that Mrs. Miles would always wait for him, enduring a lengthy Life in such a manner.
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