Chapter 306
Eivass’s Reaper Card
“Haunted Inn?”
The priest, holding a piece of bread in his hands, fell into thought. “I seem to have some impression of it. Let me think…”
Eivass, who had asked the question, quietly sat to the side, drinking tea.
As the only priest in Eagle Cape Village, the priest’s home was quite well-off. At least the quality of the tea he served his guests was quite good. Although it couldn’t compare to the tea Eivass drank on Glass Island, it could still be considered a delicacy.
The breakfast prepared by the old priest for Eivass and his companions also tasted very good – a meat sauce made from pork with a bit of fat, stewed with tomatoes, sugar, beer, and butter, then ground. This meat sauce was then served in bread… even though it was yesterday’s leftover bread, it had been re-heated. The flour used to make the bread was not very fine, and it wasn’t fluffy, soft, and sweet, but this re-heated coarse-grain toast also carried a rich aroma of wheat.
Rounding up, it could perhaps be considered a Ketchup Meat Sandwich.
The eating method was self-service. The bread and meat sauce were prepared, and then one spread it on top oneself.
Perhaps because the food was quite warm, the taste was unexpectedly good, at least better than the sandwiches sold on the streets of Glass Island. Even Sherlock ate a few more slices.
Now Eivass and Sherlock were full, and Lily had only taken a small taste. Now they were waiting for Haina to finish.
And Haina quickly ignored the anomaly that had startled her earlier, and happily introduced to Eivass, “This is what I loved to eat most as a child!
“I don’t know if this dish is available outside or what it’s called, but we children liked to call it ‘Bishop’s Bread’ because some people said it was something bishops ate. They would spread butter on it and use milk-white bread when they ate it…”
As she spoke, she couldn’t help but give an awkward laugh. “Of course, it’s just children’s wild guesses.”
Because she suddenly realized mid-sentence that three of the four people present often ate breakfast at the bishop’s house.
“…You call it that?”
The old priest couldn’t help but laugh. “My father taught me this. It was indeed a skill learned from Glass Island, but it has nothing to do with bishops – this was a meat sauce my father tasted at an inn where he stayed when he went to Glass Island to get the Episcopal Crown. He thought that meat sauce tasted very good, and he asked for the recipe, but the chef didn’t tell us.
“So after my father returned home, he tried many times based on his impression. Although he still couldn’t figure out the recipe for that meat sauce, he unintentionally created a new meat sauce. Later, the method became fixed.
“If anything, it should be called ‘Eagle Cape Meat Sauce’.”
It seemed that talking about the past would awaken memories. The old priest said this, then suddenly clapped his hands, remembering something. “The Haunted Inn you mentioned, I might remember it… but that seems to have happened a very, very long time ago. It should be from when I was a child.”
Eivass nodded. “It should be around sixty years ago. Because it was ‘haunted,’ I thought you might know about it.”
Because Eivass had seen the familiar sapphire-like lake in the first layer of the dream from the Advancement Ritual before. That was the famous Sapphire Lake of Windpipe Town.
That Haunted Inn seemed to be on the mountainside. From the window, one could faintly see the circular village at the foot of the mountain.
Eivass made a mistake at the time.
One of the reasons he thought that layer was still a dream was because after the storm ended, the forest suffered no damage.
After a normal storm, there should be branches, broken wood, garbage, and animal corpses everywhere. He thought it was because Daiya lacked life experience and imagination regarding storms.
But now it seemed… Eivass’s conclusion was correct back then, but the process was wrong.
—The reason the forest was unharmed after the storm was because they could indeed remain intact from the storm.
Eagle Cape Village was named Eagle Cape Village because it was situated between a low mountain and a high mountain. Windpipe Town was at the foot of one of the mountains. To get from Eagle Cape Village to Windpipe Town, one had to go up the mountain and then down. Of course, they didn’t have to cross the highest point; the maximum height they reached in the dense forest when entering the village was only a third of the mountain’s peak.
The entire Eagle Cape Village was in a basin, connected to two lakes and a swamp. This was the area connecting the two mountains. Logically, such terrain would easily be flooded by heavy rain.
Therefore, when Eivass saw the village at the foot of the mountain unharmed, he immediately judged it to be fake.
…But now it seemed that Daiya was not wrong.
Eivass laughed at her for not understanding storms, and she laughed at him for not understanding Eagle Cape Village. She most likely had witnessed a storm here, which is why she had a deep impression of that scene.
And since the Haunted Inn could clearly see both Sapphire Lake and Eagle Cape Village simultaneously, but not the other lake, it meant that the inn must be on the mountainside of one of these two mountains, facing the other mountain.
In other words, it must be very close to Eagle Cape Village.
As expected, the old priest quickly remembered.
“That’s the inn in Ash Town to the south. Going directly there requires passing through the swamp, so we usually don’t take that route.”
He said with a wry smile, “As for dispelling the Undead… we can’t do that. The Undead there are Earthbound Spirits. Let alone me and my father, even a bishop couldn’t solve it.”
“Then you just leave it alone?”
Sherlock, fully utilizing his charming appearance, spoke directly.
“We did manage it to some extent,” the priest affirmed. “The priest of Ash Town sealed that inn.
“Because if the inn were directly demolished, it might drive the Earthbound Spirit mad; but if left alone, it would entice passing travelers. So, that priest sealed the inn, blocked the road, and placed warning signs far away—where the Earthbound Spirit’s illusions could not reach. There were guards ahead, and road barriers in between… very few people would pass by that way.”
“…That’s really a simple and crude method of handling it.”
Haina was a bit embarrassed. “Is it okay to leave it there?”
The old priest, however, was unconcerned and chuckled. “You are still too young, little Haina. Extraordinary skills are not everything, nor are they necessary. Problems that can be solved with simple methods do not necessarily need to be solved with extraordinary skills.
“Earthbound Spirits must consume humans to sustain themselves, but they cannot leave their dwelling. We don’t need to sacrifice many priests to defeat them head-on—in a sense, Earthbound Spirits are harmless. We just need to isolate it to a place where it cannot come into contact with living people, and it will gradually dissipate on its own.
“And to accomplish this, no spells, divine arts, or rituals are needed. All it takes is a sign and a few road barriers. As far as I know, except for some wanted criminals who occasionally flee in a panic and enter there, I haven’t heard of many people disappearing in that vicinity. This indicates that the effect is quite good.”
The old priest took a proud bite of his bread and said with a smile, “This is the wisdom of adults.”
After breakfast, Eivass got the location of the inn from the old priest and planned to leave.
Haina seemed concerned about where the dagger had been lost… but Eivass thought it might still be with Haina, or it had fallen into Viviane’s hands. In either case, it wouldn’t be recovered anytime soon, so he decided to pretend it didn’t exist.
And Haina and Lily went to prepare the ritual materials they would need for tonight.
Eivass and Sherlock planned to go to the inn to take a look.
Originally, Eivass intended to go alone, but Sherlock also requested to join. Eivass naturally did not refuse.
He didn’t intend to hide his card-making ability—or rather, as Eivass produced more and more cards, it would be exposed sooner or later. As long as those who knew the truth were okay, it would be fine.
And Sherlock was clearly trustworthy.
Earthbound Spirits were Phantom Demons with Earth and Dark dual attributes. On one hand, they were Undead without skeletons, considered the second stage of Undead. On the other hand, their abilities were very similar to Succubi.
There were two cards that could be used to seal Earthbound Spirits: [Death] and [The Tower].
Eivass intended to use the Death card.
Because the Death card belonged to Amber’s domain, it could be crafted and summoned without using Earth attribute Mana—instead, it used Dark attribute Mana.
Thus, Eivass took out his Tarot card deck and found the Death card.
He brushed it with a layer of benzoin resin, and after it dried, he buried it with grave soil. Then, he sealed it in a small box in this state… this was the preparation completed.
He had also prepared the materials to seal the Earthbound Spirit—they were much cheaper than those needed for the Shadow Demon. Its core materials were a handful of grave soil, some benzoin resin, and a piece of amber. The remaining materials could be any item with Twilight affinity, such as grave shrouds or coffin fragments, to meet the affinity requirements. However, it was important not to sacrifice living beings or those of the same kind.
On Glass Island, he might have to buy some coffin boards and burn them to ashes.
But this requirement was too easy to fulfill in Eagle Cape Village.
Eivass went straight to the swamp and filtered some muddy water. After testing it with a ritual, he found that this water was indeed usable and of extremely high purity… So, Eivass took several more bottles, stored them well, and put them into Lily’s backpack.
Afterwards, Eivass, with Sherlock, rode the Gryphon Liz to Ash Town in the south.
Update complete!
Suddenly realized that A Mu has reached one million! (Loudly)
When this book was planned, it was for around three and a half million words in three volumes, similar to the Player. We are almost one-third of the way there…
