Chapter 114 The Messenger (asking for monthly ticket) Lumian carried a carbide lamp and walked up the stone steps. Not long after, a light appeared ahead and noisy voices were heard. For those who walked out of the silent underground, it was like the whole world came alive. Lumian quickened his pace and used his right hand, which was holding the suitcase, to turn the valve on the surface of the calcium carbide lamp so that the water droplets in the upper cylinder would no longer drip into the calcium carbide pile below. As the acetylene gas burned out, the flame in the metal bell gradually went out. At this time, the scene outside also came into Lumian's sight: The buildings, some tall and some low, seemed to be frozen at the moment of collapse, remaining in a tilted or shaky state yet standing stubbornly. The clothes of the pedestrians on the street were either old or torn. People were arguing and cursing at each other everywhere, and the noise seemed to never subside. Lumian stood at the exit of the underground area, looked around, and found a five-story building called "Golden Rooster Hotel". The top two floors of this brown-beige building seemed to have been built later. They were completely different from the lower three floors, which were decorated in the Roselle period with piers, arches, large windows and patterns. They were so simple that they looked like they were moved from Cordu Village.
Lumian, carrying a suitcase and a carbide lamp, walked between the children squatting on the ground looking for orange peels and the adults arguing loudly, and arrived at the door of the "Golden Rooster Hotel". He looked up and found that there was yellow spit, scraps of paper, spilled ketchup, and stains that smelled of alcohol on the floor of the hotel. From time to time, large numbers of bedbugs appeared in a line and passed by on the ceiling and walls. If Lumian hadn't been holding something in his hand, he would have applauded for such a scene. The old taverns in Koldu village are much cleaner than this! He looked for a route that was less dirty and walked to the front desk at a moderate pace. Sitting there was a plump middle-aged woman, her gray-white dress was stained with oil, and her brown hair was simply tied up behind her head. She raised her head and glanced at Lumian with her blue eyes. She was not surprised at the disgust and resistance on his face. "It's the best and cheapest hotel in the market area, on a busy street. It's just that the owner is a disgusting miser. He can't bear to hire a few regular cleaning maids, so he only hires someone to clean the house once a week." "Is he stingy with your salary too?" Lumian asked back with a tone of youthful curiosity. The middle-aged woman suddenly became angry: "Do you want to rent a house?" “Yes.” Lumian seemed frightened and spoke quickly to make his point clear, “I want to know the price.” The middle-aged woman calmed down: "It depends on what kind of room you want. The top two floors are 3 Felgin per week, and the bottom two floors are 5 Felgin per week. If you still think it's expensive, you can go up and knock on each door and ask if anyone is willing to give you half of their bed, or sublet the empty space on the ground floor to you. It's about 1 to Felgin per week." "Give me the rooms on the two lower floors." Lumian chose the room because it would be easier to escape from there, whether by jumping out the window or taking the stairs, than from the upper two floors. The plump woman looked at Lumian and said: "If you choose to pay the rent for the entire month in advance, you can pay only 15 Filkins." "Why is it so much cheaper?" Lumian deliberately showed the ignorance of a country farmer who came to the big city for the first time. The middle-aged woman sneered and said: “Because so many people only stayed a week or two before having to move somewhere else or leave Trier. “This is heaven and hell.” Lumian took out the stack of banknotes and pulled out three light blue bills. Their denomination is 5 Felkin, with a bust of Levanx, the first president of the Republic of Intis, and working farmers and herdsmen on the front, and the Honachis Mountains on the back.
After receiving the full month's rent, the fat woman's expression was obviously relieved. She took out two brass keys strung together and threw them upwards to Lumian: "Room 2 on the second floor. There's a small restaurant on the first floor and a tavern in the basement. There's sulfur in the drawer of the table in the room. It can help you get rid of those damn bugs. My name is Fels. You can come to me if you have any questions." "Thank you, Mrs. Firth." Lumian took the key, carried the suitcase and the calcium carbide lamp, and walked up the stairs to the second floor. On the way, he saw that many places on the wall were covered with newspapers or cheap pink paper, layer upon layer, but some of the paper had loosened, revealing the cracks and a large number of bedbugs that were hidden by them. There are eight rooms and two bathrooms on the second floor. Each room is very narrow. There is a bed on the right. The table by the window is against the edge of the bed on one side and close to the wall on the other side. In front is a chair with a leg that is about to break. Apart from these, there was no furniture, but there were rows of bedbugs crawling on the ceiling. Following Aurore, Lumian, who was used to cleanliness and tidiness, put down the suitcase and carbide lamp, opened the drawer, took out some sulfur, and lit them with a match. Amid the strong and pungent smell, the bedbugs moved away from the room and moved to other places. A few seconds later, Lumian sniffed and smelled the same sulfur smell coming from the next room. Almost at the same time, some bedbugs returned to his room, looking for a peaceful and quiet place. Lumian thought about it for a moment and roughly understood what was going on: He used sulfur to fumigate the bedbugs into the next room, where the tenants tried to use sulfur to drive the bugs back. Lumian couldn't help but smile, and he bent down to open the suitcase and took out a pen and paper. Amid the strong smell of sulfur, he sat down at the wooden table and began to write: "Dear Ms. Magician: "I have arrived in Trier as agreed. I wonder if you can tell me what to do next, which organization to join, and how to contact them... “Are those two psychologists available recently and when can I get treatment? "I wonder if you have any new clues about Guillaume Bennet and Madame Puaris..." After writing this short letter, Lumian took out an orange candle he got from his sister's room. As he lit the candles with his spirituality, a scent mixed with citrus and lavender filled the air. This made Lumian close his eyes instinctively, and his expression gradually calmed down. After standing quietly for a minute or two, he took out the ritual silver dagger and began to consecrate, creating a "spiritual wall" and dripping essential oils onto the candle flame. After completing the prerequisites, Lumian placed the "Magician" card on the altar. This is the medium for summoning messengers, allowing vague spells to be precise and unique. Lumian took a step back, looked at the slightly hazy orange-yellow flames, and said in ancient Hermetic language: "I!" Suddenly, an invisible wind began to swirl inside the "Spiritual Wall", and the light in the room dimmed. Then, Lumian switched to Hermes: "I call in my name: "A spirit wandering in the void, a creature from the upper realm that is friendly to humans, and a messenger that belongs exclusively to the 'magician'." Amid the howling wind, the candlelight took on a faint blue hue, and the surroundings became eerie and cold. Lumian stared at the candle intently, waiting for the Magician's messenger to appear.
He waited for several seconds, but there was no additional change. At this moment, the letter he placed on the altar, which was the wooden table, floated up and drifted into the air. Lumian looked up in surprise and saw a "doll" about the height of an adult man's forearm sitting on the top of the carved window. The "doll" has long golden hair, light blue eyes, pale skin and an exquisite light gold dress. Its facial features look very real, yet slightly exaggerated and quite weird. The next second, the letter fell into the "doll's" smooth, clean, and skin-less hands. "Are you the messenger of Ms. Magician?" Lumian asked as if to confirm. The "doll" slowly lowered its head, and its unfocused and spiritless light blue eyes reflected Lumian's figure. It said in a vague and angry voice: "Change to a cleaner environment next time!" As soon as he finished speaking, the "doll" disappeared with the letter. Lumian was stunned for two seconds, and whispered to himself: "Didn't Aurore say that we just need to keep the altar clean and tidy?" Almost at the same time, he saw a large number of dead bedbugs lying on the ground. His room was free of all kinds of insects. “This is better than sulfur…” Lumian touched his chin and ended the summoning ritual. He cleaned the room as usual, squatted beside the suitcase and took out the toiletries from it. Auror's dark witchcraft notebooks were lying quietly at the bottom of the box. On the way to Trier, Lumian had roughly flipped through them and didn't find anything suspicious. After all, Aurore was not a person who liked to keep a diary to record her feelings and various trivial matters. Her witchcraft notes were really just notes, filled with all kinds of occult knowledge, and copied many spells, symbolic patterns and material selection principles. Perhaps because Aurore loves to keep accounts, most of these spells are marked with the time, place, amount of money or things exchanged. This let Lumian know that there should be multiple interest groups under the "Curly-Haired Baboon Research Society". Aurore most often attended the "Academy" gatherings, and many of her spells were exchanged from "Academy" members. In addition, she also participated in exchanges with other groups from time to time. For example, she got some mystical knowledge and spells from "April Fools' Day". Since there seemed to be nothing wrong with these notes, Lumian could only continue to pursue the truth by receiving treatment from a psychologist and looking for the parish priest and Madame Puaris. Of course, he also knew that his sister would never mention the notes for no reason at the last minute. There must be some important information hidden in it that she wanted to convey. Looking at the dark notebooks, Lumian decided to start studying what his sister had recorded in reverse order from tonight. Although for a "hunter", even if he really masters a certain spell, it is almost impossible to apply it in actual combat, but it can at least help him identify whether there are any problems with the corresponding mystical knowledge and whether there are any abnormalities. After simply packing his luggage, Lumian heard his stomach growling. He stood up and looked toward the window. Through the dusk glass, he could vaguely see his own appearance: His hair was dyed blond and had grown longer, and his facial features were not modified too much. However, with his white shirt, black vest, dark formal suit and cold expression, he looked several years more mature. Even if the parish priest Guillaume Bennet met him, he would probably just feel that he had seen him before. Lumian patted his face, letting a smile gradually appear, then he opened the door and walked out. PS: Double time has started, please give me a monthly ticket, there will be more updates tomorrow and the day after tomorrow~ (End of this chapter)
