"An Evernight Goddess charm? You're a Nighthawk from the Goddess's Church?"
The girl was indeed knowledgeable. After seeing Silas's charm, she immediately guessed his identity. "But I don't think I've seen you locally. Are you from another city?"
"That's right. I'm here on business, passing through."
Silas nodded. "Are you sent by the Steam Church to supervise the market?"
"Mm."
The girl casually scratched her messy hair. Her clothes were stained with machine oil.
She was quite cute, but clearly put no thought into her appearance. "I'm with the Machinery Hivemind. Just call me Grela."
"Alright, Grela. So what do you need someone skilled in rituals for?"
Silas didn't give his own name, instead changing the subject to inquire about her needs.
"Oh, you're asking about that."
At this, the girl suddenly became animated. "It's like this: I suddenly had an idea.
I want to try solidifying ritual magic into an item!
You see, normally, using ritual magic requires preparing altars, reciting incantations; it's troublesome and time-consuming.
If we could directly solidify a ritual into an item, wouldn't that make it much more convenient to use? That way, it could even work in combat!"
Solidify rituals?
A very bold idea. Indeed, many rituals had extremely powerful effects, but the preliminary preparations were cumbersome and inconvenient, making them difficult to employ in actual combat.
A series of ritual names flashed rapidly through Silas's mind.
"That's a very interesting idea, but how do you plan to achieve it?"
Silas asked.
Ritual magic required borrowing power from gods or higher beings. If you simplified the ritual, would they agree to it?
Hearing him say this, the smile on Grela's face immediately froze. She sat back down a bit sheepishly and said, "Well, I'm still researching that.
So I wanted to first observe the ritual magic process, then design the item.
But Mr. Niess from our team has been very busy, and today he even had to go help with something else, so I thought I'd try my luck at the market."
I see.
Silas nodded. "I'm skilled in many ritual magics. I can completely meet your needs."
Who cares if it can actually be achieved? As long as he demonstrated for her and got that diary, that was enough.
"Oh, you're also a Mystery Pryer?"
"Sort of. I'm a Secrets Suppliant."
"???"
Grela's eyes widened in astonishment.
Seeing her reaction, Silas thought his words had frightened her.
But unexpectedly, after being stunned for a moment, she became excited. Her eyes lit up as she rushed in front of Silas.
"Really? Does that mean I can see some rare rituals? Come to think of it, this is my first time meeting a Secrets Suppliant.
How did the Church of the Evernight Goddess accept you..."
It took Silas some time to extricate himself from Grela's pestering.
Because she still had to guard the market today and couldn't leave on her own, they agreed to meet the next day at the inn where they were staying, then discuss the transaction.
As for compensation, Silas naturally mentioned those pages of Roselle's diary.
Grela added one hundred pounds to the payment but refused Silas's request to take a quick look at the diary first.
She'd seen through the fact that Silas seemed very interested in those manuscripts.
The little girl seemed carefree, but was actually quite sharp. Not easy to fool. Silas had no choice but to leave for now.
Tonight, he still had to go watch the performance Edward had invited someone to give, courting death. He couldn't miss that.
---
By the time Silas returned to the inn and met up with Leonard and Klein, it was nearly evening.
They sampled a meal of grilled fish with distinctive local flavor at a nearby restaurant, then arrived on time at the Chanis Gate beneath the Fishing Club.
The monster transformed from the sailor remained as before, imprisoned in the oversized birdcage, ceaselessly muttering curses.
The Nighthawks standing guard beside it had been switched out for two different ones.
Edward, along with the Port Enmat Nighthawks, including Miss Daly, was already waiting below. Besides them, a middle-aged man wearing a classical black robe stood at his side.
So this is that Sequence 7 Mystery Pryer.
Seeing that classical robe, Silas instinctively shut his eyes tight. Then he opened them slightly, cautiously sizing up the other party.
Good, at least this Mystery Pryer didn't have any strange eyes floating above his head...
He'd already learned his lesson once with Old Neil.
"This is Mr. Niess Brown from the Steam Church, Sequence 7 of the Mystery Pryer pathway, a 'Warlock.' Tonight, he'll be providing us with assistance."
Seeing Silas and the others come down, Edward nodded slightly as a greeting, then introduced the helper he'd invited.
Warlock?
Silas carefully looked the man over.
This middle-aged man had ordinary features. Besides the classical robe, he lacked any distinctive aura belonging to a warlock.
He only had a rectangular leather pouch hanging at his waist, about the length of an adult's forearm and two fists wide.
Inside that pouch was probably the core item of the Warlock pathway.
This Warlock named Niess smiled politely at them. Facing the twisted monster, he still appeared very calm and confident.
"It's about time. Mr. Niess, you may begin."
Edward said to him courteously.
"Alright."
Niess nodded. His right hand pressed on the pouch as he slowly walked toward the oversized birdcage, his expression gradually becoming serious.
Click.
The clasp on the pouch opened, revealing its contents: neatly arranged compartments, each containing powder of different colors.
Niess's right hand reached into the bag and, without even looking, precisely selected a compartment.
Using three fingers, he pinched out a bit of grayish-black powder and tossed it toward the monster.
"Sizzle!"
Runic symbols representing spells appeared on the back of his hand.
The powder rapidly burned the instant the runes lit up, transforming into a large expanse of golden light that illuminated the underground space, making everyone feel warmth.
This light was gentle and not blinding, flowing like water into the oversized birdcage and covering the body of that mass of flesh.
"Ahhhhh..."
The monster, which had ignored everyone else until now, shrieked piercingly as the golden light enveloped it. The twisted flesh on its surface began showing signs of melting.
"You can open the cage now."
Niess said.
"Open the cage!"
Edward immediately waved his hand to give the order.
The Nighthawks beside the cage each pulled from both sides, and the birdcage's bars opened from the middle, splitting in half and falling to the ground.
"Poof, poof!"
The moment the monster left its confinement, the flesh showed signs of revival and swelling. But Niess immediately tossed out a second pinch of powder.
"Boom!"
The iron-black powder transformed mid-air into a giant palm that pressed it firmly to the ground!
Seeing the creature unable to resist, Niess continued sprinkling various colored powders.
Under the different effects of these peculiar powders, the monster's originally swollen and proliferating flesh gradually dissolved, and the cursed sounds nearly disappeared.
He was about to succeed.
Edward watched all this, a hint of joy floating in his eyes.
"We should probably back up a bit."
Silas suddenly spoke up, saying quietly to the other two.