Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 802 The Birth of Dong Tzu
This is the third day since Aleister left Leipzig.

Count Leipzig couldn't help but start thinking, will Aleister...or rather, will that Ms. Bayard really come back?
She left so quietly, and just before Pomponazzi arrived in Leipzig. Even Prince Szijjártó didn't know she was going away for a while... Isn't this really running away?
He always felt that Bayard wanted to avoid Pomponazzi, so he left in a hurry when Pomponazzi was about to arrive.

... So, could she have some relationship with Pomponazzi? That's why Pomponazzi was so persistent in meeting her, but he also insisted on being polite to her...

Count Leipzig, who was sipping red wine and watching the opera performance at the White Dove Opera House, sighed.

He felt like his brain was going to burn out.

Although Pomponazzi said that he shouldn't go back if he couldn't find Bayard...but if he didn't come back for several days without saying a word, I'm afraid Pomponazzi would go crazy.

It was for this reason that he couldn't help but go back the morning before yesterday and report to Pomponazzi that Aleister had left Leipzig.

——For some reason, Pomponazzi’s mood suddenly turned bad after hearing that Ms. Bayard was going to Avalon.

He kicked Count Leipzig out with a few kicks and reiterated that if he couldn't find Bayard, he shouldn't go back. Even though he already knew that Ms. Bayard was not in Leipzig at all.

But at that time, Count Leipzig was relieved.

Because he could feel that Pomponazzi was determined to see Ms. Bayard this time. It didn't matter if he wasted some time here... and this was Leipzig after all, and he wouldn't leave home without a place to go.

So the Count of Leipzig went to the White Dove Opera House with peace of mind and had fun for two days.

Anyway, everything will be fine when Ms. Bayard comes back.

But today, he suddenly reacted.

——Is it possible that Hong Xiang wants him to go to Avalon to find Ms. Bayard?
As Pomponazzi's closest "children", Leipzig has always looked down on those young Moon Children who are so nervous that they sweat profusely when facing Pomponazzi.

He would only look at them with a smile, feeling dissatisfied with their impatience - you know, among the Children of the Moon, Pomponazzi was already known to be a gentle type.

Everyone knows that Pomponazzi believes in the Lord of Banquets and does everything for pleasure. As long as you stroke his hair in the right way, he is much easier to serve than those nobles who don't speak human language...

...much easier to talk to than Valentine VI.

When Count Leipzig was not yet a count or a prince, he was favored by the Queen without any achievements. The ability to please people can be said to be a talent. When Valentine VI died, he used this talent flexibly on Pomponazzi and felt like a fish in water.

——At least Pomponazzi was famous for telling the truth.

When Peng Bonanzi is happy, his happiness is visibly evident, and when he is angry, it is easy to tell that he is angry.

Although his mood would change rapidly sometimes, at least he would not be like Valentine VI, chatting with a clown who exaggeratedly flattered him with a smile... He looked as if he was smiling happily in the first half of the sentence, but in the second half he calmly ordered him to be dragged out and executed.

Until the man was executed, Count Leipzig did not know what he had said wrongly or where he had said it wrongly.

Of the two masters the Count of Leipzig served, Valentine VI and Pomponazzi had opposite personalities.

You can never guess what the Queen is thinking just from her expression and tone, and she hates others guessing her thoughts.

The old queen would sometimes sit in a dark room, in front of the piano, and think silently, and would slowly press a key after a long time. She didn't like others to interrupt her thinking, but sometimes she would suddenly ask questions without any context, and she had to give an instinctive answer immediately.

Finn, who was not even a noble at that time, felt as if his heart was being seized. He was sweating profusely, but he could only sit still and not even dare to drink water.

And now... Count Leipzig is gradually beginning to feel this pressure from Pomponazzi.

...Is this what happens to all people as they age?

Count Leipzig complained in his heart.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but Pomponazzi still looks younger than me, and as a child of the moon, he doesn't have a "lifespan" in the human sense, but he still concentrates on enjoying himself every day and is full of energy...

However, Count Leipzig could vaguely sense an "old man's smell" from Pomponazzi.

Is it an illusion?

Or……

"It's really troublesome..."

Count Leipzig sighed and actively wiped away his dangerous thoughts: "It's getting harder and harder to serve you. You're starting to become unreasonable..."

——He can’t really go to Avalon, can he?
Once he reaches the knights' territory, it's unclear whether he can come back...

If he had the chance to meet Ms. Bayard now, he would really like to kowtow to her.

Auntie, please, don't run around...

At this moment, someone knocked on the door behind him from outside, but Count Leipzig was too lazy to get up.

He lay on a recliner and watched the opera performance, young girls snuggled up to him. Behind him, someone was massaging his head, and in front of him, someone was bowing down to serve him.

"Aesid."

He called out his bodyguard's name.

A man wearing a white hood, leaning quietly against the wall with his arms folded, lifted his invisibility, walked over quietly and opened the door.

He exchanged a few words in a low voice with the person outside, then closed the door and walked over.

"My Lord Count."

His voice with a strong resting accent said: "Aleister is back."

"Oh?"

Count Leipzig suddenly perked up and turned over and tried to get up: "Where is she? Take me to find her!"

"After she came back, she went straight to the Ziggurat. She rode a ghost horse and was very fast. Our people couldn't stop her."

The man in white robe whispered.

"……what."

Count Leipzig lay back down.

The Ziggurat...what a hassle.

He really didn't want to go there unless it was necessary. As the Son of the Moon, he had an almost instinctive resistance and opposition to the Spirit Tower. Just entering its influence range would make him feel strongly uncomfortable - the power of dusk had a very obvious suppressive effect on the path of love, and the two could be said to be incompatible.

"…Forget it, let's just go for a trip."

After all, Ms. Bayard is also a child of the moon... If she is willing to go to the Ziggurat, then I will go there myself. However, just in case.

"… Go and inform Lord Hongxiang. Tell him that Ms. Bayard has returned and went straight to the Spiritual Tower. I have already gone to find her…"

Count Leipzig said this cautiously to the man in white robe whom he called "Aesid".

He instinctively sensed a hint of danger.

After all, Valentine VII himself was a monarch who was friendly to the Twilight Path.

Now the first Black Phase has awakened from his slumber. But in the face of the monarch's death, there is no movement from the Spirit Tower... Is this reasonable?
Rather than choosing to remain still as a mountain on the dusk road, Count Leipzig prefers...all this is just the calm before the storm.

Any abnormality could be part of a conspiracy, and Ms. Bayard’s trip to the Ziggurat is one of them!
In short, shake someone first. If something happens to you, at least Peng Bonazzi can save you!

At this time, Aleister had arrived at the Ziggurat and met the lich Matthias Grunewald again.

Upon hearing that Aleister had returned, Adolf, the current Black Phase and Vice-Principal of the Spiritual Tower, also rushed over.

But when he rushed to the top floor and saw Matthias, the place was empty.

"...Where's Miss Aleister?"

Adolf was a little confused: "I heard that she is back?"

Matthias's hollow but gentle voice sounded: "She left using the skill of traveling through the spirit world. Aleister noticed that someone was following her."

"…So you left your stalker behind at the Ziggurat?"

Adolf rubbed his forehead.

He was not afraid of this at all. With the lich Matthias around, the Ziggurat was never afraid of anything.

I just feel it’s a bit troublesome… As a transcendent on the path of dusk, there is no one who is not afraid of trouble.

"But, mentor."

Adolf looked at the skeleton covered in a tattered black robe floating in the air and asked expectantly, "Could it be that Miss Aleister..."

"She did bring back a sixth-level undead. It was a wild hunt king... the Heleqin of Avalon."

Matthias's hollow voice sounded: "I underestimated her. She could actually do such a thing..."

“I haven’t seen it yet!”

Adolf said somewhat dissatisfiedly: "Why don't you call me, mentor?"

"She will come back."

Matthias turned around, two dim yellow flames burning gently in the skull's eye sockets: "And you have more important things to do.

"Go tell the students..."

The lich hadn't finished speaking.

Adolf's eyes suddenly widened.

Because at this moment, an invisible cold wave suddenly swept across his body—the sky became dark in the blink of an eye.

It was noon at the end of March, but snowflakes suddenly started falling from the sky.

It wasn't a blizzard... it was just a very silent snow.

In an instant, the sky and the earth were covered by the ubiquitous pure white snowflakes.

The silence was not just a description - in the snow, it seemed as if no sound could penetrate. The people walking on the street suddenly fell into chaos, but they could not hear any sound in the distance, and the visibility was only within three meters.

In an instant, the whole world was covered by blizzard and turned into an invisible winter.

"Oops……"

Young Valentine VIII stood in front of the window, looking at the sky and earth covered with snow, his mouth turning pale with fear: "Is it the Black Phase... coming to kill me?"

He felt the power of dusk resonating between heaven and earth.

"It's not good, Your Majesty!"

Just then, someone rushed over and shouted, "Your Majesty, the body of the late king is missing in the bedroom!"

Valentine VIII's eyes suddenly went dark and he stumbled back into the bedroom.

Those were the remains of his biological father that were placed here by the Red Prime Minister Pomponazzi. Although Lucien also wanted to bury them, he did not dare to offend Pomponazzi, so he did not dare to move.

Even though Pomponazzi had left Lionheart City and headed for Leipzig... Lucien could only leave the horrific skeleton wrapped in human skin in his bedroom.

But now, only half of the human skin remained of the skeleton in the room.

The remaining bones disappeared.

——Valentinian VIII suddenly felt a strong sense of fear.

It's like being clearly aware that someone has entered your house, but not being able to find where the other person is.

He had realized that his father, who had not been buried for a long time, had been transformed into a ghost by the heavy snow.

...Could that be a vengeful spirit?
Will he come for revenge?

At this time, in a garden outside the palace.

A skeleton covered in ice was tearing off the remaining human skin on his body while looking up at the snowflakes falling from the sky.

He raised his hands, as if quietly embracing the snow, or like a prisoner who had escaped from prison and was reborn.

In the Spirit Tower, the Black Phase's voice sounded steadily:
“Go tell the students… the Spiritual Tower is blessed by the Heavenly Master.

"Go and revise the textbooks. From now on, the concept that represents the dead is no longer the 'underworld' and the 'burial' of soil, but the ice that represents 'silence' and the 'end'.

"——We respectfully invite the Winter God. The God of death and silence, the God of new life covering the earth."

(End of this chapter)