Shadow Apostle

"boom……"

"Bang bang..."

Horst suddenly sat up from the bed, and there was a banging sound in his ears, coming from outside the thin door.

Touching his chin to confirm that it still felt familiar, Horst put on his formal jacket hanging behind the door and opened the door.

Such an educated knock on the door was completely uncharacteristic of the princess area, and you didn't have to guess who it was.

Miss Jessica Burnt.

This time she changed into a long goose-yellow dress, with a gold headdress on her head. Behind her were the two muscular men in black trench coats from last night. The only thing that remained unchanged was the folding fan in her hand.

It was okay when I didn't know, but now that Horst sees the folding fan, he is always worried that the girl will throw the folding fan at her if she disagrees, which is really scary.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Horst." Jessica lifted her skirt and bowed slightly. Her light makeup could not hide the haggard look on her face, but she still smiled and tilted her head, and said softly, "It looks like your I'm in good spirits, so I feel more at ease."

Horst shook his head, trying to get the image of Miss Berndt out of his mind, and put on the windbreaker and top hat behind the door.

To have such a noble lady come to the door regardless of etiquette, she must not be bored. Thinking about the dream-like experience she just had, Horst had a very bad feeling.

Don't wait for the lady to speak.

Horst loaded his pistol, picked up his cane, and made an invitation gesture at the door: "Let's go."

"Um?"

"In order to settle the commission of 50 luka and the door lock fee of 10 luka as soon as possible." Horst closed the door of 103. "Otherwise it will take too long. If you don't admit it, I will suffer a big loss. "

Miss Berndt pursed her lips and puffed her cheeks, secretly rolled her eyes at Horst, turned around and left angrily.

"Wait, there..."

"Click."

"...It's cracked, forget it."

Horst sighed, bypassed Jessica who was blushing and gritting her teeth, and led the three of them out of the apartment corridor full of traps.

The carriage stopped at the door of the apartment. Several smart policemen wearing blue uniforms with double-breasted copper buttons were patrolling near the carriage, leaving many street children with unclean hands and feet nearby hiding in the corner and only daring to watch from a distance. , it was not until the carriage slowly started that the policemen heaved a sigh of relief and dispersed, allowing calm to return to Vera Street.

"So...what's going on over there, Berndt...Miss Jessica."

The timely change of words made Jessica's gaze soften. After closing the window, the calmness on her face gradually disappeared. She bit her lip and whispered: "The result is out, it is a magic circle targeting the blood of the casting material itself. Now The situation at home is very bad, I really... you should go back with me and take a look first."

"Are you sure you can't call the police yet?"

"That magic circle..." Miss Berndt lowered her eyes and hesitated for a while, then finally looked around, took a deep breath, and said in the softest voice, "It is only effective when using the bloodline of the Bernt family. "

Horst's heart tightened: "Are you sure?"

"Yes." Horst noticed that Miss Berndt's eyes were a little red when she raised her head, but she quickly returned to normal. "Now I will take you to the family mansion first. This matter is probably more complicated than we thought before. It’s more complicated and more dangerous, and we don’t rule out that the manipulator behind it may also regard you as a target.”

"Hmm." Horst stared at the floor, lost in thought.

"What, Mr. Horst, the risk has increased again. Do you plan to increase the money?"

"Don't worry about this. In some cases, the nature of asking for more money changes, which is against my tutoring. Moreover..." Horst raised his head and looked at Jessica and whispered, "The other party has already found me, and now we are equal After boarding the same airship, it’s no longer time to differentiate between them.”

"Um?"

"I had a dream just now..."

As Horst narrated, the carriage smoothly shuttled through the streets and alleys of the Princess District. It didn't take long for the old bluestone pavement to turn into a brand-new asphalt road, and gray water continued to spray from the sewers on both sides. Steam has shrouded the road all year round, making the vehicles coming and going seem to be in the clouds. Pedestrians hurried past the road with their collars turned up, and their steps were fast without stopping for a moment.

Not long after driving on, the street gradually widened, and the dense buildings on the roadside were gradually replaced by open fields. Deep in the fields, a three-story exquisite manor appeared at the end of the field of vision.

"Fortunately, you are very sensitive to conspiracies and scams, and you dealt with them decisively enough, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous. Although I don't know the specific means used by the other party, I can be sure that it was definitely not a dream. If you had not escaped in time, Even if you don’t die in a dream, your spirit will be severely damaged and you may never wake up.”

"Is that indeed an attack by the Awakened?"

"It is difficult to give an absolutely positive answer in the mysterious world. I can only say that the possibility is very high. But which series of awakened people come from, or even whether they come from a certain dominant cultist, I will say I can’t be sure. From your description, it seems that the illusion control properties of the Red Moon series, the dream control properties of the Dark series, the mental interference properties of the Wisdom series, and even the misleading properties of the Deception and Lies series can all be used. Producing a similar effect, it may be unrealistic to use this clue to discover the identity of the other party."

"It doesn't matter. The other party knows that you and I have just faced a strong enemy. From his performance, I don't think he can peek into my memory, so he must have learned about our encounter last night through some channel."

Miss Berndt touched her head, glared at Horst slightly sadly, and then nodded.

"Based on my attraction to mystery, we cannot rule out the possibility that he was attracted to me. However, judging from the current situation, I was found after I was involved in this matter, so he is likely to be related to your family. It is related to the incident. As long as we continue to investigate this matter, even if we cannot find him out in the end, we can make his plan completely fail and teach him a lesson."

Horst sneered and looked out the window. The Bernt family's manor was not far away.

Leaving the Silver Moon Avenue, which can accommodate four cars parallel, the beautiful metal gate slowly opened, allowing the carriage to drive into Burnt Manor. Passing through the lawns and gardens on both sides, the carriage drove all the way to the fountain in front of the main entrance of the manor before stopping.

A well-dressed old housekeeper and six servants, three men, three women, lined up at the door to greet him. As soon as the carriage door opened, the fresh air with sweet fragrance floated in, which was more pleasant than the villa last night.

"Welcome, Mr. Horst Drom."

Miss Jessica Berndt jumped out of the car first, walked a few steps quickly, stood outside the carriage door, turned around, and curtsied to Horst in the carriage, while the old housekeeper and six servants stood beside the door. , while bowing deeply.

"On behalf of the current Earl of Bernt, I welcome your visit. Something happened at home recently. It is inconvenient for family members to entertain guests. I can only accompany you throughout the whole process. The hospitality is not good. Please be considerate."

Horst stood in the carriage, keeping his posture as if he was about to jump out of the car. His face was a little embarrassed. He had never experienced such a scene in two lifetimes. However, the freedom and ease of the time traveler still made him bite the bullet and jump out. carriage.

As long as I don't feel embarrassed, others will be embarrassed.

However, as soon as his feet hit the ground, his expression became a little stiff.

Because his eyes were suddenly covered with a red filter.

Everything in front of him seemed to be separated by a layer of red mist, and the edges even kept stretching and twisting, as if tentacles were growing out.

A hoarse and weak murmur also sounded in his ears at the right time. On the car next to him and in the grass under his feet, there seemed to be voices whispering to him everywhere.

Even the housekeeper and several servants beside him seemed to have turned into monsters, with a face like an insect, their bodies constantly made a disgusting buzzing sound like the wings of insects, and the edges of their bodies stretched out in disgusting ways. The joints are twisting and looking quite ferocious. Even the sounds they made turned into the crunching sound of joints rubbing against each other, which made the hairs on the back of Horst's neck stand up.

But the illusion was fleeting, and the surroundings returned to their original state.

The sun is shining, the flowers are fragrant, and the water is splashing in the fountain behind. Everything is so peaceful.

People are normal too.

The meticulous old butler, the servants in cheap clothes and hats who didn't even look at Hoster, even the sounds they made returned to normal.

"Mr. Horst, are you okay?"

At some point, Jessica had approached Horst, holding the folding fan in her hand again, and was asking in a low voice with concern.

"It's okay. I'm back to my old habit yesterday." Horst pointedly said, "You just said that your family's situation is not very good?"

Jessica made a move and nodded with a wry smile: "Yes, have you noticed? Come in first. William, go and clean up my private reception room and prepare black tea and snacks."

"Yes, miss."

The old butler bowed respectfully, then stepped back to leave, but before leaving, Horst, who was right next to him, patted his shoulder familiarly.

"Thank you for welcoming me, old sir. I don't understand the etiquette of nobles, so I will use my own etiquette to thank everyone."

As he spoke, he shook hands with every servant around him, and his attitude of thanking him was extremely sincere, which actually made several servants feel embarrassed and at a loss.

Horst, on the other hand, was already walking towards the Berndt family's mansion under the leadership of Jessica. On the way, he stared at his hands in a daze.

He tested everyone just now. A moment ago, his spiritual sense reacted to the mystery, and he saw them turning into monsters in the illusion, but when he actually tested them, he found nothing.

There was no reaction from the spiritual sense at all.

Could it be that the initial vision was just an hallucination caused by the stimulation of my spiritual sense? Didn't they really turn into monsters?

"Miss Jessica." Horst asked hesitantly, "Those servants, do you think they are normal?"

"Totally normal. You think there's something wrong with them?"

"I'm not sure. It seems now that I'm overly sensitive."

"Understood, I will pay close attention." Berndt made a guiding gesture, "Please come here, I will take you to meet a few people first, and also ask you to see their situation."

"Um?"

Before Jessica could answer, Horst heard a rush of footsteps.

A maid ran out of the mansion with an anxious look on her face.

"Miss Jessica, please go and take a look. Something happened to our wife again. The situation is very bad."

Jessica and Horst looked at each other, and Horst nodded towards her.

"Okay, Mary, go back first, we'll be there right away."

There will be two updates a day starting tomorrow, but I haven’t saved enough to save the manuscript.

In the past few days, I have been revising several versions every day, and then I have chosen the one I am most satisfied with and sent it out. What should I do next? I can’t do this after two updates. I am so confused.