Chapter 24

Looking at the restored "SOS letter," Lumian fell into a long silence.

Although this might not necessarily represent the content of the letter, after all, as long as one doesn't pay much attention to grammar, those words could form other sentences, such as "The people around need to be helped as soon as possible, we are becoming more and more strange," but it still made him feel an indescribable heaviness, as if something was pressing on his heart.

In the past, he might have thought the sender was playing a prank, but now, in Cordu Village, abnormal things were really becoming more and more frequent, and this was just the part he had discovered.

"I can't pretend I didn't see anything, nor can I pretend nothing happened...

"Sister said that a mentally sound person should know how to avoid danger, and not stand under a wall that is about to collapse after discovering it..."

Lumian came to his senses and quickly made a decision:

"We must leave Cordu Village as soon as possible, and go with my sister!

"As for the abnormalities here, there will naturally be official people to handle them, and the villagers will certainly be protected by them. I have neither the obligation to take on this responsibility nor the corresponding ability."

"Also, I need to speed up the exploration of the dream ruins, striving to obtain extraordinary powers in a short time to deal with any accidents that might happen during the process of leaving here..." Lumian's mind became increasingly clear, filled with a sense of urgency.

What he feared most was that he and his sister wouldn't have time to leave Cordu Village before the abnormalities erupted. In that case, he at least needed to ensure he wouldn't be a burden to his sister, and the prerequisite for that was that he needed to become much stronger than he was now.

With this in mind, Lumian put the small blue book back in its place, took the paper with the words and sentences he had just written, and quickly went down the stairs.

He deliberately went to the stove and threw the paper into the fire.

After leaving the house, Lumian headed straight for the old tavern.

The door of the tavern was tightly closed, and the owner and bartender, Maurice Bene, should have gone to attend Naruka's funeral.

However, as a part-time inn, it was impossible for all the doors to be locked during the day, not allowing guests to come and go.

Lumian went around to the side road and pushed open the back door of the tavern.

At the top of the stairs, he glanced at the hall and saw no one.

Thump, thump, thump, Lumian went up to the second floor and stopped outside the room of the mysterious woman.

Seeing that there was no "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging on the doorknob, Lumian took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, then bent his fingers and gently knocked on the wooden door.

Knock, knock, knock...

He knocked three times, but there was no response from inside.

Knock, knock, knock... Lumian increased the force of his knocking, but still no one responded.

He knocked a few more times, but the room remained silent.

"Not there?" Lumian frowned, "Attending Naruka's funeral?"

He didn't waste any more time, went down to the second floor, left the tavern, and headed straight for the cemetery next to the church.

On the way, he passed by Naruka's house.

At this moment, the crowd outside the door, who had come to bid farewell to the deceased, had all dispersed and gone to the cemetery to wait.

Lumian took a distant look and just happened to see Ponce Bene, the brother of the parish priest, coming out of the house.

"This..." He was surprised and instinctively moved to the side of the building, hiding behind an obstacle.

During the funeral, wasn't it not allowed to enter the house to avoid affecting the constellation and taking away good luck?

Ponce Bene stopped at Naruka's door and had a low conversation with the old lady's son, Arnaud Andre, a middle-aged man.

After Ponce Bene left, Arnaud locked the door and headed towards the cemetery.

"Naruka's death is indeed a bit strange..." Lumian frowned, muttering to himself.

He now felt that Naruka's death might not have been caused by the owl, but rather had a greater likelihood of being related to the strange behavior of the parish priest and his group.

The owl might have just been following its own mission, coming to Cordu Village to take the soul of the deceased, and then stopping to observe Lumian for a while on the way.

Of course, Lumian had a more terrifying guess:

The parish priest and his group might have some connection with the owl!

Their strange behavior, the things they did in secret, the initial source might have been the legacy of the wizard from the past.

"Before leaving Cordu Village, I can find an opportunity to tell these guesses to Lain, Lya, and the others, hoping they can quickly uncover the truth and solve the problem as soon as possible." Lumian withdrew his gaze, thinking to himself as he walked towards the "Eternal Sun" church.

Throughout the funeral, Lumian appeared silent and solemn, but in reality, he was constantly observing every villager, hoping to find any abnormalities in their expressions.

Unfortunately, he found nothing.

However, this also gave him a certain illusion:

Some villagers might be wearing some kind of mask...

And the mysterious woman who gave him the tarot card did not appear in the cemetery.

...

As evening approached, inside a semi-underground two-story building.

"Where is the test paper you wrote?" Orol looked at her brother, who had just walked up to her, and casually asked, "Let me see it."

Lumian said with a serious expression:

"I have something to tell you."

Orol's gaze swept over his face:

"Did some wild animal in the village take your test paper again?"

"No," Lumian said in a deep voice, "I learned some things from those outsiders."

Orol's smile faded, and she nodded, signaling him to continue.

Lumian started from the point where Lain and the others began investigating the SOS letter, talked about the abnormality of the small blue book at home, his suspicions about Mrs. Poualys, and how he borrowed the small blue book from the Raymond family and initially restored the content of the SOS letter.

Finally, he suggested:

"Let's leave the village as soon as possible, go to Liege, no, to Bigor, and stay for a while."

Orol didn't answer immediately, thinking for a full ten seconds before saying:

"This is indeed the best choice at the moment.

"But there is one problem: if we suddenly leave Cordu in a hurry while the officials are conducting an investigation, won't it raise their suspicions, and they might intercept us and conduct a thorough investigation?

"If I weren't an extraordinary person, it wouldn't matter, but I am an unregistered wild extraordinary person, the kind that would be taken away and purified by the Inquisition."

Lumian, lacking experience, had overlooked this issue earlier and didn't know what to say.

After a while, he said:

"Force our way out and hide in another city or even another country?"

"Are you overestimating me?" Orol laughed, "From what I've observed, those three outsiders are all quite capable. If there was only one, I might be able to handle it, but there are three of them. And how do you know there isn't a large force waiting outside the village, just waiting for the suspects to be startled and try to escape?"

Lumian was speechless.

He had to admit that compared to his sister, he was still too inexperienced and immature, and his thinking wasn't thorough enough in critical moments.

"You are still too rash," Orol commented, "But it's normal, young people always have a bit of sharpness."

She paused and continued:

"Tomorrow morning, go to the administrator and send a telegram to the 'Novel Weekly' for me, asking when the writer's salon mentioned before will be held."

Orol was a columnist for the 'Novel Weekly' and was quite popular among readers.

—In Cordu Village, only the administrator and the parish priest had telegraph machines, responsible for emergency external communications. Villagers could use them, but they had to pay enough fergins.

Seeing the puzzled look on Lumian's face, Orol smiled and explained simply:

"The 'Novel Weekly' has always wanted me to go to Trier for some activities, and I have always refused, including the recent writer's salon.

"Since I am now asking about it, they will definitely invite me enthusiastically, and even reimburse the cost of the steam train tickets.

"This way, our departure will be a normal thing, and even if we are under secret observation, we won't be treated as suspects.

"At that time, I have a way to temporarily hide from them. As long as we two are not contaminated by the abnormal events, we have a high probability of leaving Cordu smoothly."

"Okay." Lumian couldn't help but sigh in relief.

A few seconds later, he asked curiously:

"Orol, uh, sister, are extraordinary people those who possess extraordinary powers?"

"Yes." Orol didn't elaborate.

She then laughed:

"You are willing to abandon your friends and directly escape from Cordu."

"What does it matter to me whether others live or die?" Lumian scoffed.

The most important thing now is to ensure his sister's safety!

Orol chuckled:

"Come on, repeat what you just said, I love hearing it.

"How many times have you said similar things before? But every time, you secretly provide help or pretend to remind them unintentionally."

"Those are trivial matters." Lumian defended himself.

The current abnormality could threaten his sister.

"Alright, alright." Orol had a look of not wanting to argue with a child, "It's time to prepare dinner, it's your turn today."

Lumian nodded and walked to the stove.

...

On a dark night with the red moon hidden behind the clouds.

Lumian finished washing up and lay down on the bed.

His face gradually showed obvious worry.

Orol's response wasn't bad, but Lumian was concerned that the village's abnormalities might erupt during the time waiting for the 'Novel Weekly' to reply.

For this reason, he was extremely eager to enhance his strength, and obtaining extraordinary powers in the dream ruins was the easiest way for him to achieve this.

What he regretted was that he hadn't found the lady all day and couldn't get the corresponding advice, so he could only try on his own.

For him, the situation had reached a point where it was like an arrow on the bow, the string already pulled, and it had to be fired.

Without hesitation, Lumian calmed his mind and slowly entered a state of sleep.