The Righteous Player(s)

“Elle” went to Delicious Wind Goose’s swordsmanship hall alone.

Delicious Wind Goose was definitely the toughest player around. Before “Elle” showed up, he had already pulled himself together and started looking into things, all while keeping up his act.

After “Elle” arrived, Delicious Wind Goose, like other players… easily gave Annan his trust. It was agreed that at midnight, he would meet with Longjing Tea and Wandering Child in front of Elle’s house.

Therefore, Annan didn’t go looking for Longjing Tea.

Because it was no longer necessary.

After that, he helped “Elle” prepare the ritual area in the basement of the swordsmanship hall.

—This was why Annan asked Wandering Child to send the ritual material here.

[Annan, are you planning to summon Bone Burying Grandma?]

“No.” Annan said leisurely, “This is not a ritual to summon Bone Burying Grandma.”

“Did Elle ask something?” Delicious Wind Goose, who was kneeling on the ground and carving the ritual pattern with a silver ritual knife, raised his head when he heard “Elle”. He explained with a smile, “Did she think this is a ritual under the Bone Burying Realm? Why did she think so?”

“It’s simple because I’ve tried it before. As Elle, I can’t use the divine art of the [Skeleton] and [Betrayal] realm at all. And I’ve also tried the ritual of upright deities. I can’t activate them here either.”

Elle, legs crossed and sitting in a chair, was carving wooden runes with a small knife. With a light chuckle, she turned and asked, “If it were you, how would you use a ritual to determine if this place is the Mist Continent?’

“Hmm… I will summon the Silver Sire. After all, as long as the price is enough, a Silver Sire’s ritual has the highest success rate. He will not refuse any form of transaction, as long as the price is right. If there is trading and currency in this world, but the Silver Sire didn’t respond to the ritual… then something must be wrong.”

Delicious Wind Goose thought for a moment and nodded in response.

“Well said.” Annan praised, “I can tell you have trained well with Nefertari in ritual knowledge. When we return, I will send you to the Rasputin Family. I’ll show you some of the top-secret large-scale rituals.”

“…Um, boss. What you said is called setting an event flag in our place. It’s a jinx.” Delicious Wind Goose said awkwardly.

Annan just smiled.

Elle quickly changed the subject. As she carved into the piece of wood she’d chopped from the chair, she remarked, “What you did was right. Among the upright deities, Silver Sire and Grail-holding Lady are the go-to ones. They’re the most responsive, even without any special ‘boost’ to help or locate them.'”

“For example, the Bone Burying Grandma when there is no undead, the Red Knight when there is no war, the Motherly Moth when the person holding the ritual isn’t a female… they rarely respond to rituals from non-believers. Then there’s Lady Luck who answers based on her mood, and the Mysterious Lady who’s super picky about precision. Their presence can really throw off your judgment.”

“Like you, I tried Silver Sire’s ritual before and found that it didn’t work. However, since Bone Burying Grandma incurred this nightmare, I tried Bone Burying Grandma’s ritual again and found that there was a response.”

“Elle” chuckled, “So I tentatively concluded that this is a world where ‘other upright deities do not exist, only Bone Burying Grandma exists’. Elle also heard this idea too.”

Upon hearing this, Delicious Wind Goose frowned.

He had just finished carving the ritual when he stood up, casting a puzzled glance at Elle, who was lounging in her chair with her legs propped up. Just as he was about to say something, the doorbell rang.

“It’s Wandering Child.” Elle added.

So Delicious Wind Goose nodded and went to open the door first.

Because there were outsiders around, Elle, who was still trying to stay quiet even though they couldn’t hear her words, finally couldn’t help but ask.

[Uncle Delicious Wind Goose, it seemed like you wanted to say something earlier… Did I miss something?]

“You don’t need to call him uncle. Although he looks mature, he is only 29 years old this year.”

“Elle” chuckled, “I’m glad that you realize that there is a problem here even though it’s still a little late.”

“—because that deduction is incorrect.” Delicious Wind Goose’s steady voice came from the doorway, “Why do you conclude that there is only one upright deity in this world after you have only tried Silver Sire and Bone Burying Grandma? That doesn’t make any sense, and I can’t see Lord Annan jumping to that conclusion either.”

Hearing that, Elle just gave a smile.

She stepped forward and took the ritual material from Delicious Wind Goose.

—3 black male sheep horns, 3 black male goat horns, and 3 bull horns. Plus, 3 black candles, 3 mirrors, 1 small bottle of crocodile tears, 27 mouse hearts, 27 venom glands from centipedes, and 1 small bottle of the Silent Ointment.

[…Huh?]

Elle was startled when she went through the materials.

[Isn’t this…]

“Does it look familiar, Elle?” “Elle” asked warmly.

Of course, Elle was familiar with this setup.

Some of these ritual materials… specifically the three candles, three black ram horns, three black goat horns, and the three bull horns, were the very items used by Amos years ago for the Venerated Skeleton ritual when he sacrificed Elle to the Venerated Skeleton.

“You know what, Elle.”

“You know, Elle,” Annan said calmly, emphasizing each word, “The [Contacting the Venerated Skeleton] ritual is actually a watered-down version of another ritual.”

“When it comes to [3], what does it remind you of?”

[Deity of Veto and Darkness… the Silent Lady?]

“That’s right.” Annan replied.

As he spoke, he inserted the ritual materials in order into the ritual array carved on the ground by Delicious Wind Goose.

Each “horn” had its designated spot. Around the nine horns, the mouse hearts and centipede venom glands were placed in groups of nine, forming nine triangles. These serve as ritual substitutes for a baby’s heart and a villain’s brain.

After that, Annan placed the three black candles on the outermost edge… arranging them with the three mirrors to create overlapping triangles. He then lit the candles.

The moment the third candle was lit, the warm orange flame turned into a chilling icy blue. After that, Annan snuffed out the other lights in the room.

“Delicious Wind Goose is right. I just confirmed that Silver Sire’s ritual is invalid, and I also confirmed that Bone Burying Grandma’s ritual is valid. But, why do we have to believe that only Bone Burying Grandma exists in this world?

“I kept thinking, is Bone Burying Granny the only special one? But then, I overheard Amos talking about [The Elegant Elder’s Blessing] and doing some [Ritual for the Elegant Elder]… That’s when it clicked. This place has its own ‘rituals’, they’re just not supercharged enough to call on some major powers.”

“So, here’s the thing I don’t get. If we’ve got upright deities in this world slice, why aren’t they answering when summoned by rituals? And why don’t these ‘rituals’ pack any kind of transcended power?”

Annan said. He burned the three wooden charms engraved with the Silent Lady’s rune on three candles.

When the runes touched the candles burning with a chilly blue flame, they too started to flicker with a cold light. It didn’t look like wood burning in fire, but more like they were slowly being “devoured” by the flames.

Soon, the rune disappeared into Annan’s hands.

The shadowy rune appeared above the candle flame.

“The answer is simple because the upright deity that does not exist is not Silver Sire… but the Mysterious Lady.”

Annan said, dropping crocodile tears on the three candles to extinguish them.

The candle flame was gradually extinguished, but the three rotating runes still hovered above the candle.

Finally, the flames were extinguished.

The three runes rotated quietly and silently.

“This is the true form of the ritual of ‘contacting the Venerated Skeleton’… [Contacting the Night].”

Not in contact with Silent Lady, but in contact with the night.

The moment the ritual succeeded, the entire world visibly plunged into twilight.

And the success of this ritual meant that all of Annan’s previous inferences were correct.

It wasn’t like the sun was dropping, but more like time went into super speed mode. If the group checked on people outside right then, they’d probably look like they were in a time-lapse, darting here and there real fast.

So, this ritual just sneakily fast-forwarded the world to smack dab 9 o’clock at night, and no one had a clue.

The Delicious Wind Goose and Wandering Child beside them had disappeared without a trace. They should have found Longjing Tea by now. According to Annan’s previous instructions, they might be on their way to the wheat fields or assassinating “unworthy children”.

However, none of them were in the swordsmanship hall. If everything went well, they should not go crazy now.

“It’s 9 PM. Two plus one is three; 9 PM is like three times three, and there’s a three-hour gap between nine and midnight… So, that means we’ve got three more hours to go. It’s the ‘Golden Hour’ for the Silent Lady.” 𝒃𝒆𝙙𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“Elle” raised her head calmly.

“—I shall begin to announce the answers right here and now.”

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