The apparition on the sword blade only flashed for a splitmoment.
With the glimmering of light, the reverse image of Candela vanished without a trace.
However, Lin Jie was absolutely certain he wasn’t seeing things.
Was that... an apparition?
He leaned back, calmly swiveling the sword, and once again scrutinized the inscription carved on the blade, the indescribable sensation of familiarity not diminishing in any way.
A deluge of information flooded his mind, as if it were things that he ought to have known.
Stuff like how this sword was supposed to have been embedded in the central point of the massive white hall, and how the Alfords’ sacred sword together with the laurel crown were the symbols of royalty.
Previously, when Lin Jie woke up from that dream, gazing at this sword made it seem as if he had personally wielded this sword to countless battlefields...
Right now, this no longer seemed like a misperception because Lin Jie had even grasped an unknown language that he had no prior experience with before.
Lin Jie knew that perhaps there might be a logical explanation for these circumstances, for example, savant syndrome.
However, he hadn’t been hit on the head recently and believed his own brain functioned perfectly fine.
Moreover, the premise for suddenly understanding a language had to be coming from learning or coming in contact with this language in the past. Thus, this sort of reasoning didn’t seem applicable.
Lin Jie suddenly remembered that Candela had given him one thing back then— A laurel!
He glanced at his wrist but didn’t see anything strange.
"Right... if it were there, I would have already noticed it in the past couple of days."
Lin Jie rubbed his wrist, not knowing whether to heave a sigh or feel regret.
"Did I unintentionally ’transcend’ him?
"Given how Candela was, he might be the manifestation of a ghost attached to the sword due to his obsession and not the simple dream which I thought it was.
"Hmm... Perhaps after being passed down for a long time, this sacred sword of the Alfords Kingdom became an heirloom for Joseph’s family. Or maybe his family had the mission of guarding this sword, preventing the ghost from interfering with the human realm, just that Joseph forgot about it. And after it was passed down to me, Candela had the power to influence my dreams.
"But he seems rather friendly, and whatever deep-rooted resentment would have been worn away over time and all that remained was cured by my chicken soup for the soul."
Lin Jie gazed at the sword in hand and continued musing, "In the end, the most important thing Candela gave me wasn’t the sacred sword or the laurel crown, but the experience of his entire life in the dream..."
This ghost from ancient times had chosen to pass down everything about his kingdom through such a method.
“The only question is, how much of the dream was true...”
Lin Jie recalled the process of how the young Candela learned all sorts of knowledge and swordsmanship from the royal teachers, but some of those ‘mystical arts’ as well as the period where he challenged the ‘god’ was still rather fuzzy.
This might mean to say that Azir once had an age of mythology, but all of these had vanished following the death of that ancient kingdom.
Or perhaps, all of these things had been hidden away.
Looks like I have to get my hands on Rise and Fall of Alfords... Lin Jie thought to himself while rubbing his chin.
Just that... where could that scholarly organization I’ve never heard of be?
Colin carefully took out the allocated bottle of ‘holy water’ and sprinkled some at the door and four corners of his unit.
He took a deep breath, the light fragrance of the holy water lingering in his nose. He silently recited the incantation while reaching out his right hand to his forehead to form a three-point arc to his chest.
—This was the Church of the Dome’s prayer posture, symbolizing the protection of the moon.
“O Holy Moon, I thank thee...”
Having finished it all, Colin exhaled, feeling much better both in spirit and mind.
It was all thanks to Father Vincent’s holy water recipe that Colin was able to feel less anxious and sleep much better the past couple of days.
Colin’s face twitched slightly.
The only disadvantage was that it was a little expensive.
But everything had been worth it.
"I wonder how those blockheads are doing. How dare they ignore my advice and call me a loony! I’ll let them witness my prowess in a bit..." Colin grumbled as he peeked out of a small crack in the shop window, ever so slightly having mixed feelings.
A part of him wanted those three prideful fellows to be taught a lesson, and at the same time, a part of him really hoped that they could resolve this situation.
If those police officers from the Central District Police Unit could use their haughty ’air of superiority’ to get rid of the evil spirit next door... Colin really wouldn’t mind being a loony for this once.
They definitely brought guns... Slay that terrible evil spirit! Don’t let him terrorize me anymore, please!
Colin slightly lifted up the blinds and watched the entrance of the next-door store.
However, he witnessed another golden-haired young man coming out with the three police officers slumped over his shoulders.
Their heads were drooping and it wasn’t clear whether they were out cold or drugged.
That golden-haired man seemed to carry an aura of justice with every single movement of his. Colin had seen people before, though just on television. Thus, he was certain that this young man was also from the Central District.
However, the young man seemed to have a look of reverence on his face as he carried these fellows that had certainly been tortured by that demonic fellow!
"Oh god, how can someone from the Central District Supreme Police Unit be ! What sort of bearing is that... His people are clearly hurt and he isn’t doing any questioning? He’s surely being controlled!"
Colin shuddered and shut the blinds urgently, then ran over to pick up his holy water and sprinkled it all over the window vigorously.
"O Holy Moon, please protect me! Listen to my prayers, give me... Father Vincent, where is he?! Hurry up and save me!"
Vincent was currently rushing over.
He glanced at the address displayed on his communications device, confirming that he would reach his destination in approximately six kilometers, and heaved a sigh.
It just so happened that the diocese recently had a new apostle ordained, and the priests of each parish had to head forth to receive the new apostle’s teachings and baptism. As such, Vincent had delayed numerous calls for help and could only provide guidance and aid in the form of text messages.
Fortunately, he had rushed back now and could still make it in time to perform an exorcism.
At the same time, he couldn’t help feeling a little worried.
"Hopefully it’s a real evil spirit haunting this time... and not the hallucinations of some nutcase having trouble sleeping."
In a month, he would receive four to five calls for help within the parish, but among them, the actual evil spirit cases were a tenth or lesser.
Thus, he had adopted the practice of first providing a recipe for holy water to the devotees seeking for help.
Holy water did drive away evil spirits, but the main use was more of a placebo to help improve one’s quality of sleep...
It was very effective. After a couple of usages, many of these help-seekers would think that the evil spirits haunting them were gone, whichled them to praise Father Vincent’s exorcising abilities to the high heavens.