"Hey there, Mr. Ronald, good morning!"
Just as he stepped out of his apartment, Ronald was hailed by a cheerful young man.
The guy was dressed almost exactly the same as the day before, still sporting overalls and a brown top. He was leaning against a tree by the roadside, a sunny smile on his face as he watched Ronald.
With a somewhat speechless look at Raphael in front of him, Ronald’s mood was a bit complicated.
It was during these few seconds of silence.
Raphael unceremoniously approached and wrapped an arm around Ronald’s shoulder like a good brother:
"You’re not happy to see me here?"
"Not at all," Ronald immediately shook his head and then expressed his curiosity. "I’m just really curious. If you could make time to wait here for me today, then why did you have to specially write a letter this morning?"
Raphael’s face broke into a smile:
"This way, the invitation seems more formal, doesn’t it!"
"If I just randomly stuffed a ticket into your hand, wouldn’t that be like handing out flyers on the street corner? It wouldn’t seem sincere."
Watching the serious expression on Raphael’s face as he explained this to him.
Ronald was silent for a few more seconds before he started walking away from the street.
While committing the architecture and layout of the surroundings to memory, he finally asked Raphael beside him:
"To be able to stop me right as I stepped out, you must have arrived quite early today?"
"At a little past eight in the morning, I personally watched my letter get thrown into the mailbox here."
Hearing this, Ronald stumbled slightly.
He shot a look of disbelief at the other person and then asked:
"Do you really have that much free time?"
"Doing nothing all day but camp out in front of my door for a stakeout!"
Hearing Ronald’s complaint, Raphael’s face spread into a satisfied smile:
"Ronald, you shouldn’t underestimate yourself."
"A person who possesses books is the highest level of interest for my kind. Or rather, wherever you go, people like you will be watched. You better get used to it in advance."
Ronald immediately picked up on the hint in Raphael’s words.
He nodded slightly to show he understood what was being implied, before he changed the subject:
"About that, your other identities must be pretty busy, right?"
"Is this really okay?"
"Of course, there’s no problem." Since the man in front of him knew about his multiple identities, Raphael didn’t bother to hide them any longer and straightforwardly nodded in explanation, "Our school doesn’t consist of just me alone."
"Besides the actual performances where I need to make an appearance, there are plenty of others who can cover for me, so don’t worry about it."
Your school sure is convenient...
Upon hearing such a response, Ronald suddenly thought of some rather unpleasant connections.
Quickly banishing those odd images from his mind and continuing to memorize the surrounding environment, Ronald then casually said:
"By the way, Raphael."
"I want to ask you something."
"Go ahead, I’m listening."
Thus, Ronald posed his question:
"Do you know anything about a person named Elva Sherwood?"
Raphael’s footsteps hesitated for a moment.
Although it was difficult to perceive, Ronald, who was walking side by side with him, still keenly noticed this point.
When he heard that name, Raphael clearly cared.
What followed was a silence that lasted for several breaths.
Not until they had walked more than fifty meters side by side, did Raphael ask in a somewhat subdued tone,
"Ronald, where did you hear about this person?"
Sensing the complexity in the other’s tone, Ronald understood that there might be more to the story.
He stopped in his tracks and looked at Raphael with serious eyes, saying,
"About Elva Sherwood, I learned his name from a rather special source. Is it inconvenient for you to talk more about it on your end?"
Raphael also stopped and looked at Ronald.
After a few seconds of eye contact, he seemed to give up something and shook his head.
"It’s not that it’s inconvenient."
"Elva Sherwood, on the surface, is a scholarly academic engaged in the study of history and sociology, with regular habits in daily life and nothing particularly noteworthy in private."
Ronald tentatively asked,
"That’s on the surface...?"
"Yes, that’s on the surface," Raphael readily nodded in agreement. Now that the conversation had started, he did not intend to conceal anything further and continued, "In fact, secretly, my side has information that this guy is also a part of the mystical, he might even be a ’bearer of the book!’"
"But the problem is, this guy never has any contact with the mystical aspects normally, and for a long time, he also hasn’t interacted with any mystical people."
"Ronald, you can probably understand my attitude now, right?"
Ronald nodded in response,
With this, the situation was clear.
For Raphael, this was someone whose background and details were a mystery, perhaps even an original text holder.
It was only natural for him to display such a cautious attitude.
However, the situation was quite different for Ronald.
After the succession of events in Black Mountain, his curiosity about this mysterious organization that had sent messages to him was overwhelming.
And the scholar who was ultimately pointed out by this information...
Could he actually also be one of the original text holders?
Although he had been prepared before, Ronald was still somewhat surprised to hear such news from someone he could trust.
At that moment, Raphael, who was standing next to Ronald, also noticed the expression in his eyes.
As Raphael turned to continue walking forward, he also asked Ronald,
"Ronald, it’s time you answered my question, isn’t it?"
"How did you learn about this Elva guy?"
"And hey, I remember that when we parted, you were just an ordinary newcomer, how did you become a book-bearer in just two months?"
"Tell me all about it!"
Should he keep the matter of the coded letter a secret from Raphael?
Ronald didn’t hesitate for too long on this issue.
Starting from Black Mountain, the fellow had provided him with a lot of help, and they could be considered trustworthy friends.
It was completely fine to tell the other party about such things.
So, while catching up with Raphael’s figure in front of him, Ronald lowered his voice, making sure only the two of them could hear,
"This all started with a coded letter."
Upon hearing Ronald’s words, Raphael’s eyes also became curious,
Ronald nodded seriously,
"Yes, a coded letter."
"It all started with a banquet I attended..."