Whispering Verse

Shade took out the letter as he spoke. Although it was just written half an hour ago, he did not forget to dry all the ink and make obvious creases on the paper to prevent it from being seen that the letter was too big. new.

Bishop Morpheus opened the letter in surprise, glanced at it twice and asked in surprise:

"Is it Rat August? Old August is indeed still alive, but we haven't contacted each other for many years."

"Yes, when I was in Tobesk, I often asked priest Augustus for help. The priest has a very high reputation in our diocese."

Shade nodded, looked at the doctor, and then said sheepishly:

"Speaking of which, we are actually curious about something."

He smiled:

"Priest Augustus mentioned something about you to us. He said that when he was on a business trip in the Randall Valley when he was young, he once made a bet with you. He lost 10 pence and has not returned it to this day. Please, can you tell us? , What did you bet on at that time? I'm really curious, after all, what Priest Augustus usually says most is to keep young people away from Rhodes."

"He's still the same as he was when he was young."

Bishop Morpheus carefully folded and put away the letter of greetings from an old friend he had not seen for a long time, and then sighed:

"That happened many years ago. If you hadn't mentioned it today, I would have almost forgotten it. Rat Augustus is a very strange person. To be honest, I haven't met anyone in so many years. Someone as conservative, cautious and religious as he was.”

The bishop gave a rather high evaluation, then smiled and shook his head:

"As for the bet back then, he actually still remembers it. Young people, you may have come here with curiosity, but in fact the answer is very boring. This is just an accidental conversation among young people of the previous era."

"Then could you waste some time to satisfy our idle curiosity?"

Doctor Schneider also asked, and the bishop nodded:

“It was also a season at the turn of winter and spring, just like it is now, of course, not as cold as this year.

At that time, I was just an ordinary priest in this church. On my way back from delivering documents to the city's children's welfare home with August, who came to this city on a business trip when he was young, I was looking at the scenery along the bank of the Elrond River. , we speculated when spring would arrive that year. That is when the first Randall flower of the year will bloom. "

Shade and Doctor Schneider looked at each other again:

"So, your bet is when will the first Randall flower bloom that year?"

Shade asked. The answer was indeed boring, but at least they got the answer.

"No, no, we are not soothsayers from the Association of Prophets, nor are we weather researchers from the Institute of Advanced Studies. How could we guess such a problem?"

The bishop smiled and shook his head, squinting slightly, as if being brought back to his youthful years by memory:

"The weather was really nice that day. I remember Augustus and I were wearing church robes. On my feet were leather shoes that I spent a whole winter saving money to buy. Those shoes are still with me today. In the closet. As a local, I talked to August about how every year someone rushes to the city hall with Randall flowers just for the bonus of giving the flowers, and August mentioned that he was in the room There was a pot of Randall flowers growing in it. The sun was very sunny that day, and I was very bored on the way back. Since we had a common topic, the two of us started making boring bets..."

In fact, after hearing this, Shade and Dr. Schneider no longer felt bored.

"We began to wonder whether the first person to bring a blooming Randall flower to the city hall in the spring of that year might have tampered with the flower."

The old man winked at the two of them:

"Actually, there are many ways to make flowers bloom abnormally, but the tradition of Randall flowers has lasted for so many years, and the city hall also has methods of inspection. Do you want to take a guess? August and I will do the following respectively. Which side did you bet on?"

"Priest Augustus must have thought that the first person who brought the flowers must have done something wrong."

The doctor answered without thinking:

"I have known Priest Augustus for a long time, and I found that he always likes to think about things in a bad direction, and always speculates on strangers in the most sinister direction of people's hearts. I once tried to use psychology I have no means to speculate on the reasons for this way of thinking, but I can only think that certain experiences in the past have influenced him."

Shade nodded with deep understanding, and Bishop Morpheus also nodded slightly:

"He is still like this. Yes, doctor, you guessed it right. August thought that the first person to bring flowers that year would definitely do something, but I didn't think so. Because it was just casual chat, so the bet It was only 10 pence. Although prices in that era were different from now, 10 pence was within our reach."

"There is a continuation of this story, right? We all know now that it was Priest Augustus who lost, but I think what happened next is not just that Priest Augustus underestimated the kindness of human nature."

Shade asked, because he saw the clue from the old bishop's expression. The old man nodded again, put his hands behind his back, and looked at the oil painting on the wall. Only then did Shade notice that the oil painting was newly hung, and the picture was of a banquet by a river in a dense forest.

"Spring is coming soon, and the news is also published in the newspaper. A poor woman who lives in a small village in the east of the Randall Valley and raises two children by herself brings the first Randall flower of the year and wins. I got the prize money from the town hall. I made inquiries through church channels, and no one had given flowers that year before her, and she was the first, so I won.”

Dr. Schneider raised his eyebrows:

"But actually..."

The old bishop continued to look at the new oil painting on the wall with his hands behind his back:

"Augus has always been a cautious person, and I was very happy to bet and win money from him. We did not mention paying the bet later, and August soon ended his trip to the Randall Valley and returned The city of Tobesk in Delrayon.

After another half month, the church arranged for people to go to the countryside to preach. I took the initiative to participate, and then I found the 'lucky' woman in the countryside along the way. I also kept a record of this incident. The thought of showing off to Augustus in the future is still young after all... Looking at it now, that woman passed away twelve years ago. She is a very devout believer, and she admitted to me that she lied. "

"Is there something wrong with the flower she brought?"

Shade asked.

"Yeah, she was just a country woman and couldn't really tell the difference between Randall's flowers and similar flowers. She just went to the town hall with the hope of her family's survival, and coincidentally, there was another gentleman there at the time, who also brought flowers , the latter was the real owner of the bonus. But that gentleman convinced the city hall officials to let the poor woman get the bonus and leave her name in the newspaper, which greatly improved her life. And the city hall Since I got the flowers for that year, I won’t mind this kind of proposal.”

Bishop Morpheus took a deep breath, Dr. Schneider nodded slightly, and then suddenly froze:

"Although this is a bit of a coincidence, the person who brought the real Randall Flower back then couldn't be Priest August, right?"

The bishop nodded:

"Yes, that was something I investigated later. So, did I win or he won that year? I couldn't figure this out clearly when I was young, but I felt ashamed of my 'arrogance'. Then As I get older, I feel like I've lost again. In fact, even if August doesn't send me a letter, in a few years when my body can no longer support this responsibility, I will send him a letter and talk about it. What happened back then.”

The doctor showed emotion. Although this story is not thrilling, it is definitely interesting.

Shade smiled and shook his head. In his opinion, Priest Augustus at that time should actually have cared about the bet, otherwise he would not have offered the pot of flowers. Moreover, the priest had already experienced the "Unknown Relic Out of Control Incident" at that time. Even if he did not become a ring warlock, he definitely had extraordinary abilities.

Shade didn't believe it. It was really such a coincidence that Priest Augustus came across the first Randall flower that year. He is more likely to think that the priest took the initiative to use some kind of ability to predict the time and place of the flower's appearance in advance.

What happened many years ago taught two young people not to be arrogant and compassionate, and they also saved a poor family. Thinking about it now, many years later, the "tenpenny bet" really didn't matter.

The three of them didn't speak for a while, but were thinking about the story. Until the old bishop said:

"Gentlemen, could you please stay for ten minutes while I write a reply to Augustus and ask you to send it to him when you return?"

"Of course, you don't have to invite us to the office to wait. This gentleman and I will wait outside the church. You can't keep chatting in the church."

Doctor Schneider nodded, and Shade looked at the brand new oil painting:

"Speaking of which, is this painting a religious story? I don't seem to have heard of it. The nameplate is...a banquet in the dense forest?"

The bishop raised his eyebrows:

"This is another interesting story."

The weather today was indeed quite good. Even if they were waiting outside, they could still enjoy the scenery, so Bishop Murphy did not try to keep them. So Shade and the doctor went back outside together, still sitting on the bench on the river bank opposite the church door. However, the old man who was feeding the pigeons and the man who was sorting the children's clothes have already left.

There is warmth in the wind, and even if you are sitting here with nothing to do, it is quite nice to watch the people coming and going at the door of the church.

Now that he had temporarily left the church, Shade asked about some sensitive topics:

"Doctor, have you gone to find them? Those who are related to demons."