"I hereby declare that, as a mutant, he is now officially a member of our family..."
"Father? Sir?"
A female voice pulled Todd back from his reverie.
Seeing Mrs. Raglan's reserved expression, Todd smiled and gestured for her not to be nervous.
"How should I address you? Father? Chief Commander?"
Hearing the question, Todd knew without a doubt that Edgar, that big mouth, must have told them about the Twilight Knights.
"The title is not important, Mrs. Raglan."
The Ragrens visibly relaxed upon hearing this.
The plump middle-aged woman sat in the chair, leaning slightly forward, and said in a low voice, "I'll still call you Lord Todd. I remember the first time we met, when I saw you, I only had one thought in my mind: this is the first time I've seen someone who has come into contact with the 'Sutherland Relics' and survived..."
Todd laughed, recalling the scene as he parted his lower lip with his right index finger: "See? My teeth are still white; they didn't turn into gold."
Everyone laughed as they recalled the scene.
Edgar stuffed a piece of bread into his mouth and mumbled, "Mr. and Mrs. Raglan, tell me about your experiences lately."
Lady Raglan nodded and said, "Back then, my husband and I heard from others that there were many business opportunities in the south. Partly to make money, and partly to travel, we sold our bakery and set off by carriage all the way to the kingdoms in the south..."
Karin asked the middle-aged woman beside her, "The Southern Kingdom? Is that Lone Rock City?"
"No, even further south. The place we finally reach is arid, an endless desert. In the desert flows a wide river, and on the plains formed by the river's alluvial deposits stands a huge city. Hundreds of thousands of people live in this city, whose edges stretch as far as the eye can see. In that place, the market sells everything you can imagine, the harbor is filled with ships taller than ancient trees, and houses are everywhere like flowers and grass on the earth. The men wear long robes and white or patterned turbans, and the most common topics of conversation on the streets are business, scholarship, and philosophy."
Mrs. Raglan suddenly remembered something, and she clapped her hands and laughed, "Oh, right, I also brought you gifts from the far south."
Karin was given a bright silk scarf, Edgar received a wide-brimmed felt hat, and little Jerry got a bunch of candied fruit.
As for Todd, Mrs. Raglan gave him a small tin box filled with powder.
“Lord Todd, my husband and I know you are interested in alchemy. This is a box of alchemical materials that we purchased at a high price.”
Todd thanked him and accepted the tin box.
There was an Arabic phrase on the surface of the tin box. Upon being asked, Todd slowly read the phrase aloud.
All praise belongs to Allah.
Using his fingers to remove the wax seal, Todd opened the sealed box and peeled back the layers of oilcloth paper inside. When he saw what was inside, his pupils contracted and his fingers trembled slightly.
Todd dabbed some powder on his finger and smelled it. After a moment, he sighed heavily.
Black powder.
——————————————
The next morning.
Aiden Colm walked out of the church, a mixture of excitement and trepidation in his heart. He was excited because he hadn't expected the Holy Son to still remember him after so long; he was trepidation because of the device the other party wanted him to build. Judging from the complexity of the blueprints, he had never made anything like it before, and many parameters were imprecise, even using words like "maybe" and "perhaps"...
Rachel sat at one side of the table, watching the person opposite her scribbling on the paper. After hesitating for a long time, she finally asked, "Todd, you look a little tired, and a little... uneasy?"
Todd looked up, his eyes bloodshot, and gave a bitter smile: "Ratchet, sometimes I think, if only I knew everything..."
The woman laughed: "Even the Father in the Bible wouldn't dare say that he knows everything. In my opinion, what you know is beyond what people can judge by common sense."
Todd picked up the paper and suddenly said to the nun, "Ratchet, I need your help."
The woman saw the contents of the paper. Ignoring the numbers and formulas that looked like gibberish, she could only vaguely recognize the Latin text at the very top.
It reads "Lead movable type printing machine".
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com