Chapter 129 .....What did he just swallow?
Duke Eddie didn't think anything of it at first, until the smell became stronger and stronger, with a stench of decay spreading in addition to the fishy smell, which became impossible to ignore. He then hesitantly moved to the entrance of the stone gate.
"Damn it." He covered his nose and raised his chin to signal the butler to come closer and observe, "See what is emitting it."
The butler approached with his nose pinched, and even opened his mouth slightly, not wanting to inhale too much gas. He put his head close to the transparent window on the coffin, took a quick look and left quickly: "I can only see Louisa's face... Maybe it's the smell of rotting meat."
Duke Eddy had his doubts.
If what lies there is a skeleton, it is normal for the odor to be stronger the earlier the time and closer to the time of death.
But Louisa was obviously under the influence of the preservation magic, and her body remained at the moment of death, so there should be no decay process...
"Okay." He was too lazy to explain to the housekeeper and quickly agreed, "I understand."
......
Outside the stone gate.
Edith and the others didn't understand Duke Eddie's intention of retreating at first, until a minute later, when the stench spread to everyone, everyone let down their guard.
"It stinks." Heda complained in a low voice, "Do all coffins smell like this?"
"That shouldn't be the case." Tuttle was puzzled. "Since Louisa's body is still intact, the coffin array should have preserved it very well. There's no reason for it to smell bad."
Edith covered her nose, but was afraid of missing the message and didn't dare to hold her breath completely. She suppressed her nausea and stopped for a while, finally catching a hint of fishy smell under the strong rotten smell.
Edith: “…”
Damn memories suddenly began to attack her brain.
"...I think I know why."
Everyone turned their heads. Edith lightly touched her forehead and recited the contents of Louisa's diary: "In short, according to Langman, Louisa was indeed buried in the inner coffin with a fish named 'Stinky' and several other things."
“The rancid smell probably comes from the stew, and the fishy smell comes from the stinky food.”
Everyone: “…”
Hedda: "My illusions about the great old wizards are shattered."
"But that shouldn't be the case. According to what you said, Chouchou should have been buried in the ground a long time ago, so there shouldn't be anything left when he was put in the coffin, at most some bones." Amy quickly accepted the name Chouchou and started discussing it with an inquisitive spirit, "Why would there be a smell?"
"I guess it was the influence of the gravekeeper just now."
Edith looked at the coffin. If she wanted to save that person, she would have to take the risk of exposing everyone on her side. After weighing the pros and cons, she chose to keep silent: "The coffin is a dead object, while the fish and the food in the stew were originally alive. After absorbing the vitality, the speed of the reversed time may become faster."
Although it can be explained, but - stinky stinks really bad!
Finally, even Duke Eddie couldn't stand the smell anymore and was forced to cast a spell to filter the air in front of his nose. The butler who didn't know how to cast spells was in a worse situation - he curled up in a corner in pain, lowered his head, stuck his nose into the collar of his clothes, and tried to breathe in some odorless air.
On Edith's side, Hedda and the others were already unable to hold on any longer.
"I have received all kinds of training since I was a child." Amy closed his eyes. The smell made him start to cry. "Fatigue, beatings, pain, forced cutting off and exhaustion of magic power, but I have never been tortured by smell."
This is - it's really too hard to bear!
Edith asked Bell to help watch while she squatted down and drew a simple magic circle. She had limited materials on her, and the magic circle was mainly composed of spells, so the effect was average: "It can cover it up a little."
A strong floral scent wafted from beneath them, and everyone squeezed together, finally able to breathe a normal breath.
"It's up to them now."
......
The clock on the scroll slowed down again. Duke Eddie walked forward, checked the status, and cheered up. "It's almost over."
This time it’s not about lack of magic power, it’s really over.
The filtered air made him forget the stench. Although he had a splitting headache, he could still feel the heat rising from his body: "Right away..."
The unknown metal that made up the coffin began to shine again, and the scratches left by the dust disappeared little by little, until it was as bright and clean as new.
“Click.”
A soft sound.
A crack suddenly appeared on the tightly closed coffin lid. Duke Eddie's eyes lit up frighteningly. He touched the coffin lid with his fingers and felt it was loose. His hands suddenly became as hard as iron. He inserted them into the crack in two or three moves and lifted it up with force.
Air flow.
A sharp fishy smell suddenly pierced into the air in Duke Eddie's nostrils.
At the same time, his wand made a screaming sound, as if it was overloaded. Duke Eddie's mind was still in a state of confusion, and without thinking too much, he directly cut off the magic power transmission.
The butler's continuous retching sounds finally reached his ears.
......What?
The coffin lid was finally lifted to the right height at this time. He loosened his hands slightly, and the thing slid down along the edge at an angle, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
A thick, sticky, rancid dark yellow-green liquid spurted out. Perhaps because it was too thick, it stayed in the air for a short time and rushed straight towards Hope Eddie's face.
It splashed into Duke Eddie's slightly open mouth, upturned nostrils, and eyes.
Adam's apple rolling.
Hope Eddie felt the wet heat at the root of his tongue, and before he could taste it, it flowed smoothly into his esophagus. He was completely frozen in place, his brain temporarily shut down, blocking out all external perceptions—until he reached out his hand tremblingly and touched his face.
A piece of bread that had been soaked in vegetable soup fell into his palm, and then a few shapeless vegetable leaves hung from his head, blocking his eyes.
“…Ah, ahhhh! Ah——”
Duke Eddie screamed and shook his hands subconsciously, but the sticky bread was still stuck in his fingers, and his nails were filled with yellow-green batter. The restoration of his sense of touch also awakened his other senses, and before he could shout a few words, the stench from deep in his throat completely knocked him down.
...What did he just swallow?
The next thing to come back to life was his mind. Realizing what he had swallowed, Hope's strength was drained away, his stomach twitched violently, and he fell to the ground and vomited.
......
"vomit--"
If the stench just now could be suppressed by the fragrance of flowers, the current smell mixed with the fragrance of flowers is even more disgusting. Edith quickly wiped out the magic circle, allowing the pure stench of decay to pour in.
Everyone vomited in unison.
"Louisa, you are truly an amazing person," Tuttle praised while retching. Edith tried to cast the same air filtering spell on herself, but found that it was completely helpless against the stench at this time.
There's nothing we can do about it.
"You go first. The two people inside should not be able to struggle for the time being." Edith glanced at the wand kicked to the side by Duke Eddie and estimated the distance. "I am more flexible alone - you try to be faster and don't block my way out."
"Amy will be in charge of restarting the teleportation array; Bell and Lynch will go to Mrs. Eddy's place again to see if they can get some medical records from the doctor. Hedda, Mulin, and Tuttle will go to Duke Eddy's bedside and search around to see if they can get anything."
After that, she took out a finger from the box and put it in her pocket. She gave the rest to Bell and asked her to open the door: "It's best to only use one, so that we have two more chances to get in and out."
Bell nodded solemnly, dragged Hedda, who kept looking back, and ran outside. The others hurried to catch up. Tuttle frowned, obviously wanting to stay, but in the end he chose to respect Edith's idea: "Be careful."
"I will."
He nodded and turned to leave.
Edith then looked back at Duke Eddie. He was struggling to move towards the wand, but physiological vomiting completely bound his hands and feet. In order to avoid the undigested food in his stomach getting on his collar, he had to stop and vomit after every move. It took him half a day to move less than half a meter.
But obviously his actions didn't work.
Edith looked at the lace on his cuffs that was inlaid with vomit and silently looked away.
It passed in the blink of an eye.
I don’t know if the scene of Chouchou and the stew exploding was planned by Louisa in advance.
She put a protective mask on her eyes to prevent herself from being unable to open her eyes due to the irritating gas, then held her breath and walked into the stone gate with an expressionless face.
She walked around the unconscious butler, approached the coffin, and accurately captured a bright color among the pile of rotten things.
There seemed to be a square object hidden under Louisa's coat, with only a purple edge showing.
Edith raised her arm high, gently grasped the corner and pulled it out. A palm-sized notebook slid out without any hindrance and was lifted into the air by her.
The whole process went incredibly smoothly.
Edith blinked, turned a page hesitantly, and confirmed the value of this thing at a glance.
This is definitely the ancient spell that Duke Eddie mentioned.
——She completely took advantage of Duke Eddie’s victory.
Edith didn't have time to read it any more. She quickly put the book back in her arms and turned around to leave. Now, as long as she left the secret room before Hope Eddie could react,
"who!"
The fantasy of a conflict-free escape is shattered.
When she looked up, Duke Eddie had just picked up the wand and pointed it in her direction with a look of horror, "How did you get in?"
Edith said nothing, but quickly drew out her wand and pointed it at the opposite side.
Fortunately, I disguised myself in advance.
Duke Eddie's face was uncertain. He couldn't recognize the figure of the person in front of him at all, and he was not sure how much she knew or whether she had seen what was in the coffin... If he attacked rashly, not only would he alert the enemy, but it would also easily destroy the coffin behind her.
Be careful
The two of them were facing each other. Edith, who had not yet gotten used to the smell, couldn't wait that long, so she took a few breaths. Unexpectedly, she was so irritated by the stench that she coughed several times.
It's over.
Duke Eddie took two steps forward like the wind, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her back hard.
——A cold white hand suddenly stretched out from the coffin and grabbed Edith's other hand.
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