I loaded the Mysticism panel.

The person who arrived was wearing an old-fashioned short cloak and a wide-brimmed hat.

There is a small wing on each side of the brim, which is folded up and attached to the brim.

His boots also had wings, he had a double serpent staff in his right hand and a money bag in his left.

He looked across the entire battlefield toward Greece.

Richard's grip on the cane tightened slowly.

Mercury also raised the staff of two serpents in his hand.

"Lord Hermes, I also have one of your staffs."

He lifted his foot: "I have the same shoes you're wearing."

"You will extradite, and so will I."

"This is the only thing you probably don't have yet."

He tossed the money bag in his left hand into the air and caught it.

The purse fell back into the palm of the hand; the gold was dull and the copper coins scattered, only the silver made a crisp sound when it touched the copper.

"Therefore, I might be more suitable to be this envoy than you."

Richard steadyed his double-snake staff.

"Want to give it a try?"

Ether pushed up to the ankles, and the two small wings that were attached to the boots stood up and moved forward.

Mercury laughed: "You flew quite far."

The distance he took in his next step was twice that of Richard's earlier step.

The man was already standing on the collapsed half of the colonnade on the second hill, and turned around to look at him.

"Unfortunately, this city only recognizes me."

Richard held his staff horizontally, and Mercury did the same.

"Look, the two of us can't get anything done together."

Mercury said, "There is a door, I admit it."

"Romulus plowed this place twice."

"Only messengers are permitted to pass through the area where plows are carried."

The face I can't remember under the brim of the hat smiled.

"Between the two of us, guess which one the curtain recognizes?"

Richard stood there catching his breath and reached into his inner pocket.

My fingertips first touched the now-cold reed pen, then moved further in and touched the antlers wrapped with reins.

The sharp corner pressed against my palm.

As soon as he unties the reins, the scent of that night on the mudflats will return.

Frozen soil, horse sweat, grass trampled by tens of thousands of hooves... It doesn't matter whether the city recognizes him or not, but the endless army does.

His fingers lingered on the reins for a moment before he withdrew his hand.

"Gentlemen," Mercury said, putting his hat back on.

"Two messengers are equivalent to having no messenger at all; only one position can be filled."

"Lord Hermes was standing in this position just now."

He gestured with his chin toward Richard: "Now it's my turn to step up."

In the distance, Minerva stood up.

"Hermes, you said something when you came in tonight."

Richard gripped his cane without uttering a sound.

Minerva smiled; she had been preparing for this for a long time.

"I've noted down that the envoy wasn't included in the register."

"These words have blocked my star chart from you, and also kept yourself out of it."

She looked up: "Rome had only one old rule for unregistered people: sell them across the Tiber."

The stone slab beneath Richard's feet sank.

The city had been asking him who he was ever since he entered, and after asking all night without getting an answer, it has stopped asking.

"The messenger of Rome".

Minerva read out each word carefully; she was in terrible condition, clinging to her last breath.

"...It's Mercury!"

Mercury took off his wide-brimmed hat and bowed slightly towards the head of the table.

The etheric field of the City of Seven Hills turned over.

Richard's double-snake staff became unresponsive, with the two golden snakes sliding down his palm.

He was standing in the very center of the city, but not a single brick beneath his feet belonged to him.

"This gentleman vouched for four people tonight."

"Now that the guarantor has fallen, the certificate is invalidated on the spot."

Hercules' giant club slammed into the stone slab with a thud.

The scales of Nemesis tilted above her head.

She untied the whip from her forearm and swung it once. The tip of the whip extended out in mid-air, but it stopped before it reached the man.

Richard reached into his inner pocket and touched the reed pen, finding it cold.

"I agree that only one envoy can remain."

"But this location..."

He steadied the staff of two snakes again, and the two golden snakes finally stopped sliding down.

"I want to compete with Lord Mercury."

"Your Excellency," Mercury sighed.

"I've been a middleman for half my life, and what I hate most is seeing people throw money into deals that are obviously doomed to fail."

"I'll make you a price."

He tucked the cane under his armpit in his left hand, freeing up his other hand.

"You may now leave. I will do three things for you."

"You can go out on your own tonight, I won't stop you."

"In addition, I have a whole case of high-purity stabilizer, which will be delivered to any port you designate tomorrow."

"And as for that distinguished guest from the Deep Realm in your possession, let's all pretend nothing happened."

This means that everyone should take a step back and call a truce.

No one spoke beneath the Seven Hills. Dionysus smacked his lips, as if about to speak.

He was glared at by the big guy not far away. On the surface, he only knew how to fight and charge, but he also had his own judgment.

Mars' spear was still raised on the opposite side. Minerva and Fortuna didn't look this way, and the others didn't make any gesture of truce.

Mercury said, "Please consider this, sir. A businessman never forces anyone."

"No."

Why?

"Because if I agree to the conditions, I will be unable to serve as an envoy at all."

Richard caught a glimpse of a pebble at his feet shaking its head frantically; Matthew was also trying to remind him.

Mercury shook his head: "It's a pity, you should be doing what we do."

It was at this moment that someone outside the arena made a move.

When Minerva was collecting the star chart, she was in such a hurry that one of the stars fell and didn't catch up, and it kept rolling on the third section of the stone path.

The thing rolled to Richard's feet.

Richard glanced down and saw an eye with a thin eyelid and a sunken pupil that seemed bottomless.

Richard was certainly not foolish enough to reach out.

Those eyes reminded him of Mrs. McNeil's ordeal at the autopsy room that year.

After the incident, she went to a divination to find out the answer.

As a result, they were seen by the Eye Without Eyes, and if it weren't for Lady Mary's rescue, they would have been in grave danger.

From then on, he knew that anything he actively looked at would be looked back at.

Although he stood still, his eyes moved on their own.

The broken pillars of the Seven Hills City and the overturned stone slabs underfoot had all receded to a very far place.

He smelled the honey first.

In the kitchen of the seventh household in the slag alley, water was warming on the stove, and a straw beehive was buzzing outside the window on a plum tree.

Evelyn turned around from the stove, her apron covered in flour, holding a baking tray in her hand.

The gingerbread rabbits on the plate were arranged neatly, with their hats upright and ears complete.

"Brother, this batch was a great success!"

Richard felt a heat rising in his chest, which startled him.

The scene flips, and the eye considerately shows Richard what he can do with a simple reach.

He saw himself place his hand on the still-rolling object, and the next moment the sky over the Seven Hills City cracked open again, with hundreds and thousands of open-eyed stars falling down.

This time, he will decide the direction of the landing.

On the second hill, Mars didn't even manage to roar.

Mercury was completely melted, turning into the jingling money pouch he stuffed into his pocket;

The entire table in Rome was devoured, and in the end, it all ended up in his hands.

And then... He saw himself standing in front of Hecate's high chair, staring coldly at the woman.

The gods of wine and Hercules, standing nearby, became his lackeys, throwing the former champion flying from the left and right.

Matthew, standing nearby, clapped happily, as if to say: Richard, congratulations on becoming emperor!

Then, her mother's path lit up from beginning to end, as bright as it had been when she was twenty-six.

My sister's shop is located in the western part of Beijing, and the signboard features a rabbit wearing a graduation cap.

My maternal grandfather sat next to the row of holly bushes in the backyard, his small shovel stuck in the soil, and he was still scolding the housekeeper for watering the plants too much.

These images flashed by one by one, giving him time to think about how much each one would cost, how many years it would take, or how many people would die.

His eyes had already calculated all of this for him, providing clean data that wouldn't make Richard feel guilty.

Richard stood there for a while, enjoying the sweetness.

It was at this moment that the water in my chest cavity started moving on its own.

Jing Shui never asked him what he wanted to see; she just kept taking pictures.

Richard looked down into the water, but there was nothing there.

His mother had no reflection, his sister had no reflection, the shop in the western district of the capital, the high chair he sat on... none of them fell into the water.

The mirror reflects the present; these things don't exist now.

【Reflection and Inner Awakening】 lit up in that instant.

He shifted his gaze back to the baking pan.

The gingerbread rabbits on the plate had their hats neatly arranged and their ears intact; there wasn't a single defective one.

Evelyn's words at Christmas, spoken on her parting, echoed in my ears.

"This one is the ugliest, I saved it especially for you."

"The ugly ones are the limited editions; anyone can make the beautiful ones."

Richard laughed.

After laughing, [Perception and Reflection] sends the light back.

When I saw that I was reading about a 17 or 18-year-old preparatory student who had only recently started writing and had an average academic background and hadn't slept well for the past two days, my eyelids froze on the spot.

Richard opened his eyes, and the broken pillars and the rubble-covered road beneath his feet were all back.

Several years passed in the scene, but in reality it seems like only three or four seconds.

In three or four seconds, the superior puppet had moved between him and the object.

It knelt on one knee, using its remaining arm to support itself in front of Richard, blocking the eyeball's view.

"Prometheus?"

"I thought you were going to reach out," the craftsman said, still shaken.

"My will is not that weak."

"That's good." The man breathed a sigh of relief.

"No good," Richard said.

"What's wrong?"

"Your ether is running out quickly."

Mercury walked over and first glanced at the kneeling doll.

"This machine is really well made."

"I'd like to buy the craftsmanship from north of the Alps, but unfortunately the craftsman there wouldn't sell."

Prometheus did not respond.

"Sir, let's begin."

Mercury turned back, very politely.