It wasn't until after 9 p.m. that the herbal medicine shop was basically deserted.
At this time, Kayna also returned in a carriage from Viscount Kelton's mansion. Odis briefly reviewed the spiritual materials and then paid Viscount Kelton's butler nearly 3,000 pounds for the goods.
Odis and his sister Kaina carried the spiritual materials to the backyard, and he called Kaina to the backyard room: "In the next few days, someone may come looking for trouble."
"But I will also ask people to help me drive away the troublemakers."
"Don't be affected, just continue working as usual."
Kaina nodded: "Okay."
Odis took a deep breath: "The New Year is coming soon, so the herbal shop will close later this year and stay open until December 29th."
"Pay attention to the pharmacy's mailbox; there may be important mail on the 29th."
"If there are no important letters, I will come to give you two siblings your year-end bonus."
Kaina smiled and said, "No problem, we don't have any travel plans anyway."
Odis patted Kaina on the shoulder: "Go and clean up in the front."
After Kaina left, Odis first put the purchased spiritual materials into the "Wilderness of Knowledge." Then he went to the warehouse and took out a batch of spiritual materials that he had cultivated and raised in the suburbs. He left a detailed list of how much he took for Kaina.
Then Odis went to the basement, removed the "Ahonna Crystal," destroyed the magic circle, and took away the mask and clothes belonging to "Mr. Gar" that were placed there.
Finally, he returned to the lounge and took with him some of his frequently used items.
Just then, the Kaina siblings left. Odis went out, glanced at the Gard Herbal Shop for a couple of seconds, and then took a taxi back to 77 Hailin Avenue.
Of all his outposts in Backlund, this was the only one that felt like home.
Odis took a deep breath and began to tidy up the place.
First, of course, they retrieved the valuable "Ahona Crystal" from the basement. Then, they destroyed the "teleportation array" and put all the spiritual materials and personal belongings stored there into the "wilderness of knowledge."
Finally, he destroyed the "composite magic circle" here, erasing all traces of his existence.
After finishing all this, Odis sat in the living room waiting.
As midnight approached, the sound of a carriage stopping could be heard outside.
Ding-a-ling~
Soon the doorbell rang, and Odis opened the door to find Captain Iconsel, whom he was waiting for, and his friend Max.
With her hair looking a little messy, Iconsel smiled and said, "You really haven't rested yet."
"With such a big event happening today, you must not be able to sleep." Odis smiled and invited the two in: "It's so late, I won't offer you two tea."
The three of them sat down on the sofa, and Iconsel said, "We're not here for tea either."
He didn't beat around the bush and took out a cloth bag: "Inside is £6,000 in cash, a bonus given to you by 'Mechanical Heart', 'Night Watch', and 'Punisher'."
"You can discuss the specifics of how to allocate it."
Odis was slightly taken aback: "The military hasn't made any statement?"
"Now the military seems to be somewhat hostile towards you as well," Max replied. "They believe your intelligence was flawed, which led the four demigods of Backlund to fall into the trap of the 'Morse Penitentiary'."
"Even their people suspect that it was a conspiracy between you and the 'Mysterious Queen'."
Odis smiled and shook his head: "Didn't they consider that without my intelligence, Backlund might very well have disappeared from the map?"
"They must have a reason for doing this," Captain Ikonser said seriously. "Archbishop Horamik has received some information that the extraordinary forces now loyal to the Loen royal family want to arrest you and send you to MI9 for interrogation."
"To be honest, we still don't understand why they insist on this."
There are certain consensuses among the various official Extraordinary organizations that help them avoid conflicts.
For example, after an extraordinary case occurs, it should be handled by the church to which the victim belongs, and other official extraordinary individuals have no right to interfere.
There are many other such consensuses, including the fact that an official organization of Extraordinary Beings has no right to harm, arrest, detain, or try members of another official Extraordinary Being.
Therefore, Odis always regarded her identity as the "Mechanical Heart" informant as her greatest talisman.
However, this time the military and MI9 emphasized that Odis was just an informant and not a formal member of "Mechanical Heart," so they did not undermine the consensus among official extraordinary organizations.
Thinking of all this, Ikonser smoothed his messy hair: "There are two ways to protect you now. The first is for you to join 'The Mechanical Heart,' and the second is for you to give up your identity as 'Odis.'"
At this point, he looked around the living room: "Clearly, you intend to choose the second option."
The living room had obviously been tidied up.
Odis smiled and said, "Yes, from now on I will be 'Gandalf the Wizard'."
He is also Mr. Garr, and neither of these identities has been revealed yet.
Max couldn't help but say, "Archbishop Horamik promised that even if you join 'The Mechanical Heart,' you will still do your current job."
In other words, there's no need for them to "clock in" every day like other members of "Mechanical Heart," and they can continue their intelligence-gathering work.
"Please thank Bishop Horamik on my behalf," Odis said. "And please give me some time to consider it."
This was actually a polite way of declining the invitation from "Mechanical Heart," since the consideration period might be a day or two, or it might be a month or two.
And after a month or two, no one will mention it anymore.
Ikonser didn't say anything, only that "If anything happens in the future, we'll come to Rose Street to find you."
He then added, "As for the Mysticism Research Society, do not hold any more gatherings before the end of the year. After the New Year, you can continue to hold these gatherings under our protection."
Ikonser said earnestly, "From now on, all gatherings will be held under our protection."
Although the insistence of the military and MI9 forced the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery to make temporary concessions, the Church of Steam could not completely compromise. They planned to express their attitude on the matter of the Mystic Research Society.
Odis nodded: "No problem."
With the New Year approaching, many members will be leaving Backlund for holiday, and as is customary, the next gathering will take place in a week or two.
Odis added, "Gal Herbalist's Shop is also a good place to get intelligence. Hopefully, someone can stop the people from MI9 in the next few days."
"No problem," Iconsel said. "Proceed according to the plan we agreed on earlier."
Odis and "Mechanical Heart" had previously made some contingency plans for possible accidents at Gar Herbal Shop to avoid affecting the base.
Having finished discussing that matter, let's return to the official rewards for extraordinary individuals.
Ikonser produced an envelope: "This is an extra gift for the 'Mysterious Queen' to thank her for her help today."
To express gratitude to a demigod, one certainly cannot use only gold pounds.
After all, the "mysterious queen" has her own power base, and she is not short of money.
Odis nodded: "I will give it to her."
"There's one last thing," Icons said. "We want the original blueprint for that magic circle."
Odis was prepared for this: "Who are you referring to?"
That was a magic array powerful enough to stop the descent of an evil god. The official extraordinary individuals present today had carefully memorized this magic array before it was destroyed.
However, upon returning and restoring it, it was immediately discovered that the magic circle had undergone significant modifications and was basically only applicable to the situation this afternoon.
Scholars from various churches who are experts in magic circles all stated that they need the original diagram of the magic circle in order for it to function properly.
The reason it is described as having "certain effects" is because no one understands the mystical symbols within this magic circle, which means that this magic circle can only be used under certain circumstances.
Unless Odis can explain the meaning of all the mystical symbols in the magic circle.
"'Mechanical Heart,' 'Substitute Punisher,' 'Night Watchman,'" Iconsel stated frankly, "and the military as well."
Odis smiled to himself, thinking: The Ruen royal family really wants to have their cake and eat it too.
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
He said, "I can provide the original diagram of the magic circle to the official extraordinary individuals, but I have one condition: it can only be used by 'Mechanical Heart', 'Substitute Punisher', and 'Night Watcher'."
"It cannot be given to the military in any form, or to any extraordinary power that is loyal to the Royal Family of Ruen."
Odis was happy to promote such a magic array free of charge, since evil gods were the common enemy of all normal extraordinary beings, and days without the descent of evil gods were good days.
As for the meaning of the mystical symbols within the magic circle, Odis naturally wouldn't explain them; if you wanted to learn about them, you'd have to pay.
In this way, in most cases, the official extraordinary beings can use this magic circle to stop the evil god, but each time they use it, they are only "clumsy imitations" and cannot completely master this magic circle.
"No problem." Ikonser agreed readily, as he also loathed the military's shameless behavior in this matter.
He said, "To express our gratitude, we have also prepared a gift for you."
As he spoke, Ikonser took out a slip of paper and handed it to Odis.
Odis opened the document and saw: Sequence 6: The Scroll Professor...
This is actually a Sequence 6 potion recipe!
This surprised Odis, who glanced at Ikonser with some surprise, but Ikonser smiled and said, "Backlund owes you a favor."
Starting tonight, the church has begun to pay more attention to the study of Odis's magic circle. From headquarters to the Backlund diocese, they have dug out the research materials that Odis had previously provided and started to organize people to study them.
At the same time, headquarters decided to lift some restrictions on Odis, show him goodwill, and trade some of his research results when the time was right.
They guessed that Odis's research had yielded significant results and he would no longer provide his research for free as before.
Fortunately, Odis also likes gold pounds, so we can try trading with gold pounds first.
In addition, directly giving Odis the potion recipe for Sequence 6 was also a form of intimidation; they were using this method to tell Odis that the Church knew he was now a "wizard".
"Thank you." Odis was a little unaccustomed to the church's sudden generosity.
Previously, the Steam Church was even unwilling to provide the potion recipes for Sequence 7 "Wizards".
At the same time, Odis realized: It seems that the scholars of the church have now put aside their prejudices and begun to value my research.
Odis put the recipe away; he deserved the reward, or rather, the contribution he had made that afternoon was enough to earn him such a prize.
After finishing their business, Iconsel immediately stood up and said, "Get some rest."
They were very busy today, so they left immediately without stopping.
After seeing the guests off, Odis glanced at the room, then put on a soft hat, locked the door, and left.
Odis glanced back from afar and waved, as if bidding farewell to the place.
It was already late at night when he walked to another street and finally found a horse-drawn carriage.
When they were two streets away from the Rose Street, Odis alighted from his carriage and walked to the Rose Street. He glanced at the vagrants on the street, found a dark corner, and sprinkled some powder.
After the powder dispersed in the air, it all landed on Odis's clothes.
Odis's figure vanished completely into the darkness.
This is an "invisibility spell" designed by Odis based on the invisibility potion of the "vampires".
Using the "invisibility spell," Odis returned to No. 66 Rose Street.
Since she hadn't had time to eat dinner, Odis decided to cook herself a nice meal after she finished her work.
He took out the goose he had bought that afternoon, chopped it up, washed it, and started making the stewed goose in an iron pot that he had been wanting to eat for a long time.
After stir-frying until golden brown, Odis added water, spices, and seasonings to begin stewing.
While he was at it, he made a vegetable salad and prepared side dishes such as potatoes and wood ear mushrooms, but unfortunately he couldn't find any glass noodles.
Or rather, Odis had never eaten vermicelli in Backlund, and he seriously doubted that the Kingdom of Rune even had such a thing.
Just as the delicious dish was about to be ready, a woman's voice suddenly came from the kitchen doorway: "Is this the iron pot stewed goose you mentioned before?"
Odis, however, was not intimidated: "Why didn't you give me any advance notice this time?"
"I see you're too focused." Bernadette appeared in the kitchen doorway. She was no longer disappointed and smiled as she smelled the aroma coming from the kitchen: "It smells pretty good."
"Of course," Odis said naturally. "Take the salad and wine glasses out first, it will be ready soon."
Bernadette paused for a moment before coming in to serve the salad and take the wine glasses.
Her moment of surprise was simply because she had never done this kind of work before.
Bernadette originally intended to have the "invisible servant" carry it, but after thinking about it for a moment, she decided to carry it herself.
She didn't quite understand why she had such thoughts, but she just felt that doing it seemed interesting.
Soon, the main course was ready. Odis brought out a large bowl of stewed goose and placed it on the table. Then he poured wine for himself and Bernadette and raised his glass, saying, "To ourselves, for we have saved Backlund today!"
Bernadette smiled slightly, clinked glasses with Odis, and took a sip of wine.
After setting down his wine glass and eating a piece of goose, Odis took out the envelope that Ikonser had given him: "This is a thank you message from the official extraordinary beings such as 'Mechanical Heart'."
Bernadette took the envelope, glanced at the contents, and then handed it to Odis: "I think you should take a look at these too."
Odis took it and saw that it contained some high-level intelligence about the "Hidden Sages" and the "Morse Ascetic Order".