The voice of that giant coin-face was very soft, as if it were afraid of disturbing something:

"In the memories of the distant past, I seem to have found the answer corresponding to that Power, but the answer is not pleasant, so I will not speak it. So, I admit you’ve won."

Shard was silent for a moment:

"Then where did the Witch and the old man go?"

"I must remind you, that is not a Power that should be touched. The source corresponding to that Power needs to be forgotten. Only when all memories of that thing are forgotten can it cease to appear. Yes, I’ve more or less guessed it, though I’m not very sure, but it might be, yet why is it so, the probability is small, but its possibility cannot be denied..."

Its voice grew lower and lower, until it finally sounded like a lunatic muttering to himself.

But Shard had no time to waste here, so he had to remind it out loud:

"All right, I understand the Power clinging to this coin is very dangerous, so dangerous that even beings like you feel threatened. Then please tell me, where did the Witch and the old man go."

The giant face gave the answer:

"While we were waiting for you, some things happened. The Demigod Witch Emperor established contact with them and asked whether they wanted to leave right now. That Demigod Witch confirmed that the Relic you obtained from the camp’s trade—[Golden Memories]—can indeed, after three memories are written down, Call the distant souls."

Shard raised an eyebrow. So it seemed that Mrs. Miles’s cousin really was impressive. One had to know that even Demigods like Miss Violet and Miss Feliana found it very difficult to break through the constraints of such a bizarre place, yet this Demigod Witch, whom they had never even met, was actually able to directly establish contact between inside and outside.

"Then, because she underestimated the Power of Black Mist Camp, that Demigod Witch was infected by the black mist and nearly got dragged in herself. She was thus grievously wounded; not only was the means of contact completely cut off, she even lost the anchor on that ordinary old woman’s body, and could no longer open the exit to let them leave."

"This..."

"So, essentially trapped here forever, they came to me again and traded from me a way to leave. Follow it, and you’ll find them."

A wisp of fire drifted up from the bonfire. But that flame could only be used to show the way and could not provide warmth, so Shard picked up a stick again and made a torch to ensure his safety.

"Thank you for the information."

He said this, preparing to follow that wisp of fire away. But the Demon, which had not yet completely faded, asked again:

"Don’t you want to know from me where the Deity you’re looking for is?"

"Hasn’t He always been right here?"

Shard answered, stopped in his tracks, and waved at that Demon:

"Once I leave this time, I probably won’t come back. I don’t know if there’ll be a chance to meet again."

He shook the Gold coin held between his two fingers:

"By the way, do you want this?"

The coin clattered back into the bonfire, causing the Flame to roar up again. It left one last sentence, a hint for Shard:

"Here, no one can steal another’s property. If it is your Coins, then it will definitely be yours."

Shard shook his head and put that Gold coin back into his pocket. Then he reached into the other pocket in which he had placed nothing, and sure enough, felt the two pieces of "Power of Existence" that belonged to him.

"When Miss Higgins discovers the coin is gone, she should understand that I’ve already appeared."

The first two times entering the camp, the four of them had placed their hands on each other’s shoulders in a line, but this time only Shard remained.

The camp shrouded in black mist still carried that icy chill that seemed to freeze the soul itself, but the motionless black silhouettes lining the narrow paths between the stalls no longer felt eerie to Shard.

The way out seemed to lie deeper within the camp. Therefore, although it was only Shard this time and he could move faster, he also knew that the journey would not be short.

Every item on every stall had the ability to actively draw his eyes. Beyond the path indicated by that Fireball, there were always some faint, elusive lures trying to pull Shard closer. They did not rely on sound or images, but simply gave Shard the illusion that "there’s something good here."

It was just like how, even if Mia were lying there sleeping without moving, Shard would always want to go over and pet her. And once he thought of that cat waiting for him together with Dorothy at Green Lake Hotel, his mood immediately brightened.

The real danger in the camp did not lie in those temptations, which were far less attractive than Mia, but in the torch in Shard’s hand, whose rate of burning out increased as he advanced straight into the depths of the camp.

The first two times, their torches could last for a round trip. It seemed that the four torches together somehow reduced the consumption of each single torch. But now that only the single torch in Shard’s hand remained, he had barely left the bonfire and gone into Black Mist Camp for five minutes before the firelight had already dimmed to a very weak level.

"If I’d brought Mia, that glowing cat..."

The thought flashed through his mind and vanished. Shard would never let little Mia take such a risk, and if he relied on this kind of unpredictable help for everything, then the road ahead for him would only become more dangerous.

Deliberately quickening his pace, hoping to find Miss Higgins and Mrs. Miles before the torch went out, Shard discovered that the Flame flying ahead of him actually had a speed limit. Fortunately, when he moved directly beneath that Flame, the rate at which the Glimmer of his torch dimmed slowed a little.

Just as he let out a sigh of relief, he suddenly heard the sound of a bell—

Ding-dong~

It was a continuous chiming, like a wind chime hanging from a porch being gently shaken by a breeze. And in the silent environment of the Black Mist Camp, for any sound to appear could only mean that Shard had encountered another "camp project" he could not refuse.

Sure enough, that ball of fire was guiding Shard toward the source of the wind chime’s music. Before long, the black fog was driven back by the firelight, and Shard saw a stall on the right-hand side of the path ahead of him.

Calling it a stall wasn’t quite accurate, because it was an old, dilapidated four-wheeled carriage. The carriage was parked sideways along one side of the camp’s path, exposing the side door. The door was open, and the sound of wind chimes drifted out from inside. Yet at the front of the carriage, there was no sign of any horse.

"The black mist can simulate human shapes, but not horses..."

He tried to simply walk past the carriage door, but the clatter of Chains in the Dark, along with the guiding Fireball that stopped and hung motionless at the doorway, both warned Shard that he had to enter the carriage.

Keeping careful track of how much Time he had left, Shard finally had no choice but to bend down and step into the carriage. The Fireball followed him inside, and together with the torch in Shard’s hand, it lit up everything within the somewhat cramped compartment.

The interior was very simple: a single table facing the carriage door, a shadowy figure seated behind it, and on the tabletop were laid out nine...

"Photographs?"

The white backs of the photographs faced upward, but Shard could still tell that these were very traditional black-and-white photographs. The faint smell of developer was subtle but could not escape Shard’s nose. On the backs of the nine identically sized photographs, red stamping spelled out: "Biut Photographic Equipment Company—Giving you the best her."

These were Fifth Era characters, so this company should have existed in the time when Miss Higgins and Mrs. Miles were alive.

Though he recognized the photographs, Shard still didn’t know what this place was for. The carriage roof wasn’t very high—he had to stoop if he stood—and opposite the shadow was another chair that looked equally dilapidated. So Shard sat down, the chair creaking under him.

The Fireball stopped directly above the table, allowing Shard to observe every detail on the backs of the nine photographs. The shadowy figure finally moved once Shard had sat down.

It didn’t touch those photographs. Instead, it took out three brand-new photographs from beneath the table.

In the black-and-white photos were, respectively: a terrifying Evil Spirit drifting through a graveyard; a Werewolf under the moonlit night, howling at the sky; and a genuine Dragon.

Shard was very familiar with Evil Spirits; Werewolves, on the other hand, were Exotic Creatures he had only read about in books. As for the Dragon, because the photos were in black and white, he couldn’t tell what kind of dragon it was from the color. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The shadow then placed three Coins on the tabletop; these were clearly the stakes for this game. It did not explain what would happen if Shard lost, merely gestured for him to choose from the photographs on the table, and held up three fingers.

"I’m to choose three photographs?"

Shard asked with a frown, and the shadow nodded.

"Three photographs... and the photos will randomly show items I’ve come into contact with, to help me defeat these three monsters you’ve given?"

The shadow shook its head.

"The photos will randomly show anyone I’ve ever come into contact with, to help me defeat these three monsters?"

The shadow shook its head.

"The photos will randomly show the people closest to me, to help me defeat these three monsters?"

The shadow finally nodded.

"What will happen if I lose?"

The shadow did not answer; it simply repeated its inviting gesture. Shard’s brows knit tightly together as he swept his hand over the nine photographs and asked inwardly:

"Can you tell what these are?"

"Photographs."

The corner of his mouth twitched.

Lowering his head to examine them carefully, he saw that the photographs were a different size from playing cards, so there was no way he’d get an Impermanence Card by flipping them. After some thought, he reached toward the leftmost photograph in the row of three closest to him and cautiously turned it over. Shard’s pupils shrank slightly.

Lecia, smiling like a blooming flower, appeared in the photograph, and the background was unmistakably the garden of Yordle Palace.

"I originally thought the people who would appear in the photographs would be those I’d met within the Time Key prior to this point in Time—but I didn’t expect... that the shadow can see the future... That isn’t a Power one can possess easily."