novelonline Chapter 2419 [Eternal Light] Mutual Aid Association
Chapter 2419 [Eternal Light] Mutual Aid Association
Chapter 2419 [Eternal Light] Mutual Aid Association
After hearing what Shad said, the woman nodded and opened the door slightly to let Shad and Matilda in together.
When the blonde girl passed by her, the woman stared at Matilda's face:
"You must keep an eye on her, otherwise she will run away with someone else sooner or later. My son's wife ran away like that."
Xia De just smiled awkwardly, then took Matilda's hand and continued to walk deeper into the opera house.
Probably to save electricity, the lights in the opera house were not turned on during the day. But there were lighted portable kerosene lamps placed at intervals in the corridors to guide visitors so that they would not go in the wrong direction.
Xia De did not feel any extraordinary power here, and even those lamps were just ordinary objects. So the two of them went all the way to the second floor and finally entered the largest performance hall No. 1 on the second floor.
Of course, the “largest” is actually only one-third of the area of the first floor of Xia De’s house.
The curtains were drawn in the room, but fortunately the gas was finally turned on. Now all the equipment in the performance hall had been piled against the wall, leaving only twenty chairs placed two by two, forming a large circle.
Many people had already arrived, but no one spoke. So Shade and Matilda randomly picked two nearby chairs and sat down. Shade then took Mia out of his arms and put her on his lap.
The cat lay lazily, not knowing that it would probably miss lunch today. When Shad looked around and observed the other people, he found that they were generally around 30 years old. He and Matilda were the youngest "couple".
But among these people, there is a pair of two men. And looking at the details of their actions when they whispered to each other, it is not difficult to see that they are actually in an intimate relationship.
Everyone present was an ordinary person, many of whom had attended such gatherings more than once, so they did not look nervous. While Shade was observing others, Matilda naturally grabbed Shade's hand, as if she was a little worried about this unfamiliar place.
It was close to eleven in the morning when Shad and Mathilde arrived, so it wasn't long before only two of the twenty chairs were left empty.
At eleven o'clock, two men, one tall and one short, wearing white robes, walked out from behind the stage. The cuffs and hems of their white robes were embroidered with red flames, and on their chests there was a symbol of "radiant light".
The taller of the two was an ordinary man, while the shorter and fatter one with glasses was a ring sorcerer, probably six rings, but he was certainly not the man that Shade and Miss Elizabeth had met in the catacombs yesterday.
After they appeared, they locked the door of the performance hall first, and then the taller one walked over and said:
"It's been a week since we last met, friends. I hope the recent fog hasn't caused too much trouble in your lives."
Then there were the occasional "Good afternoon, Mr. Ryan" or "I've had a really bad week."
Although the people were all wearing their better clothes, judging from their accents and the way they spoke, they were all residents of the lower city. So the tall "Mr. Ryan" and the short and fat ring wizard came to the middle of the circle of people and continued to say with a smile:
"Don't lose faith in life, believe that light will always appear. It is normal for life to have ups and downs, and now is the low point for everyone."
Then he looked at the two empty chairs:
"Why didn't the Rodolfos come? I was expecting Mrs. Rodolfo to share her balcony planting experience with us."
No one else knew their whereabouts, so Mr. Ryan looked at Shade and the blonde girl again:
"Oh, look at this handsome man and beautiful lady, who are they?"
He is very good at using words to stir emotions:
"Friends, I am very happy to announce to you that we have welcomed new partners. They are Mr. Holmes, an accountant who works in the dock area, and his wife, Mrs. Holmes, who works as a cleaner at the local university."
As he talked about the fake identity that was woven, Shad and Matilda stood up together and nodded to everyone, and people applauded to welcome the two.
"Oh, besides this enviable couple, we have a new friend today."
Mr. Ryan said with a smile again, and finally introduced the short and fat gentleman next to him:
"This gentleman is a priest of [Eternal Light] just like me. Please rest assured that he is not here to replace me. According to the rules, we have to attend the meetings of other groups regularly so that we don't become strangers to each other - Mr. Ronan, welcome!"
This "Mr. Ronan" is Shad and Matilda's target today. Whether they follow him later or talk to him at the assembly or find an opportunity, it will facilitate the investigation of [Eternal Light].
Compared to the vigilant ring wizard in the tomb yesterday, Shad and Matilda, who appeared today as ordinary citizens, were obviously more convenient to act.
Then the two priests gave some warm-up remarks and invited everyone to share their interesting life stories of the week. There were nine "couples" in total, and except for Shad and Matilda, everyone spoke a few words in turn, but most of them were about their unhappy lives, worrying about skin diseases or madmen brought by the fog.
When it was the turn of the "newcomer", Mr. Ryan, who was very good at livening up the atmosphere, added another request:
"Mr. Holmes, this is your first time here. Can you tell us about your troubles in life, especially why you joined us, and whether you have been oppressed or anything like that?"
Xia De really didn't know the process, but it wasn't difficult to answer this question:
"of course can."
He stood up as he spoke, and everyone also made a gesture of listening attentively:
"I'm an accountant at the docks, and my wife is a cleaner at the university. Our income is not much, but it's enough to support our lives. We even plan to have a child this year."
The maid made a somewhat shy expression and turned her face slightly.
"But you also know that our relationship with Delarion is not good right now. My trading company mainly exports timber and steel to the North Country. Now, due to the impact of the Trade Protection Law just introduced by Willendel, the efficiency has dropped a lot."
The full name of the "Trade Protection Law" is "Trial Draft of the Tariff Adjustment and Commodity Restricted Export List No. 1854 of 18 of the United Kingdom of Carsonrick". Of course, Delarion also has corresponding countermeasures.
"As an accountant, I feel the most about the decline in the trading company's performance. If it is just a salary cut, I can understand it. After all, everyone is having a hard time."
His words received some approval, so Shade gritted his teeth:
"But what I got was not a pay cut, but a dismissal notice. There was no compensation, and I was not given time to find a new job. The reason given for dismissal was even that I drank too much tea at work."
Then people began to condemn the trading company that even Xia De didn't know about. Xia De took a deep breath and made a decadent expression:
"So I was temporarily unemployed. Mr. Ryan probably didn't know about this yet. I was too embarrassed to tell anyone. In the first few days, I even kept it a secret from my wife. I still went out on time, but I just sat on the bench at the pier for a day.
I have also been looking for a job, but in a city like Yuewan, even the dock porters won't hire me, after all, I'm not a member of the guild. Now, I rely on competing with the children for the newspaper business and helping others repair shoes at night to make a living to supplement the family income. As for the child, let's talk about it next year. I don't want him to become a person like me. "
Mrs. Holmes held his hand with concern, and Shade sat down dejectedly. The blonde hugged him tenderly and patted his back, then stood up and said:
"I'm sorry, my husband may have been a little emotional just now, please don't mind."
She patted Xia De's shoulder gently:
"Although my income is not much, it is relatively stable at present. Although there are many small troubles in life, the one that bothers me the most is actually my husband's cat."
She looked down at Mia, who was lying on Shad's lap. The cat didn't realize she was being mentioned.
"My husband has had this cat since before we got married, and I knew he loved it before we got married. I like it, too, but sometimes..."
She pursed her lips, expressing her tangled feelings vividly:
"Sometimes I feel like he has an equal status with me and the cat."
Xia De lowered his head slightly, and the corners of his mouth trembled. This time he was not pretending, he was really expressing his feelings.
"I won't go into details about how he treated the cat, but at night, no matter what we did, the cat would lie at the head of the bed. It was a very strange feeling. After he lost his job, although the family still had some savings, they also had to cut down on daily expenses. The cost of three meals was the first to be cut, but he still refused to change the cat's food expenses."
She looked down at the "Mr." who was sitting there again:
"I have discussed this issue with him many times, but he has always refused to give in. In fact, it's not a big deal. The cat is so small and doesn't eat much. I don't care about the cat's food, but his attitude. In his heart, what is the status of me and this cat? You can see that he brings it with him even when he participates in such activities."
After a heavy sigh, she sat down with her face half covered.
No one around said a word. The maid's performance was so outstanding that no one would doubt its authenticity.
Fortunately, Mr. Ryan broke the awkward silence in time:
"It's true that every family has its own problems. Economic issues are probably the root of all the conflicts in our families. Do you know that in noble families, even those that are not noble like the Seven Great Families, but just slightly richer noble families, the level of food for pet cats is much higher than that of the porters at the docks. A bag of special high-end cat food can even be equivalent to a month's income of an ordinary worker."
(End of this chapter)