This time, I won't be the devil.

But when Frey opened the Book of Fools to confirm the contents recorded there, he found that there was no text on the first page.

Instead, there is a painting.

On the left side of the painting is a battlefield strewn with corpses. A group of children are burying the bodies of their dead companions, their eyes revealing numbness and emptiness.

On the right side of the painting, there is also a group of children. They are listening to an old grandfather telling fairy tales, with happy smiles on their faces.

Frey was not an art student, so he could not analyze the artistic meaning of this painting.

But after watching Jacob's memories, he felt that this painting was a portrayal of Jacob's life, with the left side being the past and the right side being the present.

In other words, the left is reality and the right is desire.

The reason why Jacob adopted these children was probably because he himself also longed for such a childhood.

The phantom thief risked his life to take back what was rightfully his from his enemies.

But he gave these children something he never had for free.

After committing every detail of the painting to memory, Frey reclaimed the Book of Fools.

This also announced the complete end of this incident. Although only 5 days had passed, it felt like an extremely long time to him.

Through this event, Frey increased his soul strength by 0.1, which is the level cap of 1, and his agility value by 8.6.

The most crucial thing is the skill he acquired - [Return].

Skill: [Return]: Level A, can be used once a day.

Skill Effect: Return a stolen item within sight to its original owner.

This skill should be the same as the hero's [Cancel], a special skill that can break through the world's laws to a certain extent.

As for the specific effect of this skill, we will have to wait until experiments to find out.

Combining Jacob's and the brave man's experiences, Frey speculated that special skills like this could only be obtained when one's own strong emotions and will resonated with the power of the gods.

Frey's ability to acquire Jacob's skills is naturally due to the player-exclusive talent [Witness].

Frey still cannot determine the triggering conditions for being a witness. He can only speculate that it is related to participating in events and witnessing stories.

He had to wait for his talent to be triggered a few more times and compare different cases with each other before he could make further judgments.

For now, I should go home and catch up on some sleep, and then go to the second level with Noelle to level up.

After making up his mind, Frey stood up and prepared to leave.

Just then, he heard light footsteps behind him.

Frey turned around and saw a white-haired girl with pigtails walking towards him.

What a strong sense of déjà vu.

"Ah~" The girl in pure white nun's clothes showed a surprised expression after seeing Frey.

Frey looked at the girl in front of him and said teasingly:

"We met by chance both times in a cemetery. It seems we have a strong connection, Miss Shiloh."

"Long time no see, Mr. Frey."

"It's only been five days, not that long," Frey said.

"Really? Since we used to meet in the library every day, the five-day gap seems particularly long."

After the greetings, before Frey could ask any questions, Shiloh took the initiative to explain why he was there.

"When I first came to the Labyrinth City, I heard there was a mass grave on the outskirts. The unattended graves reminded me of the hero."

"Today is the birthday of His Holiness the Pope, a day when the entire Church is bathed in the Emperor's grace, so I thought of coming here to pray for these nameless heroic spirits."

After the explanation, Hiro asked:

"Mr. Frey, are you here because of something related to the Phantom Thief case?"

"So you already knew it."

"After all, the whole city is buzzing about it, so it's hard not to know."

Considering that the case of the Phantom Thief might involve secrets, Shiloh did not delve into the reason why Frey came to the cemetery. She said:

"I have found the collection of Petrarch's poems you asked me to find."

"Really? Then I'll go to the library to get it tomorrow. Oh, and I have one more favor to ask of you..."

Afterwards, Frey explained to Shiloh about the children in the orphanage.

After listening to Frey's story, Shiloh bowed deeply to him.

"Please allow me to express my gratitude to you for helping those children."

Seeing the other party suddenly offer such a great gift, Frey quickly declined:

"You're the one who did the hard work. I just helped introduce you..."

But Shiloh still maintained her bowing posture, and the huge treasure chest on her chest naturally hung down under the action of gravity, making Frey unable to look away.

After solemnly paying his respects, Shiloh said to Frey:

"Saving suffering children is the original intention of the establishment of the Church of Light."

"Yet as a clergyman, I could only watch the children cry and could do nothing but express my sympathy for them."

"On the contrary, you, who are not affiliated with the Holy See, provided them with practical assistance, so I want to thank you."

After some mutual courtesy, Frey asked a question that concerned him.

"Saving suffering children? I've never seen such an intention in the Holy See of Light. I've also done some research, but I haven't come across this."

"This clause has been revised in the new edition of the Holy Scriptures. It can only be found in old books left over from the time of the old Pope."

Having said that, Hiro showed a somewhat sad expression and continued:

"Do you know what the founding declaration of Pope Carol, the fairy tale author, was when he founded the Theocracy?"

"What is it?"

"May one day, in a world illuminated by light, there will no longer be children wandering in the wilderness..."

……

On October 10, the news that Doropo Chis, the chief judge of the court, committed suicide by shooting himself out of fear of trial quickly spread throughout the labyrinth city.

Along with the news of Chis's death came a new decree to celebrate the Pope's birthday.

The contents of the decree include reducing taxes, providing pensions to the families of soldiers killed in the holy war, providing subsidies to laid-off workers and unemployed soldiers, etc.

3% of this money is allocated by the central government, and local officials need to find ways to raise the remaining 7%.

To put it bluntly, the Pope forced corrupt officials from all over the country to hand over some money to appease the people.

In the past, these officials would have disobeyed orders for various reasons, but this time they had to cooperate.

After all, no one wants to be the next Qi Si.

It can be said that Qi Si's downfall has served as a warning to officials across the country. At least in the short term, their exploitation of the people will be restrained.

As soon as the decree was issued, the residents of the Maze City, who had almost gathered to rebel yesterday, immediately became overjoyed and sang praises to the emperor's great grace.

From their perspective, the extremely corrupt official Qi Si was sanctioned. Although they didn't know the specific reasons, the downfall of such a big shot was naturally gratifying.

What's more, they actually received subsidies from the Vatican and their tax burden was reduced, so what is there to complain about?

Although I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, at least today, the sun is still shining brightly in the maze city.

That afternoon, after catching up on some sleep, Frey took Noelle into the second level of the maze.

After taking the bronze sword from Noel's hand, Frey took out the magic shell he had just taken from Brother Dao and untied the layers of black cloth wrapped around it.

The magic shell is large and heavy, with an overall fiery crimson hue. Its surface is covered with flowing flame patterns, and in the center is an emerald green gem made from the magic stone of a rotten giant.

During the processing, Brother Dao also extracted a bottle of highly corrosive substance from the magic stone, which might come in handy in the future.

Since this shell is tailor-made according to the size of Fury, it fits perfectly after insertion. After fastening a few fixing buckles, the sword is transformed into a brand new form.

(The image below is for reference. The original image is of the Holy Grail Sword - Flame in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Please delete if infringed.)

After equipping the Magic Shell, the size of Fury changes from a one-handed sword to a two-handed greatsword. It not only looks very domineering, but also reveals a cool sense of technology.

Noelle observed the sword in her hand, which had taken on a completely new form, with an expression of immense surprise.

"Noelle, don't just stand there and watch. Try injecting magic into this sword now."

Noelle followed Frey's instructions and began to inject magic power into the sword.

After the vast magic power was absorbed by the magic shell, it was transmitted to the rage inside, and the magic power was transformed into fire element.

Coupled with the thunder attribute in Noel's magic, when the magic power reaches a certain amount, the magic shell will change.

Flames spurted out from the sword, and golden lightning surrounded it.

Relying on the Magic Shell, Noelle successfully unleashed a portion of the power of Fury without going berserk.

Looking at the flaming sword in her hand, Noelle asked in disbelief:

"Frey, can you really let me use this sword?"

"You're not even asking. We're teammates. My sword is your sword."

From Noelle's perspective, the ordinary bronze sword in her hand has now become a powerful divine weapon.

"By the way, Frey, please help me name this sword."

After receiving Noelle's naming request, Frey began to think.

In order to hide the information, Frey certainly could not call this sword Fury.

Looking at the huge sword in front of him that was emitting fire and electricity, Frey, who was an expert in naming, had another flash of inspiration.

"Let's call it the Thunderfire Sword."

Chapter 34 The Guardian of the Two-Horse Monkey

After testing the performance of the Magic Shell, Frey took Noelle into the 11th floor of the maze.

"Come to think of it, we haven't seen any other adventurers today?" Noelle asked curiously after looking around.