After a near-frozen silence held for almost ten seconds, Verloss and the other members of the Abraham family swept their eyes, all at once, towards Forsi.
Sensing that mixture of wariness, guard and dread, Forsi of her own accord stepped back a good few paces and spoke up to remind them:
"Mind the negative effects."
Even if the extraordinary characteristics had not yet combined with surrounding objects to form sealed artefacts, they did carry a certain degree of negative effect — only that, in most cases, direct contact was required for it to take hold. Yet, the characteristics here were all of high Sequence; whether or not they would on their own widen their range of interference, none could say for sure.
Seeing that Forsi did not show conspicuous greed, Dorian nodded:
"Once you have digested the 'Hermit' potion, you may consider advancing to Sequence 3, 'Wanderer'; I will give you the formula and prepare the materials for you. Of course, at this tier the higher the Sequence, the greater the danger one faces; this is an objective state of affairs, not changed by anyone's will or scheme. Whether to advance, when the time comes, is for you to decide."
He said this partly out of solicitude for his student, and partly to settle her, telling her that what the Abraham family possessed was, in effect, hers; no one would regard her as an outsider or deliberately make things hard for her over advancing Sequence.
It would dispel, effectively, some of the rashness brought by greed.
Having gained, at one stroke, so many high-Sequence extraordinary characteristics, Verloss and the others of the Abraham family had no particular reluctance about one share of "Wanderer" characteristic; they even held that to exchange it for 'peace' was an absolute bargain — for there was, after all, only one demigod here, and that demigod was Forsi.
Since the Abraham family members had no time to wield their "Tier 0" sealed artefacts, and, in light of how the seal had nearly failed just now, dared not take out most of their "Tier 1" sealed artefacts, Forsi was entirely capable of disposing of every one of them.
Faced with her teacher's pledge, Forsi gave an "Mm" and said:
"Has the 'door' of the hidden space been opened?"
She supposed that the high-Sequence extraordinary characteristics before her had all come from the Abraham family's vault and had only been flung back into the real world owing to the anomaly just now; though she likewise felt the number to be patently too many.
"No." Dorian shook his head slowly, his face full of perplexity.
The other members of the Abraham family kept silent, equally bewildered.
The idea that treasure should fall from the heavens — no one would believe it had it not occurred right before their own eyes.
"Should we, perhaps, make a prayer to Mr 'Fool'?" Forsi tried to put forward her suggestion.
Dorian, who had vaguely guessed something, at once looked at Verloss and the others. Those who had already turned to Mr 'Fool' nodded in assent; those who had not made the change still wavered visibly, wishing to object.
Considering it briefly, Dorian steadied his mood and said:
"You begin gathering, by the proper method, the characteristics whose negative effects are of an areal kind, lest they should combine with the surroundings.
"I shall step aside and pray to Mr 'Fool.'"
"All right." After two seconds' hesitation, several of the Abraham family members present agreed.
Then, seizing their time, they sorted the characteristics and tried to gather them.
When that part of the members had already secured a fair haul, Dorian retreated to his student Forsi's side, lowered his head and prayed to Mr "Fool."
Soon there rose before his eyes a stretch of grey-white fog and an ancient palace lying deep within it, while in his ears echoed a sublime and solemn voice:
"These are the relics of Mr 'Door.'
"The blood curse upon your line is wholly lifted."
Mr 'Door's' relics… relics… Dorian chewed over the word, opened his eyes, and turned his gaze once more upon those high-Sequence extraordinary characteristics.
He gazed in silence, and his sight slowly blurred.
…………
East Chester County, within the Hall family's estate.
Having just understood the source of the earlier explosion and the cry of "enemy attack," Alfred and the others now saw the doors and windows fly open at once, slamming against the walls.
In the process, several panes of glass were broken.
There is indeed something amiss… Alfred, his face stern, raised his hand and addressed his adjutant, his guards, his father's house-guard and the personal bodyguards:
"Withdraw to the main house, ready for whatever further accident may occur.
"At the same time, send a telegram to the Archbishop of the East Chester Diocese requesting assistance."
He judged that what mattered most just then was not to investigate the cause of the anomaly, but to safeguard his father, mother and sister.
The former could be done in good time after daybreak; the latter, if anything went amiss, could not be made good.
Having withdrawn into the manor's main house and arranged strict patrols, Alfred walked into the drawing-room and said to
"There is indeed something amiss; but the guard cannot describe what he saw — only that, in that moment, he felt a tremendous dread."
Earl Hall nodded steadily:
"Further investigation can wait for daybreak.
"Sit down for a moment and rest."
Beside him, Audrey took her mother's arm and listened in silence to her father and her two brothers conferring.
Of course, this was only the surface. She had already, again and again, split off virtual personalities, trying to find from the memories of those who had witnessed it the reason why the doors and windows had opened so strangely.
After a few minutes she ended the investigation with a touch of disappointment, and provisionally classed this anomaly under the residual influence of the mental dragon Erekhog and Mr "Wrathful."
Just then she noticed that the eyes of her golden-haired great-dog
"What have you discovered?" Audrey asked, coming directly to the point.