My Secret Cult Life with Points Added

Chapter 48 God's Black Remains

The Shadow of Innsmouth!?

Lucius was suddenly startled. Wasn't this one of the most central and representative scenes in the Cthulhu Mythos written by H.P. Lovecraft in his previous life?

"Could I have been transported to the world of Cthulhu?" He was momentarily filled with doubt.

Daisy, noticing the lingering surprise on Lucius's face out of the corner of her eye, leaned closer and whispered:

"Lucius, you know Innsmouth too?"

"Of course," Lucius replied instinctively, then realized what Daisy meant.

He turned to look at her, his gaze questioning.

"Hmph," Daisy chuckled softly, explaining:

"I've recently been reading the literature that Professor Anthony gave me, and one of the records about ocean worship has piqued my curiosity."

"It tells the story of a police officer who, in an attempt to take a shortcut, stumbled into a fishing village called Innsmouth and discovered a secret belief in the god Black Skeleton."

The local inhabitants live alongside a fish-man-like creature known as the "Deep Diver." Their offspring are born completely normal, but gradually transform into a form identical to the Deep Diver as they age.

Lucius breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. Thankfully, it was just a similar record, not the real Cthulhu.

The deity Kuroko is also recorded in religious history books.

He is the silent god of the abyss, the god who buries history, and the god who immerses new things in death.

His church, also known as the "Dagonite Cult," once had a wide influence in coastal settlements during the early Third Age.

However, by the middle of the Third Age, the Dagonite cult was completely swallowed up by the Blood Cup cult, which was expanding rapidly at the time.

In other words, this is a god who was overthrown in the waking world, and there are no further records of him or the Dagon Tantric tradition.

With that thought in mind, Lucius turned his gaze back to the auction stage in front of him.

Professor Anthony exchanged a few words with the scholars around him, then raised his bidding paddle and announced a number:

"100 gold pounds."

With no one competing, the old butler didn't try to manipulate others' emotions with words as he had done before.

After three strikes of the gavel, the ownership of "Shadow of Innsmouth" was decided.

The items that follow are all antiques with no practical use value, but are of great collectible value.

The highlight of the auction was Viscount Rhodes's final item: a set of sterling silver engraved wine vessels.

It includes twelve stemmed glasses, a long-handled wine spoon, a wine jug, and a fruit platter.

The old steward explained that these were all made by a deceased royal silversmith, and the cups depict scenes of court banquets from the early Quaternary period.

The starting price was 2500 taels of gold, and the bidding lasted only a few moments before the hammer fell at 5000 taels of gold.

Viscount Rhodes then stood up and walked to the center of the hall.

Tonight's auction results clearly exceeded his expectations; the silverware alone was worth half a year's worth of maintenance expenses for the mansion.

"I hope everyone is satisfied with my collection. Now it's time for our celebration! I've prepared the best stage and musicians!"

At this moment, everyone left their seats and walked towards the adjacent ballroom.

Lucius was about to follow Professor Anthony up to the second floor when he was stopped by him.

Anthony gestured with his eyes for Lucius to look towards the ballroom, where a group of young ladies were walking together.

"Lucius, you should be like those gentlemen, inviting a beautiful girl to release your passion in a dance, instead of doing punctuation analysis of grammar with us old pedants."

The ball is the most important part of gentlemen's social life. You've already been remembered by enough people before the auction; now it's time to let them remember your demeanor as a true gentleman.

"Alright..." Lucius looked reluctantly at the Shadow of Innsmouth in Anthony's hands.

What he really wanted to know was whether he could gain any knowledge of the occult from it.

Seeing this, Anthony gently patted Lucius's shoulder with the spine of the book he was holding.

"Don't worry, before I leave tonight, I'll have Daisy prepare a draft translation of this book, along with grammatical notes, and give it to you."

Lucius then thanked her and, amidst Daisy's tearful gaze, turned and walked towards the ballroom.

Since she's still a student, she doesn't need to enter formal social situations.

…………

At 8 p.m., the waltz music in the ballroom had changed several times, and the violinists in the band were ending a lively polka with a gradually fading note.

Lucius and Miss Elizabeth, dressed in a gold-brown gown, completed their final set of spins in the center of the dance floor.

She slowly withdrew her fingers from his palm, raised her deep brown eyes to look at him, and spoke with undisguised admiration:

"Mr. Anderson, your waltz is better than most men I've ever seen, especially your weight transfer during the spins. Few dance partners can maintain perfect synchronization after the third spin."

"Thank you for your compliment, Miss Elizabeth. It is largely thanks to your guidance that one can perform with such ease on the dance floor, far exceeding one's actual abilities."

Lucius released his hand from behind her waist, took a half step back, and bowed slightly.

From the very first waltz, every lady he invited wore a satisfied smile at the end of the dance.

He took a glass of champagne from a waiter's tray at the edge of the dance floor, and had just taken a sip when Daisy strode in from the side door.

She shoved a stack of manuscript papers, bound with thin hemp rope, into his hand, her tone a mixture of relief at completing her task and resentment at being bossed around by Professor Anthony all night:

"Lucius, aren't those ladies at the ball incredibly supple in waists and have such slender fingers!"

"They were amazed by my dance." Lucius took the paper and wisely chose to respond to the question with the most neutral fact.

There was no further provocation directed at the student who had been forced to perform academic labor at the banquet.

Even so, Daisy still rolled her eyes, as if she didn't need the money.

She lifted her skirt, turned, and walked toward Anthony, who was saying goodbye to Viscount Rhodes not far away, leaving him with a hurried back view.

Lucius touched his nose.

Well... Miss Elizabeth's fingers are indeed very slender, and her waist is indeed very supple, but most importantly, her conversation with him falls right into his area of ​​interest.

"Historical knowledge is good; we should learn history."

With that thought in mind, Lucius flagged down a public carriage in front of Viscount Rhodes’ mansion and headed toward Bank Street.

When he returned to his apartment, he opened the kitchen door to pour himself a glass of water, and his gaze inadvertently fell on the white porcelain bowl on the counter.

The sea cucumbers inside had been soaking for a full day and night.

He paused for a moment, then remembered that he had told Miss Moran last night that he was going to make braised sea cucumber with scallions, but he had forgotten about it because he was attending the auction banquet.

"Miss Moran wouldn't have waited all night, would she?"

He guiltily moved the bowl of sea cucumber soaking in it to the corner of the counter. Tomorrow night, he absolutely couldn't put it off any longer.

He took the stack of translation drafts Daisy had given him, went into the study, untied the thin hemp rope, and turned to the first page.