The Light Sphere Gatekeeper said to Shaun, who had returned to pure white space, "Please wait while I pass on the information about your request to Napoleon. Bonaparte."
Ten seconds later, the Light Sphere Gatekeeper said, "Napoleon Bonaparte agrees with you. Bonaparte agrees to see you, you can stay in his world for two hours."
Shaun nodded his head: "Thank you." As soon as the words fell the scenery in front of him changed, Shaun was already in front of a French 18th century style villa with a courtyard, the courtyard was planted with all kinds of flowers, the sun was shining brightly in the sky, it was just a French style lazy afternoon.
Shaun walked to the front of the villa and knocked on the door, after a while the door opened, a small Frenchman wearing a kitchen apron outside opened the door, the man had a smile on his face but his eyes were like falcons, giving people an involuntary sense of intimidation.
"Shaun, my friend, I heard you were coming, I'm baking cupcakes, my latest hobby, much easier than French desserts. Let's have a cup of afternoon tea and a game of chess!" Napoleon smiled and said to Shaun in French.
"Hey, I say, I didn't sell a single one of those stones you signed!" Shaun said dejectedly in French as he entered.
"That's not my business, that was me losing at chess that I agreed to sign those stones. What's it to me if you don't sell them." Napoleon said with a derisive smile.
Shaun walked into the living room and sat down nonchalantly and said, "I even made up a story to sell the stones you signed."
Napoleon said as he put the cupcakes in the oven, "Oh, tell me about it."
Shaun then retold the story he had told the group on the bus.
"Hahaha! Your imagination is worth losing my autograph to! You're not completely fictional though, I did have that much hesitation at the time." Napoleon chuckled.
"Oh? Tell me about it." Shaun said, mimicking the cadence in which Napoleon had just spoken.
"I did hesitate when I was riding a donkey up a steep and difficult cold mountain road. But I couldn't show even a hint of it, not to anyone. Behind me were 40,000 soldiers counting on me, and I myself was sustained by a word in my heart." Napoleon said.
"I can do what Hannibal can do?" Shaun asked.
"No, my friend," Napoleon said with a smile, "the words that sustain me are:If I win this fight, make sure Franz (meaning Holy Roman Emperor Franz II) pays me back with one of his daughters."
Shaun froze for a moment, then laughed out loud, "Hahaha! Then you really did it!"
Napoleon smiled, "Yes, ten years later I married Mary." At that, Napoleon waved his hand : "No more mention of the past. Now fiddling with flowers and plants and baking cakes is my pleasure, and sometimes I go to Voltaire and Rousseau for a chat. I've seen all my life on the chessboard."
Two hours later, Shaun, who had won another game of chess, returned to white space. After saying goodbye to the light orb gatekeeper, a portal appeared in front of Shaun, stepping out of the portal, Shaun returned to the small underground stone hall of Our Lady's Thanksgiving Abbey.
"Friar Rossi, thank you for watching over my travelling case." Shaun bowed slightly towards the white-haired Friar Rossi in thanks.
The silent Friar Rossi suddenly spoke:``Thank you for providing us with the secret method of modulating the mural pigment earlier, it is very helpful in restoring the mural." Shaun smiled bitterly: "Thank Da Vinci, Friar Rossi." Then grabbed his suitcase and left the monastery.
Shaun found a cafe looked up flights on his phone bought his ticket and took a taxi to Milan Malpensa airport. In the taxi Shaun pondered about this mission he had just accepted.
"The fact that the Vatican sent an investigator suggests that there is something unusual and involving the church going on in the area. And the fact that the investigator was killed and the local church turned to the spirit world suggests that something supernatural has been involved."
"Nature spirits have sensing power beyond that of humans, but ordinary events aren't enough to make them fearful, so this case was able to make the Alpine Mist people thousands of miles away feel uneasy, the danger level should be more than level three, ah, was it a misjudgement by the Spirit World?"
"I've become an agent of the Spirit World for five years now, I've done quite a few level one missions, and I've also travelled to many parts of Europe using my identity as a tour guide, but there's still nothing about the whereabouts of the other secret stones. This mission is obviously not simple, I wonder if I will obtain some clues about the other secret stones."
"Cologne, nice place, looks like we'll be staying for a while this time."
~~~~~~~ split line ~~~~~~
Cologne, the fourth largest city in Germany, is a place that is still full of medieval fantastic colours. Dwarf elves who secretly help people with their chores, black-clad doorkeeper spirits in the shadows of the cathedral, still pious pilgrimage virgin spirits, water demons guarding the gold in the Rhine River, witches wandering in the alleys of the old city at night, and of course, the great medieval poem written in stone under the radiance of the Three Saints, the Cologne Cathedral.
A few hours later, a Lufthansa flight from Milan landed at Cologne Bonn Airport in Germany.
Cologne Bonn Airport is named after Konrad Adenauer, the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World War,it is currently the second largest airport in Germany because it was formerly shared by Bonn, the capital of West Germany, and Cologne, the largest city in the western part of the country, and is therefore well-equipped, well-laid out, and modernised to a very high degree.
Shaun exited the airport, got into a taxi and headed for downtown Cologne. The taxis in Germany were all a light earthy yellow colour, and the Mercedes E220 was considered the standard, and was the most used model of taxi in Germany.
Half an hour later, the taxi pulled up at the address Gereonskloster 12 in downtown Cologne. It was a hotel called The Qvest.
Compared to several other hotels provided by the Church of Cologne for the agents of the Imperium, Shaun liked this four-star The Qvest Hotel the most.Although other five-star hotels were more luxurious and grand, such as the Excelsior Hotel Ernst diagonally across from the cathedral, which was the hotel that Kaiser Wilhelm I stayed in during the inauguration of the Cologne Cathedral in 1880, such hotels were too boisterous and high-profile, Shaun thought:-"It doesn't fit the persona of an agent of the Infernal Realm who quietly saves the world and then hides deep afterwards."
The Qvest Hotel fits Shaun's criteria perfectly: quiet, understated, and highly visceral, it is a decorative gothic building constructed in the nineteenth century, with three floors.
The hotel is tucked away in a small, quiet residential area, next to a small, elegantly decorated restaurant, and a hundred metres or so across the street from one of Cologne's twelve large Romanesque (or Romanesque) churches: the Abbey Church of St. Gereon, one of Germany's oldest surviving Christian sanctuaries, which is comparable in history to the Cathedral of Trier. Compared to the history of these Romanesque churches, the Cologne Cathedral, one of the kings of Gothic architecture, is a young character.
Formerly a city archive, The Qvest Hotel's current owners took over and transformed the building into a combination of historic architecture, modern art exhibits, and a creative hotel with only 34 rooms.
Settling the fare, Shaun entered the hotel lobby with his suitcase. The cross-vaulted ceiling and a few gothic columns made the hotel lobby look more like a German-style town hall layout.
As Shaun remembered, there weren't many guests at the hotel; this hotel wasn't well known.
At the front desk there was a young woman with blonde hair in a ponytail and a warm smile as she looked at Shaun walking into the hotel and greeted him in German:Â "Good evening sir, what can I do for you?"
Shaun replied in German: "Good evening ma'am, I have a reservation, my name is Shaun."
Hearing Shaun give his name, the blonde froze slightly, and immediately added a little more respect for the special guest in her expression, and said:``Mr Shaun, please wait a moment, I'll inform my colleague to come over right away, and he will be in charge of entertaining you." Then picked up the phone and dialled a number, a few seconds later only to hear her say softly: "Mr Stein, Mr Shaun has arrived."
Half a minute later, a middle-aged German man in a suit with a swift and steady gait walked up to Shaun and smiled: "Mr Shaun, nice to see you again."
Shaun also smiled and said: "Hello Mr Stein, good to see you again."
Stein said:Â "It is an honour that you have chosen The Qvest Hotel again, please follow me."
Shaun followed Mr Stein up to the first floor and towards the far left wing of the building, stopping in front of a door with no room number hidden around the corner.
"Like last time, the non-existent room thirty-five, for special guests like you." Mr Stein handed Shaun a keyed heavy brass spoon, "The usual, the room has no electronics but there are outlets so you can use your own devices. There is a cord at the end of the bed if needed, pull it and I will hear you immediately."
Shaun smiles, "I expect to stay longer this time, hopefully I won't need to pull that cord."
Stein nodded : "You're welcome, at your service." With that he smiled a greeting and turned to leave.
Shaun unlocked the door to his room with his key and entered the room and lit the huge candle on the table. This was the second time he stayed in this room, a year ago when he came to Cologne to carry out a mission to find ancient Roman artefacts out of curiosity he chose this hotel which had little reputation, but he got an unexpectedly excellent experience.
The room is extremely spacious, with a height of almost five metres and a dark oak ceiling. The huge gothic style arched windows were decorated with simple petal shaped wheel spoke stonework. Looking out of the window, one is able to see the main entrance of St. Gereon's church at night.
It was just after 10 p.m., and with Germany switching to daylight saving time in late May, it was just approaching total darkness. Shaun took a shower in the flickering candlelight, the fatigue of a long day of travelling was swept away. Having only eaten at the airport, Shaun suddenly felt a hunger in his belly, he got dressed and headed downstairs, but unfortunately La Fonda, the restaurant next to the hotel, was almost closed and no longer accepting new customers. Luckily there was another German style tavern around the corner with a few other drinkers sitting in front of it bragging.
Shaun also found an empty table in front of the pub and sat down. When Germany catches a good day in May, you can enjoy the heat of summer during the day as well as the coolness of a spring breeze at night.
Shaun ordered a Gilden Kölsch from the tavern's friendly proprietress and a Schnitzel with fries, a traditional Austrian dish usually made with veal, usually made with pork in Germany.
While every German beer has its own special glass, Köln is traditionally served in tiny 0.2 litre glasses and is best served at around 6 degrees Celsius. The beer is extremely refreshing, and even if you count all the Lager beers in Germany, Köln is considered to be on the bitter side, but with a strong aftertaste and a heavy hoppy flavour.
"This beer is so perfect for a night like this." Shaun cosily savoured the beer in his mouth.
Suddenly a figure silently sat on the empty chair next to Shaun's table. Shaun's body instantly stiffened. After becoming an agent of the Sprit World, Shaun's body's perception, swiftness, and strength had all increased to a great extent, and it had been a long time since anyone had been able to approach within three metres of him without being detected by him.
"You're number 22, right? I'm number 17. I'll have a Cologne beer as well. On you." The seated figure said in an almost languid slightly husky female voice.