Pastor's Tantra

——Ritual array.

Sherlock's heart tightened.

He had expected it before - when he looked at Yingjia Village from a high place, he began to doubt it when he saw the neat circle. But now it has finally been confirmed.

The entire Yingjia Village is a large-scale ceremony with unknown meaning.

But here comes the problem.

——What is the purpose of this ceremony?

If it were placed elsewhere, it would obviously be related to the anomaly here.

But the problem is that there are too many "abnormalities" in this ghostly village.

The King of the Wild Hunt, abnormal timing, abnormal lifespan, strangers emerging from the swamp, the goblin cave...

Sherlock rubbed his temples. Countless possibilities were constantly being put together and combined in his mind, which made his head hurt.

He turned to ask: "Uncle Maghammer, yesterday you said that the reason why Sister Haina's biological father suddenly left suddenly was because he was possessed by some evil spirit. What do you mean by this? And it has been so long since he left Yingjia Village. You haven’t come back yet, are you already dead outside?”

Such a direct and almost unreasonable question, if the original Sherlock had asked, the other party would probably be embarrassed.

But now it is just right - I am a child, and it is normal for me to be ignorant. It's only reasonable to speak out. You can't argue with me, right?

The expression of the dwarf magnetic hammer is also a little subtle.

But he was silent for a while, glanced at the back of Haina's mother, and finally glanced at Haina, lowered his voice and replied softly: "Actually... I think he might have escaped."

"escape?"

Sherlock also lowered his voice, looking astonished like a child: "Why? Is it because of the undead?"

Haina next to her also became energetic.

It's not that she was disgusted by Sherlock's pinched voice... but she was really interested in the answer. She asked her mother many times when she was a child, but she was always fooled. At that time, she was actually a little afraid of this father who was a bit rude and looked completely different from her, so her relationship with Maghammer was not very good at that time.

But now she is slowly coming to her senses...

It seems that the person with the problem is his mother.

This dwarf father, who has not been related by blood and has only started taking care of him since he was a few years old, is more normal.

"It's not the undead - although I was quite frightened when I first came here, these undead usually don't hurt people. So I gradually got used to it."

Magnet lowered his voice, smelled of alcohol, and put his head in front of Sherlock's face, pressing his forehead against Sherlock's: "There is a rumor that... he saw something he shouldn't have seen, so he went crazy. "

"Things you shouldn't see..."

Haina murmured: "Did Grandpa Jacob do some evil research?"

"Ah, that's not..."

Magnetic Hammer waved his hand repeatedly: "Your grandfather Jacob sits at home and writes books every day, what kind of research can he do...

"Actually, it was because he seemed to have seen another person. A few days before he left, he was obviously a little uneasy. His master asked about it and said that he seemed to have seen another person who was exactly like himself. After that, He disappeared after a few days... When I first came here, this rumor happened to be popular in the village, so I was quite impressed."

"Then, what happens after that?"

Sherlock tried his best to look scared: "After he left... is that 'other self' still there?"

"No more. That's why I say it's a rumor."

The magnetic hammer returned to its normal volume and laughed loudly: "Think about it, if there really is an 'other self', then he shouldn't have disappeared at all - when he disappeared, shouldn't he have been caught by the 'other self' Replace it? Then no one would even realize he was missing.

"Old William also investigated the matter at that time and asked his colleagues to help with the investigation. However, no trace of his whereabouts was ever found, and there was no record of him leaving by train even in Bagpipe Town.

"But then... about two years passed. At that time, Haina had not gone to Bagpipe Town to go to school, and her mother received a letter. It was from her bastard father, saying that he was already on the Glass Island. I have been living for a long time and have been unable to contact my family. I finally finished a big job recently and can take a vacation. I will come back and see if I have time.

"But he never came back in the end. He didn't leave his address, so we couldn't send a reply.

"Haina's mother is also literate, and she confirmed that it was the other person's handwriting. The priest in the village also confirmed that the handwriting was correct. So he is probably not dead. At least not more than ten years ago... But It’s been so long since I’ve sent a letter back, I either forgot it or died.”

"That's right..."

Sherlock smiled.

But he and Haina looked at each other silently, but their hearts sank.

--wrong.

The problem here is that Haina's father disappeared suddenly.

The villagers and dwarves may not know it, but Sherlock understands that if a person wants to disappear, it is not that easy.

Unless he can change his appearance, it will be easy to leave various traces. The inspectors are very good at tracking down various traces... Haina also knows this.

If a person goes to live in another place, he at least needs money. And if you want to make money, you must participate in work that you are familiar with.

And no one mentioned that he absconded with the money when he left, which means he didn't leave much money on him. And he was just an apprentice blacksmith at that time, unlike Maghammer who was a real master blacksmith. He didn't make much money at all.

In this case, it is basically impossible for him to leave by his own will without leaving any traces.

Then there are actually only two possibilities.

Either that or he was kidnapped or killed. There was another person helping him with his whereabouts, which meant he had an accomplice.

Or, he disappeared suddenly - for example, he was teleported away, or fell into a swamp.

But he was still able to send letters a few years later, and the handwriting confirmed that they were sent by himself. As for whether the letter was written a few years ago, this Sherlock believes that the magnetic hammer is not that stupid.

So, let's say her father is still alive a few years after his disappearance. And if you don’t want the villagers to know where you are, you can introduce another possibility...

——The "father" who suddenly disappeared was actually the clone. Because it is made up of rituals or spells, it disappears quietly without leaving any traces.

The real body has actually already gone to the Glass Island with the help of others.

If "copying a person" is a ritual effect, then the person who helps him should be a powerful ritual master.

Is there such a ritualist in Yingjia Village?

There really is.

That was Aiwass's grandfather, Jacob Alexander.

Although Sherlock doesn't know his specific energy level, since there are two fifth-level Noble Reds who failed to kill him directly, Jacob is at least the fourth energy level, and may even be the fifth. energy level.

Did he go to the Glass Island specially to help Jacob arrange some rituals remotely?

After all, Jacob was being chased by Noble Red at the time, and it was not convenient for him to go to places with many people.

And a few years later, he completed that ritual.

……etc.

etc?

Sherlock suddenly felt a thump in his heart.

--a few years later?

He thought of something and ran through the timeline from the beginning——

When Sherlock investigated Aiwass before, he found out that his grandfather died due to an "occasional cold" when Aiwass was about four years old.

Haina is four years older than Aiwass, which is about the same time Haina was eight years old. This is almost comparable to Haina's experience of learning to read from Jacob.

——And little Jack is eight years younger than Haina.

In other words, one year before little Jack was born, his biological father disappeared; half a year later, the magnetic hammer came to Eagle Point Village; less than a year later, Jacob died. After his death, the relics were stolen by the Noble Red people in some way, but they did not find the thing they wanted most.

Immediately afterwards, someone sent a threatening letter with unknown meaning. They killed Giulio's niece, Lisa, and threatened to kill Aiwass in a letter mentioning that Aiwass's father, Julio Alexander, "did not do what they said".

Aiwass' biological parents were killed and he became an orphan. But he later lived in an orphanage and was no longer hunted.

Then Haina's father sent a letter back... saying that he had been living on the Glass Island for a long time. After that, she really disappeared, and Haina did not come to find her until she graduated from college and was published in the newspaper.

During the time when Haina's father went to Glass Island and sent the letter back, did anything special happen on Glass Island that only a ritualist could do?

--It exists.

That was the day Sherlock told Aiwass that Eagle Point Village was Haina's hometown. That day, Sherlock overheard Bishop Mathers explaining to Aiwass why he was absent that day... The answer was that the curse of the red-handled sword was accidentally leaked the night before.

Sherlock hadn't woken up yet, so he didn't have time to argue. He woke up later, but the topic had been moved away, and it was hard for him to come back to it - but he always remembered the incident.

Because he felt something was wrong at that time.

The seal on the red-handled sword was imposed by Merlin.

Although he hated that guy, Sherlock knew that Merlin's technology was very good. How could that thing be leaked so easily?

Not to mention leaking it, even if it is induced to unblock it, you have to be a top ritualist to do it.

It has only been leaked once in so many years, and it happened to be that day.

Sherlock doesn't believe in coincidences.

It is very likely that Haina's father is remotely assisting Jacob in the ritual on the Glass Island! The seal that caused the red-handled sword to leak!

——So far, the time, ability, and perpetrators are basically matched.

But then it got even weirder.

The question that puzzled Sherlock was...

Why did Aiwass's grandfather design to kill Aiwass's parents before he died?

Sherlock remembers that the person who killed Aiwass's parents was a curse master from the desert who operated the Hook Demon. This should not be Jacob's person.

But the person who asked them to find Bishop Mathers when they came to the Glass Island was Haina's father. Because he asked the bishop to be away that day.

Or is it that Jacob didn't want to kill Aiwass's parents, but there was just something wrong with his plan?

Is that curser also one of Jacob's? That's why Aiwass didn't continue to be hunted down.

But what exactly is this picture...

"strangeness……"

Sherlock pulled his hair hard.

It can't be explained here anyway.

He instinctively realized that he was missing a very crucial clue in the last part of his reasoning. There is only one last step left to connect the truth, but that crucial sentence is missing.

"hateful!"

Sherlock subconsciously punched Haina beside him, planning to go to Aiwass first to share information.

update completed!