Whispering Verse

It is easy to judge the purpose of this place, because the magic potion and alchemy laboratory Shade set up for himself in the basement of No. 6 Saint Teresa Square is also the same.

It's just that compared to Shade's laboratory, the experimental instruments here are quite old. Judging from the materials, they are at least old things from before the steam age. Some of them are even worthy of being sent to museums. And among these old things that are now out of date, lies a folded letter.

The letter was placed in a very conspicuous position on the experimental table, and two stones with long-lasting luminescence attached to it were placed next to it, as if they were afraid that latecomers would not see it.

Shade stepped over the ritual base array with unknown effects on the ground. He was worried that the letter was a trap, so he carefully checked it before picking up the letter. He didn’t read the content first, but the signature first:

【Thomas Granger】

This was the first guardian Shad met, the one who gave him the power of the earth in the Emerald Dream and whose bones were left next to the statue of the ancient god in the vineyards of the White River Valley.

"Before I came here, I deceived Earl Granger, saying that his great-uncle might have visited the family's old cemetery. I didn't expect it to be true."

Shade thought to himself, and then carefully read the contents of the letter.

【successor:】

[Congratulations on finding this place. 】

[This underground laboratory does not belong to me, it belongs to the ancestor of the Granger family, Ferrari Granger, who was born in 1405. I discovered the location of the laboratory in old family books and discovered the tomb robber who died here. The tomb robber probably lived around 1690. When I wrote this letter, he had become an evil spirit, so I transformed him into a guard to protect this place. Please forgive me for doing this. 】

"It turns out that this is the guard he left behind. No wonder it can resist Silver Moon's power to a certain extent."

[This laboratory is a symbol of the shameful history of the family. I am not the first Granger to discover the power of family blood. Family genealogy records that Ferrari Granger was born in 1405 and died in 1460. But in fact, he was still alive until the great earthquake in the Randall Valley in 1498, and secretly hid under the family cemetery to conduct his own research. 】

Shade frowned slightly. Since the great earthquake of 1498 was mentioned here, it meant that Ferrari Granger was related to it.

Thinking of this, he touched the mithril cube in his pocket and immediately felt that as the cube vibrated slightly, new information appeared on it. However, he did not read the content on the Mithril Cube, but continued to read the letter in his hand.

[Yes, latecomer, I feel ashamed for this. The occurrence of the great earthquake in Randall Valley in 1498 was related to my ancestors. Ferrari Granger hid here, secretly studying the power of the earth, and caused the disaster due to an accident during the experiment. I don't want to explain anything, but Ferrari Granger died here, and I buried his body in the dirt outside. 】

[Being able to expel guards proves that you are a capable person. As a reward, everything here will belong to you. I only took away one silver cube, which may be related to causing a big earthquake. In addition to the worthless collection in the ancestor's laboratory, I placed a gift for you in the box next to the letter. If you want to get my secret, you can take the token in the box and go to my family to find out my information. That will lead you to me. no matter when. 】

Below is the signature and signature. The letter was quite short, but after Shade finished reading it, he read it again before putting the letter down:

"It turns out that the mithril cube that records many stories in the Randall Valley was not created by Mr. Thomas Granger at all, but he got it from here. In other words, Mr. Thomas Granger left He ran away from home not long after visiting this cemetery. What is this mithril cube? Mr. Thomas Granger left it at home, seemingly as one of the clues to guide the next generation of guardians. , does he know what this is?"

Thinking in his mind, he finally took out the cube. After the "Church of the Forgotten", "St. Perry's Cemetery", the "Masonry Chamber" and the "Randall Valley Gold Mine", the fifth story about the Randall Valley finally emerged:

[The great earthquake in Randall Valley in 1498:

According to legend, God shook the earth in order to punish the disrespectful people on the earth. But in fact, earthquakes are just a natural phenomenon. The great earthquake in the Randall Valley in 1498 was a disaster inadvertently caused by a greedy and crazy mortal in pursuit of ancient secrets. The truth of the earthquake lies in Granger, the secret of the earthquake, at the foot of the place of repose and faith. This is not a good story, but it is a warning to us to respect the power we do not understand. 】

"At the foot of the place of repose and faith, this is directly stated below the cemetery church."

Shade sighed softly, holding the cube and looking at the vague ritual matrix not far away from his feet. In the center of those lines, there happens to be a square gap, which is quite similar in size to the cube.

"Um"

Fortunately, his curiosity was not serious, and the ritual matrix was now severely damaged, so there was no point in trying it, so he put the cube away again:

"Mr. Thomas Granger took a fancy to the cube's ability to guide stories and left it to future generations who would follow in his footsteps. The usage method written on the note should also have been explored by this gentleman. Since it can be opened after telling six stories, I only have one last step left. What will it be?"

He thought to himself and picked up the box mentioned in the letter. After opening it, I saw a silver pocket watch that had stopped spinning, a letter and a small irregular piece of metal.

The pocket watch is Mr. Thomas Granger's personal belongings, that is, a keepsake. The letter was written by him to his family, asking them to forgive him for leaving without saying goodbye, and asking them not to look for his message. It seems that Thomas Granger was already planning to leave home at that time:

"This means that his physical condition at that time was already very bad due to being contaminated with black mud."

The thumb-sized piece of metal with pitted surfaces looked like unpolished silver ore at first glance, but Shade understood what it was after touching it:

"Mithril?"

This small piece of mithril was enough for Shade to pay all his tuition fees from first grade to ninth grade at St. Byrons.

"It's really a generous move."

Shade put the small piece of mithril into his pocket, and the smile on his face could hardly be concealed.

Of course, he did not forget his purpose. He didn't come here to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Thomas Granger and eventually become a guardian. He came here to find the gems left by the Butterfly family.

Mr. Granger's letter didn't mention anything about this. I don't know if the original owner really didn't have it, or Thomas didn't find it, or he took it away directly after finding it.

Shade searched the place with the idea of ​​spending a whole day digging three feet into the basement and digging out every wall. Then, three minutes after starting the search, he placed broken pieces on the experimental table. In the small jar of cracked gems and rare ores, the hexagonal golden yellow gem was found.

The red gemstone under the memoir represents summer, the white gemstone given by Oxenfurt represents winter, and the golden gemstone in front of me represents autumn.

"Isn't this too easy?"

Shade held the three already obtained gems in his hands. Judging from the size and carving craftsmanship, the golden gem found here was one of the four keys he was looking for. In this way, only the green gem representing spring is left to be found.

"But why didn't Mr. Thomas Granger take it away more than seventy years ago? Did Ferrari Granger, who established this underground laboratory more than three hundred years ago, discover this family inheritance gem? secret?"

But no matter what, Shade is getting closer and closer to the secrets of the guardians.

After riding back to the city, Shade returned Mr. Thomas Granger's pocket watch and the letter with badly faded ink to the Granger Manor, which was regarded as completing the count's commission.

It was only noon on Monday, so Shade went home to have lunch with Mia, and then spent the rest of the day at home.

He was not lazy, but read Mr. Lyman's memoirs completely, and learned about the peaceful but magnificent life of this ordinary man who lived in the fifth era.

Because Shade had had an important intersection with him in his life trajectory, he knew more clearly how much impact Mr. Lyman's encounter with him had on his entire life.

In the evening, when he and Lesia had a private meeting at a secret club in the city and had dinner together, Shade also told the story of this gentleman to Her Royal Highness the Princess. The little princess sat at the table and listened with her ears propped up. Lesia was also curious about the lives of ordinary men in the Fifth Age, but she was more concerned about another thing:

"He had three wives?"

Agelina became more interested in the topic.

"Yes, they are all the butterfly girls he brought out from the Worm Cave."

Shade said while touching Mia:

"This lineage has not been cut off. According to what I learned from local folklorists, at least one-third of the local people living in the Randall Valley can be regarded as descendants of Mr. Lyman. The butterfly's lineage is rooted in that Pian River Valley, I even suspect that this is also the meaning of the old god I once met. He wanted to use this to stabilize the land of the Randall River Valley in the sixth era."

"Why do you say that?"

Lesia asked curiously.

"Because of the butterfly bloodline, it can resist the effects of the petrified plague in the Crazy Earth. I just learned about it from Miss Benanis today. The church is establishing a file for the victims currently infected with the plague. When tracing their ancestors, they discovered that the current serious illness Most of the infected people are not local aborigines.”

PS: Happy New Year to everyone! One more update.