Whispering Verse

Shade walked out of the door and didn't care whether Baron Hull followed him immediately. He walked along the corridor and found Miss Bayas at the corner who had been waiting for a long time. The young girl with long brown hair asked expectantly:

"How about it?"

"No problem. Hide now, he's coming soon."

Shade said, and then complained:

"The conversation between nobles and merchants is really troublesome. They talk as if every word has three meanings."

"Thank you so much. Detective, what reason did you use to lure Baron Hull out?"

Miss Bayas asked curiously, as if she was studying.

"There is no reason, I just gave him a wink. For such a person, I don't believe that he is not curious about the meaning of this wink. He must not have thought that he would be attacked in the Duke's house, so he must be curious. It’s human nature to keep up.”

Shade explained briefly, and then counted three numbers silently in his mind... In fact, he counted three twice. As expected, the two of them heard the slight footsteps on the other side of the corridor.

Miss Bayas gave the young detective a look of respect.

What happened next was very simple. For the first time, Shade witnessed the "interrogation techniques" of the era where steam and mystery coexisted.

First, when Baron Hull turned the corner curiously, Miss Bayas punched him in the face.

Then, the two of them sneakily dragged the unconscious Baron Hull to the broom room on the third floor that Miss Bayas had scouted in advance.

Finally, Miss Bayas tied the Baron with the rope here, blocked the Baron's mouth with a rag, put him in the broom cupboard, and stuffed pen and paper into his hands. After confirming that there was no light in the broom room and that his appearance would not be exposed, he used very rough methods to wake him up.

A beautiful girl with long brown hair wearing a maid's costume, holding a sharp table knife stolen from the salon, pressed it against the Baron's neck:

"I ask, you write the answer. If you don't cooperate, you die."

She said pretending to be vicious.

The baron's eyes widened. After struggling for a while and finding that he was tied up, he kept kicking his legs. But because he felt the cold threat on his neck, he had to calm down. Because his mouth was gagged, he could only make whining sounds.

There was no light in the broom closet, and the Baron could vaguely see that besides the woman who spoke, there was another person here.

But before asking for help, another person also spoke:

"MI6, you know the consequences of not cooperating."

Shade said in a deliberately rough voice, which was very deep.

Baron Hull's heart suddenly sank. He knew how cruel these people were. Then, he felt the knife on his neck trembling, almost making a wound. So he nodded immediately without any hesitation.

In fact, the knife trembled just because Miss Bayas was laughed at Shade's "lie". She didn't expect the young detective to be so bold.

And if it wasn't an interrogation now, Shade really wanted to explain that at least this time, he really didn't lie at all.

Even the Ring Warlock Organization cannot create gold pounds out of thin air. Although extraordinary people and mysterious people are different from ordinary people, in this era where steam and mystery coexist, they still need to make money to support themselves. After all, everyone is mortal.

Therefore, Shade is going to be a detective, Dr. Schneider will not give up the clinic, Priest Augustus takes the church's subsidy, Miss Anat works in the Society of Prophets, and Miss Louisa racks her brains to write the manuscript.

The organization of the mystics must have a relatively legal source of funds to support the operation of the organization. Not to mention, an organization with most of its official members being ring warlocks would need more funds to meet the needs of ring warlocks.

The Zhengshen Church relies on the support of a large number of believers and does not have to worry about financial problems; the three major thaumaturgy academies have overt and covert related industries around the world; not to mention the [Prophet Association], they not only monopolize formal divination industry, and holds the right to issue Rhodes cards, which Dr. Schneider considers to be an industry of "direct printing of gold pounds".

Even for a secretive organization like the Witch Council, its members seem to be either rich or noble, and there is no need to worry about the source of funds.

Obviously, an organization like [Mercury Blood], which targets a specific "relic", cannot make money on its own.

Most cults and illegal organizations have huge financial sources behind them. Among them, obtaining funds from nobles or big businessmen is the most common way.

Miss Bayas, who was born in the Orthodox Church, shared this common sense with Sha De. After all, rich people dare not touch the mystery easily, but they covet the power brought by the mystery, so the Ring Warlock organization can always find its own sponsors.

Baron Hull has been one of the sponsors of [Mercury Blood] since thirteen years ago. Mercury Blood obtains gold pounds from his hands, and the Baron regularly obtains some "magic potions" that ordinary people can use from Mercury Blood's hands to gain health, longer life, and... Men are more capable.

Although Miss Bayas didn't say anything when she read this information on paper, it could be seen from her snort that there must be something wrong with those so-called "magic potions".

Baron Hull was not a strong-willed person who did not care about threats to his life. He was just an ordinary wealthy nobleman, so he easily told Miss Bayas everything she wanted to know.

This took a long time, during which Shade left the broom room early and returned to the salon in order not to arouse suspicion. Baron Hull came back half an hour later. He looked dazed, as if he had just woken up. It seemed that the memory-erasing relic was really useful.

But now that Ms. Bayas’s identity has been known, maybe she will be used by the sorceress of the Church of the Sun in exchange for credit. Letting him go now is just to prevent him from disturbing [Mercury Blood].

Shade did not see Miss Bayas again for the rest of the evening in the salon. He didn't like this kind of social activities very much, so when it was almost time, he took the initiative to find the old Duke to say goodbye.

Duke Lucas expressed regret for this and invited Shade to play Rhodes together again when he has time:

"Remember to bring [Original Silver Moon] with you. I will defeat it one day."

This good attitude towards Shade must be due to the Rhodes card, but Miss Carina's reason should also be important. Therefore, this once again made Xia De understand how important it is to have a high-status noble backer in this kind of world.

I came in a carriage, but I had to go back on my own. He had gained so much tonight that he had no intention of saving money on the cab. So we walked along the street towards the intersection, where the four-wheel taxi often stopped.

The area where Duke Lucas's residence is located has relatively dense gas street lamps. Shade walked under patches of light, silently thinking about the gains and losses of tonight. He was very happy that he did not encounter any accidents on this weekend night when he was invited to play cards.

Then, a pair of hands stretched out from the alley on the side, directly covered Shade's mouth and pulled him into the alley that was not illuminated by the street lights:

"Oh~"

He made a strange cry, and the light of the silver moon in his hand appeared, but was immediately extinguished:

"Oh, Miss Bayas, what do you want to do?"

The hands let go of him, and when he turned around, what he saw was indeed the young sorceress of the Church of the Sun.

The young girl is still wearing a heavy maid dress, with her hands together in front of her body, which is a very standard maid posture.

Iluna Bayas stood in the shadows and looked at Shade with a smile:

"Detective, good evening. I just ran back and put the [Animal Tamer's Memory Erasing Rod] back where it should be. I'm here to pay you. You helped me again tonight. I won't treat my friends badly."

"Actually, you can come and find me at my place tomorrow. Also, why didn't you change your clothes? These clothes are very noticeable outside."

Shade pointed this out, standing in the shadow of the alley with Miss Bayas.

"I don't want to owe my friends. As for the clothes, when I spent money to replace the original maid's shift, I also bought the clothes together. She seemed to want to make a profit from me... This clothes will be returned to me. You can only change where you live. Detective, thank you for your help tonight, how much is the reward this time?"

As he said that, he took out his wallet. This uniform has pockets, after all, maids usually carry a lot of things with them.

"The remuneration can be discussed later. What I'm curious about is, what did you ask?"

Shade was not present during the second half of the "interrogation", and that information might help Dr. Schneider find the [fake Philosopher's Stone].

"It can't be said that the news is related to the Ring Warlock. You can't be easily involved, detective. Curiosity will kill curious cats and people."

Miss Bayas refused Shade's inquiry out of good intentions, and then shook her wallet:

"Detective, how much do you want? Although I'm not very rich, I still have some money...I'm not very rich either."

The tone of the last sentence was very familiar to Shade. He often spoke like this in this world.

As she spoke, she looked at Shade while holding her wallet. Shade blinked, and he understood that the other party really regarded him as a friend:

"Should I tell her that I am..."

She suddenly felt alert in her heart, and Miss Bayas, almost immediately behind Shade, turned to look at the entrance of the alley. At some point, a man stood under the streetlight at the entrance of the alley. The gaslight was originally warm, but as he stood there, the light became colder and gradually dimmed, like a tombstone standing under the light.

"Detective, back off."

Miss Bayas stopped Shade behind her and took a few steps forward with a serious expression.

The man under the streetlight raised his head, and his pale face reminded Shade of a corpse.

"Circle Warlock or Humanoid Relic?"

He asked in his heart, and a murmur in his ears immediately sounded:

[The Ring Warlock, feeling the whisper element, is using the power of the relic. 】