Whispering Verse

Of course, in his spare time, Shade did not forget to visit his friend who helped him in Green Lake, which refers to Captain Rades.

On the day Miss Carina and Margaret were assassinated, Captain Rades led the team to create friction and conflict at the border, thereby firing the second shot at the end of the Green Lake negotiations. The first shot was fired by Shade. . After that, Captain Rades was relieved of his military duties and temporarily transferred back to Tobesk.

On the third day of the month of Sunshine, Shade took a bottle of wine to visit the captain in his rented apartment, but found him packing his luggage.

"Good morning, detective. Don't be surprised. The new arrangements have been made. I will leave Tobesk immediately. I will no longer work in the Army."

"What? So anxious, but"

“Don’t worry, Detective, I’m now a member of the Navy.

He turned around, smiled and shook his newly received uniform at Shade, and then asked Shade to look at the medal box on the pile of debris on the table:

"From now on, please call me Major Rades."

The middle-aged man's eyes were shining, and Shade was also happy for him:

"From captain to major? Congratulations, you will be called Major Rades from now on. This is really not easy."

"Yes, it's really not easy."

Thinking of his ups and downs in the past two years, the former "Eight-Gun Captain" couldn't help but sigh:

"My promotion and decoration are not ordinary situations, so the military department first asked me to go to the Navy to stay for a while, and then let me return to the Royal Army next year or the year after that. At that time, no one would care where I, a major, came from. That’s it.”

"But the job of the Navy should be different from that of the Army, right?"

Shade asked, and the major nodded:

"Yes, I still have a lot to learn, but this is already good. This time I was arranged to go to the west coast to join the Coast Guard. This is a very good job. It is said that I will spend more time on the dock than on the boat. "

He turned around and stretched out his hand to Shade, and said seriously:

"Anyway, detective, I really appreciate you this time. Otherwise, I can't imagine how an officer like me, who has been captured before and has no background, can get the rank of major before officially being discharged."

Shade shook his hand. The sunlight shone on the two men's clasped hands. Shade shook his head:

"I still hold the view that you chose the future for yourself. I just gave you a chance. See you in the future, Major Rades. I hope that next time, we can meet in a strange city when we look up."

"Goodbye, Detective Hamilton. I look forward to our next meeting. You are my forever friend."

He gave Shade a hug.

Major Rades left the city by train that evening. He came back in a hurry and left in a hurry. It seemed that all he took with him was his order of appointment and dismissal and a new medal.

Shade bid farewell to his friend at the train station and watched the train leaving for the west coast. He was still lamenting the impact of his arrival on everyone he met.

After bidding farewell to Captain Rades on Tuesday, Shade received a letter from Miss Mia Gold from a remote town on the east coast early on Wednesday morning.

He had actually packed his luggage and cat and was ready to go at any time. After receiving the letter this morning, he even planned to tell Luvia not to forget to water the flowers she kept on the windowsill while he was away.

But when he opened the letter at the breakfast table, Shade saw a piece of news that was like a bolt from the blue:

"What, a plague?"

"plague?"

At ten o'clock in the morning, Shade, holding the letter, appeared in Miss Carina's office in the Yoder Palace. He was sitting on the sofa, Tifa was pouring tea for him, and Miss Carina was looking at the documents behind the desk and talking to him:

"Where are you referring to the plague?"

"Are there many plagues recently?"

Shade was confused by her:

"I read the newspaper before I came here, and I just saw the news about the spring flu. Miss Gold said in the letter that when she organized the excavation of the family's old courtyard for enjoyment, she found many corpses that looked horrible and did not look like human beings. Then a plague spread in the town. This was different from the plague in the ancient town last winter. This time it was more terrible. Now the entire town and all roads in the surrounding area were blocked, and no one could In and out.”

He was quite worried about this:

"The outbreak of the plague has spread to Astral City. Although the train ticket I bought can still be used, even if I arrive in Astral City, I will not be able to move on. I am worried that she will not be able to move forward in that courtyard. Something weird was found in it, which caused the plague."

"Don't worry, it's not that scary. Tifa~"

The maid took a document from the table and handed it to Shade. The duchess continued:

"Since the beginning of this year, inexplicable plagues have been breaking out in various parts of the Old World and New World, but recently the situation has suddenly become more serious. The Tobesk area is still fine because it can still be controlled, so in order to prevent panic, There was no big coverage of this in the newspapers.”

What Shade has in hand is the Delarian Health Department's report on this plague with strange origins:

"The main characteristics are low-grade fever, plaques, herpes, and ulcers on the skin, sensitivity to light, physical deformity, mania at night, fear of water, weakened immunity to other diseases, mental mania, and in a few cases, thirst for blood."

Shade quickly looked through the files and saw some black and white photos, and couldn't help but frown:

"Is this a variant of leprosy? Or are vampires declaring war on the church?"

"Oh, Shade, don't think so complicatedly. The church's investigation shows that at least for now, this is really just an ordinary plague, but it shows some special characteristics."

The duchess behind the desk put down the documents in her hands and looked at Shade on the sofa not far away:

"Your travel plan probably won't work. These areas where plague broke out are strictly controlled by the church for fear of other problems.

Since this trip has to be postponed again, just stay in Tobesk. Aren't you going to have a good rest? Just leave these things alone. Maybe the plague in the town will subside next month. I have not received any reports of the out-of-control plague in Astra City, so things are still under control. "

In this case, of course this trip can only be cancelled. In her letter, Miss Gold described that the town was in a state of emergency again, and the residents of the town all evacuated together with the help of her and the town's chapel.

Even if Shade really wanted to force his way into the blocked area, Miss Gold probably wouldn't be able to receive him. And taking a cat to such a dangerous place is obviously not a very appropriate move.

Shade wanted to go home and write a reply to Miss Gothe, but was left behind by Miss Carina:

"Can't you write a letter here? You write it now, and I'll ask the maid to send it for you. It's almost lunch. Come eat with me later, and I'll make a reservation now. I heard from Tifa that you recently got a A beautiful pocket watch?”

The maid's expression remained unchanged. Shade immediately thought of Miss Adele Isabella's pocket watch, and then realized that it was a "luminous pocket watch."

Once again unable to visit Miss Gothe, Shade was disappointed, but even if he was disappointed again, he could only accept this reality.

So, the leisurely life continued like this. After receiving Miss Gold's letter on the third day of the Sunshine Moon, Shade did not experience any more adventures for the next three weeks.

Reading and studying, experimenting with alchemy and potions, dating girls at home, racecourse, opera house, mountains, and islands, and occasionally accepting commissions to find lost cats and dogs. The time in early summer seems to have slowed down because of this, and the temperature this summer has indeed remained at a very low level just as the chosen one on the earth said.

Shade still remembered that on a snowy morning, he received a gentleman who had been robbed not long ago. After half a week's investigation, he assisted the Redwich Field police in arresting a group of daring gangsters who were preparing to rob the Delrayon National Bank.

Shade also remembered that one evening when he and Dorothy were walking cats along the streets along the river in the University District, they unexpectedly met Dorothy's fans. After chatting with the lady who lived in the north of the city, Shade received the commission to investigate the haunted house of the lady's neighbor.

Ghosts don't exist, of course, but cultists who operate furtively do exist. In the end, with the efforts of Shade and the Blackstone Security Company, the cultists who tried to initiate subversive activities in the northern slums of Tobesk were wiped out.

Although a priest of [Tyranny Club] fled to the Coldwater Port area in advance before being captured, intending to go to the New World to hide, he was still shot to death by an unknown person in an alley in the Coldwater Port dock area.

At that time, this scandalous cult case made headlines in the Tobesk City Morning News, the Terrarel River News and the Kingdom Morning News for two consecutive days. However, the photo of Shade holding the "Tobesk Model Citizen Medal" with the Mayor of Tobesk did not appear in the newspaper in the end because of his and Miss Carina's wishes.

The famous detective of Saint Teresa Square became famous again, and Dorothy's "Hamilton Detective Stories" also sold out again. Therefore, the generous Count Fafner of Tobesk City invited Shade and Dorothy to a reading salon he held at his country manor. Dorothy also agreed to attend after discovering that many of her writer friends would be present.

So on that night when there was a sudden snowstorm, 16 people who were trapped in the manor and unable to return to the city experienced a thrilling disaster. An unknown gunman shot and killed a poet outside the window during dinner, and then continued to commit crimes throughout the night.

When the city police arrived at dawn the next day, four bodies were already lying in the manor, as well as two guests who had been shot and injured.

Among the four corpses, two were murdered guests, one was a servant who was killed in the afternoon, and the last one was a murderer disguised as a servant. In fact, after the death of the second guest, Shade relied on the "Echoes of the Past" and the rapidly beating heart sound heard in the "Heart of Stone" to discover the murderer, and even relied on the "Echo of Blood" to find evidence. But in order not to be suspected by others, he only secretly rescued the next two guests who were shot, and then pretended to rely on careful reasoning to investigate the identity of the murderer.

The murderer's cause of death was that after being caught, his head was smashed with a chair leg. Everyone present can testify that Detective Hamilton had no choice but to kill him in self-defense and to protect his fragile female companion, Miss Louisa.

Later, after investigation, it was found that the reason why the murderer sneaked into the manor to kill was because he hated the owner of the manor, Count Fafnir. Subsequent in-depth investigation revealed that he was actually the illegitimate son of Count Fafnir even he didn't know. He did such a thing because of his mother's death and his unwillingness to accept his fate.

If Shade didn't fight back, he would force the Earl to commit suicide after killing everyone in the manor, and then forge a suicide note to attribute everyone's death to the Earl.

This case involving Blizzard Manor, aristocratic scandals and detective stories spread throughout the city almost instantly, providing interesting topics for people who spent the cold summer of 1854. Even the editors of "Steambird Daily" urged Dorothy to adapt the incident into a story as soon as possible and publish it before the heat of the case subsided, but the writer refused in the name of "respecting the deceased."

In fact, she just didn't want to rush the manuscript.

Although Lecia smiled afterwards and said that no one would dare to invite Shade and Dorothy to a country manor for vacation in the future, Shade thought it was nothing:

"It's just a case of ordinary people. It's not like I encounter relics wherever I go. This is not bad luck."

"Yes, my knight, you are right in everything you say. However, I like your name to appear in the newspapers more often."

"Why?"

In the princess's green eyes, Shade's face was reflected:

"Every time I see your story in the newspaper, it makes me feel that you are always by my side. After all, you don't come to see me often, and I can only know about my beloved by reading the newspaper. Knight, what are you doing?"

Then she saw the guilty expression on Shade's face with satisfaction, and knew that she would have many sweet dates in the near future.