Whispering Verse

According to the agreement, after successfully receiving the inheritance, Mrs. Flamel needs to pay Shade 5 pounds in cash as a reward. This is one-tenth of Mrs. Flamel's inheritance, which is definitely not a small amount even for a middle-aged woman today.

Of course, she didn't regret it when she actually had to pay. On the one hand, this is indeed a kind woman. On the other hand, a middle-aged woman with some malnutrition in a narrow room would not want to annoy the young and strong detective.

But when she was about to hand the money to Shade, Shade waved his hand and refused:

“I don’t think I have to pay cash for the commission, I want the books.”

He pointed to the pile of old books placed with the old clothes:

"These old books are very interesting. Why don't you give them to me to offset part of the commission fee? Of course, Mrs. Flamel, if you are worried that I will not be able to give you the correct price during the valuation, you can also find someone to evaluate these books. Used Book Valuation.”

"No, detective, I trust you, please take whatever you want."

The lawyer just now said that those old books were worthless, so the middle-aged woman did not doubt Shade's behavior.

He reached out and pulled the box containing old books in front of him, and then found those old books and diaries and piled them together. Mrs. Flamel didn't pay attention to those notebooks. Perhaps in the eyes of this illiterate woman, notebooks and books were the same thing.

"There are 7 books in total, most of them are adventure novels, and there are also a few logbooks and diaries. What's the estimate? One shilling each?"

Although Mrs. Le Maire has never bought a book, she also knows that the price is not very high, but it is definitely not low. The middle-aged woman probably took this as Shade taking care of her, and said rather embarrassedly:

"No problem, Detective."

So Shade got the diaries containing the crew's secrets and received a reward of more than 4 pounds. In return, he told the middle-aged woman the address of Old John's pawn shop. There were many things in the inheritance that were difficult to find suitable uses for, and Old John happened to like this kind of messy stuff, so it was just right to sell it to him.

He bought the late magician's diary for seven shillings. This was considered an advantage for Shade. So before leaving, he reminded Mrs. Flamel that after suddenly getting so much money, the family had better move to a safe place. Some places:

"Many of your neighbors have seen me and Lawyer Laurel come to your door today. You'd better make up a reasonable reason why we are here. How about the death of your missing husband?"

Shade suggested, and the dull woman didn't know how to answer.

"In short, take this money and please move out of this place as soon as possible. The most important thing is, don't let anyone know that you got this money, preferably not even the children."

In fact, if Mrs. Le Maire can survive with two children, she should know these basic things. Although Xade knew that he was talking too much, he always felt uncomfortable if he didn't speak out.

"In addition, you also know my address. If you need any help in the future, you can go to me at any time. I have discounts for old customers. Recently, my detective agency has expanded a lot of business. I wish you a happy life. .”

This time he took advantage of the other party. If Mrs. Le Maire really needed help with other things, he would definitely not be stingy with his time.

After leaving the attic and coming downstairs, he said goodbye to the middle-aged woman who had suddenly become rich. Standing under the building with swear words scrawled on the wall, Shade looked up at the house that had no sunshine all year round because of the surrounding buildings.

With the sudden acquisition of this considerable amount of money, the life of Mrs. Le Maire and her family will definitely change, and the future of the two children will probably also change. But what the future story of this family will be is beyond Shade's imagination.

Maybe half a year, a year or two years later, he would accidentally think of this commission while playing with the cat one day, or he would see the record of this commission while sorting out documents, and then find a way to find the Flamel family. See how their lives are.

But at least now, Shade is more concerned about his own affairs. After finishing this commission, at night, we have to enter the year 3002 again.

The task corresponding to the time key in year 3002 of the Universal Calendar is "helping mortals complete the god-summoning ritual - contacting the old god's radiant transformation door". Although it sounds easier than the key of 1068 "witnessing the old god's last wish", Shade thinks in his heart [Innocent Creator] can actually fulfill the three wishes of children. Only when he sees his "future child" appear, he will let himself come with the mentality of "having fun".

This idea sounds ridiculous, but based on Shade's brief experience with the old god, his guess is probably right.

And this time the mission is to help three witches who are in trouble with their ritual. They are really in trouble. Therefore, even though you will come into contact with the gods at the end of this mission, the difficulty of the mission is no less difficult than the first time.

So far, Shade has obtained information about the old god's "Yahua Gate" from various channels. The age when this old god appeared is unknown. The earliest documents describing the name of the old god come from the Third Age. Similar to the [Innocent Creator], the old god [Yahua Gate] is also a very low-key god. The number of its believers is extremely rare, and there is even no definite evidence to prove that believers form a religious order.

According to the information of the Zhengshen Church, the old god [Yaochangmen] possesses the power of time and space. The most important event related to it is that at the end of the Fourth Era or the early part of the Fifth Era, he appeared in the material world in the form of a saint, preventing the angelic (level 1) relic [Broken Old World Map] from going out of control and causing the material world to go out of control. Land changes. That catastrophe directly led to the formation of the five main continents of the Fifth Era and had an impact on the civilization of an entire era.

Because Miss Feliana tried the god-summoning ritual in the Fifth Era, Shade originally thought that the college library would have more information about this god, and there would even be records of related events left by Miss Feliana, but Miss Denister gave Shade no more information than the church.

Even if Miss Feliana's affairs are regarded as confidential by the academy and cannot be leaked at will, it is not right that the information about the old god [Yahua Gate] is so scarce. There is no need for the academy to hide things about this god. The current situation is as if Miss Feliana's call to the gods never happened, so St. Byrons has no information.

Xia De couldn't help but feel worried. There might be other accidents in 3002.

However, the information Luvia found from the Prophet's Association was unexpected. Unlike the five righteous churches and the three major thaumaturgy academies that only appeared in the fifth era, the Prophet's Association and the Blood Spirit School have experienced the same Ancient organizations across the ages.

Some of the books on Miss Feliana's list were found in the association. Luvia even found an old book about the "space" god in the Tobesk branch's database.

But that book is confidential and cannot be taken out of the library. So Luvia could only copy what Shade needed. The information is not long, only half a page. It roughly explains the role that the Holy Emblem of the Old God [Year Transformation Door] can play in occult rituals, and explains that this god not only has power in time and space, he There is power even in nature.

Although the scope of a god's priesthood does not indicate whether it is powerful or not, from the information in hand, it can be seen that the ritual of contacting the old god [Yaochang Gate] will definitely not be simple.

After leaving Mrs. Flamel's house, Shade spent the rest of the day sorting out these materials. But after dinner in the evening, an unexpected guest came to visit.

That was Captain Rades, and it was the first time Shade had seen the captain again after the investiture ceremony two weeks ago. He has now received a notice from the Royal Army of Delrayon, confirming that he will return to the windy trail on the front line at the end of August or September.

The captain came this time not only to invite Shade to find time to go out for a drink before he left, but also to inform Shade that he had now moved to another place.

The honor washed away the shame. With the help of his friends, Captain Rades, who had the rank of lieutenant, rented a nice apartment in the West District of Tobesk and prepared to spend the remaining summer in Tobesk there.

"Human destiny is really unpredictable. My ups and downs this year have been more complicated than in the first half of my life. Detective Hamilton, sometimes I wonder how fate treats mortals like us."

"Captain, are you thinking about philosophy?"

Shade asked with a smile. Different from the first time he met the captain in the club, Captain Rades's mental outlook has changed greatly now. He has completely emerged from the title of "Captain Eight Guns" and is about to face a new life.

"No, this should be considered theology."

Captain Rades shook his head:

"Detective, do you want to play Rhodes? No betting, just a few games. I know you are a good Rhodes player."

"Not tonight."

Shade shook his head regretfully:

"I have to go out in a while, and there is an important commission to be carried out tonight. The client is a great man who deserves respect. Captain, let's play cards together next time we have a chance."

"Well, in that case I'll take my leave. Oh, do you know what happened last week? Later, even the Police Commissioner of Ridwich Field was broken into the house and killed. The curfew was over, but at the end of the night It's better not to wander around the city. If your client's identity is really unusual, just pretend that I didn't say anything. I heard about Miss Carina."

He kept his mouth shut and didn't dare to say more, presumably because he had heard the rumors.

Shade went downstairs to say goodbye to the captain and watched the captain leave Saint Teresa Square on foot. While holding the door, he was thinking that among the ordinary people he had met so far who had come into contact with the relics, either Professor Manning and Captain Rades had their lives greatly affected, or they were people like the little girl's family and the group who came into contact with the mermaid statue. Everyone faces life-threatening risks.

This world is really unfriendly to ordinary people, especially ordinary people who are unlucky.

"When I first came to this world, I was able to meet Dr. Schneider immediately. This should not be the doctor's luck, but my luck."

After sighing and adjusting his mood, he closed the door and returned to the study, where he once again sorted through the information he had found about the old gods. After 11 o'clock in the evening, I played with Mia for a while, and planned to give the cat a bath when I had time.

The past time was very dangerous, so I won’t take Mia with me this time. After the clock struck midnight, Shade stood in front of the bedroom door carrying a suitcase containing documents, and inserted the damaged key into the keyhole:

"May the World Tree protect me in infinite time."

There was a click, the keyhole turned, and Shala opened the door. The familiar white mist floated out from behind the door like silk. Shade stretched out his hand to catch it, but the white mist was not a physical substance that could be caught:

"Mia, wait for me three seconds."

The cat, who was familiar with Shade walking into this kind of door from time to time, was no longer curious about the current situation. Lying on the sofa, he meowed lazily in response, resting his head on his two little paws and squinting his eyes as if he was dozing off.

But in fact, the cat can still see Shade. It watches Shade walk through the door, and then obediently waits for his return.