Whispering Verse

Time came to Wednesday, and the renovation of No. 6 Saint Teresa Square was still in progress. Shade went to the third floor to take a look in the morning. According to the current progress, most of the work should be completed this week.

Although after the repairs are completed, we still have to wait for the drying of the cement, the trial of the gas pipes and steam pipes, and the verification by the City Hall Housing Maintenance Center before the third floor can be completely brought into use. But the joy that something he had been waiting for for so long was about to be completed still put Shade in a good mood.

Today I'm going to Coldwater Harbor for a short trip with the Witch. So Shade went to Dorothy after breakfast and asked her to take care of the cat temporarily.

But unfortunately, Dorothy went out early today. Her "Hamilton Detective Stories" has been running for two weeks and has received an unexpected amount of attention. The landlady said that Dorothy went to the "Steam Bird Daily" newspaper office to discuss the next serialization plan with the editor, and she was afraid that she would not come back before noon.

Shade had other options besides Dorothy. He thought carefully and finally did not ask other friends for help.

It was difficult for Mia to get close to strangers, and it took a long time for Mia to get used to the familiarity with Dorothy. Therefore, instead of letting the cat stay with others for a day, Shade thought it would be better to take the cat to Coldwater Port, and then entrust the cat to Miss Aurora's maid to take care of it when it was time to go on an adventure.

In this way, Shade showed up at the Aurora Manor on time at 8:30 in the morning. After a hurried bath, he was immediately pulled into the carriage by Miss Aurora, and the carriage went straight to the Coldwater Port Railway Station.

Of course, when Miss Aurora travels, she won't just carry her suitcase and leave. She bought a ticket in advance for the VIP carriage, which is a separate box. In addition to Shade, she was followed by three personal maids and a dozen ordinary servants responsible for carrying luggage.

The three maids are all ring sorcerers, and all have the same level of fifth ring. They didn't look very old, only about two or three years older than Shade's physical age.

"Why are there always so many sorceresses who are young but of high level around witches? It is difficult even for the Zhengshen Church to find so many young middle-level sorcerers."

During the free time during the journey, Shade asked Miss Aurora for advice.

The train wheels rolled over the rails, making a regular clicking sound. Train travel is relatively comfortable due to the installation of mechanical shock absorbers in first class carriages.

The witch was sitting at the desk in the private room holding a book, while Shade was sitting on the sofa. This entire carriage is a box, arranged like a living room, and even has a decorative fireplace. It is not a carriage divided into five or six spaces as Shade imagined.

In this era, the quality of life of wealthy people is beyond the imagination of outsiders.

"It's simple, they all have the power of witches."

The witch with long curly brown hair said, calling the girl with short hair and shawl who was bending over to pour tea in front of her:

"This is Jisi. I found her from the orphanage when she was nine years old."

It is worth mentioning that although Miss Aurora is wearing a long ruffled skirt, her current posture is very unladylike with her legs crossed and a book covering her right knee with one hand.

She waved the maid down, then touched her face with her hand.

"Originally, I wanted to train her to be a secretary who would help me handle paperwork when I grew up. Unexpectedly, she awakened her talent when she was seventeen years old. Jisi is 24 years old this year. It took her seven years to become a secretary with the help of the witch's power. Five rings, although this speed is faster than a normal ring warlock, it is already very slow compared to you."

As she spoke, her right hand moved from the side of the maid, caressing her cheek, and slid down to her chin. Then, the witch's slender fingers lifted the maid's chin, causing the latter's blushing face to slowly come closer to her.

Shade consciously covered Mia's eyes with his hands as he squatted on the sofa cushions.

Miss Aurora did not do anything more extreme. She just kissed her personal maid gently and let the maid continue to work. Seeing Xia De looking embarrassed, she chuckled and said:

"Don't act like you've never seen the world, Shade. Speaking of which, you haven't had close contact with any girls yet, have you?"

Seeing that Xia De was unwilling to answer, he continued to laugh;

"Isn't it possible that the aesthetics of girls living in the Pearl of the North are different from those in coastal areas? This is interesting, or maybe Carina helped you stop those suitors."

"I don't think so. In fact, I rarely appear in public."

"Rejed's Hamilton Knight told me that he is a very low-key person."

The witch smiled and shook her head:

"Just wait and see, Shade, sooner or later the love letters you receive will fill your mailbox. But I am curious about what Carina will think of your relationship with her."

"Partner."

"Is that what you think?"

Miss Sylvie Aurora picked up the tea cup and made a gesture of clinking the cups to Shade:

"Then good luck to you, Mr. Detective."

Klein City is located to the east of Cold Water Port. Like most cities in the Old World, this city progressed with the rise of the steam age, but it was unable to absorb more of the dividends of this era like Torbesk and Cold Water Port. .

Hekils Town is a small town in the south of Klein City. Most of the town is located in mountainous terrain. However, because this is the last pass from the open plains in the north to the rugged basin in the middle of the west coast of the Old World, even it is only a town. There is a train station.

This can also be regarded as the transportation artery in the eastern part of Coldwater Port, but most of the people staying here are scattered tourists, and the north-south transfer of goods mostly uses sea transportation, so the status of the transportation artery does not bring more trade opportunities to the town.

The history of Hekils is completely unknown, but it is a town that offers a glimpse into both the past and the present. When Shade followed Miss Aurora out of the station, he first lamented the depression of the rural town, and then realized that compared to most small towns in the Kingdom of Delarion, this place was already prosperous.

The entire town consists of eight streets, three vertical and five horizontal. The center of the city is not the Hekils Town Sheriff's Office in the center, but the town train station in the west of the city. Around the train station, hotels, shops, restaurants, and pubs are lined up in sequence. At least in the two streets surrounding the train station, you can still feel a little bit of the atmosphere of a big city.

Miss Aurora brought Shade here, of course, not for tourism. She had booked a room early at the "Honest Man Hotel", the largest hotel in the town. After a short rest, a personal maid and other servants responsible for carrying luggage were guarding the luggage at the hotel and preparing to pick it up. Shade took the cat and set off with the other two maids and Miss Aurora.

Because we had lunch specially provided in the first-class carriage of the train, we no longer had to miss the food in the small town. The witch is quite well prepared and all action plans have been drawn up. The first step is to visit the old lady Ilar who lives in Hekils Town.

An old woman who lives alone in a house on the edge of town. There are no single-family apartments in the town that are common in cities. The house where old Mrs. Ilar lives seems to be a relic from before the steam age, standing on one side of the street.

A rugged dirt road extends to the front of the house, and a crooked wooden fence is used to delineate the house. The old man opened two vegetable plots in the yard in front of the house. Outsiders could not tell what the green vegetables were, but the cat he put on his shoulder was very interested in those plants.

Probably city cats have not only never seen the sea, but also never seen a vegetable patch.

Steam pipes and gas pipes are not buried underground and enter the house directly against the ground. After pushing open the fence door outside the yard, which seemed to be knocked down with one kick, and avoiding the chickens running around in the yard, the four people arrived at the door.

Mia was more active now. She was never afraid of creatures slightly larger than herself, so she had the idea of ​​jumping off her shoulders to compete with those chickens.

While Shade held down the cat and looked at the chicken coop and vegetable patch in the yard, the maid had already started knocking on the door.

"How does it feel here?"

The witch asked Shade with great interest:

"I heard Carina tell you about your origin. You probably won't have any memories of this kind of place."

“Yeah, I feel like although it’s interesting at first glance, I’d rather live in the city.”

Shade's answer was quite honest.

Someone soon opened the door, probably because she had made an appointment, so when the old woman with a stooped back, a headscarf, and a cane saw four people and a cat outside the door, she was not surprised. .

Old Mrs. Ilar is the oldest person Shade has ever seen in this world, at least the oldest person in appearance. She was having trouble walking, but she seemed to be in good spirits.

What surprised Shade the most was that the opponent turned out to be a ring warlock. But the level is very low. According to the reminder of the whispering voice in the ear, the opponent is either a first-level or a second-level, and it is impossible to be higher than Shade.

There was a strange smell inside the house that was unique to an old man living alone, as if everything here was about to decay. The decoration style is old, and the wallpaper used to cover the cracks in the walls has long turned yellow. As for the old furniture, probably only Old John's Pawn Shop or the junkyard would be willing to recycle it. When Shade sat down on the sofa, he even clearly heard the sofa making a terrible squeaking sound.

Considering that his weight is very standard, this can only mean that the sofa, like old Mrs. Ilar, will reach the end of its life.

The two parties sat down, and the maids went to the kitchen to get some tea. The witch finally introduced the identity of the old woman in front of Shade to Shade:

"This is a believer of the old god [Earth-Shaking Worm] and the current high priest of the cult."

"Don't mention the high priest. I am currently the only member of the cult."

The old man waved his hand sheepishly. Her eyes were bright, and when she smiled, she looked very kind and kind.