Whispering Verse

"I haven't gotten the "Secret of Agelessness" yet, but I've seen what you said."

In a separate lounge on the first floor of the Rothschild Manor, the young witch was dressed up but did not intend to attend the banquet. After Shade entered the room, her first sentence went straight to the point.

The room is quite spacious, and the sofa set is placed near the window. Outside the window was the thick darkness of the manor, and the light from the floor-standing gas lamps in the courtyard seemed so weak.

Miss Sylvia's silhouette is reflected on the glass. The young witch is still wearing a long black dress with dark purple lace trim. She wears a large, exaggerated wide-brimmed hat on her head. Decorate with a circle of petals.

She had light makeup on her face, and her lips were covered in lipstick of a color that Shade couldn't tell. After Shade sat down, he could clearly smell the "witch's scent" perfume.

"Don't look at me strangely. Although I don't plan to go to the banquet, since I'm here, I can't dress casually."

Miss Sylvia explained.

"Confirm that there are indeed fragments of poems in "The Secret of Agelessness"?"

Shade did not make any additional greetings, but asked straightforwardly. Looking at his appearance, the witch knew that this was definitely not the first time he had been exposed to these things. Based on the information about a large number of selected candidates that Carina Cavendish had obtained from unknown sources this year, Miss Sylvia felt that she had probably guessed the source of Carina’s intelligence:

"Yes."

The witch nodded slightly and frowned. But this does not affect the beauty of the witch. Her age is the youngest among all the great witches of the Sixth Age that Shade has seen. Girls of this age are already in the most beautiful period of their lives. In addition, The witch’s charisma, any expression she makes is beautiful:

"This information was provided by you. As agreed, I will inform you of the relevant content. I will talk to the parliament later. The content in the page number you provided does not seem to be special, but through a special method, according to the parliament After alphabetical decoding and sorting of the seats, some interesting information emerged.”

She even helped Shade avoid the decryption process:

"There are two sentences in total. The first sentence - the heir of the wise man must solve the riddle of wisdom."

"Wise Man? Does this refer to the ancient god [Secret Master], the ancient god of wisdom and knowledge?"

Shade asked, the name of this ancient god was something he heard from the old god [Grey Robe Sage] at the end of the Gaddis Library. The [Impermanence of Everything·Knowledge] corresponding to this ancient god is in the hands of the Prophet Association.

"Yes, the fragments of poems recorded in "The Secret of Agelessness" most likely point to the chosen one with wisdom and knowledge."

Miss Sylvia nodded slightly and looked at Shade in surprise:

"You know a lot. I always thought that the duchess was helping you. Now that I think about it, the actual situation is not the case. In fact, you have been helping Duke Carina, right?"

"We're always helping each other... What's the second sentence?"

"The second sentence - when fate comes, the secret keeper who holds the puzzle will wait for the arrival of the chosen one. Those are five tests."

The witch continued, then looked at Shade:

"What do you think this means?"

Shade thought:

"The gods of wisdom and knowledge test the chosen ones in the form of puzzles. This is not absurd. But it sounds like the ritual of the chosen ones is related to solving five puzzles? Moreover, the puzzles are called 'Keepers of Secrets' 'Hold. I'm not sure if 'Secret Keeper' refers to a real individual, or if it refers to something else."

Miss Sylvia also nodded:

"Yes, there are only two sentences, which sounds a bit obscure. But at least now it is very clear that this is information related to the chosen one of knowledge. Judging from what has happened in the past six months, when the chosen one appears, it corresponds to him Or she or the fragments of her poems will most likely be discovered. So after death, the next one is wisdom and knowledge."

The witch sighed:

"Knowledge is power, and wisdom is the most precious wealth. This chosen one should be quite amazing."

Then the topic changed and he looked at Shade with his beautiful eyes:

"Mr. Hamilton, I was able to find this thanks to the information you provided. I have contributed to Parliament, and I will not forget to repay you. What do you need?"

Miss Sylvia is different from Miss Carina. The relationship between the former and Shade has not yet reached the level of free help. Shade also understands this very well:

"I don't need anything at the moment. Let's wait until you arrive in Tobesk."

The big witch nodded, as if relieved, and smiled again:

"How was the banquet? Are you still used to the noble banquets in Kasenrik? I hope you are satisfied with the reception here."

"Madam, I have no requirements for the banquet. In Tobesk, I am only the lowest noble."

"But I heard from Miss Carina that you have a lot of connections with the Delarian royal family, and you even have a salary from the Delarian Royal Army."

Having said this, Shade laughed:

"I'm probably a salary thief. Although I take part of the salary provided by taxpayers, I don't actually do anything."

But if you think about it carefully, Shade's contribution to MI6 is completely worthy of his salary.

"Did Miss Carina provide you with the job?"

Miss Sylvia asked with great interest, and Shade didn't mind chatting with her about these things:

"Yes, now the salary is five pounds a week."

He opened his palms.

"Major-level treatment."

Miss Sylvia nodded, knowing a lot about this:

"That's really good. I serve as the royal family's tutor and personal doctor. After deducting laundry expenses, the salary I get every year is just... converted into gold pounds, about 235 pounds."

This is a very high salary for a tutor, most of which would be the salary of a private doctor. After all, according to Xia De's understanding, women in this era could not make much money as tutors. Dorothy worked as a governess for a few months when she first moved out of her home, but soon gave up because of the time it took to write and the lack of income.

"Actually, I'm curious. What is your main source of income? Oh, I'm sorry, this question may be a bit presumptuous."

Miss Sylvia didn't seem to mind the question:

"The teacher left me a legacy, most of which is real estate and jewelry antiques. The only ones that can have a fixed income are a wool textile steam factory in Willondale and a few spice shops and bookstores in the city center. Of course, Relative to the expenses, the income is not particularly large.”

She half-complained and said to Shade:

"Mathematical research not only requires paper and pen, but also costs money to attend academic conferences and publish articles every year. Not to mention occult research, every space-related research is not cheap. So I have been trying to find ways Some other sources of income, the witches in the council are happy to help me, but..."

She shook her head cautiously. Shade understood very well:

"After all, you still have to rely on yourself."

"Yes."

Miss Sylvia nodded to Shade in surprise, and Shade was also surprised that he would actually discuss income issues with a ten-ring sorceress.

But it’s normal if you think about it carefully. Since you live in a civilized society, you must find a way to get a legal source of income for yourself. Illegal magician organizations will seek to cooperate with nobles, people like Sister Devlin will also worry about taxes and government funding for Snake Heart Hospital, and cultists will try their best to launder their income.

This is a very real world, so outsiders have to worry about the trivial matters of life, and the great witch with ten rings does not have the power to change the rules of society.

Xia De currently has a large sum of money in his hands, and since he has no current spending plans, he plans to invest it. If Miss Sylvia, who is also looking for a source of income, has any good projects in hand, he will be happy to cooperate with the witch.

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

PS: An update will be added on the 15th, and the amount will depend on the situation.