Whispering Verse

It wasn't until he kissed Lesia goodbye in the box of the opera house that day that Shade remembered to give her Margaret's letter. He did not open the letter and read it, but Lesia opened the letter in front of him. After reading it, she smiled and burned the letter with the flame from her fingertips.

She didn't tell Shade what kind of business the princess of the Southern Kingdom invited her to do, but judging from her expression at the moment, the scale of the business must be quite large.

In the tradition of this era, the first month of each year is called the "Newborn Month", and with the end of the first day of the Newborn Month, it means that the New Year's Eve has officially ended and life will get back on track again. , no matter who they are, they must continue to face the hardships and challenges of life in a new year.

The first day of the newborn moon is Wednesday, and Shade's time key of 903 was used late at night on the previous Wednesday, a few minutes before midnight. But although he now has a time key given by Mr. Edmund of Coldwater Port, Shade did not use it on this Wednesday night due to the punishment of the tree father.

He also planned to let himself rest for a while until he found a way to the Randall River Valley before continuing on a new adventure.

So the time came to the second day of the newborn month, which was Thursday.

After waking up early in the morning, Shade went to the city to deal with the chores in his hands for a new month. After paying the advertising fee, gas fee, and steam fee, he went to the local tax department to check the estate tax issues on the house and real estate at No. 6 Saint Teresa Square.

At noon, I had lunch with little Mia, and then went to Dawn Church. After chatting with Priest August for a few times, Shade went to see Bishop Owen. After sending New Year blessings, he and Bishop Owen discussed the topic of His Majesty the King's year-end speech in the side hall.

After he left the confines of Dawn Square, Priest Augustus hurriedly caught up from behind and handed Shade a suitcase:

"I'll be waiting for you at the door of the church at eleven o'clock tonight."

The priest spoke to him in a low voice, then turned and returned to the church. Shade continued to walk toward the intersection among the crowd. He naturally knew what was in the suitcase in his hand.

The clock tower in Tobesk City is the tallest building in the entire Pearl of the North. It is located in the east of the central area of ​​Tobesk, adjacent to the east of the city where rich people gather. It is not particularly close to Saint Teresa Square, but every day The bell tower can still be heard.

The bell tower is erected on the west side of the famous "Champ de Mars" in Tobesk, with the Terrareal River winding behind it. At the bottom of the tower is the Birmingham Museum. In fact, Birmingham Museum, as a semi-official city museum, is also responsible for the maintenance and management of the lighthouse. The building and land of the lighthouse were also owned by the museum more than ten years ago, and the first floor has basically been turned into an exhibition hall.

That evening, the old tower keeper who was responsible for today's duty walked through the small door on the back wall of the museum and entered the first floor of the lighthouse. After turning on the gas lamp on the wall, I glanced at the closed glass display cabinets, and wanted to go up the winding stairs to conduct the last lighthouse inspection of the day, and planned to check today's lighthouse before going to bed. The work diary is finished.

In the new year, the work diary has also been replaced with a brand new book. According to the wisdom of the elderly, if the first two entries of the new diary are not recorded carefully, there is a high probability that the following contents will also be recorded carelessly:

“Today’s young people always don’t know the benefits of complete records.”

However, he had only walked up two steps when he unexpectedly heard the sound of the lighthouse door being opened. He turned around in surprise and saw that after opening the door, large red roses blew into the room like snowflakes with the evening breeze, and then he completely lost consciousness.

"Raglai's jump!"

Shade, who was holding a suitcase at the door, took a step forward and came to the old man's side to support him to prevent him from being injured due to falling. The doctor who followed behind him changed his shoe covers and gloves after closing the door, and then walked over with a suitcase as well:

"Although I have lived in Tobesk all my life, I have never been here."

The doctor patted the snowflakes on his shoulder and looked at the surrounding environment as he spoke:

"This tower is bigger than I thought. This exhibition hall is really nice, but it's a pity that it's not free to enter."

"According to the information I got from my noble friends, nobles and professors from Tobesk University District can enter for free. Knights are also included."

Shade said with a smile, and carefully placed the old man on duty against the wall, not forgetting to put a blanket over him to prevent him from catching a cold.

"Speaking of which, I still have something to do with this museum. My uncle, Detective Sparrow Hamilton, said before he died that if I am desperate in the future, I can take the [Original Silver Moon] here and sell it. Let's go ,doctor."

He waved to the doctor, and the two of them walked up the winding stairs carrying kerosene lamps. Their goal was the top floor, and the lighthouse only had gas pipes installed on the bottom floor. They needed lighting to climb the tower, and it would take them a long time to walk.

"How are you preparing for tomorrow's exam?"

The doctor walked behind Shade and asked casually. The two of them were talking on the road just now about whether the economic data in the King's Speech at the end of the year was true.

Shade nodded:

"I have memorized almost everything I should have memorized. The college allowed me to postpone the submission of the potions and alchemy items required for the assessment course for a week, but the papers have been written."

“What about the gap in practical credits?”

"This is no problem. Miss Danister, the librarian, promised to help me find a solution. I recently completed a very important academy bounty from her. What about you, doctor, how is "Aether Mechanics"?"

When this topic was mentioned, the doctor couldn't help but sigh:

"Try your luck. This is not a subject that can be passed by memorizing it alone. The basic theory of spirituality has always required talent to learn. Fortunately, I just want to pass the exam and obtain the qualifications for the elective course, not really Want to study this.”

He couldn't help but sigh:

"Knowledge is so fascinating and so distressing."

The doctor's words made Xia De very emotional, and the doctor's next words were even more shocking:

"Detective, have you heard anything about Sir Lykins Priscilla? You didn't come to the meeting on Saturday, and Anat said she would tell you."

"Academic espionage thing?"

The two climbed the steps one after another, the light of the kerosene lamp in their hands flickering with their steps. Every once in a while, you will see a small window on the wall. From the small window, you can see the lights of Tobesk City in the late winter below. And every new window makes the city look smaller.

In today's steam age, even though gas lights are not affordable for every household, the look of the city at night is still very different from what it was a few hundred years ago. When a foreigner passes by the window, he remembers the scenery every time. He knows that it represents civilization.

"Yes, academic espionage, tsk tsk, this is the biggest scandal involving correspondence-taught ring magicians in the three major colleges in the past few decades."

The doctor shook his head as he spoke:

"Although it is a matter of the Serkses Higher Medical School, after all, the other party is a correspondence course like us. The school hasn't said anything yet, but I heard from an acquaintance that the three major colleges will teach in correspondence courses next year, oh, this year. , we will conduct a more careful identity screening of existing correspondence training magicians this year.”

He and Shade sighed together. The doctor was thinking that this would affect many people, while Shade was thinking that all five people in their team actually had problems.

"Speaking of which, didn't you ask me to investigate Lykins Priscia?"

The doctor continued the previous topic, and the two of them climbed the tower very quickly. In fact, the lighthouse has a lift, but in order to prevent too much noise, they did not use it:

"I still remember that man's desire, his crazy thirst for knowledge."

He hummed twice:

"Although I didn't think it was a big problem at the time, it seems now that this thirst for knowledge is the reason why he fell into madness."

"The college said that this academic spy is crazy, right?"

Shade took the opportunity to ask. The doctor nodded behind Shade. They happened to pass another window, and the doctor looked at the moon outside the window. The snow continues to fall and never stops, but tonight the snow is very light, so you can see the stars:

"According to the information I received, he came into contact with some forbidden knowledge in the city of Huntingdon in the United Kingdom of Carsonlik. He was then hunted down by the church and fled into the Pantanal Swamp area, causing a big melee. . It is said that the strange bell ringing in the early hours of last Thursday was related to this."

The doctor was speechless:

"It's hard to imagine what kind of war can make the ring warlocks in the entire material world and ordinary people with high inspiration hear the sound of the bell in reality and in their sleep."

Shade knew what was going on, but in order for the doctor to continue his peaceful life, he could not tell it at this time.

"Crazy for knowledge."

Speaking of this, Xia De was also very sad:

"Actually, I once talked about this topic with that knight. He is the kind of person who is very scholar-like and has very high artistic attainments. It's just that he doesn't know how to be in awe."

"I've seen a lot of people like this."

The doctor said as he and Shade walked through the last staircase and entered the top of the bell tower.

The moonlight shone in from the small window, and the light from the kerosene lamps in their hands was equally weak, making the atmosphere here resemble the scene of a third-rate horror novel. The top floor of the clock tower is not small, but only a quarter of it can be moved around. Most of the area blocked by the black iron-colored metal fence is the mechanical part of the clock that occupies the main structure of the clock tower.

Huge gears, shafts and chains were rattling behind the fence at the top of the dark bell tower. They use the steam engine located in the basement of the clock tower as their power source to bring accurate time reporting to the city. Everything changes, except time.