Whispering Verse

The elf girl Amelia does not intend to stay in Randall Valley for a long time tonight:

"Tonight it's my turn to sort out the chocobo feed. If I sneak out and don't go back as soon as possible, I'm afraid I won't be able to return to the dormitory until early in the morning. Then Aunt Susan from the sixth ring in the dormitory will scold me tomorrow morning. of.……"

With a worried expression on her beautiful face, she copied ancient Elvish poetry, and Shade and Luvia watched her ride away on a unicorn. The cold wind of winter night passed through the trees, the soft white figure gradually disappeared, and Luvia's whisper sounded:

"I have contacted the local correspondence group and learned from them that this elf lady began to appear three years ago, appearing once a month on average. I checked the local records and found that nothing major happened here three years ago. She It must be that a passage that existed from long ago was discovered."

"Give yourself a holiday once a month?"

Shade murmured, thinking about the impact that having a "passage" that could go to St. Byrons at any time would have on him. Unconsciously, he actually missed those who still missed him in the fifth era. Ladies.

Starting from this Tuesday, the next few days will be a little leisurely. Miss Benanis's followers went to investigate the whereabouts of the three auction items. Luvia, who had obtained clues to the Word of Ascension, was busy planning her own plan to obtain spiritual runes, and Miss Lassus was even more busy trying to find her father again. Such a path that Shade often lost sight of her at the Wilde Opera House.

Of course, Xia De was not completely free during this period. He was invited by Queen Diana in Tobesk to attend a wedding ceremony of the duke's daughter on Wednesday night. Because Miss Carina and Shade have almost established their relationship, the Queen hopes to strengthen her relationship with the increasingly independent Duchess Carina by wooing Shade.

There was another small episode at the banquet on Wednesday night. At that time, Shade was holding a wine glass and talking about his detective story with Queen Diana, three princesses including Lesia, and two ladies he didn't know.

Queen Diana put down the glass of orange juice, suddenly smiled and said to several people:

"Speaking of which, there is something good that I can tell you in private. I bet you won't think of it...some of us are giving birth to new lives."

"Um?"

Shade subconsciously wanted to see Lesiya, while Lesiya recalled in a panic whether it was his own or Dorothy's. Of course, no matter whose it is, she will be responsible for Shade.

But then Queen Diana pointed to herself and said with a smile: "The next generation of the royal family will have new heirs."

"That's great."

Agelina and their younger sister Alice Cavendish said together, and others also sent their own blessings. Shade secretly praised His Majesty the King's health in his heart. The Cavendish royal family had one more person in its already huge population. "Fire Jumper" Larus III is definitely the king who gave birth to the largest number of descendants in this century's recorded history.

[Two, they are twins, two boys. 】

"Huh? You can even see this?"

On Thursday, Shade finally had time to visit the local Masons in Randall Valley. Although it was no longer necessary to determine who the stone statue in the church was, he still wanted to investigate the rumors about the "moving sculpture" of the Masons.

Since he was not in a hurry about this matter, after breakfast, Shade lingered at home for a while, expecting a possible client to come to his door. It was after ten o'clock that he went to the distant city alone. When he arrived at the Masons' Association, it was already eleven o'clock in the morning.

The full name of the association is "Randall Valley Stonemasons Guild". Its location is not in the urban area of ​​Randall Valley City, but in the slightly remote northeast of the city. Two blocks away from the association, there are train tracks connected to the quarries in the mountains, making it easy for stonemasons to go to the quarries at any time, or to transport suitable stone.

To the northeast of the city is the old town of Randall Valley, where the buildings are quite old and the alleys and streets are quite narrow. If the western urban area of ​​​​Randall Valley is more like a booming city in the steam age,

city, then the time in the old town is still stuck in the infancy of the steam age.

And this old city style exists whether in Coldwater Port, Fort Midhill or even the city of Tobesk. This is the memory of the city.

We got off the carriage at the entrance of the narrow street and looked at the tall, ancient stone buildings on both sides. Because the old city is closer to the factories and mining areas that emit waste gas outside the city, the fog is particularly thick. In addition, the streets are narrow and the buildings on both sides block the sunlight. Walking on the streets feels like entering a dark world of fog during the day.

The street where the Masons' Guild is located is called "Mason Street" and is one of the oldest streets in the Randall Valley. Most of the merchants on the entire street are engaged in business related to the sale and purchase of sculptures and stones. There can be seen everywhere on both sides of the street. The stone sculptures that were released looked a bit scary in the thick fog that made the vision unclear.

But it is not deserted at all. Businessmen from all over the Old World gather here to purchase works carved by local stonemasons. The "City of Stonemasons" got its name from this street. In the old days of the Sixth Age before the steam age, this street was the center of the Randall Valley.

At this time, everything came to an end.

Because of the "Prince's Attack" that happened last week, when Shade came to the Masons' Guild, he saw several local police officers, led by a detective with a star on his shoulder, taking notes at the front desk of the Masons' Guild. What are you wearing?

Of course, this did not affect the normal business of the Stonemasons Association, and people were still coming and going inside the association.

To be more precise, the Randall Valley Masons Association itself is just a trade association composed of local masons, and their rights are jointly granted by the masons. The main functions of the association include but are not limited to coordinating conflicts in the industry, acting as businessmen to introduce business to businessmen from out of town, unifying the price of stone in the city, and representing the stonemasons of the entire Randall Valley in attending certain important occasions. Of course, when a large business requires the use of a large number of craftsmen, coordination by the Masons' Association is also required, such as the Angevin royal family's business decades ago.

Shade came today still using the pseudonym of John Watson, nominally to select a batch of stone statues to give as gifts to friends in Willondale City. The amount that Shade proposed was not large, so the association did not send a special receptionist or manager to receive him. Shade could take a walk inside the association, check out the works of different masons collected here, and then choose the craftsman he likes and place an order directly.

The weather was really bad today. When Shade entered the association, it was still very foggy outside. After he confirmed the inspection area, it was completely dark outside even though it was still morning. The gloomy sky was now filled with snowflakes. Considering that it is already a starless moon, this is most likely the last heavy snowfall of this winter.

The Stonemasons Association is divided into four floors. The entire left half of the hall on the first floor displays stone sculptures, and some even look like a stone statue museum. When Shade walked in, he saw that it was completely dark outside the window between the red velvet curtains, and snowflakes as big as goose feathers were falling. There are also many people who come here to look at the goods, including ordinary people like Xia De who are casually looking at the goods, as well as well-dressed wealthy businessmen or noble housekeepers picking goods under the leadership of the receptionist.

Shade didn't have a specific goal, so he wandered around casually after entering the hall. He even thought that if he saw the statue he liked, he could buy it and give it to Princess Agelina as a birthday gift at the weekend.

Various stone statues are densely placed in the hall, some are busts with bases, and some are full-length statues in one-to-one ratio. He even saw a young man setting up an easel in front of the stone statue to sketch. Later he heard that this was a project that was only allowed after paying a fee.

Businessmen were crowding around, and Xia De simply walked around and found no obvious traces of elements here, so he had the time to observe the stone carvings carefully. But soon, his attention was attracted by the row of oil paintings hanging on the wall. The oil paintings hanging in the stone carving hall, except for the portraits of the founders of the Stonemasons Association at the door, are all heavy-color oil paintings depicting stone statues, and most of them are human statues.

These oil paintings are quite large, almost the height of an adult. What surprised Schade most is that most of the figures in these oil paintings do not contain clothing. In other words, most oil paintings fall into the category of human body/art.

"Long time no see, Mr. Watson. I heard about the card game between you and Mr. Oxenfurt. I knew when I was in the Prophet's Association that the person who could defeat me must be extraordinary."

Xia De was looking up to admire the oil painting when he suddenly heard a voice coming from behind him. Turning around, he saw that the playwright Mr. Antonio had already walked to his side. This gentleman was met by Shade when he was playing cards in the local Prophet Association. At that time, he lost to Shade with a sun 1 [Story of the Woods·Silver White Snow Wolf].

"Oh, it's Mr. Antonio, are you here to buy a stone statue too?"

"No, no, I'm just looking for inspiration, for a new opera libretto."

The writer, who was wearing a brown leather jacket and dressed quite fashionably, said, and Shade also introduced his purpose. Then, the two of them looked up at the stone oil painting on the wall where a woman opened her arms as if to hug someone outside the painting.

"Are you curious why this kind of statue is only found in oil paintings? The statues on display are all well-dressed?"

Mr. Antonio asked with a smile, explaining for the outsider "John Watson":

"On the one hand, it's because the city hall said that this kind of display is indecent... The regulations came into being after the conflict between the Masons' Association and the royal family. Oh, the conflict between the local masons and the royal family is

"I know, I heard about it."

"That's easy to explain. On the other hand, it's also because the association found that stone statues without clothes are more likely to be stolen and more likely to be damaged during display. Although the items on display here are all worthless items for sale, they are frequently Replacing them would be very troublesome. Later, I simply displayed the stone statues with most of them in the form of oil paintings. "

As he spoke, he lowered his voice and added:

"Mr. Watson, you are a foreigner and it is difficult to find opportunities. If you are interested in this kind of vulgar, I mean this unique style of stone carving, I know craftsmen who specialize in making this type of stone carving."

——

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