Whispering Verse

Upon hearing the earl's question, Shade immediately denied it:

"No, no, I'm just a writer, not a detective. Besides, even a detective wouldn't be able to discover that kind of ancient cemetery so easily. I want to ask you where the current cemetery of the Granger family comes from. Was it established in the 1990s?"

Such long-established nobles usually have their own family cemeteries, or separate areas are set aside in public cemeteries to house the tombs of family members.

Earl Granger thought for a moment:

"The current family cemetery, together with the Randall Valley Public Cemetery, were both established around 1500 AD and have a history of about three hundred years. The previous family cemetery was because of the famous Randall Valley Cemetery in 1498. Destroyed by a great earthquake.”

Shade also heard about this earthquake when he was investigating local legends. It was the most serious earthquake in the area since there were historical documents. However, due to the local status as the "center of the physical world", it stands to reason that there should not be such earthquakes, so the incident three hundred years ago was very strange.

"We used to have our own family cemetery, and I didn't even know the history of that old cemetery. But the earthquake destroyed everything, yes, everything."

"Isn't even the wreckage left?"

Shade asked, and the earl shook his head regretfully:

"That place is far away from the current city, and I have never been there myself. But my grandfather has been there, and according to him, the place is completely deserted."

As he spoke, the Earl stood up and pointed out to Shade the location of the former Granger family cemetery on the map hanging in the study. It is located in the northeast of the city. Although it does not enter the mountainous area and is on the periphery of the river valley plain, it is far enough away from the city, but fortunately it is not further than the Night Temple, which is actually located in the mountains:

"That land still belongs to our family now, as I recall."

Because there were too many fields, he really couldn't remember clearly, so he called the old housekeeper to inquire, and found out that the forest land was now the family's forest farm, supplying fuel wood every winter. The excess wood would be transported along the waterway through the waterway. It went north on the west coast of the Old World and was sold as far as the Kingdom of Delarion.

"If you're interested, I'll write you a letter and give it to the forest farm guard. He won't mind if you wander around. Listening to what you said, it's possible that my uncle may have left traces there. Of course, if you feel If you are interested, you can also try hunting there. Rabbits are often found in the winter woodlands of the Randall Valley."

The Earl smiled and said that because of the two family crests that Shade sent him, he had a very good attitude towards Shade.

"No problem. If I can find further clues, I will let you know as soon as possible."

Shade assured, but in fact, Mr. Thomas Granger's bones are now lying in a coffin in the Church of the Forgotten. He planned to wait until everything in the Randall Valley was over, then return the bones to the earl so that they could be buried with his family. This could be considered fulfilling his promise:

"In addition, I also want to acquire an antique from you, which will also be helpful to my investigation."

He took out the photo he got from the auction house, which showed the antique metal key.

The count did not remember this antique. After careful recall, he remembered that it was something he bought on a whim. So he didn't negotiate the price with Shade, and directly agreed to Shade's quotation, and asked Shade to follow the butler who held the key to the basement of the manor to get it, while he had to receive the next guest.

Lord Heigl Granger is thirty-nine years old and he is really busy.

The brass antique key collected by Earl Granger, Shade felt that this metal object was absolutely extraordinary when he saw the real thing for the first time.

The length of the key is about the same as Shade's hand, and it is quite thick. It is a key used in very ancient locks. Of course, despite its age, the count's servants seemed to know how to maintain such metal products, so there were only some imperceptible rust marks on the surface of the key.

This is not a special item, nor does it have any elemental effects. On the key, only straight and orthogonal horizontal and vertical lines were used to carve extremely fine lines on the surface.

Shade was pretty sure that there really were only horizontal and vertical lines. For the level of craftsmanship, this is incredible.

There was no evidence, but inspiration reminded Shade that he really got something extraordinary this time. So in excitement, Shade took the key and returned to the Wilde Opera House. However, Miss Benenice and Miss Lassers were not here because they were going to find Mr. Lussers' safe cabin in the cemetery, so Shade I studied alone in the group leader's office on the third floor for a whole afternoon.

Only when the last ray of the dim sunset disappeared from the horizon and the lampposts surrounded by snowdrifts began to twinkle one by one did the two leaders of the Golden Dawn return to the opera house.

When Miss Benenice opened the office door, Shade was at the window, holding the key high and pointing it at the moon.

She smiled and leaned against the door frame and said to Shade:

"The girls I met just now said that you walked into the opera house with a big jump in the afternoon."

"Is it that exaggerated?"

Shade turned around and asked, and then saw Luvia appearing at the door.

"I happened to meet them and came together."

The four of them had dinner together, and after returning to the opera house, Shade mentioned the key.

The key was checked by the three ladies in turn, but just like the statue of Oxenfurt and the vase in the Statue Art Gallery, no abnormalities were found, but Shade was sure that this was the item he was looking for:

"Remember why we thought this key might be related to the Heart of the Earth?"

He asked, and then answered on his own:

"This antique key was discovered in the year 1800 of the Universal Calendar, that is, 54 years ago. It was found in an underground temple in the northeast of Randall Valley."

"Yes, it is similar to the moon worship ruins you found near Oxenfurt Manor and the Night Temple in the mountains. They are both temples of old gods from ancient times. At present, it is not clear who that temple belongs to, but It should also be an old god related to the earth. And this key comes from that temple."

Miss Bernice said, and Luvia also answered:

"The information I searched through the local association shows that the temple may even directly belong to the oldest earth god, the ancient god [Earth Mother Goddess], but there is no evidence to prove this. According to the church's announcement half a century ago It was inspected and confirmed that the temple itself, as well as the many items found inside, are just ordinary items.”

"The church was not the first group of people to discover the underground temple. The skeletons of some thieves were also found in the temple, and some of those skeletons did not even belong to the Sixth Age. This key was found from one of them, so it is not clear Whether it belongs in the temple itself.”

Miss Lassers made a final addition:

"The local Peace Church was in charge of the excavation and inspection work at that time. According to regulations, they kept the items found there for ten years. After confirming that there were no problems, they released the safest items one by one into the ordinary people's market. So It would have been more than ten years before the key would show up at auction and be noticed by my father.”

"But what is it? Shade, what did you find this afternoon?"

Luvia asked, and a smile appeared on Shade's face:

"No matter how much I stimulated it with any spiritual runes, it didn't react at all. I even tried to destroy the key, but I didn't expect it to succeed. However, no matter how damaged it was, it only broke along the surface lines, but could not melt and deform. In other words, the key can only be disassembled and cannot be completely destroyed.”

Luvia patted Shade gently, blaming Shade for consuming his lifespan again.

"But beyond that, I finally realized something was wrong with it, and I was convinced it had something to do with the Heart of the Earth, so along those lines, finding the right power would definitely resonate with it."

"I remember you don't have the Earth Spirit Rune."

Miss Benenice said, Shade nodded:

"But I have this."

He took out the earth runestones he obtained from the [Plague Merchant] that could enhance the "healing aura". The runestones came into contact with the key. At the point of contact, an earthy-colored stream of light flowed along the horizontal and vertical carvings on the surface of the key, as if some power from the runestones had been poured into the key.

In just half a minute, the entire key was completely "lit". When Shade separated the two, the key had quite clear miraculous elements attached to it. Even when he released the key, the luminous metal actually floated directly above his palm.

After a full five minutes, the light disappeared, and the element response on the key also disappeared:

"Look, that's it."

"Why do you always get such weird things? Last winter, I still remember you asked me to come to your house at night to see some flying slates."

Luvia said with a smile, took the key again, and tried divination with the obsidian pendulum she got on the night of the Lake Eldron incident.

Miss Benenice said:

"Now that it has been proven that this key is extraordinary, what is its use?"

"The key is, of course, used to open the lock."

Shade said with certainty:

"There must be a lock locally that can be opened. And if my guess is correct, then there should be the answer I'm looking for behind the lock."

The witch raised her eyebrows:

"So, the search continues."

"But I can feel that this is getting close to the end."

"The next step is to find a lock or a door. What are you going to do? Any clues now?"

"Of course, Miss Benanis, Miss Lassus, and Luvia, have you discovered that the clues I have obtained so far about the Guardians, the legendary Heart of the Earth, and even the Chosen Ones? Most of them are related to the Granger family?"

The three ladies all nodded suspiciously:

"You don't think that Earl Granger is the one hiding at the end. After you find the door, he will jump out with a confetti cannon and tell you all the truth, right?"