Whispering Verse

Putting away the small fragment of vine, Shade officially entered the second cave on the riverbank stone wall that he discovered.

The cave here is obviously different from the first one. What you see after entering is a standard square space, and the stone walls are polished quite smooth. Displayed in the dark are painted mahogany desks, four-poster beds with cushions, large wardrobes with metal handles, special kerosene lamp brackets on the walls, and even hand-painted patterns on the glass lampshades of the kerosene lamps.

The shelves look like wooden antiques, filled with various labeled utensils. There is even a lotus leaf-shaped brass bedside kerosene lamp on the bedside table. This was a very high-end lamp in 1853:

"Found it, it seems this is it."

The dim sun outside the river was about to sink completely below the city, and the mist made it impossible to see everything on the river clearly. Shade did not deal with the conspicuous hole, but stretched out his finger:

"Silver Moon."

After calling softly, the moonlight on my fingertips illuminated the "safe house". Shade still remembered that he had agreed to have dinner with Luvia tonight, so he might have to act quickly.

Halder Ondiba left here for the last time more than ten years ago, but he never thought that he would never return. Therefore, the value of the safe house by the river bank is of great value to the foreigners who come to find it more than ten years later. surprise.

Just for currency, he rummaged through the desk drawer and found more than 300 gold pounds and more than 50 kronor in cash. As for the cookie box and the coins at the bottom of the cabinet, he was too lazy to count them.

Except for the currency, the casting materials have all rotted due to lack of maintenance. After using the [Door Key] to open the lock of the cabinet, the stench almost made Shade think that the other party had set up a poisonous fog trap again.

There were no diaries or letters in the drawers of the desk. The surface of the desk was clean and there were pens, oil lamps and a folded map of Huntington. But in the locked bedside table, there were three carefully preserved books wrapped in velvet.

Shade sat on the bed with a soft mattress, imagining the scene of Halder Ondiba lying here decades ago, reading under the kerosene lamp.

Opening the cloths, the first book did not have a book cover, but the first page was handwritten with "The Creeper in the Dark" written in Kasenric language. After flipping through a few pages, Shade confirmed that it was written in the Deckard script of the Fifth Age. A book on occult science related to [Snake] written with letters of .

There are several pieces of paper sandwiched between the pages of the book. On them are written in scrawled handwriting the potion "Viper's Language" that allows people to communicate with snakes after drinking, the "Cold-Blooded Potion" that can lower the temperature of people's blood, and a The formula of special snake venom "Ondiba Venom". The last one should have been invented by Halder Ondiba himself. Unfortunately, Shad is not good at preparing potions, but Priest August will probably be interested:

"This book is quite valuable. Unfortunately, the [Snake] Spirit Rune system is different from mine, but it should be able to sell for a good price."

The second book has "The Mystery of Pantanal" written in Kasenric on the cover, but this is not a book that records occult knowledge. It is the story of Pantanal mentioned by Mr. Bernhardt. The Voodoo Society writes and distributes popular science books that introduce the modern changes in the primitive beliefs of the Everglades and the Everglades. In this way, the Voodoo Society wants to expand the influence of itself and the primitive beliefs of the Pantanal.

This book shows signs of being read frequently, with the same handwriting as the potion recipe. There are many annotations and explanations in the pages of the book. The ring magician is a staunch "Pantanal regionalist".

"Folklore books are very interesting and can be taken home as bedtime reading. I don't know if Mr. Edmond from Coldwater Port is interested in this, but the folklore he studies is maritime folklore."

The third book is still written in the Kassenric language of the Sixth Age, and its title is "Huntington Folklore Examination". After opening it, it was determined that this was a printed version in 1840.

"Huh? I think I've heard of this book."

Shade turned directly to the last page, and sure enough, he saw Professor Drake listed second in the list of authors. Then he flipped the book forward again, and an old photo stuck inside slid out:

"This is......"

The black-and-white photo shows two people standing together. The location seems to be the entrance to a rural village inside the Pantanal, as evidenced by the muddy fields and low adobe houses in the background.

The man on the left in the photo is tall, with rough skin, sunken eyes, and strange tattoos on his exposed neck. Although the color of the tattoo cannot be identified in the black and white photo, the appearance and tattoo match Father Nobel's description of "Halder Ondiba".

The man on the right side of the photo is wearing an adventure suit with dozens of pockets all over his body, a hat with a tether on his head, and a pickaxe in his right hand.

They all smiled at the photo, and the latter was an old man. Although he could stand on his legs, Shade still recognized who it was:

"Professor Kansas Drake?"

Although the professor in the photo is younger than he is now, judging from the wrinkles on his face, this should have been taken more than ten years ago, rather than a photo from a longer period of time.

"Professor Drake actually knows a ring warlock from the Pantanal Voodoo Order?"

Shade raised his eyebrows.

He was very sure that Professor Drake himself did not know about this and was not deliberately hiding it. The professor never mentioned that he had such a friend, and there was no correspondence with "Halder Ondiba" in the letters examined by Shade.

Turning to the back of the photo, there is a line of words written on the yellow background:

[May we walk together on the road of exploring knowledge and history. 】

The letters were elegant and elegant, and Shade saw that they looked very much like Professor Drake's font.

"The Lady of the Lake has erased all connections between the professor and the ring magician Halder Undeba. The professor himself has no memory, the church cannot find out at all, and the Pantanal Voodoo Society is not aware of it." Father Nobel mentioned Yes, the date Halder Ondiba was rounded up and killed by the church was the day after Professor Drake wrote a letter to Professor Manning, and two days before Professor Drake set out to search for the Lady of the Lake. Hmm ...Probably guessed something."

He put the photo aside and checked "Huntington's Folklore Examination" again. This time he found a sentence written on the title page, which was still Professor Drake's font -

[To my dear friend, I hope you can find more knowledge in the field of folklore. 】

The blue-black ink has faded a little, but the font is so vivid that Shade doesn't know what to say:

"Interesting, more interesting than I thought."

After searching the desk, cabinet and bedside table, Shade knocked on the wall again, and sure enough he found a hidden compartment on the wall.

"What will it be this time?"

Violently destroying the wall, he found a small box filled with jewelry from a hidden compartment.

After opening the box, it seems as if light emanates directly from it. Sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds are spread all over the bottom of the box. Gold and silver bracelets, earrings, and rings are stacked together. Antique coins and broken diamonds are interspersed in the gaps of the jewelry.

With a crash, Shade poured the contents of the box onto the bed. Precious metals and gems poured out, scattering on the yellowed sheets. Shade plucked at random with his fingers. Unfortunately, these were ordinary items:

"This person actually hid money in the secret compartment instead of relics?"

Fortunately, one of the coins reacted with the whispering element, so it could be confirmed that it was a relic, but Shade didn't know its characteristics. Ondiba probably didn't recognize what it was, otherwise he wouldn't have put it here.

In addition to the above items, in the small iron box attached to the bottom of the bed, Shade found a pistol and several bullets with runes engraved on the bullets; in the mezzanine of the bedside table, there was a scroll written on thaumaturgy - [Swamp Chameleon] 】Parchment for learning rituals; on the back of a blank photo frame hanging on the wall, there was a piece of paper written with a prayer praising the "God of Pantanal", but it was a pity that Shade burned it as soon as he touched it.

There are no relics kept by Ondiba in this safe house. It seems that he only used it as a temporary residence and to store his belongings. Shade believed that the ring warlock who died more than ten years ago must have a safe house in this city where he hid books and letters, but this time Shade really couldn't find it.

"So, during today's trip to Huntington, I threatened a mouse and learned that Professor Drake knew the former holder of [Iken'ora's Arrow of Knowledge], and it made me a fortune, but still It didn’t put me in touch with the absolute truth.”

Shade sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the box of jewelry:

"I thought I could find the sage-level relic directly."

[Are you a little too greedy? At least, you are only one step away from discovering the truth and completing the 'Second Trial of Cherubim'. 】

she asked with a chuckle.

Shade's fingers plucked the gems in the box, listening to the sweet clattering sounds they made as they collided with each other. Shade heard from Lesia that noble ladies had small boxes specially designed to hold gems and jewelry, but he didn't expect that middle-aged men from the Everglades also had them.

Shade picked out a purple oval gem and tossed it a few times. The moonlight on his fingertips made the gem shine:

"Tomorrow morning I'm going to meet with the people at the Apna Library, attend the book salon the day after tomorrow, and prepare to catch the nasty thief on Wednesday. I don't have time to waste more time in Huntington. This winter, I plan to focus on the Trust. Besk.”

He stood up and packed up the coins, books, and parchment rolls he found and prepared to leave. He did not intend to touch other things in this safe house, such as those expired potions.

Walking out of the cave, the stone walls on the river bank returned to their original shape with the use of thaumaturgy.

Shade looked up at the night sky. The heavy jewelry box in his hand brought him far less happiness than he imagined:

"Let's show the professor tomorrow the photo. I hope the professor can remember something. As for this box of jewelry..."

This was probably his most profitable one-time adventure, other than going deep into the underground ruins to kill the Silver-Eyed Man. And, he didn't even lay a hand on anyone on this adventure.

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