It is easy to judge the purpose of this place, because the magic potion and alchemy laboratory Shade set up for himself in the basement of No. 6 Saint Teresa Square is also the same.
It's just that compared to Shade's laboratory, the experimental instruments here are quite old. Judging from the materials, they are at least old things before the beginning of the steam age. Some are even worth sending to museums. But these are now outdated.
Among the old things, there is a folded letter.
The letter was placed in a very conspicuous position on the experimental table, and two stones with long-lasting luminescence were placed next to it, as if they were afraid that latecomers would not see it.
Shade stepped over the ritual base array with unknown effects on the ground. Worried that the letter was a trap, he picked it up after checking it carefully. He did not read the content first, but the signature:
【Thomas Granger】
This was the first guardian Shad met, the one who gave him the power of the earth in the Emerald Dream and whose bones were left next to the statue of the ancient god in the White River Valley Vineyard.
"Before I came here, I deceived Earl Granger, saying that his great-uncle might have visited the family's old cemetery. I didn't expect it to be true."
Shade thought to himself, and then carefully read the contents of the letter.
【successor:】
【Congratulations on finding this place.】
[This underground laboratory does not belong to me. It belongs to the ancestor of the Granger family, Ferrari Granger, who was born in 1405. I found the location of the laboratory in the family’s old book and found out where he died.
The tomb robber here. The tomb robber probably lived around 1690. When I wrote this letter, he had become an evil spirit, so I transformed him into a guard to protect this place. Please forgive me for doing this.】
"It turns out that this is the guard he left behind. No wonder it can resist Silver Moon's power to a certain extent."
[This laboratory is a symbol of the shameful history of the family. I am not the first Granger to discover the power of family blood. The family genealogy records that Ferrari Granger was born in 1405 and died in 1460. But in fact
, until the great earthquake in the Randall Valley occurred in 1498, he was still alive and secretly hid under the family cemetery to conduct his own research.]
Shade frowned slightly. Since the great earthquake of 1498 was mentioned here, it meant that Ferrari Granger was related to it.
Thinking of this, he touched the Mithril Cube in his pocket, and immediately felt that as the cube vibrated slightly, new information appeared on it. However, he did not read the content on the Mithril Cube, but continued
Go read the letter in your hand.
[Yes, latecomer, I feel ashamed for this. The occurrence of the great earthquake in Randall Valley in 1498 was related to my ancestors. Ferrari Granger hid here, secretly studying the power of the earth, and during the experiment, he was
The accident caused that disaster. I don’t want to explain anything, but Ferrari Granger has died here, and I buried his body in the soil outside.]
[Being able to expel the guards proves that you are a capable person. As a reward, everything here will belong to you. I only took away a silver cube, which may be related to causing a major earthquake. Except for the other things in the ancestors' laboratory,
A valuable collection, I placed a gift for you in the box next to the letter. If you want to get my secret, you can take the token in the box and go to my family to find out my information. That will guide you to find out.
I. Whenever.]
Below is the signature and signature. The letter was quite short, but after Shade finished reading it, he read it again and then put the letter down:
"It turns out that the mithril cube that records many stories in the Randall Valley was not created by Mr. Thomas Granger at all, but he got it from here. In other words, Mr. Thomas Granger left
The runaway happened shortly after visiting this cemetery. What exactly is this Mithril Cube? Mr. Thomas Granger left it at home, seemingly as one of the clues to guide the next generation of guardians.
, does he himself know what this is?”
Thinking in my mind, I finally took out the cube. After the "Church of the Forgotten", "St. Perry's Cemetery", "Masonry Chamber" and "Randall Valley Gold Mine", the fifth paragraph about Randall Valley
The story finally emerged:
[Randall Valley Earthquake of 1498:
Legend has it that God shook the earth in order to punish the disrespectful people on the earth. But in fact, earthquakes are just a natural phenomenon. And the great earthquake in the Randall Valley in 1498 was caused by a greedy and crazy mortal, in order to pursue the ancient
A secret and unintentional disaster. The truth of the earthquake lies in Granger, the secret of the earthquake, at the foot of the place of rest and faith. This is not a good story, but it warns us that we must respect the power we do not understand.
】
"At the foot of the place of repose and faith, this is directly stated under the cemetery church."
Shade sighed softly, holding the cube, and looked at the blurry ritual matrix not far from his feet. In the center of those lines, there happened to be a square gap, which was quite similar in size to the cube.
"Um"
Fortunately, his curiosity was not serious, and now that the ritual matrix was severely damaged, there was no point in trying it, so he put the cube away again:
"Mr. Thomas Granger took a fancy to the cube's ability to guide stories and left it to future generations who would follow in his footsteps. The usage method written on the note should also have been explored by this gentleman.
Since it can be opened after telling six paragraphs of the story, I only have one final step left. What will it be?"
He thought to himself and picked up the box mentioned in the letter. After opening it, he saw a silver pocket watch that had stopped spinning, a letter and a small irregular piece of metal.
The pocket watch is Mr. Thomas Granger's personal belongings, which is also a token. The letter was written by him to his family, asking them to forgive him for leaving without saying goodbye, and asking them not to look for his message. It seems that Thomas Granger at that time
Lang Jie was already planning to leave home:
"This means that his physical condition at that time was already very bad due to being contaminated with black mud."
The thumb-sized piece of metal with bumps on the surface looked like unpolished silver ore at first glance, but Shade understood what it was after touching it:
"Mithril?"
This small piece of mithril was enough for Shade to pay all his tuition fees from first grade to ninth grade at St. Byrons.
"What a generous move."
Shade put the small piece of mithril into his pocket, and the smile on his face could hardly be concealed.
Of course, he did not forget his purpose. He did not come here to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Thomas Granger and eventually became a guardian. He came here to find the gems left by the Butterfly family.
Mr. Granger's letter didn't mention anything about this. I don't know if the original owner really didn't have it, or Thomas didn't find it, or he took it away directly after finding it.
Shade searched the place with the idea of spending a whole day digging three feet into the basement and digging out every wall. Then, three minutes after starting the search, he placed broken pieces on the experimental table.
In the small jar of cracked gems and rare ores, the hexagonal golden yellow gem was found.
The red gemstone below the memoir represents summer, the white gemstone given by Oxenfurt represents winter, and the golden gemstone in front of me represents autumn.
"Isn't this too easy?"
Shade held the three already obtained gems in his hands. Judging from the size and carving craftsmanship, the golden gem found here was one of the four keys he was looking for. In this way, only the one representing spring was left.
The green gem has not been found yet.
"But why didn't Mr. Thomas Granger take it away more than seventy years ago? Did Ferrari Granger, who established this underground laboratory more than three hundred years ago, discover this family inheritance gem?
secret?"
But no matter what, Shade is getting closer and closer to the secrets of the guardians.
After riding back to the city, Shade returned Mr. Thomas Granger's pocket watch and the letter with badly faded ink to Granger Manor, which could be regarded as completing the count's commission.
It was only noon on Monday, so Shade went home to have lunch with Mia, and then spent the rest of the day at home.
He was not lazy, but read Mr. Lyman's memoirs completely, and learned about the peaceful but magnificent life of this ordinary man who lived in the fifth era.
Because Shade had had an important intersection with him in his life, he knew more clearly how much impact Mr. Lyman's encounter with him had on his entire life.
In the evening, when he and Lesia had a private meeting at a secret club in the city and had dinner together, Shade also told the story of this gentleman to the princess. The little princess sat at the table and listened with her ears open, and Lesia was also very interested.
She is curious about the life of ordinary men in the Fifth Age, but she is more concerned about another thing:
"He had three wives?"
Agelina became more interested in this topic.
"Yes, they are all the butterfly girls he brought out from the worm cave."
Shade said while touching Mia:
"This lineage has not been cut off. According to what I learned from local folklorists, at least one-third of the local people living in the Randall Valley can be regarded as descendants of Mr. Lyman. The butterfly's lineage is rooted in that
Pian River Valley, I even suspect that this is also the intention of the old god I met. He wanted to use this to stabilize the land of Randall Valley in the sixth era."
"Why do you say that?"
Lesia asked curiously.
"Because of the butterfly bloodline, it can resist the effects of the petrified plague in the Crazy Earth. I just learned from Miss Benanis today that the church is establishing a file for the victims who are currently infected with the plague. When tracing their ancestors, they discovered that they are currently seriously ill.
Most of the infected people are not local aborigines."
PS: Happy New Year to everyone! There is another update.