Iluna paused and stuffed the roll of parchment back into her small bag:
"However, judging from the current situation, the church speculates that there is a high probability that a vampire has appeared in the local area. It sucks the blood of pure virgins, but it does not dare to harm their lives because it is worried about the church's retaliation. The only doubt is,
Why do the victims all work as flower sellers? Does that vampire have some weird obsessive-compulsive disorder?"
"I haven't heard of any blood-sucking species in the Randall Valley. They usually do serious business in the northern part of the United Kingdom, near the city of Huntingdon."
Shade said that although he thought it might be a vampire brought by the [Blood Spirit School], he instinctively thought that the matter couldn't be that simple:
"The land in Randall Valley is currently in turmoil, so it will attract relics related to the earth. Just like the Middleburg incident and the Pantanal incident, the distortion of the local environment will attract relics that do not often appear. Go and investigate.
Any clues now?"
"I have the addresses of the girls who have returned home."
Iluna stood up and patted her skirt lightly:
"Go and see those girls who have lost their memory. I hope you can gain something."
Every city has slums in the traditional sense, and because of the special valley topography, the actual slums in the Randall Valley are mostly concentrated in the southwest of the city, as well as in small villages that exist on the edge of the city.
The city of Randall Valley itself is not very square. It is long from northeast to southwest along the river and short in other directions, so it is very convenient to visit the flower girls living in the villages outside the city.
Shade and Eluna then got on the carriage at the entrance of the Fertile Land Hotel and got off at the edge of the city. When passing by the city wall and gate left over from the ancient city-state, they also saw police questioning the identities of outsiders. Maybe they
Also looking for clues about the missing flower girl.
After leaving the city, we walked across the wooden bridge over the moat outside the city gate. On the other side of the moat was a small village with dilapidated buildings. On Friday morning, it was quite lively here. Country people preparing to enter the city rested here, and horse-drawn carriages and donkey carts were used to transport goods.
The owners were discussing business loudly, while travelers passed by in a hurry, covering their noses to block the smell of urine and chickens, ducks and geese.
There is no house number in the small village, but the information Iluna received said that the little girl she was looking for lived by the river, and there was a dead willow tree at the door.
This was a very obvious feature, and soon they found the two-story house surrounded by a fence. It was said to be two stories high, but in fact the first floor was a common adobe house nearby, and the roof was made of bamboo.
It was a sheltered space simply built with wooden boards. Due to the continuous earthquakes in the past few days, Shade even felt that the wooden boards were a little skewed.
When they came over, the woman carrying a baby in a headscarf was washing clothes on a washboard at the door while chatting with a neighbor woman who was drying her quilt. Iluna had already obtained the certificate from the local police station.
, after briefly explaining her identity, the woman doing laundry stood up and called to the boy running around at the door.
After the boy got the "order", he ran to the north of the village on his patched cloth shoes. After a while, the twelve-year-old girl who was looking for by Iluna ran after him, carrying a bucket in her hand.
It's a small crucian carp.
The boy carried the bucket into the house, and the woman carrying the baby didn't seem to trust the young-looking Iluna, so the conversation was held in another corner of the yard to ensure that the girl did not leave the woman's sight.
The little girl named Mary Kala lowered her head nervously and played with her fingers while talking to Iluna. She didn't seem to want to communicate with strangers.
"Mary Carla, right? I am a police officer from the Randall Valley Police Department, and this is my assistant. This visit is still related to your disappearance for a week. Since you were asked last time, you recalled
Any new details?”
Iluna said while holding a notebook. The little girl lowered her head and played with her fingers and was speechless. So Shade rummaged through his pocket and found a white sugar cube and handed it to her.
The girl glanced at her mother at the door of the yard, and quickly pinched the piece of candy from Shade's hand:
"I can't recall anything, it's like I slept for a whole week."
"Have you ever sold flowers since then?"
Iluna asked again, and the girl shook her head:
"My father and mother said it was too dangerous. They asked me to stay at home recently. If I am taken away by human traffickers next time, I really won't be able to come back."
Her accent was a bit thick when she spoke, and Iluna, who was new to the local area, no matter how good she was in Kasenrik, could only fully understand it under Shade's low-pitched translation:
"That's fine, too."
Iluna glanced at Shade sadly, but she didn't expect that there was really no clue at all:
"So, do you mind if we touch your forehead? It is said that some of the girls who came back have symptoms of low fever."
She added that after the girl agreed, she and Shade touched her forehead together. Iluna felt nothing, while Shade frowned slightly. He felt the whisper element, but it was very weak.
"So is there anything else you want to tell us?"
So Iluna asked again, and the little girl looked at Shade, who gave her another piece of candy knowingly.
"If you want to ask for information, you can go to the intersection of Mason Street in the city and find little Lianna. She is the best florist among us, and she is also the most well-informed. If anyone knows the information, it must be her.
"
Although Shade was skeptical about this statement, Iluna still wanted to investigate, so the two planned to return to the city. When they greeted the woman carrying the baby and left, the woman was at the door of the yard.
, talking to the man who looked like a carpenter, the woman looked sad:
"I know this house won't survive the next earthquake, but we really have no money."
She turned to look at the second floor of the house:
"Now I can only pray to the gods to prevent another earthquake."
The carpenter with a scruffy beard was also in a dilemma:
"I know that everyone is having a hard time this winter. Didn't the thirteen-year-old son of the village widow go up the mountain just a week ago and was beaten to death by an unknown beast with great force? You also want to take care of the people in the village.
Consider that if your house collapses, your neighbor Larry's family will also suffer."
"Didn't Larry's family run away from the village because all the fish they raised in the fish pond died due to water quality problems in winter?"
The woman asked immediately, and the carpenter shook his head:
"But as long as the house still belongs to them, the village should consider these things and borrow money to repair your house. Although I can ask for a very low salary, the material cost still has to be paid, right? My apprentice got petrified
Plague, I am the only carpenter who can work in the village now. If you don't come to me in the past two days, I will have no time at all when the weather gets warmer in a few days."
The things they talked about seemed to be related to the disaster in the Randall Valley since this winter.
Iluna looked at Shade. In just a few words, she understood the impact of the disaster on the ordinary people living in this land. She wanted to speak, but Shade stopped her.
Shade knew that she wanted to give the woman money, and the cost of materials to repair such a dilapidated house was actually very small. But Shade believed that giving money for free would not be done if it could be done:
"How much will it cost to repair this house?"
So he walked over and interrupted to ask. The carpenter looked at him and stretched out his finger:
"Two ores and six pfennig are enough."
1 krone is equal to 7 ores, 1 krone is also equal to 95 pfennigs, and 1 krone can now be exchanged for about 13 to 14 pounds. So, this really doesn't require much money.
"In this case, I will lend it to this lady. Although we don't talk about this anymore in this era, I still have some chivalry."
Shade said, turning around and looking at the house:
"I know that you villagers need to use your savings to buy seeds and find a blacksmith to repair farm tools during spring plowing, so I will come back in the summer to ask for the money back. I will give you the lowest interest, and you will pay me back 2 or 19 pfennig in the summer.
.”
Iluna also came over at this time and listened to Shade's words.
"I'm not worried that you won't pay back the money."
Shade pointed to the house:
"Your house is here, and it has been newly renovated. It will definitely not run away. If it runs away, it means that your family is facing a dilemma of not being able to get a house. Even if I want you to pay back the money, you can't pay it back.
Therefore, it is relatively safe to lend you this money."
The woman then stammered and wanted to say thank you. After all, the house was indeed too dangerous now. She just said that the carpenter didn't want to repair it, but he really didn't have the money.
Shade shook his head, took out the change from his pocket, then wrote an IOU, asked the woman to put her thumbprint, and then left with Iluna.
"In the summer, will you come and take that money back?"
The seventeen-year-old girl asked curiously. She thought what Shade did just now was right.
"If I could remember this, I would come."
Shade replied, stuffing the IOU into his pocket and whispering in his heart:
"No need to remind me about this."
"She" smiled softly. Although the air in the countryside was a bit unbearable, the wind in the countryside was so gentle. Today is the last day of the Moon with Thin Stars, and spring is really coming.
Mason Street is the street where the Randall Valley Masons Association is located. Although it is located in the old city, it is quite busy with people coming and going. On the road, Shade told Iluna clearly what he had learned about the Masons in the past two months.
The grudges between the association and the royal family of Kasenlik, and Princess Margaret's preparations for this.
When the carriage arrived at Mason Street, the driver did not turn and stop as Shade asked. Instead, he stopped the carriage in advance: