I walked downstairs in slippers to get milk and newspapers, and moved the "God's gift box" from the basement to the upstairs. This week's gift is a thick brown wool scarf, which is just right for this season. As for this week's task,
It means "no task".
When Shade got this information from "her", he thought he had heard it wrong, but then he learned why it was like this:
[The Creator of Innocence believes that children sometimes need a break.]
"That god is so respectable."
Shade murmured in a low voice, putting away the scarf and preparing to wear it when it snows. While he was "fighting" for the ownership of the scarf with the cat lying on the scarf, there was a knock on the door downstairs:
"Is it the client?"
But when Shade opened the door, what he saw was Dorothy with her head lowered. The blonde girl looked a little haggard, and she seemed to have come here after simply washing herself.
"Come in, oh, Dorothy, don't you have the key? Why are you knocking?"
Shade lets Dorothy in:
"Why are you here so early? Have you had breakfast? If you haven't eaten, have breakfast first before talking about business. I can give you little Mia's goat milk. I tasted it secretly last time and it tasted very good."
"Meow?"
The cat high up the stairs looked at Shade's back.
"No, I have something to tell you. It was stolen from my place."
Dorothy stood in the hall and said, Shade was stunned:
"Stolen? Oh, it can't be the way you look. It must be that relic, [Jack Thief], right? My Dorothy, don't be sad. It's normal to lose things. Yesterday I heard that even the Zhengshen Church
The ring warlock team’s station has lost something, after all, it is a sage-level relic.”
He took Dorothy's hand:
"Go upstairs first before talking. What did you lose? Is it valuable? Isn't it also a relic?"
Shade comforted:
"The church has also lost a Keeper-level relic. That relic is so arrogant, something will happen sooner or later. There is a lady's sunshine gun ready to go. God will also curse such a shameless thief."
"You didn't lose anything valuable, your stuff was stolen."
Dorothy was held by Shade's hand, and she lowered her head and said.
"My stuff?"
Shade blinked and couldn't remember what it was for a moment.
"Letter, the letter you got from Professor Manning. I helped you sort out the contents yesterday and put them on the desk. When I woke up this morning, I found that the window of the study room had been opened somehow. Among the letters
Two letters are missing."
She raised her head and looked at Shade with some worry, but saw that Shade breathed a sigh of relief:
"Dorothy, you really scared me. When you came to me so early, I thought it was something big. I probably understand why Dr. Schneider is unwilling to see me early in the morning. It's just a few letters, it doesn't matter, I will
If you apologize to Professor Manning, the professor won’t mind too much if you think about it.”
The lively cat led the way, and Shade held the blonde girl's hand and continued walking upstairs.
"Is it really okay?"
Dorothy asked in a worried voice.
"It doesn't matter, but do you still remember the specific contents of those two letters? The relic [Jack Thief] will not steal worthless things. Since it only took those two letters, it means that I am looking for information about Huntington.
The clues to Professor Lake are in those two letters."
The blonde girl nodded:
"I helped you summarize the contents of each letter and recorded all the doubtful points. Although I cannot restore all the details of those two letters, I remember the general contents."
"That's good, thank you for your hard work, Dorothy."
Shade kissed the side of the blonde girl's face, and the latter seemed to be in a better mood.
[You really don’t care about those two letters being stolen?]
When entering the room on the second floor, "she" asked softly.
"How could it not care? How dare it steal Dorothy!"
With a smile on his face, Shade brought the prepared breakfast to the table, but Dorothy asked Shade to sit down and let her do these things.
"I'm very angry right now~"
Especially when she said these words in her heart, her anger became even stronger. Dorothy was still preparing breakfast in the kitchen and would not notice Shade's psychological changes, but the cat on Shade's hand tilted its head and looked at him, then lowered its head.
With a "meow~" sound, the cat miraculously sensed Shade's emotions. It seems that all domestic pets have this strange ability.
[Note that after absorbing the divinity of the old god ‘Raging Storm’, the divinity will also affect your character in a short period of time. 】
"She" said softly,
"I understand, but this anger is definitely not just because divinity is affecting me. It actually dared to steal Dorothy."
The blonde girl wore an apron, turned on the gas, and lit the somewhat rusty gas stove with a match. Apparently she thought that the breakfast Shade made was not enough for two people and one cat.
Shade looked at the figure of the blonde girl:
"Sometimes appropriate anger helps to stay awake and motivated. I will definitely take revenge!"
Although two important letters were lost, Dorothy had sorted out the contents of all the letters and summarized them in excellent writing.
Specifically, judging from the letters between Professor Manning of Tobesk and Professor Drake of Huntington, Professor Drake is a very "ambitious" and enterprising person. He has a very strong purpose in doing research.
, and while being full of awe for the unknown and ancient history, I always want to know more.
Professor Manning had warned Professor Drake many times that there was some knowledge that they could not explore at will, but Professor Drake's reply was quite perfunctory.
This description is completely different from the Professor Drake who Shade knew with a broken leg. The Professor Drake he knew was clearly a man of few desires and lived like a plant.
Dorothy's notebook also recorded the general contents of the two lost letters.
That was sent by Professor Drake to Professor Manning, asking about visiting scholars from the two schools next year. This was not an official letter from the school, but an exchange of opinions and greetings between two highly respected professors. In Professor Manning's letters
, these two letters did not attract Dorothy's attention at first. Like Shade, she was more concerned about the academic discussions between the two professors.
According to the information written down by Dorothy, in both letters, Professor Drake described his health problems. But he was not sick. Instead, he praised himself for being very healthy, and even mentioned that he and the young people at the school
People race and stay up late together.
If viewed from a normal perspective, there is nothing wrong with this letter, but if it is assumed that there is something wrong with this letter, then Professor Drake's "physical health" seems to be quite problematic.
The tone used by Professor Drake in those two letters was quite enthusiastic and positive, even overly enthusiastic. He seemed to have encountered something wonderful, and he excitedly envisioned the follow-up of his research, and planned to personally
Leading a team to participate in archaeological excavations in the southern forest of Kasenlik. He claimed in the letter that "I have mastered my physical potential and I can still work for another 20 years."
Considering Professor Drake's age at the time, this was quite a feat.
Two days before the last of the two letters reached Professor Manning, and the third day after this letter was sent from Professor Drake, Professor Drake set out to search for the "Lady of the Lake" and
Encountered an accident. Therefore, Shade had reason to believe that some unknown phenomenon affected the professor and made him "very healthy." But then the professor realized that there was something wrong with this health and it was a fatal threat, so he set out
Went to the Lake of Cherubim.
The three clues obtained from Professor Drake include, in addition to letters, diaries and books. In the diary, Professor Drake claimed that "double images appeared in front of his eyes", and there were strange words written in the books [knowledge, that is]
It’s power].
The former may be related to Professor Drake's "physical health". The investigation of the latter allowed Shade to discover that the strange writing originated in the Fourth Age, but there was no clue other than that.
"From this cryptic information, it can be basically inferred that the 'Lady of the Lake' not only erased the professor's memory, but also erased other traces."
While eating breakfast, Shade said to Dorothy. The blonde girl was still sorry for losing the important letter. After hearing Shade's words, she nodded:
"Yes, so did the old professor come into contact with some kind of relic, or was he targeted by something more terrifying?"
"It's all possible."
Shade touched little Mia beside him:
"I also entrusted Huntington's friends to go to the church to investigate what happened in the city that year. If we can find the incident involving Professor Drake, and then compare it with the clues currently in hand, we should be able to know what happened to the professor that year.
the truth."
This means that the second of the four tests of the Lady of the Lake has been completed. But Shade knows that things will not be so simple. Maybe the troubles back then have not been completely resolved. The real purpose of the "Lady of the Lake" test is
Yes, let Shade solve that matter.
After breakfast, Dorothy said goodbye to Shade, and told Shade that if there was a way to capture the relic that had stolen the letter, he must call her to help. The blonde girl was really very guilty about this.
Considering that his own home might also be stolen, Shade reconfirmed that the valuables in his home had been moved to the basement before taking Mia out.
Today, Tobesk, the steam capital, is still shrouded in heavy fog. After Shade went out, he turned directly in the direction of Silver Cross Avenue. When he arrived at the door of the Prophet's Association, the Prophet's Association had already opened its doors.
Shade noticed that the association's signboard had been replaced with a new one, and the bulletin board had also been replaced with a new style. This should not only be because Princess Margaret wanted to attend the reading salon here, but also because the Prophet Association had a lot of gold pounds.
There is no place to consume Rhodes cards, which is a very profitable business.
As usual, he used the excuse of fortune-telling for cats to meet Luvia during her working hours.
The staff of the Prophet's Association were already used to Shade's approach. When they saw him coming with the cat in his arms, they went directly to notify Luvia who was on the second floor.
When Luvia opened the door of the divination room, Shade was "fighting" with Mia with his right hand, that is, playing with the cat. The girl with purple eyes smiled and sat down:
"You really can find fun at any time. Oh, I just met Vice President Mark. He heard that you were coming and asked me to ask you, do you want to participate in the Rhodes Competition of the Prophet Association at the end of this year? If so,
, we can help you register now.”
At the end of the year, whether it is an official organization or a steam factory, whether it is a noble club or a large organization such as the Prophets Association, some activities will be held to commemorate the year that is about to end. It may be the year-end summary given by the Parliament to His Majesty the King, or it may be the factory owner
The small amount of remuneration given to the workers may be gifts from high-end clubs to members.
But for the Oracle Association, the best way to celebrate is to hold a Rhodes tournament, which is also an annual practice.
"Sign up first, I will participate if I have time."
Shade skipped the topic of Rhodes cards:
"I need your help with something."
He placed the remaining two coins - [Coin of Wisdom] and [Dandelion Coin] on the table: