According to the contract signed between Mr. Mandis and the late Detective Sparrow, when Mr. Mandis voluntarily announced the termination of the commission, in addition to the deposit, he needs to pay an additional fee of no more than one-third of the total amount depending on the progress of the investigation.
Xia De originally intended that he didn't want the other party's money, but he would not refund the deposit, but Mr. Mandis insisted on paying. So in the end, Xia De got the commission fee of 13 shillings, and left Mr. Mandis's residence with the maid lady.
It was four o'clock in the afternoon, and there was no sign of dusk at this time in late summer.
"This money, I think, should only be enough to pay for our carriage today."
On the carriage returning to Saint Teresa Square, the maid said to Shad.
The price of a pair of cotton stockings is about 5 shillings, a better quality women's work suit is 1 pound, and the price of boots is 11 shillings. The cost of renting a carriage is generally within 4 miles of the area centered on Yodel Palace. 1 shilling for up to 2 miles and 5p for every mile thereafter.
That's why Tifa made such an exclamation based on the price he knew.
"Yes, if you add the preliminary investigation work conducted by Detective Sparrow, this commission will undoubtedly lose money. But for me, isn't it a big profit this time?"
Xia De shook the black iron ring on his finger, and the black-haired maid also smiled:
"From this point of view, the detective profession is really suitable for ring warlocks."
"No, no, I just don't know how it happened so coincidentally that this matter will be related to the relic. Generally speaking, the commissions I receive are just ordinary things like playing cards and finding people."
Xia De said, taking out the roll of parchment:
"I happen to know these ancient texts, Tifa, we had dinner together, and you can leave after I decipher these texts. Don't rush to refuse, you have helped me a lot today, and inviting you to dinner is an expression of my gratitude."
The brunette thought for a moment:
"Yes, but I can't go back too late, otherwise the lady will have objections."
The two returned to Place Saint Teresa first, then went out with Mia and found a good restaurant in a nearby block. Shad seldom cooks at home, so he knows where the food is good in the neighborhood, and the nearby restaurants are already familiar with the young detective with the cat.
They went for a walk together after dinner, and when they returned to Plaza de Saint-Terrands, they saw a fat man with a wig and a red coat standing anxiously at the door of No. 6.
Xia De was very curious about who this was, but the other party greeted them immediately after seeing them approaching. The two met on the street around the square on the edge of Saint Teresa Square:
"Is this Hamilton of Regards, please? Oh, it's Miss Servet. Good afternoon."
Unusually standard Tobesk accent, the voice is even a little shrill.
He bowed slightly to the girl next to Xia De, looking at his expression, he was very surprised to see her here.
And Tifa also introduced the other party's identity to Shad:
"Mr. Hamilton, this is Mr. Miral Formans, the Herald of the Yoddle House."
"Good evening, Mr. Formans, what can I do?"
Xia De was also very surprised, and didn't understand until he saw the invitation card handed out by the other party.
"Hamilton of Regard, Queen Diana formally invites you to attend the birthday banquet at the Yodel Palace on the night of the 30th day of the Flower Moon next Wednesday."
The herald handed over the invitation card to Xia De. Although it was the Queen's birthday party, the style of the invitation card was also very ordinary, probably to show the frugality of the king's family.
"Knight, may I ask if you will participate?"
"Oh, of course, I will definitely go."
Shad said, so Mr. Formans nodded, said goodbye to Shad respectfully, turned and left, and did not even give Shad a chance to invite him upstairs for tea.
Xia De opened the door, and the cat on his shoulder rushed in first, followed by the maid.
"Why is that Mr. Formans' voice so thin?"
he asked as he dropped the key into the cookie box.
"Did you notice that he has a clean chin and no beard?"
asked the maid.
"Um?"
Xia De thought for a while, slowed down and asked in surprise:
"Eunuch?"
"Yes, although this is no longer popular in the modern court, people think it is inhumane, but most of the servants trusted by His Majesty are eunuchs. So there are rumors in the court that if you want to gain His Majesty's trust, you must You have to be cruel to yourself..."
She didn't continue talking, Xia De nodded to show that he understood.
Larouse III is a king with a strong wrist in the true sense, with outstanding personal abilities. As the ruler of the kingdom, he coincides with the tide of the steam age. The appearance of this kind of king is extremely lucky for Delarion.
But the strong character and the great power conferred by the king himself can also cause some character flaws. The tradition of court eunuchs disappeared in civilization hundreds of years ago, and these eunuchs now voluntarily give up their body structure for power. Larouse III's acquiescing attitude for the sake of power has promoted this trend, and this is one of the few places where he is criticized.
Of course, His Majesty the King has nothing to do with Xia De, so he doesn't care whether the other party has mental problems.
After returning home, Xia De entered the study room and translated the contents of the parchment by himself under the pretext of looking up some documents. He thought it was just an introduction to the bottle of red potion and the function of the [Demon Hunting Seal], but he didn't expect it to include a story about ancient inheritance and the whereabouts of another extremely powerful relic.
"The ancestor of Dr. Alfred found the relics of the demon hunter who died in the third era in the ruins. In addition to the seal and potion, there was also a long sword that had become a [relic]. It turned out that [the seal of the demon hunter] ], in addition to being more inclined to appear in demon-infested areas, he will also actively attract those supernatural beings who are strong enough. And that long sword was hidden by him in Mount Xikale..."
Sikar Mountain is located in the east-central part of the Old Continent, and is one of the borders between De La Rion and Carson Rico. That place was too far away from Tobesk, even though the parchment described where the relic was hidden, it was still impossible for Shad to search for it at this time.
After thinking about it, Xia De chose to hide part of the contents on the parchment, and only told Tifa the news related to the potion.
"These things are indeed left by a ring warlock! Dr. Alfred's ancestor was a powerful ring warlock. According to the statement on the parchment, the other party lived about 800 years ago and was a nine-ring warlock before he died. "
The nine rings are already high rings, and they are strong no matter what era they are in.
"Then how did that gentleman die?"
asked the maid who was sitting on the sofa.
"I don't know, he said on the parchment that he was going to challenge a powerful enemy, and fight with his friends against a warlock with eleven rings. Because he was worried that he would not be able to return, he will use the two items that he will not use, It was left in the basement of the old house. Written in ancient characters, I hope that ordinary people who discover these two items will not mess with them, and if they are ring magicians, they can use them."
Here, Xia De omitted the matter about the sword.
"He obviously didn't expect that his descendants would live in that small town and still use Alfred's surname for 800 years."
The surname of the nine-ring warlock was also Alfred, so Xia De knew that this was the ancestor of the ophthalmologist.
"The ring is a relic of the Keeper class. Although I have seen the information before, I don't know the more specific function for the time being, but I know the function of the potion."
Xia De put the bottle of red medicine on the tea table, because it was used up by Doctor Alfred, so now there are only about three quarters left:
"This is not a potion, but a derivative of the [relic] obtained by a ring warlock eight hundred years ago in an accident. The specific relic is not mentioned in the parchment, but the function of the potion is clearly written. "
He and the maid looked at the bottle together:
"Dropping the potion directly into the eyes can further enhance the evolution of the spells and thaumaturgy related to the eyes. Keeping the magic eyes in this potion can effectively suppress the negative effects of some magic eyes when they leave the body. "
"Evolve thaumaturgy and spells? This is a very rare thing."
Tifa covered her mouth and sighed, Xia De nodded, but it's a pity that [Time Perception] has nothing to do with eyes, otherwise he would have known the truth.
Xia De pointed to the other half bottle of bright yellow potion:
"Those potions processed by Dr. Alfred may not be usable. But there are three quarters of the red potion left, and I want to try to evolve my [Blood Echo]. Tifa, can you please help me?" Me? I need someone to control the drops into my eyes and stop them when I say stop."
"No problem, but what evolutionary direction can the ability to observe bloodstains have?"
"Probably because I can see it more clearly."
Xia De said, and then lay down on the sofa.
The cat who didn't know what to do in the bedroom just now jumped up, jumped onto Xia De's chest, and looked down at him. The cat was not heavy at all, but in order to prevent it from disturbing things for a while, Shad reached out with both hands and pressed it against his clothes.
"Okay."
He opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling, while Tifa uncorked the medicine bottle and controlled the liquid to fly out in strings.
The first drop entered the eyes, Xia De felt nothing, followed by the second and third drops.
He gradually felt his eyes warming up, but not hot. And as more than ten drops of liquid fell, the temperature around the eyes seemed to drop again, but it wasn't particularly cold either.
The spirit in the special potion gradually permeates the entire eye and interacts with the spirit that manipulates the body.
With the sound of the siren and the bell, the Ring of Fate automatically appeared above Shad. While accepting the liquid into his eyes, Xia De looked at his life ring that was slowly rotating.
The seven spirit runes shone with powerful auras of four colors, and the most glaring among them was undoubtedly the miraculous spirit rune [Echo] that had been washed away by a drop of divinity.
"Echoes of blood... [Echoes]."
A thought came up in my heart, and as the thought came out, the rune with the dazzling golden aura immediately burst into more intense light.
"Tifa, put a drop of your blood in my eye!"
he said suddenly.
Without asking why, the brunette cut her finger with a knife and squeezed a drop of blood over Shad's eye. The light above his head shone on Xia De's eyes, facing the light reflected from the eyeballs, red droplets and bright red blood fell down.
And just at this time, the clock tower of the distant city rang. The lingering sound echoed, and the wonderful perception made Xia De's scalp tingle.
The voice of "her" finally appeared in my ears:
[Blood and time, the echo of red. Swallow the blood, stain the light, you have met the blood several times, and the power of the blood will eventually echo in your blood vessels and soul together with time and space. 】
The power of incantation-【Echo of Blood】~www.mtlnovel.com~ has somehow been involved with the miracle spirit rune. It didn't go away, it got a whole new power.
[Outlander, you have obtained the thaumaturgy - Echo of Blood. 】
On the rotating life ring, the light of the [Echo] spirit rune shines on Shad below like the sun, making Tifa unable to even look directly at the scene in front of her.
Those golden lights shone on her body, and even this six-ring magician and candidate witch could vaguely hear the illusory, grand, soul-shaking bell. But in the end, the ring of life slowly disappeared in the steam mist, Xia De told Tifa to stop dripping the liquid, and slowly sat up while leaning on the sofa.
"How? Did it work?"
She probably has never seen the scene of the evolution of spells, and the scene just now was indeed amazing.
"The effect is very good."
Xia De closed his eyes forcefully, and then opened them again. The **** halo gradually converged in his eyes. The moment the **** color disappeared, a golden arc flashed in his eyes:
"It's even better than I thought. The spell turned into a thaumaturgy."