It was not until he kissed Lecia goodbye in the opera box that day that Shad remembered to give Margaret's letter to her. He did not open the letter to read it, but Lecia opened the letter in front of him, smiled after reading it, and burned the letter with the flame of her fingertips.
She did not tell Xia De what kind of business the princess of the Southern Kingdom invited her to do together, but judging from her expression at the moment, the scale of that business must be quite large.
In the tradition of this era, the first month of each year is called the "Newborn Month". With the end of the first day of the New Born Month, it means that the year-end festival is officially over, and life will return to normal again. No matter who you are, you must continue to face the hardships and challenges of a new year.
The first day of the new moon was Wednesday, and Shade used the time key of 903 on the last Wednesday night, a few minutes before midnight. But although he now had a time key given by Mr. Edmund of Coldwater Harbor, Shade did not use it on this Wednesday night due to the punishment from the Tree Father.
He also planned to give himself a break for a while, and wait until he found a way to get to the Randall River Valley before continuing a new adventure.
So the time came to the second day of the new moon, which was Thursday.
After waking up early in the morning, Shade went to the city to deal with the chores of the new month. After paying the advertising fees, gas fees, and steam fees, he went to the local tax department to check the inheritance tax of the house and real estate at No. 6 St. Teresa Square.
At noon, he had lunch with Mia and then went to the Dawn Church. After talking with Father Augustus, Shad went to see Bishop Owen. After sending New Year's greetings, he talked with Bishop Owen in the side hall about the topic of His Majesty the King's year-end speech.
After he left the Dawn Square, Father Augustus hurriedly caught up with him and handed Shade a suitcase:
"I'll wait for you at the church door at eleven o'clock tonight."
The priest lowered his voice and said to him, then turned and returned to the church. Shade continued to walk towards the intersection in the crowd. He naturally knew what was in the suitcase in his hand.
The clock tower of Tobysk is the tallest building in the entire Pearl of the North. It is located in the eastern part of the central area of Tobysk, adjacent to the eastern part of the city where the rich gather. It is not particularly close to St. Teresa's Square, but the sound of the clock tower can still be heard every day.
The clock tower stands on the west side of the famous "Mars Square" in Tobesk, with the winding Talare River behind it, and the Birmingham Museum at the bottom of the tower. In fact, as a semi-official city museum, the Birmingham Museum is also responsible for the maintenance and management of the lighthouse. The building and land of the lighthouse also belonged to the museum more than ten years ago, and the first floor has basically become an exhibition hall.
That evening, the elderly keeper in charge of today's duty walked through the small door on the back wall of the museum and entered the first floor of the lighthouse. After turning on the gas lamp on the wall and taking a look at the closed glass display cases, he wanted to go up the winding stairs to conduct the last lighthouse inspection of the day and planned to finish writing today's work log before going to bed.
In the new year, the work diary has been changed to a brand new booklet. According to the wisdom of the elderly, if the first two entries of a brand new diary are not recorded carefully, the following contents will most likely be recorded carelessly as well:
“Young people today don’t always know the benefits of keeping complete records.”
However, he had only walked up two steps when he unexpectedly heard the door of the lighthouse open. He turned around in surprise and saw that after the door opened, large pieces of red roses were blown into the room like snowflakes in the evening breeze, and then he completely lost consciousness.
"Ragarai's Leap!"
Xia De, who was holding a suitcase at the door, stepped out and came to the old man to support him to prevent him from falling and getting hurt. The doctor who followed behind him changed into shoe covers and gloves after closing the door, and then also came over with a suitcase:
"Although I have always lived in Tobesk, I have never been here."
The doctor brushed off the snowflakes on his shoulders and looked around as he spoke:
"This tower is bigger than I thought. This exhibition hall is really nice, but it's a pity that it's not free to enter."
"According to the information I got from my noble friends, nobles and professors from the Tobysk University District can enter for free... Knights are also included."
Xia De said with a smile, and carefully placed the old man on duty against the wall, not forgetting to cover him with a blanket to prevent him from catching a cold.
"Speaking of which, I have some connection with this museum. My uncle, Detective Sparrow Hamilton, said before he died that if I ever run out of options, I can bring the Founding Silver Moon here and sell it... Let's go, doctor."
He waved to the doctor, and the two of them walked up the winding stairs with kerosene lamps. Their goal was the top floor, but the lighthouse only had gas pipelines installed on the bottom floor. Climbing the tower required lighting, so they would probably have to walk for a while.
"How's your preparation for tomorrow's test?"
The doctor asked casually as he walked behind Shad. Just now on the road, the two of them were discussing whether the economic data in the King's Speech at the end of the year were true.
Xia De nodded:
"I have memorized almost everything I should have memorized. The academy allowed me to postpone the submission of the potions and alchemical items required for the assessment courses for a week, but I have finished writing the papers."
“What about the gap in practical credits?”
"That's no problem. Miss Danister, the librarian, promised to help me find a solution. I recently completed a very important college bounty for her. How about you, doctor? How about the Ether Mechanics?"
When it comes to this topic, the doctor can't help but sigh:
"Let's try our luck. This is not a subject that can be passed by just memorizing. The basic theory of the spirit has always required talent to learn. Fortunately, I just want to pass the exam and get the qualification for the elective course, not really want to study this."
He couldn't help but sigh:
"Knowledge is so fascinating and yet so distressing."
The doctor's words made Xia De sigh with emotion, and the doctor's next words were even more shocking:
"Detective, have you heard about Sir Kings Prisher's visit? You didn't come to the meeting on Saturday, and Annette said she would tell you."
"Academic espionage?"
The two climbed the stairs one after the other, the light of the kerosene lamp in their hands flickering as they walked. Every once in a while, they would see a small window on the wall, from which they could see the lights of thousands of houses in the deep winter of Tobysk below. And every new window would make the city look smaller.
In today's steam age, even though not every household can afford gas lamps, the city's night scene is still very different from hundreds of years ago. When a stranger passes by a window, he remembers every view, knowing that it represents civilization.
"Yes, academic espionage. Tsk tsk, this is the biggest scandal about correspondence ring sorcerers in the three major colleges in the past few decades."
The doctor shook his head as he spoke:
"Although this is a matter of the Sukses Higher Medical School, they are also a correspondence course like us. The school hasn't said anything yet, but I heard from my acquaintances that the three major colleges will conduct a more detailed identity screening of the existing correspondence course ring sorcerers next year, oh, this year."
He and Shad sighed together. The doctor was thinking that this would implicate many people, while Shad was thinking that all five people in their team actually had problems.
"Come to think of it, didn't you ask me to investigate Kings Prisher?"
The doctor continued the topic just now. The two climbed the tower very quickly. In fact, the lighthouse has an elevator, but in order to avoid making too much noise, they did not use it:
"I still remember that man's desire, his crazy thirst for knowledge."
He hummed twice:
“Although I didn’t think it was a big deal at the time, it now seems that this thirst for knowledge is the reason why he fell into madness.”
"The academy said that this academic spy is crazy, right?"
Xia De took the opportunity to ask, and the doctor nodded behind Xia De. It happened that the two passed by another window, and the doctor looked at the moon outside the window. The continuous snowfall never stopped, but the snow was light tonight, so the starry sky could be seen:
"According to the information I received, he came into contact with some forbidden knowledge in Huntington City of the United Kingdom of Carsenrick. He was then hunted down by the church and fled into the Pantanal Swamp, where he caused a huge fight. It is said that the strange bell ringing in the early hours of last Thursday was related to this."
The doctor was shocked:
"It is hard to imagine what kind of war could have caused the ring sorcerers in the entire material world and ordinary people with high spiritual powers to hear the bell in reality and in their dreams."
Xia De knew what was going on, but in order for the doctor to continue his peaceful life, he couldn't say it out loud at this time.
"A crazy quest for knowledge."
Speaking of this, Xia De was also very sad:
"In fact, I once discussed this topic with that knight. He is the kind of person who is very much like a scholar, and his artistic attainments are also very high. However, he lacks some respect..."
“I’ve seen a lot of people like this.”
The doctor said as he and Shad walked up the last step and entered the top of the bell tower.
The moonlight shone in from the small window, and the light from the kerosene lamps in the hands of the two people was equally weak, making the atmosphere here like a scene from a third-rate horror novel. The top floor of the clock tower was not small, but only a quarter of it was open to people, and most of the area blocked by the black iron metal fence occupied the clock mechanism part of the main structure of the clock tower.
Huge gears, shafts and chains are rattling around at the top of the dark clock tower and behind the fence. They are powered by a steam engine in the basement of the clock tower, providing the city with accurate timekeeping. Everything will change, except time.