At this point in the conversation, Xia De, who was holding his wine glass with a frown on his brow, couldn't help but think of more things.
There is indeed a manor on the island in the middle of the Pantanal Swamp. What is very magical is that the only relatively intact buildings on the island are the manor and the old lighthouse in the northeast. Before the Battle of Pantanal, when Shade and Yin Luna passed through the manor, they clearly saw a group of undead in the manor.
It’s strange to think about it now. At that time, the demigod witch who appeared under the influence of the Word of Sublimation fought so fiercely with the evil creature in Pantanal. The ground fissure caused by the power of the evil creature itself almost destroyed the entire island, but the damage to the manor was almost negligible.
However, people's focus was on the evil creatures and the aftermath of the battle, and no one paid much attention to the manor on the island.
"Are all the correspondence between Thomas Granger and the Farmer family on that island deep in the swamp?"
He asked quietly, and Mr. Granger shook his head slightly:
"I don't know about that, but people didn't find those letters anywhere else. In the blink of an eye, that was almost a hundred years ago. Sometimes I really want to sigh about the passage of time."
He looked at Prince William, who was dancing in the middle of the crowd. The prince was two years older than Margaret, but still unmarried. He was considered the hottest bachelor in Carsonrick:
"I can still talk to you about this now, but who will be able to remember these names and stories in a few decades or hundreds of years?"
He raised his head and drank the red wine:
"This is probably the meaning of family. Only family can remember every departed individual. Not many people know the name of great-uncle Thomas Granger now, but the family will remember him... just like my descendants will remember me. The Randall River Valley is where the family spreads. In the spring when butterflies fly, the sprouting earth will remember the buried people. May the earth be with you and me."
Xia De didn't know whether the earl made such an exclamation because he was drunk.
The Count still had to entertain the guests as the host, so Shad did not continue to disturb him, but returned to Miss Benannis and Margaret's lounge with the next clue.
But the two ladies were not in the room at this time. Fortunately, Shade found the princess's maid and learned that they had left the room ten minutes ago and walked in the courtyard. Shade guessed that the witch probably had something to say to her prospective apprentice, so he didn't care.
It was only eight o'clock in the evening, and it seemed a bit impolite to leave rashly now. Xia De wanted to find something to do, but continuing to play Rhodes cards would attract too much attention. After thinking it over, he decided to go to the courtyard to look for the two people, and hoped that he did not disturb their chat.
It is now the end of the first month of 1854. The coldest period of winter has ended. In about three weeks, the weather will quickly warm up, but this does not prevent it from being very cold tonight.
Xia De intended to go out from the main entrance of the building, so he entered the banquet hall again and tried to pass through. However, before he could get close to the door, he saw it opened, and a man wearing a patched black coat, who definitely did not look like an invited guest at the Earl's banquet, slipped in through the crack of the door.
His whole body was bulging, he pushed the door with his right hand, put his left hand in his pocket, and lowered his head when he entered, letting the black brim of his hat cover his face.
When he looked up at the banquet hall, he looked at Xia De for a moment, but then looked away. Because he was just an ordinary person, although he looked suspicious, Xia De did not approach him.
However, Xia De still stopped and watched the other party quickly enter the banquet hall where the dance was being held. When the people around him also noticed that there was something wrong with his clothes, the man who rashly broke into the banquet finally took his left hand out of his pocket.
"What kind of gun could it be?"
Xia De thought to himself.
A pistol of a model that Shad could not identify was pointed at Prince William of Anjou in the center of the crowd, while the prince had his back to him because of the circle of his dance.
Peng!
As loud gunshots and exclamations were heard, the prince's servants had already rushed forward.
Just as Shade expected, the hastily fired shot didn't hit anyone. The man who fired the shot yelled and fired again, but the prince, who was protected by the servants and bent over to avoid the bullets, was now safe.
His Royal Highness's attendants and guards were quite capable; although they could not knock down ten strong men at once and kill them in 0.2 seconds, they successfully prevented the man who fired the gun from pulling the trigger a second time.
The loyal guards and servants threw him to the ground like a human pyramid, snatched the pistol, and pressed him firmly to the ground. At least five men taller than Shade piled up on him, and others bound his hands and feet with handcuffs and ropes. The owner of the manor, Earl Granger, stood on the sofa and shouted for everyone not to move, and warned no one to take out a weapon at this time, while the sound of whistles sounded outside the manor. The whistles continued, indicating the urgency of the situation.
Such an assassination plan is far inferior to the assassination of Queen Diana last summer. Whether it is Carsenrick or Delarion, there are always one or two similar incidents every year, but this time the target is Prince William of Anjou.
He was not the eldest prince of the United Kingdom of Carsenrick, so the waves caused by this incident would not be as great as the assassination of Queen Diana in Tobesk last summer.
Shade stood aside, watching with the other anxious guests as the man who tried to murder the prince was tied up tightly. Before he was gagged, he continued to curse and express his hatred for the Angevin royal family in an extremely excited manner:
"You are a bunch of evil dogs who don't pay back the money you owe me. Now I have no family and everything I have lost. Why don't you pay up?"
By piecing together all the information, we can guess his identity. The man is a stonemason in the Stonemason Association who was owed wages from 20 years ago. In an accident 20 years ago, his right hand was disabled and he could not earn money to support his family. This is worthy of sympathy, but no one dared to comment on it at this time, or comment on the nature of this assassination.
And Shade was a little suspicious, whether this incident was related to MI6, or was it just an accident caused by a simple personal conflict. After all, if William Anjou really died here, then the opening of the Randall Valley Shipyard and subsequent events would not be so smooth.
But no matter what, this matter had nothing to do with Shade. But he was a little worried about Margaret's safety, so before saying goodbye to the princess that night, he specifically reminded her of safety issues. Although a five-ring warlock would not die from a single shot, he was not truly immortal after all.
There were more and more things on hand. He had come to Randall Valley with the main mission of "finding the time key", but now he had not found the time key and was trapped by other complicated things. But at least Xia De knew what the most urgent problem was, so early Thursday morning, he waited in the alley next to the Blackstone Security Company and called Yin Luna when she passed by.
"Oh, Shad!"
The 17-year-old girl was wearing a brown trench coat with large buttons and a decorative belt at the waist. The hem of the trench coat was just at the knee, allowing Xia De to see the brown women's boots that were almost the same color as the trench coat.
Yin Luna subconsciously pulled her red scarf. She saw Xia De holding the newspaper and looked very happy:
"What's the matter with you calling me so early in the morning... Did something happen with Luvia?"
She immediately became nervous again.
"No, no, I want to explore the manor on the island in the middle of Lake Pantanal. There are some things I need to verify. Currently, the only ones who can use the space maze are you and Sister Defulin, but I don't want to disturb the nun. Do you have any questions..."
“There’s time!”
Before Xia De even finished speaking, Yin Luna immediately said:
"Are you in a hurry? If you are, I will ask for leave now."
"No, no, let's go tonight. I'm worried that if we go during the day, the souls in the abandoned noble manor will hide and won't come out. I came to you because I thought that if I go alone at night, I might run into danger and I might not be able to solve it."
At present, the power of the Pantanal evil creatures still remains in the island. Except for high-level warlocks, no one else in the church will easily go to the island, so going there at night is to avoid being discovered.
"No problem. I'll meet you at your house after get off work. Oh, how about dinner together? I can treat you."
She boldly made the invitation, and after Xia De nodded, she tried not to smile too brightly:
"See you tonight then, Shad, hope everything goes well."
Yin Luna Bei Yasi, perhaps never wanted the day to pass quickly so urgently.
Although they had agreed to go to the island in the middle of Lake Pantanal that night, Shad did not waste the daytime. He did not go far in the morning because a long-lost client came to his house and asked "Detective Hamilton" to find his lost pet cat.
This kind of commission was extremely easy for Shad. Before lunch, he found the black short-haired cat hiding in the corner, which seemed to be frightened by the carriage. For this reason, Mia "disdained" him for a long time when he returned home.
At noon, I took Mia to Midhill Castle for lunch. The old witch and Miss Swift welcomed Shade's arrival. During the meal, Shade also asked Grandma Cassandra whether Miss Aurora had obtained the information about the ritual - contact with the earth-shaking worm, but it seemed that the situation was not very optimistic.
After all, that was the information about the ritual of summoning gods. Even if the cult was in decline, it was not something that could be obtained simply by asking.