The purpose of this place is easy to judge, because the potion and alchemy laboratory that Shad set up for himself in the basement of No. 6 St. Teresa's Square is also like this.
However, compared with Shade's laboratory, the experimental instruments here were quite old. Judging from the materials, they were at least old things before the beginning of the steam age. Some of them were even worthy of being sent to museums. Among these now outdated old things, there lay a folded letter.
The letter was placed in a very conspicuous position on the laboratory table, and next to it were two stones with long-lasting luminescence properties, as if the author was afraid that later comers would not see it.
Xia De stepped over the ritual array on the ground, the effect of which was unknown. Worried that the letter was a trap, he carefully checked it before picking it up. He did not read the content first, but the signature first:
Thomas Granger
This was the first guardian that Shad met, the one who gave him the power of the earth in the Emerald Dream and whose body was left next to the statue of the ancient god in the White River Valley Vineyard.
"Before I came here, I lied to Earl Granger, saying that his great-uncle might have been to the old family cemetery. I didn't expect it to be true."
Xia De thought about it in his mind, and then carefully read the contents of the letter.
Latecomers:
Congratulations on finding this place.
This underground laboratory does not belong to me, it belongs to the ancestor of the Granger family, Ferrari Granger, who was born in 1405. I found the location of the laboratory in the old books of my family, and found the tomb robber who died here. The tomb robber probably lived around 1690, and when I wrote this letter, he had become an evil spirit, so I transformed him into a guard to protect this place. Please forgive me for doing this.
"So this is the guard he left behind. No wonder they can resist Silver Moon's power to a certain extent."
This laboratory is a symbol of a shameful history of my family. I am not the first Granger to discover the power of my family bloodline. According to the family genealogy, Ferrari Granger was born in 1405 and died in 1460. But in fact, he was still alive when the Randall River Valley earthquake occurred in 1498, and he secretly hid in the underground of the family cemetery to conduct his own research.
Shade frowned slightly. Since the great earthquake of 1498 was mentioned here, it meant that Ferrari Granger was related to it.
Thinking of this, he reached for the Mithril Cube in his pocket and immediately felt that as the cube vibrated slightly, new information appeared on it. However, he did not read the contents of the Mithril Cube, but continued to read the letter in his hand.
Yes, latecomer, I feel ashamed for this. The great earthquake in the Randall River Valley in 1498 was related to my ancestors. Ferrari Granger hid here, secretly studying the power of the earth, and accidentally induced the disaster during the experiment. I don't want to explain anything about this, but Ferrari Granger has died here, and his body was buried in the soil outside by me.
Being able to expel the guards proves that you are a capable person. As a reward, everything here will belong to you. I only took away a silver cube, which may be related to the earthquake. In addition to the worthless collections in the ancestral laboratory, I placed a gift for you in the box next to the letter. If you want to obtain my secrets, you can take the token in the box and go to my family to inquire about my information. That will guide you to find me. At any time.
The following is the signature. The letter is quite brief, but after Xia De finished reading it, he read it again from the beginning before putting the letter down:
"It turns out that the mithril cube that records many stories of the Randall Valley was not created by Mr. Thomas Granger at all, but was obtained by him from here. In other words, Mr. Thomas Granger ran away from home not long after visiting this cemetery... What exactly is this mithril cube? Mr. Thomas Granger left it at home, seemingly treating it as one of the clues to guide the next generation of guardians. Does he know what it is?"
Thinking in his heart, he finally took out the cube. After the "Forgotten Church", "St. Perry Cemetery", "Stonemason Guild Secret Room" and "Randall Valley Gold Mine", the fifth story about Randall Valley finally emerged:
The Great Randall River Valley Earthquake of 1498:
Legend has it that the gods shook the earth to punish the disrespectful on earth. But in fact, earthquakes are just a natural phenomenon. The 1498 earthquake in the Randall River Valley was a disaster that was inadvertently caused by a greedy and crazy mortal in pursuit of ancient secrets. The truth of the earthquake lies in Granger, and the secret of the earthquake lies at the foot of the land of repose and faith. This is not a good story, but it warns us to respect the power we don't understand.
"At the foot of the land of repose and faith, this directly indicates that it is underground in the cemetery church."
Xia De sighed softly, holding the cube, and looked at the ritual array of the lake not far from his feet. In the center of those lines, there was a square gap, which was quite similar in size to the cube.
"Um... ... "
Fortunately, his curiosity was not strong, and now the ritual array was seriously damaged, so it would be meaningless even if he tried, so he put the cube away again:
"Mr. Thomas Granger saw in this cube's ability to guide stories, and left it to future generations to follow in his footsteps. The method of use written on the note should also have been discovered by this gentleman. Since it can be opened by telling six stories, then I only have one last step left. What could it be?"
Thinking this, he picked up the box mentioned in the letter and opened it, and saw a silver pocket watch that no longer worked, a letter, and a small irregular piece of metal.
The pocket watch was Mr. Thomas Granger's personal belongings, and also a keepsake. The letter was written to his family, asking them to forgive him for leaving without saying goodbye, and asking them not to look for his message. It seems that Thomas Granger had already planned to leave home at that time:
"That means that his physical condition was already very bad because of the black mud."
The thumb-sized piece of metal with a bumpy surface looked like unpolished silver ore at first glance, but Xia De knew what it was after touching it:
"Mithril?"
This small piece of mithril was enough for Shad to pay all his tuition at St. Byron's from first grade to ninth grade graduation.
“It’s really generous.”
Shade put the small piece of mithril into his pocket, and the smile on his face could hardly be concealed.
Of course, he did not forget his purpose. He did not come here to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Thomas Granger and eventually become a guardian, but to find the gems left by the Butterfly Family.
There was no mention of this in Mr. Granger's letter. I don't know whether the original owner really didn't have it, or Thomas didn't find it, or took it away directly after finding it.
Xia De searched the basement with the idea of spending a whole day digging three feet deep and scraping up every wall. Then, three minutes after starting the search, he found the hexagonal golden gem in a small jar on the laboratory table that contained broken gems and rare minerals.
The scarlet gem below the memoir represents summer, the white gem given by Oxenfurt represents winter, and the golden gem in front of you represents autumn.
“Isn’t this too easy?”
Shade held the three gems in his hand. Judging from the size and carving craftsmanship, the golden gem found here was one of the four keys he was looking for. In this way, only the green gem representing spring had not been found.
"But why didn't Mr. Thomas Granger take it away more than 70 years ago? Did Ferrari Granger, who built this underground laboratory more than 300 years ago, discover the secret of this family heirloom?"
But no matter what, Shad is getting closer and closer to the secrets of the guardians.
After riding back to the city, Shad returned Mr. Thomas Granger's pocket watch and the letter with badly faded ink to Granger Manor, thus completing the Earl's commission.
It was only noon on this Monday, so Shad went home to have lunch with Mia, and then spent the rest of the day at home.
He was not lazy, but read Mr. Leiman's memoirs in its entirety, and learned about the peaceful but eventful life of this ordinary man who lived in the Fifth Epoch.
Because Xia De had had an important intersection with him in his life trajectory, he was more aware of how much impact the encounter between him and Mr. Laiman had on his entire life.
When he met with Resia at a secret club in the city and had dinner together, Shade told the story of this gentleman to the princess. The little princess sat at the table and eavesdropped. Resia was also curious about the life of ordinary men in the Fifth Era, but she was more concerned about another thing:
"He had three wives?"
Ajelina became more interested in the topic.
"Yes, they are all butterfly girls he brought out from the worm cave."
Shade touched Mia and said:
"This bloodline has not been cut off. According to what I learned from local folklorists, at least one-third of the locals living in the Randall Valley today can be considered descendants of Mr. Laiman. Butterfly's bloodline is rooted in that river valley. I even suspect that this is also the intention of the old god I met. She wants to use this to stabilize the land of the Randall Valley in the Sixth Era today."
"Why do you say that?"
Leicia asked curiously.
"Because of the butterfly bloodline, they can resist the petrification plague of the crazy land. I just learned from Miss Benannis today that the church is building files for the victims currently infected with the plague. When tracing the origin of the ancestors, I found that most of the current seriously infected people are not local aborigines."