"Sir, the flower girl you mentioned is very special. Although the humans of the Sixth Era considered her to be a Secret Keeper, and the humans of the Fifth Era did not consider her to be highly dangerous, if a fight really came to a head, we, in our heyday as relics, would not be able to defeat her. She is a very ancient being, very ancient, and can even be traced back to the time before the Old Gods left. However, she helped us in the Fifth Era."
Grace said, and then gave advice:
"My sister and I only possessed power in the Fifth Age, so we are not familiar with those ancient knowledge. Sir, the flower girl reminded us. If you want to explore the source of your bloodline, I think those more ancient beings should be able to help you. Your bloodline must be very noble, just as noble as your character."
Xia De was a little embarrassed:
"Don't say that to me, but I think my bloodline issue should be taken seriously. I will ask other people if I have the chance."
For example, "desire".
Although he still had some doubts that the specialness of his body came from the divinity in his soul affecting the materialized body, since Grace and Helen, who had seen many different gods, did not raise this possibility, Shad became more and more suspicious whether this body, which was born in the southern countryside of Draerion according to the background investigation of the academy and came to Tobesk because of refugee, was really as normal as he thought in the past in the blind and foolish first half of its life.
"No, now it is absolutely certain that there is definitely something wrong with this body."
Shad had nothing to do until the evening, so he used this afternoon to spend time with Helen and Grace.
He asked the Red Butterfly Girls whether they wanted to stay in Midhill Castle or go to other places like Tobesk or Randall Valley. They could all record the road signs by touching the ancient god statues, and Shade could summon them with the "Butterfly Summoning Flute", so in theory, Helen and Grace could go anywhere with Shade.
It can be seen that the twin sisters had already made plans for the "date", and the place they chose was the city of Tobesk, where they had been with Shad.
It was also the first time for the stranger to experience the early spring in Tobesk, so after returning home with Helen and Grace, he first visited Little Mia, who was taking a nap after eating cat food and stretched out her paw unhappily when he touched her. Then he and the two sisters, who were wearing large beige sun hats decorated with artificial flowers, prepared to go out.
But by coincidence, the client who had not appeared for a long time actually knocked on the door downstairs this afternoon before Xia De was about to go out. Xia De originally wanted to turn down the job, but the twin sisters thought it would be fun to be a "detective" with Xia De:
"Instead of wandering around the city aimlessly, it's better to find something for yourself to do."
Grace, who was wearing a white dress, suggested.
So, Xia De listened to the commission explanation about the "prank knocking incident in Tom's Alley in the north of the city" in the living room on the second floor. This matter was not complicated. Tom's Alley in the north of the city was a narrow alley commonly seen in the city, but it was also the location of the back door of the warehouse and transportation company building where bulk goods were traded in the north of the city.
Since last week, the iron gates in the alleys that were often not opened for several weeks have been frequently knocked from the alleys, but every time people open the door to look, there is no one knocking. The annoyed people have asked the police to investigate, but the police in Redwich Square are not concerned about this trivial matter where no one died or major property was lost.
So, the building owners with back doors on Tom Lane banded together, paid some money, and sent representatives to find the city's "famous detective Hamilton", hoping that Shad could help with the investigation.
There was no problem with the details of the commission. After signing the contract and sending off the lawyer who acted as the middleman and the client, Xia De started today's work with the twin sisters.
They looked very excited, and discussed the details of the case with Shade on the carriage heading to the scene. After the three of them got off the carriage at the entrance of the alley that exuded a strange stench and seemed to be used as a garbage alley, they complained about the smell again, and then pushed Shade in together.
In fact, this case was quite simple, because soon after they entered the alley, they saw a vengeful spirit with only the upper body left, appearing by the wall in the daytime with plenty of sunlight.
As the powerful vengeful spirit appeared, the white mist instantly spread. As the long-drawn wailing sound rang through the ears, a cold wind from an unknown source blew through the alley, the light suddenly dimmed, and everything around seemed to melt into the mist.
Suddenly, Shade thought he was back in Midhill Castle.
"The boundary between life and death at Mohu! It's the boundary between life and death again."
The ghost crawled towards Xia De and the other two. Then, the fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls who seemed to be afraid of ghosts screamed and hid behind Xia De, laughing and pulling his clothes, looking forward from his side:
"Oh, sir, it's a ghost!"
Helen also said this, which reminded Shad of her performance by the sunny stream when he met her again in the Sikar Mountains.
"Don't worry, I will protect you."
So Shade also said, and while holding up his palm, a spinning wheel of light with spikes appeared. But he hesitated for a moment, and finally threw out a silver ring of imprisoned light.
Things were much simpler after that. No matter how special the opponent was, his movements were completely restricted by Xia De's magic, which had already reached the sixth ring.
The twin girls were very scared and clung to Shad's back, then followed Shad towards the dead.
"Moonlight Slash!"
Xia De did not use his full strength, but only severely damaged the enemy in front of him. Then he stretched out his right hand towards the weak soul:
"Guide to death."
Because of the direct touch, the resentment of the evil spirit was resolved, and the story of this broken soul also emerged in Xia De's mind.
Simply put, he was dismembered and buried in the alley and in a building adjacent to the alley. The daily knocking on the door was only because his soul, after being restless on the brink of life and death, had revived and instinctively wanted to find his severed lower body.
Originally, this soul had no ability to attack humans and could only barely knock on the door to make sounds, but it suddenly became stronger this afternoon.
It seemed like the "edge of life and death" hidden here changed in the afternoon, but Shad understood that the characteristics of Helen and Grace's "twins of disaster" had not completely disappeared.
Xia De was just an ordinary detective, so of course he couldn't tell his client that there was a ghost here, and he couldn't tell the church directly about what happened here. According to his investigative habits, the next step was to find the remaining half of the body, and then tell the police about the discovery of the two parts of the body.
It had been at least ten years since the ghost died, so it was impossible to rely on the echo of blood to find clues. This was not a basement that had not been visited for many years, and those traces had long disappeared. As for the ghost itself, it didn't know where the rest of its body was, otherwise it wouldn't have knocked on every door.
The dumbest way is to go to the police station and ask about the missing persons cases in the past decade or so, but the "timid" girls have provided other methods:
"Souls have gravity, especially separated souls. This gravity will attract them to gather together. The farthest distance cannot prevent them from meeting."
Helen said, holding Shad's arm, while Grace was on Shad's other side. She stretched out her empty left hand, and a transparent red butterfly flew out from her palm and then landed on the broken soul.
The red butterfly seemed to become more solid after it touched the soul, and it led the three of them away from the edge of life and death. Then, it fluttered into one of the doors in the alley, and Shade opened the door and slipped in with Helen and Grace.
So, on this ordinary and peaceful afternoon, they solved the "Ursula Warehouse Murder Case" together. The murder case itself happened about 17 years ago. Two accountants of the warehouse had a dispute because of a disagreement in accounting. One of them died as a result. When the body fell from the upper floor, it hit a sharp object and broke into two pieces.
One part was buried in an alley that was filled with stench all year round, and the other part was too small to handle, so it was buried in the corner of a warehouse.
Now, 17 years have passed and the murderer has long disappeared, but at least the body has been found and the case has been discovered, which can be regarded as solving a missing person case from many years ago.
Of course, words like hauntings would never come out of the mouth of the famous detective Shad Hamilton, who was known for his reasoning and wisdom. He just went to the police station that afternoon to report the discovery of the body, and when he brought the police back, he found the lawyer who acted as the intermediary for the client and explained what had happened.
On the other side of the alley was the busiest commercial street in the northern part of the city. The church priest came quickly after hearing the news and asked the police to completely close the alley. Xia De did not directly tell the merchants about the haunted incident, but the actions of the police and the priest still confirmed the superstitious people of that era.
In short, Xia De successfully received his commission and was thanked:
"But the guy who knocked on the door has not really been caught yet. I don't really believe in speculations like hauntings. If there are people knocking on the door again, you can come to me and I will handle it for free."
But the businessmen who were surrounding the priest and the police, eager to get a reassuring answer, could not care about him now. It didn't matter whether Shade believed in ghosts or not, because Shade didn't live here or work here, but most of their assets were nearby.
"Is your job always this interesting, sir?"
On the way home, Helen asked Xiang Xiade with her hands behind her back and a smile.
"In fact, most of my commissions are about finding cats and dogs. Most of the commissions that detectives take on are related to infidelity. Cases like today are rare."
In fact, the twin girls didn't care about the case at all. The most important thing was to have more common memories with Shade. They didn't take a carriage back, but walked home. When passing by the North District Hymn Square, Shade took them to the Three Cats Inn to sit for a while and listen to the bard singing about heroes and love.
By the time I finally got home, it was already dusk. The sun was setting, and the dim yellow sunset had sunk below the horizon.