"relation... ... "
Durut Giles smiled bitterly:
"Sir, whether you believe it or not, I was entangled. Yes, Miss Edwards, I entangled myself. I will explain it to the professor when I get to him, but I can assure you that I absolutely, absolutely did not bind anyone's soul."
As he spoke, the little girl's soul circled around him, as if it had discovered something interesting.
In order to prevent the weak man from dying on the road, Shade hired a carriage and returned with him to Cattail Lane where Professor Manning lived. The first thing he did when he entered the door was to tell the professor that an invisible soul had entered the door with them.
The professor was startled, but that was all. When he was young, he had traveled to various places in the Old World to do archaeological research and had seen everything. Compared to deadly things like relics, ghosts were just a small matter.
The three of them sat down in the living room of the professor's house, and the servants had prepared tea. Professor Manning was more concerned about Durrut Giles's health, who claimed that he should be able to recover, but in Shad's opinion, the curse was not as easy as he said.
"Before I start asking questions, we all need to be clear about one thing - tomb robbing is wrong."
Here is Shad's opening statement:
"I met a lady named Edwards in the Green Lake area. She was very angry about your behavior of leading people to rob her ancestors' tombs. Although the group of tomb robbers are all dead, you are still alive. I respect the professor and will not do anything to you, but I can't guarantee what she will do."
The man's lips moved and he sank dejectedly on the sofa:
"I know tomb robbing is wrong. But isn't that what archaeology is all about, excavating and finding new knowledge? Besides, I thought Edwards had no descendants."
"Archaeologists will not dig up graves that are still being guarded... I know that the general public has similar prejudices against archaeology and tomb robbing, but we are definitely not qualified, legal tomb robbers."
When talking about his profession, Professor Manning is quite serious:
"Young man, you've taken the wrong path. Turn back now."
And the floating soul clapped his hands happily:
"It's okay, it's okay, I don't care that Giles robbed my grave. I don't like that dark place, I like Giles!"
The spirit glowed slightly, indicating that she was in high spirits. She seemed to really like this man. Noticing the way Shade was looking at her, the spirit quickly floated behind the depressed man and hid, then showed her head and stuck out her tongue at Shade.
"First question: How did you find the hidden cemetery of the Edwards family? I only found it with the guidance of Edwards' descendants."
Shade asked, and Durut Giles sighed:
"I have a friend in the Glass City. Two years ago in the autumn, he sent me some old things that were said to be from the former lord's family in the Green Lake area. Such old things can be found in cities on both sides of Green Lake, and they are very valuable in the eyes of some collectors.
I originally just used it as evidence for my new paper, but I didn't expect to find a notebook among those old things. The blank part at the back of the notebook can be made to appear with a special revealing potion, which records the events of the cemetery. I was very surprised at the time and thought it was the old cemetery of the fallen ring wizard family, so I thought of trying my luck. "
This shouldn't be a lie:
"What on earth did you and those tomb robbers encounter on the island? Only one of your companions is still alive, but he is also crazy and can't tell us anything."
"That wasn't my companion. I hired him... We landed on the island at night. At first, there was just fog, endless fog that couldn't be cleared by any means. When we entered the cemetery according to the records in the notebook, everyone lost their sense of direction. Two people ran around in panic and got lost in the fog. The others waited for three hours before they returned to normal. But the mental state of those ordinary people was already very abnormal at that time."
As he spoke, a look of horror appeared on his face. The adventure left a deep impression on him. The girl's soul patted his back gently to comfort him, but she couldn't actually interfere with reality.
"I still hold the same view. Even as a tomb robber, you made the wrong choice. You young people who have been sitting in offices and schools for too long really don't understand anything."
Professor Manning shook his head, not knowing what to say.
Shade continued to ask:
"Then what?"
"After regaining our sense of direction, we entered the ossuary as planned, opened the coffin and took away the burial objects. Just as I thought, there was indeed knowledge of the Ringwitch in the tomb, and even a relic... But when I was picking up the burial objects and accidentally touched the body, I said, 'It's a pity that he died so young,' and then she appeared."
He looked helplessly at the soul beside him. Rust Edwards had his hands around his neck, looking like he wanted to strangle him.
"She wasn't as... human as she is now. This is the only adjective I can think of. She had no expression on her face at the time. She didn't look like a normal soul at all. Instead, she looked like some kind of automatically responding golem. I was afraid of getting into trouble, so I ignored her. After all, this kind of undead can't stray too far from their own bones. As long as they don't talk, they'll be fine. I looted the valuable burial objects, and then thought about quickly gathering those tomb robbers to leave. This island is weirder than I thought. But those guys who were under great mental pressure and blinded by greed wanted to find more things on the island, and they didn't even want me, the 'guide', to leave alone. So we had an argument and almost fought. Fortunately, as a ring sorcerer, I was able to suppress them."
Although his narration was simple, both Professor Shad and Manning could imagine the thrilling confrontation in the fog that night.
"While we were arguing, we woke up something on the island. Some invisible monsters that looked like humans attacked us, and we lost some people in our hasty escape. She left her own cemetery to protect us, otherwise there would be no way so many people would leave."
He looked at the soul next to him again. Rusty Edwards was laughing and clapping his hands, this time singing a folk song that no one could understand.
"We fled to the dock and boarded a ship to leave. Then when we escaped from the fog, we encountered water ghosts on the lake... Oh, this is probably the retribution I deserve. I have never seen so many undead in my life. They were lurking densely under the water, stretching their arms to try to pull everyone into the abyss. Hundreds? Thousands? No, I don't know. Even now, I still occasionally dream about that scene... She protected us, but only two of the three ships escaped. My pen was also lost at that time. I didn't even have the courage to go down to the lake to find it afterwards. After leaving the island and erasing the memories of the tomb robbers, I left the Green Lake area almost as if I was running for my life. I didn't even care what the tomb robbers took away."
He covered his face, his body twitching slightly as the horrifying memories came back to him.
Shade and Professor Manning looked at each other. The professor rubbed his temples and stood up to add hot water to Durrut Giles's cup. Shade looked at the empty air in the professor's eyes:
"He's done talking, now it's your turn. What happened to you? Why were you able to leave the island? Why did you follow him?"
But Rusty Edwards's spirit ignored Shade and hid behind Durrut Giles again, saying in a shrill voice:
"Giles, Giles, he's horrible!"
The man subconsciously made a protective gesture, and when he saw Xia De looking at him scrutinizingly, he said dejectedly:
"Let me answer. I have figured out some things in the past two years. She was able to leave the Devil's Island not only because she hated it, but also because of me. My core spiritual runes are very special: Enlightenment-Soul, Enlightenment-Fusion, Enlightenment-Guidance. This has greatly enhanced my own soul and allowed me to protect other souls. I am probably a natural master of the dead, but unfortunately I don't like corpses and souls... Oh, don't cry, I didn't say I don't like you... Rast has been with me for the past two years, and has gradually regained her sanity. She couldn't even speak before. I can see that she was originally controlled, and she got better after leaving the island.
She protected me back then, and I am willing to take her with me now, as atonement for my sins. And... I was cursed on the island, and even though I lost the wealth, knowledge, and the relic, the curse still haunts me. If she hadn't been by my side to help alleviate the curse, I would probably be dead by now."
“She’s amazing?”
Shad asked, and the professor looked at Shad in awe as he spoke to a ball of air.
"Yes, she is more powerful than any ring wizard I know, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to help us escape from the island. Although she can't speak very well, she is actually very smart."
The man pursed his lips and looked up at Xia De. This was the first time he and Xia De looked into each other's eyes. Xia De could see his vulnerability, fear and worry in his eyes:
"Sir, I can see that you are very interested in the Edwards family, but please don't delve into it any further. I once came into contact with Last's memories in a dream. The nightmare she formed out of her fear of her family and the island was very scary. The Edwards and the island are definitely not that simple. Her father, the first Lord of Edwards according to the records, was a man who could truly be called a devil."
He trembled again, and it took him a long time to utter words that shocked Professor Shade and Professor Manning:
"Rusted Edwards, in fact, was killed by her father. Yes, I saw that scene in my dream. From Rust's perspective, she was strangled to death by her father."