The two soon arrived at the entrance of the cemetery. Although it was in the wild far away from the village, the sultry summer night was not quiet at all. The wind brought the sounds of cicadas and the rustling of treetops to their ears, but they could not feel the coolness of the wind inside the hood.
Of course there are no obvious lights near the cemetery, but you can vaguely see the light of the gravekeeper's hut in the center of the cemetery.
The cemetery was surrounded by iron fences, and the paths were covered with dried mud because of the heavy rain a few days ago. It looked like the gates were locked, but when I got closer, I found that the two gates with spikes on the top were just tied together with iron chains.
Although it is a village cemetery, it looks relatively formal, probably because it is close to the city. After unlocking the chain and entering the cemetery, a straight road less than 30 steps long leads directly to the gravekeeper's hut in the center of the cemetery, while the rest of the cemetery is the graves of the past and present.
Unlike the hometown of the outsiders, according to the tradition of Delarion and the funeral regulations of the Tobesk region, the height of the grave mound cannot exceed the length of the thumb, but it is allowed to use long white stones to surround the edge of the grave on the ground to facilitate the identification of the location of the grave. Following Miss Louisa and looking at the cemetery under the moonlight, I could only see similar graves lying there, with some terrifying chill in the silence.
The styles of tombstones vary. Most of the small stone tombstones are embedded directly in the soil in front of the graves. This is a cheaper way of burial. Although Shade has never visited Detective Sparrow in the city's public cemetery, his grave is probably in this style.
A tombstone that can stand upright on the ground means that the deceased had something worth recording during his lifetime, or that his relatives were willing to pay for an expensive tomb. For example, if Shade himself died tragically, then with his current savings and the "Delarian Honorary Knight Medal" that he would soon receive, he would be eligible to have an upright tombstone.
"Hmm? What am I thinking about."
He asked himself silently.
After entering the cemetery, the temperature seemed to drop suddenly. The female voice in his heart once asked Xia De if he was afraid of ghosts. Although Xia De was not afraid, he still couldn't help but feel a little worried in this environment.
"However, in this mysterious world, visiting a cemetery at night seems to be a good storyline."
He was thinking to himself amusingly, but Miss Louisa suddenly stopped and looked to the left side of the road.
Xia De also looked over. Two long and two short white stones surrounded the grave. Then the moonlight made it clear that the tombstone said that the unlucky guy lying here died 24 years ago. The cause of death was that a peanut choked his trachea while he was eating breakfast. It was three days later when people found his body.
What was unusual was not the cause of death, but the fact that the stones on the tomb were shaking. But it was not an earthquake. Under the gaze of Shade and Miss Louisa, a rotten finger first stretched out from the mud, followed by the palm of the corpse with a foul odor that pierced the ground.
"Mr. Kopps, next time you might as well scare me with an evil spirit."
Miss Louisa shouted loudly towards the lighted gravekeeper's hut, and a match appeared in her right hand under her robe. She just twisted the match and shook it in the air, and the match head lit up.
Then he threw the burning match at the hand that stretched out from the tomb. Almost at the moment when the flame touched the rotting corpse, the fire flashed like fireworks. But it was only for a moment. When the light disappeared, only the smoke of the match rose from the ground. The tomb was intact, and the extinguished matchstick lay there quietly.
"Another little trick like this."
Miss Louisa commented unhappily, and then they both heard a bang. Turning around, they saw the door of the gravekeeper's hut opened.
Unlike what Shade had imagined, even in the village cemetery, the gravekeeper's hut was not a simple straw building that would collapse at the slightest gust of wind. This was a real stone house, with a dim kerosene lamp lighting the door. A skinny middle-aged man with a pale face, who looked like he had overindulged in sex, walked out of the light in the house and looked at the two people in black robes with some impatience:
"I knew it would not be a peaceful night. What do you want?"
Although he looks strange, the gravekeeper, Mr. Copps, speaks normally.
Miss Louisa pushed Shade, and Shade knew it was best not to stay here for long:
"A small bag of bone powder, a bone whistle made from human hand bones, two eardrums, thirty ears of corrupted blood, and a human-faced stone."
"Human Face Stone" is a stone material cultivated from corpses using special techniques. Rather than being a mineral, it is more like a kind of alchemical material, and it is also the most expensive of these materials.
"Have you brought enough money?"
The impatient middle-aged man asked. Xia De noticed that he was wearing a black apron, which made Xia De inexplicably think of a butcher:
"How much?"
"12 pounds."
“You can pay now.”
"Then wait a minute."
After a brief conversation, Mr. Copps returned to his cabin. The two people outside the door could hear him rummaging around. Not long after, he came out holding a paper bag.
He walked towards Xia De, and when they got closer, Xia De smelled a familiar smell of corpse (note), which was definitely a smell that was acquired from years of contact with corpses and could not be washed away.
After the money was exchanged and the goods were delivered, Mr. Copps returned to the hut and closed the door, without any intention of talking to the two men again. If he was running a normal store, he would never make a fortune with this attitude.
Even including the time Mr. Cops spent searching for the items, the entire transaction took no more than 10 minutes.
"Don't forget to put the chain back on when you leave."
These were his last words to the two of them.
Miss Louisa shrugged at Shade:
"He's always like this, don't be surprised."
After leaving the cemetery and entering the grove, Shad began to learn magic directly with the materials in his arms. He didn't want to walk around with all these things in his arms.
"Shad, you will come into contact with more ring sorcerers in the future. Then you will find that Mr. Kopps is definitely not the weirdest person."
This is Miss Louisa's evaluation of Mr. Kopps. She leaned against the tree and watched Shade checking the bag of bone meal. Among the three effects of the Thaumaturgical Soul Echo, the only active "psychic" requires a spell material, that is, bone meal. Fortunately, the amount used is very small, so this small bag is enough for Shade to consume for a long time.
Then he put the stones on his ears.
"But the ring sorcerers I met all seemed normal... ..except that Lazoya."
While Shade was talking, his main focus was on the human-faced stone in his hand. This strange stone was made from corpses, and according to alchemists, it has the ability to speak because it absorbs the broken souls. One of the steps in learning thaumaturgy is to listen to what the stone says.
As for bone whistles, eardrums and other miscellaneous materials, they are all used for auxiliary purposes.
"Detective, that's because most of the ring mages you come into contact with are those who are formally trained by academies and churches. Ring mages who are employed informally are more likely to lose control and have more eccentric personalities."
She said this and yawned. Seeing Xia De looking at her, she turned her head away with a slightly red face. Although she had taken off her hood, the moonlight in the forest was even dimmer, so Xia De could not see her expression.
"Why, haven't you ever seen a lady yawn?"
the blonde asked.
"... ... I've seen a lady burp."
Shad joked, and then he realized that the joke was inappropriate because Miss Louisa reached out and broke off a branch from above her head and threw it at him.
(Mi Mia is running...)
Sunday came again in the blink of an eye. When Xia De opened his eyes in bed, he couldn't help sighing in his heart that the week had passed so quickly since he started working at MI6 on Monday.
The most important thing today was to go to the royal estate outside the city to attend the commendation dinner in the evening. If it weren't for this, Xia De would have used the white stone crystal during the day to perform the first space teleportation.
Of course, he did not waste the day. After breakfast, he wrote another letter to his client, Mrs. Lemaire, to confirm more details about receiving the estate next week.
Then Captain Rades came to visit again. Although the captain did not receive any awards such as medals, he was also on the list of commendations, so he invited Shad to set off with him in the evening.
After seeing the captain off, I originally wanted to go out to mail a letter, then go to see Father Augustus, listen to the sermon at the Dawn Church, and at least become familiar with the church.
Unexpectedly, before he had even changed into his going-out clothes, Shad's boss, Mr. Anros, showed up.
He did not enter the house, but just stood in the hallway and talked with Shade:
"Hamilton, the situation has changed. You may not be able to receive the 'Derraion Honorary Knight Medal' as originally promised."
This gentleman must have been running in a hurry, and he was sweating profusely as he grabbed the door frame behind him.
"Why? Oh, please come upstairs with me and we can sit down and talk."
"No need to go upstairs. I have other things to do. You know, our department is never idle. As for your medal..."
He suddenly came closer to Xia De, his eyes widened but his voice was very soft:
"I heard the news. I will give you a reward greater than a medal."
Then the body returned to its original position, and the middle-aged man wiped the sweat with the back of his hand without caring about his image:
"Your house is really cool... So, be sure to arrive on time in the evening and dress appropriately. Don't be late."
"More important than a medal? The royal family wants to give me a title?"
Xia De was stunned for a moment and then asked in surprise.
"What good things are you thinking about?"
Mr. Anros smiled and waved his hand at him:
"What I heard may not be correct, but the Dawn Church has made great efforts. You are really smart to get support from the Orthodox Church. Oh, and the royal family. I don't know who it is, but someone is trying hard to help you win the reward. No, it's not Queen Diana or Miss Carina, but another important member of the royal family..."
He looked at Xia De, as if he wanted to get to know the young man in front of him again:
"In short, never be late at night. Remember, never be late."