"Then Mr. Watson, would it be okay if the story is called 'The Heart of the Ocean'?"
Miss Princess suggested, her hair fluttering slightly in the ocean breeze.
"sure."
Xia De nodded, then coughed:
"Then I'll start. This is a true story that happened not long ago, maybe..."
The story of the sinking of a large ship that has been circulated in my hometown for a long time can actually be told without changing many details. After all, the era in which the story is set is not much different from the present.
Facing the sea breeze and looking at the scenery of Coldwater Harbor gradually disappearing into the distance, Shad told the story slowly and Miss Princess rested her hands on the railing, listening and gazing at the sea.
Her long golden hair swayed slightly in the wind. She had just wanted to kill time before the auction and find an excuse to have a drink with Shade. But when Shade's story ended, the young girl no longer cared about drinking.
"... She threw the sapphire necklace into the sea. The sea swallowed it, just like the sea swallowed her lover on that disastrous night many years ago. Watching it disappear without a trace, the white-haired old woman seemed to have returned to that night many years ago, to that ship. She turned back into the young blonde girl, and together with the man beside her, she walked into the ballroom with the melodious sound of violin."
Shade ended the story with his voice gradually fading away. He was moved by his own story and admired his storytelling ability, which is one of his strengths. A good story is full of charm in any world.
I turned to look at my companions, but unfortunately, they were wearing masks, so I couldn't see the expression of the girl in the blue dress. I could only see her beautiful eyes:
"That's it, how's the story?"
"very nice."
The voice was normal, and there was no emotion in it. Perhaps Miss Princess was not deeply touched:
"Do you... often tell stories to girls in this way?"
She asked in a low voice into the wind.
"What?"
"No, nothing."
The girl, whose hair had faded and red could already be seen at the ends, shook her head slightly and then looked back at the sea:
"Well, you don't have to drink. I admit that this is a very good love story, very beautiful... Although, I suspect that you omitted some content in the middle. For example, when you mentioned the plot of painting, it was obvious that you skipped some content, making the story incoherent."
She glanced at Xia De, and seeing that Xia De didn't react, she sighed:
"For someone like me who is dying, it's great to hear stories like this."
"Don't say you're dying. There's definitely a way to eradicate the curse."
Xia De had to speak now. Although he had only known Miss Princess for half a day, he already regarded her as a friend and didn't want anything to happen to her:
“But this is not the story I wrote.”
Even if no one could expose him, Shad would not claim other people's stories as his own, otherwise he would not even be able to face Mia:
"I heard this story from someone else. It's a long-standing local story."
"I hope this is just a story and not a real thing, otherwise it would be too sad. I really hate tragedy... Of course, I also admit the charm of tragedy."
Miss Princess took a deep breath, as if to get rid of all the bad emotions:
"After the auction, we will separate, and perhaps we will never have the chance to meet again in this life. Mr. Watson, since we have the honor of meeting each other today and coming here together, why can't we enjoy the banquet?"
"Why, do you want to experience standing on the bow of a ship, like in the story?"
As he spoke, Xia De opened his arms and gestured. The masked girl smiled:
"No, there's no beautiful sunset shining on the sea now, and there's no band playing the off-tune song you hummed. If there's a chance, use my boat... I mean, the auction will start in fifteen minutes. Would you like to dance with me?"
She extended her right hand to Shade, and because this was not a formal banquet, she did not wear gloves. The white hand was raised in the air:
"Want to dance?"
Xia De thought about it and thought that although the other party seemed calm, he was still affected by the emotions when he just listened to the story:
"Of course."
He raised his right hand and let Miss Princess's hand rest on his own:
"If you don't mind, I have no problem with that. But, just one dance."
He emphasized that he was actually not very willing to dance with strangers because it felt weird.
"Just one will do. I thought you would refuse because you can't dance."
Miss Princess said with a smile, then she let go of Shade's hand and turned around by the edge of her skirt. The blue skirt spread out like a flower, and she turned back to look at Shade:
"Don't go to the crowded places over there, just stay here, you can hear the music here too."
"no problem."
Xia De nodded and did not forget to explain:
"I'm not good at this. I'm just a beginner in dancing. Not long ago, I attended a very important banquet and there were two beautiful girls teaching me how to dance. At that time, I stepped on them several times."
If she wasn't wearing a mask, Shade would have been able to see the expression on the face of the girl who called herself "Miss Princess". However, through such a test, Shade almost understood who the other party was. However, in this way, the relationship between "Miss Princess" and Miss Writer was a little too outrageous.
He planned to expose the noble girl after the cruise ship safely docked. Now almost everyone knew the truth, but no one pointed it out. The strangers who were eager to hear more stories and the princess who relaxed herself with little jokes all wanted to quietly enjoy this peaceful "Coldwater Harbor Holiday".
The sound of the orchestra came from the other side of the deck. The two people dancing in the night breeze actually heard the loudest sound of the waves beside them.
Although Shad had learned dancing from Luvia and Iluna, he was still not very skilled. Fortunately, Miss Princess took good care of him. Even when Shad was clumsy and almost stepped on the young girl's shoes, she just laughed and didn't care at all.
Neither of them spoke during this time, but quietly enjoyed the moment. When the dance stopped and Shade let go of her hand, Miss Princess actually paused for a moment before letting go, allowing Shade to step back:
"Yes, you are not much of a dancer."
She said jokingly:
"The feeling you gave me just now was like a clumsy elephant carefully avoiding banana peels on the ground."
After saying that, without giving Xia De a chance to speak, he pointed to the other side of the deck:
"Let's go. The auction is about to start. By the way, do you have enough gold pounds? I brought a bill of exchange."
"I brought a lot of cash."
Shad replied.
"Yeah?"
Miss Princess looked at his clothes, wondering where the "large amount" of cash that Shad mentioned was hidden.
The auction was held at the front of the deck, with wooden boxes stacked up to form a wall, so that the only way to enter the front of the deck was through the guarded entrance between the boxes. Only guests with special invitations could participate in the auction, which was to prevent people with ulterior motives from sneaking onto the cruise ship and to prevent ordinary people from mistakenly entering the auction.
There were at least a hundred guests on the deck, but including Shad and Miss Princess, only twelve made it to the auction.
Loose benches were placed on the deck, and people wearing masks chose places far away from strangers to sit. Most of them came alone, and there were few like Shad and Miss Princess.
Time was limited, so there wasn't much nonsense before the auction. In the sea breeze, the old man with a white beard briefly explained the rules of the auction, and then the auction finally started.
There were eleven items in total at the auction, five of which were relics, one was an antique slate from the Fifth Age, one was a potion, two were alchemical items in the shape of pistols, and the last was two old books. One was related to the spirit rune soul, and the other was a study notebook of a seventh-ring warlock who died in the New World.
There was no inventory list before the auction, and people could only know what the items were when they were taken out, so it took a lot of effort to inspect and look at the goods.
The total number of relics recorded in the book was only in the five digits, so the fact that five of them appeared in this auction was a big deal. Among the five relics, three were poet-level, one was clerk-level, and one was keeper-level. But unfortunately, there were no coins that Xia De needed, nor anything that Xia De was interested in.
Miss Princesses, on the other hand, was interested in the Secret Keeper-level relic, the Sand of Time, which, when thrown out, could slightly affect the flow of time in the surrounding area. But because there was competition, when the offer was raised to 460 pounds, Miss Princesses gave up. This kind of relic sounds interesting, but it has no practical value, and most people buy it for research.
Xia De did not buy the relics, but he became interested in the antique slate. The slate was half a person's height and was from ancient relics excavated in the New World. It recorded a rain-making ceremony in the southern continent at the end of the Fifth Era. The words on the slate were not deciphered, but when Xia De was viewing the items, he completely recorded this large-scale rain-making ceremony that required hundreds of people to participate.
In this case, the stone tablet was of no use to him, and he had obtained useless knowledge for free through a small trick.
The most sought-after item at this auction was not the five relics, but the potion. The potion was contained in a flat glass container, showing a very luxurious purple glow. It was called "The Ringwitch's Grace". Within an hour after drinking it, the soul would become extremely sensitive, and the probability of obtaining spirit runes through reading, touching, and perceiving would be greatly increased, and the possibility of contacting beings that were not normally visible would also increase.
In other words, this potion with huge side effects can effectively improve the efficiency of obtaining spirit runes. Even though this improvement is very slight, this potion is still sold at a high price of 210 pounds, which is higher than the price of the lowest-priced poet-level relic.