Shade was whispering with the young scholar about today's weather, Professor Katya was looking at the painting with great interest, and Lesia was fixing her hair.
It didn't take long before the gloomy-looking butler came back with another tall maid and invited the four of them to meet Mr. Jude in the study.
The maid I met for the first time looked about the same age as the male servant, with a plump figure, but also had a gloomy look on her face.
Xia De understands them very well. No matter who lives in such an old and depressing house, emotional problems are inevitable. Therefore, Xia De pays attention to the ventilation and sunlight problems in the house to prevent cats who are often at home from suffering from mental illness.
But at least there was no inexplicable bloodstain in Mr. Jude's house, and there was no obvious blood halo in the Echo of Blood.
Led by two servants, the group of four left the hallway, passed through the living room, and then walked up the stairs.
Not only the hallway area, but the entire house was dark. This might be a special habit of the ring wizards, after all, it is common for ring wizards to be mentally ill.
The living room was empty, with a few newspapers on the coffee table, and some extremely depressing oil paintings on the staircase wall. Unlike the paintings in the foyer, the paintings on the staircase mostly used cold-toned pigments and distorted patterns to fill the picture. But Professor Katya, who was among the group, was able to analyze the origins of those paintings. According to him, this was a unique local painting style in Coldwater Harbor. After being integrated with the abstract painting school a few decades ago, several abstract painting masters from Coldwater Harbor were born.
Finally, we arrived at the second floor. The humidity was still so strong. The four people who were preparing to put out their clothes were sorting their clothes. The male servant knocked on the door carefully and after getting permission, he opened the door and invited the four people in.
The door was opened, and the light of the gas lamp finally appeared in the study. The four people were uncomfortable because of the depressing atmosphere in the house. After looking at each other for a few times, the theoretically strongest reporter assistant "John Watson" walked in first.
It was an ordinary study room, with two closed glass windows on the wall opposite the door, through which one could see the dim sky when it rained outside. There was a low cabinet in front of the wall between the two windows, but there was no vase on the cabinet, but a stone statue instead.
It was not a mermaid statue, but a statue of a naked man with curly hair and a broken left arm. His right arm was bent and raised. At the foot of the statue was a stone fish biting the broken arm. Shad looked away after a glance. This strange work of art once again proved that Mr. Jude had an unusual personality.
On the right side of the room is an antique-style sofa set, and on the left side are three walls of brown solid wood bookshelves, which surround a desk, and sitting in front of the desk is Mr. Jude.
The gas lamp in the room was lit by the desk lamp on his desk. The light was not that bright and could only cover the desk and a small area around it.
Mr. Jude was a middle-aged man who was about the same age as Professor Katya, a little fat and bald. His facial features were not prominent, like a melted wax figure. He was wearing a white shirt and a black coat and sat behind the desk waiting for the four people. The desk was tidy and judging from the position of the items, the gentleman was supposed to be reading a book.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, please take a seat."
Unlike the servants who spoke with a tired tone, Mr. Jude spoke with confidence and bright eyes. He warmly invited the four people to sit down and talk, and the servants brought chairs for the four people to sit in front of the desk in an arc.
Leicia sat closest to the door, next to Shade, and further inside were two folklorists. The servants pushed a dining cart in, prepared tea for them, and then closed the door and left.
Leicia had an appointment to visit, and Her Royal Highness played a full role so that no one would doubt her identity. The two scholars came to visit rashly, but after hearing about their purpose, Mr. Jude also expressed his understanding and thought that the two things could actually be done together:
"You all want to hear me talk about the legends, nursery rhymes, and local folklore of the old town of Coldwater Harbor, so why not talk about it together?"
Leicia signaled Shade not to make any moves. The purpose of the two coming here was to confirm whether the other party had really expelled the curse. In the current state, it was not convenient to test it in the presence of ordinary people.
"Mr. Jude."
Leicia spoke first, holding a notebook in one hand and a pen in the other, looking very professional:
"We are here to ask you about the ancient illegal beliefs in Lengshui Port, which is related to the development of the old southern city. Lengshui Port has only developed in the last five hundred years, and it has only prospered since the discovery of the New World. But before that, there seemed to be some illegal beliefs among the local fishermen and coastal villages that are not recorded in professional historical documents. We are currently doing a special column on this topic."
“That’s a good question.”
Mr. Jude nodded, and Professor Katya beside him also said:
"In fact, this issue is also being studied in our research project."
He also took out his notebook to take notes.
"Lengshuigang City was actually built on the basis of three large fishing villages that originally existed in the area. This can be proven by the artifacts that have been unearthed so far. It was about 1,300 years ago. As for ancient beliefs, the three neighboring villages believed in three different gods in order to compete for the fishing rights near the coast."
Mr. Jude paused:
"Of course, these three gods are evil gods. They are hostile to each other, which has led to deeper conflicts among human believers. We don't know what happened in the ancient times, but those bloody and cruel wars must have been very terrible."
Mr. Jude picked up the paper on the table and wrote something, then pushed the paper to the people on the other side of the table.
Xia De stood up, picked it up, and passed it around among the four people.
Mr. Jude continued to speak, pressing the copper ring on his left index finger with his right thumb and index finger, turning it unconsciously:
"After Miss Princess wrote to me and told me that she would come to interview me, I also looked through the ancient books in my collection in advance. I have reason to believe that the gods believed in by the three fishing villages are related to the three patterns I drew for you."
"Is this the holy emblem of God?"
The young scholar asked curiously, and Mr. Jude smiled and shook his head:
"Of course not. Even if I knew the holy emblems of those gods that were identified as evil by the Church of the True God, I would not dare to draw them for you. What you see are the patterns I copied from the cultural relics in my collection. They are the pictographic writings of the names of those gods by people in the old times."
The three patterns are a tilted human body, a mermaid and a storm. Shad believes that they respectively refer to old man Edmund who guards the lighthouse, the evil god the God of the Drowned Deep Sea, the Lord of the Scarlet Spiral and the raging storm.
From the pirate ship, Shade already knew that the Mermaid Curse was related to the Lord of the Scarlet Spiral, one of the three evil gods. He wanted to test Mr. Jude's opinion on this god, but he didn't expect that it was Mr. Jude himself who mentioned it:
"I'm in the local antique business and have come across some information related to these three gods. Among them, the one I know best is the god represented by the mermaid. Professor Katya, I think you are familiar with the local tradition of mermaid worship and the legends of all sizes."
"certainly."
The professor of folklore pushed up his glasses:
"There is definite evidence that the tradition of mermaid worship existed before the establishment of Coldwater Harbor. We have cooperated with the school's archaeology department to conduct excavations near the coast of Coldwater Harbor. We have found human settlements dating back 1,300 years ago, as you mentioned. Similar patterns appeared on gold artifacts at that time. But there is no evidence to prove that this is related to the evil god, and the church is unwilling to provide any help."
The church certainly won't provide any help to ordinary people in studying evil gods.
"Yes, that's right. We have reason to believe that even in modern times, the belief in this god associated with mermaids still exists in this city."
Mr. Jude put his hands together and said to the reporters and scholars. He seemed to consciously say this at this time, and was very satisfied to see the surprised expressions of the visiting guests.
The antique collector smiled:
"Although it sounds a bit horrifying, I have always believed that the ancient fishing village family participated in the establishment of Coldwater Harbor and has always existed locally. They established the original Coldwater Harbor City and lurked in the shadow of Coldwater Harbor. Of course, this is just my personal opinion, and I cannot provide you with evidence."
"It doesn't matter. When I write the article, I will blur the source of this statement."
Leicia is still playing the role of a reporter, and she and Shad are very interested in what Mr. Jude says. Although the two scholars cannot use statements without evidence, this novel perspective can also play a role in the research report.
"I got some interesting stuff the other day that I can show you. Please wait a moment."
He nodded apologetically to the four of them and walked out of the room.
The scholars gathered together and discussed the previous topic in a low voice. Shade also tilted his head and talked to Leicia:
"At least from the current state, this person is not cursed. I have to touch his forehead or the location of his heart to confirm this conclusion."
"I'll give you a chance later. We'll leave right after we finish investigating. This old house is really weird."
Leicia also felt uncomfortable with this place.
But since it is the place where the ring wizards live, it is normal to have some weird things. For example, the place where Shad lives is a haunted house that is known as a haunted house in the church.
Two folklorists were talking quietly about mermaids. Their current research topic was the local ocean worship in Lengshui Port. The so-called ocean worship is a kind of nature worship, and starting from the perspective of mermaids and old gods could add at least one chapter to this topic.
Shade and Lecia also naturally joined in the discussion. The two scholars were knowledgeable and had deep insights into the customs of Coldwater Port and the tradition of nature worship that had been passed down for thousands of years.
So, after getting a hint from Leicia, Xia De led the topic to the direction of nursery rhymes, and then asked about the four lines of the nursery rhyme "Return from the Sea".
According to the analysis of Mr. Edmund, the lighthouse keeper, these four nursery rhymes correspond to a complete ritual. The mermaid song in the first sentence has already appeared, and the pirates related to the evil god in the second sentence have appeared, but they have nothing to gain because they accidentally met Shade.
Shad hoped to learn more from folklorists, but because they were not ring wizards, the scholars were unable to connect the nursery rhymes with the occult.
Professor Katya understands it from the perspective of ordinary people:
"The first line, the mermaid's song, refers to the sound of the horn before the pirates appeared; the second line is the original meaning, the pirate ship docked and plundered in the cold water port; the red ocean in the third refers to their killings dyeing the sea red; the last line, the girl walked into the ocean, refers to the pirates leaving with their harvest."
This analysis of the nursery rhyme is reasonable, but it is still limited to use the perspective of ordinary people. Shade wanted to talk more with Professor Katya about the local people's beliefs outside the Five Gods Church, but the male servant who walked in unexpectedly interrupted their conversation:
"Sir, Mr. Jude asked you to go upstairs and help him get some things. He doesn't want us to touch those precious antiques, so I'm taking the liberty of asking you to help him get them down."
He said to Xia De respectfully.
"I?"
Xia De pointed at himself in confusion, then turned to look at Leicia. Seeing the latter shook her head slightly, he directly refused:
"I'm sorry, but I can't leave this lady."
He put it very bluntly:
"Before I go out this time, the editor-in-chief asked me to stay with Miss Princess. Can we go upstairs together?"
"Why don't I go with you?"
The young scholar Lim Scott suggested, probably wanting to show off in front of the young girl with outstanding temperament. So Professor Katya also nodded:
"Then let's go upstairs together. It's the same when we go upstairs to see Mr. Jude's collection."
"this... ... "
The servant lowered his head and hid his face in the shadows:
"Excuse me, I need to ask the gentleman for instructions. Strangers are not allowed to approach the upstairs area casually."
The servant left the room quickly, and the four guests in the room all frowned. There was a strong wind and heavy rain outside, and the light of the only gas lamp in the room seemed to be much weaker.
Just now, the ringmaster Mr. Jude was in front of him, so Shade did not use magic in this room. Now that the owner of this room left, he blinked his eyes, and then he saw that the broken arm statue was actually full of red halo.
Then he listened again, and the echo of the past brought a voice from the other side of time to his ears:
"... So, don't kidnap ordinary people recently. The Sea Return Ceremony has begun, and we have transformed enough of our kind over the years to deal with various situations. Except for the ring sorcerers who were lured by the news I released, don't..."
It seems that this visit did not go very smoothly.