In the past half week, the police in Coldwater Harbor have often had gunfights with monsters that cannot be told to the public. Most of the fishmen with strong self-healing abilities have firearms, and before the arrival of the ring wizards, the local police could only use firearms to fight back.
Coupled with the fact that more and more ring warlock organizations have entered here, the nights in Coldwater Harbor have become noisy.
The fishbone pirate ship continued to appear in the coastal area of Coldwater Harbor, and one of the eleven ring sorcerers who escaped from the ship with Shade and the princess was found by the church. But unfortunately, the other party was a middle-aged woman, not Shade's target.
Princess Leixia also relied on the intelligence department of Coldwater Harbor City Hall and the MI6 branch in Coldwater Harbor to find a target. This person was a man, but unfortunately, if Leixia could find him, other organizations could also find him.
Before the princess showed up, at least three middle-ring warlocks raided the police station at Coldwater Harbor Pier, killing the unlucky second-ring warlock and an ordinary policeman who was implicated for no reason on the spot.
This greatly angered the church and the city hall. Even the king in Tobysk heard about the tragedy at the Coldwater Harbor Pier and ordered the local governor to find the murderer as soon as possible.
In addition, there was some news that even Leicia could not determine the authenticity of, which was spreading in the increasingly dangerous Coldwater Port.
For example, word got out on the black market that someone was offering a huge reward of 1,000 pounds for each piece of information in the search for the Ringwitch who escaped from the Fishbone Pirate Ship; for example, traces of mermaids appeared off the coast of Coldwater Harbor, and they were not the ugly fishmen of the evil god's clan, but real mermaids of an alien species; for another example, the professors sent by the three major colleges to Coldwater Harbor to resolve the "Coldwater Harbor Shadow" incident had a fierce fight with an unknown group of Ringwitches in the offshore area on Sunday morning, which directly affected the weather in the past two days.
Excluding those uncertain news, the current situation is that, excluding the outsider and the princess, among the eleven ring sorcerers who escaped, one died, the church found three, and now there are seven left whose identities are unknown.
The high-level sorcerers of the church have arrived, and professors from the three major schools of thaumaturgy have also settled down in the local area. The bad news is that it will be more uncertain for Shade to find the target before them, but the good news is that there is no need to worry about the "Shadow of Coldwater Harbor" incident.
"Ms. Xiwei Aurora, is she in Coldwater Harbor now?"
While Leicia was explaining the situation to Shade, Shade suddenly asked.
The princess nodded in surprise:
"Why did you mention her all of a sudden? Yes, that business woman came to this city two days ago and is planning to hold a dinner party at Aurora Manor tomorrow night. She even gave me an invitation. Why do you want to go too?"
"Of course not."
Xia De immediately shook his head. He was already hiding from the witches, so how could he possibly run into them
"I have to go to class tonight and tomorrow night. It's Professor Garcia's class, Folding Space, which focuses on large-scale ritual mazes. The class starts at six in the evening. There are two classes and four hours. There is no break time, so the get out of class ends around nine o'clock."
"It doesn't matter. The party should be in full swing at nine o'clock."
Leicia said with a smile again, but Xiade still shook his head and said that he would never go to such a place.
Taking advantage of the time, Shade told Leicia about the Tree Kiss that he had told Dorothy in the morning. Even though the princess was one level higher than Dorothy, she couldn't listen to Shade's story completely. But Leicia's opinion on the Tree Kiss Spirit Rune was similar to Dorothy's.
It would be difficult for Shad to find a magic spell that matched this spirit rune. He would probably have to create one on his own, or try to transform the key of the same magic spell gate into a magic spell, but neither would be easy. Leicia also planned to help Shad find information from the Zaras Academy of Literature, which was proficient in magic and spell research, but she didn't have much hope for this.
"By the way, do you still remember Professor Katya?"
It seemed that Leicia deliberately left this matter to last.
"Of course I remember. After all, we rarely encounter folklorists who are good at using two guns."
Xia De nodded and looked at the steaming teacup in front of him:
"I remember when we returned to Sofia's mansion last time, you mentioned that you would let them go free after making them forget about the fishmen."
"Yes, but after you left that day, I asked some interesting questions. I know Mr. Jude, and it was my spy who received the information deliberately released by the other party, but the two folklorists went to see Mr. Jude. Guess who introduced them?"
Leicia asked, holding her face with one hand, looking at Shade with her beautiful eyes, the corners of her mouth slightly raised, revealing a smile.
Shade thought about it and frowned. He heard something in Mr. Jude's mansion with the echo of the past. Mr. Jude clearly asked the fish people to stop abducting ordinary people. So it was a coincidence that the two scholars, who were ordinary people, happened to appear at that time.
"Who is it?"
"A ring mage, a ring mage who was infected with the curse like me. He also heard the news released by Mr. Jude, but unlike us going directly to see him, the people behind the scenes sent two ordinary people to explore the way first."
"Did they escape from the Fishbone Pirate Ship? Or were they local victims who touched the mermaid statue?"
"It's one of the remaining seven, and we've seen him."
Leicia said softly.
"Mr. Darkness? The guy who changed the cards when he played cards with me!"
Xia De stood up at once, and the princess nodded with a peaceful smile:
"Yes, I know you are focusing on finding him, so I spent a lot of effort these days to find Mr. Darkness following the clues provided by Professor Katya. I received the news last night. The other party thought that the old street occupied by the fishmen had been destroyed by the church before the professor went to see Mr. Jude, so he did not suspect that the person who contacted him in the past half week was actually my man."
"Where?"
Shade spoke very fast.
"Oh, Xia De, don't be impatient. My father always told me that being impatient will only increase the probability of bad results. I know you don't want the church to find him first, so I haven't alerted them yet."
She motioned for Shade to sit down:
"He is deliberately hiding his identity, not because of the curse, but because he seems to be worried about being discovered by the church. Mr. Darkness is probably not a good person."
"It doesn't matter if he's a good guy or not, I just want to meet him."
Shade said, and Leicia nodded:
"There are more than ten companions around him. I'm not sure if they are ring sorcerers, but the probability is very high, so my people didn't rashly look for information. If you want to see him, go to this address. Oh, I also know that this group of people are waiting for the ship to the New World."
The bartender at the Seven Broomsticks also mentioned this.
She handed Shade the bag of documents, which were preliminary investigations conducted by the princess.
"I can't risk it with you today, Shade."
While Xia De was looking through the documents, the red-haired girl said rather melancholy:
"My father has urged me to return to Tobesk. I will probably leave after the sea is sent back. In the next few days, I will meet with the nobles who are seeing me off at Coldwater Port, attend a local public meeting to say goodbye to the citizens, and also attend several banquets."
"It's okay, I can handle these things myself."
Xia De flipped through the documents and said that he actually didn't want to involve Leicia in the affairs of the chosen ones:
"I will probably be in Coldwater Harbor for a day. I will come back in the evening to say goodbye to you before leaving."
"Okay, then I wish you a smooth trip today, Shade. Oh, my maid will put on your makeup in a while, and then arrange for the servants to take you into the city."
"Okay, then I wish you a happy day today..."
Shade stood up, but paused and looked at the princess wearing a silver crown behind the desk:
"Oh, I heard from Dorothy that you and Miss Carina are having trouble?"
"Why did you mention that woman?"
Leicia, who was in a good mood just now, shook her head:
"This is my family business."
"Oh well."
Xia De didn't ask any more questions and walked out of the room with the file bag. The princess was left sitting behind the desk, looking at his back. After a long while, she sighed and looked at the documents on the desk again.
She didn't want to involve the innocent and kind detective in the power struggle within the royal family.
The rain was still falling in Coldwater Harbor, and Shade, holding an umbrella, walked along the streets of the ancient port city. He did not go to find Mr. Darkness first, but went to the Seven Broomsticks Tavern first and bought some expensive alchemical materials in the tavern.
Shade had heard of the materials needed to make the witch detection badge, but it was troublesome to find them in Tobesk, so he bought them in Coldwater Port. Of course, because he was not confident in his alchemy skills, Shade bought enough of each material to make three times.
If the first two times failed, he would go to Iluna who was good at alchemy for help. Although Father John and the doctor's friend might be more powerful, Shade didn't want to reveal the formula to others.
After paying the deposit, writing a shopping list in the tavern, and agreeing to pick it up in the afternoon, Shade officially embarked on his journey to find Mr. Darkness.
On the way, he found that there were more police officers today than before, and they were focused on looking at everyone's face. If they met a passerby with a special look, they would come forward and question him, obviously looking for the fish man.
During this period, people with appearance problems will probably have a very uncomfortable time in Lengshui Port.
Going deep into the slums of the dock area, Mr. Darkness and his friends stayed at the Pink Rose Inn in a deep alley.
Although the names are similar, this hotel has nothing to do with the Golden Rose Hotel on Hoglundz Avenue where Shade stayed twice. This kind of hotel deep in the alley is usually used to provide a place for those stowaways with sensitive identities. Of course, judging from the name of the hotel, this should still be an illegal underground brothel.
Holding a black umbrella, Shad followed the address provided by Leicia and wandered through the alleys of the slums in the dock area. He finally found the hotel with a row of faded pink scarves hanging outside the door.
This is located at the corner of the alley, and is as high as a three-story building. Because the alley is not very wide, passers-by will definitely notice it.
Unlike the common stone buildings in Coldwater Harbor, the Pink Rose Inn is made of wood. The inn doesn't cover a large area. After Shade lowered his hat and pushed the door open, he didn't see the girls sitting around as he had imagined, wearing very little.
The first floor was like an ordinary pub. On Monday morning, scattered guests had wine glasses in front of them and sat at wooden tables chatting with each other. Wooden tables, wooden chairs, and wooden columns were rare in Coldwater Harbor.
Intelligence indicated that Mr. Darkness and his group lived on the third floor, but of course Shade would not go upstairs directly. Instead, he walked to the counter on the side.
The middle-aged woman in an apron was originally keeping accounts. She looked up at the customer and found that he was a stranger. She asked suspiciously:
"What can I do for you?"
Although she looked over 40, she looked very... ... charming. This was the only adjective Xia De could think of, and he reminded himself again what exactly this place was for.
"A glass of the cheapest rye beer you can buy. And is there any Rhodes?"
This was the experience that Shade learned from the grocer in Anthem Square. Most hotels and vendors would stock some Rhodes cards with special patterns.
"Of course."
The woman first bent down to prepare beer for Shade, and after placing the glass on the wooden table, she took out a booklet from under the counter:
"Please choose for yourself. Here are the prices."
There were two Rhodes cards sandwiched in the booklet, and it was obvious that they had been carefully preserved.
Xia De was not actually interested in the Rhodes cards with special patterns. He preferred the Rhodes cards with special rules. So he just pretended to look at them for a while, then shook his head regretfully.
After paying for the wine, I took my wine glass and sat down at an empty table. This small hotel in the alley didn't have good conditions. Even the windows were sealed, probably to prevent being peeped. There was only one gas lamp above the counter in the room, and there was a kerosene lamp on each table, which would only be lit after the guests sat down.
This is probably the living condition of the poor.
Shade's original intention was to observe on the first floor first, trying to find traces of the ring wizard around Mr. Darkness. But he didn't expect that he pretended to read the notebook for half an hour, and the foam of the inferior beer with suspicious ingredients disappeared, and no one came down from upstairs.
Maybe that group of people were not there at all, or maybe they were really cautious and would not show up even during the day.
Xia De was still thinking about something, but he didn't expect someone to sit opposite him with a glass of wine. This was not polite.
He was a long-faced man with very short hair, only stubble visible, dark skin, and extremely severe double eyelids.
He looked to be in his thirties and was very smart. After putting the wine glass on the table, he took the initiative to greet Xia De:
"Friend, are you interested in Rhodes cards?"
Standard Delarion accent, probably the spokesperson of Tobesk City Hall is of similar level.
"Sure," Shad shrugged.
"Interested in special cards?"
The long-faced man asked with a smile across the kerosene lamp.