It was Wednesday, and the renovation of No. 6 St. Teresa's Square was still in progress. Xia De went to the third floor in the morning to take a look. According to the current progress, most of the work should be completed this week.
After the repairs were completed, the third floor could only be fully usable after the cement dried, the gas and steam pipes were tested, and the City Hall Housing Inspection Center inspected it. But the joy of completing this long-awaited task still made Xia De feel very happy.
Today they were going to Coldwater Harbor for a short trip with the Witch, so after breakfast, Shad went to Dorothy's place and asked her to take care of the cat for a while.
But unfortunately, Dorothy went out early today. Her Hamilton Detective Stories had been serialized for two weeks and received unexpectedly great attention. The landlady said that Dorothy went to the Steambird Daily newspaper office to discuss the next serialization plan with the editor, and she might not be back before noon.
Besides Dorothy, Shad had other options. He thought about it carefully and finally did not ask other friends for help.
Mia was not very friendly to strangers, and it took her a long time to get used to Dorothy. Therefore, instead of letting the cat stay with others for a day, Shad thought it would be better to take the cat to Coldwater Harbor by himself, and then entrust the cat to Miss Aurora's maid to take care of it when he was ready to go on an adventure.
Just like that, Shad showed up at Aurora Manor on time at 8:30 in the morning. After taking a quick bath, he was immediately pulled into a carriage by Miss Aurora, and the carriage headed straight to Lengshui Port Railway Station.
Miss Aurora certainly would not travel with her suitcase alone. She bought a ticket for the VIP carriage in advance, which was a private compartment. In addition to Xia De, there were three personal maids and a dozen ordinary servants who were responsible for carrying luggage with her.
The three maids were all ring sorcerers, and their levels were uniformly five rings. They didn't look very old, only about two or three years older than Shade's physical age.
"Why are there always so many young but high-level sorcerers around the witches? Even the Orthodox Church has a hard time finding so many young middle-level sorcerers."
During the free time of the journey, Shad asked Miss Aurora for advice.
The train wheels rolled over the rails, making a regular clattering sound. Because the first-class carriages were equipped with mechanical shock absorbers, the train ride was quite comfortable.
The witch sat at the desk in the compartment holding a book, while Shade sat on the sofa. This entire compartment was a compartment, arranged like a living room, and even had a decorative fireplace, instead of being divided into five or six spaces as Shade had imagined.
In this era, the quality of life of rich people is beyond the imagination of outsiders.
"It's simple. They all have the power of witches."
The witch with long curly brown hair said, calling the girl with short hair who was bending over to pour tea to her side:
"This is Jisi. I found her in an orphanage when she was nine years old."
It is worth mentioning that although Miss Aurora was wearing a long ruffled skirt, her current posture was very unladylike, with her legs crossed and one hand covering the book on her right knee.
She waved her hand to signal the maid to lower her head, and then stroked her face with her hand.
"I originally wanted to train her to be a secretary who would help me with paperwork after I came of age, but I didn't expect her to awaken her talent when she was seventeen. Jisi is 24 years old this year, and it took her seven years, with the help of the witch's power, to become a five-ringed warrior. Although this speed is fast compared to a normal ring warlock, it is very slow compared to you."
As she spoke, her right hand caressed the maid's cheek from the side, and then slid down to her chin. Then, the witch's slender fingers hooked the maid's chin, and the latter's slightly red face slowly moved closer to her.
Xia De consciously covered Mia's eyes with his hands as she squatted on the sofa cushions.
Miss Aurora did not do anything more extreme. She just kissed her personal maid gently and let her go back to work. Seeing that Xia De looked embarrassed, she chuckled and said:
"Don't act like an inexperienced person, Shade. Come to think of it, you haven't had any intimate contact with any girls yet, have you?"
Seeing that Shade didn't want to answer, he continued to laugh;
"Do girls living in the Northern Pearl have different aesthetic standards than girls in coastal areas? That's interesting. Or maybe it was Carina who helped you block those suitors."
"I don't think so. In fact, I rarely appear in public."
"The Hamilton Knight of Rejade told me that he is a very low-key person."
The witch smiled and shook her head:
"Just wait and see, Shade. Sooner or later, the love letters you receive will fill up your mailbox. But I'm very curious about what Karina thinks of your relationship with her."
“Partner.”
"Is that what you think?"
Miss Xiwei Aurora picked up the teacup and clinked it with Xia De:
"Good luck to you, Detective."
The city of Klein is located to the east of Coldwater Harbor. Like most cities in the Old World, this city progressed with the rise of the steam age, but it was unable to reap as much of the dividends of this era as Tobesk and Coldwater Harbor.
The town of Herkils is a small town in the south of Klein City. The town is mostly mountainous, but because it is the last pass before entering the rugged basin in the middle of the west coast of the Old World from the open plains in the north, there is a train station even though it is just a town.
This is also a major transportation hub in the eastern part of Lengshui Port, but most of the people who stay here are scattered tourists, and the north-south transfer of goods is mostly done by sea, so the status of a major transportation hub has not brought more trade opportunities to the town.
The history of Hekils Town is completely untraceable, but it is a town where you can glimpse both the past and the present. When Shad followed Miss Aurora out of the station, he first lamented the depression of the country town, and then realized that compared with most towns in the Kingdom of Delarion, this place is already prosperous.
The whole town is made up of eight streets, three vertical and five horizontal. The center of the city is not the police hall in the center of Heckels Town, but the town train station in the west of the city. Around the train station, hotels, shops, restaurants, and pubs are lined up in order. At least in the two streets around the train station, you can still feel the atmosphere of a big city.
Miss Aurora brought Shade here, of course not for tourism. She had booked a room at the town's largest hotel, the Honest Inn. After a short rest, a personal maid and other servants in charge of carrying luggage watched over the luggage at the hotel and prepared to meet them. Shade, along with the cat, the other two maids and Miss Aurora, set off together.
Because we had a special lunch in the first-class carriage of the train, we didn't have to worry about the food in the town. The witch was well prepared and had a complete action plan. The first step was to visit old lady Ilar who lived in the town of Herkils.
The old lady lived alone in a house on the edge of the town. There were no single-family apartments in the town, as was common in cities. The house where the old lady lived seemed to be a relic from before the steam age, standing on one side of the street.
The rugged dirt road extends to the front of the house, and the crooked wooden fence is used to enclose the scope of the house. The old man has opened up two vegetable plots in the yard in front of the house. Outsiders cannot tell what those green vegetables are, but the cat he puts on his shoulder is very interested in those plants.
Perhaps city cats have never seen the sea, nor have they ever seen a vegetable field.
The steam pipes and gas pipes were not buried underground, but went directly into the house along the ground. After pushing open the fence door outside the yard that seemed to be able to be kicked down with one foot and avoiding the chickens running around in the yard, the four people arrived at the door of the house.
Now Mia became more active. She was never afraid of creatures slightly larger than herself, so she was thinking of jumping off her shoulders and competing with those chickens.
While Xia De held the cat and looked at the chicken coop and vegetable garden in the yard, the maid started knocking on the door.
"How do you feel about this place?"
The witch asked Shade with great interest:
"I've heard from Carina about your origins. You probably don't have any memories of places like this."
"Yeah, it feels like this place... Although it looks interesting at first glance, I still prefer living in the city."
Xia De's answer was very honest.
Soon someone came to open the door. Perhaps they had an appointment, so the old woman with a hunched back, a headscarf and a cane was not surprised when she saw four people and a cat outside the door.
Old lady Yilar was the oldest person Shade had ever seen in this world, at least in appearance. She could no longer walk properly, but she looked in good spirits.
What surprised Shade the most was that the other party was actually a ring sorcerer. But his level was very low. According to the whispering voice in his ear, the other party was either a first-ring or a second-ring so it was impossible for him to be higher than Shade.
The house was filled with a strange smell that only old people living alone smelled, as if everything here was decaying. The decoration style was old, and the wallpaper used to cover the cracks in the wall had long since turned yellow. As for the old furniture, probably only Old John's pawn shop or the garbage dump would be willing to recycle it. When Shade sat down on the sofa, he could even clearly hear the sofa making a terrible creaking sound.
Considering his normal weight, this could only mean that the sofa, like old lady Ilar, was reaching the end of his life.
The two parties sat down, and the maids went to the kitchen to get some tea. The witch finally introduced the identity of the old woman in front of Shade:
"This is a follower of the old god Earthshaker Worm, and the current high priest of the cult."
"Don't mention the high priest. I am the only member of the cult right now."
The old woman waved her hands embarrassedly. Her eyes were bright and when she smiled, she looked very kind and gentle.