While Captain Rades was calling on the policemen who happened to arrive to search the secret room, attracting the attention of the entire castle, Shade found Professor Dunn in his office again. After explaining the situation, the professor looked very sad with a bitter face:
"That bronze pot was used as a container for boiling corpses? Oh."
"Yes, the captain said that Henry Val was looking for an antique container, and you happened to get the bronze jar, so he took a fancy to it."
"Oh my God, that's an old antique. If you heat it with fire, it will damage its appearance!"
What the professor was worried about didn't seem to be the fact that the jar contained the corpse.
"But anyway, the investigation into the antique has been concluded, and I think Ms. Zina Cassandra will be able to get the antique out of the police station as evidence."
Shade said, and the professor nodded:
"I really didn't expect this to happen. I'll go find Ms. Cassandra and apologize when I have time. I'm also responsible for not taking good care of her."
As he said that, he opened the drawer, took out a ten-pound note and handed it to Shade. After Shade thanked him, his face became serious:
"Well, professor, can you now talk to me about the local custom of worshipping the twin gods?"
"Oh, yes, I think so."
Talking about his profession, Professor Dunn temporarily put aside his regrets about the possibility of antiques being damaged:
"Please sit down and let's talk slowly. Then, Mr. Watson, let me think about where to start... Yes, the worship of the twin gods is a very, very ancient worship of gods in the Midhill Fort area. In addition to local traditions, the evidence also comes from the excavation of prehistoric relics."
What ordinary people call "prehistory" actually means before the Christian era.
"My teacher once assisted the church and participated in the excavation of the ruins of Mount Xikar, and left me some information. The stone slabs excavated at that time contained a lot of information about religious rituals and strange ceremonies, but unfortunately they were all taken away by the church. But the diary in my teacher's relics once mentioned that in prehistoric times, the great one who came from the sky, that is, the old god - the twin gods, once really set foot on this land."
Shade frowned slightly, this seemed to depict a séance.
"Of course, there is still controversy in the academic community about whether the so-called old gods really exist, but this time we are discussing this purely from an academic perspective, so we don't intend to blaspheme the gods."
Professor Dunn took out a pipe and motioned to Shade. Seeing that Shade didn't mind, he knocked off the ash and said:
"Those ancient texts record a lot of things. "Him," please forgive me for using this word to refer to him, ahem. When his sect first appeared in this place in prehistoric times, they called for the arrival of the Great One, and bestowed a pair of twins representing black and white with very powerful blessings. Let them, sorry, I don't know their specific gender, so I use the neutral "him," so that they have great power and defeated a terrible enemy."
Although the professor was discussing matters concerning God as an ordinary person, he did not feel anything strange because he had acquired such knowledge because he only knew very vague contents.
"This is indeed something more specific than local traditions and customs... Do you have any other information besides the ancient excavated texts that were taken away by the church?"
It was impossible for Xia De to go to the church to ask for information.
Professor Dunn lit the tobacco in his pipe with a match and took a long puff:
"Of course, these stories that happened in prehistoric times have long since become part of the ancient legends of Midhill Castle. If you go to the tavern often, you can even learn some stories that are not very true from the local bards. After all, the bards use exaggerated stories to attract people, and we, the folklorists, are responsible for organizing those contents."
The professor pushed up his glasses:
“Mr. Watson, even though the old faith is long gone, it still has a profound influence on Fort Midhill.
The twin worship continues in this city to this day. If a family gives birth to twins, it will be regarded as a very good omen by the locals and neighbors. This tradition has even spread to the entire Sikar Mountains and can be seen in Kasenlik on the southern foot of the Rommel Mountains.
"So, faith becomes culture, and thus forms part of civilization?"
The stranger asked. Professor Dunn looked at him in surprise, and adjusted his chair with his pipe to face Shade, who had just been sitting sideways.
"Yes, your words are very consistent with my view on folklore. When belief becomes culture, then are those old gods who are said to have left really gone? Perhaps the great ones or the indescribable natural phenomena are just with us and our world in another way."
Professor Dunn's words were very insightful. Xia De nodded thoughtfully:
"Yes, I have always thought that maybe the old gods are just gone temporarily... Faith becomes culture... So if I want to continue to delve deeper into the Gemini worship, how can I do it?"
The Twin Cult is not only related to this city, but it may also help solve the problems of Dorothy and Lesia, so Shad is very concerned:
"My teacher has passed away, but the folklorists and archaeologists who participated in the archaeological excavation should still have some information... Please wait."
The professor stood up and rummaged through the bookshelf on the wall near the office door for a while, and found a notebook that had obviously not been taken out for a long time.
The notebook was already very old. Professor Dunn returned to his desk and opened it. The pages were yellowed and even had traces of insects. Some names and addresses were recorded on it, but most of the names had their death dates marked behind them:
"This is what my teacher left for me. It was given to me by his friends. After all, people in our field often have to visit and exchange ideas with other places, so it's always a good idea to have more friends."
He quickly found the names of the people left behind during the archaeological excavation at the northern foot of Mount Xikar thirty years ago:
"Oh, fortunately, there are still several old professors alive from that archaeological excavation. But they are all out of town. Let me take a look. I would recommend this one."
"Who is the other party?"
Xia De also tilted his head to check, and Professor Dunn pointed to the handwriting on the notebook:
"He's a professor of archaeology in Tobesk. He should have retired a long time ago, but senior professors like him should be rehired. Let me check his address. Yes, it's this one, Tiris Manning. He lives at 17 Cattail Lane in the university district of Tobesk. I visited him when I went to Tobesk for a meeting five years ago. Professor Manning looked very healthy then. I wonder how he is now."
Professor Dunn indicated to Shad that he could copy down the address in the notebook and write to Professor Manning for help.
"Professor Manning..."
The past events of the professor, the dream pen and the cat popped into Shad's mind again.
He smiled and copied down the address that he was very familiar with. He was thinking about how many archaeological excavations his friend Professor Manning had participated in. A month ago, when Miss Aurora took him to a small country town near Coldwater Harbor to seek the Vibration Spirit Rune, she also met an old man who was related to Professor Manning.
"Okay, I'll come back to you if I need you. Goodbye, Professor Dunn."
Xia De stood up and left, and Professor Dunn also saw Xia De out the door. As he closed the door and continued to write the report, he muttered softly:
"Ms. Cassandra, why are you so obsessed with that worthless bronze jar? You even sent someone to investigate."
He put down his pipe and thought for a moment:
"Could this be related to Miss Helen Black who just returned to the college?"
Now that he had the next clue, Shad could leave Midhill Castle. Before leaving, he said hello to Captain Rades, gave him the 5-pound reward, and left the address of the Blind House as his mailing address.
The captain was very enthusiastic about inviting Shad to visit the Red Water Camp in Windy Trail. Captain Rades certainly could not enter and leave the barracks at will, but he could come out on his leave next Thursday.
The Windy Trail is the most important mountain road that crosses the Xikar Mountains. Next to the Red Water Camp, there is a camp where merchants and travelers gather. The captain played Rhodes and won the Gun of Kindness in the tavern there.
When he said goodbye to the captain, the sunset was just beginning to appear on the horizon. By the time Shad passed through the forest and arrived at the abandoned tower in the mountain, the last ray of sunlight had disappeared over the edge of Mount Xikar.
The Harvest Moon is reaching its end and the daylight hours are growing shorter.
When we returned to Saint Teresa's Square, Luvia had already arrived and was continuing her stargazing on the third floor. She had no time to talk to Shade because she was a little behind schedule.
"Want to have dinner together?"
"Oh, Xia De, you go ahead, I'm busy here."
The sound came from the third floor.
"Then I'll bring some back for you!"
Shade shouted at the second floor staircase. After receiving a response, he looked at Mia the cat at his feet:
"Did you have dinner?"
"Meow~"
Mia ran down the stairs quickly. She probably hadn't eaten yet, so she wanted Xia De to bring her food.
Because he had to deliver food to Luvia and didn't want to take Mia to Professor Manning, Shade sent the cat back home after dinner. When he went upstairs, he happened to meet Luvia who came down from the third floor to serve tea. The latter thanked Shade and asked curiously while holding the teacup:
"I already fed your cat, why did you take it out to eat again?"
"Um?"
Xia De looked at the orange cat lying in his arms with narrowed eyes:
"But it was eating happily just now. It doesn't look like it had eaten dinner at all."
"Meow!"
The cat made a soft sound and rubbed the clothes on Shade's chest. The purple-eyed girl smiled and said:
"It seems you have been deceived by a cat."
When Mia was allowed to run around the house, she actually went straight to the third floor instead of sharpening her claws on the second floor. Xia De didn't care about her. Running after dinner was also good for the cat to keep in shape.
After saying goodbye to Luvia and explaining that he might not be home until very late, he went out again in the night and went to Professor Manning's home in the university district.
Of course the professor was at home at this late hour. When he found out that it was Shade who came, he was very happy to entertain him. After the usual greetings, Shade asked about the Twin Gods and the Twin Cult. The old professor, who was wearing pajamas at home, looked at the young man at the edge of the gas lamp from behind his desk in surprise:
"Oh? Why do you suddenly mention this?"