After saying goodbye to Luvia, Shad took advantage of the morning's free time and took the cat to Coldwater Harbor to see if there was any result in the commission to purchase coins and items related to the power of the sun.
The seven brooms in the black market at the docks still yielded nothing, but the bartender recommended to Shade a New World autumn specialty, a disgusting plant called "sheep's tail grass". It was white, long like a sausage, and would sway left and right when touched. It could be used as a material for some basic healing potions, but unfortunately the Old World already had substitutes such as mouse-ear grass, so it was not very popular.
When Shad went to the lighthouse outside the city, he was attacked by fishmen on the beach.
This is an interesting story. He originally took a carriage out of the city, but because he wanted to see what the beach looked like in autumn, he got off the carriage early, 1 mile (about 1.6km) away from the sea cliff where the lighthouse was located, and took a walk on the beach with his cat in his arms.
The port of Coldwater Harbor was busy, and the scenery of the shallow beach outside the city was also beautiful. Xia De even picked up a beautiful conch, which he planned to take home and put in the living room as a souvenir.
Just as he was picking up the conch, a faint horn sounded from the sea. Then, amid Mia's panicked screams, three wrinkled, bald heads emerged from the water.
Confused, Shade's first reaction was to retreat, and then he realized that the person crawling out of the sea was an ugly fishman. But he was not a fishman who had the ability to pollute the mind, and could affect the viewer even by leaving a portrait on the painting. This time, it was just a mixed-blood guy.
One of them was short and fat, leaning on a rotten wooden staff with seaweed and pearls on the top. The other two were tall, holding large iron forks that were rusted by the sea water. After the short and fat fishman chanted a spell, some blue water patterns immediately appeared on the two weapons that didn't look very useful. This was a spell to strengthen the weapons.
"A spellcaster and two melee professionals? The fishmen in Coldwater Harbor really know how to cooperate with each other."
The three fishmen obviously took a fancy to Shad and Mia. After the fat fishman finished casting the spell, he rushed towards Shad while making an ululu sound from his mouth.
These are the common monsters lurking near the coast of Coldwater Harbor. They are the weakest but also the most numerous. Even if there are three of them together, the difficulty of the challenge is probably equivalent to that of a three- or four-ring human warlock.
So there was no suspense in the following battle. Shade drew out the Moonlight Greatsword and rushed forward. With a horizontal slash, he directly chopped off the head of the fastest murloc. Then, the moonlight from his fingertips forced the other murloc to dodge sideways. He took this opportunity to get close to the murloc again and hit it with his left fist wearing the Mind Crystal Ring, causing the murloc to fall down with blood coming out of all his seven orifices.
Looking at the fat fishman spellcaster, it had retreated to the beach, speaking fishman language and saying hard-to-translate dirty words, then waving the rotten wooden staff inlaid with pearls, and at the same time as the life ring appeared, a dense school of fish suddenly jumped out of the sea. These fish fell on the beach and piled up together, forming a terrifying human figure that was enough to trigger intensive phobia.
"Summoning creatures?"
Shade took a step back to avoid the fishy smell, reached out and pressed down Mia's little head that popped out of his arms - the cat was sniffing, then took out the moonstone ring and kissed it gently:
"confusion!"
Under the hazy yellow moonlight, the fish monster turned and rushed towards its summoner, leaving a string of strange footprints on the beach. The fat fish man screamed and immediately jumped into the sea, and the fish monster chased after him.
Xia De didn't chase them because he didn't want to get his clothes wet. He stood on the beach and looked at the two bodies:
"After the Coldwater Harbor incident, the fishmen here became the only trouble. If the Middleburg incident can be successfully resolved, ghosts will probably become a specialty there. Every city has its own characteristics."
The canvas toys were restored to canvas, and the two fish-man corpses were turned into toys with canvas, and they were intended to be sold to Mr. Edmund, who guarded the lighthouse. Mr. Edmund certainly did not want to study the corpses, but the local church recycled these corpses. Shade did not want to go to the city to the black market again, so it was okay to sell them to the old tower keeper and let him make a profit.
But unfortunately, the tower keeper didn't have any new coins. As for the items containing the power of the sun, Mr. Edmund sold Shad a gray parchment roll and a round metal badge with a sun pattern for 5 pounds 3 shillings and 21 pounds 14 shillings.
There are many ways to draw a sun pattern. The sun pattern on the badge is not the holy emblem of the righteous god, the old man with the lantern.
"This parchment is said to have been found in the ruins of an old temple in the New World. Although there is nothing on it except the runes representing the sun, when it was found, it was placed under a statue with only the base left. As for this badge, it is an antique I recently collected. It has a very low-level miracle element on it, which can slightly enhance most of the magic and spells related to the sun."
The old man explained that Shade had tried his own "daylight rays" and found the enhancement to be negligible.
"Are these two items really related to the power of the sun?"
Xia De was very suspicious.
"What are you going to do with them?"
Mr. Edmund asked as he packed up his fishing gear.
"To open an ancient seal, you need five different items related to the power of the sun. I have found three now, and I still need two."
"Then find a few more and try them all out. You'll eventually find something that meets your requirements."
The old man gave his advice and recommended that if Shad really couldn't find it, he should sneak into the Sun Church in the countryside and wait for an opportunity to steal the holy emblem hanging in the main hall.
Of course he was joking. The only consequence of doing this was to be hunted down by all the sun believers in the world.
First, he returned to the city of Lengshui Port and tasted the coastal city delicacies in a restaurant with Mia. Then he returned to St. Teresa's Square and took a carriage out of the city to visit the witch's manor and ask the witch if she had obtained any items related to the sun.
Shade hoped that he could be promoted to the fourth ring before the matter of Midhill Castle was over, so that he could have more power in the trouble he was involved in. Therefore, he had to enter the fifth era in 3024 as soon as possible to complete the unfinished story. And helping the witches to obtain the "Unknown Sacrifice Book" was also something that needed to be done.
Unfortunately, when Shade arrived at the manor at two o'clock in the afternoon, Miss Carina and Tifa were not there.
But they did not go into the city. Instead, they accompanied Queen Diana to watch horse racing at a racecourse on the outskirts of the city.
"race?"
"Yes."
The old housekeeper of the Witch Manor smiled kindly in the hallway:
"Now is the last season suitable for horse racing before winter comes. There are many famous racecourses in the southern suburbs of the city. There are one or two races every week. Local famous riders can sign up to participate, and there are even official betting games. Miss is not keen on this sport, but Queen Diana likes it very much, so she often summons the ladies and royal family members in the city to watch horse racing outside the city together."
"Then I'll wait here for Miss Carina to come back. Since they are all noble ladies, it's not appropriate for me to go."
Xia De said, but the old butler shook his head again:
"It's not just the ladies. The horse farm they are going to today belongs to the Lemaire family. It is right next to the Marquis Lemaire's estate. Nobles are allowed to go there at will, and there are many nobles who like horse racing. Moreover, there are also many curious people who are attracted by Her Majesty the Queen. You can go there now. Do you need a carriage? Or do you want to ride a horse yourself? The weather is good today, and the country roads in autumn are worth admiring."
Shad doesn't know how to ride a horse, so Tifa only taught him how to mount a horse. And he was also with Mia, so of course he wouldn't do such a "high-risk" sport:
"Please help me get the carriage ready. I have never seen a horse race before."
Lemaire Racecourse is located about 2.3 miles (about 3.7km) from the edge of the city. As the carriage carried Shad further south, he felt that the road in front of him looked familiar.
After asking, I learned that the Marquis Lemaire's large estate and horse farm were connected to another noble's estate, which was called Lake View Estate. In fact, the horse farm and the surrounding pastures were sandwiched between the two estates. Strictly speaking, half of the area of Schluch Lake, which was adjacent to Lake View Estate, belonged to the Marquis Lemaire.
When thinking of the special place of Lake View Manor, Shade couldn't help but think of the Rhodes card under the grape vines on a midsummer night, the blood-robed god on the third floor of the manor, and the kick under the moon.
Obviously, that happened only half a year ago, but it really seems like it happened many years ago.
To enter the racecourse, you need to enter Lemaire Manor first. Although this manor also covers an astonishing area and has exquisite sculptures and gardening in the courtyard, it is still not as luxurious as Miss Carina's manor.
The carriage with the emblem of the Duchess of Saradir entered the manor without any obstruction. However, the manor courtyard was divided into two layers, the inner and outer layers. The carriage did not drive towards the inner layer where the three-story mansion was located, but drove along the carriage road of the outer courtyard towards the side door of the manor.
A servant had been waiting here for a long time. After the carriage stopped for a while, the servant respectfully asked the identity and name of the guest in the carriage. After the driver announced the name "Hamilton of Rejade", Miss Carina's current location was immediately known.
There was a special driveway connecting the side gate to the racecourse, and wooden fences on both sides separated the manor from the adjacent pasture. Soon, I heard a noisy sound, and then I saw from the car window the racecourse surrounded by tall wooden and iron fences, as well as the tiered spectator stands at the edge of the racecourse.
The carriage stopped, and after Shad jumped off, he could see the dust raised by the running horses through the gaps in the fence, and could also hear the cheers and roars.
There were ribbons hanging above the horse field, and the curious people waved their hats to the riders excitedly. The riders rode happily on the horses, and the heavy sound of the horses' hooves even scared Mia in Shade's arms.
Led by the servant, Shade bent over and walked up the stairs at the back to the auditorium, while Miss Carina and Queen Diana sat in the shaded area at the south of the racecourse. The ladies, all dressed in gorgeous clothes, wore sun hats with colorful feathers, held porcelain tea cups, small telescopes, or feather fans, enjoying this dull and boring autumn afternoon.
The shadow of the awning lingered on the ground in the sunlight, and there was no wind in the air that was both hot and slightly cool. Everyone was so comfortable, and the activities of the nobles were always like this.
The tension brought by adventuring in the ghost-haunted, foggy and windy city of Midhill Castle suddenly disappeared.
The horse farm seemed to be covered with golden color, and the warm sunlight made the body warm. Shade's mouth unconsciously showed a smile. He raised his hand above his eyes and looked at Miss Carina, who seemed to have noticed something and looked over.
Tobesk is really peaceful this autumn.
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