Miss Carina introduced herself briefly, and then saw that Shad was still looking at her.
"What's wrong?"
The Duchess asked curiously.
"Just a tutor and a personal doctor? I thought that all great witches had very prominent secular identities."
Shad listed:
"You are a duke with fiefdoms in Delarion. The marine business of the Aurora family is world-famous. Almost everyone in the Old World knows about the Cassandra Auction House. Miss Sylvia is just a tutor for the royal family. How does she cover her daily expenses? Will the parliament also reimburse the witches' research and study expenses?"
Miss Carina was amused by Shade:
"Sylvia is a girl of commoner origin. Her teacher, the witch who passed away three years ago due to an experimental accident, left her a very rich fortune, enough to support her expenses for nearly ten years. As for the future, adults have to be responsible for themselves, and the parliament will not provide living expenses."
Xia De was very curious about this great witch who held the last seat in the parliament, but the foreign delegation would not arrive for at least half a month. As for the fact that the princess she met in Middleburg also had witch powers, Miss Carina had investigated it, but to no avail:
"We have no right to ask about other people's followers. Oh, the Speaker does have the power. But that princess can't be Sylvia's apprentice. Sylvia is still too young. Before she can master her own power, the Speaker forbids her to have her own apprentice. Besides, do you think it's so easy to find a ring wizard who has a talent for space and is adapted to the power of witches?"
The red-haired Duchess said before Shade spoke:
"Of course, you don't count. Besides, you also said that the princess of the Anjou family has very little witch power. I think Sylvia just developed her into a follower. As for whether there is any other meaning, I don't know for the time being."
As she spoke, she motioned for Shad to go with her to the stables to choose a few horses. Miss Carina had said that she would teach Shad to ride a horse, and now that it was late autumn, if he didn't learn now, he would have no chance this year.
Of course, Shade not only wants to learn horse riding from the Duchess, but also plans to learn simple knitting skills from Tifa. In order to complete the task of the gift box this week, he plans to make a scarf by himself. If he fails, or cannot complete it within a week, he will sew the finished product into a cat bed, and the cat may like it.
It is Friday, and we have officially entered the first day of the second-to-last month of the year, the Frost Descent Month.
At the beginning of a new month, there are naturally many things to deal with, such as steam bills, gas bills, taxes, newspaper advertising fees, etc.
When Shad went to the "Urban Waste Disposal Management Center" in the western part of Tobesk to collect his salary from MI6 and make reasonable expense reimbursements, Mr. Johnson, who was responsible for receiving Shad, also revealed the news that Margaret Anjou was about to visit.
Of course, he didn't know as much as Miss Carina, but he just heard that Shade would be entrusted with an important task.
Shade spent the entire morning on Friday running around the city, and in the afternoon he went to Coldwater Harbor, where he asked Mr. Edmund about the stories about gods and saints, based on the legends he had heard from Sister Develyn. Of course, Shade had not forgotten that the knowledge about time perception left by the old god, the Grey Robe Sage, might now be in St. Byrons, the Apner Library, and the Guiding Light Priory, so he commissioned Mr. Edmund to look for information about the Grey Robe Sage's followers and related information about time perception in the Priory.
After dealing with these matters, Xia De had no other important things to do before the next time key was opened.
He returned home with this thought in mind, and then encountered a visit from his long-lost client.
Obviously, Shad is just an ordinary detective, but Mr. Hank, who lives in the southern part of Tobesk and comes for help after seeing the detective advertisement in the newspaper, wants to entrust Shad to investigate the haunted house.
Mr. Hank is a retired accountant who used to be in charge of minor financial accounting work at the city hall. He has been hearing faint breathing and hoarse, indistinguishable whispers in his ears for a week. After he could no longer bear it, he decided to find a detective to solve the problem:
"I always thought insomnia was just a mental illness for idle people, but now I know it's really tormenting."
Old Mr. Hank was in a very exhausted mental state.
The strange sound in his ear did not mean that he was going to become a ring magician, which Shade was sure of. If the haunting was real, Shade wanted to introduce him to Father Augustus, because he was only responsible for cases involving living people; if the haunting was fake, then it was necessary to take out Dr. Schneider's business card, because only a psychologist could treat such a problem.
Of course, in order to determine what exactly happened, Shad visited Mr. Hank's home on Friday night, and really found a soul resident in the old man's home.
The other party is not even an evil spirit, and will disappear after a few weeks if left alone. Using the ability of soul echo, Shade learned some of the soul's memories by touching it, and thus learned that the soul was Mr. Hank's friend when he was alive. After his death, he was worried that Mr. Hank, who lived alone, would die alone at home like himself, and no one would collect his body, so he appeared here.
“It turns out that there is also the problem of elderly people living alone in this era.”
In the bedroom, Xia De looked at Mr. Hank who was preparing tea for him in the kitchen, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
The next things were much simpler. Shad asked for more detailed information about the so-called "haunted" incident, then pretended to search around the house, specifically asking Mr. Hank if he had been to the cemetery recently. Before leaving, he obtained the identity information of Mr. Hank's acquaintances.
"Detective, do you really think this is... haunted?"
The old man looked like he wanted to ask something but didn't dare to.
"It's still uncertain, but I really think it's necessary for you to go to church and pray, which can at least make you feel better."
On Saturday morning, Shad visited Mr. Hank's acquaintances one by one as planned, and was "surprised" to find that Mr. Kant, who lived in the university district of Tobesk, had died at home.
Because the weather had turned cold recently and Mr. Kant lived alone, the neighbors did not realize that the old man had died. It was the cat with a keen sense of smell that suddenly called out when Detective Hamilton was about to give up knocking on the door. Detective Hamilton, who was smart, brave and cheap, realized that there might be something wrong in the house.
The police from Redwich Court arrived soon, and Mr. Hank, Shad's client, also came after hearing the news. He was unable to enter the apartment, nor could he see the body. The police allowed Mr. Hank to understand some of the case for the sake of "Hamilton of Redwich".
Xia De's client, looking pale, roughly guessed the truth about the haunted house. His chapped lips trembled slightly, and he left there with Xia De:
"It is really unfortunate that he was killed by a collapsed bookshelf at home and his body was buried among the books."
He muttered to himself, and Shade gave advice again:
"Mr. Hank, I think this commission is probably over. If you need help, you can go to the Dawn Church for help. The clergy there are very professional."
Shad still remembered that he was a nominal believer of the dawn, and pretended to draw the holy emblem on his chest.
Mr. Hank sighed and nodded:
"Detective, I will remit the balance to you tomorrow. I never thought this would happen... Tell me, are there really ghosts in this world?"
Mr. Hank said softly, feeling devastated by the death of his friend. The old man certainly had doubts about whether ghosts existed, otherwise he would not have entrusted Shade immediately. Now that he saw the body and thought about his experiences every night, the idea he had always insisted on was finally shaken.
"I don't know either."
Shade shook his head slightly, and a chuckle immediately rang in his ears, but he ignored it.
Although the long-awaited commission did not make Shad earn a lot of gold pounds, at least the story was good. During the meeting at Dr. Schneider's that afternoon, Shad told Dorothy about the commission.
Because Father Augustus might not be back until tomorrow, there were still only four people attending the meeting today.
Dorothy and Luvia sat on the long sofa, and Shad and Dr. Schneider sat on the short sofas on both sides. Shad didn't know whether Dorothy had talked to Luvia privately, but at least they seemed to get along well today.
Even when Dr. Schneider repeatedly emphasized the importance of the next month's promotion exam at the end of the study session, the blonde female writer actually went to the city to buy clothes with the purple-eyed female fortune teller. Winter is coming, and respectable ladies should consider their winter clothes in advance. In the past, Luvia and Dorothy often shopped for clothes together, but since what happened last Saturday, every time the two of them appeared together, Shade's guilt and worry would emerge together.
Luvia had long known about Shade's greed and accepted this fact, but Shade wanted to find out as soon as possible what Dorothy and Lecia were thinking and what their attitude was towards Luvia.
But at least this Saturday, Shade was rarely able to be with Dorothy. He originally wanted to ask about the next plan for Saturday night's class. The power rune became the key to the promotion to the fourth ring. But at least it was not difficult to obtain this rune, because almost two-thirds of the ring sorcerers had this rune. Strength can be associated with a large number of magic, such as the Sidon seal in Shade's hand.