From the first time he arrived in Huntington on Thursday to the evening of Sunday when, led by the resurrected wolf, he saw the mysterious lake on the edge of the Great Swamp, it only took Shad three days to get close to the truth of the legend.
But he can't spend all his time and energy in Huntington. There are still many things waiting for him to deal with on Monday in Tobesk.
When Shad woke up at 6:30 a.m. on Monday morning, he felt like a stone was pressing on his chest.
"Sleep paralysis?"
This saying also exists in this era.
When I opened my eyes, I realized it was not sleep paralysis, but cat paralysis. Xiao Mia, who was waiting for breakfast, was standing on the quilt on Xia De's chest, looking at him with sharp eyes.
"Guess what this cat is thinking?"
Xia De asked in his heart, and smiled as he grabbed the cat and sat up from the bed. With a slight movement of his fingers, the curtains opened automatically with a rustle.
The voice beside my ear chuckled:
Maybe he is dissatisfied with your lazy life.
"Lazy? In order to prevent the laziness rune from affecting my spirit and personality, I didn't even associate any magic with this rune. And this cat is lazier than any human I know."
The cat, being held up by the scruff of the neck, looked at Shade pitifully, its big eyes revealing a very human feeling of grievance, its white whiskers trembling slightly, its little nose moving with its breathing, its desire to eat written all over its face.
A new week also means that Shad can take out new gifts from God's gift box. When he went downstairs to get the newspaper and milk, he moved the metal box from the basement to the upstairs.
While reading the news about Princess Margaret of Anjou's visit today, he was still wondering what kind of weird items would be picked out this week. But no matter how weird the weekly gifts were, Shade was still happy to try. This kind of "lottery" activity with no predictable results but the possibility of valuable items was one of the few hobbies for outsiders in this world... Actually, if you think about it carefully, he has developed a lot of hobbies in this world, including but not limited to Rhodes cards and Mia.
This time, Xia De, unable to suppress his curiosity, did not wait until he finished breakfast, so he reached out and pushed open the lid of the gift box.
When I reached into the box, I didn't touch anything at first, which meant it wasn't a big item this time. I continued to feel my way down until I touched something with a cold metallic touch at the bottom of the box:
“Ordinary items.”
Even though he had made such a judgment, Xia De was still interested. He took the thing out of the gift box and found that it was a small silver box inlaid with diamonds. The box had a shield-like appearance, and judging from its weight, color, and touch, it was most likely a sterling silver jewelry box.
After opening the box, a beautiful emerald was found inside the red velvet lining. The gem was in the shape of a goose egg, and although it was only half the size of a fingernail and not very valuable, its surface was polished to a very layered texture. The sunlight coming in from the window made the gem sparkle, and it was an absolutely precious jewel.
"The emerald in the silver jewelry box is actually considered an item. The box and the gem are counted as one."
Xia De thought curiously, twisting out the gem and examining it carefully. Mia, who had been licking the goat's milk, also stretched her head over, opened her eyes wide, sniffed twice with her pink nose, and then immediately lost interest.
"The quality of the gemstones is very good. Even ceremonies that are very demanding on ritual materials will not reject jewelry of this level."
He put the small emerald back into the silver shield-shaped box, thought for a moment, turned the box over, stretched out his finger, and the light of the silver moon appeared from his fingertips:
"Ray Jed's Hamilton present."
As he spelled, he used the silver moon on his fingertips to carve out these words. This was a skill he had acquired before truly mastering the Moonlight Greatsword:
"It just so happens that I'm going to attend the princess' wedding on Tuesday. It shouldn't be shameful to give this as a gift."
He admired the letters he had carved, but took a deep breath in dissatisfaction and erased the line of text with the Breath of Time:
"The handwriting is a bit too ugly..."
Finally, I just engraved my initials to indicate my identity, which makes it look much more beautiful.
As for the task corresponding to this piece of jewelry, it is to buy groceries alone twice this week, which is indeed very important for children.
After confirming the gifts for this week, Xia De ate breakfast while reading the newspaper. After finishing breakfast, he looked through the three letters of the day.
One letter was from Priest Augustus. The Dawn Church would distribute church gifts to core believers in early winter, asking Shade to remember to collect them. This year, the gifts were a small piece of soap engraved with the holy emblem, a church oil painting without a watch, and some seasonal vegetables.
Although these gifts were considered worthless by the nobles, the tradition of giving gifts to core believers on a seasonal basis was quite important.
The second letter was from Dorothy. On Tuesday afternoon, which was tomorrow afternoon, Mona Cavendish and Randolph Asperger's wedding was held at the Peace Church in this city. According to Leisia's request, Shad invited Dorothy as his female companion. Dorothy wrote to inform Shad of the time to meet her tomorrow.
As for the third letter, it had a stamp of the lowest denomination, and the mailing address was a street in the north of the city, with no more specific house number. Xia De only saw the color of the ink on it and knew that it was a letter from "Gray Gloves".
"Is it finally here?"
The expired revealing potion that I got from Father Augustus last time has not been used up. After pouring the potion on the letter paper with "Same as before" written on it, dense numbers immediately appeared.
"The Queen and Her Lovers", "The Silver Knight" and "Miscellaneous Works on the Western Front" were found in the study and the code was cracked to obtain a complete letter.
The content was not much, and it was indeed about Princess Margaret of Anjou. The letter asked the "Grey Eagle" to secretly protect the princess's safety during her visit, but he must not reveal his identity under any circumstances.
After the news of the "Difference Machine" data was passed on by the players in the big city, the "Grey Eagle" should have fallen into silence and "sunk" again waiting to be awakened. Less than three months later, it received another order, which was probably the result of the internal struggle of the Gray Gloves and the consideration of the royal family.
Although the order asked Gray Eagle not to reveal his identity, he was given a special set of passwords that would allow him to reveal his identity to Princess Margaret alone at a critical moment.
This mission did not have any specific requirements, but instead emphasized many times that the Grey Eagle should not show up easily. It seemed that no matter what, the bigwigs in Carsonrick all recognized that the Grey Eagle was extremely valuable and must not be sacrificed unless it was absolutely necessary.
"The political struggle in Carsenrick is not simple either."
Although Shad had lived in Draerion for a long time and could even be considered "Grey Eagle II", he could still hear the thunder in this letter.
In fact, even without this letter, he would still protect Princess Margaret. On the one hand, MI6 would never let the princess get into trouble in Delarion, and on the other hand, this could be considered a way to repay the deceased Detective Sparrow.
Although he wanted to try his luck at Huntington today, due to the mission of MI6 and Gray Gloves, Shad had to join in the fun to welcome the arrival of Princess Margaret and her group. For this reason, he had already agreed with Miss Carina to go with her, which would save time queuing for entry.
Although they departed from Huntington on a steam-powered airship, it did not land directly in the city. Instead, it landed in the town of Walch, eight miles (about 12.9 km) east of Tobisk. The delegation then took a special train to Tobisk Railway Station.
The train journey actually takes less than half an hour, so the exact arrival time depends on when the airship can land safely. Fortunately, there has been no severe rain or snow in Tobysk and the surrounding areas in recent days, so there is no need to worry about the airship's arrival being delayed due to weather reasons.
Tobesk Railway Station is located in the north of the city, and Miss Carina's estate is located on the southern outskirts of the city. Therefore, at around eight o'clock, the Great Witch brought her maids to No. 6 St. Teresa's Square, intending to wait here for the specific time of the train's arrival.
The reason why they didn't go to the Yodel Palace to wait was because it was very busy there because of the upcoming meeting between King Larousse III and the Princess of the South, as well as the special lunch and dinner prepared for the visiting delegation.
According to diplomatic standards and general rules, members of the House of Cavendish need to personally greet members of the Angevin royal family when they visit. If it is a visit by a duke, queen or even a king with real power and fiefdom, Larousse III needs to personally greet them, but this time it was only the princess who came, so according to convention, Queen Diana led the eldest prince who was not her biological child and several princesses to the train station to welcome them.
At this time, the group of people who were preparing to set off from the Yodel Palace should also be waiting for news. After the people from the Yodel Palace set off first, Miss Carina's convoy would join them:
"Although I am also a member of the Cavendish family, my nephew has considered many times whether I should appear on this occasion. After all, it seems a bit too high for a duke like me to welcome the princess of the Anjou family."
The red-haired witch sitting on the sofa said that she was in good spirits early in the morning:
"Later, it was decided that I should attend. MI6 received some information that the princess's visit this time was not just a visit. She brought a letter from the current king of the United Kingdom of Carsenrick, Lionel. The other party seemed to be interested in negotiating on the balance of troop numbers. So in order to show goodwill, my nephew wrote to ask me to go to Tobesk Railway Station today."
"If he hadn't written, would you have gone?"
Shade asked curiously. Tifa was directing the maids to prepare hot tea. They didn't know how long they had to wait.
"Of course I will go. As a fellow member of the parliament, if I don't go to welcome Sylvia to Tobesk, what will the other witches in the parliament think of me?"