Shad actually keeps a diary, but he doesn't write a real diary. Instead, he inherits the diary of the previous generation of detectives and writes useless sentences like "No clients today, savings decreased" or "Mi Mia eats too much, considering asking Miss Gold for money" five or six days out of seven.
Professor Drake was different from Shade. He had a good habit of recording his daily life. His diary was well preserved, and all the records before and after the adventure more than ten years ago were there. Although the contents of the diary seemed normal on the surface, Shade found that a few days before the professor set out for the "Lake of Cherubim", he complained in his diary that his eyes were a little red and swollen, and he saw double when he looked at things.
Maybe this is just a small problem in the eyes of ordinary people, but for a ring sorcerer like Shade, when investigating an unusual incident, if the person involved in the incident has problems with his eyes, then this person is likely to have problems all over his body.
As for the letters, they were written by Professor Drake and his friends and academic colleagues from other places before he went to the Lake of Cherubim. The letters were just small things such as paper publication, invitations to visiting scholars and inquiries about student recommendations, but they made Shade guess that if Professor Drake had encountered strange things before going to the Lake of Cherubim, he might have written to other history and folklore professors to ask.
Therefore, Shade could find out whether Professor Drake had asked unusual questions more than a decade ago by looking up his old friends. He had this idea because he found a familiar name in the yellowed old letters:
"Professor Tiris Manning of Tobesk?"
He handed the old letter to Professor Drake at his desk. In the letter, the two discussed the issue of cat worship, and believed that cat worship was related to the primitive moon worship. Therefore, they believed that the Karas Mountain area still had a very ancient tradition of moon worship, and agreed to go and see it together when they had time.
"Oh, Professor Manning, we haven't been in touch for many years."
Professor Drake looked through the old letters with a nostalgic expression:
"Why, Mr. Watson, do you know him?"
"As you know, I am from Delarion. When I was in Tobesk, I visited Professor Manning to discuss the connection between cats and dreams."
Xia De said with a strange look on his face, thinking of the happy dream pen incident, and then thinking of Professor Manning's wide range of friends and amazing connections in the academic circles of history and folklore. The folklorists that Xia De met in different cities, whether normal or weird, were all more or less related to Professor Manning.
"Professor Manning seems to be three or four years younger than me. Is he okay now?"
Professor Drake inquired.
"The professor is in very good health."
After Professor Manning's joyful dream pen went out of control, his body recovered quickly, which is something that young people who indulge in sensual pleasures cannot do.
"I have some friendship with Professor Manning. I will write to him. He may have some clues."
Shade said, and Professor Drake nodded, holding the letter as if recalling the past.
"Diary" and "letters" are relatively obvious clues, but the third clue is a bit vague.
It was the professor's old book "Theory of Folklore Development", which should be an old textbook. When Xia De touched the book, "she" reminded Xia De that there were very few traces of elements in the book, almost equivalent to no traces at all.
After Xia De opened the book, he found a line of strange characters written diagonally on the side of the illustration on the last page of the book. Those characters looked like tadpoles connected in a string, and were obviously not modern characters. Xia De relied on his own knowledge of characters and tilted his head to translate the meaning of the line of characters:
Knowledge is power.
"Professor, what is this text?"
Shade handed the book to Professor Drake, who was looking at a stack of old manuscripts at the table. The professor took it with difficulty, but after taking a look, he shook his head:
“I haven’t seen this kind of text either.”
"Didn't you write this?"
The professor hesitated:
"At least I don't remember it."
Shade then took the book away temporarily as the third clue. Perhaps this was another interference item like the "swamp witch" that had nothing to do with his investigation goal. But these were the only clues he had, and he couldn't miss any details.
Xia De spent the entire afternoon of this Thursday at Professor Drake's house. When he finished sorting out the information, the sunset glow had already appeared in the western sky. Seeing that the professor looked tired, Xia De said goodbye and left, promising to sort out the information in his hands as soon as possible and contact the professor immediately if there was any new clue.
After a quick meal in the city, Shade did not return to the White River Valley Vineyards, but went to Mr. Bernhardt's estate in the east of the city.
The Bernhardt family is one of the oldest families in the area. The vineyards, farmlands and lands occupied by the family have an area that outsiders cannot imagine. Although he is only a viscount, Mr. Armand Bernhardt has a very good quality of life. In addition, he is a high-level ring warlock, so he is almost one of the best leaders of the clan among the local vampires.
Unlike the dark and scary castles where vampires live in horror stories, Mr. Bernhardt's manor is bright and majestic. It is even said that when it was completed more than three hundred years ago, the city's priest was invited to bless it.
Since it was not his first visit to Bernhardt Manor, when Shad rode to the gate of the manor in the dark and rang the bell, the servant who came to open the door recognized him almost immediately.
When Shade saw Mr. Bernhardt, he was looking through a scroll of parchment in the study with a sad face. When he saw Shade coming in, he asked:
"Xade, how is your level of ancient writing?"
"Which era's writing?"
Even though he could understand any text, Shad still asked the question, not only to hide the secret, but also to show humility.
"A writing from around the 2500th year of the Fifth Era, but I'm not sure where it originated."
He handed the parchment in his hand to Shade, and then asked the servant to bring tea:
"I have systematically studied ancient characters, but I am not good at this... It's not that I am born stupid, I just am not good at it."
The middle-aged vampire sighed, and Shade glanced at the contents of the parchment:
"Oh, this, I learned it in an elective class at St. Byron's. It says..."
He roughly scanned the words. Although the words containing strange knowledge would affect the mind, at least the words on this parchment would not affect Shade:
"It's really weird. Here, 'emotions' are regarded as symbiotic parasites living in the soul, and the story of the interaction between the parasite 'emotions' and humans is described. But the content here should be incomplete. It is neither the beginning nor the end."
"Yes, it is."
Mr. Bernhardt seemed very happy and stood up from behind his desk:
"The education level of Saint Byron is indeed very good. It is worthy of being one of the three most famous thaumaturgical schools in the material world. This is an excerpt from the Seven Emotions Spellbook, which contains the parts about 'anger' and 'jealousy'. A friend lent it to me, but we don't understand the words on it."
"Please give me a pen and paper, I will help you translate. Mr. Bernhardt, you are really lucky. I bet that other local correspondence ring sorcerers may not be able to recognize these words."
Shade said that there were only about 200 characters on the parchment in his hand.
"That's great, Xia De. I didn't expect your level of academic ability is so high."
Mr. Bernhard complimented, not being polite with Shade.
When the servant brought the tea and snacks, Shade had almost finished translating the short text. The two of them went to the sofa to talk about things. Shade picked up the tea and let the hot steam smoke his cheeks, while Mr. Bernhardt joked:
"Princess Margaret is visiting Tobesk, but the big news recently is that there is news about Tobesk every day. I heard some rumors. The night before last, there was a grand banquet at Lakeview Manor. I hope I remember the place name correctly. Shad, are you familiar with Princess Margaret?"
"Has this news reached Carsenrick?"
Xia De, who was holding a teacup, said in surprise.
"This kind of interesting news always spreads very quickly. Ordinary people may not have heard of it yet, but I have a special way. Detective, people have only a few ways to entertain themselves, and among them, talking about rumors and news about the royal family is something that even ring sorcerers love."
After saying that, he raised his eyebrows at Xia De:
"Have you tried to persuade Princess Margaret to sell you the royal White River Valley vineyard?"
Shade did have this plan. After all, this was the only member of the Angevin royal family he knew:
"Princess Margaret and I are not that familiar with each other yet. But the princess invited me to attend the reading salon next week, and I think I should show myself properly. The White River Valley Vineyard is really important to me."
He is not shy about his thoughts, and Mr. Bernhardt understands this:
"Her Highness Margaret of Anjou was a very difficult girl to deal with when she was in Willendel. Before that, I heard that she hated dealing with men, and there were some bad rumors about her."
This is because Her Royal Highness still wants to become Miss Sylvia's apprentice.
"Although His Highness is good at socializing, he is not someone who is easy to please. Xia De, what is the current level of your relationship with His Highness?"
Mr. Bernhardt asked with great interest. As he said, in an era with few entertainment options, talking about royal news was a rare national entertainment activity:
"Last week, he asked me to help transport those smuggled... ahem, those tobaccos. He did it because we are distant relatives. Otherwise, how could His Highness be so polite to me?"
Xia De thought about it:
"Our relationship ... we played the guessing game and then she gave me the handkerchief."
The vampire showed an expression of awe, but felt that this was not an exaggeration. He vaguely remembered that the young man in front of him had done something even more exaggerated, but he seemed to be unable to remember what it was.