I went downstairs in my slippers to get some milk and newspapers, and moved the "gift box from God" from the basement to the upper floor. This week's gift was a thick brown wool scarf, perfect for this season. As for this week's task, it was "no task".
When Xia De got this information from "her", he thought he had heard it wrong, but then he found out why it happened:
The creator of Innocence believes that children need a break sometimes.
"That god is truly admirable."
Xia De muttered to himself, and put away the scarf to take with him when it snowed. When he was "fighting" with the cat lying on the scarf for ownership of the scarf, there was a knock on the door downstairs:
"Could it be the client?"
But when Shad opened the door, he saw Dorothy with her head down. The blonde looked a little haggard, as if she had just washed and dressed before coming here.
"Come in, Dorothy! You have the key, don't you? Why are you knocking?"
Shad let Dorothy in:
"Why are you here so early? Have you had breakfast? If not, have breakfast first and then talk about other things. I can give you some of Mia's goat milk. I secretly tasted it last time and it tastes pretty good."
"Meow?"
The cat high up on the stairs looked at Shad's back.
"No, I have something to tell you. I had something robbed."
Dorothy said in the hallway, and Shad was startled:
"Stolen? Oh, it can't be... From the look of you, it must be that relic, Jack the Thief, right? My Dorothy, don't be sad, it's normal to lose things. I heard yesterday that even the base of the Orthodox Church's Ring Warlock Team lost something. After all, it was a sage-level relic."
He took Dorothy's hand:
"Let's go upstairs first and talk later. What did you lose? Is it something valuable? Isn't it a relic?"
Xia De comforted:
"The church has also lost a Secret Keeper-level relic. That relic is so arrogant that something bad will happen sooner or later. A lady's Sunshine Gun is ready to go, and God will curse this shameless thief."
"Nothing valuable was lost, it was your things that were stolen."
Dorothy said with her head down as Shad pulled her hand.
"My stuff?"
Shade blinked, not remembering what it was for a moment.
"Letters, the letters you got from Professor Manning. I sorted out the contents for you yesterday and put them on the desk. When I woke up this morning, I found that the window of the study was opened for some reason, and two of the letters were missing."
She raised her head and looked at Xia De with some concern, but saw that Xia De looked relieved:
"Dorothy, you really scared me. You came to me so early in the morning, I thought something important happened. I think I understand why Dr. Schneider didn't want to see me so early in the morning. It's just a few letters. It's okay. I will apologize to Professor Manning, and I don't think the professor will mind too much."
With the lively cat leading the way, Shad held the blonde girl's hand and continued to walk upstairs.
"Is it really okay?"
Dorothy asked in a worried voice.
"It's okay, but do you remember the specific contents of those two letters? Relic Thief Jack would not steal things that have no value. Since he only took those two letters, it means that the clues I'm looking for about Professor Drake of Huntington are in those two letters."
The blonde nodded.
"I helped you summarize the contents of each letter and recorded all the doubts. Although I can't restore all the details of the two letters, I still remember the general contents."
"That's good. Thank you for your hard work, Dorothy."
Shade kissed the side of the blonde's face, and the latter seemed to feel better.
You really don't care that those two letters were stolen
"She" asked softly as she walked into the room on the second floor.
"How could he not care? He dared to steal Dorothy!"
With a smile on his face, Shad brought the prepared breakfast to the table, but Dorothy asked Shad to sit down and she would do the work.
"I am very angry right now."
Especially when she said this in her heart, her anger became even stronger. Dorothy was still preparing breakfast in the kitchen and would not notice Shad's psychological changes, but the cat beside Shad tilted its head and looked at him, then whispered "meow~". The cat magically sensed Shad's emotions, and it seemed that all domestic pets had this strange ability.
Please note that after absorbing the divinity of the old god 'Raging Storm', the divinity will also affect your character for a short period of time.
She said softly,
"I understand, but this anger is definitely not just because of the influence of divinity on me. It actually dared to steal Dorothy..."
The blonde girl, wearing an apron, turned on the gas and lit the rusty gas stove with a match, obviously thinking that the breakfast made by Shad was not enough for two people and a cat.
Shade looked at the blonde's figure:
"Sometimes a proper amount of anger helps to keep you awake and motivated. I will definitely take revenge!"
Although two important letters were lost, Dorothy had sorted out the contents of all the letters and summarized them in an excellent writing style.
Specifically, from the letters between Professor Manning of Tobesk and Professor Drake of Huntington, Professor Drake is a very "ambitious" and enterprising person. He is very purposeful in his research, and he is full of awe for the unknown and ancient history, and always wants to know more.
Professor Manning has repeatedly warned Professor Drake that some knowledge is not something they can explore at will, but Professor Drake's response was rather perfunctory.
This description was completely different from the Professor Drake with a broken leg that Shad knew. The Professor Drake he knew was a person who had no desires and lived like a plant.
Dorothy's notebook also recorded the general contents of the two lost letters.
Professor Drake sent a letter to Professor Manning asking about the visiting scholar program between the two schools next year. This was not an official letter from the school, but an exchange of opinions and greetings between two highly respected professors. Among Professor Manning's letters, these two letters did not attract Dorothy's attention at first. Like Shade, she was more concerned about the academic discussions between the two professors.
According to the information Dorothy wrote down, in both letters, Professor Drake described his health problems. But he was not sick, but praised his good health, and even mentioned that he ran races and stayed up late with the young people in the school.
If viewed from a normal perspective, there is nothing wrong with this letter, but if one assumes that there is something wrong with this letter, then Professor Drake's "physical health" would seem quite problematic.
Professor Drake's tone in the two letters was quite enthusiastic and positive, even too enthusiastic. He seemed to have encountered something extremely good, and excitedly envisioned the follow-up of his research. He also planned to personally lead a team to participate in the archaeological excavation work in the southern forest of Carsenrick. He claimed in the letter that "I have mastered my physical potential and I can work for another 20 years."
This was quite an undertaking considering Professor Drake's age at the time.
Two days before the latter of the two letters reached Professor Manning, that is, on the third day after the letter was sent from Professor Drake, Professor Drake set out to look for the "Lady of the Lake" and encountered an accident. Therefore, Shade had reason to believe that some unknown phenomenon had affected the professor, making him "very healthy". But then the professor realized that this health was not right and had a fatal threat, so he set out to the Lake of Cherubim.
The three clues obtained from Professor Drake, in addition to the letter, are a diary and a book. In the diary, Professor Drake claimed that "double images appeared before his eyes", and in the book there was knowledge written in strange words, which is power.
The former may be related to Professor Drake's "physical health", and the investigation into the latter made Shad discover that the strange text originated in the Fourth Age, and there was no other clue.
"From these obscure messages, we can basically infer that the 'Lady of the Lake' not only erased the professor's memory, but also erased other traces as well."
While eating breakfast, Shad said to Dorothy. The blonde girl still felt sorry for losing the important letter, and nodded when she heard Shad's words:
"Yes, so did the old professor come into contact with some kind of relic, or was he targeted by something more terrifying?"
“It’s possible.”
Xia De touched Xiaomia beside him:
"I have also asked my friend in Huntington to go to the church to investigate what happened in the city that year. If we can find an incident involving Professor Drake and compare it with the clues we have now, we should be able to know the truth about what happened to the professor that year."
This means that the second of the four tests of the Lady of the Lake has been completed. But Xia De knew that things would not be so simple. Maybe the trouble of that year was not completely solved. The real purpose of the test of the Lady of the Lake was to let Xia De solve that problem.
After breakfast, Dorothy said goodbye to Shad and told him that if he could find a way to catch the relic who stole the letter, he must call her for help. Goldilocks felt really guilty about this.
Considering the possibility that his house might have been robbed, Xia De reconfirmed that the valuables in his home had been moved to the basement before taking Xiaomia out.
Today, the Steam City of Tobesk was still shrouded in fog. After Shade went out, he turned directly to the direction of Silver Cross Avenue. When he arrived at the door of the Prophet's Association, the Prophet's Association was already open.
Xia De noticed that the association's signboard had been changed to a new one, and the notice board had also been changed to a new style. This should not only be because Princess Margaret would attend a reading salon here, but also because the Prophet Association had too many gold pounds and had nowhere to spend them... ... Rhodes was really a very profitable business.
As usual, I used the excuse of fortune-telling for the cat and met Luvia during her working hours.
The staff of the Prophet Association were already accustomed to Shade's behavior. When they saw him coming with the cat, they went straight to inform Luvia who was on the second floor.
When Luvia opened the door of the fortune-telling room, Shade was "fighting" with Mia with his right hand, that is, playing with the cat. The purple-eyed girl smiled and sat down:
"You really can always find fun. Oh, I just met Vice President Mark. He heard that you were here, so he asked me to ask you if you want to participate in the Prophet Association's Rhodes card competition at the end of this year. If you do, I can help you sign up now."
At the end of the year, whether it is an official organization or a steam factory, whether it is a noble club or a large organization like the Prophet's Association, some activities will be held to commemorate the year that is about to end. It may be the parliament's year-end summary to His Majesty the King, it may be a small reward given by the factory owner to the workers, or it may be a gift from a high-end club to its members.
But for the Prophet Association, the best way to celebrate is to hold a Rhodes card competition, which is also an annual tradition.
"Sign up first, I'll participate if I have time."
Shade skipped the topic of the Rhodes card:
"I need your help with something."
He placed the remaining two coins - the Wisdom Coin and the Dandelion Coin - on the table:
"Help me predict something."