After collecting the small piece of vine debris, Shade officially stepped into the second cave he discovered in the river bank stone wall.
The cave here is obviously different from the first one. After entering, you will see a standard square space with smooth stone walls. In the darkness, there are painted mahogany desks, cushioned four-poster beds, and large wardrobes with metal handles. There are special kerosene lamp stands on the walls, and there are even hand-painted patterns on the glass lampshades of the kerosene lamps.
The shelf looks like a wooden antique, filled with various utensils with labels. On the bedside table, there is even a lotus leaf-shaped brass bedside kerosene lamp, which was a very high-end lamp in 1853:
"Found it, it looks like this is it."
The dim sun outside the river was about to sink completely below the city, and the mist made it impossible to see anything on the river. Instead of dealing with the conspicuous hole, Shade stretched out his finger:
"Silver Moon."
After calling softly, the moonlight on his fingertips illuminated the "safe house". Shade still remembered that he had agreed to have dinner with Luvia tonight, so he might have to act faster.
Halder Ondiba left here for the last time more than ten years ago, but he didn't expect that he would never return. Therefore, the value of the safe house by the river bank was a big surprise to the outsiders who came here more than ten years later.
Just in terms of currency, he found more than 300 pounds and more than 50 kroner in cash in the desk drawer. As for the biscuit box and the coins at the bottom of the cabinet, he was too lazy to count them.
Apart from the currency, the spellcasting materials had all rotted because no one had taken care of them. After using the key to unlock the cabinet, the stench almost made Xia De think that the other party had set up a poison mist trap again.
There were no diaries or letters in the desk drawer. The desk surface was very clean, with a pen, an oil lamp, and a folded map of Huntington. But in the locked bedside table, there were three carefully preserved books wrapped in velvet.
Shad sat on the bed with its soft mattress, imagining Halder Ondiba lying here decades ago, reading a book under the kerosene lamp.
Opening the cloths, the first book had no cover, but the first page was handwritten in the Carsenric language "The Creeper in the Dark". After flipping through a few pages, Shad confirmed that it was an occult book about snakes written in the Decascript of the Fifth Age.
There were a few pieces of paper in the book, with scribbled notes on them, including the potion "The Language of Vipers" that allows people to communicate with snakes after drinking it, the "Cold Blood Potion" that can lower a person's blood temperature, and the formula for a special snake venom "Ondiba Venom". The last one should have been invented by Halder Ondiba himself, but Shad was not good at preparing potions, but Father Augustus might be interested:
"This book is indeed very valuable, but unfortunately the snake spirit runes are different from my system, but it should be able to sell for a good price."
The cover of the second book has "Mysteries of the Pantanal" written in Kasenric, but this is not a book that records mystical knowledge. Instead, it is a popular science book written and published by the Pantanal Voodoo Society as mentioned by Mr. Bernhardt, which introduces the modern changes of primitive beliefs in the Everglades and Everglades region. The Voodoo Society wants to expand its influence and that of the Pantanal primitive beliefs in this way.
The book showed signs of being frequently read. The handwriting was the same as the potion recipe, and there were many annotations and explanations in the pages. The ringmaster was a staunch "Pantanar regionalist".
"Books on folklore are quite interesting. You can take them home and use them as bedtime reading. I don't know if Mr. Edmund of Coldwater Harbor would be interested in this, but the folklore he studies is maritime folklore."
The third book is still written in the Carsenic language of the Sixth Age. It is titled "A Study of Huntington's Folklore". After opening it, I confirmed that it was a print edition from 1840.
"Hmm? I think I've heard of this book."
Xia De turned directly to the last page, and sure enough, he saw Professor Drake listed second in the list of authors. Then he flipped through the book again, and an old photo stuck inside slid out:
"This is... ... "
The black-and-white photo shows two people standing together. The photo was taken at the entrance of a rural village in the Pantanal, as evidenced by the muddy ground and low adobe houses in the background.
The man on the left in the photo is tall, with rough skin, sunken eye sockets, and a strange tattoo on his exposed neck. Although the color of the tattoo cannot be identified in the black and white photo, his appearance and tattoo are consistent with Father Nobel's description of "Hard Ondiba".
The man on the right side of the photo is wearing an expedition suit with dozens of pockets all over his body, a hat with a string on his head, and a pickaxe in his right hand.
They all smiled at the photo, and the latter was an old man. Although he was able to stand on his legs, Shade still recognized who it was:
"Professor Kansas Drake?"
Although the professor in the photo looks younger than he is now, judging from the wrinkles on his face, this photo should have been taken more than ten years ago, rather than from an older time.
"Professor Drake actually knows a ring warlock from the Pantanal Voodoo Society?"
Shade raised an eyebrow.
He was very sure that Professor Drake himself did not know about this matter, and was not deliberately hiding it. The professor had never mentioned that he had such a friend, and there was no correspondence with "Hard Ondiba" in the letters he checked for Shad.
Turning to the back of the photo, there is a line of words written on the yellowed background:
May we walk together on the road of exploring knowledge and history.
The letters were elegant and graceful, and Shade saw that it was very similar to Professor Drake's handwriting.
"The Lady of the Lake erased all of the professor's connections with the ringmaster Halder Ondiba. The professor himself doesn't remember it, the church can't find out, and the Pantanal Voodoo Society doesn't know either. Father Nobel mentioned that Halder Ondiba was rounded up and killed by the church the day after Professor Drake wrote to Professor Manning, and two days before Professor Drake set out to look for the Lady of the Lake. Hmm... I guessed something."
He put the photo aside and checked Huntington Folklore again. This time he found a sentence written on the title page. It was still in Professor Drake's handwriting:
To my dear friend, I hope you can find more knowledge in the field of folklore.
The blue-black ink had faded a little, but the font was so vivid that Shade didn't know what to say:
"Interesting, more interesting than I thought."
After searching the desk, cabinet and bedside table, Xia De knocked on the wall again, and indeed found the secret compartment in the wall.
"What will it be this time?"
After violently destroying the wall, he found a small box full of jewels in a secret compartment.
After opening the box, it seemed as if light emanated directly from it. Sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds covered the bottom of the box, gold and silver bracelets, earrings, and rings were stacked together, and antique coins and broken diamonds were interspersed in the gaps between the jewelry.
With a loud bang, Shade dumped everything in the box onto the bed. Precious metals and gems poured out and scattered on the yellowed sheets. Shade used his fingers to pick at them randomly, but unfortunately, these were all ordinary items:
"This person actually hid money in the secret compartment instead of relics?"
Fortunately, one of the coins had a whispering element reaction, so it could be confirmed to be a relic, but Shade didn't know the characteristics. Ondiba probably didn't recognize what it was, otherwise he wouldn't have put it here.
In addition to the above items, Shad found a pistol and several bullets with runes engraved on the warheads in a small iron box under the bed; in the compartment of the bedside table, there was a parchment with the learning ritual of the magic - swamp chameleon; on the back of the blank photo frame hanging on the wall, there was a piece of paper with prayer words praising the "God of Pantanal", but it was burned as soon as Shad touched it.
There were no relics taken in by Ondiba in this safe house, and it seemed that he was just using it as a temporary residence and to store his belongings. Shade believed that the ring warlock who died more than ten years ago must have another safe house in this city where he hid books and letters, but this time Shade really couldn't find it.
"So, today's trip to Huntington, I threatened a mouse, learned that Professor Drake knew the former holder of Aiken Ola's Arrow of Knowledge, and made me a fortune, but it still didn't allow me to touch the absolute truth."
Xia De sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the box of jewelry:
"I thought I could find that sage-level relic directly."
Is that a bit too greedy? At least, you are only one step away from discovering the truth and completing the 'Second Trial of the Cherubim'.
she asked with a chuckle.
Shade's fingers were digging at the gems in the box, listening to the pleasant clattering sounds they made when they collided with each other. Shade had heard from Lecia that noble ladies all had small boxes specifically for storing gems and jewelry, but he didn't expect that a middle-aged man from the Great Swamp would also have one.
Xia De picked out a purple oval gem and tossed it a few times. The moonlight from his fingertips made the gem sparkle:
"I have to meet with the people from the Apner Library tomorrow morning, attend a reading salon the day after tomorrow, Wednesday, and prepare to catch that damn thief. I don't have time to waste more time in Huntington. This winter, I plan to focus my main energy on Tobesk."
He stood up and packed up the coins, books, and parchment rolls he had found and prepared to leave. He did not intend to touch other things in the safe house, such as the expired potions.
Walking out of the cave, the stone walls of the river bank returned to their original state with the use of magic.
Xia De looked up at the night sky. The heavy jewelry box in his hand did not bring him as much joy as he had imagined:
"Take the photos and show them to the professor tomorrow. I hope he can remember something. As for this box of jewels..."
This was probably his most profitable one-time adventure, apart from going deep into the underground ruins to kill the Silver Eyed One. Moreover, he didn't even attack anyone in this adventure.