Before Mr. Leibert spoke, Shade emphasized:
"I am proficient in ancient texts. In addition to the texts from the Fifth Age, I have also read some texts from the Fourth Age."
This was the bargaining chip he had thought of before proposing the deal with the Apner Library. Knowledge is wealth, and the outsider knows this very well. Although he only has a meager savings of five figures of gold pounds, he has a lot of "wealth" in his head.
"Oh? The text of the Fourth Age?"
Mr. Lebert, who was receiving Shade, said curiously:
"Our library does have a collection of books from the Fourth Epoch, most of which have not been translated into modern languages. If you are truly proficient, we can compensate for the value of that ancient artifact by translating the books. The library has always believed that knowledge and wisdom are the most valuable assets..."
He turned and looked at the bookshelf behind him:
"Here I have a book called "Lost Melica" which records the information of the cannibal tribe of the Fourth Epoch - the Akan. There are a few lines of ancient text on it. If you can recognize them..."
As he said this, he wanted to get up and take the book, but Xia De directly stretched out his hand:
"Library Search."
The old book with a black cover flew directly from the left side of the third floor on the east wall into Shade's hands. The nose behind the mask twitched, and inspiration made him feel that he had touched sticky blood, but the book was actually very dry, which meant that the knowledge in the book was extremely dangerous.
"Is this the one?"
Xia De put the book on the coffee table, and Mr. Leibert sat down again in surprise:
"What kind of magic was that just now?"
Shade did not answer. Mr. Lebert looked at him curiously, turned to page 5, and pointed out the crooked letters on the sixth line that looked like stick figures of cows and sheep hooves:
"That's it. This is the quoted sentence. I think it was copied correctly."
The entire book was handwritten, and it looked like the skinny black notebooks that detectives and police officers carried with them. A thin red string served as a bookmark, and the yellowed pages were covered with milky white traces like orange threads, like some kind of mold.
Xia De looked at the sentence and suddenly felt a strong sense of discomfort, and he seemed to hear a wailing sound in his ears.
"This one seems difficult to translate. Yes, this kind of writing is quite unconventional, weird and disgusting."
Xia De frowned, pretending to be in a difficult situation, and it took him five minutes to translate the two lines of letters:
Those who eat brains are intelligent and wise; those who eat arms are extremely strong; those who eat feet are poor and lowly; those who eat scalps are the king of Melica.
After the translation, he pretended to be mentally unstable, lowered his head and breathed heavily for a long time before calming down. And Mr. Lebert confirmed that Shade's translation was very close to the current mainstream view of the interpretation of those texts.
So the two men reached a deal. Tonight, Shad would come to 21 Exham Street again, and Mr. Lebert would give Shad the same language he needed to translate - about 50 or 60 letters. Shad would finish the translation before Sunday and bring the translation back before Sunday night, and then he would get the slate he wanted.
Shade originally thought that the slate in the Apna Library was the most difficult to obtain among the three slates, but he did not expect that with the help of Old John, it would become the easiest one to obtain. Although he has not obtained it yet, there should be no more surprises.
Therefore, the last slate that was not in hand was most likely hidden in the library of St. Byrons Comprehensive College. Shade needed to go to the library in person to find it, and his only chance to go to the library in person was when the librarian Miss Danister confirmed that the "Moon of Guidance" was useful and needed him to appear in the library and use the aura of the core spirit rune to open the clues of the Silver Moon Library.
"So, the most important thing at the moment is Sir Prisha."
Shade thought to himself, but he did not see the gentleman when he visited 21 Ikem Street this time. According to what Shade heard from Dr. Schneider on Saturday, Mr. Prissy was different from Princess Margaret. After arriving in the local area, the latter was very enthusiastic to contact the local ring magician group, and through Mr. Alan Madison's group, she purchased precious materials, items and specialties on the local black market. However, Sir Prissy, after contacting Mr. Madison's group that night at Lake View Manor, never took the initiative to contact the local correspondence ring magician again.
So it seems that it is no longer possible to collect the spiritual light of the "Guiding Moon" through Dr. Schneider's friends, and Shad still has to follow Princess Margaret's path.
After visiting 21 Ikem Street in the early morning, Shad returned home and went to the White River Valley Vineyard in Huntington from the basement. When he got into the city and changed to a carriage, he bought a copy of the Huntington Morning Post from a newspaper boy.
The news in the first few pages had little to do with Xia De, but he did see news on the third page that the famous charity organization in the Old World, the Snake Heart Hospital, had acquired real estate locally in preparation for business.
The Snake Heart Hospital has communicated with the local city hall, obtained the city hall's help, and received policy funding. This is an institution under the name of the spiritual order. Sister Defulin is determined to place more people in the local area for the secret of Pantanal. If the nun's plan goes smoothly, around February 1854, she will be able to go deep into the Great Swamp with the witches to hunt down the "evil creatures of Pantanal" and recover the flame of the First Fire.
That was a few months later, and it had nothing to do with Shade at the moment. He sat in the carriage and read the newspaper, and came to Professor Drake's house again. The professor had been waiting for Shade to visit, and anxiously asked the maid to push him to the study. The old man couldn't wait to ask Shade:
"Mr. Watson, good morning. You are finally here. Have you come up with any results from your investigation?"
"I asked my friend in Tobesk to contact Professor Manning and found your letters, but they are not very valuable. I just know that you were in good health before visiting the Lady of the Lake."
The professor was a little disappointed, and Xia De took out the photo he had put in his notebook:
"But I found new clues somewhere else, Professor, may I ask if you recognize this photo?"
He handed over a photo of the professor and Halder Ondiba, the owner of the "Arrow" more than a decade ago. Professor Drake took it and widened his eyes in astonishment:
"I have no recollection of this photo. Judging from the background, it should have been taken in a rural area in the Pantanal. I remember the clothes in the photo, but I don't remember taking a photo with this person."
He looked up and asked Xiang Xiade:
"Who is this, Mr. Watson? Does he know anything? Can we find him?"
"Halder Ondiba was arrested and executed by the Inquisition of the Church of War and Peace in this diocese more than a decade ago."
"What?"
“This is a cult.”
Xia De said, looking carefully at the professor's expression, and the surprise and panic on the old professor's face did not seem to be fake:
“Oh, what did I do more than ten years ago?”
“It’s hard to say.”
Shad pointed to the photo of Halder Ondiba:
"Even now, the deceased gentleman is still being sought. While investigating this matter, I almost had a conflict with those dangerous guys who dared to kill people and had no regard for the police."
Professor Drake trembled as he placed the photo on the desk. He then gripped the armrest of his wheelchair tightly with his right hand, breathing heavily.
"Mr. Watson, I'm so sorry to have put you in danger. Do you know anything more?"
"This is all the progress of the investigation so far. It seems that the 'Lady of the Lake' has not only erased your memory of your adventures, but has also blurred a lot of related clues. From the current information, professor, the memories you lost may not be a price, but something you voluntarily gave up and did not want to know."
The old professor's already aged face seemed to have aged ten years in an instant, and the piled-up wrinkles made the age spots so clear:
"You're saying that I did something wrong, maybe even a crime, and the wish I made is for the Lady of the Lake to erase all traces?"
"There is no conclusion yet, but this guess should be very close to the truth."
Shade paused, giving Professor Drake, who looked horrified, time to think.
When the professor picked up the teacup, Xia De asked softly:
"By the way, Professor, do you have any antiques at home that you don't remember where they came from?"
The professor recalled:
"No... at least I don't think so. I remember every item in the house very clearly."
His tone was not very firm, and he obviously knew that his memory was not reliable.
"Do you have any arrows in your collection?"
Xia De leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice and squinted his eyes, and asked again in this study room full of books, under the light of the gas lamp that was lit because of the heavy fog outside the window.
"Yes, I also collect antique weapons."
The old professor answered quickly, and Xia De felt his heart skip a beat. His eyes swept across the red and gold wallpaper in the study, the old-fashioned gas lamps, and the bookshelves:
"Can you describe the specific appearance of the 'arrow'?"
"I'll show it to you directly."
The professor was about to call the maid, but then he frowned and looked at Shade:
"Come to think of it, I really don't seem to remember where that arrow came from."
The old man at the desk pursed his chapped lips that had just been moistened by the tea. He looked a little bewildered:
"Oh, yes, if you hadn't asked me, I wouldn't even remember that I had that item. It seems that I have never checked it in the past ten years, but I am sure that I have it. This feeling is really..."
Kansas Drake raised his head in his wheelchair and looked at the ceiling of the study. The familiar study seemed to be spinning at this moment, and everything in front of him was becoming blurry. The feeling of the world spinning made him want to lower his head and vomit, but then he felt someone holding him up:
“Professor, professor!”
He heard the young man's voice, felt the cup of tea being brought to him, and the hot steam was steaming his cheeks.
"Have some tea, professor, professor!"
Xia De fed the old professor tea with holy water No. 4. The professor swallowed the tea with difficulty, and then he seemed to be dead, with his eyes closed and his back leaning on the back of the wheelchair.
After a long time, he opened his eyes again, and there was some spirit in his old eyes. His lips moved a few times, and his voice was gradually returning to normal:
"Yes, I have an 'arrow'. Although I don't know where it came from, I remember it was in this study."
"Where?"
Xia De looked around, trying to find traces of the secret compartment. According to the outsiders' understanding of detective novels, this kind of study should have a mechanism to "move the books to open the secret door".
"Here."
The professor bent down with great effort, opened the drawer at the lower left corner of the desk, and took out a slender mahogany box. There were no words on the box, but instead there were circles of spiral chain-like patterns.
"Really... For more than a decade, I have never thought about why there is a box in the drawer."
The professor closed his eyes and sighed, then handed the mahogany box, about one meter long, to Xia De.
When Shad touched the box, he didn't feel any trace of the elements, but when he opened the box, the whispering elements immediately emerged.
He narrowed his eyes and suddenly exerted force on the hand holding the box. A golden arrow with bronze patterns on the surface was embedded in the red lining. The simple and rustic atmosphere showed that it came from ancient times, and the heavy sense of history made Xia De almost hold his breath.
The lines climbing on the surface of the arrow formed a strange text:
Knowledge is power.
"The answer is right there on the puzzle. I actually found it here with Professor Drake—the Sage-level relic, the Arrow of Knowledge of Ikenora."