While eating breakfast, Shade asked why Amelia came so early. As expected, she sneaked out again:
"The three of us have agreed to meet for breakfast on the first floor of the hotel at 7:30 every day. I got up an hour early to avoid them."
She even looked very proud when talking about this, but she did not forget to explain the reason for coming here:
"We have been staying at the Three Cats Hotel for half a week. There is no problem with the task of tracking down the relics given to us by the college, but since I moved into that room, I have started to have some weird dreams frequently."
She held the fork and frowned. She did not wear a charm to disguise her appearance in Shade's house, so she still looked young and beautiful:
"If it's just a dream, forget it. I was woken up by a nightmare early this morning, and then I saw an extra letter in the room. Oh, Cat, do you want to eat?"
Little Mia on the side walked away in disgust and lay down next to Shade again.
Emilia didn't mind, so she took out the letter and handed it to Shade. Shade touched the envelope and confirmed that the paper was ordinary. Then he looked at the location of the stamp and address. The stamp was the cheapest 1 penny stamp, which meant
This is a letter sent from the city of Tobesk. It's just the stamp's pattern, which is a bloody hand on a black background. Shade is very sure that regular stamps will not have this pattern.
As for the location of the address, it is a series of weird tadpole characters.
"I don't know this kind of writing."
The elf eating the fried egg whispered. Shade didn't know what the words were, but he could decipher that it was an address in the urban area.
Taking out the letter, the text on the letter was written in Delarian Common Language——
[Hello stranger:
This is a cursed letter. After seeing this letter, you need to send the letter to at least three different people, otherwise you will die tragically in seven days, and your soul will be burned by demonic fire that lasts for forty-nine days.
】
Underneath the brief text, there were bloody handprints that seemed to be drawn with blood, but Shade knew after a sniff that it was red ink.
Then he looked at the back of the letter and found nothing. After touching the cat that raised its head in interest, Shade frowned and thought for a moment:
"A prank letter? No, there are indeed traces of whispering elements, but they are very weak."
"Have it?"
Emilia raised her head in surprise. Although her perception was very strong, it was still within the scope of an ordinary elf:
"I don't know if this is a real curse letter or a prank, so I came to you. Go to the academy. Once it is confirmed that it is really a relic, my family will definitely let me go back on the grounds that I am in danger."
"There is a high probability that it is really a relic. Although it looks like a bad prank, the traces of elements cannot be forged."
Shade, who originally wanted to go to Yuewan City to see Miss Belindel again as Luvia said, also gave up his plan to go on a long trip this morning. He adjusted his sitting posture and said seriously to the person holding the fork.
The elf girl said:
"Report it to the academy. This is no joke. Safety first."
"But, but"
Emilia pursed her lips, looking aggrieved:
"In this case, the college will definitely ask us to go back, and it will be difficult to spend the summer outside the college. You haven't taken me to see Tobesk, and Miss Anat even said that she would go shopping with me on the weekend. And Luyi
Miss Sarah, I'd like to visit the apartment where she created Hamilton's Detective Stories."
She lowered her head, but raised her big green eyes to look at Shade. She looked really pitiful:
"Help me, please, find out what kind of relic this is. I promise, if we can't handle it, I will report it to the college immediately. I, I, I can pay you."
"Well, when you were in school, did you also plead with the professors like this when you couldn't hand in your homework?"
Shade asked. The elf girl pursed her lips and looked like she was really about to cry. Then he nodded:
"Okay, okay, don't be like this. I'll just help you. You know I will definitely help you, otherwise you wouldn't come to me. Of course I won't let you down."
As he said that, he picked up the cat watching the fun:
"But you have to promise not to run around when you follow me."
"OK!"
"What are your companions going to do? They are probably worried about you now."
"It's okay. I left a letter at the front desk of the hotel. They know I'm here to see you. I'll be back before evening."
When it comes to unknown relics, it is natural to go to a respected elder, that is, Old John, for appraisal.
So after Amelia had eaten breakfast, Shade left the cat at home and took a carriage with her to Old John's Pawn Shop. Of course there were no customers in the pawn shop early in the morning, and the old man behind the counter was watching leisurely.
The front page of the newspaper still showed a large photo of His Majesty the King. When he heard the bell ringing at the door, he raised his eyes and raised his eyebrows in surprise:
"Good morning, detective elf friend?"
"Huh? Isn't there a disguise charm?"
"That can only deceive other people. You brought this strange elf lady to visit my business early in the morning. Detective, do you need me to say thank you?"
He asked with a smile, and Amelia pulled the corner of Shade's clothes and followed him. Sometimes Shade didn't know whether she was bold or introverted:
"It is indeed patronizing business. There are two things this time. This elf lady has encountered some troubles. I would like to ask you to see what kind of relic this is."
He asked Amelia to repeat what happened in the letter, and then handed the letter to Old John. The old man frowned and listened, and after looking through the letter, he got the answer:
"It's become really weird in the past few years. This kind of thing can also appear in Tobesk. The secret-keeper-level relic-the malicious serial curse letter is a relatively rare event-type relic, but it is quite famous in itself.
"
"Secret Keeper level? That's fine."
Shade breathed a sigh of relief. If it was Sage level or even Angel level, he would report it to the academy immediately.
"So, the curse on the letter"
Emilia asked timidly, less enthusiastic and more timid. Only then did people realize that she was an underage elf in her fifties.
"it is true."
The old man nodded firmly and looked at the stamp on the envelope against the light:
"The origin of this kind of relic cannot be verified. The current accepted view in academic circles is that it is inseparable from traditional prank letters. Angel-level relic [Corpse in the Wall], Sage-level relic [Friendly Neighbor],
The keeper-level relic [Malicious Serial Cursed Letter], the clerical-level relic [Ghosts in the Afterglow], and the poet-level relic [Midnight Footsteps] are collectively known as the five major urban legend relics, but their appearance in a big city like Tobesk is really surprising.
The places where things that have never happened before usually occur are in closed and superstitious small towns, or in ancient and declining cities like Green Lake."
"What will happen if the curse is spread to three other people as stated in the letter?"
Shade asked.
"On the one hand, it further spreads the curse, and on the other hand, it makes the person who sends the letter a puppet controlled by the curse. He will continue to send more letters until he loses his body and turns into a malicious cursed object. The solution is not complicated, as long as it is cracked
This is good."
Father John pointed to the tadpole text on the envelope:
"Look for the person who sent the letter and let the elf lady kill him. Yes, remember, the cursed person must do it. In this way, the elf lady can naturally get rid of the curse chain, even if she has sent it
After receiving the letter, the new recipient can also be freed from the curse. Of course, if the sender cannot be found, it is also possible to find the sender of the previous link, but that is more troublesome.
I am well-informed and have not heard any news about this kind of relic in the city, so this should be a letter close to the origin of the curse chain. If you find a living person, kill him and inform the church about it from the black market.
, the church should be able to follow the clues and continue to find the source, and soon be able to completely expel this incident. If what you find is not a human being, but the source of the beginning of this chain."
He paused deliberately, and Emilia showed a scared expression, grabbing Shade's clothes and hiding them behind him:
"Old sir, what will happen?"
"Then you are lucky. The source of this relic is something that is almost human-shaped but extremely ugly. If you can solve it directly, then even other local curses that are in effect will lose their power. In addition, all other curses that are in effect locally will lose their power.
, that kind of thing can be regarded as a strong aggregation of malice, destroying it, maybe you can get one more spiritual rune."
Old John smiled and said:
"The sources of this curse can be divided into two categories. A very small number of them are caused by human beings' extremely strong negative emotions, which are transformed by the whispering elements of the relics, but they are quite rare. The greatest skill is to use malice to form a mysterious alien space.
, but it can be eliminated by defeating the main body. In most cases, it is a naturally occurring weak dark creature, which is really weak."
Miss Elf was very puzzled:
"Why is the source of such a powerful curse so weak?"
"How powerful can something that hides in the dark and spreads fear and malice wantonly?"
Father John asked back, and raised the letter in his hand:
"Detective, I won't charge you money for this appraisal. Please sell me the stamp on it. This is a relic derivative. I happen to need it. Is the price of 3 pounds and 7 shillings okay? As for the tadpole text here,
Do you need me to find you a master of ancient literature? This writing is very ancient."
"I will handle the text. You should remember that I am very good at analyzing ancient texts. As for this stamp, it is not mine."
Turning to look at Emilia, the latter nodded:
"I'll sell it to you."
She didn't say she didn't want the money, but she thought that after the incident was over, she would use the money to buy some pet toys for little Mia as a thank you to Shad. But she didn't know that the cat didn't like toys.
Only like specific rings and shades.
Shade then talked about the second thing:
"I want you to help me see what this is."
He took out the silver anchor jewelry given by Miss Elisa.
PS: Today is the last day of October, please vote.
