Mr. Dellal’s story is not new, and even to the eyes of “well-informed” outsiders, it can be said to be a bit cliché.
This story has something to do with the ocean, strange statues, greedy hearts and curses, and is probably very suitable to provide Miss Louisa with writing material.
The cause of the incident dates back to one year ago, in the spring of 1852 in the Universal Calendar.
As a cargo dispatcher in the dock area, Mr. Delal checks the confiscated contraband as a routine and responsibly takes the valuable small items to his home for safekeeping. This is also an unwritten rule of this position.
As long as the source of income is not discovered, there will be no problem.
In a pile of messy boxes, Mr. Delal found a batch of small stone statues. They were about the thickness of an adult man's arm and as long as his forearm. The image of the statue was a mermaid with its head raised.
"Mermaid" refers to a creature with the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a fish. It often appears in fairy tales in this world. This is not the same thing as the ugly "fish-man" that Shade had seen with only human legs.
"So, you took those statues away?"
After listening to what the other party said, Shade asked hesitantly, and was reminded of many plots in horror novels. Horror novels have just emerged in this era, including colorful palace novels, knight novels, and detective novels that have emerged in recent decades.
Novels are the mainstream.
"Yes, take it away... I have worked here for twenty years, and I never thought that the stories I heard from the old sailors would happen to me."
Mr. Delal huddled in the corner and said dejectedly, not caring that the blood on the ground got on him.
As a dispatcher, although he has the right to deal with those inconspicuous illegal items, if the goods want to be sold, it is definitely not possible for him alone.
Mr. Delal has some very reliable partners who play different roles in the entire transaction process. For example, Mr. Le Maire, the crew member, Schade thought he was just an ordinary crew member, but in fact he had the position of first mate. In Mr. Delal's
During the stolen goods sale, Le Maire was responsible for bringing some sensitive items to the New World for sale.
After discovering the mermaid statues a year ago, Mr. Delal fell in love with them at first sight, so he gave them to his companions as works of art at a party.
In the year since then, everyone who has obtained a mermaid statue will dream of a ruined palace in the deep sea, deep sea reliefs that completely surpass human aesthetics, and a huge rotting mermaid corpse floating inside the palace.
The dream ends with "the field of vision is constantly approaching the terrifying huge corpse, and then the corpse as big as a mountain opens its eyes." In repeated dreams, many people are directly driven crazy. After realizing that something is wrong, even if
Even if you throw away those mermaid statues, you can't get rid of the troubles of dreams.
It was just a dream at first. Starting three months ago, people troubled by dreams began to die in very strange ways one after another.
Mr. Le Maire is one of them. Although the ship he was on said that he unfortunately fell into the ocean during a storm, in fact that was the captain's excuse to reduce panic. Le Maire died of his own madness.
.In three days, he suddenly changed from a sane first mate to a madman muttering crazy words, and finally chose to commit suicide by jumping into the sea.
And now, only Jason Dral is still alive.
His face twitched as he told his story, and when he looked up at Shade, there were bloodshot eyes.
"Wait, why don't you go to the Zhengshen Church?"
Shade promptly raised his confusion.
"Looking for the church will definitely involve us in the deeds we did. You thought we just stole goods and sold them. No, we did more than you thought. You don't need to look at the Delarian Grand Constitution. I don't know.
I know that this is definitely a capital crime. If I go to the church, I will definitely die, and even if I don’t die, I will definitely not be able to save my property. If I don’t go to the church, I will have a chance to solve it myself. Oh, isn’t this an easy choice to make?”
The middle-aged man who had the revolver pressed against his head asked with his eyes widened, and an abnormal blush appeared on his face.
Shade thought for a while, and actually thought that what the crazy guy in front of him said was not unreasonable. But the primitive fear of the unknown did not defeat the greed for gold pounds. Shade didn't know whether it was greed that was really so terrible, or those mermaids.
affecting them.
In short, after the companions died one after another, the living people tried their best to find a solution, and then died mysteriously.
Mr. Delal, who lived to the end, obtained a book that was said to be very useful through private channels, and then performed a ritual according to the content in the book to expel the curse for himself. However, the ritual arranged did not attract the "omniscience and omnipotence" mentioned in the book.
"The great existence" instead attracted foreigners living in Tobesk.
"In other words, although this matter is related to the inheritance itself, it actually has nothing to do with my client, Mrs. Le Maire. She can accept the inheritance."
Shade summed it up in his mind, and then pointed to the floor:
"The next question is, where does this blood come from? Not to mention the hospital, I don't believe this answer."
"Sir, how much do you need to help me..."
"Where did you get all this blood? And what are those meat balls?"
"The homeless people in this city can..."
Bang~
The smoke from the gun muzzle floated upwards, and the body suddenly fell backwards, soaked in the blood on the ground.
The lunatic dispatcher in Coldwater Port has nothing to do with Tobesk's detective, especially if he is sure that he will not affect his client. If he confirms that the other party is a bad guy, he will kill him directly and then leave, so as not to cause trouble.
But when Shade looked at the corpse, he suddenly realized that, strictly speaking, this was the second person he had killed in this world. The first Mrs. Lasoya was killed from a very far distance, and this one was killed.
It was in front of my eyes, so I still felt mentally uncomfortable for a few seconds.
Greed and desire caused this tragedy. Shade hopes that this incident can remind himself that excessive greed is never a good thing.
Sighing, he took out a wooden pipe from his pocket, sprinkled the bone powder inside on the corpse in front of him, and used the thaumaturgy [Soul Echo].
A cold wind blew in the closed room, and the firelight of the six candles on the ground dimmed a little, and the warm yellow flame turned into a faint blue.
Gray light emerged from the corpse. The light lasted for a few seconds and then converged together. Jason Dral's shadow appeared above the corpse. His expression was numb and his eyes were lifeless. This was the shadow of his soul.
Although it is derived from the [Echo] Spirit Rune, this thaumaturgy is actually a standard necromancy ability.