Chapter 1270: Chapter 1270: Action Plan and the Dragon’s Dinner
William Anjou said this, pointing to the next room:
“Mr. Osenfort is next door, he just brought in a more detailed report from his just returned subordinates, that’s why I made my decision. As for Mr. Osenfort himself, you don’t need to worry, he’s putting all his assets into this, including credit for discovering that open-pit mine, he’ll get ten percent of the shares then.”
The golden-haired girl pursed her lips and frowned slightly:
“Sounds good, but it increasingly feels like a trap. Speaking of which, I never asked you, how did you come to know this Osenfort?”
“We met in Velindale in the summer of 1852, when I was preparing a gift for my father’s birthday. Osenfort approached me and offered me a small copper figurine, the very one now sitting on my father’s bookshelf. He’s quite capable, though sometimes ruthless, but you should understand, Margaret, you can’t accomplish things solely with upright people.”
Margaret showed a mocking smile:
“Is that why he burned down the warehouse last week and threw in the already dead enemy into the fire?”
Inside the wardrobe, Shard slightly frowned, back then Osenfort claimed there was no living person inside, didn’t expect he meant it this way.
“Margaret, do you want to join this business? If you’re unwilling, you’re not my only sibling.”
William Anjou asked seriously. Margaret extended a finger:
“Give me a week to think about it, provide me with the silver mine’s information. It’s not a small amount, I need time to consider.”
“No problem! Margaret, you know me, I can distinguish what is bait and what is fruit. As for Mr. Osenfort, I hope you won’t have so many biases, I’ll introduce you at a banquet if the occasion arises.”
His Highness the Prince smiled and left the room. Margaret sighed and finally went to the wardrobe and opened its door:
“Did you hear everything? What do you think?”
To prevent herself from being locked inside, Mia immediately broke free from Shard’s grasp and slipped out of the wardrobe.
“My personal opinion is not to get involved.”
Shard shrugged, wanting to leave the wardrobe as it was quite stuffy inside.
“Alright, I didn’t want to get involved anyway. My brother can be quite shortsighted sometimes; even if there really is such a large-scale mine, his tricks couldn’t be concealed from Father. However, the mine’s information is still very useful.”
Her Highness the Princess said decisively, although it has been less than three months since she knew Shard, she was quite aware of Shard’s capabilities.
As she spoke, she pushed Shard back into the wardrobe and ditched her high heels, then stepped into the wardrobe herself. The door closed, leaving only the startled cat turning to look at the wardrobe as it shook slightly:
“Meow?”
It tilted its head and called out, feeling it might have made a wrong decision.
After having lunch with Margaret at noon, they brought Mia to Wilder Opera House to meet Miss Benanis, Miss Lathis, and Luviya in the afternoon.
The four gathered their respective investigation results. Miss Benanis hadn’t deciphered any new information from the notebook dug up from the wall, while Luviya had only found a few words about “Guardian” and “Heart of the Earth” in the local Prophet’s Society, which amounted to urban legends, insufficient for Shard to activate the Mithril Cube’s third Randall story.
But Miss Lathis’s harvest was the greatest.
She re-examined Mr. Lathis’s relics and discovered a large amount of research material about the “Randall Valley Guardian”, establishing that it was a mysterious group founded by local souls, quietly protecting the earth and had once saved the earth many times unknown to all.
The Circle Sorcerer’s power consists of both the physical body and soul parts. A soul, having lost its physical body, even if it can still use supernatural power, will inevitably be greatly weakened, and every cast that breaks the limit will consume the soul itself.
And Mr. Lathis’ research before his death speculated that each time those “Guardian” souls used “Power of the Earth” to heal the Crazy Earth, they were likely sacrificing the weakening of their souls for the sake of spellcasting.
The demise of the former guardian was probably due to this reason, and evidently, facing increasingly frequent emergencies since this winter, Mr. Lathis and Mr. Thomas Granger could not hold on for much longer.
“Could it be they’re choosing you as the next guardian?”
Luviya and Shard sat on the same sofa as she worriedly asked Shard, but Shard thought it wasn’t likely:
“Their choice should lean more towards the locals, and I’ve met them twice, but they had no intention of guiding me to the truth. Moreover, I don’t want to sacrifice for this. I mean…”
“No need to explain that, so what about the next direction for the investigation?”
Miss Benanis asked.
There are two directions for the next investigation. On one hand, among the relics Miss Lathis found belonging to her father, there is the complete “exploration” process left by Mr. Lathis during his lifetime. He left his footprints in every corner of the Randall Valley, with the endpoint being the Church of the Forgotten. These records are quite vague in many places, so Miss Lathis plans to retrace her father’s “path of exploration.” Maybe when she stands in front of that wall in the Church of the Forgotten, she will understand how to reunite with her father.
On the other hand, Shard, using his own connections, found some records from the Cassandra Auction House that turned out to be useful. After carefully reviewing those photos, Miss Benanis identified three auction items related to the “Heart of the Earth.”
“This ceramic vase, this statue, and this key.”
She selected 3 out of the 21 records Shard brought, laying them on the coffee table. Shard picked up the documents corresponding to the three photos to check the situation, and then he was pleasantly surprised to discover that there were matching records when the three items were sold more than ten years ago, and all the buyers were locals. If lucky, it might only take a few days to find all these items.
“Will we search individually or investigate together?”
Shard asked, and Miss Benanis thought for a moment:
“I will accompany Ciris to investigate Mr. Lathis’ direction. But you don’t have to investigate alone. I’ll first assign some people to check if these three auction items are still with their original buyers. Once we confirm the location of the three items, you can visit them.”
The reason for not reclaiming directly is that there might be clues left behind by Mr. Lathis in these three items, making it more prudent for Shard to handle it personally:
“If necessary, you can come to me for help. You can mobilize any Circle Sorcerer from the Golden Dawn. However, since last weekend’s events, the True God Church in our diocese has been very sensitive about all local matters, so it’s best not to cause too much commotion… Interestingly, they think the person who appeared then was you, the divine summoner.”
Luviya laughed:
“Whether Shard is a divine summoner is as obvious as the hickey on his neck hasn’t faded.”
This made both Miss Benanis and Miss Lathis smile.
Shard hurriedly pulled up his collar but then felt it was even more ridiculous. So he picked up the cat napping beside him and, while the sleepy cat was unaware of what was happening, used its soft body to “cover” the front of his neck, as if turning it into a scarf.
The preliminary investigation of the three auction items was to be conducted by the followers of Miss Benanis, which should take about one or two days to a week. During this time, Shard could relax a bit and handle other matters at hand.
For example, meeting the Elf girl Emilia Xenode this evening.
The “shopping list” she left for Shard mostly contained items he already had in the “icebox” in his basement; for the few missing ones, a trip to Coldwater Port was enough to complete the acquisition. The delivery task this evening was actually quite simple; he could go alone, but Luviya wanted to see the Unicorn again, so she accompanied Shard.
The two of them rode horses from the city to the countryside and camped at the place where they met last time.
When it was time to cook, Shard stopped Luviya from getting up:
“I’ll do it. I mean, I’ll use my arcane technique. After returning home late last night, I didn’t use [Fiona’s Housekeeper] at No. 6, Saint Delan Square.”
Luviya watched curiously as Shard pulled a ruby from his pocket:
“Red dragons excel at kitchen work, so the spellcasting material is a ruby.”
He let Luviya, who was wrapped in a cold-resistant cloak, hold Mia, then placed all the ingredients into the prepared pot.
After tossing the ruby, Shard activated the arcane technique, casually throwing the ruby towards the campfire. But it didn’t hit the ground; instead, it fell into the white mist that surged out. The thick mist quickly enveloped the campfire and the pot filled with food, and even Shard couldn’t perceive what was happening inside.
But he felt this white mist was very familiar.
The spellcasting process wasn’t long; the housekeeper’s work was swift. From the moment the ruby worth an estimated 154 pounds left his hand to when the white mist dispersed, it took just 7 minutes and 23 seconds. And when the campfire’s light once again illuminated the two humans and a cat, a sumptuous dinner had appeared on a stone dining cart that seemed to have been made from materials found on the spot.
Bowls and plates were filled with delicacies, far exceeding the range of ingredients Shard provided. Meanwhile, there was a note in an unknown handwritten language at one corner of the dining cart, most likely written in Dragon Language:
“Hope you enjoy this dinner. Next time, you don’t need to bring your own ingredients. The ruby is beautiful; I can provide three more meals for you.”
A playful stick figure smiley face followed. The price of the housekeeper red dragon was surprisingly high, but its personality was much livelier than Shard had expected.